“Mr. Wackie a di teacher but a Ice a bus’ da piece ya.”

This is the line from the “Gully Creeper” song made popular by Jamaican Grammy Award Nominee, DJ Elephant Man.

Translated from Jamaican patois into English, means:”Mr Wackie (Bogle) is the teacher but Ice is releasing this piece.” The ‘piece’ is the Gully Creeper dance move made popular by fellow Jamaican and friend Usain Bolt after he won his events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Both Mr. Wackie and Ice are now deceased.

36 year old David Alexander Smith popularly known as ‘Ice‘ was shot and killed this morning in the Waltham Park Road area of Kingston, Jamaica as he went to purchase cigarettes at a shop. His car was stolen. The dancer and choreographer is the creator of the popular Gully Creeper dance move.

Gerald Levy aka Mr. Wackie aka Bogle, Jamaica’s most revered dancer/choreographer at the time was also shot and killed 3 years ago. Bogle created several dance moves including the Bogle Dance and the Wackie Dip. Both men were from the Black Roses Corner in Arnet Gardens, Kingston, Jamaica.  It is a tough inner city area where dancing is one of the tools used to escape poverty. These dancers get to perform on live shows and go on tours with famous dancehall artistes, earning what amounts to a comfortable income for someone with previously little or no income.

The gun keeps robbing us of of our talented citizens. the senseless killings point to the fact that there are too many illegal guns in the hands of the poorest, most uneducated citizens. How they came to afford these guns is a mystery.

There has been 1509 murders reported between January and November 2008. In a country of 2.7 million, we are firmly rooted in the top 3 per capita in the world. Co-incidentally, there is a news report on the television that the Jamaican Police has accepted that there has been under reporting of crime, so that figure should be much higher.

In the meantime, Jamaican Dancehall has lost a great contributor, but Ice will always be remembered for giving Usain Bolt and the world the ‘Gully Creeper.’

St. James High player (right) dribbles past a Cornwall College player. Photo courtesy of the Jamaica Star

St. James High, formerly known as Montego Bay Secondary or Senior School, finally asserted themselves by winning the prestigious 53 year old DaCosta Cup schoolboy championship, symbol of rural Jamaica football supremacy. They defeated Spaulding High (from Clarendon) by 2 goals to nil.

Before being upgraded to a high school a few years ago, the Montego Bay school was the feeding tree for many times champions Ruseas and to a lesser extent, Cornwall College. Legendary Jamaican players such as Reggae Boyz Shorty Malcolm, Durrant ‘Tatty’ Brown and Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore were past students of the institution. Before upgrading, Senior School was a secondary school (lower than a high school) and did not qualify for the competition.

This year was a landmark year, being the first time two upgraded schools were meeting in the final. Spaulding has a similar history to St.James High except that it has not produced comparable football talent. The DaCosta Cup has only been won by 13 teams and with over 80 teams competing, so winning is quite an achievement. They have now joined the the illustrious company of Munro, Cornwall College, Vere Technical, STETHS, Dinthill, Ruseas, Herbert Morrison, Glenmuir, Frome Technical, Godfrey Stewart and Clarendon College.

St. James High will now turn their eyes on the Olivier Shield where they will play St. Georges High, the Kingston Corporate Area Champions. Winning the Olivier Shield will allow the Montego Bay team to win the elusive triple crown as they previously won the Ben Francis Knockout.

This should have been posted from last month, but I can’t find any time to mess around with my photography hobby. Actually, that was not my only problem. I have bad memories of that day; while I was busy taking photos with my Nikon D40, a pick pocket was taking advantage of the thick crowd and stealing my new Sony Ericsson cellphone, a gift from my brother.

Anyway, the Jamaican athletes were treated to a massive welcome in Falmouth, Trelawny on October 7, 2008. Trelawny was chosen as we had by far the most representatives of any parish. Trelawnyites Usain Bolt, Marvin Anderson, Michael Frater, Ricardo Chambers, Veronica Campbell and Rosemarie Whyte were all present. Some elder residents of Falmouth remarked that it was the first time they were seeing the Falmouth square full to capacity. Asafa Powell, Melanie Walker, Shelly Ann Frasier, Kerone Stewart and the rest of the team were all also there.

Usain Bolt returned to his home parish as a king and reveled in the attention and adoration. The tie of his alma mater William Knibb Memorial High School (which was just a mile and a half away), was wrapped around his head and another was around his neck. The athletes spent about an hour signing autographs until they were ready to leave. Here are photos from this memorable occasion.

On Tuesday, November 25th 2008, the Jamaican parliament will undertake a historic conscience vote as to whether to keep the current death penalty law or abolish it.

Although Jamaica currently has the death penalty for capital murder, no one has been executed since 1988. In 1993, the UK Privy Council (in the case of Ear Pratt and Ivan Morgan vs The Attorney General of jamaica) held that where the time period between the imposition of a sentence of death and execution exceeds five years, it shall be presumed
that execution would amount to inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment, contrary to the Jamaican Constitution.. With Jamaica’s current system it is almost impossible to conclude a death penalty case within that time period.

With the spiraling murder rate that has placed Jamaica consistently in the top 3 per capita in the world, the citizens of the country have become restive and are calling for the resumption of hanging. Prime minister Bruce Golding has called for a conscience vote where (for a change)  Members of Parliament should not vote on party lines, but as individual representatives of the people (as they should do at all times but don’t).

Now the nation waits with bated breath as the parliamentarians prepare for the vote. It is expected that the vote will pass, but it seems that we will not go back to the barbarous days of hanging when the judge would pass the sentence: “You will hang from the neck until you are dead.” The Lawmakers are proposing a US style Lethal Injection and or Electric Chair. They would also have to amend the law to deal with the 5 year custody problem.

Opponents of the death penalty say that it will not be a deterrent to murderers, but I beg to differ. One of the reasons there are so many murders is because there are little or no deterrents. The current system doesn’t work. We now have more than our fair share of serial murderers. If thoe guys knew they stood a chance of facing the executioner and one of their cronies was already executed, a lot of them would think twice.

On with the vote. I only hope it represents what the citizens want. This post will be updated after the vote on Tuesday.

Prince Charles in Falmouth

I was filled with joy when I heard on the news that the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding had signed with officials from Royal Caribbean Cruises for construction of the long awaited Falmouth Cruise Ship Terminal. Many locals had said it could not be a reality, but it seems the doubters have been silenced (at least for the time being).

Royal Caribbean is working in partnership with the Port Authority of Jamaica to complete the new Falmouth Cruise Pier by March 2010 at a cost of $7.5 billion, as well as establish the associated infrastructure necessary to welcome cruise ship guests. A historically important 18th-century settlement, Falmouth was a colonial center of Jamaica’s sugar and fine rums industry. The town’s rich history and Georgian architecture has most recently drawn the attention of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales (Prince Charles), who has been a long time supporter of restoring historic buildings of Great Britain. Indeed the Prince made a historic visit to the town earlier this year.

The plan calls for development of a trolley route and the renovation of historic buildings, including Hampden Wharf, Tharpe House and the Old Foundry.

I am particularly pleased at the prospects of employment in this town that has unemployment of over 15 per cent, higher than the national average of 10.3 per cent (in 2006). That figure should be now be higher with several hotel construction projects on hold due in part to the delay in the wharf project, which is seen as the catalyst for future development of the town and parish. Now the ball should start rolling quickly and give the town a well needed lift.  The possibility of two Genesis class ships docking with almost 11,000 pasengers in total, means huge opportunities for locals.

Could this be the return to the ‘boom town’ era of the 18th and 19th century? I hope so.

Big gun find in Jamaica

In Jamaica, we have consistently been told over the last few years that when it comes to murders, we are in the top 3 (per capita) in the world. No one has to remind us. We are fed with our daily reports of grizzly murders on the news and by word of mouth. Most often these killings are carried out through use of the gun. We don’t have to wonder why it happens. Crimes are committed in the open, the gunmen hardly hide, yet who is going to Court to testify against them? Your entire family could be slaughtered for your valiant, civic. responsible act. That has happened many times.

So, what is the result? Our criminals now think they can do anything and get away with it; hence the crimes get worse and worse and worse. The latest fad in criminality is abductions. Gunmen force you into a car, and (more than likely) you will never be seen alive again . Men in my parish have abducted and raped old drunkards, men, boys, women, girls, no one is spared. All over the island numerous people have mysteriously gone missing. The Assistant Commissioner of Police has warned women to take care of themselves. That seems to be saying take care of yourselves ’cause we can’t take care of you!

I am scared for myself and my family. School children are one of the highest risks. They go missing everyday. What about my kids, will they become a statistic? What can we do? When will the madness stop?

With 10,708 athletes competing from 204 countries for 906 medals in 28 sports, two competitors will be propelled into immortality by their outstanding performance in Beijing 2008: Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps.

photo credit: sagicel

Michael dominated the pool, breaking Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals set at the Munich Olympics in 1972, snatching 8; seven of them being World Records. This adds to the 6 he bagged in Athens in 2004 making him the closest human relative to a fish. The 6 ft 4 inches, 195 pounds, 23 year old native of Baltimore Maryland, confessed to doing nothing but eating, sleeping and swimming.  To be swimming in 8 events is no mean feat as each has its rigorous rounds. To win all including a 7 World Records is truly super-human. He swam 17 times over 9 days breaking the record in 4 out of 5 individual events in which he participated. His 3 relay teams also set world records.

Phelps who started swimming at age 7, made his Olympic debut in Sydney at age 15 when he qualified for the 200m fly by finishing second at U.S. Trials, but despite his age and lack of international experience, he made the final in Sydney and finished fifth. Five months after that race, Phelps became the sport’s youngest male world-record holder when he claimed the 200m fly mark. Now we will speak of him with the same reverence as Mark Spitz.

photo credit: rich115

Usain Bolt won three gold medals on the track, all in World Record times.  He won the 100 meters in 10.69, the 200 meters in 19.30 and ran the third leg on Jamaica’s 4×100 meters team that posted 37.10 seconds. Bolt will also be long remembered for his dancing and celebrations after winning the events, and people who don’t understand him have criticized him for everything from walking barefooted after the race, not shaking hands after the race, beating his chest after the race, lifting up his shirt, looking in the camera and saying “I am number one”, his mother running through the crowd to hug her son in the front row and sticking out his tongue are just a few that come to mind.

I have never heard a champion so criticized, yet his records will stand and we will soon forget the critics. The 21 year old from Coxheath, Sherwood Content in Trelawny has realized his true potential after winning the World Junior 200 meters title at 15 years old. What makes his performance more impressive is the fact that the 100 meters was never his race; he was originally a 200 and 400 meters runner and only ran a few competitive 100 meters races before this Olympic win.

There are other memorable results for me from Beijing 2008:

1. The dominance of the Jamaican sprinters on the track.
2. The brilliant performance of the British in hauling in 47 medals, including 19 golds, 13 silver  and 15 bronze coming from 9 golds, 9 silver and 12 bronze in 2004.
3. The Chinese surprisingly winning the overall medal standings over the USA and Russia with 51 golds to the USA 36 and Russia 23.
4. The Swedes having their worst Olympics since 1896, placing 56th in the medal table, winning only 4 silvers and a bronze down from 4 golds, two silver and a bronze in 2004.
5. The Jamaican team placing 13th out of 204 countries with 6 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals up from 2 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronze in 2004.
6. The depth of the USA in winning the most silver, 38 and the most bronze, 36 to go along with 36 gold medals, winning in the total medal count 110 to China’s 100.
7. Jason Lezak posting the fastest relay split in history, 46.06, to catch Frenchman Alain Bernard for the win, by just .08 of a second in the 4×100 meters freestyle relay to keep Michael Phelp’s hopes of 8 gold medals alive.
8. Rebecca Lyn Hammon from Rapid City, South Dakota, USA, playing for Russia against her native USA in women’s basketball.
9. USA “Dream Team” re-claiming gold after losing in the last 2 Olympics.
10. Argentina re-claiming gold by defeating Brazil 3-0 in semi-final and Nigeria 1-0 in the final of men’s soccer.
11. The USA defeating Brazil in women’s soccer.
12. The performance of the Chinese “baby” girls in gymnastics.
13. The brilliant opening ceremony.
14. South Korea upsetting Cuba for baseball gold.
15. China sweeping the medals in table tennis (one of my favorite sports).
16. Ethiopian and Kenyan dominance of the long distance athletics races.
17. USA and Jamaica disastrous baton changes in sprint relays (USA in men and women’s 4×100 meters and Jamaica in women’s 4×100 meters).
18. The poor performance of South Africa in bagging only one medal, a silver and placing 71st in the medal table.
19. Matthew Mitcham of Australia winning the Men’s Platform, preventing a clean sweep of the diving medals by China.
20. Chris Hoy of Great Britain winning 3 gold medals in cycling.

It has been a wonderful, memorable olympic games. There are many more great moments and everyone will have their favorites, but these are the ones that will stick with me. Now on to London 2012.

The gold medal winning, world record breaking run of Usain Bolt in the 200 meters men at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, China (19.30 seconds) further strengthened by the Olympic record breaking run of Melanie Walker in the 400 meters hurdles final (54.62), sparked off wild celebrations starting in Usain’s hometown of Sherwood Content, near Falmouth in Trelawny. There was a massive motorcade and partying throughout the day and night.

Productivity was at its lowest in history as almost everyone took to the streets in wild celebrations that end with a street dance in Sherwood. I was too tired to make it to Sherwood in the night but here are some photos taken during the day, The full photo set can be found here on my photo blog.

photo credit: rich115

What a day it was for Jamaican athletics, as the increased dominance of the world by the tiny 4,411 square miles island continued. The twelve year old 200 meter record seemed so impregnable, but Usain turned the doubters into believers today as he broke the 19.32 seconds record previously held by Michael Johnson in easily winning the event in 19.30 seconds ahead of Churandy Martina of the Netherland Antilles and Wallace Spearmon of the USA. Martin and Spearmon were both disqualified for running out of lane and the Americans Shane Crawford and Dix Walter were handed silver and bronze in 19.96 and 19.98 respectively.

This has been the single greatest sprinting achievement in the history of the sport as he became the first person to set World Records in the two events (having previously done 9.69 in the 100m) at the Olympic games and the first person since Karl Lewis in 1984 to win the double (100m and 200m). Not even the great Jesse Owens accomplished that double world record feat. after the race Bolt did his version of the popular Jamaican dance, “Gully Creeper”. After the 100 meters record, he did the dance called “No Linger”, which means “don’t waste any time”.

Melanie Walker

Fifteen minutes later, Melanie Walker continued in the footsteps of fellow countrywoman Deon Hemmings by taking the 400 meters hurdles in a National and Olympic Record of 52.64 seconds. Walker, unbeaten in the event this year, executed her race perfectly by accelerating in the last 100 meters to win by over a second over Tosta Sheena of the USA in 53.70 and Tasha Danvers of Great Britain in 53.84.

Melanie, is from Gordon Lane off Maxfield Avenue, located in a tough, violent, gang plagued area in East Central St. Andrew. Like 100 meters silver medallist Kerron Stewart, she went to  high school at St.Jago High where at various times in her school career she ran 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters and 110 meters hurdles. That made her a rounded athlete and her considerable sprinting speed helped her in the last 100 meters when she won moving away from the field.

Melanie’s victory was very special to Jamaicans as Usain was expected to win, but people were wondering if she would fold under the pressure. she did not disapoint and had the entire nation in a frenzy. Before the race she gave a small demo of the Jamaican dance called “Dutty Wine”, thereby underlying the importance of dancehall reggae to the athletes.

Coach Stephen Francis

Her winning performance underlined the success of Coach Stephen Francis and the MVP club located at the High Performance center in Kingston. Coach Francis needs to be given his credit as the greatest coach in the entire world today, having his athletes cop the following medals:

1. Shelly-Ann Fraser - 100 meters women: gold.
2. Sherone Simpson - 100 meters women: silver.
3. Sherika Williams - 400 meters women: silver.
4. Melanie Walker - 400m hurdles women: gold.
5. Jerome Mason (Great Britain) - High Jump men: silver.

He is also the coach of 100 meter 5th placed finalists Asafa Powell (former world record holder) and 6th place Michael Frater; Markino Buckley (7th place in 400 meters hurdles men final)  along with seven other top class athletes.

Melanie Walker

Coach Francis started the MVP track club after being tired of seeing Jamaica lose talent in the tough collegiate system in the USA. Many of our most talented athletes over the years gave up the sport due to various problems caused by the relocation. It is now reaping rich benefits as more and more of our athletes are staying or coming back home, thereby realizing their true potential.

The double victory sparked wild celebrations and a huge green, gold and black motorcade in Trelawny.

Jamaican Lips -celebrating Jamaica's Olympic victories in Falmouth ,Trelawny on Wednesday

Little Jamaica, the poor developing country of less than 2.7 million people is now leading the athletics medal table with strong medal contending performances expected to come in the women’s 200 meters in which we have 3 ladies who have the potential to win (Veronica Campbell, Kerone Stewart and Sherone Simpson) , men’s decathlon (Maurice Smith), men and women’s 4×100 meters relay and to a lesser extent, women’s 4×400 meters relay.

Scorpion disco will be playing in Sherwood Content tonight to celebrate Usain’s 22nd birthday after Jamaica plays Canada in World Cup Football qualifying against Canada in Canada. Photos of the motorcade and celebration in his hometown can be found here and the full set is available on my photo blog.

photo credit: Lim CK

When 21 year old Shelly-Ann Fraser won the Women’s 100 meter title at the Olympic Games in Beijing on Sunday morning (Jamaica time), it was a huge slap in the face of many Jamaicans who were advocating bumping her from the 100 meters to make space for (as they said) the more experienced Veronica Campbell-Brown, the reigning World Championship gold medalist in the event.

They conveniently chose to ignore the fact that Campbell-Brown was beaten into fourth place at the qualifying National Trials by Kerone Stewart (the winner), Sherone Simpson (second placed) and Shelly-Ann (third). They also chose to ignore the rules of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA) that stated that the first three will qualify for the event and the fourth placed runner will be an alternate (in case one of the others cannot compete). Fourth placed will also be the 4th person to make the relay team.

There were debates all over the country and the sports talk shows were abuzz with the topic. It was a dreadful flashback to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney when public pressure was brought to bear on the JAAA to replace Peter Gaye Dowdie with Merlene Ottey for the 100 meters event. Peter Gaye placed third at the National championship in Kingston and Merlene placed fourth, They bowed to the pressure and Ottey was brought in for the Olympics and this of course devastated Peter Gaye Dowdie. What was the result? Merlene placed 4th (now third with the subsequent disqualification of Marion Jones on the grounds of using performance enhancing drugs). Not long after, Merlene complained bitterly about her treatment by the JAAA and switched nationality to Slovenia.

We are a Third World country with aspirations of moving up to first world status in the next 2-3 decades.This is a fleeting dream and it is our mentality which will force us to remain in the Third World for a long time. There are some extremely selfish people among us who generally think wherever they go, someone must pull out all the stops to make way for them. This has gotten progressively worse over the last 20 years and works hand in hand with the increasing corruption. Jamaicans call it a “bligh” which literally means “give me a break even though I have a deficiency, fault or am not qualified.” All rules, systems and order are ignored to get this bligh and they have progressed to a level of severe indiscipline with the thinking that anywhere they go, anything they do, provision must be made to get a break, no matter at whose or what expense.  Jamaicans were asking the JAAA to give Veronica a “bligh” at the expense of Shelly Ann and even Sherone who placed second at the trials. These girls booked their places through discipline, hard work, dedication and performance when it mattered most; all pre-requsite traits of a champion.

Another problem which relates to this victory is our propensity to think with our hearts and not our brains. Many  of us tend make decisions based on what or who we like; rationale, performance and ability take a really distant back burner. We have gotten to love Veronica as she gave us a gold in the 200m and anchored the 4×100m team to victory at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. She is the darling of women’s track & field in Jamaica. This should not form the basis of our judgment. The fact that we love her for what she did in 2004, does not give us reason to break all the rules and destroy another person’s career and dreams to include her.

There are several lessons to be learnt from this victory:

1. Respect rules and regulations and stop trying to find your way around them for your own selfish reasons.
2. No one person is bigger than the system that governs it.
3. Do not stifle our young talents.
4. Do not make decisions based on sentimental feelings, rather make decisions on reasoning and rationale.
5. With discipline and hard work, you can achieve anything.
6. No matter what the odds against us, never give up.
7. Don’t let the negatives that people say get you down, rather use it as motivation to attain higher goals.
8. It is more important if you have confidence in yourself than if someone has confidence in you.

“Big up” Shelly-Ann. Your victory to me is more than a gold medal. It is the lessons learnt from your hard work, tenacity, dedication, focus, dilligence and strength of character. You are only 21 and i only heard of you in April, but I have nothing but respect for you, having proved your detractors wrong and hopefully taught your nation a lesson.