Monthly Sports Round-Up - March 2007
The ICC World Cup begins
Though did not watch the complete opening ceremony, managed to catch some action of it. Should say wasn't very impressed. Somehow all the opening ceremonies of major sporting events (soccer world cup, the Olympics and the Super Bowl to name a few) are all getting very monotonous and I am no more excited to watch them as I used to get, say a decade ago. All these opening ceremonies seem to have a preset readymade template and the WC opening ceremony was no different, with it religiously aping that template. There would be lot of fireworks, display of a wide range of colors, some music band will be playing hit music and last but not the least, some selected locals will be dancing near the stage. The organizers sure put in a lot of effort behind the show but I am guessing as long as there is nothing new or unique in the show, it is going to be tough to attract the audience.
Federer's 41 match winning streak ends
Anytime Federer loses a match, it is news and not the other way around (I had written the same words about Tiger in my last month's write-up but I think this is applicable to Federer much more than Tiger). Guillermo Vilas' record of the longest winning streak (at 46 matches) was the one which I thought will be the next one to fall in the Federer era that we are living in. Thankfully, Guillermo Canas who got in as a lucky loser knocked out Federer in straight sets in the Pacific Life Open masters series tournament at Indian Wells and has given all tennis fans some hope for the future. It really felt so good to know that someone can indeed beat Federer and that Federer can have a bad day at work, just like any other player. Here’s hoping for many more such bad days :)
Patriots on a free-agent signing frenzy
If you are a big NFL fan, there is no real off-season to relax. Ever since the free-agency signing period opened up, every team has been signing up players like crazy but none did it like the New England Patriots. They have completely revamped their wide receiver core, by signing some prominent names like Daunte Stallworth (who had a big year with the Eagles last year), Kelly Washington and Wes Walker. Other big name trades involved Thomas Jones signing with the Jets who were in desperate need for a running back and the Browns signing their once chief tormentor Jamal Lewis, which BTW I thought was a stupid move since Jamal Lewis is well past his prime and he is hardly going to have a handful of 100 yard games the coming season. As for the Seahawks, they made one big move by signing DE Patrick Kerney of the Atlanta Falcons in a fierce fight involving the Broncos, who settled the score by signing TE Daniel Graham in whom the Seahawks were interested in. Overall, the Patriots were the big winners in the free agency signing and looks like the loss to the Colts in the AFC Championship game has hurt Bellichick just a wee bit more.
Gibbs sets World record
Hitting sixes off all the 6 balls in an over is a dream for every cricketer and to be able to do it in International cricket is just next to impossible. But Gibbs just accomplished the impossible task by hitting 6 sixes of the 30th over in their contest against Netherlands. Poor Dan van Bunge was the one who endured the ignominy of seeing his name being associated with such a humiliating record. Though records like these are highly entertaining, ironically, it is also exactly feats like these that completely dampen one's expectations from these early stages of the world cup. One boring and insipid game after another.
Tiger goes from boom to bust at the Arnold Palmer Invitational
Not often do we see Tiger going from within 1 shot of the lead mid-way through the final round and finally ending up a whopping 11 shots behind the eventual winner Vijay Singh. It was a completely un-Tiger like performance from the golfing maestro who is known for his patented Sunday march. Every time he has been in the lead entering the 4th day, he has managed to win the tournament except once. Though he wasn't sharing the lead entering the 4th round in this tournament, the fact that he was just 1 shot behind the leader midway through the 4th round should have made all Tiger fans to anticipate another charge by Tiger. Unfortunately that did not happen and instead Tiger ended up tying his career-worst score in a non-major, finishing off with a bogey, double-bogey and triple-bogey finish. With just 1 tournament and 2 weeks between now and the Master's, it is going to be an interesting 2 weeks to see how Tiger bounces back from such a performance.
A billion hopes dashed
In a do-or-die game against the neighbors from the Emerald Islands, Team India folded without putting up a fight and thus were sent packing out of the tournament even before the Super 8 stage began. This is India's earliest exit from the World Cup tournament since 1991 where again we were knocked out in the first round. Before anybody could wake up to what was happening, India was out of the World cup. The bowling was decent in all the 3 games but it was the batting that let us down inexcusably in both the games we lost. Just like how Azhar and Ganguly's decisions to field first in the 1996 & 2003 World Cups have notoriously become part of the history of Indian cricket, Dravid's decision to bowl first against the Bangladeshis will forever be remembered as his biggest blunder. But as always, there was a bright side to the whole sad saga - our other neighbors Pakistan too lost, though unlike us, they had match-fixing to be blamed for the loss against the Irish.
Tiger express back on track
After losing at the Arnold Palmer invitational tournament the week before in a very un-Tiger like performance, Woods comes back strongly to win the WGC-CA Championship in Doral, with a comfortable 2 shot margin. When Tiger started the final round with a 4 shot lead, none had any doubt as to who is going to win the tournament. But Tiger & his fans had to go through some nervous moments before clinching the title. Now, everything is set for the big daddy of them all - The Masters, which begins this week at the Augusta National Golf Club, GA.
Kobe goes berserk
Scoring 50 points in a game in the NBA is not easy. But Kobe just went on a scoring rampage and scores 50 points in 4 games on the trot. This was Kobe at his best. After the Lakers lost 7 consecutive games (a first in coach Jackson's illustrious career), Kobe decided to take matters in his own hands and went on this scoring spree. And no wonder, the Lakers ended up winning all 4 of them. The streak ended when he could 'only' score 43 points in another game against the Warriors. The experts of the game were so much awestruck that they even started comparing him with the best of them all MJ (which would be considered sacrilege if anybody else had been compared to MJ). The Lakers are now well in the playoff hunt but once they get there, I feel that they have no chance against the Big 3 from the Western Conference - Mavericks, Suns and Spurs.
Canas does it again
Looks like God has answered my prayers. As though beating Federer 2 weeks ago at Indian Wells was not just a flash in the pan, Canas does the improbable once again by beating Federer at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, FL. This time around Federer puts up a better show and took Canas to a 3rd set tie-break before losing eventually. These 2 defeats of Federer have given me the hope that the monotony that we have been witnessing the last couple of years - in the form of Federer winning every game and Grand Slam he plays - might come to an end. But the problem with this reasoning is that Federer lifts his game up couple of notches above whenever he plays in the Grand Slams and so beating him in a Grand Slam tournament is still going to be an uphill task. But till then, lets enjoy this well-deserved break for the moment.
Though did not watch the complete opening ceremony, managed to catch some action of it. Should say wasn't very impressed. Somehow all the opening ceremonies of major sporting events (soccer world cup, the Olympics and the Super Bowl to name a few) are all getting very monotonous and I am no more excited to watch them as I used to get, say a decade ago. All these opening ceremonies seem to have a preset readymade template and the WC opening ceremony was no different, with it religiously aping that template. There would be lot of fireworks, display of a wide range of colors, some music band will be playing hit music and last but not the least, some selected locals will be dancing near the stage. The organizers sure put in a lot of effort behind the show but I am guessing as long as there is nothing new or unique in the show, it is going to be tough to attract the audience.
Federer's 41 match winning streak ends
Anytime Federer loses a match, it is news and not the other way around (I had written the same words about Tiger in my last month's write-up but I think this is applicable to Federer much more than Tiger). Guillermo Vilas' record of the longest winning streak (at 46 matches) was the one which I thought will be the next one to fall in the Federer era that we are living in. Thankfully, Guillermo Canas who got in as a lucky loser knocked out Federer in straight sets in the Pacific Life Open masters series tournament at Indian Wells and has given all tennis fans some hope for the future. It really felt so good to know that someone can indeed beat Federer and that Federer can have a bad day at work, just like any other player. Here’s hoping for many more such bad days :)
Patriots on a free-agent signing frenzy
If you are a big NFL fan, there is no real off-season to relax. Ever since the free-agency signing period opened up, every team has been signing up players like crazy but none did it like the New England Patriots. They have completely revamped their wide receiver core, by signing some prominent names like Daunte Stallworth (who had a big year with the Eagles last year), Kelly Washington and Wes Walker. Other big name trades involved Thomas Jones signing with the Jets who were in desperate need for a running back and the Browns signing their once chief tormentor Jamal Lewis, which BTW I thought was a stupid move since Jamal Lewis is well past his prime and he is hardly going to have a handful of 100 yard games the coming season. As for the Seahawks, they made one big move by signing DE Patrick Kerney of the Atlanta Falcons in a fierce fight involving the Broncos, who settled the score by signing TE Daniel Graham in whom the Seahawks were interested in. Overall, the Patriots were the big winners in the free agency signing and looks like the loss to the Colts in the AFC Championship game has hurt Bellichick just a wee bit more.
Gibbs sets World record
Hitting sixes off all the 6 balls in an over is a dream for every cricketer and to be able to do it in International cricket is just next to impossible. But Gibbs just accomplished the impossible task by hitting 6 sixes of the 30th over in their contest against Netherlands. Poor Dan van Bunge was the one who endured the ignominy of seeing his name being associated with such a humiliating record. Though records like these are highly entertaining, ironically, it is also exactly feats like these that completely dampen one's expectations from these early stages of the world cup. One boring and insipid game after another.
Tiger goes from boom to bust at the Arnold Palmer Invitational
Not often do we see Tiger going from within 1 shot of the lead mid-way through the final round and finally ending up a whopping 11 shots behind the eventual winner Vijay Singh. It was a completely un-Tiger like performance from the golfing maestro who is known for his patented Sunday march. Every time he has been in the lead entering the 4th day, he has managed to win the tournament except once. Though he wasn't sharing the lead entering the 4th round in this tournament, the fact that he was just 1 shot behind the leader midway through the 4th round should have made all Tiger fans to anticipate another charge by Tiger. Unfortunately that did not happen and instead Tiger ended up tying his career-worst score in a non-major, finishing off with a bogey, double-bogey and triple-bogey finish. With just 1 tournament and 2 weeks between now and the Master's, it is going to be an interesting 2 weeks to see how Tiger bounces back from such a performance.
A billion hopes dashed
In a do-or-die game against the neighbors from the Emerald Islands, Team India folded without putting up a fight and thus were sent packing out of the tournament even before the Super 8 stage began. This is India's earliest exit from the World Cup tournament since 1991 where again we were knocked out in the first round. Before anybody could wake up to what was happening, India was out of the World cup. The bowling was decent in all the 3 games but it was the batting that let us down inexcusably in both the games we lost. Just like how Azhar and Ganguly's decisions to field first in the 1996 & 2003 World Cups have notoriously become part of the history of Indian cricket, Dravid's decision to bowl first against the Bangladeshis will forever be remembered as his biggest blunder. But as always, there was a bright side to the whole sad saga - our other neighbors Pakistan too lost, though unlike us, they had match-fixing to be blamed for the loss against the Irish.
Tiger express back on track
After losing at the Arnold Palmer invitational tournament the week before in a very un-Tiger like performance, Woods comes back strongly to win the WGC-CA Championship in Doral, with a comfortable 2 shot margin. When Tiger started the final round with a 4 shot lead, none had any doubt as to who is going to win the tournament. But Tiger & his fans had to go through some nervous moments before clinching the title. Now, everything is set for the big daddy of them all - The Masters, which begins this week at the Augusta National Golf Club, GA.
Kobe goes berserk
Scoring 50 points in a game in the NBA is not easy. But Kobe just went on a scoring rampage and scores 50 points in 4 games on the trot. This was Kobe at his best. After the Lakers lost 7 consecutive games (a first in coach Jackson's illustrious career), Kobe decided to take matters in his own hands and went on this scoring spree. And no wonder, the Lakers ended up winning all 4 of them. The streak ended when he could 'only' score 43 points in another game against the Warriors. The experts of the game were so much awestruck that they even started comparing him with the best of them all MJ (which would be considered sacrilege if anybody else had been compared to MJ). The Lakers are now well in the playoff hunt but once they get there, I feel that they have no chance against the Big 3 from the Western Conference - Mavericks, Suns and Spurs.
Canas does it again
Looks like God has answered my prayers. As though beating Federer 2 weeks ago at Indian Wells was not just a flash in the pan, Canas does the improbable once again by beating Federer at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, FL. This time around Federer puts up a better show and took Canas to a 3rd set tie-break before losing eventually. These 2 defeats of Federer have given me the hope that the monotony that we have been witnessing the last couple of years - in the form of Federer winning every game and Grand Slam he plays - might come to an end. But the problem with this reasoning is that Federer lifts his game up couple of notches above whenever he plays in the Grand Slams and so beating him in a Grand Slam tournament is still going to be an uphill task. But till then, lets enjoy this well-deserved break for the moment.
Labels: Monthly Sports Round-ups, Sports
posted by Filbert at 4:05 PM
2 Comments:
Filbert:
I think no one can be compared to MJ. Kobe may imitate MJ's style but MJ is MJ and his authority on the court is just unimaginable for any other player including Kobe. Hope the hype machine crashes soon.
-Nattamai
Agree with you, Nattamai.MJ is MJ. May be Kobe is the best among all the contemporary NBA players and that is what the author was trying to drive home in that article which I had linked in my post.
Though I was one of those who was introduced to NBA basketball back in the early 1990s when the Bulls were reigning the NBA, it was only after coming here to the US and interacting with folks at work (Americans), that I came to realize the true impact of His Airness. Every time they bring up his name, it is always spoken of in complete awe. The only other players they even talk in the same breadth as MJ are Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar (BTW, these friends of mine are in their mid-30s)
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