A moment to cherish!

I often wonder how nice it would be to have a tool that blogs contents from our mind automatically (of course upon approval and moderation :D), as that's the need of the hour for me. If I even blogged 10% as much as I wanted to, this blog would be overflowing with posts. Of all those events I wanted to blog about, there was one, strong enough to drag me all the way into blogger - India's victory in Word cup.

People who know me well would probably be surprised, as I'm known for being the devil's advocate ever since the Azhar, Jadeja days. Even a couple of days back, I was arguing about how this whole thing is becoming one big masala movie and I was totally sure that India will win, listing out the reasons why a hero should triumph over all disasters in the end. I was stunned when Ravi Shasthri projected a 275 total when Srilanka were making less than 3 runs an over and that turned out to be the exact target for India to chase. IPL scheduled within the next few days, India beating all the old rivals on its way to the final and so many other things made/make me think that there is some form of predefined results involved.

But all that said, I was immensely proud when Indian team lifted the cup and earned the top spot in ODI and here's why.

1. The most awaited moment - I don't know the exact stats; but I'm sure that at least 60% Indian families are interested in cricket in varying degrees. If there has been one thing that all these viewers have been waiting for, it's India's triumph in the World Cup tournaments. Nothing could match a great milestone achieved after a long period of expectation, anxiety and longing. This definitely is one.

2. The respect it earns for the nation - Facebook is flooded with updates, Twitter has no energy to tweet anymore and Gmail Buzz hits the 100+ mark in less than 10 minutes; and everything just boils down the one word - respect. Even people who don't know much about cricket turned their heads to see what is so spectacular about this and why so many people are euphoric. Knowingly or unknowingly, this creates a positive vibe about the country and I felt like I was watching "Invictus" live.

3. The first step to being a superpower - In all these years, I've never known a field where India dominated so much, owning the stakes and having command over things. Cricket without India is almost a fantasy right now and needless to say BCCI now owns the space. From how we were treated a couple of decades ago, this is what I call an achievement.

4. Inspiration - When something good happens, there is always a free supplement to it - inspiration (advice is another). Dhoni is now being studied as a great leader who stood up for the nation, taking charge of things and standing by his decisions. That is something that Indians are going to remember for a long time.

5. The future of sports - If India (hopefully) wins a couple of other tournaments as well, it could very well be the start of the golden era of Indian sports. I sincerely hope this would put an end to the days when over a billion people eagerly wait for a bronze medal to celebrate an "achievement".

Roger that :)

At last, the champ has managed to conquer clay too... Definitely, he'd be much relieved now and as he said "Now nobody can say he never won French Open" :)

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, Nadal is definitely a lot more sportive than him. But when it comes to the game, I can't think of anyone who impressed me as much as Roger. Let me try to think of the top few reasons for this... :)

Alligator spirit:

No matter how the game progresses, he will be hanging around until he breaks in. That's something that defines a champion.

Versatility:

The variety of shots, strategies and game plans he could put to use is just unbelievable.

Style:

Lot of players play the game well, but not everyone gets the style. Even the simplest of his shots will look like the most elegant shot one can play :)

Demoralizing the opponent:

Once he gets his rhythm, I couldn't imagine anyone except Nadal who can handle the pressure. He just blazes through and makes the opponent's life miserable.

Playing full-court:

Unlike many other tennis champions, he can play virtually everywhere in the court with the same level of comfort and dominance. With other players, they remain at the top of their game only in their comfort zone. Nadal for instance, collapsed against Soderling because he was constantly deploying top spins and that was a piece of cake for the opponent given his dimensions.

Painting the line:

The way he hits the ball just along the line (especially with the single handed backhand), pitching just on the baseline is a treat to watch. As simple as it looks, it is an unbelievable shot and one needs enormous control to play that shot. :)

In short, I concur with the statement that he is the greatest tennis player ever! :)

That said, let me a few videos where the champ is at his best... :)

And before moving on to the videos, let me congratulate Leander Paes for winning the doubles cup. Unfortunately, we never publicize that or encourage anyone except cricket players. Let's hope for a positive change just like any other department in the current state of affairs...









I can just keep adding more and more! Let me stop here :D Way to go champ...

Rafa - You won my heart!

I'm not a tennis expert in anyway and all I've to do with the game is the occasional games we played and the tennis matches I watch. Personally, I like Federer's game much better than any of the contemporary players because of his variety, composition of the shots and the way he makes everything look so easy. But in the presentation session of Aus open 2009, it was Rafa who won my heart all over and I really admired the sportsman in this guy.

Firstly, emotional or not; it's not a good thing to cry when someone else is being rewarded. Wimbledon at least had an excuse... Broken plays, dull ights, rain, etc etc... But this time the last set was pretty much one-sided and Rafa won him straight to get the cup... So I definitely wouldn't like to see a champion who has won 18 grandslams to cry like a kid when Rafa is being given the cup.

The part that surprised me though was Rafa's empathy for Federer. Man... he didn't even smile and there was absolutely no need for him to apologize to Federer. That in my terms is called sportsmanship and humanity. He also mentioned that he is no different from the person he was 5 hrs back and it's important for someone to know who he is. This level of humility from the Spanish youngster is mind-blowing. Though I feel his game is power-packed and not as classic as Federer's is, I'm sure I would cheer for him with a complete heart in the upcoming grandslams...

Bridge

I've been oscillating between too many topics and in the end I ended up writing none... Let me pen them down one by one! :))

Of all the indoor board games invented by man, I've always been fascinated by the game of cards. Pretty simple concept - a stack of 52 cards (54 if you included the jokers) classified into 4 varieties; giving innumerable gaming possibilities. I remember inventing weird games that I used to play with a small group of friends during my childhood. From the simple jackpot (keep putting down your cards alternatively until the same number repeats) to strategy games, there is something for everyone in these 52 cards. I remember the quote - "Life is like a game of cards... None knows who invented it and the players didn't frame the rules. The person who does the best with the given cards, wins". How true...

Until I came here, the game I played the most is rummy - forming sets with at least 3 cards per set on a hand of 13 cards! There were (many a) times we were awake all night playing the game... My good old friend Tampa changed this too! :)

I started playing an inherently beautiful game - 'Bridge' and it just wiped off all my past favorites. Even though it is as dependent on the hand that you get, as with any other card game; bridge is not just about luck... It's about team work, communication, calculations, strategies, taking chances and what not... I love the communication part in particular where the bids that you and your partner make can change the course of the game... The same holds good with one wrong move during the course of the game. Unless you have the artistic perfection to play the right cards at the right time, things could always topsy-turvy; unless you have a very strong set of cards which is bound to get you the expected result - eyes shut. Unlike other board games like chess, you don't always get the same set of cards (or pieces) every time and it's not worth by-hearting the moves as one does with games like chess. All you get is guidelines and it's up to you and your presence of mind to turn things to your favor. In short if you want to spend hours together thinking, celebrating and sighing, bridge is the game for you and trust me, you would find the game irresistible.

http://rpbridge.net/ has a very good collection of resources on the game both for beginners and advanced players. But it takes some real deal of time and brain to understand even these tutorials! :)

WWF and IPL

I was a big fan of WWF during my high school days and there have been days when I traveled 10-15 kms (approx 6-10 miles) in my bicycle to watch the matches; caring damn about the scorching sun. It used to be so appealing, you know... the color, the style, the characters, their mannerisms, the trademark shots, the music, the varieties of matches (tag team match, iron cage match, 'kiss my foot' match and so on) were just so attractive that a bunch of us were crazy fans of the program, which even led to real time fights between us. Often it'd be a quarrel on who's great - Hitman or Crush... Undertaker or Diesel... Lex Luger or Yokozuna... Jeff Jarret or Sparkie plug!

Hitman

Crush (my hero :D)

Shawn Michaels

Yokozuna

The best feature of WWF in my opinion was the way the matches were held/handled. It'd never be monotonous. 'Heroes' (during their initial) will have a lot of matches with unheard wrestlers so that they can thwart those kids and establish their popularity. There is always a discrimination between good and evil; and good heroes always keep smiling, entertain their audience a lot, gift their audience with sunglasses and arm bands while the evil always remain in anger, keep shouting and are immoral when it comes to their attitude. The fight between the good and evil comes up once in a while and the ratings skyrocket during these clashes. The best part is good always wins over evil but not so easily. Initially the super hero undergoes a lot of suffering and pain; and in the end, out of nowhere the hero wins and is declared the champion. The drama is stereotype when it comes to 'tag team' matches. Pair 1 and pair 2 clash - person 1 from pair 1 (the good pair) is hit hard by person 2 from pair 2 (the evil pair) and at the end, pair 2 decides to change roles by tagging person 1 and giving him his chance to hit the already exhausted person 1 from pair 1. Just when person 1 from pair 2 reaches out to hit him, the weak gains power from nowhere and tags his partner who is a superhero. The superhero steps in, destroys both elements from pair 2 and destiny is reversed - the good wins over the evil. There was a time when I argued that all this is true but as I developed a little bit of maturity, I understood the drama behind the entertainment and my interested slowly faded off. After I quit watching, there had been a lot of improvements in the 'masala' behind WWF and now there are girls coming out half-naked with the wrestlers and the whole story is fabricated just as it happens in real life (wrestler 1's GF insulting his partner - wrestler 2 and they become enemies; & stuff like that). I've added the video of one of the most dramatized heroes - 'The Undertaker'



After a decade (ok... more than a decade :D), I got the same feeling when I watched the IPL matches. Some players a paid a huge chunk of money and made heroes - classic example Dhoni, Symonds and so on. Out of these there are good heroes (like Dhoni) and evil heroes (like Symonds - read http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23016114-23212,00.html if you don't know why). The matches keep happening and some teams keep winning, some teams keep losing while some others win and lose. Just when everyone thinks that the team that lost the first four matches has no way to come in to the top few, the team starts playing like a champion and thwarts the other teams (read heroes suffering first and winning later). At one point there would be more than five teams competing for the top four places and nothing could be decided until the last few matches. The audience thoroughly enjoy the action providing expert comments on the shots played, the line and length of the balls bowled, the fielding, the captaincy, the commitment of the teams, the cheerleaders and whether or not these cheerleaders affect Indian culture; based on their rich experience as viewers. I couldn't control my smile seeing the same spirit I had in me thirteen or fourteen years back; in these grown-up kids enjoying the magic created by a similar show with a better drama behind it.

Cricket or WWF, the bottom line is money and actors, politicians and industrialists are not crazy to invest their money on something that has no clear trends. Whether it makes sense to watch these matches or not; it sure does make sense from the perspective of the investors. After all, it's value for their money and if I were them, I would've invested at least as much in IPL. :)

P.S: With little idea on the algorithm behind the matches, I feel that Chennai Super kings would win the cup given that it stars the Indian captain (superhero) who has been offered the maximum remuneration. After all more investment = more returns.

It's tennis time again!

If you could remember, I wrote a post last week on the Tampa tennis tournament that we contested in and if your memory is too good, perhaps you would've noticed that it was a mix of pros, ameteurs and first-time-racquet-holders. Since our ego (we seriously have no reason to have one with our 'outstanding' tennis skills :D) was hurt, we planned to organize an even contest for equally competent (or should i call it equally weak) colleagues and the end product of all our brain work was a Tennis tournament open to our colleagues and their families.

The first day was fun and it was my first time in the tennis court as an umpire :) It wasn't an exciting thing though to watch the net and the line all the time; the worst part being a chair umpire without a chair :)) But I'd say the purpose was solved because it was all fun, tough contest for the most part and a bunch of happy faces at the end... A few snaps from the tournament for you!

My first sports tournament - Ever :)

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you would've noted that I've always stayed away from sports ever since my childhood up until I came to Tampa. And, you know what? Tampa took my sporting to the next level - I participated in a tennis tournament! LOL. It wasn't a pro tour or something but it still was a big thing to me - the first experience.

It was fun indeed... I spent the day with a bunch of desis in all weird combination of dresses, accent and peter level (degree of pseudo-Americanization). It was my first clay court experience and I got to play with a few 'real' tennis players and understood that I need to improve on certain areas. Further it also shattered my belief that I'm not even close to picking up the game. A few whoosh serves and top spins surprised me but I was pretty comfortable in returning even the best of their strokes. I was especially satisfied with my serves and when a good player misses your serve, you feel as if you've won the match!

Personally I felt that the organization could've been better and with the round-robin team formation and strictly 6 game sets, even though it was a doubles game, there was a third player on each side - madam luck and unless you had her favor you can't even get close to the top of the list. (It should not take a rocket scientist to predict that I ran out of luck many a times) After a day full of matches, gatorades, phone calls and driving (the match venue was 40 miles away from our place); I didn't have any material benefit or a trophy in hand but what I did have were a bunch of lessons, lots of strokes to analyze and moments to cherish!

Sports and me!

Ever since my childhood I've always been a XXL (in Indian standards)! :) I tend to spend time on self-analysis, thoughts, movies, strategic games and perhaps magazines and books at times. Given that there are just 24 hours a day and out of that I spend at least 10-12 hrs (on a holiday) sleeping, this implies that I hardly got any time for sports. To complement this, the environment I grew up was not like a colony in Manirathnam's Anjali (see video below to get a feel of what I'm talking about).



It was a good mix of upper middle class, laborers and middle class families (let's say 10%, 50% and 40% respectively) each having their own aspirations and interests. With the lack of space and conflicting status/interests, we kids hardly got along with each other; let alone playing together. The wheezing trouble I had during my childhood was the chief of all these hindrances and it almost put a full stop on sporting. The best I played was during my summer hols when we played cricket and badminton and when I say summer hols it should be presumable that I'm talking about my high school days! Even during college, when I got involved in a wide variety of activities, the sports section of my resume still remained blank! :)

Years ran by, things changed and today I'm in US as a Software Engineer and I'd say this is the most active portion of my life as far as sports are concerned. Tennis, Volley ball, Table Tennis, Swimming and a bit of cricket, basketball and snooker have all become my frequent and favorite hobbies. I'd say tennis is the best of the lot in my view and my interest in the game has grown a lot off-late. Playing a physically consuming game like tennis is quite refreshing indeed.

Irrespective of the game that we play, there is just one constant factor to win - reduce the errors and at some point the opponent will commit a mistake. It's taken 25 long years to infer this basic rule and I wish, pray and hope that this trend continues and keeps me fit before I start becoming a XXL in US standards (trust me a XXL here is almost twice as wide as a XXL in India).

Cricket!

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to fill in the logical series India, sport, _____________. Quite obviously the answer is Cricket and in India and the definition of sport has been Cricket for quite a while. Other sports including the national game hockey are greatly ignored and a person who follows Hockey world cup wouldn't be a hero in a group that celebrates a person who remembers when and in how many balls Sachin made his 17th ODI century! If India wins the T20 cricket world cup the entire nation celebrates while people hardly know whether the Indian team plays in other world cups or not. There are so many who are ready to fall straight at the feet of Sachin while they don't even know the name of the captain of the Indian team in any other sport.

Looking at this from a sports person's perspective, it is highly unfair and it's a grave injustice to the other sports both by the media and the Government policies. But cricket has become much more than just a sport. Akin to YouTube, a site that gets its 9/10 page rank purely because of its visitors; cricket is becoming a large scale business. India might not be the richest country in the world but the Indian cricket board is the richest in the world with better revenues than any other cricket board including the Australian board. Actors, business men, politicians, product companies and almost everyone with a considerable chunk of money has invested their black, white and gray money in Cricket. A recent statistics that I read in my friend's blog says Ishanth sharma (the newbie pace bowler) is getting hundreds of thousands of rupees for every ball he is bowling in the IPL! That is the level to which money has been liquidated through Cricket.

All said and done, as long as there are folks who worship Cricket and the players it's quite natural that investors would look at Cricket as a Golden duck that takes their products to a larger group of people and converts the bars in their returns charts into skyscrapers. It'd be great if the Government can do something to make the other sports equally popular attracting more and more investors there by helping sports, sportsmen and the best of all - Indian economy.