Ok, after getting sick of all the sports talk radio discussions, I have decided to lay it out finally.

Contrary to popular opinion (line is 6.5-7), I am going to say Chicago will win the game 33-31. Yes, that’s it. Rex will have a good day because the running backs will have a good day.

Peyton Manning will have a horrible day, at least according to what is expected of him, and by his standards.

Go Bears!

I am on day 17 of coffee-free life. I mean, not caeffine-free, but coffee-free. So yea, I have started drinking green tea and black tea, but I have completed switched off coffee.

Feels a little worse than my ice cream-free life (4+ years now!) mainly because at work, going for coffee is actually partly a social thing and partly just an excuse to take a break. And that smell. Oh my gosh. It has been difficult to stay away.

Of course, I have also started consuming the Starbucks Chai Tea Latte with Soy and whipped cream. Lovely! The more I drink it, the better it tastes.

Maybe it is a good thing that I gave up coffee. I would have never formed a liking for Chai Tea Latte :-)

I know there are going to be weird predictions coming from all quarters, and maybe this one has already been made. But I predict that there will be a missed PAT in the game.

My call - Bears 33, Indy 31.

Today I got an email from desicritics.org that they would be including me in their every-growing list of contributors. I am glad to be a part of such a vibrant blogger community sharing common threads and great creativity.

I hope to get more regular here and will definitely be posting more on desicritics.

For starters, I have cross-posted my thoughts on Salaam-E-Ishq there.

Just finished watching the Indian innings of the one dayer against the West Indies.

What has happened to India? Not so long ago, they were getting crushed by pretty much anyone and suddenly they have regained their mojo. The batting seems to be clinical in its execution and moving Sachin down the order certainly has opened up a lot of possibilities.

I may be speaking ‘fan language’ but whenever Sachin is at the crease, it feels like something is going to happen. And when he was 20-odd in 30-odd with Dravid being the faster scorer (who would have thought that would be the case!), I was feeling quite bored.

And then, out of nowhere, Sachin opened up. Three 4’s in one over from the lefty - pardon me for not knowing too many West Indian players - and it just seemed like the floodgates had opened.

Did they open! First Dravid, then Dhoni and of course Sachin started hitting 4’s and 6’s like it was nobody’s business. Truly, Dhoni’s straight sixes were just unbelievable.

It was fitting at the end that Sachin was able to take two off the second-last ball of the innings, which enabled him to get to 99 and take one off the last ball to get his hundred. It seems like it has been a while since he got to that milestone, and when news came out that he was going to be pushed to the middle order, I had given up hope of him getting close to three figures. But he proved that he is capable of scoring heavily no matter where, and it felt great to see him get to his century.

Congratulations, Sachin. Now let’s see how you can spin the ball!

Cross posted at Desicritics.org

Watched Salaam-E-Ishq yesterday. I was not going to watch it and was not too excited about it in general, but was pulled into the hype by some cousins.

Then, just day before yesterday, I heard some reviews from people that it was too long and there was not much to the storyline and stuff. Made me sort of not too keen to go to the movie. But since I am all alone (the wife and baby are enjoying an extended vacation), I thought I might as well go.

So I did. And it was quite enjoyable. Yes, it was long - 3 hours and 50 minutes including the interval, but the good thing is that I did not feel that it was too long. I saw the time once before the interval and once close to the end. And that was only to estimate how long it has been, not because of boredom.

It has been a while since I saw such a multi-starrer. And it was not bad. I was just hoping that there would be a larger link between the characters than what was shown, but that may be because I am watching too much of Lost, which resumes normal programming next Wednesday! ;-)

The music was pathetic and the songs should have been made optional (watch it online on the movie’s site if you want to). It would have saved them 15 minutes of run time.

I loved Anil Kapoor’s performance. His expressions were brilliant. Seeing a young girl being very forward-thinking and making moves on him left him sort of open-jawed and he showed those feelings very well. Good job. Who was that bimbo, by the way?

Speaking of Anil, how long has he been actively working in Bollywood? He still packs a punch in all his roles. Commendable. And I was wondering if he and Juhi came together in any movie as a couple in their ‘younger’ years. Could not think of any. But my knowledge of movies is very limited so I don’t know. Of course, Juhi had a very small role but you can still call them an on-screen pair for this movie :-)

Govinda’s Raju was another great character. I felt he was quite flat and un-funny in Bhaagam Bhag, but here his delivery was great and timing was perfect. And of course the lost in translation jokes were quite funny. The gori chick looked a lot like Renee Zellweger, didn’t she? She was ok, by the way. I felt the gori in Rang De did a much better job, but maybe it was because she had a much bigger role in that movie and spoke a lot more.

Akshaye Khanna’s character was ok but his acting was funny. Ayesha Takia had not much to do, but in a lot of shots she actually looks like Priyanka. And speaking of Priyanka, I understand it was her first (was it?) comedic role and she overacted through it to the point that she was actually irritating. Salman Khan was decent in patches, but I have a mental block against him so I cannot comment too highly in any way.

I think John Abraham and Vidya Balan’s characters could have been dropped without impacting the story much. Totally detached story from the rest of the movie and almost felt like the producer/director owed them a movie role or something!

The Sohail Khan/Isha Koppikar couple was another couple that could have been completely left out and not made any impact on the storyline. But it was so-so comedy on their part.

Overall, its ok to watch it once. Definitely not buying the DVD or the CD.

Cross posted at Desicritics.org

Must say, it is Florida Gator time nowadays.

Winners of the College Football BCS National Championship.
#1 in the final poll.

Current #1 in the College Basketball rankings.

Rex Grossman is their QB leading the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl.

Enjoy the time, Gators!

Some may say ‘yay’ because he apparently did not do a great job of play calling at USC, but I don’t think it is a good idea for Lane to go to the NFL. Not a good thing for the Raiders and not a good thing for USC. Of course, much more $$$ for Lane, so he is good to go! ;-)

I don’t think it is such a good thing for USC because he and Sark were just about getting started. They had a bunch of talent coming back this year and all that talent had gotten used to the system and was experienced enough to take it to the next level. Now, Sark will have to focus on the play calling and it will disturb the rhythm.

It is not good for the Raiders simply because there is just too much crap in that organization at this point for a 31-year old to come in and make a difference. It would take at least 3-4 years for a change to start showing and I am not sure if Al Davis and more importantly, the Raider Nation is willing to give that much time to their new coach.

Only time will tell what was good and what was not. But for now, I think it is a bad move.

Well, not really. But after that build up to the Saints-Bears game and after the thorough defeat of the Saints by the Bears, it almost seems useless to watch the Super Bowl or the AFC Championship game.

Not after the 88-yard TD by Reggie Bush, which by the way, was awesome!

Not after being just 4 points away from the Bears in the 3rd quarter.

The Chicago defense was really solid, but you cannot expect to win the Championship game if you fumble and lose the ball so many times. Not against the #1 seed. Not in their house!

It ended up being a rout at the end, and good luck to the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl in 2 weeks!

I had an interesting conversation with a co-worker recently and he brought up something that I had really not even thought of till now. I showed him a poster of the front page of the Times of India on New Year’s Day this year which talked about how India is poised to deliver big time.

He said it was all good stuff, but he pointed to the fact that it mentioned “xx years of Free India”. He said by mentioning “free India” we are reminding the youth that India was ruled by some other country and that it is time we forgot about it and talk about the country as just “India” and not “free India”. And he added that Independence Day should not be called as such but instead something like Memorial Day remembering our soldiers or equivalent. By calling it Independence Day, we are remembering the fact that we were ruled by our colonizers and living that life perpetually.

That’s when I realized that the US calls their “independence day” as simply 4th of July. I have hardly heard anyone say independence day here.

I started thinking about it and realized that it is a very good point and a good observation. Why call it Independence? Let the history text books talk about the freedom struggles and let the youth understand how difficult it was to get the freedom they enjoy today. But why remind ourselves every year (twice, if you count Republic Day) about the colonization? Maybe it is time to think anew. Maybe it is time we start talking about renaming the holiday.

Maybe that should be one of the points of India Poised?

So I am back at home base and will be posting more regularly from now on …

What an anticlimax the National Championship game ended up being! Sort of like the USC whooping of Oklahoma at the Orange Bowl two years back … where it was also billed as one of the most exciting, well-balanced game that there could be. Only to unfold as a damp squib.

I did not see the game (no, it is not as big as the NFL to be televised in India and I did not buy the game online), but it seems like Ohio State was clueless and just could not stop Florida.

Congratulations, Florida. It is a great win after coming into the game with some people (including myself) questioning whether you should be there at all. Combine the win with the Michigan crushing at the hands of USC, you can not only justify your being in the game, but stick it to everyone who questioned it!

Like I said in an earlier post, on to the next season!

Due to the broadbad speed here being a little slower than the minimum requirements specified by ESPN Gameplan online, I was not able to see the Rose Bowl live, or even a few days after … as a result, over the past 4-5 days, I have watched the game in bits and pieces and finally yesterday, the speed was upgraded and I saw the second half in one stretch of viewing.

What a game! I would have never expected it to go that way. I really thought USC may have been mismatched and that Michigan would overpower USC with their balanced offense.

But the USC defense showed up big time and all the role players stepped up and ensured that the Michigan attack becomes one dimensional and then attack the quarterback which ended up with them registering 5 sacks before the first half!

The second half was of course the Booty/Jarrett show with USC finding long passes as and when they wanted.

I hope this game does not symbolize the exorcism of the Rose Bowl ghosts for Pete Carroll and he does not feel his job is done at USC. He should not leave USC and go to the NFL as some rumors have started swirling. I really don’t think he wants to leave USC with such a situation that he has been in and will be, but maybe he is just using the NFL talks as a negotiating vehicle to get even more money at USC.

Whatever he asks for, USC will be and should be able to give. He is clearly the biggest influence on the program and no matter what talent pool there ends up being, without PC, the program will definitely take a dip.

Now, on to the next season … can’t wait for it to start already!!

I had posted earlier about how we will miss Michael Schumacher and Andre Agassi, two greats of their own sport who added a lot more than just championship-level matches/races, because they retired in 2006.

Even though they are not retiring in 2006 per se, their careers sort of ended at the end of 2006 and we will also really miss Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

Whatever you may want to say about Shane Warne and his off-the-field issues, his bowling was fantastic and there was really no time in his career except perhaps when he bowled against India, that he did not look like he was going to take a wicket. He had variety, he had zing, he had a knack of running through an innings and he had an amazing chemistry with his close-in fielders and the wicket keepers. He will truly be missed.

Glenn McGrath on the other hand, has been the silent killer on the team. He comes, he does his job, and goes. Whether it is Test cricket or one day matches, he knows exactly what is expected of him and he provides that and more.

Can’t believe Australia will lose two bowlers who had about 1,000 test wickets between them. This season is the best time to strike against the Aussies because in addition to the two greats they have lost Damien Martyn and Justin Langer, both of whom have played vital roles in the Aussie batting line up for the past many years.

Australia of all the teams in the world is the best in replacing retired cricketers (who missed Steve Waugh in the middle order anymore?) so I am sure they will not miss them much, but I think losing those two bowlers is going to be tough and that’s why it is now or never for whoever wants to beat the Aussies (or come as close to it as possible).

The call center reps at TataSky have been trained only to repeat the
two or three lines per topic in their knowledge base.

Recently, I signed up with TataSky just two days before they started
their 6 months free promotion. So I called them and said I would like
to enjoy the promotion too. They said no, and that’s all.

I tried to explain that they may lose me as a customer if they do not
allow me to get the promotion and they only said that they would be sad
to lose me but they cannot add me. So I said cancel my account.

Guess what? They said that I have to write a letter to cancel the
account! What???? Who writes letters in this day and age?

So the alternative provided to me was that I could fax it to them!
Again, what???? Who uses faxes anymore??? There is no online form?
There is no email address? You cannot do it on the phone???? Are you
freaking kidding me?

I got so mad, that I actually went ahead and faxed them a cancellation
notice and immediately things started happening. I got a call from
Bangalore from their backoffice department and they understood my
situation.

They did not add me to the promotion but they allowed me to cancel and
set up a new account on the same box.

Which is b.s. because I had to end up paying new ‘installation’ fees
… of course, with the 6 months free promotion, I still came up on top
after paying extra installation fees, but it is ridiculous to expect to
do such jumping around with such a large organization!

Something must be done!

What can I say? Before the test series started with South Africa, after the drubbing in the one day series, people were talking of 3-0 whitewash. Instead, the Indians ended up winning the first test quite convincingly. 1-0 with a chance to wrap up the series in Durban. Who would have thought?

What ended up happening is that the Indians could not believe that they could win. There were a few moments in the Durban test where if the screw was tightened, India could have actually pressed for a win. In the end, they were in a position to draw out the match by batting on the last day for about 60-70 overs. They did not. The series ended up being 1-1 instead of 1-0 or better 2-0.

The last test saw the pitch tailor-made for the Indians. As Jaffer said after his ton, the pitch was very “Indian” in nature. Then what happened? Kumble could not run through the batting on the fifth day as everyone expected and Sachin came on too late to cause any concern. But more importantly, the Indians could not bat well enough to win the match - 210 was 40-50 too short a target to put up a decent fight.

South Africa won 2-1 after going down 0-1. That’s all credit to them for sticking to their tasks and executing better than the Indians. But the Indian batsmen need to seriously understand the meaning of partnerships, test match cricket, positivity and the will to stay on the pitch in order to be world beaters.

Sehwag had a terrible tour and he should get back to the drawing board quickly and fix his flaws otherwise he may have a tough time holding on to his place. Dravid uncharacteristically had a bad series and Sachin I think was the man responsible for the sad slowdown in the Indian second innings in the last test which ultimately caused the score to be too low in the end.

On the other hand, Ganguly had a great comeback and I think he is now back for good. VVS had his moments too, and the brightest moment must be Dinesh Karthick who was introduced into the XI in the last match because Dhoni was injured. Not only that, he was made to open the innings and he performed creditably.

Sreesanth, putting his antics aside, is the new face of Indian cricket, which does not believe that going on an away tour means there would be no wins. Zaheer came back lean and fit and did an awesome job in all the matches. Kumble probably had a less than great tour but on South African pitches his role would just be to contain the batters and continue to maintain pressure at one end.

And finally, that Munaf episode with his being declared fit and in fact being very obviously unfit, is not going to die so soon. Let’s see how the board handles it and how he handles it.

What I like about two decisions taken today by the Indian team is that they are being realistic and helpful.

The first decision was to send Irfan back home to play in the two Ranji games and get some match practice and let him sort out his issues by playing more games rather than bring the drinks for the team.

That’s being realistic. He is certainly not ready to play a test (not after going 0-74 in 11 against a b-grade side in a 2-day game). If he is held out in South Africa, he will not get any better because you can only do so much during match days in terms of practice. In fact, what the break did for Zaheer and Ganguly, may well be the case for Irfan and we certainly need him for the World Cup. So the earlier we stop the slide, the better. Good call, captain, coach. Thank you for not getting sucked in Gavaskar’s hype about making Pathan open the innings and somehow including him in the side!

Speaking of the opening slot brings me to the next decision. The XII announced today has no Gambhir but has Jaffer. This despite failing in the one dayers and the first test, and also the two side matches.

That’s being helpful. The captain and the team management has shown some confidence in his abilities and I really hope that he can come out of this bad patch quickly. If Sehwag has been given such a long run, why not Jaffer. Its bad for Gautam, but the fact is that he is #3 opener in the squad so he has to be ready for the call any time. That’s it.

I see only Munaf coming in for VRV because I don’t think India will opt for one more bowler sacrificing a batsman.

Congratulations, Indian team management.

I spotted a few white specks on the beard this morning … maybe its a sign of getting old.

After all, I did close one more year of my life :-)

Finally! Now that blogger beta is no longer beta, and the main page has a button to switch, I switched.

I changed my feedburner feed (though I have not changed the template to auto detect feedburner), and added a bunch of slight nonsense I had in the older version, on the right hand side.

Will refine the blog over the next few days and maybe even learn how to hack too ;-)

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Sunday Night Football game was being televised here in India. I followed the game online (Yahoo GameChannel) till the middle of the third quarter and then just for the heck of it, checked the TV and there it was!

It made my morning especially because the Saints kicked the Cowboys' butts. It was fantastic to see how Bill Parcells was outcoached big time.

Oh, and I missed watching Reggie Bush’s awesome TD, which I caught up on YouTube.

I will be on a brief hiatus and will be posting very lightly. Should be able to resume normal posting by mid-January.

Note: I wrote this as a comment on a blog, but I thought it justified itself as a post so here it is …

Why has no one shouted out the fact that Florida, while beating several top ranked teams, has also wins against cupcakes like UCF, West Carolina and Vanderbilt!!

UCF: 4-8, West Carolina: 2-10, Vandebilt: 4-8

I think if Florida had played some real opposition in those three games, they may not have managed to win against those “tough” SEC opponents.

And the other “strong” SEC team, LSU played, among others, Tulane, Fresno State, Mississippi State and Mississippi. Tulane had 4 wins, Mississippi State had 3 wins, Fresno State had 4 wins, Ole Miss had 4 wins!

It is quite sad that everyone is getting washed under this Florida and SEC hype and voting Florida #2 just because they do not want to see Michigan at #2. The SEC was NOT strong this year.

USC on the other hand had opponents with at least 6 wins (except Stanford), most of the opponents being ranked in the top 25 at some point in the season.

Is a two-loss USC which played quality opponents better than a one-loss Florida which played cupcakes?

Reggie Bush finally had his break out game. Finally because it was only a matter of time.

Sadly though, it happened against my 49ers team. But in a way it was good, because we had the game live on TV here!

I think he should have had his 5th TD … who can keep up with him when he has already hit his speed? He should not have bothered to look behind and just went full speed down to the end zone. Oh well.

I deliberately did not post right after the loss because I was quite angry. It was a heart-breaking loss. It was a semi final type of situation - win and go to the National Championship. But it was not to be.

Several things disturbed me during the game:

1. USC for some reason, after a VERY long time, seemed to have no spine. It was like they were there for some ordinary game that had no bearing on their lives at all.
2. Pete Carroll kept pushing the fact that the ucla defense was extremely fast and that USC was going to have a tough time beating them. But hey, he did not seem to understand 5 other teams had beaten ucla already!
3. Bringing up weird dreams of the last time USC played there, the offense failed to convert quite a few short yardage situations.
4. Could Pete Carroll have always wanted to play at the Rose Bowl in a BCS game? Just to end his USC career with a win at the Rose Bowl? Could he be going to the Arizona Cardinals?

Of all these things, I don’t know which one concerns me the most. I would say, PC leaving would be the most concerning to me. He would take away the energy, the motivational success, and most importantly, the recruiting power, with him.

And the second most concerning factor is that lack of a fight from USC in the second half especially.

Ok you bruins, you get the bragging rights for a year. See you same time next year!

I continue to have trouble upgrading to the new blogger. Sucks. I click on the link provided to me, and it tells me after I sign in with my blogger ID that I cannot switch yet.

Sucks!