Black and White...

Abraham J. Heschel quotes (Jewish theologian and philosopher, 1907-1972),
“Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.”
This has been a much-debated topic for a while now. Racism happens everyday and everywhere. It is a complex issue, which occurs at many different levels. In sports, racism is happening more often and becoming a bigger issue.
The games that we play today are virtually the same games that we have been playing decades ago with a few exceptions. The first difference is the equipment we play with. The second difference is the skill level of the players. The third and possibly most important difference is integration of the games. If you take away the new equipment, and the players skill levels you still have the same game with the same basic principle. However, if you take away the integration of the game you would take away a whole other dimension that people of different race have brought to the game we play.
The Europeans, Americans or the FIRANGS, as we call them, often subject players from Asia, Africa to racism comments.
We all saw how the South African cricket team was abused racially in their recent tour to Australia. There was a whole controversy about the Aussie fans abusing the Africans based on color.
Boxing has been prone to Racism comments for years. Muhammad Ali in 1962 refused to play a Heavyweight title match in Vietnam because of the racist comments he faced there. There was a period in world boxing when the white refused to fight black boxers. Black boxers were dislike so much that white boxing promoters did everything they could just to find the “Great White Hope” to defeat one black man.
Football has witnessed racist comments over a last few years. The recent incident of Samuel Etto, the three times African Player of the year and the Barcelona striker, was racially abused by the fans of another Spanish club, Real Zaragoza. Etto threatened to leave the field but played the rest of the match only when his teammates, referee and the Zaragoza players convinced him. There was another incident of racism comments in Spain, when the crowd abused the black players from England team.

When we look back in the history books and for that matter even today, most of the renowned sportspersons have been black. Muhammad Ali in boxing, Michael Jordan in Basketball, Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd, and a list of players from the sub-continent in cricket, the Brazilians in football, the list never ends...
The point is that all these comments based on the difference in color bring the sport to disrepute. If you are black, you know that racism is still alive, unless you live in a cave. Racism isn’t just a sports thing, it is a society thing. Blacks run into it or see it everyday in all walks of life. Sports are just a small part of society and racism in sports cannot be denied.

Did U Know...

hey huys! this is some stuff i gave to JAM... dunno whether they will be publishing it, but here are aome interesting facts related to different sports... also there are some famous QUOTES by famous sportspersons...

DID U KNOW????

1. The World's First Football Club - Sheffield Football Club - was founded in 1857 by Colonel Nathaniel Cresswick and Major William Priest, two British Army officers.
2. The English League was founded in 1888.
3. The founding clubs were: Accrington (Old Reds), Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, DerbyCounty, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers.
4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played 20 seasons in the NBA, holds the record for most points scored in a career with 38,387.
5. The closest finish for the F1 Championship was in the year 1984, where the difference of points between the 1st and the 2nd driver was just Half point! Niki Lauda won the championship with 72 points and Alain Prost finished second with 71 ½ points...
6. Chess was invented in India.
7. The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after levelling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
8. The start of the 5th Test of England vs South Africa at Kingsmead, Durban in 1931 was delayed by 20 minutes due to the unavailability of the correct size of the bails.
9. Don Bradman`s scores in his first and final Tests were 18, 1 & 0 respectively.
10. The last Olympic gold medals that were made entirely out of gold were awarded in 1912. The gold and silver Olympic medals must be made out of 92.5 percent silver, with the gold medal covered in six grams of gold.

Sports QUOTES:
Ø I don't know what these fellows are doing, but whatever they are doing, they sure are doing it well. - Pete Sampras on watching Lara and Ambrose at Lord's.
Ø I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two...hi compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel! -- Don Bradman in reference to Sachin Tendulkar
Ø I never play cricket. It requires one to assume such indecent postures- Oscar Wilde
Ø The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun. -- P. G. Wodehouse
Ø When I step onto the court, I don't have to think about anything. If I have a problem off the court, I find that after I play, my mind is clearer and I can come up with a better solution. It's like therapy. It relaxes me and allows me to solve problems.-- Michael Jordan, Basketball Legend
Ø I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok. -- Shaquille O'Neal, Basketball Player
Ø Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost. --Martina Navratilova, Tennis Legend
Ø Champions keep playing until they get it right.-- Billie Jean King, Pro Tennis Legend
Ø For me, winning isn't something that happens suddenly on the field when the whistle blows and the crowds roar. Winning is something that builds physically and mentally every day that you train and every night that you dream. -- Emmitt Smith, American Football Player
Ø When you lose a couple of times, it makes you realize how difficult it is to win.-- Steffi Graf, German Tennis Player
Ø Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pele. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man.-- Pele
Ø My dad has always taught me these words: care and share. That's why we put on clinics. The only thing I can do is try to give back. If it works, it works.-- Tiger Woods

THE BATTLE BEGINS HERE…

V/S

Football generally requires several good plays for a score. This means that skill has a larger impact on a team's probability of scoring on a given possession, so the importance of luck is smaller than it would be in most other sports with the same number of scores per game.
Over last two decades or so, there has been a surge in the viewership of European Football. The various leagues played across Europe have publicized the game and has made it the most popular sport in the world. The big names’ playing in these leagues is an added attraction for the viewers. The English Premier League might be the most popular of the European Leagues’, but there is a lot more quality found in other leagues such as the Spanish League and the Italian League. So what is that makes these leagues different from eachother? Let us compare the EPL and the Spanish La Liga…

Style of play: Well, this might be the major difference in these two leagues. The Spanish League promises to be more attacking. It's not the goals difference that tells you liga is more "attacking minded" than the rest but their playing style saying it all : possession in midfield and prepare to score goals in attack. EPL could be very exciting to watch too, if you prefer speed and not mind of "floating balls" (make sure your neck is good). Overall, it is the pace of English football that makes it exciting, and the possession play of La Liga quite elegant.

The name-game in the league: The EPL is like a paradise for Spanish Players also. It’s definitely not due to money, because Reyes came to Arsenal, Xabi Alonso, Garcia and others to Liverpool. There seems to have been a lot of La Liga to EPL moves rather than the inverse. I guess that’s due to the glamour and attraction of the league. One thing that the EPL does not have is what you call ‘World Player of the Years’, which La Liga has in abundance. Although, most times the polls are right, the 2003 was flawed one for the experts. Henry deserved it but Zidane won it. Gerrard had done much more than Adriano (plays in the Italian League) or Etto, but he was 7th, in the year 2005.

European Presence: The EPL big guns have had the better of the La Liga big guns in the Champions League in past 20 games or so. Most English managers will disagree that European competitions provide a good way to test the quality of local competitions, but it still is. English clubs, over-rated in media usually fail to perform against their European counterparts, and then their managers issue such statements. Arsenal is a good example. It is not very uncommon to find it rated better than successful clubs like Barcelona and Madrid did, but Arsenal has always failed to prove this in European competitions. The only reason why Chelsea has an upper hand is their Russian Link. With a spending of about half a billion within 2-3 years, any club can be a potential contender in EPL and Champions League. Even Manchester United has failed in Europe this year thanks to some good fight put in by the ‘Under Rated’ European clubs.

Competetion: Hardly ever could one imagine Chelsea loosing to a West Bromwich Albion or a Sunderland in EPL. These kinds of upsets are too rare in EPL. The only reason for that is that the low ranked teams are not as strong as compared to the top teams in the league.
Since the difference between 1st and 2nd ranked teams in the EPL is around 14 points or so. Then you have two teams in the EPL that will fight 2nd and 3rd place. Then the difference to 4th place is around 10 points. The difference of points between to top five teams and the bottom half of the teams is around 20 points which makes it immpossible for these teams to compete for a European place.
In La Liga, the difference is 3 to 6 points between between 1st and 2nd ranked teams. Then the competition for the 3rd and fourth place spots is crazy. Since the difference between the 3rd place team and the 11th place teams is 6 points. Meaning that a bottom half club are in competition for a European spot.
So if its competition you are making your desicion, then no doubt La Liga is better than the EPL.

Cup Football: The English cup football is much more popular than any other domestic cup football competetions in the world, the FA Cup and the Carling Cup are one of the oldest cup competeions in Europe and certainly outclasses the Spanish Kings Cup.

Public-City: This is where EPL scores the winning goal. The fan following for EPL is much more than La Liga. Every weekend a Football Maniac will get some time out of his busy schedule to watch either Manchester United or Chelsea or in that matter any Premier league team playing. The wide television coverage for the EPL has made it much more appealing for the viewers. It was only when David Beckham shifted to Madrid that a La Liga club was voted the most popular club in the world, but now the onus of carrying tha tag of Most Popular Clubs has shifted to England.
The popularity for EPL can be summed up by stating that, ‘most populated continent in the world is Asia, the most popular league in Asia in English Premier League, hence it is the most popular league.’

Indian Hockey Going Places...

Indian Hockey Going Places...

Hockey is the only event in which India has won Gold Medals - eight of them. Hockey was considered the National Game of India. Unmatched excellence and incomparable virtuosity brought India a string of Olympic gold medals. The brilliant Indians brought a touch of black magic to their play and the ball juggling feats of the Indians were a sheer delight.
The Golden Era of hockey in India was the period from 1928 - 1956 when India won six consecutive gold medals in the Olympics. During the Golden Era, India played 24 Olympic matches, won all 24. The two other gold medals for India came in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
This was the time India dominated world hockey and none of the teams could match the quality that was seen in Indian Hockey. The score lines like 12-0, 15-0 was very common for the matches won by India. Zillions of hockey fans all over the world idolized the Dyanchand’s and the Mukesh Kumar’s- the magicians with sticks.
When we look at all this, we proudly say that India dominated World Hockey. However, when we see the condition of Indian hockey today, one would really question, was India ever a superpower in world hockey?
Indian hockey in last decade has gone from bad to worst. The situation of the Indian Hockey can be summed up by the fact that the team has seen as many as eleven coaches in last ten years! Moreover, rumours are now spreading that the IHF is now eyeing to hire another foreign coach in place of current coach of the team, Rajinder Singh Jr. We really cannot blame the coaches for the dismal show put on by the National team. The IHF should give the coaches a long time span to spend with the team. Before the coaches adjust to the conditions in Indian Hockey, they are sacked. The IHF needs to change its policy to hire coaches for a tournament or two and should give them long-term contracts.
Also to be blamed are the players for the downfall of Indian Hockey. It is seen very often that the players tend to play for themselves rather than playing for the team. The unity in the Indian Hockey team is not visible and this is one of the major reasons for India not winning the matches.

The present situation in the domestic hockey circuit is also a shame for Indian Hockey. The fracas between players of Namdhari XI and Indian Oil Corporation in the recently concluded Jawaharlal Nehru Tournament where there was fight between the two sides, so bad that the teams hit eachother with hockey sticks. Whatever be the provocation, this is symbolic of the malaise that is creeping into competitive hockey, especially in this country.
Even to be blamed are the younger generation of the country. The sport has hardly seen any faces from the metros of the country. Remote areas of Punjab like Sansarpur have given the sport as many as nine players who have represented India at the Olympics.
But why bother so much about hockey? Cricket is now our national obsession. Cricket has real stars that make us feel good with their performances, even if the Indian cricket team ranks in the bottom half of the world rankings, just above Bangladesh, Kenya and Zimbabwe. What is the big deal about hockey? Who plays hockey, anyway?
That, precisely, is the issue. Indian hockey's decline coincided with the arrival of live television and big sponsorship money. A sporting 'product' was needed to sell those wares, to consume the sponsors' and the advertisers' money, and Indian hockey did not make the grade. It had no Gavaskar, no Kapil Dev.
The hockey establishment too was happy to let things drift. If there was anything they hated more than losing, it was the hockey star. So the moment one reared his head, it was squashed. In addition, the basic principle of modern sport is no stars, no cash.
We need to change our thinking to see India get medals again at the Olympics. We have to give our National Sport the importance it deserves. Only then, the glorious years for Indian Hockey will return…

A Horrible Week...

well, u can say that this is one of the reasons why i have started the blog... i badly wanted to share my thoughts wid someone... this has been a horrible week for me. my childhood friend, Varun passed away on Sunday... i lost my second childhood friend in a span of six months... this is terrible... how can god end a life of a person who has just started to live his life?? God is a mean kid now... now i have lost four of my friends in two years... i wonder is there something wrong with me?? am i unlucky for my friends?? who knows? i know just advise people 'please dont be to close to me or else...'

my first blog...

finally guys! always thoght of maintaining a diary for myself, but never succeeded... well have my blog now to put up my thoughts on various issues and will try to update it regularly... expect more of the Sports related stuff...