a whitewash, a marathon, another road loss and a great win

It was a weekend of mixed emotions for me sports wise.

Team India got their collective asses handed to them by Australia. While this in itself is nothing new, the way it happened was just embarrassing. No fight shown. No pride. Pathetic. There are larger questions the Indian Cricket team has to address. They have now lost 8 test matches in a row. Heads have to roll. Cricket is the only game which our people care about....time to see how much.

My Sunday morning started with watching the Lakers playing uninspiring basketball and losing to an undermanned Bucks team. That took the team to a woeful 1-7 road record. They better start balling soon...the season is only 66 games long. 20 games already done. Kobe, give them all an earful...and show a commitment to defense..

I stopped watching tennis regularly after Agassi and Sampras retired. However I've enjoyed the Federer and Nadal battles over the past few years. This years Australian open had Djokovic taking on Nadal in what turned out to be an epic, marathon battle and some of the best tennis I have seen in a long time. Hats off to both of them. And yeah, huge congratulations to Leander Paes for completing a career grand slam. He is the unwavering light of Indian tennis...

The weekend ended on a positive note as Arsenal came back from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2 and get into the next round of the FA Cup. Arsenal has had too many dry seasons and the FA Cup may just be the catalyst to take the club off into a new era...

Three in a row

The Lakers have lost three games in a row now. The loss to Miami was, well, uninspiring. The next two losses were just laziness. Us Lakers fans have been used to this mid season scare when it seems as if none of the Lakers apart from the one wearing #24 give a damn. And it is damn frustrating.

This is a short season and we need every win we can get. The team is still reeling from the loss of Lamar and the guys are still taking time to learn Mike Brown's system. Lets see how it goes. A lot of people have written off the Lakers this season. The odds are stacked against them. It's just how Kobe likes it. Time to go to work guys.

where's the fire, Team India?

So team India (the cricket team for those who are confused....is there any other sporting team in this country which has been dubbed 'team India'?) is in a slump again and catching a pasting from the Australians. I mean we are getting whupped like never before. It is embarrassing. It is a NO CONTEST. If this were a boxing fight in a movie, we would have a spectator shouting 'somebody stop this fight...'.

I don't mind the losing. It is part of the game. I've always stood by my teams when they are going through a rough patch. Arsenal. Los Angeles Lakers. Team India (cricket!!). Always stood by them. But lately it is getting harder for me to do it for Team India.

There is absolute lack of effort and just no desire to win. It is almost as if we decided that the series is going to be a one sided affair as soon as the team landed in Australia. No one has shown any spark. Virat Kohli flipping the bird has been the only emotion showed by the team so far. I salute you Virat.

It is this lack of trying which really pisses me off. I mean lets face it..the only sport Indians care about is cricket. The players are multi millionaires and the richest in the world. We are a 'cricket crazy' nation. Our cricketers are hailed as Demi Gods. And we still can't win a damn game? We can't bat two times in one test match. Are you fucking kidding me?? In any other sport the highest paid players are the best players, who don't make excuses and perform every single time. They most likely can't look at themselves in the mirror if they have a shitty game. And here we have a bunch of prima donnas blaming the pitch and acting like a bunch of wussies. This was supposed to be the series where Sachin Tendulkar gets his 100'th 100. Turns out, our entire team is struggling to put up 100 as a total. I remember Michael Jordan saying that he always practices hard so that in the game it comes naturally. He also said that he feels he has to give it his best every time he plays someone may be watching him for the first time and he does not want to disappoint them. Words of a champion.

Speaking of champions...Indian Media....can we please stop referring to this team is 'world champions'? They would not e able to play at Shivaji Park given the way they are playing right now.

I will always support Team India...but until they show some heart and gumption, I won't care for them much. Lose by an inning but at least give it your all you whiners. I remember someone asking Kobe Bryant after he had had an amazing scoring run of 10 games. He pointed to his heart and said 'In here. Where is yours?'

Where is your's Sachin? Where is your's Mahi? Time to soul search and bring it out. The whole nation is with you. Now be worthy of that support.

new year...same old Sania

So Sania Mirza, the poster child of Indian tennis got a wildcard entry into the Australian open. Again. She lost in the first round. Again.

I'm not hating on Sania but she has never really put in the hard work and dedication to be consistent in an ultra competitive sport like tennis. She reached stardom quite early in her career and seems to be stuck there. There has been no progress in her game, in her fitness, in her skills. Injuries have bothered her for years now and that is primarily because she is unfit. I'm not saying she should lose weight and look like Maria Sharapova. Hell even Arantxa Sanchez was plump. But she had game. And she worked hard to improve it. So did Conchita Martinez. I do not see Sania Mirza working at her game at all.

What is more alarming is that Sania Mirza has been around since 2003 and all these years there has been no one who has managed to get to her level (which incidentally now is out of the top 100) in our country. Sad but true.

big fish(er) in LA

The General did it again. Derek Fisher has been all but written off this season by almost everyone. He is too old. He can't move with the new young point guards. He is out of shape. Valid points. But the guy can still shoot and the guy is C-L-U-T-C-H. He is probably the only guy Kobe trusts to take the last shot. And he delivered. Again.

Way to do it D Fish.