Major Adjustments

Sports is big in US as it is in almost all the places around the world. Did someone shout religion is bigger...well, sports would give religion or sex a run for their money!!!

Something that I did fairly well in last 3 years in US was to get myself into the
the three big sports of Baseball, Football and Basketball really quickly. It helped me all throughout my stay. People appreciated the fact that I took the extra effort to know an important aspect of American life. Sports also was a great ice breaker in
conversations near the coffee corner at work places of clients or otherwise.

Now that I have moved on, I am wondering what lies ahead..no matter how hard I try, I would have difficulty following all these sports which were such fine viewing on
television. But then again, shouldn't I move on to the sports in India if I will be based there? The answer seems to be an easy and an emphatic YES.

I solemnly swear that I would follow sports like Cricket, Soccer, Field Hockey etc. with the vigor with which I followed Indian sports before I left for American and American sports before I left US...Can someone tell me whats happening in Serie A? And in Spain...how is Barcelona doing? How is Ronaldinho? And who is coaching Chelsea?


...and the good thing is that I will be in Zurich on Sunday for a 2 week assignment...and there should be some craziness about Euro 2008 that Austria and Switzerland have been hosting. Final is in Vienna and I am sure I would be able to find some city square filled with people and a big screen in Le-Chaux-de-Fonds to cheer for Spain( the frustrating under achieving team of last 20 years!!) I think its time to start calling Football, Football and not Soccer!!!

Accomodating Fighting On The Playing Field

Hockey or Ice Hockey( as it is known in the wider world)has a huge following in US. Despite the recent problems it has experienced in falling television ratings because of a labor dispute a couple of years back, stadium attendances are as strong as they have ever been. From my personal experience, I can tell you that getting a ticket for a Ducks game is as( or probably more) difficult as one for the Lakers game.

There is one unique aspect of this sport which I find fascinating. Fighting between players, to some extent, is legal in hockey. What you need to do if some player from the opposing team pissed you off is throw away your stick and start punching him in the face. This would incur a five minute penalty in which you have to sit out...seems like a pretty mild punishment for rowdy behavior? Well, a lot of people don't think so. One of my colleague is the head referee for Ohio State and according to him, such fights minimize the damage!! Think what would happen if you really want to take out your anger and start beating up someone with your hockey stick. That would be sure shot disaster with permanent injuries. Instead of that, the rules accommodate human behavior( which is you get angry on the field) by providing you a way to vent your anger without causing massive damage. Frankly, I never understood why these fights are allowed but I somehow tend to agree with the philosophy that went into this rule. And really, it works and that is all that should matter.

When I think about field hockey in India, I also remember fights that would break out between teams when the hockey stick would be used conveniently as the weapon of choice. That doesn't happen in hockey in America and that should be some empirical evidence in support of this rule.

Please don't tell me that you are thinking that this guy who made the rules to begin with was some conservative who was seeking to be grounded in reality....or probably HE WAS.

Day Of The Underdog

Now that everyone has seen it all, written billions of pages about it, I would contribute my bit on a truly wonderful win....wonderful not because it proclaimed a dynasty, not because it is historic but for all but these reasons. When you see odds turn, when you see someone break out from a whole defensive line and complete a 32 yard pass, then you know it is the day of the underdog. I guess our basic nature tends to cheer for someone who is down, who has no chance...what fun is there in cheering for someone who is obviously strong, better in everything? The reason probably lies in the fact that this world has a small number of people who have achieved a lot and tons of people who want to achieve...Barack Obama would put in a simple phrase: Audacity Of Hope!!

So first, a quick blurb about the game. Plaxico Burress had claimed that Giants would beat Patriots 20-17 and the world was laughing at his foolishness. Tom Brady, in an uncharacterstic fashion, responded saying that if Burress had said 45-42, that would have at least done some justice to the way Patriots have been racking up the score board...hmm...interesting. Did you feel some invincibility factor catching up with an otherwise disciplined Patriots team? I guess, sometimes, success gets the best of even the best amongst us. Giants defence was expected to come good and they definitely exceeded the expectations hitting Brady 18 times and sacking him 5 times. On the offensive side, Giants were led by Eli Mannning. I am not a huge fan of the younger Manning but something has happened to him in last 4 games. Turnovers are not happening, he is not trying to prove anything and things seem to be finally settling down with him. Now it is not easy if you have an illustrious brother like Peyton Manning and you are part of the Manning family where their father was also a quarter back for New Orleans. You sometimes wonder if Eli would ever be able to come out of the shadows. He sure did yesterday. With less than two mintes left and Giants looking at a long 3rd down, Eli was faced with the monstrous Patriots defensive line all over him. He scrambled, tried to keep himself on the feet, kept pusing himself out of the mob and then threw a 32 yard scorcher( How much I would have liked if it was Brett Favre and not Eli Manning!!!)to David Tyree. On the receiving end, Rodney Harrison of Patriots was all over Tyree but somehow Tyree managed to jump a few inches more and grabbed an improbable catch. From there on, it was easy but till then, we were all ready to shut up, coronate the Patriots and get ready for the Boston swagger for a long time.

So I guess the lesson is simple and proved in one of the best settings of all. When you are down and out and no one is giving you a chance, and deep within, you don't know if you are capable of doing it...pull up your strings, promise yourself that you will give it your best shot and go out and do your job. You will see the tide turn and conventional wisdom thrown out of the window. It sure happens otherwise Ali would never have beaten Sonny Liston, India would not have won the 83 world cup and Hillary would have already become the President!!!

I am inhaling Obama for Super Tuesday...How about you?

Get Ready For The Same Old Blues!!!

Today,Brett Favre will break Dan Marino's record for the highest number of touchdowns. In a world that changes on a minute by minute basis and in a world that is spinning, in the words of Stephen Colbert, this feat is enough to give me a vertigo!!

There are not many things which Brett has not done. He has won the Super Bowl for Green Bay, won the MVP thrice and he has started every game for Green Bay since 1992!! Now that is some feat...something completely extra terrestrial...something that just cannot be comprehended. This game is so physical and the pounding quarterbacks get, I don't even want to start thinking how he has done it. I think I need to stop writing otherwise my head will explode...but do watch Brett break the record today against Vikings. He will be playing the same old blues and soak it in....soak it all in. No one does it better than Brett Favre.

Dying at 55!!

The recent incident involving Kevin Everett of Buffalo Bills has brought out the issue of injuries in Football again to the fore.Kevin sustained a fracture and dislocation of his cervical spine last weekend and is still fighting for his life. I decided to research about this issue a little bit on the Internet and came across this shocking statistic that average life expectancy of a someone who has played for more than 3 years in NFL is 55 years. This against the life expectancy of 80 years for an average American. So 3 years in NFL shaves your life expectancy by 25 years!!! You can argue that when these people start playing NFL, they have been playing the game already for more than 15 years. None the less, this statistic is brutal.

Despite the fact that I love this game, I cannot stop thinking whether it is right to expose people to such risks for mass entertainment....for entertainment of you and me and millions of other people who watch this game. Are we any different from people who get fun out of seeing dogs fight? The most blatant form of such sports today are Ultimate Fighting, Boxing and Bull Riding. Administrators at the football league need to think about what could be done to save Football from such bad company. A couple of things could be done on an immediate basis...better lifetime medical support( you won't believe how much players earn after they stop playing...simply speaking, its minuscule for the majority of them...not to forget those who never make it to NFL but do sustain big injuries at College and High school level),better protection gear especially for head & spine and less crowded season. Some kind of tackles could be barred and in lieu, one more player could be added to the defence roster.

And then there are the 300 pounder offensive linemans...these people exist in the team because they are big and these people die because they are big. There sheer size is a danger to their well being in the long run. Can something be done about these positions?

Living America

Last week, I invited some friends over for USC's opening football game. People came from as far as Toronto and Seattle. Except my boss and his date, everyone was Indian. So my boss decided to test the football knowledge of an Indian!!

First question: What is the Blind Side in Football? Bingo...I can write a full history about the blind side. I recently read a book by Michael Lewis( who has previously written Liar's Poker, New New Thing and Moneyball) that is called Blind Side. I have actually covered this book as well as the main character Michael Oher in the Sports section of this blog in an earlier entry.
Blind Side is essentially the left side of the quarterback( if he throws from the right hand)...essentially the side he cannot see while throwing the football. The person protecting this side of the quarterback is the left tackle. In this picture, the OT on the right side of of the QB is the left tackle.

Till 1985, this position was considered a normal position like any other in the offensive line but Lawrence Taylor( or just LT) broke the leg of Super Bowl winning quarterback Joe Theisman of Washington Redskins...reason? The left tackle for Redskins did not protect Joe Theisman against the ferocious LT who was playing at Offensive Linebacker in the legendary defence of the Big Tuna Bills Parcells. That incident became seminal in terms of bringing out the importance of this position of left tackle. Within a few years after that, left tackle position became the most expensive position on the field after quarterback. What you required was a huge man( at least 300 pounds) who had a lot of girth, long hands and could face a barrage of NFL size monsters and save the quarterback.

Well, I felt really happy to be able to answer this " What is the Blind Side?" so comprehensivel( It doesn't matter that I could not answer the next question!!). Answering any question is fun but this one was special since I have been in America for just over 2 years. And one thing that I have realized while travelling all over the country is that nothing starts a conversation better than football. Nothing is better to bring down the wall. I love football( Go Trojans!!) and I know it really helps.Even in this place, airport at Bloomington Illinois, from where I am writing this entry, if you are a Chicago Bears fan, you have a lot of friends. If you hate Bears, than better not talk about it!!

By the way, this trip to Bloomington is awesome from the perspective of how different it is from Los Angeles. Women do not mind having some fat on their body and people have time to stop and have a hearty conversation with you. Instead of buildings all over the place, you finally see some nice agricultural land. If you have lived in LA or New York or other big cities in US, places like these might seem very vanilla but this is what really makes America....majority of it. And these places decide who would rule in Washington, not the elite of the big cities.

India wins Kabaddi World Cup!!!

Finally, something to cheer about...and guess what, I came to know about this news from Los Angeles times!!! Last month, India won the Pro Kabaddi World Cup in Bombay beating the Iranian team 29-19.

First, lets bring our American readers up to date about what Kabaddi is:
" Kabaddi's object is to tag players while holding breath.The game is played with two teams of 12 players (7 starters and 5 reserves) for two twenty-minute halves. Teams take turns sending an offensive player to the opposite side in an attempt to tag several of the opposing players while holding their breath and returning home. The "raiders" must chant "kabaddi-kabaddi" to prove that they are holding their breath while they tag the "anti" defensive players. If an "anti" is tagged he must succeed in catching the "raider" or is considered out. The "raider" must succeed in holding his breath until he returns home or is considered out. "
By the way, check out this picture that I found on www.jatt.com!! This site has some pretty cool stuff.

The game is extraordinarily combative and started in Punjab in India. Initially, it was restricted to the farming belt in North India( Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh)but is now played throughout the country. It is also the national sport in Bangladesh. While it is more popular in South-East Asia, there are Kabaddi leagues all over the world. I guess its time we look for our heroes from other sports where our performance has been much more consistent. I guess there might also be the possibility of finding audience for Kabaddi in countries like U.S. where contact sports are very popular. It would be fun to see Kabaddi give Arena Football, Ultimate Fighting etc. a run for their money( probably I am dreaming but who knows what might happen once people develop a liking for it!!)

Cheering when Texas scores: PRICELESS?

I finally found this picture and it is crazy. 2006 was a bad year for all of USC football fans because of the two games we lost in the Rose Bowl. The first one was specially painful. Losing to Texas( and that massive machine called Vince Young) on 4th January was something...I still remember how the whole downtown went silent as Texas pounded two touchdowns in the last 6 minutes. And then, someone sent this picture and I was like..What The F*$#. In general, under no circumstances would I feel bad about anything the beautiful cheerleaders of USC do but this one was just too much....just a little too much!!!

Major League Soccer Has Finally Arrived

I contend that Major League Soccer( MLS) has finally arrived in US. Though signing of Beckham is just one indication, the broader signals are much more positive. The reason people like Malcom Glazer( owner of Manchester United and Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and Tom Hicks & George Gillette Jr.( new owners of Liverpool and owners of two NHL teams) are buying up teams in Europe is not only because they are huge soccer fans. Colorado Rapids also concluded a marketing arrangement with Arsenal which would help Arsenal access US fans and market their global brand. Rapids will get access to Arsenal's technical know how and superior training regimens and facilities.

There are clear economics at play here. Liverpool can move out of Anfield, make a new stadium, sell the naming rights and make everything much more professionally managed. Hicks and Gillette can also charge a premium when the existing deals come up for renewal because of the US angle. Liverpool has a decent visibility in the US and specially amongst the soccer loving 40 million Hispanics. Assuming that soccer also gains steam amongst general American public, the sponsors of the team would get visibility amongst US people as well, and that should mean higher tickets for every deal which happens from hereon.

Following is a brief analysis of what different parties can expect out of the coming change:

1) Fans: If you have started worrying about having to watch poker after an action filled hockey, football or basketball game, get ready for some good dose of soccer. MLS season would start in April and in the mean time, expect action from the European Leagues.Chances are that you will get to see a lot of good soccer throughout the year though timings might be a little awkward.

2) Media/Distribution Partners: At least for the coming 2-3 years as MLS gains traction, media houses can expect good ratings with fewer dollars. Beckham is going to be in each of the city where MLS team is and that should be mean reasonable sound bites. Also expect tours from Manchester United, Aston Villa, Liverpool for sure and tons of other teams and that should augur well for the overall ratings for soccer.

3) Advertisers: Big money players like Nike, Adidas, Coke, Pepsi, Anheuser Busch all would want to have a presence both in clubs in Europe which want to build a bigger profile in US as well as MLS teams which would gain traction within US and which might, teams like Galaxy, decide to go on tours of APAC regions to market Beckham and get fans in those regions.

4) Sports Governing bodies: Emergence of MLS and soccer in general should be of some concern to the existing leagues considering that both media houses as well as advertisers have long complained about the rising costs of association with football, basketball and baseball. Most production houses are losing money on their deals with NFL but have been able to cough up the big bills because of the ability to capture the tail of fading traffic in follow up programs. NBC has a 3.6 billion dollar 6 year deal with NFL for Sunday Night Football. This deal is definitely losing money but it has perked up the Sunday Night for NBC which has shows like Heroes. But these bigger deals might get an indirect challenge moving forward. Advertisers who have to pay as much as $400,000 for a 30 second spot on SNF might decide to divert some of that dollar to cheaper options like MLS or even games of touring European teams. This might create a push back from networks and broadcasters to get better deals from negotiating bodies and teams for television rights.

5) Local Communities: Soccer has definitely gained popularity amongst the communities in which MLS teams have come up. In general, a lot of kids are also picking up on the game. It is also clear of the steroid controversies and other things which keep happening with players in NFl, MLB & NBA so as such parents are encouraging more kids to play soccer.

6) Existing Team Owners: Some of the existing owners like Glazer, Hicks and Gillette have started diversifying their assets by jumping on the soccer bandwagon. A lot of existing owners of football, basketball and baseball teams also own soccer teams but the flight of private capital to foreign shores might also mean that that capital is not finding good avenues within US. For a long time, sports within US has been managed professionally but also in an oligopolistic fashion. For new players who want to take part in the action, the existing owners have pretty much acted as a cartel. A more open system would have meant more teams in the US market but there are huge upfront costs which any new investor would have to incur to do that. The alternate adopted has been very simple. Go to Europe, buy up a team there, build up synergies over existing revenue streams and then come back and gobble up the other part of the action. Existing owners have killed the liquidity in their own business and that is never a good idea.

7) Players: Players obviously would benefit with more money in this sport. They will also get better exposure to training regimens, facilities in general. Existing players have been due for some good pay increases and it might be finally on its way.

330 pounder Oher covers 40 meters in 4.9 seconds!!!

I recently read a wonderful book from Michael Lewis called The Blind Side. The book gives some fascinating insights into the real story of a kid in Memphis. Michael Oher has changed/dropped/kicked out of numerous schools in his 10 years of official studies. When he comes to Briarcrest Christian School, he is at once identified by the school football coach as a great find. Michael is 330 pounds and 6ft 6''. NMore than that, he has some natural athletic ability.

The book then talks about how a particular position in offensive line became extremely expensive since Lawrence Taylor(LT), defensive end of New York Giants started mauling quarterbacks from their left side in 1982...or as it is called " The Blind Side". As football evolved from a predominantly running to a passing game in 70s, quarterback became the focal point of any NFL offense. What LT did was to scare the crap out of a quarterback. He would rush to kill them...no half measures and Joe Theismann of Redskins to his peril found that out in 1987 when LT sacked him. Joe had at least 2 seasons left but all of that would end after LT's attack. The coaches in the league quickly realised that they needed someone to tackle these monsters from the blind side of the quarterback if they wanted to have any chance. And so evolved the left tackle position. And when free agency came to NFL, after quarterback, the next most expensive position in the league would be for a player who would protect the quarterback.

What are the characteristics of a left tackle? Massive body, long hands and speed( Michel Oher at 330 pounds does 40 meters in 4.9 seconds). No wonder, when Hugh Freeze saw Oher, he saw a scarce commodity. Michael last year was #19 in overall high school picks and plays for Ole Mississippi right now. Another 2 years and he is expected to be a top pick in NFL.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in understanding high school recruiting and American football in general.

Super Bowl: A True Money Making Machine

A recent article in ESPN valued the Super Bowl brand at 379 million dollars. This included television rights, ticket receipts and licencing revenue. Summer Olympics were #2 at 179 million dollars and Soccer World Cup was third at 140 million dollars. Though this comparison is slightly contentious because this number was arrived at by dividing the total revenues received by the total number of days of competition. Next year Olympics in Beijing are expected to generate 3 billion dollars but that would happen over 17 days.

Last year's Super Bowl generated 2.5 million dollars for a 30 second spot on ABC. This meant that ABC garnered close to 150 million dollars from selling air time for the game between Steelers and Seahawks. Another 140 million came from licensing and 31 million from gate receipts.

Super Bowl this year again promises to be super exciting. The game will be on CBS. Big sponsors are AB, Reebok, Pepsi, Coke & Nextel-Sprint. Bears would be relying on their fast defence and Colts would be hoping that this would be the day for Peyton Manning. This guy rakes in 11 million dollars in endorsements right now but if he wins the Super Bowl for Colts, that can easily go up to 30 million. After Tiger Woods' 87 million dollars and Phil Mickelson's 40, that would make Manning the third most valuable sportsman in US. He probably deserves it as well. A runner up for 98 Heisman trophy & the first overall pick that season, he has broken pretty much every record held by a quarterback in NFL. But his very impressive record has one blemish, a missing Super Bowl ring and hopefully, that will change this Sunday. And a successful Peyton Manning would be good news overall for the game in general...which means more money ringing at the cash register for the NFL.

4 Teams And Only 2 Places in Paradise

4 teams play this Sunday to decide who would play the Super Bowl in Miami. New England Patriots play Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints play Chicago Bears. Based on historical performance, Patriots seems to be the team to go all the way. What makes things interesting is that if we ignore past performance, Saints seems to be the team to beat.

Patriots would not be playing the AFC title game if Chargers had not thrown away the game last week but Chargers did prove that Patriots can be beaten. Colts come into this game with perennial problems in playoffs. This Sunday might be the day when Colts and Peyton Manning will leave the past behind.

NFC title game is going to be even more interesting. Saints have a great offensive line that does a great job for its quarterback, Drew Brees. Then they have two awesome running backs, Deuce Mcallister in the center and Reggie Bush, with all his flair, on the flanks. In Marcus Colston, they have a great receiver capable of making big plays with Brees. The problem is defence and if Rex Grossman plays well, there is clearly a huge possibility of making big plays. Bears have a great defence but offence has been scratchy. This would be a rocking game and I will be rooting for Saints.

The games this Sunday augur well for NFL as well. They once again prove that no team can take their place for granted in NFL and everyone gets a decent shot at the title year over year. Who would have thought that Saints would be playing in this game. More competition, more audience interest mean bigger TV contracts and bigger team valuations...and overall more popularity for the game.

When Fists Are Frozen

Today is Martin Luther King day and this post has got to do a lot with the legacy of this great leader. In 1968 Mexico Olympics, two athletes Tommy Smith and John Carlos staged the most famous protest the games have ever seen. Tommy came 1st and Carlos 3rd in the 200 meter event in what was a very happening year. Tet offensive had failed in Vietnam, Prague Spring saw Czech students challenge Soviet Tanks, Dr. King was assassinated and just before the event, Mexican security forces killed hundreds of protesting students.

Tommy first set the world record and when he and Carlos came on the podium, it was obvious that something was going to happen.

When the U.S. flag began rising up the flagpole and the anthem played, the two men bowed their heads and raised their fists( with black gloves) in a black power salute.Smith and Carlos were wearing wraps around their necks to protest lynching and did not wear shoes to protest poverty. Carlos' Olympic jacket was zipped open, unprecedented in itself, to convey protest for poor treatment of blue collar shift workers. Both were also wearing a batch of OPHR( Olympic Project for Human Rights), an organization of black athletes. Even silver medallist, Peter Norman, seeing the drama unfold ran into the stands and got a batch from one of OPHR's supporters.

The fascinating thing about this whole episode is that 40 years later, there is not a single athlete in American sports who can claim some lasting impression on public mind. No wonder, the recent list of 50 most influential people in sports industry in US does not have a single athlete. Athletes, including Tiger Woods, Kobe, Shaq, Tom Brady hardly inspire people the way some of the past athletes did( including Mohammad Ali who let go his prime years to protest Vietnam). Considering the huge media spotlight modern day athletes enjoy they can, if they want, divert some of that spotlight on some of the big issues around the world. Nothing can restrict them to to the role of "Labor providers for Money" if they don't want to.

Beckham worth $250 million?

Living in Los Angeles, I cannot stop thinking about this question. I agree that Soccer is the fastest growing game in US right now but only Tiger Woods earns more than 50 million dollars a year. Next in line are players like Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, Shaq etc. and I am not sure whether LA Galaxy can market Beckham in US market as much as Kobe, Tommy or Shaq.

Anyways, the deal has two interesting aspects. One, we all agree that Beckham is hardly a force on the field. He is slow, can be brought down easily and has been well past his peak for close to 5 years now. I think that even at his peak, he was a pretty average midfielder. Real Madrid bought him largely because of his huge popularity in APAC region which was used to sell more Real T-shirts.

Second aspect is the structure of the deal. Insiders, including my sports entertainment professor, think that a lot of the 250 million dollars committed over 5 years are tied down into ticket sales and endorsements. If people don't start flowing in LA Galaxy stadium in sub urban Carson and are not ready to pay bigger buck for the tickets then Beckham might be earning not more than 10-15 million a year( I think even that is a very big amount for his caliber!!). And what if the team does not qualify for playoffs again like last year? That would be a big big nail in the coffin!!!

Vince Young's Magnum Opus against the Giants!!

Finally, a performance befitting the reputation of Vince Young, a massive massive comeback for the Titans and hopefully, this would rest the quarter back debate in the team. This was as big as it can get...coming back from 21-0 and beating a good Giants team with people like Eli Manning and Tiki Barber.

I still hate Vince Young for what he did to USC on the 4th of January in Pasadena but one has to appreciate a person who defeate,all by himself, one of the best college football team for a long long time . This guy is really special. A massive physique, a very unconventional action and superb rushing skills as well. I am not sure when would it happen next time that a team would have Matt Leinart as its quarterback, Reggie Bush & Lendale White for rushing and Dwayne Jarrett & Steve Smith for receiving and still lose!!

Trojan Charge!!

USC finally played up to its reputation and Dwayne Jarrett showed why a lot of people at the beginning of the season thought that he might be a Heisman contender. None the less, this weekend saw some great things happening with the Trojans. Dwayne Jarrett was obviously the best and then CJ Gable did a great rushing job. Booty is also distributing the ball well, it would have been even more fun had Steve Smith caught a great TD pass.

Though Heisman seems to be locked with Troy Smith right now, the game against Notre Dame proved that the Trojan horse is picking up steam. And the good thing is that the defence is consistently playing well. By the way, I have this to say to Notre Dame. You truly deserve your current rank of 12, you should rather have lost to Michigan State and UCLA as well. You stink, just too over hyped...all words, no substance.

Still Floating..

Michigan played a great game and they almost killed the party on Saturday. Seeing Ohio State play like that convinced me that we can win in Glendale. Michigan team is good but its now for USC to show its worth. Trojans have to do better than what they did this week against Cal. It could have easily gone the other way...Come on man, give us some breathing space. Make it easy, have some good plays going on early...why wait till the 4th quarter..whats wrong with the team? NOTHING...absolutely nothing. Trojans are coming back!!.Things could not have gone any better after we lost to Beavers( yes, Beavers!!) but there seems to something working back doors. We beat Notre Dame next week, and then kill UCLA after that and we will play the championship game in Glendale....I WANDERED FAR AWAY FROM HOME, NOW I'M COMING HOME

Remove OJ's Heisman from Galen Center

I have to say that I am ashamed of the fact that OJ Simpson represented USC at one point of time....he won one of the seven Heisman Trophies USC displays in the Galen Center and it is a shame.To be displayed along with Mike Garrett, Charles White, Marcus Allen, Carlson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush is an absolute disgrace. Mr. OJ, you prove everyday to every American( and non-Americans like me) that it happens even in US( and not only in India)...you kill someone in cold blood, get away by playing the race card and then tout around by writing a book "If I Did It, Here's How It Happened." You know Mr. OJ, look around and you'll find that justice has its own ways and its just a matter of time!!

Go Trojan!!

The inevitable happened today. USC lost to Beavers in Portland today...Was it unexpected? Probably yes, but losing to Beavers!!! A Beaver is not even a worthy animal. But such has beenthe performance of USC since the season started that, anyways, it was a matter of time. The saving grace is that we did not lose in the Coliseum, otherwise it would have been a lot of tears all aroundin the downtown. I am happy that I did not watch the game in what seems like a complete meltdown in the first 3 quarters..4 turnovers, fumbles, sacks, interceptions...everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. Bootys, Jarrets, Washingtons, Moodys, Philips and other mighty Trojans never performed and the College Football fever has ended really soon for a lot of Trojan fans like me.

In the vicinity of an Olympic Gold Medalist..

One thing which I, like a lot of Indians, never experience is being in the vicinity of an Olympic Gold medalist. Well, this was another thing which happened to me, like a lot of new new things, which have happened since I came to LA a year back. I got to meet Bruce Jenner, who won the decathlon gold medal in 1976 Montreal Olympics and in the process also broke the world record. For a lot of people in US, it would be trivial but for someone from India, that means something. In our whole history, we have never won an individual gold medal. All 8 came through field hockey and they too stopped coming in long time ago. It has come down to an unexpected bronze or silver every 4 years.

So..besides the fact that it was wonderful to be so near a gold medalist, what was also interesting was something which Bruce said: Be humble irrespective of how big you become because you never know whom you might be talking to...and he told us a story..while shooting for an event in the 80s, he asked a guy on the sets to get his stuff packed from the hotel and get it back to the sets so that he can fly out as soon as the shooting was done..this guy did his job and Bruce appreciated him for that...today, this guy is the CEO of Disney..Robert Iger.....interesting..isn't it!!

Whoever said that whatever you do always comes back to you( based on whether you did a good or bad thing!!) was probably true.