Cyclysm

Lance Armstrong had a "face plant" in the Tour of California and had to drop out. Check the results of that crash here: Just when I thought I couldn't get any uglier
And he has responded to yet another drug allegation: Lance Responds
Can't wish Lance get well soon because he is anyway already back riding even after that kind of an crash/injury but Lance do stay out of trouble, need you there for all of those 23 days in July :-)

Never Stop!!! LIVESTRONG

An amazing ad. I watch this time and time again...
Happy New Year!!!

TdF

Le Tour is done, those 23 days in July are over. Lance Armstrong's comeback was the highlight for me. His charge on stage 16 after falling behind on the climb to Col du Petit-Saint Bernard gave us a chance to see the old Lance...amazing!

Other highlights were getting to see the climb of Mt Ventoux for the first time. The stage that day itself was a little let down for me as it did not produce much excitement. There was too much strategy of the defensive kind on that climb and less of the risk taking and fireworks. Alpe d'Huez still remains my favorite TdF mountain. Another find from this year's tour was finding a really beautiful vacation spot. The tour this year passed through a really beautiful lake town, Annecy. Check it out here...Annecy.

TdF remains one of my favorite sporting events. Don't know why, maybe it is the sheer brutality of the event or the fact that it is the ultimate example of what an unwavering spirit can accomplish. Or is it Lance Armstrong? Unlike other things in life which you really start to get into only when you dig deeper into the subject and start to appreciate the nuances, TdF had me hooked from the beginning. The first time I watched TdF I knew there was a human by the name of Lance Armstrong riding in it and it was probably why it hooked me but this happened without me knowing squat about cycling or much the event itself...

Getting back to this year's TdF, the Schleck brothers were amazing. Andy Schleck is just 24, compare that to Lance Armstrong who is 37. If I want anyone else other than Lance to win next year it would be Andy. They both need to improve their individual time trialing ability. Can't wait for next year, can't wait to see what shape Lance will return in. Can he still remain in the top 3 and make a run for the top spot??? I sure hope so, can't wait to see the head to head between Andy and Lance...

Euro 2008 - Friday the 13th - Group of Death

Brrrrrrrrrrr...how ominous is today, its Friday the 13th and the most dangerous group, in the Euro 2008 football tournament, has two very critical matches. This group, the group of death, consists of 3 teams currently ranked in the top 10 teams of the world, world champions Italy, Netherlands and France.

The Dutch have been the most impressive, already thumping Italy 3-0. France has been dull, playing a very lackluster 0-0 draw with Romania. That brings us to today's fixtures, first Italy versus Romania. Must win game for Italy otherwise they are probably out and will no longer control their destiny. The second game is Netherlands versus France. Again France needs to win to remain alive. The draw between France and Romania has complicated matters but definitely made this group even more interesting...

My predictions for today ;-)
Italy wins 1-0 against Romania
1-1 draw between France and Netherlands

ps: I have a day job so don't go putting money behind these predictions :D

Sreesanth's Antics

Harbhajan's ban is definitely justified and fitting but there was niggling doubt that there was more to the story and Sreesanth the guy who growls and snarls after every ball with or without merit, usually more of the latter, was getting away with something.
Then this article by Anil Dharker caught my eye and it really showed that Sreesanth was no innocent victim that he tried to portray himself as by crying on the field.

In the Mumbai Indians-Punjab match there was clear evidence that the Kerala fast bowler, whose bark is always worse than his bite, had abused the Mumbai team right through its innings, including its captain Harbhajan Singh. We didn’t need secret cameras to see it, everyone could see Sree Santh snarl like a rabid dog again and again hurling four-letter words at Bhajji as well as Musavir Khote, the last Mumbai man out even as he walked back to the pavilion."

Playing for the India A side in the Salve Challenger Trophy, he first sledged Virender Sehwag who had just hit him for four. “You hit like this only in domestic matches. How about some runs in international cricket?” An obvious taunt at a then out-of-form batsman.
A few overs later he had the temerity to go down the pitch and glare even at Sachin Tendulkar after beating him outside the off-stump. The next ball Tendulkar did what he does best: let his bat do the talking by hitting the bowler over his head for a six. But Tendulkar didn’t stop at that. He went up to Sreesanth and said, “Never ever come this close to me again.”

That is why you can believe that no one in the Indian team likes Sree Santh. That is why even the elder statesman of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble are said to keep him at arm’s length once they are off the field and that is why even the young M S Dhoni, the charismatic limited overs captain had this to say in a column about the recent incident: “Before issuing any punishment, I hope the authorities check the actual sequence of events rather than just what the footage shows. It’s a lot like what happened between Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi. What Zidane did was wrong, but Materazzi also was not completely in the right.”

If Dhoni, Tendu and Dravid have this opinion about Sreesanth then there is no way I want him representing India in cricket. First he is not that good that he goes to rile up players like Hayden and Symonds. Second, even if he was good, his behaviour against local players in IPL just puts me off. It was all fine and well the first time he danced on the pitch after hitting Nel for a six, that was good stuff but now set an example, drop him from the team. We need aggressive players on the Indian team but that of the mindset of Dhoni and not the stupid-aggressive type of Sreesanth.

Full article: A slap for Sree Santh and Engineer too?

That's it...WE WON!!!

I can barely define the shape of this moment in time...
-- Pink Floyd

We won't get bullied again... :)

If you saw the India vs Australia match, you'll know what I am trying to say. I have not screamed so much during a cricket match in a long time. The commentator said it right, the big teams like South Africa and the Aussies have tried to bully India off the field but our guys have stood there and took every punch thrown at them. And how we've hurt them back, first sending the hosts SA and now the Aussies packing home with one the most amazing string of victories...

The match against the Aussies was such a hard fought battle. Batting first, India had a slow start but lost two quick wickets. At this point the Indian team of the past with all its so called 'senior' players would have been expected to crumble like a house of cards, but no! Like in the previous matches, the team stood strong. Yuvraj swung back in style and strung two critical partnerships with Uthappa and Dhoni.
Then while India was bowling Australia again tried to intimidate us. Again the young guns of India stood their ground. Time and time again Australia would send one bowler packing for 15 odd runs in an over but instead of losing heart and standing at the boundary, Dhoni made changes and brought the bowlers back with amazing results.
Australia was literally home needing only 30 runs from 3 overs with 6 wickets in hand, that's when we turned the tables on them. We tightened the screws so much that it was Australia, just like South Africa, that crumbled like a house of cards...

Australia has defeated India so many times in world cup matches. They've thrashed us before, but the way this young Indian team gave it back to them, was a sight to see. We gave them back what they deserved...what a victory!!!

T20

I have been sucked into watching cricket all over again. The way India has been playing in this shorter form of cricket, not ODIs, even shorter, Twenty Twenty, has been really invigorating. Except for the match against New Zealand, we have played 3 awesome matches. The players are playing with purpose, grit and determination. Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly not coming to this tournament was a great idea, these young bunch of kids are really worth watching. Something I have never ever seen before in Indian cricket...
In the last match Dhoni injured his back so he was fielding at the boundary instead of wicketkeeping. At one point the ball came towards him and it was easily going to beat him to the ropes but he flung himself flat towards the ball, it still was a four but the effort was worth watching. And this has been going all around, they are throwing their bodies everywhere to stop the ball. The catch by Dinesh Karthik to dismiss Graeme Smith was stunning…

Our bowling is weak and strong at the same time. RP Singh and Pathan have been bowling superbly. On the other hand Sreesanth and Agarkar have been horrible. Harbhajan is trying hard, he got hit for 15 runs in the first over but came back real strong in the next two overs, so he doing ok. But that is still leaving us nearly 2 bowlers short and that is a real worry...

We threw the NZ match, with an awesome start chasing 191 to win, we finally lost by 10 runs. In that match I didn't see even 1 wicket earned by NZ, our batsmen gave away all their wickets, terrible performance. But the other three matches, defending 140 against Pakistan, 218 against England and 153 against South Africa have totally worth watching. Maybe defending is the key, should we defend against Australia? Maybe, given that we have won 3 matches defending and lost 1 chasing…

So let's see how we play against Australia today in the semi finals. But for me as long as there is effort on the field like they have been putting in this tournament, cricket is worth watching all over again...

Not so skrood...We won!!! The batting had to click today and it did! The start by Sachin and Saurav was like old times. And the finish by Robin Uthappa...wow! Heart stopping stuff after a long time and it feels good to come out on top ;-)

Cricket: skrood again!

How do you let an opposition team go from 228 in 43 overs to 316 in 50 overs? Well if you have a bowler like Agarkar it is not too difficult. Dravid also helped, he gave the 50th over to Yuvraj instead of Powar who had 1 over remaining and Yuvraj in the process got hit for 5 consecutive sixes in that over. But what happened before that is key...

India played with 3 specialist bowlers and Agarkar as the 4th specialist, if you can call him that. So what does Agarkar that a-hole do? Read this…
At 228 for 5 in 43 overs Agarkar comes in and gives up 14 runs in the 44th over. Zaheer who had just given only 2 runs in the 43rd over, comes again and bowls another beauty of an over giving up only 3 runs. Then that jhakki Agarkar comes in again and merrily gives up another 13 runs in the 46th over. Again Zaheer comes and gives up only 7 runs in the 47th over. That too because off the 2nd ball the batsman played a cheeky shot for a 4 but Zaheer still managed to come back strong to bowl 2 dot balls. Now Dravid had no option to bring in Yuvraj and Tendulkar to bowl overs 48 and 49. They did whatever they could but then Dravid gave the 50th over to Yuvraj again instead of Powar and so 5 consecutive sixes were hit off Yuvraj. And this magical moment can all be attributed to our so called 4th specialist bowler Agarkar (63 runs in 8 overs), f$#$er...

The commentator said “Agarkar looks like a bowler who doesn’t know where to bowl…he is running in with fear…fear of where the next ball will be hit!” Can someone explain how can that a-hole Agarkar, a mediocre bowler even by domestic cricket standards, have such a long career with our team? He keeps making a comeback into the team, on what basis does he get selected again and again???

Nadal can play on grass...

If Federer is the best tennis player of all time and I think he is, then Nadal is a very very close second.

From how the Wimbledon finals played out I agree with what Federer told Nadal at the net "You [Nadal] deserved to win today, but today I [Federer] was the lucky one."

The game was unbelievable. Federer is god, no doubt. No player past or present comes close to him but yesterday Nadal did the unthinkable. He not only matched Federer but was clearly outplaying him. And this is on grass!!! Even when Federer was pulling out all stops, Nadal took the fight to him. I have heard commentators tell many times that Federer wins many matches in the locker room itself. That's how good he is, people come out afraid, and on grass people just wilt in front of him. But Nadal was the Lion on the court yesterday, something even Federer himself couldn't do at Roland Garros this year when he had the chance. All heart man, all heart...

It was just an amazing match, can't remember two players at their peak going at it like this, toe to toe at the same time. Almost every point was worthy of making it to the highlight reel. I personally will remember this match for Federer's record tying 5th consecutive title but will probably remember it more so for the fight Nadal put up...

Hey! Did they just show some cricket?

Steve Waugh watched some of the world cup matches in India and looks like we left an impression on him. Here is what he had to say "[The telecast] is annoying, ridiculous and an insult to the game to see an advertisement being squeezed in just because the bowler has not reached the top of his run-up. The telecast in India is unwatchable." Luckily he was watching from some bar so he probably didn't catch the commentary by some of the 'greats'.

Anyway, I can't agree more with Iceman. I am sure he used his famous 'Iceman' skills to survive the telecast because it was just so hard to watch a match this world cup without flinging the choicest of abuses at everyone involved in the coverage.

The telecast was laughable, if something happened on the last ball of the over like a four or an lbw appeal then kiss goodbye to the replay. Before you could say "howzzat!" or "wow!" the ads would have started and you would be left wondering "wha? how? huh?" And suppose if the telecast got back from the ads and the bowler was still in the process, with his captain, in setting the field then bang! You were back to watching some of same ads all over again. Also I just hated the ads that occupied the bottom portion of the screen destroying the scale/aspect ratio of the cricket portion of the screen. The coverage was very disrespectful towards cricket and the people watching it. I hope Set Max never ever gets to telecast any more cricket and am just waiting for ESPN/Star Sports to telecast some matches...

I really like the way how ads with cricketers have disappeared off the TV these days. Only poor Irfan Pathan's that Indian Oil ad keeps coming.
BTW the Appy fizz ad where the Parsi family is watching cricket with Appy Fizz is pretty hilarious. The Parsi lady shouts "money grows on trees or what", a really stinging poke at the other sponsors and companies that spent bundles of money on the Indian team and on this world cup. Watch it here: Appy Fizz Ad

UEFA Champions League

Liverpool and AC Milan despite losing the first leg of their respective semi final matches came up with much better performances to win their second leg matches and make it through to the finals. The match up of Liverpool and Milan in the finals, which is the repeat of the 2005 finals, is the best I could have hoped for. In 2005 Liverpool beat AC Milan in penalties, this time I want and also think AC Milan to and will win. You have to look at Milan's matches with Manchester United to see why...

Liverpool had lost 0-1 to Chelsea in the first leg but won the 2nd leg 1-0. Being tied at an aggregate score of 1-1 the teams headed for penalties where Liverpool's goalkeeper pulled off two magnificent saves. He guessed right twice and saved two low and hard drives to send Liverpool into the finals. I saw the first leg and Chelsea looked better and I felt Chelsea would win the second leg too. But, I missed the second leg, from the reports I read Chelsea played with a very bad defensive strategy. They thought they would sit on the one goal lead but Liverpool made them pay. From the highlights Liverpool did look as the better team.

Now in the other semi final match up, AC Milan in the first leg, despite a stunning performance by Kaká had lost 2-3 to Manchester United. Dida, Milan's goalkeeper, had a very poor performance where he committed two bad mistakes that had resulted in goals. Dida's performance was so frustrating that one Milan fan had put Dida up on sale on eBay and just before eBay pulled out the auction item the best bid for the goalkeeper was just 96$s! Dida's second mistake was in the 91st minute deep in extra time that resulted in Milan going into the second leg down 2-3.
In the second leg Milan just outclassed ManU, winning 3-0 and thus going through on aggregate 5-3. I saw both the matches and ManU was a shadow of its own self in the second leg. They gave the ball away 21 times and C. Ronaldo was responsible for many of those. Kaká and Seedorf executed a perfect script to embarrass ManU. Milan used the home field advantage thoroughly, the San Siro crowd cheering every Kaká move and jeering every C. Ronaldo slip up.
Here is what one report had to say “Certainly, C Ronaldo owes his manager a performance after last night, so too Wayne Rooney, both of whom only needed to look to Kaká and Clarence Seedorf to know how true winners respond.”

During the first leg the commentators had gotten into an argument about who is better Kaká or C. Ronaldo. And obviously one English commentator picked C. Ronaldo and went on and on about his pace and brilliance. But the two matches showed how people should not even be mentioning C. Ronaldo along with Kaká. Kaká scored 3 goals in the two matches and two of them in the first leg were just his own sheer brilliance. C. Ronaldo had so much possession and took so many free kicks all amounting to nothing. But anytime Kaká had possession he was breathtakingly fluid with sublime control. He created opportunities all round and just ripped the ManU midfield and defense. After these two matches there is no doubt in my mind who I consider to be currently the best footballer in the world.

Highlights from the the first leg of the Milan vs ManU match, just keep your eyes on Kaká:

Aaila! Tendulkar!

Tendulkar should consider quitting - Ian Chappell

I don't agree with the conclusion of this article but some of the points being brought up are correct. First off, I don't believe Tendu is playing for the sake of statistics.
One of the biggest problems is that Tendu does not have a role in the team. Give him a role and ask him to perform in that role and I believe he will get it done. Anyway here is the article...
ps: Navjot Singh Sidhu is the biggest ass on all of cricket TV today. This guy never talks logically and only uses clichés that make no sense. He doesn’t give other people a chance to talk at all, cutting them with some dumb lines that only he thinks are smart. He is so irritating that given a choice I would pick to even watch Mandira Bedi over him.

(via CricInfo)
Ian Chappell
In the fallout from India's early demise at the World Cup one of the major decisions will concern the future of Sachin Tendulkar.
Before anybody else makes a decision on what will happen to Tendulkar the player himself has to have a good long look in the mirror and decide what he's trying to achieve in the game. At the moment he looks like a player trying to eke out a career; build on a glittering array of statistics. If he really is playing for that reason and not to help win as many matches as he can for India then he is wasting his time and should retire immediately.
When you think that for a decade Brian Lara and Tendulkar went head to head in a wonderful battle of stroke play to establish who was the best batsman in the world, they are now worlds apart in effectiveness.
Lara's quick-footed tip toe through a terrific innings against a good Australian bowling attack when the rest of the West Indies top order succumbed easily was in direct contrast to Tendulkar's stumbling effort in the crucial Sri Lanka match. The amazing thing about Lara's brilliant career is the fact that he hasn't changed his style at all over seventeen years. This is a credit to his technique and mental strength, as the aging process generally makes a player more progressively conservative.
Tendulkar hasn't worn as well; his last three or four years have been a shadow of his former self. His double century at the SCG in January 2004 was a classic case of a great player really struggling. He came to the crease out of form and despite amassing all those runs and batting for in excess of ten hours he was no closer to recapturing his best touch than he was when he started out. It was a tribute to his determination but it was a sad sight to see; there are enough average players around that you don't won't to see a class one reduced to that level.
Tendulkar hasn't been as lucky as Lara; the Indian batsman has suffered a lot of injuries in this period where his play has deteriorated and there is nothing that melts your mental approach quicker than physical handicaps. Lara has been relatively free from injury and he certainly doesn't have the weight of numbers riding on his shoulders that Tendulkar does.
However, the population of the Caribbean might be small but they are extremely demanding. Despite all the fuss and the odd controversy that has surrounded Lara's career he has remained himself; this is my game and that is how I play. For whatever reason Tendulkar hasn't been able to maintain his extremely high standards for the last few years and unless he can find a way to recapture this mental approach he's not doing his team or himself any favours.
If Tendulkar had found an honest mirror three years ago and asked the question; "Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the best batsman of all?" It would've answered; "Brian Charles Lara." If he asked that same mirror right now; "Mirror, mirror on the wall should I retire?" The answer would be; "Yes."

Lyrics of that Goan song in the Nike ad...

'Wait, partner, wait
First let me play
If you don't play, I'll keep chasing you all day

Our game is like this only
Where we have no time to think
It is the game of cat and mouse
That I have begun to love
And in the falling running breaking
My destiny is entwined'

I could make out bits and pieces beforehand, stuff like 'khelche amche osle' which means our game is like this only, then the last word is 'phasle' which is entwined and some more words here and there like that.
This ad is awesome therapy if you are having a slow day and want things to pick up or need a jump start :)

Nike Cricket Ad

Nike is showing this awesome cricket ad these days. World cup fever I guess. Anyway it's quite brilliant and captivating...The pause near the end when the guy is just about to bowl the last ball is just perfect...

AGASSI AGASSI AGASSI...Fight On!!!

Floyd Landis has failed a drug test. Of the two samples that he gave on the day of his spectacular rebound on a tough mountain stage, one sample has excessive levels of Testosterone.

What is wrong with professional sport, this drug thing is so widespread, take football, cycling, athletics, baseball all these professional sports and many others have strict drug tests but at regular intervals people get caught.

Floyd's performance was so good, people were impressed and talking about him, the Discovery team wanted him, he had gained respect the hard way but looks like it wasn't...

Floyd wins it!!!

Floyd Landis with a really amazing performance on the mountain stage 17 and with a fairly strong performance in the individual time trail on stage 19 won the tour de France. He won over second placed Oscar Pireiro by 57 seconds and over 3rd placed Andreas Kloden by a minute and 29 seconds. Carlos Sastre was relegated to 4th.

Kloden also had a really good time trail and pushed Sastre down to 4th place to take the podium finish. But Oscar Pereiro gave a performance of a lifetime to cling on to second place. It looked as if Kloden would end up 2nd but Pereiro held on.

Overall a good tour because it remained open ended for so long and so many new people had a chance to shine. But since people like Lance Armstrong, Jan Ulrich and Ivan Basso were missing the whole tour lacked in experience and acted as school kids on certain stages. Take the fact of Oscar Pereiro gaining 30 minutes in one stage and then Floyd Landis losing 10 minutes on one day and gaining 8 of them back on the next! The Peloton lacked leadership in such situations and acted a little immaturely in letting these things happen. If the big guns had been there they would have never let such things happen...

In closing, Floyd (who hails from San Diego and has an Amish upbringing) completed Le Tour '06 in 89 hours 39 minutes and 30 seconds covering 3657.1 kilometers (including two mountain ranges, the Pyrenees and the Alps) at an average speed of 40.784!!!

TDF 2006

The tour has crossed the Alps and in those 3 days the race turned upside over its head and then came back straight up again!

On Tuesday on the legendary L'Alpe-D'Huez climb the top contenders separated themselves. All of them made it through without much damage and Floyd Landis regained his overall lead. But on the next day on Wednesday Floyd Landis cracked. On the La Toussuire climb Floyd gave up 10 minutes. And Oscar Pereiro had the yellow jersey. Floyd and his team Phonak will be ruing the day when they let Oscar Pereiro, who was 28 minutes behind at one point, gain 30 minutes on a flat stage. The 10 minute loss put Floyd roughly about 8 minutes back from Pereiro.

In any case on the next mountain stage Floyd redeemed himself. He broke out around the 50 kilometer mark and rode all by himself through about 5 climbs and about 150 kilometers. He won the stage and pulled off one of the most amazing rides. He showed real courage and managed to pull back almost all of the 8 minutes. Floyd had managed to do the unthinkable.

Now only the individual time trial (TT) remains (on Saturday) as a stage where the lead can change. Going into the time trial the podium places are almost decided. Only Andreas Kloden who is about 2 and a half minutes behind has an outside chance to upset the top 3 riders who are: Oscar Pereiro (leader), Carlos Sastre (12 seconds behind) and Floyd Landis (30 seconds behind).

Floyd is good at TTs. The other 2 are not that great but on that day anything might happen. It is going to be a very exciting day...

This tour has been really topsy turvy. There have been 7 wears of the Maillot Jaune (means the yellow jersey, 'my-oh jhohn') and it has all been terribly exciting :)