One rule that NFL can do away with

This has been that kind of year in the NFL where only 7 of the 12 playoff spots have been finalized going into the final week of the regular season. The bizarre tie between the Bengals & the Eagles, the potential perfectly imperfect season by the Lions, the improbable comeback of the Falcons (and most probably, the 1-15 Dolphins from a year back) back to the playoffs, the reigning MVP injured for the season a few minutes into the season, the defending champions looking good for a repeat unlike earlier seasons, rookie quarterbacks and rookie running backs outshining their more experienced colleagues, etc. The list is just never ending. But the reason I started to write this post was not to act as a round-up of the 2008 NFL regular season.

The reason behind this post is to lament the inherent flaws in the rules that exist due to which a team with 11 wins might not make it to the playoffs this year while a 8-win Arizona or a 8-win San Diego will make it. The AFC East and the NFC South have emerged as the powerhouse divisions of the season. (The perennial powerhouse division, the NFC East, shot one another in such a bad manner that we might just have the division winner from the NFC East in the playoffs.) That invariably means that teams with records better than other division winners might not make it to the playoffs.

The AFC East has been particularly harsh this year. The Patriots might end up with a 11-5 record but still might not make it to the playoffs. And if the Patriots win their game against the Bills and the Dolphins lose to the Jets, we might have 2 10-6 teams that will not make it to the playoffs. Same is the case with NFC South, where the Buccaneers with a 10-6 record might not make it to the playoffs.

On the one hand while we have such intense competition for playoff spots, we also have the winners of perennial weaklings of the NFL - AFC West and NFC West divisions, that makes this whole clamoring of playoff spots almost laugh-worthy or even, meaningless. Lets take the NFC West for example, Seattle is 4-11, San francisco is 6-9, St Louis is 2-13 and the division 'winner' is Arizona with a 8-7 record. The same goes for the AFC West too where Kansas City is 3-12, Oakland is 4-11, San Diego is 7-8 and current division leader Denver is 8-7. And San Diego can win the division with an 8-8 record by virtue of a win over denver this coming weekend. No team has been as inconsistent as Denver this season. They started off strongly when they were a lock for the divisional winner' title a few weeks back (when the Chargers were 5-8. & were, for all practical purposes, down & out of the playoff race.) But now, they are in a must-win situation to win the game against the same Chargers this Sunday night in a flex game.

I am strongly for the changing of rules where winning a division should not matter and instead the records alone should matter. Period. The worst thing about this rule is that the divisional winners, in addition to getting into the playoffs with an inferior record, also get to host the wild card game on top of that. That should definitely hurt all those teams with better records. Here is looking forward to all those undeserving divisional winners lose in the wild card round of the playoffs.

Worst Superhits of all time

If you are a regular frequenter to Rediff, then this title might seem familiar. Basically, what they had done was to list out the movies which were huge box office hits but the movies themselves basically sucked. Gaddar, Devdas, were some in the list.

That immediately had me thinking "Why don't we do a post on the same topic about Tamil movies?" and this post is the result of the same. For this list, I have mostly come up with movies that were released roughly in the last decade or so. The reason why I did not dig deep into the movies that were released in 80s and 90s was that now years removed from their release date, we find most of them to be badly made. It is just a matter of us having moved on, that most of the superhits from those decades will suck when you watch it now save for some genuine gems like Mullum Malarum, Mahanadhi, Mani Rathnam's movies, etc.

Alright now over to the list.

Kushi - This was the movie after watching which I decided 'Alright I am not going to watch any more of his movies'. The songs of this movie were a raging hit back then and that was one of the reasons why I went to this movie. But the silly 'acting' by Vijay and Jyothika were all it required for me to add this movie to this list.

Vaanathai Pola - Any Vikraman directed superhit movie from those days can make it to this list. And this has to be one of the worse movies directed by him and I still could not digest the fact that the movie was a monstrous hit. I am never the one who walks out of a movie hall, no matter how bad they are. But this movie was an exception. Walked out during the interval and then had friends come over after watching the entire movie and say that I was lucky.

Suryavamsam - Another Vikraman directed super hit from the 90s. Devayani happened to be the one actress I detest the most. Add her to Sarath Kumar's awful looking artificial get-up and you get the perfect recipe for disaster. Though the songs from the movie were a big hit, the Rosappoo song was one of my least favorite songs back then and naturally, all of these reasons combined to make me add this movie to this list.

Anniyan - R E M O are 4 letters that helped this movie make it to the list. There were reasons aplenty why I hated the movie - the umpteen number of logical holes in the movies, Shankar's over indulgence at various places, espcially in the fight scenes and his stale old formula. But the Remo character easily took the cake as to why I consider this movie to be one of the worst superhits of the last decade.

Pokkiri - Well, the vow I took after watching Kushi was broken when one of my friends (who is a big time Vijay fan) compelled me to watch this movie. Here is the review I wrote after watching the movie. Plenty of reasons to add this movie to this list.

Chandramukhi - If not for Thalaivar, I am pretty sure this movie would not have even
run for 10 days. Vasu tortures us with some 3rd rate jokes, ridiculous logic and some 1980s acting. Still baffles me as to why this movie ran for that long.

Billa - I really can't think of any reason why this movie should have run. IMO, even the songs from this Yuvan - Vishnu combo movie were not their best. Ajith is just atrocious when it comes to oozing the style required for this role.

Dasavatharam - Well, the mental wounds from watching this movie haven't healed properly yet. Oh man, what a torture to sit through the 3 hours. Kamal's make-up and Asin were the top reasons why this movie sucked. Big time at that.

Honorable mentions: Ghajni, Thullaadha Manamum Thullum, Muthu, Godfather, Vettaiyaadu Velaiyaadu, Jayam, Ullam Kaetkkume

So, there goes my list. As always, invite your comments on any movie that you think should definitely find a place in the list.

The Final Missing Piece

This is what I had written in my Twitter at the end of the 3rd day's play (Yes, not the 4th day's play when Sehwag had already tilted the game in India's favor).

Something tells me that India is gonna win the Chennai test. First true test of Dhoni's leadership skills.

But even while writing the post, I had not imagined it would be Sachin who would be behind this epic win. I went to bed last night when India still needed 174 runs in 2 sessions with 7 wickets in hand. Needless to say, I couldn't sleep peacefully and so, got up at around 4:45am to check the score and thus woke up to one of the most memorable days in the life of Sachin fans around the globe.


Today can easily be termed as one of my happiest days, as a Sachin fanatic. I mean, how long have we, the Sachin fans who have been with him through thick and thin, had to put up taunts by Sachin haters and critics alike, that he has never won a game for India. Yesterday's innings was as emphatic as it gets and I sincerely feel that Sachin's test resume has found its one last missing piece (We all know what his ODI resume still lacks - a world cup win)

If you had been someone like me who has followed Sachin's career the last 19 years and more importantly, defended him in endless arguments with friends and in discussion forums with strangers, you should be pretty much used to the following usual criticisms.

• He scores glorious centuries after glorious centuries (that monumental 136 against Pak at the same Chepauk) but India loses the game at the end. And we hear the critics say "Will this man ever win a game for India?"
• He makes half-centuries & centuries (his first test hundred against England, for example) and helps India secure a draw, from near certain defeat. And the critics go "Nah... he did not win the match for India"
• He makes crucial centuries & half-centuries in the 3rd innings of tests and helps secure a victory for India (the 155 against the Aussies at the same Chepauk). But then, the nay sayers go "Look at his fourth innings average"

When you look at all these above accusations usually hurled at Sachin, what he achieved yesterday with a determined and resolute innings is much more significant than we actually think. This might not have been his best innings but it easily might have been his most important innings of his career when it comes to defining the greatness of the man, which some critics still question. He checked off everything in the following list with his century yesterday:

Has not single-handedly won a game for India
Has not scored a match winning century in the 4th innings of a test match
Has not done both the above against quality opposition
Has not done all of the above in a pressure-cooker situation

So, I am just ecstatic and more than that, relieved beyond measure that a huge and well-deserved full-stop can be placed on all such ridiculous and mostly undeserving criticisms. I was there in Chepauk when Sachin made that epic 136 against Pakistan and till date, it remains one of the best sports events that I have ever been witness to. How I wish I was there in Chennai yesterday. One of those days that makes you think about the futility of life in a country where you can't even go & watch your idol play probably one of his finest innings. Deep sigh...

Of course, when Sachin scores a century like this, you can trust Cricinfo to come up with an eulogy that only their writers seem to conjure up with :) The following is their tribute to the Master's effort yesterday. Goosebump alert!!

Superstar Tendulkar writes the perfect script

Nike does it again

Have always been a huge fan of Nike's commercials. The latest one is no exception. Awesome is one word I would use to describe this commercial.