Thirsting for new brew. - Daily News (New York, NY)

Byline: Elizabeth Lazarowitz

Oct. 12--Nevermind the backwards baseball caps and the plastic cups -- this was no drunken frat kegger.

At the New York City Homebrewers Guild's latest meeting, there was talk of the characteristics of 'crystal,' 'black patent,' and 'cara-pils' malts, how to make a wort-chiller and whether 'Cascadia hops' make beer taste like grapefruit juice. In addition, of course, to lots of homemade brew.

Minus start-up costs of around $50, making your own beer can cost less than half of what you would pay in a store for premium commercial brands or microbrews. For many of these self-proclaimed 'beer geeks,' though, brewing at home is a labor of love.

'If I drink a Guinness stout, and I want it to be less 'roasty,' they won't make it that way for me,' said Phil Clarke, a veteran beer brewer and editor of the Ale Street News, referring to the beer's smoky flavor. 'If I make it myself, I can make it how I want it.'

That includes beer flavored with spruce needles and his trademark McSpoon's Scotch Ale, which he brews to be almost 'cloyingly sweet.'

Membership in the American Homebrewers Association has grown 16 percent in the past year to about 11,500, said American Homebrewers Association director Gary Glass.

Homebrewing took root in the 1960s as beer connoisseurs looked for alternatives to the standard brews being produced by the big beer companies, Glass said. A microbrewing boom in the 90s created scores of specialty beer brands, but homebrewers still prefer their own products.

'Why do people still like to cook when there are so many restaurants to go to?' Clarke said.

In a Guild member's Brooklyn backyard last Sunday, he fussed with the thermometer in a large steel pot propped on a gas turkey fryer, impatiently waiting for the water to boil so that he could add in a can of malt extract. Around him, about 15 people were trying homemade beers made with exotic flavors like hibiscus and a blend of ginger and kaffir lime leaves.

Nearby, Sean White, a baby-faced beer fan who works at a Dean & Deluca deli counter, lifted the cover off a rigged sports cooler full of 'mash' -- crushed barley malt and hot water -- letting out a musky vegetable smell.v

He and pal Adam Winkel, a computer programmer, were making a batch of 'all-grain' brew they hope to serve at the Brewtopia beer festival at the Javits Center on Oct. 20 and 21.

In 'all-grain' brewing, brewers make the wort, or unfermented beer, from scratch, so it can cost just $5 to $8 per case of beer. But it also means hours more labor, and, for Winkel, dragging a 50-lb sack of grain on the train from Westchester to his New York apartment.

For the novice brewer, a basic equipment kit costs around $40 to $50. It usually includes food-grade plastic buckets for fermenting and bottling, plastic tubing for transferring the beer, a bottle filler for obvious purposes, a thermometer, a hydrometer for measuring the liquid's density and therefore its alcohol content, and a bottle capper.

On top of that, you'll need some kitchen basics like a large stockpot and a long nylon or metal spoon.

A pre-measured kit of beer-making ingredients costs between $25 and $30. It will have malt extract (a sugar solution made from malted barley), specialty grains (which add color and flavor), hops (which give beer its characteristic bitterness), sugar (which gives it fizz), and yeast.

Two cases of new, empty bottles cost about $20, but many beer drinkers recycle bottles from store-bought beer. Caps run $2 for about 150 and may be included in a kit.

New Yorkers can legally brew up to 200 gallons of beer per two-person household each year. That adds up to a substantial 1,920 bottles of beer on the wall.

'You have to drink beer while you're making beer,' said John Naegele, a financial planner who got into beer making about 15 years ago because the initial investment was much less than for making wine. 'But there's a limit to how much, because you don't want to forget you're making it. You won't get very good beer that way.'

MCSPOON'S SCOTCH ALE

16.5 oz. Crystal malt

4 oz. British chocolate malt

1 oz. Black patent malt

($1.50/lb each = $2)

6 oz. Peat-smoked malt

($4/lb = $1)

3 lbs. M&F Wheat Dry Malt Extract

10 lbs. M&F Extra Light Dry Malt Extract

($3.33/lb each = $43)

2 oz. Northern Brewer hops

($3.50/2 oz. bag = $3.50)

1 teaspoon Irish moss

($1.19/oz. = 20 cents)

1 pack Wyeast Scottish or Irish Ale Yeast

($5 per pack = $5)

Makes: 2 cases Grand total: $55

--Recipe by Phil Clarke

To see more of the Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.NYDailyNews.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, Daily News, New York

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News.

SPINE-TINGLING ART: How to promote ink cartridge re-use? Paint models' naked backs. - Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN)

Byline: Claire Joseph

Sep. 14--The message: use ink responsibly. The medium: paint.

The canvas: human bodies. Body artists plied their skills Wednesday, painting strictly Minnesota matter on models' backs in downtown Minneapolis.

Bob Dylan, Prince and Kevin Garnett were among the main attractions for 'Human Art Gallery: Paintings on a Human Canvas,' sponsored by OfficeMax. The event was aimed at OfficeMax's environmentally friendly ink-cartridge-refill program. While OfficeMax employees chatted with people on their lunch breaks about the consequences of irresponsible ink use, models displayed the beauty that can be found in ink. Royal Palmer, a Burnsville model and actor, showed off an image of the Walker Art Center's 'Spoonbridge and Cherry' sculpture while lying on the ground of a First Avenue parking lot. 'This is a difficult pose to be in,' Palmer said, 'but when I was getting painted, it was really fun. It's neat to see the finished product.' Palmer's back displays the spoon and cherry image with a woman's mouth, wide open, as if she were about to eat the cherry. It 'portrays the public eating up the art scene,' said airbrush and body-paint artist Dawn Svanoe of Madison, Wis. Svanoe spent the past week designing and creating stencils for the piece. Wednesday morning, she painted it, along with 'Purple Rain' and 'Border Battle' at the event. 'Purple Rain' paid homage to music icon Prince, and 'Border Battle' showed the rivalry between the Vikings and Green Bay Packers with the words '40 Years of Cold War.' The exhibit featured 10 human-art designs, including images of famous Minnesota musicians, icons, athletes and sports teams, including the Twins. OfficeMax is offering discounts for customers who bring in old ink cartridges they would like recycled, said company spokesman Bill Bonner. 'It is estimated that people throw away 300 million ink cartridges a year,' said Heather Schwartz, one of the event coordinators, 'and they are not biodegradable.' Claire Joseph can be reached at cjoseph@pioneerpress.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

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Not enough proof Bears' offense is really better. - Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)

Byline: Rick Morrissey

CHICAGO _ One of the great, all-time corrections in sports journalism history came about 20 years ago in Denver.

After much adding, dividing and general calculating, a newspaper columnist had discovered the ultimate proof of parity in the NFL: The league had become so balanced, he wrote, that the average record the season before had been 8-8.

The next day, after hearing from more than a few readers, the chagrined columnist wrote that, upon closer inspection, he had to admit the average record every season is 8-8. Has to be. Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose in equal measure. He regretted the error and his confusion.

There's a reason we writers don't major in math in college. But the point the columnist was trying to make about parity 20 years ago is still valid today. There are a lot of average teams in the NFL.

Here's the difference: At least in the middle of all that mediocrity, we had some great teams to have and to hold _ the 49ers of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice and the Cowboys of Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith, to name a couple.

There are no great teams in the NFL these days, unless the Steelers are hiding their inner `85 Bears and I'm missing it.

Which brings us to this year's Bears. We're being told not to panic about the Rex Grossman Wheel-Spinning Tour. We're being told that good teams have been known to struggle in exhibitions and that the real Grossman was on display Thursday night. That the other guy had been an imposter.

That's all fine and dandy, and I suppose if you subscribe to the theory the Bears can turn it on any time they want, then you're feeling quite relaxed right now. But there is an opportunity here just begging to be grabbed.

If the Bears are as good as they say they are _ and Lovie Smith, Coach Serenity, says they are very good _ they're one of several teams with a legitimate chance to get to the Super Bowl. Hey, I'm just going by what he seems to be saying.

This is where the sense of urgency comes in. This is where the panic starts tugging at your sleeve. If the Bears are that good, it sure would be nice if they left a few clues indicating so. Throw us a bone. Make us feel a little better about things. OK, you give us Grossman's touchdown pass against the Browns on Thursday. A start.

The fact of the matter is that, right now, the Bears are a leap of faith, or at least a decent hop of faith. You figure the defense, if the entire unit doesn't clutch a knee in unison in Week 2, is going to be good, borderline great. You figure the offense will be better than last year because anything would have to be better than last year.

But that's the galling part of this. The Bears are supposed to be much better offensively this season. We've been spoon-fed the promise of Grossman for so long that some of us were full of hope.

So imagine the shock when Grossman looked like Kyle Orton with a better arm in the first three exhibitions. Until Thursday night in Cleveland, he was the king of the overthrown pass. Nobody led a receiver by 10 yards the way our Rex did. But he finally looked good against the Browns in a brief appearance. Finally.

That's not four quarters at Green Bay.

The picture that has been painted of Coach Serenity as a man with a quick trigger finger, as a coach not afraid to make lineup changes_I don't see it. A cold-blooded coach at least would have mentioned that Brian Griese might be, you know, a decent alternative at quarterback.

Instead, we get Smith chanting, 'We like Rex.'

This is a peculiar organization. Linebacker Lance Briggs gets demoted for missing the voluntary off-season workouts. He gets his job back the second day of training camp. Wow, lesson learned.

Running back Cedric Benson gets reprimanded for not standing with his teammates during an exhibition game. How do the Bears react to the brouhaha? By vowing to get to the bottom of who leaked the news to the media.

If they spent as much time trying to fix their offense as they do trying to be Donald Rumsfeld, we would be talking seriously about the Super Bowl here instead of just wondering about it.

This is supposed to be a time of optimism for the Bears. Instead, the quarterback position is still very shaky, taking Grossman's body of work into consideration. Thomas Jones is upset that, after rushing for 1,335 yards last season, the Bears seem more interested in another number _Benson's $17 million in guaranteed money.

Smith has the look on his face that says he will be laughing about all this turmoil come playoff time. Here's hoping he's right.

Here's hoping the Bears don't end up with the NFL's average record.

___

(c) 2006, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/

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Young cook savors competition. - The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, NC)

Byline: Chick Jacobs

Sep. 19--Kasey Bass picked up her first cooking pot at age 5.

She hasn't put it down since.

Now 13 and a student at Coats-Erwin Middle School, Bass ranks cooking as one of her favorite pastimes.

'Actually, probably my favorite,' she said.

And certainly the most lucrative. Her recipe for Turkey Veggie Supreme earned her $250 at the recent North Carolina Turkey Festival competition.

'It's fun to do things like this,' Kasey said, brushing away an occasional gnat that wanted to check her culinary skills. 'It's creative, and you get to enjoy what you've created with other people.'

In fairness, it should be noted that Kasey comes by her cooking skills naturally. She comes from a long line of cooks in central North Carolina. Her aunt, Donna Barefoot, was a previous competitor in the turkey contest and a regular at North Carolina State Fair competitions.

'She's the one who got me started in cooking,' Kasey said. 'We'd watch her in the kitchen when we were little, and she'd have us start helping.'

Although she prefers baking -- 'I love making desserts, cookies and things' -- Kasey's entry in the cookoff was a careful consideration of flavor and nutrition.

'I wanted to try something that was easy to make, but nutritious,' she said. 'It's easy to make something quickly, and nobody really has the time to sit and watch things cook all day. But can you make it work without taking all day?

'So it took some time to get the right ingredients. I think it came out pretty good.'

When she's not in the kitchen, you can look for Kasey outdoors. She loves sports, especially softball and basketball.

'I can be competitive,' she said. 'I guess that can be in the kitchen, too.'

1 pound ground turkey

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 (1-pound) bag of frozen vegetables, thawed

3 cups hot mashed potatoes, combined with Velveeta prepared cheese to taste, or

3 cups Velveeta instant potatoes

In a medium skillet over medium high heat, cook the turkey until brown, stirring to separate the meat. Drain off the fat.

In a 2-quart shallow baking dish, mix turkey, half the soup, Worcestershire sauce and veggies.

Stir remaining soup into mashed potatoes. Spoon potato mixture over meat mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until hot.

If you know a cook you'd like to see in Cook's Corner, contact Chick Jacobs at jacobsc@fayobserver.com or 486-3515.

To see more of The Fayetteville Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.fayettevillenc.com/.

Copyright (c) 2007, The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

San Jose Mercury News, Calif., Morning Buzz column: A prodigy gone bust.(Column) - San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, CA)

Byline: John Ryan

Aug. 30--This one ceased being worth a laugh many years ago. It's just so sad.

Todd Marinovich -- whose father, Marv, served as the role model for the current generation's most obsessive and out-of-control sports parents -- could be headed to prison after the latest in a long string of drug-related trouble.

Police said Marinovich, 38, was skateboarding near the Newport Pier boardwalk about 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning and ran away when officers tried to stop him. When they found him hiding in a carport six blocks away, they said, he had powdered methamphetamine, a metal spoon and a hypodermic needle inside his guitar case. He is being held without bail on a felony possession charge and a probation violation.

The way we see it, Todd Marinovich was treated as a full-grown football player from the time he was born. Then when he left the Raiders and football forever in 1992, his life started over. According to that calendar, he's 15 and deserves some mercy.

Pops, on the other hand . . .

Contact John Ryan at jryan@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5266.

To see more of the San Jose Mercury News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mercurynews.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Big East can relax, but not too much - The Charleston Gazette (Charleston, WV)

MORGANTOWN - The Big East can probably rest easy for a while andnot have to worry about looking over its shoulder to see doom, gloomand the Big Ten approaching.

Whether or not the league should rest easy, well, that's anothermatter entirely.

It is, after all, only a matter of time. It always is and for theforeseeable future always will be. As the BCS league with the mostto lose and the least to gain in any sort of shuffling andrealignment of the 64 current college football power brokers, theBig East as it is currently constituted will always be vulnerable.

So why can the league rest easy for the time being? Well, thereare those who will argue that it cannot. Look at how rapidly theconference landscape changed just in the last week. One day the BigTen was sticking to its 12- to 18-month expansion timetable and thePac-10 wasn't even considered a player, at least in the short term.Within a week, the Pac-10 had added Colorado, the Big Ten hadplucked Nebraska, the Big 12 was - in a span of just 48 hours - leftfor roadkill and then revived in an even stronger form, and the Pac-10 - in that same two-day time frame - went from college sports'potential Goliath right back to David in a sense, having lost thechance to add Texas and Oklahoma and being left to debate therelative merits of Utah.

Shoot, look even at the Big East, which one day was salivatingover the prospect of adding Kansas and Missouri and the next wasback to perhaps foraging for Conference USA's best.

Whew.

Those who will argue that no one knows when the same sort ofrapid-fire, mind-boggling shifts might occur are right, but only toa point. It could very well happen and probably will. But not thisweek or next, not this month and probably not this year. Truth betold, college football may be safe from such upheaval for at least afew years.

The reason? Presidents, purely and simply.

No one can deny that all of this maneuvering is simply an armsrace. There is absolutely no other reason for the Big Ten or the Pac-10 or any other league to begin recruiting members other than tomake themselves bigger and badder. The bigger and badder they get,the more money they reap from television. The more money they have,the bigger and badder they can continue to get.

University presidents, though, will sully themselves only to apoint in such a battle for pigskin preeminence. Big Ten commissionerJim Delany talked in the weeks leading up to those recent eventsabout how his league didn't want to be seen as igniting some sort ofcollegiate athletics Armageddon. You can trust that the message camestraight from the Big Ten presidents for whom he works.

Each and every one of them is loathe to be painted as anythingother than an academician first. Yes, they all understand thesignificance of college athletics and the branding it brings totheir universities, but to be responsible for orchestrating thecalamity that would befall victims of conference expansion (i.e.,the member institutions of the Big East, Big 12, etc.), well, thatis so against the very principles they stand for as to be positivelyrepulsive.

And guess what? Nothing that happened last week painted a singlecollege president in a light other than that of looking out for thebest interests of his university while treading not the slightest onanyone else. Talk about your sighs of relief. The Big Ten addedtelevision value and got to the 12-school level needed to stage afootball championship game, the Pac-10 did the same with Coloradoand Utah, the Big 12 not only survived but will now thrive with muchthe same value and fewer spoons in the pot, and the Big East (aswell as the SEC and ACC) were not affected in the slightest.

Don't think for a moment that every Big Ten president isn'tabsolutely thrilled with that outcome. They have a stronger, soon-to-be richer conference, and in order to get there they sacrificedno other institutions. Plus, they have perhaps staved offcongressional intervention, which was certain to be an issue hadmultiple institutions been adversely affected (and still looms inregard to the BCS itself, although Utah's move to the Pac-10 mightget Orrin Hatch off their collective backs). And so now, if anyonehas the temerity to go to those presidents asking that they furtherexpand by raiding the Big East or the ACC, the answer is simple:We've already won. Let's leave it at that for now.

Will the landscape eventually change again? Sure. But not thisyear and probably not next if the presidents have their way, whichthey will. And by the time those same presidents are receptive tohearing further arguments, who knows what else will have happened toreshape the playing field and alter the participants?

All of which brings us back to the original question: While theBig East can afford to relax, should it?

The answer, of course, is easy: No. Whether it be in a year ortwo years or whenever, the same issues are going to arise. Asinarguably the smallest and most vulnerable of the six BCSconferences (vulnerable precisely because it is the smallest andwithout much football star power, and because of its location woveninto the Northeastern media markets), it will be a target. In fact,it will be a much more exposed target should the Big 12, asexpected, come out of this round of expansion even stronger.

How to strengthen the Big East, though, is the tricky part, andnot only from the perspective of its presidents, who also are loatheto disrupt and adversely affect other institutions. But hasn't thatalways been the case? No one wants to destroy what the league hasgoing for it on the basketball side, but that is at odds with what'sbest for the more lucrative football side. Everyone seems to havewhat they think is the logical solution, but those are usuallysimplistic formulas that fail to address all the issues.

Sure, adding football members seems smart, but how much wouldEast Carolina or Memphis or Central Florida really add? Perhaps anyor all or those schools (or any others that would seem available;Army, Navy, luring back Boston College) might add value, but enoughto increase per-school revenues? Doubtful, and certainly notsignificantly, if at all. And while it would help the schedulingside of football, would any of those schools make the Big East anyless vulnerable the next time the Big Ten comes calling? Not likely.

How about tossing Notre Dame to the curb if it doesn't sign upfor football? That does absolutely nothing for the football side ofthe league (which is the issue) and diminishes (although to whatdegree is arguable) the basketball side. Kicking out Notre Damemight be wise if it forces the Irish to then join the Big Ten andsatisfy that league's hunger, but for how long?

Oh, and convincing Notre Dame to simply become more involved inthe football side (perhaps by increasing the number of games itplays against league schools) is questionable, too. The Irish havealready agreed to do that once and the most significant result was apower play to try and get Connecticut and Rutgers to play seriesthat included no games at Connecticut or Rutgers, but instead inSouth Bend and at neutral sites. Gee, thanks.

Of course, there is always talk of a split between the footballand basketball schools in the Big East (and then forming some sortof alliance between the two), an idea which seems to be picking upsteam. Perhaps that is ultimately what is going to have to happen.After all, adding schools to the football side makes the basketballside even more unwieldy than it currently is.

But again, is it worth potentially destroying what is arguablythe best basketball league in the country in order to add to thefootball side schools whose value (both financially and certainly interms of fortifying the league against future raids) is suspect atbest?

These and others are the questions with which the Big East has tograpple. Fortunately, though, recent events seem to have bought themat least a little more time.

They would be well advised not to relax, but to use that timewisely.

Brent's office party - Scotland on Sunday (Edinburgh, Scotland)

THE demise of humour at Dens Park has been greatly exaggerated.For a kick-off, Dundee manager Jim Duffy is in playful mood. Havingbeen asked for some time with his defender Brent Sancho, he informsthat there are a number of ladies harbouring such a desire. Except,he laughs, he's sure they are after more than an interview. Thereasons may not be instantly recognisable to all but that's because,while the packaging may be to some tastes, it's what's on the insidethat's really attractive.

There's a depth to Sancho that is lacking in the stereotypicalfootballer. Intelligent and warm, his stimulating views on the meatyissues of life and death, education, philosophy, psychology, racism,the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and their legacy on life inhis adopted hometown of New York, are captivating and tackled withopenness and integrity. But on the more frivolous topics of sport,his dream of opening a Caribbean restaurant or his favourite books,he is equally engaging. The serious issues provoke well-thought-outviews and arguments, while an infectious 110-watt smile embraceslight-hearted moments.

It's that grin and the accompanying laughter, which, combined withDuffy's teasing, make a mockery of the headlines declaring a sense ofhumour bypass on Sandeman Street. 'Of course we are in a serioussituation,' he says of their drop into the relegation dangerzone.'But it's not the first time we've had to pull together. I've beenhere almost two years now but there's times when that feels like alifetime. The events that have taken place on and off the field, itseems never-ending at times. But I think adversity sometimes bringsout the best in people and in the situations where you need innerstrength, you learn more and you cherish life, football, yourprofession that bit more. If you want the rainbow you need to weatherthe rain.'

It's an admirably-positive philosophy considering the hand whichlife has dealt him. Experiencing a series of ups and downs in thepast few years, the Trinidad international, who emigrated to New Yorkas a 15-year-old, lost two friends in the Twin Towers tragedy, thensuffered more heartache when his international room-mate and boyhoodfriend, Mickey Trotman, and then, one month later, his cousin, diedin separate car crashes. He arrived at Dundee shortly before the clubwas plunged into administration, and, as he and his team-matesdrowned their sorrows, he was submitted to racial abuse andsubsequently forced to clear his name after being charged withassault.

In between it all he also graduated from university with majors inpsychology and sports science, and carved out a football career whichhas taken him across the USA, on to Finland, home to Trinidad and nowto Tayside, where today he faces friends and former colleagues, NachoNovo and Marvin Andrews.

'It sometimes just feels like I've been there, done that! I'veseen a lot and I've been through a lot of life-learning experiencesand they have helped me as a person, on and off the pitch,' says thedefender, who will celebrate his 28th birthday tonight by havingdinner with his team-mates and friends, including the Rangers duo.'It's made me a more well-rounded individual. You can sit and weepand wonder 'why me?' but if life gives you a silver spoon then Ithink you don't really get to understand or enjoy the meaning oflife. I think some of the things I've been through, although theywere tough on me at the time, have helped me a lot in terms of beinga better human being.'

His study of psychology did not end the day he graduated. The partplayed by the mind, in sport and in everyday life, is of constantintrigue. In his spare time, he only turns to his Playstation if hisbrain is about to overload on the latest information he has garneredfrom the internet, or from books, and his long-term plans revolvearound the psychology of sport.

'Footballers have a lot of spare time and I like to think I use itwisely. I look at life after football and think, 'yeah, I've gotthings I can do after football because of I have an educationalbackground.' I like the challenge of learning and love reading aboutpsychology and it has helped me put things that have happened in mylife into perspective.'

But it does have its pitfalls. He laughs as he recalls his firstday at university. 'In my first day in psychology class, the firstthing I did was start questioning whether or not I was crazy becausethe professor started laying out traits of schizophrenics and forother types of psychological disorders and I started thinking, wait aminute that kind of sounds like me but it was the same for everyoneand when you question things, you get a better hold of who you are.Once you understand your mind off the pitch, it helps you gear yourmind for things on the pitch and that helps you become a betterplayer.'

An amalgam of laid-back Carribean beach bum and win-at-all costsNew Yorker, his recognition of both traits means he has managed tochannel them both positively.

'That's the funny thing with me. I'm such extremes. On the pitchyou wouldn't think I am the same easygoing person I am off the pitchwhen I tend to be very relaxed and easygoing but on the pitch I'm theother side of that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and I kinda just go to theother extreme and battle, to prove people wrong and to win.

'Off it I'm just relaxed and a very laid-back, cool guy and veryquiet - you don't hear me much but on the pitch it's a differentstory because when I go out there I want to win. If you look back onthe life of Brent Sancho, you'd see me living in Trinidad and thenspending nine years in New York and I think both places are reflectedin the kind of person I am.

'New York is fast-paced and there's an attitude where you have tosucceed in life. There's no failures over there - no ribbons ormedals for second-placed and I've learned that attitude all the waythrough university and living there but there's also my Carribeanside, my West Indian side, being from Trinidad, where it's allcoconut trees and lying back on the beach, so the way I live my lifeis a mix of both. But I love challenges. Even when I decided to goprofessional, I started late. I was 21 and I'd finished universityand a lot of people didn't give me much of a chance but for me thathelped. I like when the odds are stacked up against me. I like beingthe underdog. I like that mental fight and I think I've become abetter human being and a better football player because of thechallenges I've had to face.'

The battle with racism has been a virtual constant in his life. Aguy who wears his heart on his sleeve, he also wears it on his wrist,which is adorned with a 'Stand Up, Speak Up' anti-racism charitywristband.

It was a racist slur directed at him on a night out in Dundeewhich led to the player and team-mate Stephen McNally facing assaultcharges. Although he was ultimately cleared, the court case stilltook its toll on Sancho and his parents. His dad was besieged by themedia in Trinidad, and family, drip-fed inaccurate information in aperverse game of Chinese whispers, required daily updates from areassuring Sancho, who deep down needed reassurance of his own.

'Again, I've been through a lot in my life but that was one of thetoughest, sitting in court, knowing you are innocent but feelingguilty because you are sitting in a dock. It was a surreal world. Ikept thinking this can't be happening but it was and all becausesomeone had too much to drink and started saying things theyshouldn't have. But I try to find the silver lining in every cloudand I'd say I learned a lot about myself and, though, initially, Imight have been angry, I can't say I hate the person who put methrough that. I sympathise with them and hope they get to learn aboutblack people and the pain and suffering that something like thatbrings to someone. I hope that in retrospect they have learned fromthat and other people have learned too.'

He looks to New York for inspiration. A city of diverse culture,there was very little integration before the terrorist attack on theTwin Towers. 'But since then, people have realised life is too short.Now you go out in The Village and there are black and white peoplesitting together and it seems normal. And it's a generation thing.Hopefully the next generation will see that and realise that's theway it should be.'