Cricket World Cup

The one thing that this world cup has shown so far is Ganguly's success with captaincy was not fluke.
The guy knows what he's talking about unlike Gavaskar and Shastri. The team Dhoni is leading has only couple talents that burst into the scene after Ganguly was dropped. Dhoni has always been biased with Yuvraj. Since you decided to go with part time bowlers Raina makes better sense then Gambhir as he could have bowled also. Dhoni's captaincy to me is Azhar version 2.

Dhoni has not groomed any new talents other Ashwin who he is not keen to play for some reason. I still think it's Australia's cup at this point in this tournament. England may be the surprise package from here due to a couple of crucial replacements who should have been in the original team. Tremlett with his height might be able to extract a bit more bounce and Eoin may be the impetus they miss in the middle order.

Pakistan needs to open with Razaq and go with Wahab and Ajmal, they might be better that way. Sri Lanka and West Indies are my under dogs.

Value of 1

Ranking in sports these days seem to mean nothing. Indian media as usual seems to be gung ho about Vijender Singh becoming number 1. He made us proud by winning couple of bronze medals no doubt but they were bronze means someone else won Gold and Silver.

Safina is another case that comes to mind it's not her fault that the better players choose not to play, but come a Grand Slam and the ranking is made a mockery. Ultimately it's what you win that matters.

Return of the King

Kasparov and Karpov played a rematch hope it means Kasparov comes back full time. This gives another chance to Anand to slay his demons and critics.

Sachin please retire

As long as it is a individual sport the player gets to choose his exit date. For the rest the team is paramount when the team starts to lose its weak links must go. Left to the sportsmen they would like to keep playing till they die but sanity should prevail.

I have a stinking feeling that Sachin will be made captain because India does not enter Champions trophy semi's.

Matadors Tame Expectations

After decades of failing to live up to the expectations of fans, Spain has finally delivered. They are the new European champions and they did it in style beating the strong Germans, with their nifty foot work and crisp passing. All through the tournament baring the game against Italy they were the better side and they literally toyed with the opponents.

They have good players both up front with the likes of Torres and Villa and in the middle with Xavi(Player of the tournament) and Fabregas and world class goalkeeper in Casillas. They all played their parts through out the tournament to help Spain. With both Torres and Fabregas at their top form for their respective clubs and falling short of winning any cups this year, it must have been a moment to relish.

This augurs well for the future of Spain and their football fortunes. Like their Latino counterparts Brazil they play an attractive and attacking game of football which is of high quality, unlike their counterparts though their cupboard was mostly empty. They have the basic building blocks for team that can go higher and win the world cup next time around.

Germans played their usual dour game of defence first and counter attacking; they never clicked up front through out the tournament except against Turkey. Podolski and Schweinsteiger were the only saving grace.

DEMISE OF BOXING

The game of boxing has been spiraling towards doom the last few years. When you say boxing people usually relate it with Heavy weight division, the other divisions are mostly an after thought. After Tyson there has been a vacuum that needs to filled pretty soon.

Adding to the woe of multiple different titles and no boxer capable of winning them all, the boxing scene is filled with multiple heavyweight champions. What used to be an art form in the hey days of Ali has come down to mere slug fights with boxers like Lennox and Klitschko relying more on their brawn then their brains.

With the advent of Kick boxing with leagues like Pride and MMA and colorful personalities, boxing slug fights have taken a back seat. The big money that used to be in boxing has also moved to these sports, which are more dangerous then boxing and there by attract more audience. The money is automatically alluring all the big names. An added advantage is there is no fixed style of fighting and they are kind of a free for all.

To stop the free fall and to resurrect the game of boxing the need of the hour is a boxer who can capture the imagination of the world and infuse fresh breathe of life into a game which is tethering on weak legs and is facing a count down.

THE MYTH OF THE GREATEST

Some of the Legends to have played in their respective sports have graced us with their presence in the last couple of decades, Sampras and Federer in Tennis, Sachin and Ponting in Cricket, Tiger Woods in Golf, etc and most of these sports are equipment sports.

How much of a role has the improvements of these equipments played in these performances? The power that these guys generate from their latest equipments was unimaginable in olden days. Yes, on average athletes are fitter today but you surely would have had a well build guy in olden days to whack the ball a long way or powerfully.

John McEnroe when he came back from semi retirement was not the same player, the graphite racket had changed the game immensely and his touch game was not quite as effective against these players as it was against the wooden racket players.

Similarly the amount of wood that can be packed into a cricket bat or the sturdiness of the golf club is noteworthy. All these advancements have not only made the equipment lighter in weight, there by easy to handle but also generates huge amount of power. This by no mean demeans these athletes’ achievements as the equipment is same as the other current players.

The advancement in the equipments means that we cannot compare the players from a bygone era with a current player. In my view point Rod Laver cannot be compared with Sampras or Federer just because they played the same game or have won more titles, it’s pretty much like comparing Apples and Oranges.