The magic of watching sports live

I am an unabashed sports fan and have been for most of my life. Earlier, I would be happy playing some outdoor sport or the other, with the passage of time, playing has lessened and focus has shifted to watching live sporting action. And my last job sure helped me fulfill some of those ambitions.
The sheer thrill of walking into Lords to watch the traditional season opener for the English season is something I cannot put into words. It has to be experienced. The envious comments among friends upon seeing a picture of that experience is itself reward if you ask me.
Another tick on my list of live sporting events to watch was ticked off when I made it to Reading on a cold November night and saw a woeful Reading team take on the mighty Gunners with Adebayor in full flow. Adebayor had not succumbed to greed and shifted to City then. The abiding memory for me was the biting cold in the stadium and immense respect for the thousands of fans who throng these games in almost subhuman conditions year after year and the players who have to ply their trade in these conditions.
And after years of wanting to see Sachin score runs in an Indian win, I finally saw it in the India vs Australia test match in Bangalore. The final day was magical with the crowd going wild with every run being scored and also watching a debutant play the innings of his short career was truly magical. I must recommend the sports loving crowd in Bangalore for the wholehearted support they give the players. Barring some boors, the crowd in general is very sporting and passionate. That is an experience worth living.
Another longstanding ambition was to see Schumacher drive a F1 car in anger. That was fulfilled this year at the Marina Bay street circuit in Singapore earlier this year. Though he was woeful, it still meant a lot to be able to see him drive in the flesh.

When you know that there are many more such experiences worth looking forward to, you know that life is good!

Of electricity bills and other mundane matters

Early morning today while reading the paper I got a shock which turned to amazement and then to outrage. People running multi-billion dollar corporations with CSR initiative to assuage collective guilt should not be spending obscene amounts of money on scarce resources like electricity.
Mukesh Ambani had the perfect opportunity to make a green statement with his new house in Mumbai. It's actually an affront to the term house to call his new abode that, I feel. Instead of cashing in on an opportunity, he chose to flaunt his considerable wealth and create a monstrosity that consumes electricity that could reportedly light up the houses of 7000 people in Mumbai for a month. All this for just one month in a 12 month long year. I am also sure that in cases of power outages his abode has gas guzzling generators which will keep him and his family in comfort and spew out heat and smoke out into the already polluted Mumbai air by the cloudload.
What a shame!

Azad Kashmir

Natives of Kashmir want independence from india apparently. Wonder if they realize that azadi is a pipe dream for them. Or is it that they prefer to be known as Pakistani? Or do they prefer the Chinese I wonder. Now that would be called jumping from the frying pan into the fire. I sometimes wonder what these separatists smoke in their spare time! Sheesh!

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Random musings

Just looked up my blog count and realised that I was really prolific in the first year and its tapered off in the next two. Happens to everything in life. The trick is to persist with the ones worth persisting. A lesson I have to take to heart.

CWG - Delhi 2010

What a fiasco it promises to be! Four freaking years and we are nowhere near ready. The worst part is that the country seems to have woken up just now. And the skeletons are tumbling out thick and fast. I can't believe that I'm thinking this but I hope that the games don't go ahead. If they do, we might have real alert skeletons to deal with. What with the substandard materials used to make all the stadiums, they could all come tumbling down.

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Deja vu!

Right when the team for the T20 World Cup was announced, I had this sneaky suspicion that it was going to end in shambles again for India. I just didn't think it would be this shambolic. After having watched India beat Afghanistan and SA in round one, I was a bit surprised but then normal service resumed in the Super 8's. Watching the batsmen jumping and ducking like scared children against the Aussie quick's, I was ashamed. That killed whatever remaining interest I had in watching the matches. I was spared the remaining grief thanks to that decision.
All this brings to mind a eerily similar performance at the last T20 World Cup in England. What were the coaching staff doing? What were the players doing in the meanwhile? Why do we still continue to carry passengers in the team? Who questions the selectors if anyone does? Questions, I am afraid, I won't get answers to anytime soon.
Another win in an inconsequential match somewhere and all this will be forgotten. Sadly.

Yet another one on LKM

Something about the man put me off. I don't know the guy personally yet he put me off so totally. I was surprised at my distaste but could not stop myself. And then the now infamous tweet happened to LKM.
I am sure he would sue the founders of Twitter if he could. Their creation has almost single handedly stripped LKM of the veneer of all encompassing power and authority over a property which he thought was his personal fiefdom rather than a game we all love.
I am convinced that he is not thinking straight or rather was not thinking straight when he blustered his announcement on the Kochi team fracas to the world. No one in their right mind with the number of enemies he has made over the 3 year term of the IPL would have made such a ham handed mistake. Then the carefully put up pack of cards that the IPL is collapsed all around him and on him, leaving him gasping for air and friends.

God knows what his fate is going to be, but I am sure there are many people who would like him to suffer even if they didn't/don't know him.

Class will out they say!

I am not so sure anymore. The selectors have announced the team for the T20 WC and there are no surprises which usually is a good thing. Not in this case. I feel they needed to surprise us this time.
How many chances do people like Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma have to get before they are found out? These 2 players are absolutely disdainful of the talent they have for the game and are pretty much bent on self destructing. More power to them, but they are holding up places from more deserving albeit less talented players. This was probably the best opportunity to send out a message to them and others tending to behave like them to shape up or ship out. Talking about shape, has anyone noticed the beer belly's on Yuvi and Rohit.
For International level sportsmen, that is just plain disgraceful!

Yesterday was 1989 all over again!

The man I grew up idolising just converted a whole new generation last night with an epic in Gwalior. How blessed were the people who were at the stadium?
Something told me, he would get the double yesterday and I didn't utter that thought to a soul for fear, I'd jinx the great man. I shouldn't have worried. No one looked even remotely close to getting him out.
Dale Steyn will never forget the flick for 4 from outside off in a hurry! How does one player do that to the best bowlers in world cricket, just ask Shane Warne or Shoib Akhtar. The list is endless. May that continue for some more time please!