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Showing posts from April, 2011

And now, the end is near...

It’s the worst moment for any sports fan. It feels like a stab in the heart. You know that eventually you will have to experience it but when it actually hits you your eyes fill up. It is the day you realize that the player you love the most in the entire sport has lost his ability to win at his former level. Roger Federer, I’ve dreaded this day for a while, but it is upon us. As a fan you go through a number of stages with a player. The Fun Stages The Spotting - This is the stage where you first spot your guy. For me it was 2004. I was living in New York and when Wimbledon started I was reading an article by John McEnroe where he said that Roger could be come the greatest of all time. I knew who Roger Federer was of course but had never really watched him seriously because I had been a bit off tennis for a year or so. The Sunday of the final I woke up early to watch him beat Roddick. I was hooked. The Winning/Losing- As a fan nothing gives you more joy when your team or pla

A Leader Steps Up- The Greatest Indian Captain

Winston Churchill said "The Price of Greatness is Responsibility." Never were these words more true than last evening in Mumbai. With the ultimate prize on the line the leader of eleven men walked out in to the middle to take on a challenge that most people believed he could not handle. With his customary swagger he rose to the occasion and embraced the God's of destiny like he was born to do. MS Dhoni joined the party late in this tournament, but once he arrived, he stole the show. The tournament has not been easy for the captain. Being second guessed at every step is never easy for any leader let alone someone who has 1.2 billion people voicing their opinions. Yet this man was supposed to deliver with a team where only two bowlers were definite choices in the eleven. The other two being coin flips. That is hardly the make up of world cup champs. Yet, they had to win. After every match, win or lose, he was analyzed by every one of us. Why did he bowl Nehra in the last ov