rantlust

Posted by tafkap on February 04th 2008 in Sports
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In the NFL, there are only two possible outcomes when you win the first 18 contests of the year. You win the last game, finish with a perfect season as champions, repeating a feat that has been accomplished only once in the history of the NFL (though the season was 17 games long then). 19-0.

Or you lose the last game, with a record of 18-1 and go home, wondering about that 1 game that got away. It sure feels better to end the season 0-16.

What does an 18-1 season sound like, you ask? Quiet as a pin drop. My otherwise garrulous 7 year old whose entire footballing memory consists of ‘and the Patriots win again’ was speechless for the first time I can remember. I hear the clackety clack of the keyboard from the next room (no I tell myself, the office isn’t any quieter today), and I swear I hear the distant roar of laughter from not so distant New York and perhaps the rest of the country.

Life goes on. It’s just a game. There’s always next year. 18-1 must be better than 0-16.

But, why does it hurt so?

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Posted by anupcs on August 17th 2007 in Celebrity, Sports
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Watch the wife clapping like the stuck-up Brit that she is.

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Posted by riyer on July 22nd 2007 in Health & Fitness, Outdoors, Roads, Sports, Trivia
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When I was studying for my BSc, undergrad to you ‘mericuns, my friends (a very colorful bunch - I must add) and I, had some hilarious - albeit crass, expressions. These were expressions you would dub as “poly” (i.e foul) in kannada and they indeed were, but I am convinced that we made some of these up on the fly. One that I had reason to remember yesterday is “niN tHeega karGathe” ( i.e. arse will dissolve or reduce). Another Hindi expression also came to mind yesterday- “gaanD phategi” less chemical than the Kannada expression and a tad more pathological, it simply means “arse will rip”.

Why was I remembering these yesterday? Actually I can Google map the exact spot at which I remembered these expressions..but I am getting ahead of my story. Over the last 10 years, every year, I have set myself a physically challenging goal to accomplish. There were a couple of trips up Mt. Whitney, a few up Half Dome, and a few backpacking trips etc. Most of these goals I successfully accomplished but there have been a few failures, the most notable one being Mt. Dana. A few frequently tell the story of my stupidity that cost me the mountain, but I attribute it to chivalry (yes, it is not dead, long live and all that rot). Turns out I gave my gloves to someone and as I continued my way up the summit, the wind-chill was so brutal it was dangerous to continue which forced me to turn around.

This year has been like none other. I started off in May by doing a 3 day backpacking trip along the Lost coast (will do it again, anytime). Ran a 10K and next week is the opportunity to go back to Mt Dana - (I have given adequate caution to my hiking partner about warm clothing and gloves). I have been telling my buddies that given my fitness this year I will whistle my way to the top of this 13,500 feet mountain. We start hiking at Tioga pass (which is at 9000+ ft). It looks simple but the wind-chill and the elements make it one of the toughest mountains I have hiked.
(Read more…)

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Posted by john on April 04th 2007 in Commercials, Disasters, Entertainment, India, Sports
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A funny but rather true view of what ails Indian cricket today. Enjoy!

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Posted by tafkap on March 24th 2007 in Celebrity, Developing Nations, Rants, Sports
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Shashi Tharoor had an opinion piece in the NY Times about cricket and American apathy towards it. I must say that it cannot be one of his stronger attempts at writing (actually the only Tharoor I have read is bits and pieces of ‘India from Midnight to the Millenium’). The bottom line of the piece is - Americans are too brutish to get cricket.

Besides being humorless and filled with bromides, (”And the notion that anyone would watch a game that, in its highest form, could take five days and still end in a draw provokes widespread disbelief among results-oriented Americans.”), the piece also demonstrates a blissful ignorance about baseball while making a facile attempt at comparing it with cricket.

In describing the futility of interesting Americans with cricket, he states:

Why try to sell Kiri Te Kanawa to people who prefer Anna Nicole Smith?

Pray tell, which ‘people’ prefer Kiri Te Kanawa to Anna Nicole Smith? Being too much of boor to have heard of Kiri Te Kanawa before this piece, I’d rather not make the acquaintance of these splendid people myself.

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Posted by papi on March 17th 2007 in India, Sports
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Today must rank as one of the most dramatic days in cricket history. At the grandest stage in world cricket - the World Cup - two of the least fancied nations, derided as minnows before the competition began, beat two of the game’s traditional powerhouses. India was beaten by its lesser known neighbor Bangladesh, while Pakistan saw its WC campaign ended on St. Patrick’s day by the rampant Irish. Both Pakistan and India are rated as strong batting sides, but their bowling attacks were expected to be their weakness. Pakistan was missing two of its premier strike bowlers, while India lacked a genuine fifth bowler to get through the middle overs. Instead, the vaunted batting lineups were the ones which failed in both cases, and not to searing pace or wily spin either, but rather to wicket-to-wicket, straight up and down stuff. After all the hype and overblown promise leading up to the big event, the Irish and the Banglas finally arrived bearing the reality check. It did not bounce.

On today’s BBC sport website, there was a story that Indian batting star Sachin Tendulkar is now a comic book superhero. The Banglas were not impressed.

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Posted by john on March 17th 2007 in Sports
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Six sixes in a cricket over. It is one of cricket’s most coveted achievements by a batsman and for the first time in international cricket, it was done. The setting was the South Africa versus The Netherlands match during the Cricket World Cup currently underway in the West Indies. South African batsman, Herschelle Gibbs, is the proud owner of the record. Gibbs hit six consecutive sixes in a single over against a hapless Dutch bowler, Daan van Bunge.

To the uninitiated, a six is the most runs a cricket batsman can score with a single batting stroke and requires the ball to fly out of the field of play without bouncing … sort of like hitting a home run in baseball. A cricket bowler gets six consecutive chances (at a time) to bowl at batsman to try to get him out. This six-ball bowling effort is called an over. The bowler is required to bowl all six balls as legitimate deliveries to the batsman facing him that allows the batsman to have a chance to play at. If any bowling delivery is illegitimate for any reason, the bowler is required to re-bowl that delivery and the batting team’s scorecard is enhanced by one run as a result. These illegitimate deliveries are called extras for self-evident reasons. Anyway, ignoring these extras, if a bowler cleanly bowls an over, an opposing batsman can technically hit 36 runs off him. A holy grail of cricket. This is not the first time that six sixes have been hit in such a way. First class cricket has seen the great Sir Gary Sobers do it first and later by India’s Ravi Shastri. However these first class cricket occasions were not international matches. Gibbs is the first to have done this in an international match and at the World Cup no less. For his achievement, Johnnie Walker whiskey brand will donate US $1 million to Habitat for Humanity.

Relive Gibb’s superb achievement here:

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Posted by anupcs on January 22nd 2007 in Sports
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The Australian Open quarter-final between Israel’s Shahar Peer and comeback queen Serena Williams was one of the best tennis matches I’ve seen in recent times. While Williams seemed lost for most of the first set and Peer lost it after a double fault at 2-2 in the second, the final deciding set was so gripping that I doubt if any of the remaining matches can produce such nail-biting tension. In the end, experience won over teenage grittiness as Williams prevailed 3-6, 6-2, 8-6. Peer amazingly didn’t give up until the very end against a seven time Grand Slam champion even though this was her first Grand Slam quarter-final. For once, I wasn’t favoring either of the players. In the end, I was sorry it was over.

Is it just me or does women’s tennis have more breadth and depth than men’s tennis (Federer, Nadal, Roddick… yawn) these days?

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