Saurav Ganguly was ruled out of Challenger series because of a mild tennis elbow. I am not too sure if dropping out of Challenger is necessarily a bad thing, but it looks like he may not be the captain of the upcoming India/SL one day series. It may again have to be Rahul Dravid and again, officially, it would be a stop-gap situation.
I don’t think this is a healthy situation for India, if the selectors decide to name Dravid a captain ‘until Ganguly gets back’. It would basically mean that Dravid will not be able to truly run the team like a captain, knowing that he is there only for 7 one day games. It would also put the team under the impression that they are playing for a stop-gap captain and the ‘real deal’ will come back later.
Not sure how ‘mature’ the Indian team is, but whatever little morale is left, may go flying away if Dravid is put back as vice captain if Ganguly is able to get fit and score big for East Zone. This despite Dravid being in apparent control of the team and the team winning.
We are slowly catching up with the taped stuff over the past week or so, and the first thing I watched last night was the formula 1 GP at Suzuka. This was simply because I did not want to inadvertantly get the results before I saw the race. Plus I had already got some idea that the race was fantastic. So I could not resist it.
Saw the first quarter of the USC game (could not get to a sports bar in Hawaii before the second quarter ;-) ), and then saw the race.
What a race by Kimi! Unbelievable performance. Starting at #20 and ending up #1. Phenomenal. It was sad that Vill knocked Montoya off the track. If Montoya had stayed in the points, and perhaps higher up in the standings, maybe McLaren could have been comfortable, and maybe even clinched the constructors' championship.
Hats off to Kimi Raikkonen. Let’s hope that McLaren improve the car next year and let’s hope that Ferrari bounces back. That will spice things up big time and make the season fantastic.
Now, it is on to China for the final race of the season. Can’t wait for the next weekend.
Back from the vacation. Catching up on chores. Don’t know where to start blogging about the vacation itself. Don’t want to make posts too long, so I think I will write bits and pieces about my impressions of the various places we visited in Hawaii, rather than make a day-to-day diary of the trip.
Today is the last day of our vacation. We leave tomorrow for the mainland. Sad. Visions of work and ‘life’ have started coming back. Why can’t this vacation last forever?
Maui is a wonderful place. Will write about our trip in more detail later. Just wanted to let out my biggest thought of the moment - getting back to reality :-(
So what if I am in beautiful Maui, by the ocean, enjoying the impossibly blue water? I still have to make my picks for week 5. Here they are:
Detroit beats Baltimore New Orleans beats Green Bay St Louis beats Seattle Tampa Bay beats Jets New England beats Atlanta (especially true if Vick does not play) Buffalo beats Miami Chicago beats Cleveland Tennessee beats Houston Indy beats SF Denver beats Washington Carolina beats Arizona Philly beats Dallas Cincinnati beats Jacksonville (Orange Bowl repeat of Palmer vs Leftwich) Pittsburgh beats San Diego
I am not much of a baseball fan. I don’t know much history, and don’t have too much knowledge of the current crop of players. There are just too many games and too many teams to keep me interested in the regular season. I do follow the SF Giants a bit during the regular season, but not seriously.
But this weekend is probably the best weekend of the season. It is because two teams in probably the biggest rivalrly in baseball are playing for the division title. They play three games and if Boston can sweep the Yankees, it wins the division. If they win two of three they force a tie breaking game (I didn’t know that and I am not even sure if that is true or not).
And of course, there is the wilcard race too. So the heat is really on. And of course, October is the only interesting time in baseball for me. Playoffs are where the action is.
If Boston makes it to the playoffs, they are my favorite. If not, my favorite is anyone who plays the Yankees!
I have said this a few times before - somewhere before the beginning of the season and also soon after the season was underway - that Renault and Toyota are both going to do well this year.
Renault of course got the drivers' champion with Alonso and are pretty close to winning the constructors' championship too.
And Toyota, though not noticeable, are in #4, just 17 points behind a struggling Ferrari. With two races to go, and with the way Ferrari’s season has gone, it is not unimaginable that Toyota will overtake Ferrari to get #3 in the standings.
That would be a great finish to a slightly underrated team. Hope they improve their stability and reliability next year and ask Trulli to understand that the races end on Sunday afternoon, not Saturday afternoon. He seems to qualify well only to fumble in the race.
He says that they did not want to rock the boat much. And I like that option. There is no point in taking drastic action because the media has whipped up so much noise about the whole thing.
Yes, both Ganguly and Chappell need to be admonished - Ganguly for cleaning the dirty laundry of the dressing room in public, and Chappell for reacting so strongly for whatever may have happened between him and the captain.
But there was no need to throw one or the other out. The best way to keep the team steady is by letting these two guys work it out and if it does not work for another series or two, then we know that the relationship is dysfunctional.
Of course, if the ‘camp’ story is in any way true, then we have a deep crisis. And the weeds need to be thrown out.
I think it is a good idea. He will play matches, and he will play against guys who are trying to make an impression. At the same time, it is not going to be as competitive as international cricket could be, so it is a perfect place to start his comeback to international cricket.
Good luck, Sachin. And welcome to the landmine that is Indian cricket. Hope your influence can calm whatever storm is there in the dressing room.
Tampa Bay beats Detroit Settle beats Washington Cincinnati beats Houston Denver beats Jacksonville Indianpolis beats Tennessee New England beats San Diego Buffalo beats New Orleans St Louis beats NY Giants Baltimore beats NY Jets Atlanta beats Minnesota Philadelphia beats Kansas City Dallas beats Oakland San Francisco beats Arizona Carolina beats Green Bay
The way T.O. and McNabb were going in the sprint and pre-season, it seemed like they could never play on the same team. What happened in the end? They played a game or two without talking to each other, and then T.O. said he can talk about ‘business’ only and they are still on the same team and if both are healthy at the same time, they can cause serious damage the opposing teams.
If former roommates can split big time and still be able to play on the same team, why can’t Saurav Ganguly and Greg Chappell? After all, they don’t have to play together. They have to plan together and work together, but on the field, it is all Ganguly.
Right?
In theory, yes.
But we are talking about India and Indian cricket. The media is passionate about each and every move they make. They are hunting for stories and scoops. If they do end up working well together, the media will portray it as a ‘step down for Ganguly’ and a ‘win for Chappell’. After all, the media hates Ganguly.
But I personally think that as long as there is no personal ego involved, the two should be able to work together.
And please, drop that joker called Harbajan. Its about time. There is even an excuse now.
There is a practice at my client to go out for lunch when someone is leaving. So far, in the past 2 months I have attended 3 such lunches. In fact, the most recent lunch, last week, was for a guy who was contracting, and was ‘leaving’ the company just to come back on Wednesday as a full-time employee.
So now that I am leaving, I saw an email for going out for lunch, but the email clearly said that it was ‘self sponsored’. There is another guy leaving from the team, and it was a combined lunch, and not company sponsored.
My first reaction, of anger, was to decline the invite. I replied with a suggestion that we go for a happy hour on Friday, and maybe watch the Red Sox kill the Yankees. Then I replied saying it was ok, and that I will go for lunch, since I know the other guy who is leaving.
But what is causing me pain, is the fact that even though I have worked for 4.5 years in this company, they are cheap enough to not pay for a freaking lunch. Its not the cost that matters more here, it is the thought. And I have got a very clear signal of this company’s pathetic management about where their priorities are with respect to me. They don’t care about me and they would rather have me out of here.
Fine. That is ok with me. Just don’t expect that I will be doing any work today or tomorrow. Also, don’t expect to get a return call from me when I am on vacation and things just fall apart. I have had a very good experience interacting with the business folks here and if that is all I can take away from this experience, so be it.
Or I guess the question is will it ever have password protection for posts?
And the other thing I can’t live without is comment RSS or at least comment tracking. I post comments on so many blogs, it is difficult to track if there were follow up comments on any of those.
Even if I have subscribed to the feeds, it does not help if the blog is active, and the post that I commented on, has gone off the top 5 feeds.
And finally, since google has been talking of unlimited storage for free, and has a fantastic photo organizer in Picasa, when are they going to make photo hosting available for picasa users??
A very interesting concept. You bet ‘moolers’ on certain predictions (Hillary will contest 2008 Election, And Indian will set foot on the moon by 2020, etc.) and if they come true, you pocket the difference between your (‘strike price’ and 100) * number of shares you have.
Very neat concept. From what I am reading, these predictive markets are now increasingly being used by commercial organizations like HP and even Department of Defense to predict certain events.
It is currently in ‘invite only’ mode and there are some pretty interesting predictions listed that can be traded on.
I remember seeing something like this before - Bollywood Stock Exchange or such. There was also a Cricket Stock Exchange, if I am not mistaken.
Atlanta beats Buffalo (1-0) Cincinnati beats Chicago (2-0) Jets beat Jacksonville (2-1) Philadelphia beats Oakland (3-1) Tennessee beats St Louis (3-2) Carolina beats Miami (3-3) Indianapolis beats Cleveland (4-3) Minnesota beats New Orleans (5-3) Tampa Bay beats Green Bay (6-3) San Francisco beats Dallas - Oh, so close! (6-4) Arizona beats Seattle - Dang it. (6-5) Pittsburgh beats New England (6-6) San Diego beats Giants (7-6) Denver beats Kansas City (8-6)
Slightly better than my first two weeks (8-8 each).
Its good to see that Carson Palmer made it to the ‘cover’ of the ESPN.com website. After leading the Bengals to a 3-0 start, he should be on the cover.
Congratulations, Fernando Alonso. You have done it. They call Kimi the Ice Man, but I think you are cool too. The pressure of winning it all could otherwise have got to you. But you did not let that come in the way. You calmly came across third, which was just enough for you to clinch it.
It’s been a fantastic season for you. Your car was reliable in pretty much every race and that let you collect crucial points while others crashed out or did not finish races. Ultimately, those points created enough cushion for you to win it two races before the end of the season.
Kimi, sorry. It is certainly not your fault. McLaren only have themselves to blame. Hopefully next year will be much better.
Of course, the next two races are now important for the constructors' championship and I hope McLaren clinches it.
Its been reported at pretty much all the places by now, but here’s my take:
USC’s young team were so pumped up early in the game with the crowd and playing at Autzen stadium for the first time that they tried too hard. The receivers, the defense, heck, even Leinart. That explains the penalties, the bad throws and most importantly, that turnover in the end zone.
Dwayne Jarrett was completely off in the first 1.5 quarters. And being the stud of the team, it caused a lot of problems in the offensive rhythm.
Luckily, they have enough smarts to wake up after a jolt. The second quarter was much better in terms of execution. But still, they should have scored a TD before the half, where they had to settle for a field goal.
But the best execution of the offense was the third quarter where suddenly they started playing like the Trojans we know. Throw at will, run through the holes, and let Bush do his thing. Can someone explain how he is able to cut so many times on a play? I doubt if that is going to work in the NFL, but that is one of the reasons why I love college football. Such exciting plays by such exciting playmakers.
So 45 unanswered points later, USC has another ‘W’ in the bag. The next stop is also a dangerous one. Though I must admit, I feel that USC is probably better off against ASU because they are not known to be a defensive team. Yes, they will score pretty much like the Trojans, but if the Trojan defense can do just a little bit more than the Sun Devils', I think the pressure will get to their offense and they will falter.
But again, ASU has not been beaten yet and they have been putting up big points. And they will be playing at home. So it is going to be a nail-biter. Thankfully, I will be able to see it before starting my vacation on Sunday.
The OC seems to have picked up pace. Last week’s episode had a lot of stuff going on. Jimmy Cooper, the loser, has decided to go back after sinking another boatload (no pun intended) of money and getting whacked.
E-Ring seems to be a great show. The wife and I both enjoyed it a lot. Will keep the DVR set for it.
Did not watch Apprentice:Martha Stewart much, but I don’t think there is much promise because the concept is old. Will watch it one more time and then decide if it is worth keeping it.
How I Met Your Mother seems to be ok, though the pilot was kind of sad.
The Office was damn funny, as usual.
Reunion is a fantastic show. A different concept (with parallel ‘present day’ and ‘198x’ stories), and good drama overall.
ER looks ok (have only watched the first half of it).
Will give Three Wishes (Amy Grant) one episode to see if it is worth it.
My Name Is Earl seems to be pathetic. At least the pilot made me fall asleep. So I am going to cancel its taping. Too bad.
Still Standing is funny as usual. And According To Jim was quite funny, but not as much as the last season. But like I had mentioned earlier, I feel season premieres seem to lack a punch especially compared to season finales.
Watched this funny movie last night. Oh man, I was just cracking up at some of the subtle things shown in the movie. Very funny, but not in a slapstick way. Almost in a sad way. Sad for the guy.
Steve Carell is too funny. His expressions and his naivete are fantastic.
The theater was quite empty and my loud laughs were actually embarrassing the wife, but I could not help it. It was just too funny.
I have been pretty much silent on all those BCCI/GC/SG posts until now. I recently read someone saying that GC seems to be talking too much and I thought I’d put my thoughts on it too.
We are certainly making SG a big scapegoat in this whole situation and most likely it could be a political chess game between JD and Pawar. But GC seems to care too much about the media and he seems to be on a certain agenda.
How else can you explain 1) His long email right after a test series win, criticising the captain, and more importantly, 2) leaking of the same to the media.
Also, how else can you explain his constant biting of the bait offered by the media? The media is of course looking for more spice and this guy keeps offering it.
Don’t tell me GC has no idea about how passionate the Indian media (and possibly the rest of the cricketing world too) is about Indian cricket team. Don’t tell me he does not know that whatever statement(s) he makes are going to be completely chopped up and used as sound bytes in bits and pieces in various media circles. Don’t tell me he does not realize that there are some media persons who will not give up the trail that will ‘prove’ something ‘that they already knew’ - the SG is no-good and is using his power and connections with JD to stay in the team.
He knows all that. He has to.
Then why is he talking so much? There has to be a puppet master pulling the strings behind the stage. Who is this puppet master?
The one thing (and perhaps the ONLY thing) that bothers me in reading so much so far, is that SG seems to be creating factions in the team. I just cannot see that happening with guys like RD and Kaif and all that. I can see how Kumble may feel snubbed and he may look for succumbing to a ‘camp’ and on the other hand Harbajan, Nehra and Zaheer falling likewise to the ‘other camp’. But the report that I read, said Dravid is actually leading the opposite camp! Come on. If Dravid is what is made out of him (I don’t know him personally or even with 2 degrees of separation), this good guy who works for the team and nothing but the team, I cannot see how he could form a camp and start creating factions in the team. I truly believe that it is a story created by someone just for the media to add fuel to a somewhat mild fire.
We have to ignore this b.s. and come to the team’s support. SG has truly done nothing wrong. The media has come out against him and he is most likely being made a sacrificial pawn in the chess game between Dalmiya and the world. It would be sad if he is let go.
Atlanta beats Buffalo (I hope Vick practising means he will play) Cincinnati beats Chicago (too easy to call) Jets beat Jacksonville Philadelphia beats Oakland Tennessee beats St Louis Carolina beats Miami Indianapolis beats Cleveland Minnesota beats New Orleans (not really an upset) Tampa Bay beats Green Bay San Francisco beats Dallas (upset?) Arizona beats Seattle (upset special) Pittsburgh beats New England (really, really tough to call) San Diego beats Giants Denver beats Kansas City
