A Common Fan’s Sports Diary

This one really has me stumped. We have seen the media in England and Australia wage psychological battles against the visiting cricket teams including ones from India. The Indian media on the other hand pays foreign cricketers to write guest columns – ones which criticize our cricket and berate our players. And sometimes it helps these foreign players promote their books as well. I can understand the rationale of guest articles written by knowledgeable former players but cannot fathom the reason for ones written by the current ones.

Is there such an acute shortage of sports content in this country that we have to rely on these visiting players?

Or, are these newspapers still suffering from the ‘white man’ complex – letting these white cricketers preach us on the game?

As for getting the opposition’s side of the story, we don’t need that. That is all we get when we travel abroad. Is there no cricket patriotism amongst the newspaper people?

And if this wasn’t painful enough, now we have guest columns from our great sports administrators as well. Mr Suresh Kalmadi waxed eloquent on how the Delhi half – marathon was the perfect build-up for the Commonwealth Games. On one hand the media conveniently forgot to report the trouble the 2010 games are facing and on the other hand they give the culprits an opportunity for self –praise.

Don't be surprised if an Indian newspaper publishes a guest column by this guy soon

I wonder what could better this – a guest column from Osama Bin Laden perhaps

Dear Ricky,

As an Indian cricket fan, it gives me tremendous pleasure in writing to you now. I was pleased when you got berated in the home series by your own fans but at least you had the full-fledged support of Cricket Australia then. Now that the public is baying for your blood for being over –defensive and trying to save yourself a suspension at cost of the match and the series and your cricket board seems to have joined them with Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland asking you for an explanation, I am over the moon. Wonder how you are going to handle this now.

I am surprised that you and your team called the Indians defensive for their approach on Day 3 of the final test match. Didn’t you recognize the same stifling tactics that Australian sides have so successfully used ever since they got a bowler called Glenn McGrath? It started on the historic tour of the West Indies in 1994-95. Now you can’t take it just because you are on the receiving end. I guess that attitude is part of your DNA. You have to define the boundaries of sledging. You have a right to decide what kind of match-fixing is OK and what kind is not. And the same goes for your so-called gamesmanship. You guys pride yourself on playing cricket the hard way, right. So what is all the fuss about now? Guess sometimes it gets too hard for you.

We are looking forward to the 2008 edition

You guys (the likes of Adam Gilchrist ) have perfected the art of selling books. You always come up with some controversial nonsense to get the public intrigued. You seem to have done the same with your last memoirs. I was wondering what your next memoirs would be called- Now that you have added another feather in your captaincy cap. You became the first Aussies captain to lose the Ashes in 20 years and now you have become the first guy to lose a series by a two test margin in 25 years. That is quite a legacy you have there. You could call your next memoirs – A rare Australian captain – that would be fitting, considering your record and your popularity. Or you could call it – Losers and Cry-babies too

All the best for the upcoming Ashes. Last time you kept complaining about the substitute fielders. This time you have will have to lock horns with a real bully in Kevin Pietersen. I cant wait for the series to get started. It’s not everyday that you see ‘A rare Australian captain’ in action.

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan has spoken beautifully for me and many others – twenty somethings who have spent their entire adolescent and adult lives watching the Fab Five in action.

How different will cricket be for me; without this extraordinary bunch?

Will it wane my interest in the game?

I think hard and another exodus comes to mind

I was a tennisaholic in the glory days of Becker, Edberg, Courier, Sampras, Agassi and Ivanisevic

Now I only watch when Federer plays Nadal

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What are the odds that this story gets made into a hindi film if a top director or an actor like Aamir Khan gets to read it?

Are they as formidable defensively as they were last year?

In addition to being the champions in 2007-08, Man United were also the best team in the league, both, offensively and defensively. The scored the maximum goals and conceded the fewest – also ending up with the maximum number of clean sheets as well. The following table gives the goal scoring and conceding details of the top four. Man United led on all counts

2007-08 EPL Season

And now here’s the same table for the 2008-09 season so far. Numbers in brackets show the expected number had the clubs maintained last years averages. We are only 11 games into the season and the averages will change, but there is enough of an early trend to worry United fans and bring a cheer to their Chelsea counterparts

2008-09 EPL Season so far

United are still as good as last year in banging in the goals but their defense seems to be slipping. The numbers point to a clear fall in their defensive standards from last year. Their performances against Liverpool and Chelsea where they couldn’t defend one-goal leads corroborate what the numbers have to say. Last year, United were winning these games, holding on to one goal leads splendidly. Not so this year.

The other interesting thing shown by the numbers is the huge leap taken by Chelsea – both offensively and defensively. Liverpool have the same number of points, but Chelsea under Scolari have started doing what Abramovich always wanted – decimate the opposition with their attacking prowess. And at the same time they seem to have improved on their defense – supposed to be the highlight of Jose’s reign. Wonder what the great one has to say now

But more importantly, are we seeing a worrying trend for United?

What do you think?

This article was originally published on www.soccerlens.com

Is this really great news for Archery?

The Hindu carries an interesting story, about, how in the wake of Abhinav Bindra’s Beijing success, the Olympic Champion’s sport has become a favourite amongst school children. Enthusiasm for this sport has reached such levels that the Navodaya Vidyalaya at Bagalur near Bangalore has raised an entire high school team. This team has brought great glory to the school.

This is great.

A sport other than cricket is becoming popular amongst shcools and students. Also that a top daily is covering this development.

But wait

The sport which these school children are falling in love with is Archery and not shooting. The article talks about the resounding success of Indian archer Abhinav Bindra at the Beijing Olympics.

There are two possibilities

One is that, the children’s taking up archery and doing well in it has nothing to do with Abhinav Bindra. The connection is the imagination of a poorly informed reporter and an equally poorly informed editor desperatley looking for a great story. So rather than appearing to be concerned about other sports, the paper ends up looking poorly informed about other sports.

The other rather unlikely possibility is that there is indeed a conncection. That someone told the children a lie about Bindra being an Olympic champion archer to enourage them to take up the sport. They ended up doing that and doing really well at it. In that case, however, the story should have been different. It should have been about Bindra the shooting champion inspiring children to take up differnet Olympic sports like archery.

But the story mentions Bindra the archer.

Is it possible that the reporter was also tricked by the lie which fooled the children

That reporters as naïve as small children do sports reporting says a lot about how much importance the media gives to non-cricket sports in this country

Thanks to Nimish for breaking this story

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We are not talking about a goalkeeper here

We are talking about Irish Footballer Rory Delap, who has the most amazing throw-in ever seen in the game of football. His throws regularly travel a distance of 35 plus metres and touch speeds of 60 Km/hr. What makes them even more dangerous is their flat trajectory, making it difficult to pick the ball’s flight and thus creating havoc in the opposition defence.

Many a manager has tried and failed to counter the aerial threat of Rory’s throws. As noted by Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill, these throw-ins are as effective at creating goal scoring opportunities as a corner kick or a free kick. Little wonder that 7 of the 13 goals scored by Delap’s club have come off his throw –ins

Here’s a study of his technique for those of you aspiring to become the next ‘Human Sling’

The following video about his throwing prowess begs the question.

What if Rory Delap had taken to throwing a javelin or a shot put instead of throwing a football?

Are we looking at someone who could have been an Olympic Champion thrower?

Dear Mr Modi

This is the second time I am writing to you. The first time, I wanted to know what happened to all the money made from the IPL. You haven’t answered that one as yet. I guess you are too busy, what with the multiple positions that you hold. Well, we will come back to the IPL money and your numerous designations later. I have more important questions to ask first.

Freud would have loved to analyze his brain

Have you had a long history of suffering from temporary memory losses or from multiple personality disorder?

Or has the affliction been a recent one – starting from the time you saw your dream of starting the IPL?

Because nothing else can explain the recent remarks made by you regarding the ICL not satisfying the norms of authorized cricket

First you wear one hat of the IPL commissioner – someone who shamelessly copied the concept of the ICL and then called it his own. Someone who has seen the ICL make major inroads this year and feels threatened by its growing popularity.

And then you sit on the five-member ICC panel which decides what constitutes ‘official cricket’ and what does not. Is there a more clear case of conflict of interest? The only way you could be doing justice to both roles, is if you were suffering from one of the above mentioned ailments. You could then seamlessly shift into the ICC role without any influence or knowledge of your IPL role.

Then you have made the rather ignorant statement saying that there is no window in the international calendar to accommodate the ICL. Tell me seriously; which League has caused more problems to the International calendar, the ICL or the IPL. If there is any doubt then I suggest you check with the Srilankan and English cricket boards. Moreover, the ICL is largely made of aspiring or semi-retired cricketers who don’t have much to do with the international calendar anyways.

You have given two arguments as to why the ICL does not satisfy the norms of official or authorized cricket. Both these norms are news for me and surely a creation of your imagination. And that you have a really confused imagination owing to your multiple personalities makes matters worse

First you have said that the ICL is not built on a pyramid structure, whereas the BCCI-created IPL is built on one. What you forgot to add was that the BCCI pyramid has faults at every level - faults which are a result of a nepotistic architecture which forces a lot of deserving cricketers off the pyramid. Also that this pyramid has a defective foundation where little is spent on the lower levels and millions splurged on the topmost level. The BCCI pyramid is no good and therefore by Mr Modi’s argument, a league (the IPL) backed by a defective pyramid should also be unfit to be deemed official

And then there is your piece de resistance – calling the ICL a profit making exercise. What in god’s name is the IPL doing. And as already complained earlier, we are not even getting a whiff of where all that money is ending up. What were you trying to imply when you called the ICL a corporate effort – that its wrong to be transparent and promote meritocracy like they do in the corporate world. The EPL and the NBA, which you claim, the IPL has borrowed heavily from, are also corporate profit making efforts.

And what do you have to say about the Sanford 20-20. Is it official or not. Is it a corporate profit making exercise or not. Does it have a pyramid like structure or not.

You also mentioned something about the other, new, corporate tournaments that are coming up. What are these tournaments that you are talking about? Are they for real or just taking place in your imagination?

I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw corporate backed tournaments in your dreams, all the time

After all one corporate league has already been causing nightmares for you

This is an appeal to all Indian sports fans who really care about India’s performance at the Olympics.

Its time we started doing something about it. Its time we started paying regular attention to the Olympic sports, and not just once every four years - when the Olympics are on.

www.IndiaAtLondon.com is an effort in that direction. And I am proud to be part of it. This is what this website intends to do

We need more ‘true sports fans’ to really make an impact. If you think you are one then come and join us – lets make something happen together.

Let’s start preparing for glory at London 2012

Go India go

First my heartiest congratulations to Vishy. I have waited for 13 years for this moment and now Iam thrilled to bits. For those who have read the Hindu epic ‘The Mahabharata’, I feel exactly like Draupadi would have felt after Bhima killed Dushasana and she washed her hair with the slain man’s blood to fulfil her vow. Just for the record, I have no intention of further damaging my precious little hair with Kramnik’s blood. I just share the same feeling of redemption

As for Vishy, he would have done the Count of Monte Cristo proud. I am sure he’s carried the pain of that crushing defeat to Kasparov in his heart all along and waited for a chance to avenge it. Now the revenge has been completed in the most emphatic manner.

This was Mount Everest for Anand

This is easily the biggest win of Anand’s life. Please make no mistake - the World titles won in the round-robin and knock-out formats just don’t compare. None of the super GM tournament wins can match this. This was chess the good old-fashioned way. Any chess aficionado will vouch for this. This win will also shut up all the critics (mostly Russian) who thought Anand was a little shaky in the classical format. He just crushed the guy, who everybody thought was the master at this format.

As far as chess goes, Anand has now completed the full collection of achievements and titles. He has now won and done everything there is to win and do in the game of chess. He has won all the tournaments in all the formats. Has won titles in classical, blindfold, rapid and blitz. Beaten man and machine. Has achieved an ELO rating of 2800. There is no peak left unconquered.

He is as complete as Roger Federer would be when he wins the French Open. Or Sachin Tendulkar would be after he gets a triple hundred, wins the Cricket World Cup and gets a test series win in Australia. He is as complete as Zinedine Zidane who’s won the World Cup, the European Cup, the Champions League, League titles and also the title of the World Player of the Year.

India's Best

In the annals of Indian sport, Vishwanathan Anand now shares space only with Dhyan Chand. They are the only two guys who ran out of challenges very early in their lifetime.

Anand is well and truly a ‘complete’ champion now