Autistic Girl’s ‘Broken Cheeseburger’ Story

I'm sure most of us have read about the 'Broken Cheeseburger' story recently. It's a touching story that I felt  I need to share with you all in case you missed it. Read on about it folks. 

A local Chili’s restaurant in Midvale, Utah, might have made the grave mistake of “breaking” one little girl’s cheeseburger by cutting it in half, but the waitress, manager and line cooks more than made up for it Sunday when they presented her with a brand new “fixed” one.

Seven-year-old Arianna Hill is autistic and she loves cheeseburgers. But apparently, ones that are cut in half just won’t do.

“We just decided we were going to get some lunch before we were taking her to see the Easter bunny,” Arianna’s older sister, Anna MacLean, 25, told ABCNews.com. “She usually does OK in restaurants. It seemed to be going pretty well. She wasn’t too overstimulated. She was really enthusiastic before we were even able to put our drinks orders in. She told the waitress, ‘I’ll have my cheeseburger.’”

However, when Arianna’s burger was delivered to the table, MacLean noticed that Arianna wasn’t touching it, but instead only eating her french fries.

“Her verbal skills aren’t the best, but she can communicate basic things,” MacLean said. “I asked why she wasn’t eating and she said, ‘I don’t want it. It’s broken.’ She said, ‘I need one that’s fixed.’”

MacLean loves spending time with Arianna, but is always prepared to come across someone who might not be as understanding of her special needs. Fortunately, the restaurant didn’t skip a beat in correcting the broken burger and their compassionate actions have now gone viral.

“Our waitress came back over and I felt bad. I don’t really expect people to understand these special requests, so I just told her to add a new burger to our bill,” said MacLean. “I just told her to charge it to us and she said, ‘No way.’ She was just so sweet and played along with Arianna.”

The Chili’s server, Lauren Wells, didn’t hesitate before leaning down to personally apologize for the broken burger and assured Arianna she would bring her a brand new fixed one.

“The manager came over and did the same thing. It was really a big deal. The line cooks even got involved,” MacLean said. “When she brought it back out, Arianna said ‘Oh, thank you! You brought me a fixed cheeseburger.’ She sat there and looked at it and said ‘Oh I missed you,’ and kissed it over and over again.”

MacLean was so touched by the staff’s compassion and understanding that something as minor as a cut-in-half cheeseburger would be enough to ruin Arianna’s whole day that she snapped a photo of Arianna giving the cheeseburger a kiss and uploaded it to Facebook along with a brief description of how well the restaurant handled the situation.

Before MacLean knew it, the “broken cheeseburger” photo had more than 100,000 “likes” on the social media site, a number that continues to rise rapidly. At the time of this writing, the post had more than 220,000  ”likes” and 10,000 comments.

“It’s just touching,” said Harrison Dixson, the Chili’s general manager. “I had no idea. I looked at it this morning and it had a couple thousand likes. I thought someone would say, ‘Hey, good job Midvale. But I’m talking to ‘Good Morning America.’ This is just unbelievable.”

Dixson said he’s gotten calls from people all across the country, including the president of Autism Speaks, an autism advocacy organization, thanking him for the way his manager, Brad Cattermole, and server, Lauren Wells, interacted with Arianna.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of those two. I’ve been with this company for 13 years and I’ve never been as proud as I am today,” said Dixson.

“It turned out great and this turned into something way bigger than anything I ever imaged,” MacLean said. “The comments on the post just bring awareness to people. This is Arianna’s story. And this is Lauren’s story, and the manager. They are a true inspiration.”

Tiger Comes Roaring Back

I am a sports enthusiast but at the same time, I still don’t understand golf. Basically I don’t understand their scorecard. May be I should take up a lesson or two. Ok back to the original story. Even though I couldn’t understand the game, there is one man who is “The Man”. And he has return to the top of the golfing chain. That man is none other than Tiger Woods. His fall from grace was epic when it was revealed he’s been sleeping around with other women. After all that commotion and a horrendous year for Tiger in the PGA, he is back. Roaring too I might say. Here’s an article of his latest triumphant return as number one: 

Like most of a fascinated sports world, I waited patiently for Tiger Woods to grant his post-Bay Hill victory interview on The Golf Channel on Monday. It took him about 15 seconds to get to Steve Sands for the greenside chat, and I imagine that's because he told Sands: "Hang on, Sandsy. Let me slip on this giant foam finger that reads 'I'M NUMBER ONE,' flash it toward the haters, the press and the haters in the press and I'll get right to you."

Holy smokes. Tiger Woods just accomplished one of the greatest feats of his career. Right next to winning four consecutive majors from 2000-01, right next to winning six consecutive U.S. Junior Amateurs and U.S. Amateurs, right next to 77 PGA Tour wins by age 37, I'll put "The Long Climb Back" on Tiger's all-time ledger. By winning at Bay Hill on Monday, Tiger Woods is No. 1 in the world again – for the first time since October 2010, for the first time since falling to No. 58 in the world, and for the first time since his cloak of invincibility disappeared with a public fall from grace.

And right next to that statistical fact – Numero Uno says the computer – I'd put perhaps an even more important, less numerically definable achievement: The Reclaiming of The Aura.

It's taken six wins in his last 20 PGA Tour starts, it's taken the miracle resurrection of a putter last seen in George W. Bush's first term, and it's taken the convenient digression of Rory McIlroy's career arc, but Tiger is back to being, well, Tiger.

By that, I mean The Big Kahuna, El Grande Queso, His Tigerness. No, he doesn't need to win a major to regain his status as the Elvis Presley/Mick Jagger/Jay-Z of golf. He's back in players' heads already, back rattling their comfort zones, back to the point where his name on the leader board causes bouts of gastric discomfort among the field.

Surely, you saw Justin Rose on Saturday throw four bogeys on his back nine to cough up an afternoon lead and hand the 54-hole lead to Tiger. Surely, you saw Rickie Fowler rinse two golf balls and post a snowman on the 16th hole Monday when he had crept within two shots of Tiger.

And surely you saw this quote from Keegan Bradley, a player you'd think was so young and so free of Tiger-issued scar tissue that he'd represent the new breed of challenger: "I feel like this is the Tiger I grew up watching."

Heavenly choirs and Bach sonatas could never sound as beautiful to Tiger Woods than those words from one of the poster boys of the next generation. It's the best of all possible worlds for Tiger. He spent the past 15 years obliterating one generation of golfers, only to fall on his face in humiliating fashion, opening the door for the Rory-Keegan-Rickie generation to charge in, carrying the "If It's Too Loud/You're Too Old" flag for the new millennium.

And they tried to do their parts, really. Rory won those two majors in historic style, and ascended to the top rung. Keegan even won a major and became a star. But now, over the course of three years, and with – as Tiger said on Monday after his win – "hard work and patience," those time-tested virtues, he's right back in their faces. He's their childhood TV idol, in the flesh and in a red shirt. He's a mythical figure, now very real trying to take what they thought could be theirs: victory and glory.

From 2010-12, things were different. Tiger had lost his aura. Tiger had lost his putter. Tiger had lost his health. Tiger's personal life was a mess. Rory was the new star. Everybody saw it, everybody said it. Johnny Miller said it. Nick Faldo said it. Any number of scribes, including yours truly, said it.

But things change. Putting mechanics get fixed. Young stars change golf clubs for big money. Knees heal up. New love and emotional security blossoms. Time marches on. The present is ever fluid, ever ripe for a new moment. Tiger seized on this Zen philosophy, got better, got fixed and created a new narrative.

The future is so tantalizing, so fun to ponder. Miller wondered on The Golf Channel if being relieved of the No. 1 spot will "free" McIlroy, will allow him to play unburdened. Some still wonder if Tiger can win a major now, given the obvious self-imposed pressure he places on himself to topple Jack Nicklaus. Some wonder if Tiger is a "horse for a course," meaning his wins at Torrey Pines and Doral and Bay Hill are as much about familiarity and muscle memory as anything else, that doing it at Merion's U.S. Open is a different deal.

Well, if Tiger is a "horse for a course," Augusta National is a familiar paddock. We'll see him there next, on Thursday, April 11, for the first round. You'll recognize him. He'll be the No. 1-ranked player in the world, playing like it, acting like it and, best of all, knowing that everybody knows it.

Fergie Is England’s Greatest Fan

ALEX FERGUSON famously quipped that the only bad weekend he has is when England win. But as Roy Hodgson prepares for his own personal Waterloo against Montenegro tomorrow night, he could have no greater ally than the Manchester United manager.

Yes, Ferguson played a huge part in Rio Ferdinand making himself unavailable for a match England dare not lose. Yes, you have a feeling he was involved in Michael Carrick missing Euro 2012. Yes, he has effectively banned Wayne Rooney from currently talking to the England media. Yes, he has claimed — wrongly — that Rooney is used and abused by the FA for commercial purposes. And, yes, he was fully behind Paul Scholes’ call to bring a premature end to his England career. Yet without the young players Ferguson has groomed and turned into international stars in almost 27 years at Old Trafford, England would have been in real trouble.

No wonder Hodgson said last week about Ferdinand’s controversial withdrawal: “It’s not my business, quite frankly, to interfere with an individual player and his club. “There will always be a conflict of interests for club managers when it comes to England. But I have no criticism of them.” In his early days at United, Ferguson made available players of the calibre of Bryan Robson, Gary Pallister, Neil Webb and Paul Ince. Then came the golden generation of Scholes, David Beckham, Gary and Phil Neville, Nicky Butt — and Ferdinand. Now, as Hodgson prepares for a game that could go a long way to deciding whether England go to Brazil as group winners or are pitched into the play-offs, Fergie and United provide the backbone of the side once again. Competing for places in the starting line-up are SIX United players — Rooney, Chris Smalling, Tom Cleverley, Carrick, Ashley Young and Danny Welbeck. It would have been seven but for injured centre-back Phil Jones. And look at the ages of some of these players — Smalling (23), Cleverley (23), Welbeck (22) and Jones (21). All young men with years of internationals ahead of them. Rooney, due to win his 81st cap, is still only 27.

And yet we are led to believe Ferguson is always putting club before country, that he has exerted an unbending iron will on a succession of England managers. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. In many ways, believe it or not, he is the greatest supporter of the England football team there is. Certainly, the most powerful member of the whole set-up.

What Ferguson does — in isolated situations — is plan ahead. And he has so often been proved to be right. He fully supported Scholes in his decision to pull down the curtain on his international career. And he and United fans have been rewarded by seeing the midfielder continue his Old Trafford career into his 39th year. But the greatest example of Fergie knowing better than anyone else when it comes to United players was at the 2006 World Cup. For his own selfish reasons, Sven Goran Eriksson stuck to the suicidal hope Rooney would be fit enough for the finals despite breaking a metatarsal at Chelsea on April 30. This gave him just six weeks to recover. We then had the ridiculous nonsense of Rooney travelling to Germany, Eriksson’s medical team using an oxygen tent to hasten his fitness and Rooney then returning to England for more treatment. All the while, Ferguson was convinced the player should have sat out the tournament. Instead, Rooney was rushed back clearly unfit and revealed his frustration at not being able to compete on level terms when he blew a fuse and was sent off against Portugal for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho.

Four years later, Rooney would return from South Africa following another personal nightmare when he fell out with England fans after criticising them on TV as he left the field after England’s turgid goalless draw with Algeria in Cape Town. Once again it was Ferguson who was left to pick up the pieces — even ringing Rooney in South Africa for a heart-to-heart. A few months later, his mind still in turmoil, Rooney would ask for a transfer.

So there are many reasons why Ferguson would not feel particularly enamoured towards England. Yes, he asks on occasions that his players should play no more than 45 minutes. And, yes, he has wheeled and dealed in what players are available and when. But, generally, he has been more than generous with England bosses down the years. Especially when you consider how much is at stake at Old Trafford plus the billionaire-backed rise over the last decade of, first, Chelsea and then Manchester City.

And yet in the recent modern era alone Beckham (115), Gary Neville (85), Ferdinand (81), Rooney (80), Scholes (66), Phil Neville (59), Butt (39), Young (28) and Carrick (26) have won a combined 579 caps between them. No other club comes remotely close. We should remember all this as England head into their most important qualifying game since Fabio Capello’s side beat Croatia 4-1 in Zagreb in September 2008.

As ever, United players will hold the key. Can Rooney rise above his own indifferent England form and score the decisive goals? Can Smalling fill the gap in an injury-hit central defence? Can Welbeck replicate the outstanding form he showed against Real Madrid? And so-on and so-forth.

Down the years, Ferguson has long been touted as the ideal England boss — despite his Scottish roots and natural antipathy to the auld enemy. And yet he has probably had more influence on England than any who did actually manage them.

Lil Pea aka Chicharito?

We’ve seen tons of videos gone viral via many sources back in 2012. Most videos were focused on little kids. 2013 is no different. I’m sure most of us have seen these kids showing off their multi-talented skills. If you haven’t, where the hell have you been dude??? Kids these days are growing up so fast. In turn, their brain develops much faster too. Credits must be given to the parents as they play a major role in their upbringing. 

Two of the people that matters to me are actually expecting and going to deliver a 2013 baby, InsyaAllah dan Amin. Today, I’m revealing just one of them. It’s none other than my cousin Nadrah aka Boss Kecik!!! You can actually follow her blog over here -> Nadrah's Blog. We had an interesting conversation earlier today. She told me the she and her Hubster (yeah, she calls her husband that) are starting early on educating their soon-to-be born baby. Here’s how it went down: 

Nadrah: AG's making me watch one footballer documentary after another, starting with Zidane.. Training our Chicharito.. Haha!!! 

Me: Oh AG calls your baby Chicharito? Getting an early education on footy is good tau..I endorse it!!

Nadrah: It was Little Pea.. Sebab die kecik..Then AG cakap Chicarito is Little Pea..And considering he/she is a fighter.. Haha!!! Walaupon mak die kena jaga the father time kena bedrest sume, memang Chicharito la jadi nya

Me: I like it la.. Chicharito!!!! Uncle Hashir likes it!!!

Nadrah: Girl ke boy tak kisah, kalau girl, she's going to run super fast and masok Olympics menang gold medal.. Kalau boy he's going to be a great football player, manager pon boleh macam AVB..But yea, aside of being educated.. Haha!!! Sebab mesti buat business, at least boleh tanggung keluarga.. My baby mungkin lambat nak keluar sebab takut dengar expectation.. Haha!!!! But he/she will live up to it

Me: Lawak siut..Lambat keluar sebab takut expectation

Nadrah: When asked AG what are you going to teach your child about failure? AG jawab, "Why do we fall Master Bruce? So that we can pick ourselves up".. Hahahah!!!!

Me: Hahahahaa.. I love that quote! Your kid will be spoilt with movies, sports and business la.. All come from parents.. Star Wars is a saga, NOT Twilight.. Wakakakaka

Nadrah: No no.. The best quote would be "Vampires don't shine like diamonds"

Me: Haha sengal itu movie (due to "unforseen" circumstances, part of this line has been deleted)

Nadrah: Kite orang tengok but just for fun.. It is a comedy kan.. Haha!!

There you have it!!! Congrats to the both of you AG & Nadrah!!! Lil Pea is due by ... ??? We'll just have to wait and see folks!!! Til next time!!! 

Gigi Buffon vs Dino Zoff

On November 15, 2011, Gianluigi Buffon equalled Dino Zoff's tally of 112 caps for Italy in a friendly against Uruguay. “I have always tried to be like Zoff,” Buffon admitted before the game in Rome. “He was a real maestro and the reference point for all the goalkeepers that followed him.” The question now is whether Buffon, who will make his 125th appearance for his country against Brazil on Thursday evening, has since surpassed his idol not only in terms of caps, but also eminence. Is it Buffon who is now the reference point when it comes to discussing Italian goalkeeping greats?

Comparing players from different eras is obviously an exercise in subjectivity. However, what is also beyond dispute is that Buffon now warrants comparison with a man who in 2003 was voted Italy's best player of the preceding half century. Zoff acknowledges that himself. "I give my compliments to Buffon," he told GQ magazine ahead of the current Azzurri captain's aforementioned appearance against Uruguay in Novermber 2011. "Now he can be considered my heir. I believe that we have been two great goalkeepers." That much is most definitely true.

Zoff led the Nazionale to World Cup glory in Spain in 1982 at the age of 40, making him the oldest player to have ever lifted the game's grandest prize, while Buffon played an integral role in his country's surprise success in Germany seven years ago. The parallels extend into their club careers, too. Both men have a Uefa Cup triumph to their names, while Buffon will almost certainly equal Zoff's haul of six Serie A titles later this season. When it comes to silverware, there really is nothing to choose between the two.

On the face of it, though, Buffon is the more impressive physical specimen. The offspring of a discus-throwing mother and a weightlifting father, the Carrara native represents an imposing presence in between the posts. However, it is Buffon's body that, ironically, may also prove his undoing in his quest to establish himself as Italy's greatest goalkeeper. The BianconeriNo.1 has been blighted by back problems and while he recently penned a new three-year contract with the Italian champions, doubts remain over whether he can really hope to match Zoff in terms of longevity, given his idol played at the highest level for a staggering 22 years. 

Indeed, when it comes to reliability, there really is only one winner. Zoff didn't miss a game for Juventus for 11 years, making a total of 330 consecutive appearances during that remarkable period, and the former Azzurri boss has previously suggested he feels that durability is key when it comes to debating Italy's all-time No.1.

"Gigi was stronger than me in his youth," Zoff mused. "But then, perhaps it has been the other way around thereafter, because I made some notable improvements from my younger days going forward, not forgetting that I played for the national side until I was 41."

There is also a commonly held view that, despite his undeniable brilliance, Buffon is more accident prone, as evidenced by his miscue against Lecce last season. However, there is a mitigating factor there in that he is operating in an era in which goalkeepers have to be far more adept with the ball at their feet on account of the abolition of the back-pass rule. In addition, it should also be acknowledged that Buffon has not benefited from the same level of protection that Zoff was afforded, particularly at club level. The latter was stationed behind some of the finest defenders ever to have played the game, during what was a golden age for Italian football. 

Context, therefore, is key. Yes, Zoff managed to go 1143 minutes without conceding an international goal between 1972 and 1974 - a record which still stands today - but Buffon's goal went unbreached for 453 minutes during the 2006 World Cup. The former Parma shot-stopper kept five clean sheets during that tournament in total, beaten just twice, by a Cristian Zaccardo own goal and Zinedine Zidane penalty.

When it comes to leadership, Zoff comes up trumps in that he is a World Cup-winning captain. But again, Buffon leading a side without as many world-class performers to the final of Euro 2012 is perhaps just as notable an achievement. Zoff was clearly a fine skipper. An incredibly self-critical perfectionist, he was the consummate professional; one of those who preferred to lead by example: "I have always preferred deeds to words," he explains.

Buffon, by contrast, is never one to bite his tongue - either in or out of the dressing room. He is regarded as a fine motivational speaker by team-mates and supporters alike (witness his stirring rallying cry on Facebook ahead of the Euro 2012 semi-final against Germany last summer), while he has never been afraid to lock horns with the media. Whereas Zoff was exemplary, Buffon is inspirational. 

Choosing between the two, therefore, really is a matter of taste. However, even those firmly in the Zoff camp would concede that Buffon has the talent, the desire and, fitness permitting, the time to end this debate once and for all. Indeed, as Zoff himself conceded when pressed on whether he will be usurped as Italy's finest No.1: "Time will tell ... When he is doing well physically, Gigi has no rivals."

Ronaldo or Eusebio?

On the night Cristiano Ronaldo was unveiled as a Real Madrid player, he received the deafening applause of the Bernabeu crowd with a legend of the game over each shoulder. To his right stood Alfredo Di Stefano, the Blancos' wonderful forward of the 1950s and 60s, while on his left was Eusebio, then considered Portugal's finest ever footballer.

These days, question marks are beginning to be asked as to whether the 'Black Panther' really is the greatest player to come from the Iberian nation, and it is because of the successes of Ronaldo that Eusebio's status as an untouchable great is being doubted.

Almost four years after arriving at Real Madrid in a world record £80 million transfer, Ronaldo has taken his game to an entirely new level. With 189 goals in 187 games in the famous all-white strip, the Portugal captain has a record to rival that of any player in recent history. At a time when goals are netted at a far more restrained rate than in bygone days, CR7’s unbelievable scoring rate stands out alongside Lionel Messi’s as a magnificent abnormality in the modern game.

For him to have become so central to the fortunes of a force such as Real Madrid is a massive achievement, and the two-time Goal.com 50 winner is rightly regarded as one of the two players who stand out as the two greatest talents in 21st century football. Eusebio even referred to him as a god when he signed for the Blancos. “I cannot define him,” said the 71-year-old. “He is now the god of another world … At the moment he is the best player in the world.”

His sheer pace, trickery, set-piece mastery and ability to score from practically anywhere mark him out as a true great of the game, but does he have the right to claim to be better than Eusebio?

Statistically speaking, the former Benfica striker may well have benefitted from playing at a time when goals were easier to come by and high-scoring matches were a regular feature of football, but he still had the talent to stand out at a time when the game had countless heroes.

Players such as Pele, Garrincha, Di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas, Bobby Charlton, Gerd Muller, Franz Beckenbauer and Gigi Riva were among the greatest ever to play the game, and Eusebio’s name sits comfortably alongside such contemporaries as a hero of the 1960s and 70s.

With a shot as powerful as any seen in the history of football, magnificent pace  – he could run the 100 metres in less than 11 seconds, and the ability to outwit many fine defenders of the day, the 'Black Panther' took Portuguese football to a level it had never before known. After Bela Guttmann’s side had become only the second club ever to win the European Cup in 1961 beating Barcelona 3-2, his two goals in the 1962 final helped see off the all-conquering Real Madrid 5-3.

While that was his continental pinnacle with the club, he would go on to add a total of 11 Portuguese league titles with the Aguias, scoring a monumental 473 goals in 440 games before moving to the North American Soccer League, chalking up more than 40 times in a season on five occasions during his Benfica career.

At international level too, he broke down barriers. His nine-goal haul in the 1966 World Cup included a near one-man comeback show against North Korea in the quarter-finals, as Portugal came from 3-0 down to beat the minnows 5-3 with Eusebio netting four times. While the ace marksman never got to play in another finals tournament, the Seleccao’s third-place finish in their first-ever finals tournament remains their best ever World Cup performance.

The closest they have since come to matching that effort was in 2006, when Ronaldo inspired them to their second ever semi-final. The parallels between the two compatriots only begin there.

But who really is the greatest Portuguese player of all time? Statistics alone cannot be used to decipher, while footage of Eusebio at work is far less accessible than that of Ronaldo. Nowadays, any football fan in any part of the world can watch every minute of the former Manchester United man’s career if they so wish, and so there are countless examples of his brilliance available for everyone to use in supporting his claims to be the best. Clips of Eusebio, meanwhile, tend to be the very best moments of his time at the top of the game, cherry-picked for posterity.

In many ways, drawing a comparison between these two Portuguese greats exemplifies the difficulties in separating players of differing generations, but while Ronaldo still has feats to achieve and points to prove, Eusebio’s status as a timeless legend remains untouched. And one of the reasons that is best summed up by the man himself.

“I respect the football of today but the football of my time was better,” said Eusebio. “Football hasn't got better, it has just evolved, from the ball to the boots to the shirts to the training methods – everything around them.

“When we played Real Madrid and won 5-3 it was soaking wet and the ball ended up weighing a kilo. It didn't have a brand. Consider their boots; there was no personalised footwear. Back then we made money, but we played for the love, it was all heart.”

And the man who remains at the heart of every football fan in Portugal – for now, at least – is Eusebio, one of the great examples of a player who rose above the drawbacks of the time. With each year, Ronaldo is catching up, but the ‘Black Panther’ will still take some chasing.

Blackburn Rovers - A Chicken's Mess

Blackburn Rovers have confirmed the sacking of manager Michael Appleton after just two months in charge at Ewood Park. Appleton only joined the club from Championship rivals Blackpool in January, but the 37-year-old has been shown the door after just 67 days. This is what happens when chicken owners run a football club – DISASTER!!! 

Rovers are currently 18th in the table, just four points off relegation, having gained just two points from their last five league games and without a win in their last seven matches in all competitions.

The club's academy coach, Gary Bowyer, has been put in charge until the end of the season. Bowyer won three of his four games in charge over the turn of the year as caretaker between Henning Berg's sacking and Appleton's arrival.

A short statement on the club's website said: "Blackburn Rovers FC can confirm that Michael Appleton has been relieved of his duties as manager along with assistant manager Ashley Westwood, first team coach Darren Moore and head of senior recruitment Luke Dowling."

Appleton later added in a separate statement: "I am disappointed to be leaving Blackburn Rovers. I would like to thank the players and wish them all the best for the rest of the season. I would also like to say thanks to the fans who have made me feel so welcome over the past few months."

Appleton's appointment was made by the club's managing director Derek Shaw and operations director Paul Agnew, and not by Rovers' global advisor Shebby Singh. As if this Shebby has done a good job at Rovers. What experience has he got? Dude was good in his playing days back in Malaysia but his career went down the drain after corruption allegations. As a pundit, he thinks he’s always spot on (NOT!!!). 

Blackburn won just four of Appleton's 15 games in charge, while they have lost six. Although one of those victories was a famous 1-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the fifth round of the FA Cup, Rovers were eliminated from the competition in a 1-0 quarter-final replay defeat at home to Millwall last week.

Appleton's last match in charge saw David Dunn's late strike rescue a point in a 1-1 draw against local rivals Burnley, and he leaves the club having won just two of his ten league games in charge.

The Blackburn job was Appleton's third of the season, having begun the campaign in charge of Portsmouth before moving to Blackpool last November. He is also the third full-time manager of Rovers this term, with the club's controversial owners Venky's already dispensing with the services of Steve Kean and Berg. Kean was in charge as Rovers were relegated from the Premier League last season while Berg, his full-time replacement, lasted only 57 days at the helm.

Michael Owen To Retire

Former England striker Michael Owen has announced that he will be retiring from football at the end of the season. Owen, 33, signed for Stoke on a free transfer last summer but has had yet another frustrating season that has been hampered by injury problems, limiting him to just seven appearances for the Potters.

The former Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle and Manchester United forward announced the news on his personal website on Tuesday morning.

"It is with an immense amount of pride that I am announcing my intention to retire from Professional Football at the end of this season," he said.

"Having progressed through the ranks at Liverpool to make my first team debut at 17, before embarking upon spells at Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, not to mention representing my country on 89 occasions, I now feel it is the right time to bring the curtain down on my career.

"I have been very fortunate in that my career has taken me on a journey that like many young players starting out, I could only have dreamt of.

"None of this would have been possible without the tremendous support I have received from managers, coaches, fellow players, back room staff, the supporters and my own personal sponsors. I would like to thank each and every one for the huge role they have played in helping me reach the top of my profession."

He also went on to thank his wife and family for the important roles they played in his 16-year professional career.

Owen first burst onto the scene at the age of 17 for Liverpool in 1997 and went on to have seven successful years at the club. He was part of the side which claimed a Treble of the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup in 2001 - thanks in part of his late, match-winning brace in the FA Cup final win over Arsenal. That same year he scored a hat-trick in England's 5-1 win over Germany in Munich, and he was rewarded for his exploits by winning the Ballon d'Or.

He moved to Real Madrid in 2004, but after a single season in which he scored 13 goals in 36 Liga appearances he moved to Newcastle. It was at St James' Park where his fitness problems really began to hamper his career. After four injury-hit seasons he moved onto Manchester United, where he won his only Premier League title in 2011. He was released from Old Trafford last summer as his injury problems continued to limit his appearances, and he joined Stoke as a free agent.

In all, Owen represented England on 89 occasions, scoring 40 goals which put him fourth in the nation's all-time list behind Jimmy Greaves (44), Gary Lineker (48) and Sir Bobby Charlton (49). The only England player to date to score in four different international tournaments, Owen also captained his country on eight occasions.

However, an international career which included his individual wonder goal against Argentina and his treble in Munich never recovered from an injury picked up against Sweden at the 2006 World Cup.

Raikkonen: One of My Easiest Ever Wins

F1 is back, with a BANG!!! For any F1 fan, if you missed yesterday's race, where the hell were you??? Nobody could've predicted the outcome of the first grand prix of 2013. Well, only me and a friend of mine did. Kimi stole the show at Australia!!! Hahaha... Here's what Kimi had to say after the race. 

Kimi Raikkonen described his win in the 2013 Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix as one of the easiest of his career.

Raikkonen came through from seventh on the grid to win in Melbourne, joining Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso in a lead train after a good start, and then vaulting his rivals by two-stopping while they had to pit three times.

"Our plan was to do two stops and though it's always difficult in the first races to know when to stop and not go too early, we got it exactly right," he said.

"We followed the plan and it worked out perfectly for us. I could save the tyres and go fast if I needed.

"It was one of the easiest races I have done to win. Hopefully we can have many more of these races."

Alonso was closing in on Raikkonen in the final stages, before the Finn raised his pace, set a new fastest lap and pulled away to win by 11 seconds.

"Fernando was catching me at some points when I was taking it a bit more easy and I had some traffic, so I just wanted to make sure that if the rain came or anything I had a bit more of a gap," said Raikkonen.

"It was a pretty nice race, not so difficult."

Despite his perfect start to the season, Raikkonen underlined that Lotus could not be confident it was a title contender yet.

"It feels good but it's only one race so it doesn't really change our aim or our work," he said.

"We're happy with the win and there's a lot still to do to try to win the championship."

Samsung Galaxy S4

The successor of the most popular smartphone from the most widely adopted platform - it doesn't get much bigger than this in the mobile industry. After months of intensive rumors and amid unprecedented hype Samsung finally unveiled its Galaxy S 4 smartphone at its Unpacked event in New York.

At first glance the Samsung Galaxy S 4 might look very similar to its Galaxy S III predecessor, but you shouldn't be fooled by that. It's a completely new phone on the inside and it seems to have all it takes to keep Samsung ahead of the Android pack.

Fitting a larger screen of higher resolution in a more compact and lighter body, the Samsung Galaxy S 4 is also the first smarphone to feature an octa-core CPU. The Exynos 5410 chipset has a set of four Cortex-A15 cores to do the heavy lifting and another quarter of power-saving Cortex-A7 cores, which takes care of less demanding tasks.

Here are the rest of the Galaxy S4 highlights to get you started.

Samsung Galaxy S4 at a glance:
•General: Optional 2G/3G/LTE connectivity
•Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
•Dimensions: 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9mm, 130 g
•Display: 4.99" 16M-color Super AMOLED HD capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (441ppi)
•Chipset: Exynos 5410 Octa / Snapdragon 600
•CPU: 1.6 GHz Quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 and 1.2 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 / 1.9GHz Krait 300
•GPU: PowerVR SGX 544MP3 / Adreno 320
•RAM: 2GB
•OS: Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
•Memory: 16/32GB/64GB storage, microSD card slot
•Still camera: 13 megapixel auto-focus camera, face detection, touch focus and image stabilization, Dual Shot, Cinema Photo; 2MP front facing camera, video-calls
•Video camera: Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps
•Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, standard microUSB port with MHL features (TV Out, USB host), GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC, Infrared port
•Battery: 2600 mAh
•Misc: TouchWiz UI, Extremely rich video/audio codec support, built-in accelerometer, Smart stay and Smart rotation eye-tracking, Smart pause, Smart school, S Health, Air Gestures

More power, better screen, a host of new exclusive software features and a larger battery to keep it going logner - the Samsung Galaxy S 4 has all the right boxes ticked to be considered a worthy successor to the most capable droid so far. It also has a key advantage over its direct rivals in running on the latest Android 4.2 platform.

The second Jelly Bean release is too huge an upgrade, but it still brings some cool new features that take the user experience up a notch. Of course, Samsung, will be more keen to direct your attention to its home-baked goodies like Eye-scroll and Auto pause, which surprisingly or not, work pretty well.

England Rivals Outshining Out-of-form Hart

WhoScored.com's Martin Laurence takes a statistical look at the Premier League's top-performing keepers and reveals concerns for Joe Hart.

The debate as to who is the best Premier League goalkeeper has become more hotly contested this season as some number ones have come to the fore while the form of others have dropped.

In this piece, WhoScored.com will examine the vital statistics of those mad enough to play between the posts, looking closely at a battle for the England jersey that may not be as one-sided as most had believed.

A quick glance at the WhoScored ratings shows that the top keeper in the league this season has been David De Gea (6.99) and on closer inspection of his stats it isn't hard to see why. It is easy to say that the Spaniard will concede fewer goals (the third fewest in the division - 31) because of the quality in front of him but league leaders United have actually conceded more shots per game (13.1) than each of the rest of the top seven, and even Southampton.

Many pinpointed the first leg against Real Madrid as the night that De Gea really came of age in a United shirt but in truth he had been having an impressive campaign in the most part up to that point. Over his 20 league starts, the 22-year-old has faced 90 shots on target and made 70 saves. His overall save success rate is therefore 77.8% and the best of any first choice keeper in the league - Swansea's reserve stopper Gerhard Tremmel has saved just over 80% of the shots he has faced in 12 appearances.

It is obvious that most had Hart down as a shoo-in for the England number one jersey for years to come but Foster's decision to come out of retirement has come at a time when the 25-year-old has looked less convincing. It seems the West Brom keeper must have had some encouragement to change his mind from Roy Hodgson, and with the likes of Ruddy, Forster and Butland all on stand-by, Hart could be left scratching his head as to how to reassert his dominance over the position, rather than advertising shampoo.

Sir Alex Taught Me How To Be A Footballer

The prolific attacker has nothing but praise for his former manager, but is confident that Real Madrid can reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has hailed the role of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in his successes over recent years.

The Portugal international worked with Sir Alex during his spell at Old Trafford from 2003 until 2009 and has not forgotten about his former mentor.

"He is the coach who taught me how to be a footballer. I arrived in Manchester when I was just 18 remember," Ronaldo told Times of India.

"He directed my career in the best possible way and for me he’s one of the most important people in the world of football. I have a great relationship with him and it will be good to see him again. 

"Ferguson and Jose Mourinho are both great managers, both experienced, and both always want to win everything they can. That’s why they have been champions so many times."

The prolific attacker then went on to discuss Tuesday's return to Old Trafford and stressed that, even though United still hold a special place in his heart, he is desperate to come out victorious in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie.

He added: "Manchester was my home and is still in my heart. I love the place. You never forget when people treat you right. You never forget the people who work there and the fans. 

"So I’m very happy to return to Manchester. It’s going to be special but of course I am going there to try and win with Real. 

"More than anyone I know how difficult it is going to be, because I know how good United are and they have an amazing manager in Sir Alex Ferguson. I have a feeling we will win, because in my mind Real Madrid are the better team."

The Blue Samurai

The former Dortmund man's stylish hat-trick against Norwich City provided a timely reminder of what he can offer the club but there are still issues regarding just how he fits in.

Bookmarking Shinji Kagawa's Saturday afternoon were claims, from people who should know, that the Japan international will take until next season to blossom at Manchester United.

Kagawa - old boss Jurgen Klopp told the BBC's 'Football Focus' in the morning - will push on in 2013-14, after having had time to settle in to his new environment, and, in the early evening, current manager Sir Alex Ferguson advised that the 23-year old will be "far better" with a season under his belt.

However, what happened in between those statements demonstrates perfectly how 90 minutes of football can polarise identical sentiments.

Before Kagawa's stylish hat-trick against Norwich, a common fear was that the £17 million signing from Borussia Dortmund was ill-suited to his new Premier League surroundings. After it, many will view him as the perfect foil, playing slightly off Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie or a combination of the two.

Suddenly, Klopp's tempered appeal for patience is superseded by Ferguson's need to manage expectation.

Perhaps, though, what to expect from Kagawa lies somewhere in the middle.

The hat-trick itself was a lesson in clinical finishing, with the second goal a nonchalant pass into the back of the net and the third a wonderful display of awareness and ability. Both were characterised by a deftness of touch and a measure of imagination. 

Floating in and around Rooney and Van Persie, Kagawa looked both thoughtful and dangerous, with a single afternoon's work eclipsing his goal-scoring endeavours of the entire season so far.

In the aftermath of his match-winning performance it was easy to forget the long list of reasons – a season disrupted by injury, a lack of physicality, age, inexperience, and deployment in a range of positions – given for Kagawa's inability to take the Premier League instantly by storm.

For all this, Ferguson has no doubts about his playmaker's potential. The manager was seduced by the telepathic relationships Kagawa formed with almost everybody around him at Signal Iduna Park, particularly right winger Jakub Blaszczykowski. The deftness of touch was and remains to be clear for everybody to see, while his work rate is not in question; he posted the club's best ever 'bleep test' result upon his arrival last summer.

But the signing of Robin Van Persie always looked like it would pose problems for Kagawa right from the outset. Indeed, what was most illuminating in the Norwich game is that he only truly came to the fore when Van Persie was substituted, Rooney was pushed further forward and the Japanese playmaker was positioned in a central role, very similar to the one he made his own, just off Robert Lewandowski, in Dortmund’s 4-2-3-1. That was always likely to be the case.

It was from this position that Kagawa burst late into the box to notch his second and third goals, yet also ultimately pose longer-term questions about the specific role he is to play if he wants to start in this Manchester United team.

The 4-3-3 Ferguson used against Norwich showed that there's more to life than 4-4-2 at Old Trafford, but in Ferguson's favoured formation (he will argue it is a 4-4-1-1) and strongest starting line-up, Van Persie will always lead the line and Rooney will always play just off him.

Just how Kagawa makes himself a fundamental cog in the team, with playing through the middle clearly the way to get the very best out of him, is a concern that will probably be eked out over the course of at least a season or two - and will perhaps only be answered when Rooney is ready to adopt a still even-deeper role. 

For the meantime, getting the best out of Shinji Kagawa in the team's favoured set-up remains an issue of trial and error.

Not that that is a problem. With United still fighting on three fronts, the array of options and knock-on personnel variations an in-form Kagawa presents offers a stark contrast to the weary current fortunes of Ashley Young, Nani and Antonio Valencia.

First and foremost in a season that has been very much stop-start for Kagawa, Saturday's hat-trick proved an emphatic reminder that the playmaker has more than enough quality to feature prominently for a team that finds itself 15 points clear at the top of the table.

The sheer confidence of the finishes, against the backdrop of a season defined by niggling uncertainty, gave a timely reminder at a crucial stage of Manchester United's season of what Kagawa can do, and will continue to do throughout his stay at Old Trafford.

For the moment, though, Kagawa probably poses more questions than the answers.