Real's aging stars and the Pinoy Noah

At 30 y.o., Ronaldo joins Real Madrid's aging troopers which include fellow Brazilians Roberto Carlos at 33 and Emerson, 30; Italy's Fabio Cannavaro, 33, England's David Beckham, 31 and Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy at 30.

Vowing to score 30 goals this season compared to the 14 he made last season, the local press is doubtful if Ronaldo, who earned 10 million euros last season, can accomplish what he promised as he had been struggling with his weight and form since his knee was operated on last July.

The 3-time world player of the year and twice world champion with Brazil says he's happy with Real Madrid although earlier this year, he hinted that he might go somewhere else when he was jeered by Real fans during a Champion's League tie with Arsenal last February.

Ronaldo just resumed training but he has to prove himself and regain his spot from new teammate van Nistelrooy who is having a great start for Real.

For the first time since he joined Real Madrid in 2003, David Beckham was left on the bench for the second consecutive time. Joining Real from Arsenal, new recruit Jose Antonio Reyes impressed coach Fabio Capello that he started Reyes at right midfield in place of the former England captain for last Saturday's game.

The last time Beckham was left on the bench for two successive games was shortly before he left Manchester United. But the midfielder says he's happy at Real and will stay until he retires from the game. The club also said that they are in the process of giving Beckham a 2-year contract extension which expires at season's end.

Roberto Carlos, meanwhile has made his 500th official appearance for Real Madrid in last Saturday's match at Real Betis. The Brazilian fullback joined Real from Inter Milan in 1996 and has been a factor in the club's three league titles and three European cups. He mentioned of a possible move to English club Chelsea but decided to remain with Real till the end of the season.

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I got this material from my e-group. The original version is in Tagalog, "Kung Pinoy si Noah" and I translated it to English. Enjoy...

Year 2005. Noah is just an ordinary middle class Filipino. God appeared to him in a vision and said, "After one year, heavy rains will fall and the Philippines will be flooded. I want you to build an ark and put inside different pairs of animals and Filipino couples from all over the islands."

Noah was given the specs of the ark and he heartily and gladly accepted the responsibility to save and preserve the Filipino race from the coming deluge.

Year 2006 and again God appeared to him in a vision but was very angry because not even the framework of the ark was made. "Where is the ark that I asked you to build?", asked God. "I am very sorry for not obeying your order. Big problems came up blocking your plans," Noah replied, and he enumerated everything that hindered the construction of the ark;

Noah asked for a mayor's permit but the mayor said he will only give it to him if the construction firm of the mayor's nephew will be the one to build the ark. Noah went to the congressman but said he wants a 30% commission. He finally found a crew to construct the ark but they created a union and went on strike.

Left-leaning groups heard about Noah's plans and they held a rally because of unfair and unjust selection of people allowed inside the ark (only those who believe in God are permitted to board the ark). Gays and lesbians joined the rally because of the bias towards married couples. The civil society joined the fray because, as they said, they learned that the funds used for building the ark are donations from gambling lords and jueteng.

Amid all these, the senate was forced to call an inquiry "in aid of legislation". Noah tried to use EO 464 to avoid the inquiry but because he was not an executive official, he was forced to testify. When the senate learned that it was God's will to build the ark, they declared it unconstitutional, reasoning that it did not honor the separation of the state and church.

The PNP and NBI came in and said they have reliable information that the ark will be used by Erap for his escape. Then the DOJ and ISAFP said the Magdalo group is behind all of these for their planned coup against GMA.

Noah was forced to see Mike Defensor to have an audience with GMA, who gave her approval to the construction with the condition that a large portrait of hers will be emblazoned on both sides of the ark with the slogan, "Towards a Strong Republic".

"I did not agree to the conditioins so until now there is a TRO for the ark's construction. I estimate that we need another 10 years to finish your project," was Noah's parting words.

In utter disbelief and exasperation, God said, "I don't have to destroy your country. You are doing a much better job than me. I'll just let you destroy it yourself."