A Devil's Discourse
Monday, June 26, 2006
India takes Bronze medal in Azlan Shah tournament and Beavers go home with CWS
India took the bronze medal in the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament. We defeated New Zealand 3-2 for the third place.
The Oregon State Beavers won the College World Series baseball after defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 3-2 in the decider. Congrats Beavers...
Picture Courtesy: AP Photo ¶ 8:47 PM 0 comments
The Oregon State Beavers won the College World Series baseball after defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 3-2 in the decider. Congrats Beavers...Picture Courtesy: AP Photo ¶ 8:47 PM 0 comments
Saturday, June 24, 2006
CWS Championship series
North Carolina and Oregon State face each other in the best of three Championship series of the College World Series. I know who I will be rooting for, Go Beavers....
¶ 7:42 AM 0 comments
Monday, June 19, 2006
wooh hooh... thats what i am talkin about
India takes out Malaysia 5-2 in the second match of Azlan Shah Tournament.
¶ 8:12 AM 3 comments
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Heart break at Winged Foot and Time Coverstory
After a superb recovery on the 17th hole, Phil Mickelson's ran into tough luck in the 18th. Colin Montgomery, who shared the lead with Phil going into the 18th completed his round and was +6. Phil was the sole leader going into the 18th followed by Geoff Ogilvy who was trailing by 1. All Mickelson had to do is to get a par to wrap up his I U.S. Open, third Major on his way to Phil Slam and half way through a real Grand Slam.
Unfortunatley he drove the shot infront of the club house and far away from the green. A similar situation like on the 17th. I was hoping that he will put the ball in the green in the 2nd shot and finish it off with a par. Even if things go wrong he could shoot a bogey and go for a playoff tomorrow.
The second shot on 18th found a tree and came back to the exact same spot where he started. I was still hopeful that a bogey is a real possiblity. The third shot put the ball in the bunker. The fifth shot, where I was hoping for a miracle, just teased the hole and went passed it. Tough, tough watching that. A double bogey and Phil handed over the U.S. Open to Geoff Ogilvy who was watching this on the TV. It happened so fast, no one could even comprehend what just happened. It will take some time for the enormity of the result to sink in.
This U.S. Open will be known for Phil giving it away than Geoff Ogilvy winning it. I am not taking anything away from Ogilvy but thats how it will be known in history. After the Massacre in Winged Foot, this years open will be The Murder at Winged Foot. It happens... I hope he gets over this quick and goes to the British Open on top of his game.
This weeks Time coverstory is about the Bombay Boom. Alex Perry writes how Bombay represents the sweeping changes going across the country and where we are headed as a nation. Thes story is primarily intended for an American/International audience and doesnt tell anything that we (Indians) dont know already. A good read.
Picture Courtesy : www.time.com ¶ 8:30 PM 0 comments
Unfortunatley he drove the shot infront of the club house and far away from the green. A similar situation like on the 17th. I was hoping that he will put the ball in the green in the 2nd shot and finish it off with a par. Even if things go wrong he could shoot a bogey and go for a playoff tomorrow.
The second shot on 18th found a tree and came back to the exact same spot where he started. I was still hopeful that a bogey is a real possiblity. The third shot put the ball in the bunker. The fifth shot, where I was hoping for a miracle, just teased the hole and went passed it. Tough, tough watching that. A double bogey and Phil handed over the U.S. Open to Geoff Ogilvy who was watching this on the TV. It happened so fast, no one could even comprehend what just happened. It will take some time for the enormity of the result to sink in.
This U.S. Open will be known for Phil giving it away than Geoff Ogilvy winning it. I am not taking anything away from Ogilvy but thats how it will be known in history. After the Massacre in Winged Foot, this years open will be The Murder at Winged Foot. It happens... I hope he gets over this quick and goes to the British Open on top of his game.
This weeks Time coverstory is about the Bombay Boom. Alex Perry writes how Bombay represents the sweeping changes going across the country and where we are headed as a nation. Thes story is primarily intended for an American/International audience and doesnt tell anything that we (Indians) dont know already. A good read.Picture Courtesy : www.time.com ¶ 8:30 PM 0 comments
ah...well, this sucks
India went down to Australia 4-1 in the Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament. S.Thyagarajan in The Hindu says it is more because of our listless play than Aussies dominance. Hope we regroup soon and win out the rest of the games.
¶ 2:15 PM 0 comments
Saturday, June 17, 2006
College World Series update and Mickelmania
The CWS is underway in Omaha. We made an early exit in the regionals. Neverthless, as I said ours is young team and we will be back next year.
Clemson, Oregon State, North Carolina, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Rice, Cal-State Fullerton, Miami made it to the final eight. The SEC sent in as many as 7 teams to the regionals and only Georgia made it to the CWS. ACC took half the available spots. The double elimination round will go on till June 22nd.
Phil Mickelson made a steady start on his campaign in the U.S. Open. He is very much in the hunt going into the third day. There was a feature in ESPN on how the fans at U.S. Open is having a Mickelmania. Click on the related videos link on the right. ¶ 10:24 AM 0 comments
Clemson, Oregon State, North Carolina, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Rice, Cal-State Fullerton, Miami made it to the final eight. The SEC sent in as many as 7 teams to the regionals and only Georgia made it to the CWS. ACC took half the available spots. The double elimination round will go on till June 22nd.
Phil Mickelson made a steady start on his campaign in the U.S. Open. He is very much in the hunt going into the third day. There was a feature in ESPN on how the fans at U.S. Open is having a Mickelmania. Click on the related videos link on the right. ¶ 10:24 AM 0 comments
Thursday, June 15, 2006
I may get back to watching NBA again
The Charlotte Bobcats just became my favorite team :)
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Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Its U.S. Open time
It feels just like yesterday The Masters got over. The picture of Phil Mickelson and Fred Couples walking to the 18th like a couple of buds playing a round of golf in a public course is still fresh in my memory. We go again now with The U.S. Open starting tomorrow.
Tiger Woods will be the emotional favorite coming off the demise of his father. As they say, it would be a really great story if he wins the championship on Father's day. But I never can ever root against Phil Mickelson. Hope everything falls in place and he takes one more major home.
Thought of writing a detailed post of how I emailed the sports show host of the local radio station defending Phil Mickelson and the host's lame reply to that. If Phil wins the U.S Open I will post it on Sunday else I will try to write it before The British Open.
In the mean time go ahead and read this sweet story about Phil's childhood, family and golf. ¶ 10:27 PM 0 comments
Tiger Woods will be the emotional favorite coming off the demise of his father. As they say, it would be a really great story if he wins the championship on Father's day. But I never can ever root against Phil Mickelson. Hope everything falls in place and he takes one more major home.
Thought of writing a detailed post of how I emailed the sports show host of the local radio station defending Phil Mickelson and the host's lame reply to that. If Phil wins the U.S Open I will post it on Sunday else I will try to write it before The British Open.
In the mean time go ahead and read this sweet story about Phil's childhood, family and golf. ¶ 10:27 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
The power of Sports
A good story in ESPN about Joey Cheek, the olympic gold medal speedskater, and his work in Zambia.
¶ 7:23 AM 0 comments
Monday, June 12, 2006
World Day against Child Labor
Today is World Day against Child Labor. I came across this news article in Dinamani that says the number of Child Laborers are in decline in Tamilnadu. The statistics are encouraging. Hopefully those numbers reflect the ground reality and not a random government number that props up its own achievement.
Ironically there is this article in Hindu that talks about "The skill of matchstick making" by kids as young as 4 years. I hope the author wrote the article to mark the World Day against Child Labor and not actually came away impressed with their "skill".
Edit:- The writer of the Hindu article, Ramya Kannan, has posted this in her blog. An impressive story. Good job Ramya. ¶ 6:01 PM 0 comments
Today is World Day against Child Labor. I came across this news article in Dinamani that says the number of Child Laborers are in decline in Tamilnadu. The statistics are encouraging. Hopefully those numbers reflect the ground reality and not a random government number that props up its own achievement.Ironically there is this article in Hindu that talks about "The skill of matchstick making" by kids as young as 4 years. I hope the author wrote the article to mark the World Day against Child Labor and not actually came away impressed with their "skill".
Edit:- The writer of the Hindu article, Ramya Kannan, has posted this in her blog. An impressive story. Good job Ramya. ¶ 6:01 PM 0 comments
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Manlaws and Desilaws
I chanced upon this Sports Law article in ESPN. The article starts with something like "Manlaws", Burt Reynolds and Square Table. I was wondering what that was and googled. Turns out Wojciechowski (I copied and pasted his name) wrote the article based on "Manlaws", Miller Lite commerical. Long story short, Miller lite has come up with this series called Manlaws much like Budweisers "Real Men of Genius" ( I dont watch TV any more you see).
A bunch of guys, including Burt Reynolds, Jerome Bettis and others, sit around a square table and discuss various situations that men face and enact laws on how each men should (re)act in that situation.
The website also allows visitiors to write their own manlaws and add it to the website. Some of the laws are funny (how long do you wait before asking out the girl your best friend dumped) , some are real useful (Buffer Zone when two men go to movie) and some others are goofy (No true men watch, participate or enjoy soccer) . A nice effort from the funny side.
Well, this got me thinking and I thought about something like Desilaws. Laws that Desis in US should follow. Some of my laws are given below. Please feel free to fire away your Desilaw. Remeber, you read (heard) about Desilaws here first :)
1) You dont talk loudly in restaurants, unless it is a desi restaurant.
2) You dont fake an accent all of sudden when you meet an American or another new desi or in 1 - 800 number calls.
3) Just because you brought one traditional dress from India, doesnt mean that you absolutley have to wear it to ISA* events.
4) It is perfectly ok to wear Jeans and T-Shirt to ISA events
5)You dont automatically become a "Cool Desi" just by driving a Mustang. Even stick shift Mustangs dont count.
6) Use of non-stop profanity doesnt make you a "Rebel Desi"
7) You can support teams and drivers named other than Ferrari and M.Schumaker.
8) You dont act like a maniac and run around crazy in theatres showing southern superstar movies (Rajnikanth, Chiranjeevi) unless you can do the same for hollywood stars in Harkins theartres.
9) Your favorite NFL team should not be the team that won the Superbowl the year you started watching American Football. Same goes for NBA and MLB.
10) When in school no more than two desi roommates go to grocery shopping at any given time.
11) If you are buying 1% or 2% reduced fat milk then you can as well just buy whole milk.
12) If you cant see your toes without bending forward then skin tight shirts and T-shirts are a strict no, no.
* ISA - Indian Student Association ¶ 8:55 PM 0 comments
A bunch of guys, including Burt Reynolds, Jerome Bettis and others, sit around a square table and discuss various situations that men face and enact laws on how each men should (re)act in that situation.
The website also allows visitiors to write their own manlaws and add it to the website. Some of the laws are funny (how long do you wait before asking out the girl your best friend dumped) , some are real useful (Buffer Zone when two men go to movie) and some others are goofy (No true men watch, participate or enjoy soccer) . A nice effort from the funny side.
Well, this got me thinking and I thought about something like Desilaws. Laws that Desis in US should follow. Some of my laws are given below. Please feel free to fire away your Desilaw. Remeber, you read (heard) about Desilaws here first :)
1) You dont talk loudly in restaurants, unless it is a desi restaurant.
2) You dont fake an accent all of sudden when you meet an American or another new desi or in 1 - 800 number calls.
3) Just because you brought one traditional dress from India, doesnt mean that you absolutley have to wear it to ISA* events.
4) It is perfectly ok to wear Jeans and T-Shirt to ISA events
5)You dont automatically become a "Cool Desi" just by driving a Mustang. Even stick shift Mustangs dont count.
6) Use of non-stop profanity doesnt make you a "Rebel Desi"
7) You can support teams and drivers named other than Ferrari and M.Schumaker.
8) You dont act like a maniac and run around crazy in theatres showing southern superstar movies (Rajnikanth, Chiranjeevi) unless you can do the same for hollywood stars in Harkins theartres.
9) Your favorite NFL team should not be the team that won the Superbowl the year you started watching American Football. Same goes for NBA and MLB.
10) When in school no more than two desi roommates go to grocery shopping at any given time.
11) If you are buying 1% or 2% reduced fat milk then you can as well just buy whole milk.
12) If you cant see your toes without bending forward then skin tight shirts and T-shirts are a strict no, no.
* ISA - Indian Student Association ¶ 8:55 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
A rundown of 2006 NCAA champions
University of Georgia Women's Gymnastics team - 2006 NCAA Champions.
SI.com has got this superb photo feature of the 2006 NCAA champions. Look at those faces, if that is not pure, unadultered joy then you tell me what else is. Congrats all you NCAA champions. I hope we squeeze in a championship or two next year.
Picture Courtesy: AP Photo ¶ 9:35 PM 0 comments
University of Georgia Women's Gymnastics team - 2006 NCAA Champions.
SI.com has got this superb photo feature of the 2006 NCAA champions. Look at those faces, if that is not pure, unadultered joy then you tell me what else is. Congrats all you NCAA champions. I hope we squeeze in a championship or two next year.
Picture Courtesy: AP Photo ¶ 9:35 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
How about this for a nail biter
What a great exhibtion for test cricket. It mighty sucks not getting a favorable result but again that is what test cricket is all about. Hope our boys go and win the rest of the matches.
¶ 7:15 PM 0 comments
Monday, June 05, 2006
Way to go Wasim
With our back against the wall and facing a rejuvenated Windies, Wasim Jaffer played the innings of his life guiding India to a secure position in the I test. This performance is especially commendable considering Jaffer was dismissed for 1 in the first innings. In almost all of sports it is confidence that keeps you going. When you are confident, your ordinary day will become a career day. It is no ordinary feat to come up big facing a 131 run deficit, in an away game and having been dismissed for 1 in your first innings.
Some good hitting towards the end of the day by Yuvi and Dhoni puts us in a position to force a win or if they start scoring, settle for a draw. This is why I love test cricket. One day you are staring at an insurmountable situation, only to be led from a position of defeat to trouncing the opponents by an unlikely hero. Now lets go and show them we can clean up 10 wickets in a day.
Friday, June 02, 2006
College world series
College baseball post season starts today with regionals starting at 16 different sites across the country. The post season starts with 64 teams that follows a double elimination format. 32 teams will proceed to the Super Regionals at 8 different sites. Winner of each Super Regional will go on to the College World Series played in Omaha, Nebraska.
The College World Series (CWS) is one of the exciting events in the NCAA calendar. Our school starts every season with the objective of making it to the CWS. Anything shorter than a trip to Omaha is considered a disappointment among our fan base. Last year we made a spectacular run in the post season and came one game shy of making it to the Championship game. Game after game we came through the clutch that made us the darlings and the dare devils of last years series. I was in India at that time on vacation and was checking the scores from the browsing centers of Chennai. Got a few weird looks from the people around me when I pumped my fist (a little vigorously) after learning we were one game away from the championship.
We have a young team this time and I am planning to take game by game this postseason. If we make it to Omaha, baseball gods willing, I will be there in person to watch yet another run at the title.
Additional resources:
www.cwsomaha.com
www.http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens ¶ 7:01 AM 0 comments
The College World Series (CWS) is one of the exciting events in the NCAA calendar. Our school starts every season with the objective of making it to the CWS. Anything shorter than a trip to Omaha is considered a disappointment among our fan base. Last year we made a spectacular run in the post season and came one game shy of making it to the Championship game. Game after game we came through the clutch that made us the darlings and the dare devils of last years series. I was in India at that time on vacation and was checking the scores from the browsing centers of Chennai. Got a few weird looks from the people around me when I pumped my fist (a little vigorously) after learning we were one game away from the championship.
We have a young team this time and I am planning to take game by game this postseason. If we make it to Omaha, baseball gods willing, I will be there in person to watch yet another run at the title.
Additional resources:
www.cwsomaha.com
www.http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens ¶ 7:01 AM 0 comments
