XTRA LARGE

You know what they say about guys who have big feet?

That they always have a hard time finding shoes their size, especially if they're Indians.

As if it wasn't bad enough to have broad as tree-trunk shoulders and a wide as the Titanic hips, nature had to play spoilsport with me even in the foot department. I need size 13 shoes (in some cases size 12 fits just right if it's a little broader towards the anterior end), and I can not explain to you how upset I get every time my shoes wear out and I need to buy a new pair. For me, shopping for shoes is like finding potential brides who perfectly match your 'fair, well-mannered, homely, gentle, intelligent' specifications - they're pretty hard to come by.

I and a few friends of mine - most of us are in our early 30s - have begun playing football religiously every week. So imagine my anxiety when I went looking for football shoes. Apparently, the Indian football boot manufacturers like Vector-X and Nivia do not make shoes beyond size 12. I've already exhausted online retailing options like Flipkart, Ebay, Amazon, Snapdeal, etc. as well. The only brands which produce bigger sizes are the internaional ones like Nike, Puma, Umbro and others, but those shoes cost upwards of ten thousand bucks!

I guess I'm gonna have to continue playing with my Campus Mile running shoes.

We've booked a 9-10 pm slot for tonight at a 5-a-side turf close to my house.

Hasta La Vista...

Previous posts in the A to Z Challenge - April 2016:-

A - Arsenal

B - Bruce Dickinson
C - Colourless
D - Dope
E - Ecstasy
F - Feast of Burden
G - G Spot
H - Horror: The Genre of Genres
I  -  Illusions
J  - Judas
K - Kuwait
L - Let It Be
M - Majority Wins
N - No Comments
O - Once Upon A Time
P - Pallbearer
Q - QWERTY
R - Room for Two

S - Signals

T - Toddlers
U - Underdog
V - Valhalla
W - We

ARSENAL

The first word that comes to my mind when I think of the letter A is something that is dear not just to me, but to millions of people worldwide. I happen to be a football fanatic. Like they say, football is 'The Beautiful Game', and what makes it beautiful are the displays of selfless teamwork, amazing skill, honour and a free flowing passing style. There are a lot of popular football clubs out there that are successful and win trophies on a regular basis. Although they have not won too many trophies in the past decade, and they are miles away from achieving the level of success that FC Barcelona enjoys, my favourite team is the North London-based English football club Arsenal. Their playing style which involves quick one-touch passing, swift interchanging of positions, flair and skill, and retaining the possession of the ball makes them a delight to watch. They certainly leave me mesmerized.

The 'Gunners', as Arsenal are fondly called, have always had a reputation for quite a few things - their ability to build teams at low costs, their amazing talent scouting system which enable them to develop gems from absolutely obscure players from unheard of places, their tiki-taka (one-touch passing) style of play, their attacking and fluid gameplay, and their fairplay. Their fans like to call themselves the 'Gooners'. Their biggest (and not so successful rivals) are fellow-Londoners Tottenham Spurs, although most fans look forward to their games against equally-matched fierce rivals Chelsea FC and Manchester United.

The club's current manager Arsene Wenger, who happens to hold a Masters' Degree in Economics, is Arsenal's longest serving and most successful manager. Ever since he took charge in October 1996, he has done wonders for the club, having guided them to three Premier League Titles, six FA Cup trophies and one UEFA Champions League Final, which they eventually lost to European giants FC Barcelona under controversial circumstances. The manager has also ensured that the team has booked a place in the UEFA Champions League over the past 17 years consecutively. The man has also been responsible for bringing to the fore some amazing players like Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Robin Van Persie, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg, Cesc Fabregas, and many more. 

Many fans have criticized the manager for not doing enough to stop top players from leaving the club, for not spending enough to purchase new players, for a long trophy drought and for focussing more on the club's finances rather than silverware. However, it is a known fact that Wenger has done an amazing job in enabling the club to move to a new bigger stadium (the Emirates stadium), while brilliantly keeping expenses at a low and yet ensuring that the club always stayed in the top four of the English Premier League every season (which ensures a Champions League berth). The club happens to be one of the few European clubs that have managed to post profits over the past five years, and the credit for this achievement solely goes to Arsene Wenger.

If you ask me why I love the club so much, I would probably point towards the club's legacy and its beautiful playing style. What also tugs at my heart is the fact that Arsenal have now for many many years been the perennial underdogs, consistently finishing second, third or fourth in the League, but not having won for a long time. The hope that they will once again win the Premier League makes me root for this team. Arsenal's motto has been "Victoria Concordia Crescit" meaning, Victory Comes from Harmony. I honestly wish victory comes soon.

They say it's hard to be a Gunner, given the fact that they are perennial underdogs. However, true football fans know how special Arsenal are.

Proud to be a Gooner!!

TEN THINGS WE LEARNT FROM FIFA WORLD CUP 2014

We Indians love our Cricket. The idea of two stick wielding gentlemen hitting a ball to all parts of the ground with eleven other men running behind it thrills us. Some of us will religiously follow every cricket match, even the insignificant ones. It’s a wonder why Hockey is our national sport then, it clearly isn’t anymore. Yet, once every four years, when the FIFA World Cup comes calling, we all want to be known as the greatest football expert ever.

Some of us though, find it hard to make meaningful conversation when the talk revolves around football. All we can do is stare into oblivion, or maybe make do with a smile and a generous dosage of affirmative nods.

So if you’re one of those who tried oh-so-hard to keep up with the football frenzy, and yet learnt nothing from the experience, here are some things you can CLAIM to have learnt about football after the FIFA World Cup 2014:-

1. The World Cup is truly a WORLD event – With more than 200 countries playing football, the FIFA World Cup truly is a world event. So what if 35% of the world’s population (read: China and India) don’t get to play at the finals? Our claim to fame are the Olympics (China) and the Cricket World Cup (India, nevermind that England and her former colonies are the only ones who play the sport)
2. Well ‘rounded’ tournament – The FIFA World Cup has many stages – the Group stage (eight groups with four teams each), the round of 16 (pre-quarter finals), the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. How many teams do we have at the Cricket World Cup?
3. Footballers take inspiration from other sports – Apart from a few slightly complicated rules, (the offside rule for example) football is a simple sport that involves kicking a ball into your opponents’ goal post. Hence, footballers consider it their duty to make the sport more appealing, by including aspects of other sports. Diving, for example (Robben, Cristiano Ronaldo, Welbeck), is an art that very few can perfect. Wrestling is another sport that is increasingly gaining popularity among footballers. Honduras took the term ‘fighting for a win’ too seriously. Too bad Portugal crashed out at the group stages, we hardly got to see Pepe in action.
   
4. What goes up will come down, and how – Spain was the perfect example of a meteoric rise followed by an abrupt thud. The defending champions were the first team to crash out of the World Cup. And it wasn’t pretty.
5. Global Team – Switzerland was the perfect example of a global team, with immigrants constituting almost 80% of the squad. Not surprisingly, USA came a close second in this aspect.
6. If you can’t beat em, bite em – Uruguay’s Luis Suarez showed us that he was good not just with his feet, but also with his teeth. In doing so, the ex-Liverpool forward he made us realise that not all the knowledge we received at school was accurate. The food chain, for instance, should have actually looked like this.
   
7. Non-football attraction – Some teams made more news for their female fans than for their football - Mexico, Ecuador, Belgium, Algeria and South Korea to mention a few. Turkey, Sweden and the Czech Republic were missed.
   
8. No cup for one-man teams – Brazil’s show at the World Cup proved that football is a ‘team’ game. With Neymar having to leave the tournament mid-way with a back injury, Brazil suddenly lost their magic. Although they reached the semi-final, their journey was hardly convincing. Their last two matches showed their vulnerability. Messi managed to take Argentina to the final, but the writing was already on the wall. Germany, the real ‘team’, were deserving champions. Building a team around one player is not a good idea after all.
9. How to celebrate goals – Columbia showed the world how to celebrate goals. Every goal had a unique dance move to go with it.
   
10. Managers can be fun to watch too – Those who watched Mexican coach Miguel Herrera in action will vouch for this. This guy was all over the place during Mexico’s games.
    

Images courtesy: www.wpmedia.o.canada.com, www.express.co.uk, www.epa.gov, www.ibtimes.co.uk

2 BEAT 11!!!

So 'TEAM INDIA' has lost the 2nd Test at Sydney. They're now lagging 0-2 in the 4-test match series. So now, they can either level the series - which is highly improbable, since the next match threaten to get finished off in just 3 or 4 days, its at PERTH, which is the fastest pitch on the planet. which means the Indians can beat the record for finishing both their batting innings in record time :p- or they can lose it(I can bet my bottom dollar on that). There's no chance of winning at Perth, but Team India can fancy their chances at Adelaide, where they won the last time in 2004.

India lost the 1st Test at Melbourne too. But there is a huge difference between the 2 losses. At Melbourne, India lost to 11 champions in baggy green caps. In Sydney though, they lost to just 2 men. The list that follows is the list of reasons why they lost:-

• The selection process: Mind Blowing. Superb. Akash Chopra loses his place in the squad as a specialist opener just to make way for an attacking opener like Sehwag, who eventually doesn't play any game. Irfan Pathan doesn't play. Dravid is sent as opener and when he scores just 59 in 160 balls he's criticised - I personally think it takes a lot of effort and curbing of temptation to be able to last that long, for your team' sake. It doesn't get any crappier than this.

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What?? Looking for more points? There aren't any.

The umpires did a GREATTTTTTTTTTT job. Mr Steve Bucknor and Mr.Benson. You ought to be declared "Knights" for your brave decisions. You both have great foresight. Or should I say, you both have a great gift of seeing what the human eye cannot! Wonder how you saw the nick that Dravid made to the keeper. Wonder how you saw Andrew Symonds in his crease when the Indians appealed for a stumping. How on earth did you see the gap between Symonds' bat and the ball when the Indians appealed for a 'Caught Behind'? And how nice of you Mr Benson, to be able to shed your ego and accept suggestions from Ponting to give Ganguly out. And what self-belief to refuse to consult the Third Umpire, just so that he isn't disturbed from his hard-earned slumber. How considerate!

Oh yeah, there is one more mistake the Indians committed. Actually it was committed by Harbhajan Singh. Dude, I really have no clue about what you said to Andrew Symonds. But if you really did call him a monkey, that was wrong on your part. You identified the wrong person.

There was not just 1, but 2 monkeys. One was at Square Leg and the other standing right behind the bowler's crease!!!