200

The summit has been scaled, mission accomplished, the barrier has been breached, the unthinkable has been thought of and actually done, yes 200 runs have been scored in a one day international by a single batsman. And who else would have deserved it more than Sachin. A classic innings to watch, I have watched the downloaded version a few times now. It felt like watching Sachin in his so called peak period in the late nineties or so we thought. There are a gazillion praises being showered on the little master. And deservedly so. What a treat it must have been to watch this innings in person. Really a true classic, a magnanimous display of skill and aggression and that too against a pretty good bowling attack.

What makes any innings great? Yes it was not under immense pressure or anything but then we probably would not have seen the kind of aggression in his batting that we have failed to see in the past few years. The looks on the bowlers faces said it all. A lot of people have said that Sachin knows the next ball the bowler is trying to bowl and you could actually see the amount of time he had before playing each shot. As Chatur in 3 idiots would have told you an innings is "a numbered round of play in which both teams have a turn at bat" or "the period of or opportunity for action, expression, exercise of authority, etc." the latter so fitting to what the display was as it embodied each and every word in that definition. So what can top this? I asked the same question when 2 thunderous innings were played in succession amidst the desert storm. But I guess there will always be a way to top this, to break this record, which I am sure Mr. Ponting will be eying for too.

Science of Swing

Here is an interesting picture detailing the swing bowling grips and their effects.

The Super Bowl - What's so Super about it?

President Obama was right on the mark - The Pittsburg Steelers edged out the Arizona Cardinals in a last minute touchdown to win the Vince Lombardi trophy, the Super Bowl, the most coveted and the most prestigious trophy in NFL. In any finals of any sporting event, I have the tendency to support the underdog and so I was rooting for the Cardinals. They did put up a good fight but in the end they fell a little short. Plus the Steelers had already won the trophy five times and this was their sixth which is an all time record for Super Bowl wins. Ah well! its not like I have some money invested in a team like SRK does. Neither was I a die hard fan of any of the teams contesting. After we moved from Kansas City where we actually had a local NFL team to support, the Chiefs!!!, no matter how bad they played, Salt Lake City does not have a NFL team nor does any city in Utah. The folks here are satisfied with the excitement they get over the clashing of two of the local college football teams. These are people who find happiness in small things... just kidding ;).

The Super Bowl dates back to 1967 and is a game between the top teams in each of the 2 leagues in the American Football namely the NFC and the AFC which are the National and the American Football Conferences respectively. So, even if it is not as old as some worldwide sports like cricket or soccer, it is one of the greatest events in the American sports calendar. The highest sale of potato chips, sodas, buffalo chicken wings and pizza happens on this very day. Oh and beer too. There are numerous super bowl parties that we usually get invited too. This year we decided to stay home and watch since Aarav was not feeling too well. I have had numerous discussions with people here and some back in India as to how and why they call it a football game as neither the foot is used as its supposed to nor do we have a round ball. I will not go into that discussion again. I still prefer to call soccer as football which I feel is the true foot-ball. Same goes with the baseball world series... people!!! Soccer can have a World Series but not baseball. More than 140 countries play soccer, where as professional baseball, a handful. The halftime show has higher ratings now than any other normal music show after the Janet Jackson episode. Hence the conference fearing any such unusual event, have reverted back to bringing old rock stars and such who are in their 60s now. This year though, Bruce Springsteen did put up a good show. The other attraction is the good quality of super bowl ads. This year it was expected that the number of ads would be less due to the economic downturn but guess what; ads worth 206 million dollars were aired yesterday. Do you know that like super bowl parties there are super bowl ad parties too!!! They mute the volume during the game and un-mute during the ads... what a bunch of bozos!!!

So the purpose of this musing was not to rant about how strange some of the sports traditions the US has, but to appreciate its sports culture and certain traditions that can be found only here. I can never imagine myself playing American football though as the thought of I being tackled by a 300 pounder sends chills up my spine.
NFL link.

Salute to the Little Master

His 103* at Chennai last week against England is one of the best compiled innings I have ever seen. Some of the other test innings have been more flamboyant but this got rid of the "Tendulkar cannot bat in the second innings" stigma for sure. I had decided to watch the match only until 1:00 am that night as I had to go to work the next day but I got a hunch that something special was about to happen and boy was I glad that I didn't miss it. At no point of time did he play a false shot in this inning. He very much stuck to the basics, curtailed his cover drive and was ticking the scoreboard beautifully. As the total got closer he was more vigilant in his approach and guided Yuvraj in the chase. Below are some of the quotes that others have said about him.

"Sachin is cricket's God"
- Barry Richards.

"He is 99.5 per cent perfect. I'd pay to see him"
- Viv Richards.

"I have seen God. He bats at number 4 for India"
- Mathew Hayden

"There is no shame being beaten by such a great player, Sachin is perhaps only next to the Don"
- Steve Waugh.

"I still think Tendulkar is the best batsmen in the world ahead of Steve Waugh and Lara"
- Glenn McGrath.

"You take Don Bradman away and he is next up I reckon"
- Steve Waugh.

"Cricketers like Sachin come once in a lifetime, and I am privileged he played in my time"
- Wasim Akram

"Sachin Tendulkar is a genius. I'm a mere mortal"
- Brian Lara

"Don't bowl him bad balls, he hits the good ones for fours"
- Michael Kasprowicz.

"It's scary, where the hell do we bowl to him"
- Allan Border.

"Yeah mate, but that's with all great players"
- Ian Chappell.

"He's better than Ben Hur"
- Paul Wilson.

"There's no doubt about it. He is the best"
- Tony Grieg.

"Technically, you can't fault Sachin. Seam or spin, fast or slow - nothing is a problem"
- Geoffrey Boycott.

"Destined to be a great"
- Barry Richards.

"You have to watch India in India truly to appreciate the pressure that Sachin Tendulkar is under every time he bats. Outside grounds, people wait until he goes in before paying to enter. They seem to want a wicket to fall even though it is their own side that will suffer"
- Shane Warne.