FEATURE: There Was Reason To Smile

Phew!!! Say the year 2006 sped past us like one of those supersonic jets that confound even the sharpest connoisseurs when it comes to measuring speed, and I just may empty my already empty bank account for you.

2006 has left us for good and already we are nine days into 2007.

Is it that the good Lord is fast forwarding the calendar so we appear before him to give account of our stewardship on earth?

I would not want to go into the mind of the good Lord but all I can say is that let us all number our days and do what is right in his eyes so that whether he fast forwards the calendar or not, we would always be ready for that day that the bible calls the judgment day.

Am I preaching? A little bit of the word is not too bad is it?

Anyway like I was saying, 2006 is gone and gone forever never to rear its head again.

No matter what we do, 2006 is gone forever but what is not gone forever is the memory that it will exude this new year and in the years ahead.

There is no hiding the fact that the highest point of our sporting agenda last year, was the debut appearance of the Black Stars at the grandest stage of world football.

For the first time in the history (pre and post independence) of this dear country of ours, the senior national male team took center stage and battled it out with the big boys.

And when I say big boys, I mean big boys because I don?t know how many teams would be able play the Czech Republic (ranked number 2 at the time) and Brazil (ranked number 1 at the time) in the short space of within which the Black Stars did, and come out walking tall.

The very high point of the participation of the Stars was in the fact that they held their own against the big boys and left the tournament with their heads up high.

Of course the highest of the high point was in humbling the Czech Republic.

As individual players, Michael ?Les Bison? Essien in particular, and Stephen ?Tornado? Appiah, continued to keep the name of Ghana on the lips of football commentators, analysts and fans alike and we cannot help but be proud of the two gentlemen.

Indeed, Michael Essien?s bubbling above Mohammed Aboutrika and club mate Didier Drogba to be named BBC?s 2006 African Player of the Year by an overwhelming margin attests to the fact that last year was a good year for the young man.

And with Essien having been shortlisted as one of the possible three who could be crowned king of African soccer by CAF, there is no denying the fact that the year gone by provided some warmth for Ghana football and it is my fervent prayer that the Chelsea midfielder crosses the finishing line before the two other gentlemen.

Of course, the Black Queens once again did the nation the honours by qualifying for the Women?s World Cup which would be taking place in China in September this year.

It would be recalled that in 2003, China was billed to host the tournament but the outbreak of the deadly SARS virus in certain parts of the world, including China, made the Asian country cede its hosting right to the United States.

In the area of track and field, the Ignatius Gaisahs and the Vida Anims certainly hoisted high the red, gold and green with the black star and we must congratulate them for brining glory and good name to the motherland.

I have no doubt that were Margaret Simpson not off the circuit being a mother, she would also have done her bit to make us proud and I hope that this year sees her bouncing back to continue from where she left off.

In the ring, after showing a lot of promise winning his first three fights after a five year layoff, Ike ?Bazooka? Quartey failed to give us the kind of hope that would have made us throw everything into the ring believing that another world title was knocking at our door.

Just like Ike, all the other pugilists around whose neck the hope of the nation hung to bring boxing glory to us, dashed our hopes.

But as country that can boast of boxing greats like Roy Ankrah, D.K Poison, Eddie Blay, Azumah Nelson and Ike himself when he was in his elements, we can only look on the positive side of the ring and hope that it won?t be long before the friendly hands of the good boxing days of yore reaches out to us.

As regards tennis, as much as I don?t think the two day visit of Serena Williams was enough to impart lots of skills via the tennis clinics she held, I hope that one or two kids picked up a few basic lessons which would help ground them in the game and provide them with the pivot around which the future of their game revolves.

As a country, there certainly were some things that brought joy and happiness to us in 2006 and I just hope and pray that the sweet memories of the year gone will spur us on to greater heights so that this year and the years ahead will bring us more sporting joy.

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.