You're still my Hero Lance...

I think that the World is being quite Cynical about the whole Lance Armstrong ignominy.. I know what he’s done is immoral, but he should be admired for what he’s trying to do right now..

He’s taught the world a very valuable lesson today.. That “Excess” of anything is really bad.. Even if that “anything” is a positive quality.. In this case, the positive quality being his ruthless desire to win..

Lance was diagnosed with Liver, Brain and Testicular cancer at the same time and was given a less than 20% chance of survival.. It was his ruthless desire to win that helped beat that evil..

On the other hand, it was the same ruthless desire to win that led him to believe that he needed to do anything possible to win the Tour de France races.. It’s One Positive Quality.. Two Contrasting Outcomes..

The manner in which Lance came out today says a lot about his “stone cold” character.. It takes guts to do what he did.. He didn’t blink.. He didn’t shake.. He didn’t stutter.. He came out there with a disposition and a rock solid attitude to do the right thing..

He’s shown that things will “affect” someone only if one lets them have an “effect” on themselves.. It should be looked upon as inspiration to have that “never-say-die” stance and at the same time be careful to not fall for evil desires.. The line must be drawn..

Hey, even Eve succumbed to the desire to eat the “Forbidden Fruit” and come to think about it, isn’t that what life is all about?

Who wants Batman when there's Robin...!!??

Before I start writing this, let me make one thing perfectly clear..  Irrespective of 'whom' I'm writing this post on, I'm a Die Hard Liverpool fan... For me Football begins with the Reds and it ends with the Reds... In the words of the great Liverpool manager and probably the greatest ambassador of the 'Beautiful Game' - Bill Shankly, "For those who think that football is a matter of life and death, I assure you that it is much more than that"

 

Now that that's done and the 'priorities' have been set clearly, lets begin with the real essence of this post. If there's one man in particular who has taken the football fraternity by surprise, its Robin van Persie.. Its really strange that "Captain Vantastic", as he's fondly called, announced his arrival on the big scene a loong time back.. But due to the presence of certain imminent personalities, RVP could not actually arrive on the big scene..

 

In short; he had come, but had yet to come... Now you can call it Arsene Wenger's idiocracy or Sir Alex Ferguson's magical instinct, but RVP was bought from Arsenal at the starting of this season for just 24 million pounds.. Thats rite... That was price set for the charismatic striker by the Gunners after he single handedly led them to glory just one season ago.. Ok, Arsenal didnt win anything but without a shadow of a doubt if there was anyone who gave then a glimpse of hope, a peek at success, a ray of glorious aura, it was their Number 11, Robin van Persie...

 

I hate to admit the fact but when Arsenal beat Liverpool at Anfield last season, Robin had scored 28 goals by then and Liverpool, in all togetherness, had 27.. That shows the aura and indispensability that the Dutch international possessed.. Which is why it really made no sense for Arsenal to deny him anything he wanted.. And all he wanted was a better wage and probably to good and lengthy contract..

 

He wanted to stay at Arsenal... And Wenger was just to cocky for his own good to allow that.. Dont get me wrong.. There was no animosity between the two.. its just that Wenger has this policy that no player can be bigger than the club itself... (Thierry Henry and Cesc Fabregas are living examples).. So Wenger in a fit of ego+attitude combined wanted nuthing to do with RVP thinking that at 29, he's not going anywhere... But wrong he was... In came Manchester United and their talisman Fergie...

 

RVP was a steel for the Red Devils at 24 mil pounds, considering the talent and skill that striker has... He is without any doubt the most lethal striker in Europe at present... His first touch is death defying... He has immaculate control over the ball and when it comes to finishing, there's no one in the Premier League at present who is as clinical as RVP is.... Call it Fergie's instinctive believes or call it RVP's talismanic charisma, but Robin is purely brilliance personified...

 

He's the man the a team looks forward to when they're down trailing... He proved it for Arsenal.. and now he's doing the same for Manchester United.. I would love for him to be in Liverpool... but I must be honest... If I had been given the opportunity to buy him for the Reds at the starting of the season, I probably would have said NO... Not because I doubted his talents, but because I thot (Like most in the fraternity) that RVP was done...

 

Arsenal was where he became a man... and when a club as big as the Gunners lets a striker go.. then its really tough was him to survive... But Sir Alex proved yet again that he can do what he does best... Groom, Broom, and Loom talent... RVP was just waiting for an opportunity like ManU to come.. and when he received it, He grabbed it with both hands (plus his left leg) and ran towards the title..

 

His goals were clear... He wanted to play in the Champions League... and he wanted to win the Premier League Title... One part was being fulfilled at Arsenal... But the other had not been achieved since 2003... He was carrying the Gunners alone last season... he knew that there was nuthing that could be done... He knew that at Manchester he would have talent and experience at his disposal to help him achieve glory... and in the end... Neither he nor his team have let each other down..

 

Arsenal vs Manchester United is gonna be Legendary this season... Emirates is gonna boo the shit out of RVP... But I know that he's gonna score... and I know that he's not gonna celebrate... Because it wasnt his decision to leave... He was forced... Forced by the will to grow... Forced by the will to achieve something he knew that he never could have achieved at Arsenal...

Dono Mile Iss Tarah..

Well.. I don't do these kind of "posts" that often so its gonna be tough to get it all out in the exact manner as I intend to.. But hey, there's always a first.. Now that I come to think bout it, i've never ever written anything on any movee ever.. So yayy for Post No. 1

Ek Mein Aur Ekk Tu is the movee about which I want to talk bout tuday.. ( its sounding gay already).. There's something about this movee that not just made me watch it 4 times, but also boosted my instincts to write bout it..

Considering the fact that this movee was an epitome of one of the biggest flops of 2012, ek mein aur ekk tu is actually a "good" movee by its standards.. Dont get me wrong, but I pretty much have one answer to how good a hindi movee is going to be - "Horrible"

But this movee was different... It touched me in a way that is not palatable... Imran khan and kareena kapoor actually form a sweet couple... Imran's acting is class apart ( except the portions where he tries to shout.. Lets me honest mate.. You cant shout) and kareena, as always, reminds me of a friend.

Kareena in the whole movee seems to be stuck with a bunch of amateurs trying to rise above the cloud to struggle and actually succeed in doing so.. She's like a star striker who has been recruited by a third division football team just to boost the jersey sales... There i've said it... I couldn't have put it any better...

Come to think of it, there are a few aspects that I think played a crucial role in me liking this muvee.. One, the awesome chemistry between imran and kareena, and two, the manner in which imran is stuck in life with his dead end job not knowing what to do...

I dont relate to his relation with his parents becauze I share a lovely one with mine.... So no thots there... Kareena's parents behave as if they have a factory that produces both daughters and money... Lets be honest, no matter how open and friendly a parent is, no parent would be as liberal as kareena's parents are in the movee...

I mean its just too much... Also, never in the entire history of this world have I come across any girl ( in both real life and literature ) who forms a "best friend" relationship with a guy just to help him with his life and problems... I mean she could have swindled a few bucks of off him in the process, but to genuinely try to help him without asking for anything in return? Its genuinely unbelievable!

All in all, the muvee has mixed reactions from my side.. But like I said, there's something about this muvee that made me watch it 4 times... And to be very honest... I'm still not bored and can watch it 4 more times...!!! :)

posted from Bloggeroid

1st ODI: India vs Pakistan

NEW DELHI: Indian captain MS Dhoni played a brilliant captain's innings to score a century and help India post a competitive 228-run target for Pakistan in the first ODI on Sunday.

Scorecard

Dhoni, who was dropped by Misbah-ul-Haq off the bowling of Hafeez at 16, remained not out at 113 at the end of the 50 overs and put up a crucial 125-run partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin (31*).

Earlier, Hafeez proved elementary in breaking the 73-run partnership between Suresh Raina and Dhoni

Raina (43), who had been struggling to play Hafeez throughout his innings, failed to read a slow delivery and was bowled when the ball struck the leg stump.

The dismissal of Raina allowed Ashwin to come to the crease and he along with Dhoni, who hit 7 boundaries and 3 sixes, lead the Indian charge to pick up pace of the Indian innings.

Earlier, the duo of Dhoni and Raina stabalised the Indian innings after encountering a bad start when Junaid Khan and Mohammad Irfan sent the Indian top order packing.

Virender Sehwag (4), Gautam Gambhir (8), Virat Kohli (0) and Yuvraj Singh (2) were clean bowled one after the other as they failed to withstand the fierce Pakistani pace attack of Junaid and Irfan.

Rohit Sharma (4) was the next in line to be dismissed when he completely failed to read Junaid's brilliant swinging delivery and was caught brilliantly at third slip by Mohammad Hafeez.

Sharma's wicket gave Junaid his fourth wicket of the match and proved crucial for Pakistan as India lost half its side inside 10 overs.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl against India.

The toss, originally scheduled for 8.30am (IST), took place at 9.30am, due to wet outfield. The match will be played without any reduction in the number of overs.

The delay was expected as the city had been lashed by rain in the past couple of days.

Pakistan included Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Junaid, Irfan in the squad. Shoaib Malik replaced Umar Akmal.

On the other hand Sehwag replaced Ajinkya Rahane in the XI that played in Ahmedabad two days ago.

The match is being played under the new ODI rules which allow two bouncers and over among other things.

India: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni (C), R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda

Pakistan: Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Kamran Akmal, Azhar Ali, Shoaib Malik, Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan 

2nd T20: India vs England..

NEW DELHI: Chasing a 178-run target, openers Michael Lumb and Alex Hales got England off to a great start in their second Twenty20 match in Mumbai on Saturday.

Scorecard

The English duo reached their 50-run partnership in just 31 balls by blasting the Indian bowlers all around the park with Hales even being dropped at one stage by Parvinder Awana.

Earlier, MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina led the Indian fightback and helped the hosts reach a formidable score of 177/8 by putting up a quickfire 60 run partnership.

Dhoni hit 3 boundaries and 2 sixes and Raina remained not out at 34 with 3 boundaries and a single six to his credit.

India then lost the wickets of Dhoni (38 off 18 balls) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1) in quick succession. Dhoni was caught easily by Samit Patel off the bowling of Tim Bresnan.

Earlier, James Tredwell struck to clean bowl the dangerous looking Rohit Sharma, who hit a swift 24 in just 19 deliveries, after Luke Wright picked up his second wicket of the match when he dismissed Gautam Gambhir.

Gambhir hit a thick top-edge to the fielder at third man and brought to an end his painful innings of 17 runs off 27 balls that consisted of a single boundary.

Before that, Stuart Meaker helped England get the wicket of Virat Kohli right before Wright struck to dismiss Yuvraj Singh.

Kohli (38 off 20 balls) played a gem of an innings by hitting 7 boundaries and blasted his way through the English bowlers to stabalise the Indian innings after losing Ajinkya Rahane early.

Meaker was able to catch Kohli plumb in front of the wicket after the Delhi batsman completely misjudged a slower delivery.

Yuvraj (4) on the other hand never looked settled when he pulled an outside off ball straight down the ground to give Root a simple catch to dismiss the southpaw.

Earlier, Kohli along with Gautam Gambhir reached the 50-run partnership in just 25 balls by smashing the pacers to all parts of the boundary.

India suffered an early dent when debutant Joe Root gave the visitors their first wicket when he scalped Rahane right after England skipper Eoin Morgan won the toss and decided to bowl.

Rahane (3), in his attempt to swing, found the outside edge of a good length Root delivery and was caught comfortably by Jade Dernbach at third man.

Teams:

India: MS Dhoni (Capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Ashok Dinda, and Parvinder Awana.

England: Eoin Morgan (Capt.), Tim Bresnan, Jos Butler, Jade Dernbach, Alex Hales, Michael Lumb, Stuart Meaker, Samit Patel, Joe Root, James Tredwell and Luke Wright.

No pressure on selectors, says Rajeev Shukla

In reaction to Mohinder Amarnath's comments, the BCCI represented by Rajeev Shukla, said on Wednesday the selectors were not under any pressure to take any decision.

NEW DELHI: In reaction to an exclusive TIMES NOW interview with Mohinder Amarnath, the chief of IPL and the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Rajeev Shukla, said on Wednesday that the selectors are free and independent to take their decision and there was no pressure from any board.

He further added, "It was not appropriate for ex-selectors to make such comments or make any observation about the selection process and the board. Whatever once has to say one can say in a committee meeting."

Confirming TOI's front page story dated January 29, 2012, former India all-rounder and outspoken former selector Mohinder Amarnath had admitted that "certain internal reasons" stopped the selection committee from replacing Dhoni then.

In a tell-all interview to TIMES NOW, Amarnath, who was tipped to replace Krish Srikkanth as the chief selector before being unceremoniously booted out, said, "Definitely, there were discussions to replace Dhoni and people had even agreed to do so, but for some internal reason it didn't happen.

I would not like to divulge what the reasons were. But when the time is right, I will let the people of this country know about the reasons," Amarnath, the man of the match in the semifinal and final of India's victorious 1983 World Cup campaign, said.

Nehru Cup 2012...

Initially launched in 1982, the Nehru Cup is an international football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). With teams like Uruguay, China and the former Soviet Union having participated in the competition in the past, Nehru Cup is indeed the biggest footballing spectacle that the sub-continent has to offer.

 The 15th edition of the prestigious Nehru Cup was held in New Delhi from August 22 to September 2 with the matches being played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Five teams invited by the AIFF were grouped together and were scheduled to play matches in a round-robin format. The teams that participated were hosts India, 2009 runners-up Syria, Maldives, Nepal and a Cameroon ‘B’ team.

India, being led by their new charismatic captain Sunil Chhetri, entered the competition as defending champions and the lowest FIFA ranked team at 167. Not only did Chhetri have the daunting task to fill in the boots of ex-captain and legendary Indian striker Baichung Bhutia, but he also had a reputation of being only the second Indian player to play in Europe to live up to.

India began their campaign against Syria on 22 August 2012, which was a rematch of the 2009 and 2007 Nehru Cup finals. Chhetri wasted no time in showing his unsullied skills when he scored a goal with a header in the added time of the first half. India went on to win the match 2-1 and made their intentions clear of defending the cup and become only the second team after the former Soviet Union to win it 3 times.

Chhetri was in no mood to show clemency in the completion as he scored a brace in India’s second match against the 161-ranked Maldives, which the hosts won 3-0. With one of the goals being a penalty, the Sporting Lisbon ‘B’ striker proved without a shadow of a doubt that his impeccable skills would surely elevate him as one the finest the country has ever seen.

India’s third match of the tournament was a 0-0 draw against the 162-ranked Nepalese team. The rain-marred match was highly criticised by experts with questions being raised on the viability and credibility of Indian football facilities. Many questioned the use of a ‘Super Sopper’ on the field at half-time, which led to the teams feeling uncomfortable and failing to get in the grove to score.

The penultimate match of India’s 2012 Nehru Cup campaign was a round-robin clash against Cameroon ‘B’, which was a dress rehearsal for the final. With skipper Chhetri rested before the finale, the Indian team never settled in as Cameroon took an early lead courtesy a flawless volley by young striker Samuel Bitte. The hosts went on to lose the encounter 1-0 thereby suffering their first loss of the competition.

The final took place on 2 September 2012 between the two teams with Cameroon ‘B’ heading into the match as clear cut favourites due to their previous victory. However, coached by former Netherlands international Wim Koevermans, team India sent the 12,000 people in Nehru Stadium in frenzy when central defender  Gourmangi Singh beat the off-side trap to head in an immaculate Clifford Miranda free-kick

Cameroon then replied strongly with clever possession play and frustrated the Indian team with their faultless passing. Their dedication paid off when Mackon Thierry equalised for them before star striker Stephane Kingue Mpondo gave the African team the lead in the 54th minute.

With all hope lost in the match, all eyes turned to Sunil Chhetri once again and the Indian captain did not disappoint as he converted a penalty in the 78th minute to open up the completion once again. Consequently, the match went into extra time and finally into a penalty shoot-out that ensured that a second final in two editions would be decided through penalties.

In the end, India defied odds by winning the penalty shootout 5-4 to lift the prestigious Nehru Cup for the third consecutive time and therefore came a step closer to etch their names in the record books.