By Khilen Mehta

On Sunday night CSKA Moscow wrote yet another chapter in their illustrious history by defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv 77-91 to claim their sixth continental championship crown and second in the past three years. CSKA’s victory over Maccabi at the Community of Madrid Sports Palace moves the Russian powerhouse into second place on the all-time list and they are now only two victories behind Real Madrid’s haul of 8 crowns.

Trajan Langdon was named Final Four MVP after scoring 21 points on 4-of-5 three-point shooting and 7 rebounds to outscore six fellow CSKA teammates who also managed double figures in the victory. J.R. Holden added 14 points, Matjaz Smodis, David Andersen and freshly crowned Euroleague MVP Ramunas Siskauskas scored 13 points apiece.

Moscow coach Ettore Messina paid credit to both teams for providing such a great spectacle for the fans but believed his teams character was the main reason for their triumph. He described it as ” a continual challenge to match up with them while maintaining our team character.”

The victory gave  the Russian champs another title to add to their trophies from 1961, 1963, 1969, 1971 and 2006, with the 2006 victory also coming against Maccabi. Alas, this time for the Israelis, they fought hard but there was to be no sweet revenge…

By Will Cade

Alright boys and girls, grab your dirtiest looking red shirt, your sickle and hammer, and your ready-made retractible signs: it’s time to make a picket line. May is upon us, and you can almost smell the protests brewing. The communists are gathering, posting flyers around town and posting information on that grand, digitally grafittied wall - the internet.

May 1st seems to be the day of choice in Madrid, coinciding with the Mayday protests in London. A simple Googlesearch will reveal a manifesto’s worth of blogs, message boards, and political organizations providing information for Madrid. My personal favorite (liguistically not politically) is www.kaosenlared.net. In English, Kaos en la Red means Chaos in the System, with a bi-lingual pun written between the languages (la Red - Communism). Kaos en la Red also looks to be the most organized and professional organization of the search results, but my newly acquired Spanish soul quivers when I see that they are based outside of Barcelona. A communist organization from Barcelona organizing protests in Madrid? That sounds like political upheavel in a can, or maybe a blow horn.

The protest is set to happen at noon on May 1st outside Atocha on Calle Jacinto Benavente. YouTube has tons of videos from previous protests. Just type in “Manifestaciones de Mayo en Madrid” (May Protest in Madrid) and get ready to enjoy some soft, Spanish punk music and slow moving crowds. Honestly, the crowds from these videos remind me more of a 4th of July parade in some backwoods U.S. town in the 60’s, minus the capitilism. But still, the lackadaisical sentiment remains the same. The most threatening sights on the videos are a few Mohawks - which are lethal in and of themselves - and that oh so friendly Spanish favorite, the rasta mullet: dreads and a rat tail. I wouldn’t worry about too much about safety during the day, but I hear that things can get messy at night, when the protesters go from taking it to the street to taking it from the stores.

As an a-political prankster, I might take a look at the day protest, out of mere curiousity, but I’ll skip the nightly adventures running a muck through Madrid. I’ll leave that to the adolescents and childish adults.

By Khilen Mehta

In order to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the events of May 1808 and the start of the Spanish war of independence, the Prado has opened up a special exhibition to commemorate the works of Goya. The exhibition will fall within the framework of the commemorative programme sponsored by the National Committee for the Bicentenary of the Spanish War of Independence and visitors have the opportunity to witness more than 200 works of Goya.

The show will focus on the two great canvases of 1808 and 1809, which are currently being cleaned and restored, but will also analyse and focus on Goyas work in a broader context. More than 65 paintings will be loaned for the exhibition from other insitutions and private collections. These include Majas on the Balcony and Portrait of the Marchioness of Montehermoso, both from private collections; Friar Pedro de Zaldivia clubs Maragato the Bandit from The Art Institute of Chicago; The Capture of Christ from Toledo Cathedral, and a group of nine works loaned by the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid. All the paintings are essential to the theme of the exhibition and they will be used to further portray the context of the artistic development of Goya.

All in all, the quality of paintings on display is sure to make this one of the finest international art exhibitions on the works of Goya since the last one organised by the Prado in 1996.

Date:
15 April to 13 July 2008

Ticket prices
General entry: 6€
Reductions and free entry according to regulations
Advance booking for individual visitors: 9€
Free admission: from Tuesday to Saturday from 6 pm to 8 pm and Sandays from 5pm to 8 pm