Champion's League

Well! Two days of sleeplessness and I see my favorite team beaten! :(
And yes, I had to barge into one of my important trainings an hour late because of that. Now how is that?
For those who are feeling out of the place, let me enlighten you bitches... I'm talking about football, they call it soccer in US.
That brings us to an important topic, if I'm a hardcore football fan! No I ain't. But I like to watch quality football and Champion's League gives me that.
Champion League 'round of 16' first leg started on 24th. First day I watched Man Utd V/s Internazionale Milano till 0300 Hrs in the morning, which finished goalless. There were other three more matches which I couldn't watch. Second day, it was my favorite, Real Madrid V/s Liverpool FC, where hard-working Liverpool came a goal ahead of Real, in a match where Real dominated the play. Other three matches I couldn't watch as those ass*&|es don't show all the matches in India.
Now, I'm waiting for the return leg, which is almost a fortnight away.

New colors and a new hairdo

Yesterday, late night news covered the unveiling of Team India's the new jersey for the tour of NZ.

Team India's new jersey unveiled

. Saw Harsha Bhogle there, was surprised to see him with quality hair in his otherwise barren scalp.

Here's his new look.

End of might, mate???

Is this the end of world supremacy Australia used to have in cricket? Are they only good at "motor-mouthing"?
Looks like they are, according to this article in espn-star site. :)
I feel sooooooo happy!!!!! :)

The accidental post

Needless to say, I'm short of thoughts these days! :)
It must be because of the lateral pressure I'm facing in my profession, or may be I'm too much into something clandestine... :)
Well, finally Euro '08 has started and after initial matches, it looks like The Neatherlands and Germany are the strong favorites. Portugal holds the edge, but my money's on former two teams. Only problem is, it's ruining my sleep, for I'm awake till 0230 Hrs most of the days, and it's visibly reflecting during my office hours. Power naps they say.. :)
I'm hitting lows these days, and somebody is backing me through and through during these hours of need, I feel so privileged and proud the the way I chose my eternal happiness.
And in between all these chaos last week, Jannat happened. :) By Jannat, I didn't mean the heaven, I mean the Emraan Hashmi starer hindi flick. It's okie. I wonder why people overlook him as an actor! May be because all his movies' songs have done well in the past, and they have so well that they have overshadowed his acting skills. By acting skills I mean they way he does all those useless, leave-your-brain-at-home-to-watch-me-act stuffs.
He acts well, no doubt, but I see something lacking, may be the aura, signature style(barring his kisses, I see no signature style in him) and the star-power. But yet, he's the god's loveliest child.
Long time ago, in one of the stand-up comedy programs, one comedian cracked a joke, here's how it went:

God created the world, and after its completion, he looked over from heaven and thought, wow! what a wonderful thing I've created, now there should be somebody to enjoy this wonder. And then he created Emraan Hashmi, and told him, 'See my child, this is what I've created, now go down there and enjoy its beauty'.

And from that day onwards he wishes he'd never taken that decision, coz Emraan is enjoying more than god himself. :)
Oh yes, we were in Jannat, isn't it? Okie, this movie is good, 2.5 out of 5. Suddenly, Taare Zameen Par's father looks sooo old in this movie. Watch it if you want to see Emraan Hashmi, doing dirty things to this new actress. :)

Post-IPL euphoria

A euphoria called IPL swept the whole nation by its feet. And importantly, (I think) it thrusted the idea of belongingness to it's Indian viewers/supporters. When people cheered Shane Warne while bowling to Sachin Tendulkar was the kind of change it brought. Quite unconventional, yet feel good change. How long Indian supporters would support an inconsistent team backed by richest sports governing body!
Time was ripe for the supporters to get their support's due, and IPL just did that.
Now Rajasthan Royals happily back with the IPL trophy with them, IPL has silently abated for the time being, promising yet another battle of performers next year. And no doubt, I'll be watching them with same enthusiasm.

The day I saw this ad, I was damn convinced something big was coming our way. And it happened. Every idea behind IPL was innovative and brought smiles in viewers faces. This ad was, by far, the best of the lot. True Indian ad in making. Simply loved it.
This is my small tribute to the ad and people who executed it.


PS: A day after IPL finals, when I reached home after office, I felt so incomplete!

More sports update

Wow! What a night I had! Staying till 0315 Hrs in the morning didn't go in vain. One absolute rocker of the game!
Well, for those morons who don't know what I'm talking about, it's much awaited Champion's League final showdown between the two giants of English Premier League, Manchester United Vs Chelsea. They headed the EPL charts and also the Champion's League table.
It was only few days back, Manchester United became the English Champions with a narrow margin, 2 points to be precise and Chelsea, the second. Similar fate awaited for Chelsea in Moscow. Chelsea is good side but Manchester is superior. Avid Chelsea fans wont like to believe it, but well, that's the truth, otherwise the results wouldn't be lying.
This Champion's League final once again proved why Ronaldo is best player around, for he was the one who started the scoring in mid-first half. Frank Lampard balanced the equation in the dying minutes of first half. One thing I want to mention here, I never rate Frank Lampard as best of the players, he's just been over-hyped!
Second half couldn't break the dead-lock, and the thirty minutes of extra-time too was unfruitful, except Didier Drogba getting a Red card, for slapping Owen Hargreaves(I think, pardon my carelessness, I was feeling very sleepy then! :) ).
And then the penalties happened, Petr Cech saved the third penalty from Ronaldo and John Terry threw away the eufa cup by shooting his chance outside the net. So finally it came to sudden-death, Ryan Giggs converted his chance and Edwin Van Der Sar saved Nicholas Anelka's shot. At the end, it was ManU 6 and Chelsea 5 in penalties.
It's ManU all the way in Europe.

Couldn't think of a good title

I've completely lost the track of the time now a days. The change in project, my evil intention, my hard-work to see my evil intention get through, IPL and Champion's League... all sums up to one sentence, I really have lost the track, or rather, I'm running in a different lane!
Different late-night ToI sessions have drained me. Moving and start working immediately into a new project hasn't helped much. Feels like I've become the epitome of a cheap-labor, or you can say a synonym for Big Bazaar(remember their punchline? "Is se sasta aur achcha kaha milega?"). How dearly I wish my evil intentions to be true soon, sadly that hasn't happened till date. So I'm still trying.
And there's Champions' League and IPL. In second semi-final's second leg between, Chelsea and Liverpool, Chelsea got through after a 4 - 3 aggregate. They were deadlocked in the first leg at Anfield(Liverpool's home) 1 - 1, courtesy Jon Arnie Riise's own goal in the dying seconds of the match. It was always goign to be a herculean task for (my favorites) Liverpool to register a win at Stamford Bridge(Chelsea's home ground). And my fear become true as Drogba muscled in, tearing the Liverpool defence to hit nets twice. It was a well fought battle, and scoreline read 3 - 2 after 120 minutes of play, as 90 minutes of play couldn't decide the better team. Babel's goal from near-centre was a treat to watch, but as commentator said, it came a bit late. Finally it'll be Chelsea Vs Manchester United in all English European League final at Moscow.
Enough of Europe, coming back to India, now a days there's a craze called IPL prevalent in Indian heat, spreading like wildfire, catching everybody's attention. The strongest teams, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders have bitten the dust, after successive losses. Team Chennai is clearly showing how Australians had dominated the initial part of this inaugural IPL edision. I guess Dhoni must be finding it hard to pull back his teams act together, but still he has to do it, and do it faster.
Controversy looming around the captain's head, Kolkata Knight Riders too are well below their standards. Frankly, has Sourav Ganguly ever shied away from controversy? I think he isn't an apt leader for T20s, hasn't led from front and this is showing in the group-standings. Now that Shoaib Akthar has been cleared to play, it may boost their morale.
Rajasthan Royals have always brought something new to IPL everytime, latest being Asnodkar, looking him play, one surely agree : Dynamites indeed come in small packages. What a man, I'm impressed, though not very much refined and may fall against quality pace attack, yet a talent worth your money! They are looking very good side, after Smith's arrival, their top-order has gained more ground. And Sohail Tanvir is troubling the batsmen like never before, I'm sure Parthiv Patel, didn't see the ball coming, I can bet on that.
Okie then, Bangalore Royal Challengers Vs King XI Punjab is on the cards today, I seriously want Bangalore to win this one.

Sports Update :)

Hi folks, well I couldn't keep away from writing, especially so much is going around! :P
This IPL has brought a whole new set of subjects for me to write about(I'm salivating! :)!
Let's talk about the Champion's League, 1st semi final, 2nd leg, between Manchester United and Barcelona. My oh my... Paul Scholes, where on earth were you, till you scored that goal? He has always been a power-shooter, yesterday too he proved that he has not faded away. Playing along-side the holy-trinity of Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez, it's not always possible to steal the lime-light. But Scholes, you did it, and that too in such a major clash. Kudos to you!
Note: Only Paul Scholes right-footer powerful shot from outside the D-area in fourteenth minute separated the two sides and pushed ManU to finals.
Now let's talk about the IPL:
8 teams, 59 matches, salivating prospects for press, players, viewers and BCCI of course(nearly forgot BCCI! :) )
Great teams, great matches so far... Let's look at the teams..
Delhi Daredevils : My favorite in IPL. This team boosts of quality bowlers, with likes the of McGrath, Asif, Vettori in their ranks. But they lost to KXP.
Chennai Super Kings: Probably the strongest teams so far, four matches without loss proves that they are the Kings till now, but they'll be short of Hayden and Hussy now. It's worth watching how they'll fill the void.
Kolkata Knight Riders: I had thought they'll be a team to watch, but losing two-in-the-trot has somewhat dented their morals(mine as well). Now Brendon McCullum and Ponting is goin back for their national duties. I think KKR will suffer their absence.
Kings XI Punjab: This is the fourth team I had tipped to reach semis. With likes of Yuvi, Sreesanth, Sangakara and Brett Lee, they have the firepower.
Rajasthan Royals: Though they don't have much foreign-imports, the able shoulders of Shane Warne has taken them to the new heights. With Shane Watson and Yusuf Pathan contributing big time, they have become a force to fear for.
Bangalore Royal Challengers: An out and out test side, with Jaffar, Dravid and Kallis filling the upper 3 spots. Don't expect a firecracker whilt their inning is in progress. Though they have Boucher and Misba to provide that option. Good bowling side with, Zaheer, Morkel and Praveen Kumar(and Kumble of course).
Deccan Chargers: Most star-studded line-up for T20. So far, they have failed to impress, barring that last match against Mumbai Indians. With Gilchrist, Gibbs, Afridi and Symonds, they can tear anything coming their way(though Symonds will be bcak now).
Mumbai Indians: Most expensive side, but they money spent is not showing up in their performance. Shaun Pollock is my all time favorite. Sachin is every cricket-lover's god. I'm desperately waiting for Sachin's comeback, for only he, can save the Mumbai Indians' sinking ship. Though they have won their last match against KKR, I'm still not convinced.

Today's match: Bangalore Royal Challengers Vs Delhi Daredevils.
I'm afraid how big will be the winning margin today, coz you all know the winner, Delhi Daredevils(my favorite team :) ). :)

The Comeback

No no... I wasn't in prison serving the sentence, nor was I in some self-imposed exile... My reason for being away from the blog was well... there are various reasons: but foremost being the preparation for the switch...(those in IT know what is switch! :) )
I sat for one of the best companies... flunked it.... dint expected subjective types questions in written test.... seriously! for this one, all my assumptions went awry. Anyways, I still have a whole lot of options open, so planning to capitalize on them. Hope I'll come out blazing guns... Wish me luck, and till then, there will be a drought of posts here(Most likely :) )
And oh yes! We have IPL going on now and today's the ManU VS Barca, Semifinal, 2nd leg, from 11.30 IST. Dont miss it.
Signing off for the day
D

A spectator's desire

Watched the second leg of the Champions' League Quarter Final between ManU and AS Roma, staying awake till 0230 Hrs. I must say I'm a li'l disappointed as a spectator, for both the teams missed quite a few opportunities, and biggest heartache came when I couldn't see Cristiano Ronaldo even after watching the entire match. I had seen the first leg of this quarter-final till half-time, where ManU had come victorious, kudos to Rooney and Ronaldo, latter scoring a goal out of nowhere! The form Ronaldo is in this season, I don't have to think about who will the recipient of the golden ball this year be, I bet it's his. And yesterday, it's was the same cupidity of watching him in action that stretched my awake-hours. While the match was in progress and was well paced in second half, I thought Sir Alex Ferguson must have plotted against all Ronaldo fans to increase TRP of the CL(Champions' League) :) .
Both the teams were equally inadequate in terms of scoring and defending, the defenders let slip a few of the attacks and those attacks were spoiled by the strikers or the keeper. AS Roma even got a penalty(which I feel wasn't, as far as my football knowledge is concerned!) in the first half, but Daniele De Rossi shot it powerfully over the horizontal bar. Phew! That very time I knew this would be a near-to-boring affair, but still watched thinking that Ronaldo will come and change the course of the match. But that was not to happen.
Tevez scores in 70 something minute
And all of a sudden Carlos Tevez unsettled the parity with a low header to a Owen Hargreaves' cross. Another nail in the coffin of the hopes of Roma going to semis, after ManU had won the first leg with a 2-0 margin. I must say AS Roma missed their striker and captain Francesco Totti in a huge way, for they lacked the poaching instincts up front.
Finally it's ManU going to CL semis to face Barca by virtue of a 3-0 aggregate win. Barca who were superior to Schalke in both the games has reached to semis with an aggregate of 2-0.
Now let's cross out hands, wait and watch, who will lift the cup. This year my favorite is ManU, for their players are fluid, plays in any position and unsettles the opposotion defence quite easily. And yes, J.S. Park is an asset to ManU, and yesterday too he proved why has he been in ManU for so long!
Parting notes: I'm angry with Sir Alex for not letting me see the ever selfish, ever arrogant but the best player around this year, Christiano Ronaldo. With that form and those skills he can afford to be selfish and arrogant. But I am still angry at Sir Alex.