African American Quaterbacks - Lack of talent or discrimination

    I am still a novice when it comes to football. I just started watching football very recently, just this season and have probably watched 6-7 games totally. I could not help but ask myself about the number of African-American quarterbacks in all the teams put together. As far as I understand the game, quarterback is the most important and strategic position of all. They are the highest paid position in the game.

    Currently the African-American quarterbacks constitute only 16% of all the quarterbacks put together (127 total quarterbacks). I did some research through the NFL.com website on the player profile. I find it very odd that the game which is almost 70% (websites quote that number, which seems plausible) dominated by African-Americans has such a low percentage of quarterbacks.

    What is the reason, if any ? Is it lack of talent ? Or Is it discrimination ? I do not want to pick either. On one hand, I find it very hard to believe that there is any lack of talent, hard work, enthusiasm or skills that is required to become a quarterback. On the other hand I sincerely hope that there is no discrimination. I am still waiting for the answer.
   

IPL Captaincy - Nationality or Caliber

Fourteen matches into the IPL and we have hardly seen any great performance from any Indian. It is not unusual we are used to it. But the funny thing is that all the teams have an Indian as the captain, except Rajasthan Royals which has Shane Warne as the captain because there is no Indian in his team who has played any good amount of cricket. Except for Tendulkar, Dravid & Ganguly, I do not think any other Indian player deserves to be a captain of their teams. I understand, that this is Indian Premier League and not Australian League or something, but does it mean that we should be biased in favor of our players, when there are other deserving candidates for the job ?

In the absence of Tendulkar, Shaun Pollock or Jayasuriya could have been made the captain but that was not to be, the mantle was given to Harbhajan (who we now know slapped Sreesanth). Laxman is leading the Deccan Chargers, when he has Gilchrist in his team who is much more experienced and has a better track record, who was the vice captain for Australia and who has captained the Australian team on many occasions. Laxman is not even a regular face in the Indian one day team. Similarly, Mahela Jayawardene should have been the first choice for Kings XI Punjab or McGrath for Delhi Dare Devils. Stephen Fleming (seems like he has not joined the team yet) is a more deserving captain than Dhoni, but Dhoni would have still been made the captain. When we have mix of players from all the countries, should we just look at the domicile of the person to be named the captain ? I do not think it is fair.

Leaders or Cheer Leaders - IPL Cheer Leaders Not Cheering The Leaders

    I expected this to happen. To begin with, I am against cheer leading (from now on I would use CL) in any kind of sport. I feel sports do not and should not need any external stimuli. Sport itself should be the reason why people watch them. I was first exposed to CL in the American sports. I have never seen any other sport which has had CL, other than American sports. Cricket has always been a crowd puller in India and other cricket loving countries. What was the need of the CL to promote the sport ? My feeling is that it is just another example of blindly aping the west. We just want to be USA. We do not have any genuine thoughts, ideas, movies, music.

    Now the politicians are up in arms with CL because of the obscenity. They have, as always, taken the high moral grounds and become the custodians of the Indian culture. They are ready to ban it or at least have some restrictions. My point is, like some other people, that when we can have all the obscenity and vulgarity in movies what is so bad about the CL(although I do feel that we cannot compare them). In fact Indian version of CL is used in some election campaigning. I do not buy the obscenity argument. The Maharashtra government one day wants to ban CL and the next day makes a u-turn and says that CL is alright and should be taken sportively. It needs another post to discuss about some of Maharashtra government's rules and regulations.

    It is very obvious why the organizers use the CL and what is the USP of the CL. If entertainment is what they argue about, then why CL why not some music or comedy. One cannot be so naive about things. I am not going to be the moral police and I think even the government should not be the one too. My objection to the CL is purely based on the fact that sports do not need sleazy or suggestive acts to attract the crowd. Also I read that some CL received some lewd comments from the spectators. This is bound to happen, as India still is not a matured country when it comes to sensuality, sexuality.  Line between entertainment (as in movies etc) and sports is blurring these days but I feel we should not mix them together. I believe sports, is itself a great entertainer.

Chak De India or Check De India

Chak De India, as per me is by far one of the best movies made, if not in the history of Bollywood film industry, in the recent past. I also think that it was the best performance by our King Khan. Patriotic theme was nicely woven into this movie. This is the second sports movie, after Iqbal, I know of in the history of Indian films which was completely about the game. It was all the more refreshing to see that it was about our national game which is seldom talked about.

But this is not what this blog is all about. This is about what Shah Rukh Khan said in the media before and after the release of the movie and his actions that followed that. Shah Rukh claimed that he has always liked hockey and that he has played it during his college days and such. Also that he would like his kids to take up sports and how much respect he has for the sports persons and all that. All this is fine, except that you would think that a person showing so much passion towards a game, would do something to elevate the status of the game in India and elsewhere (India has not even qualified this time for the Olympics, first time in the last 80 years). But that was not to be the case.

Instead Shah Rukh poured in money into IPL (Indian Premier League - Cricket), which has no lack of funds, if required. He has shown that, he is just another business man who knows where to put his money. Cricket already gets the maximum media coverage. Cricket does not need big names attached to it. I have nothing against cricket, in fact I am a big cricket enthusiast myself. But I just feel that other sports in our country should be encouraged and promoted more than what is being done, if not giving the same status as cricket.

I have always felt that celebrities can and should exploit their stature in positive ways for the betterment of the society. I am not saying that they do not do charity, I am sure many of them do. But more than charity if they attach themselves with a noble cause, that would go a long way into the future. At the end of the day charity and social work cannot be forced, it has to be voluntary. I just feel that Shah Rukh could have had a real "Chak De Phatte" moment, had he really done something for hockey instead of cricket.

Super Bowl XLII

This past weekend I saw my first ever football game. I never got interested in football but nevertheless I watched it, because I had my friends watching the game with me. So I thought it would be a good time to sit and watch with a big group and have a nice time. This way I would also get a chance to understand the game. 

I chose the best day to watch it as it happened to be the Super Bowl, and it was our home team New England Patriots vs the arch rivals New York Giants. Game was really close and I should say that I liked it and enjoyed it (might be because of my friends), but in the end it was the Giants who came out triumphant (New Englanders are still in a state of shock). 

But this is not what I want to write here. What really made me write was the end of the game. During the prize distribution ceremony I saw the owner of the winning team walk up to the podium to receive the trophy, then the trophy was handed over to the team coach, and finally the team. 

I was really surprised that those who actually sweat it out on the field were given the last importance. I thought it to be so different from other games where players would receive the recognition in the form of a trophy or medal. I am so very uncomfortable with the whole idea of corporatizing sports, having an owner for the team who gets all the recognition besides making all the money. I think when the team wins, it is the team's time to hog the limelight and that privilege should be given to them. 

I guess even players have never protested against this act, which is why it is still going on. I do not mind the owner (if at all we have to have one) making money, but at least the final recognition should be given to the players. Money should not be the be all and end all of everything. 

Sports Obsessed Nation

I often wonder why US is so obsessed with sports, mainly Football, Basketball and Baseball. Everyone talks about it at work or social gatherings. I am amazed to see them being obsessed about sports which do not even have an international presence or have a negligible international presence at best. 

Everyone seems to have knowledge about these games and has an opinion about it. Even the schools would let you leave if you want to watch the "World Series" and in most cases schools would themselves leave the class early. People would cheer for their state teams would wear their T-shirts and would do tailgating (I have still not come to terms with the tailgating concept). Everyone talks about it from common man to a politician to a movie star to academicians, one and all. In a way it feels like it binds everyone but on the other hand it seems like people are just split into factions, just supporting their own state team. 

I have not seen people talk so much about sports in which US really has an international presence like Tennis, Swimming, Soccer etc or which are truly international. May be most of the sports in which US has done well in international arena are individual sports and I guess people find the team sports more interesting.

I cannot talk about other countries, but as far as India is concerned I have hardly seen people talk about any sport other than Cricket and that too only the truly international matches. But even for that, I do not think people would go to watch a game or their favorite player in extreme weather conditions with their new-born or little kids.

There are some questions that have been troubling me for quite sometime. May be I would find answers to some but for some there isn't one. Why is the baseball finals called a world series when it just involves US? Why is football called footbal when it is hardly played using the feet? Why are these sports not played in other countries? Why are there no real international matches?

Sports and Drugs

Ever wondered why athletes indulge in taking performance enhancing drugs. I have always thought about their unethical indulgence, getting caught and then getting stripped off their medal or trophy. What do they gain by all this? This article sheds light on it. It is a very interesting article which tries to explain this behavior in a game theoretic sense.
It seems this is a dominant strategy for anyone competing. I highly recommend you to read other articles listed on the below page. I am fascinated by Game Theory and keep reading the applications of it. I hope you like it too.

Zee Challenges BCCI

Wow! At last someone is challenging BCCI. I think that’s a great move forward for the future of cricket in the cricket-crazed country, India. According to ICL (Indian Cricket League) there will be 6 teams (which would grow to 16 in 3 years) who would compete against each other initially in a 20/20 format then might go on to include ODIs. Each team would have 2 Indian internationals, 4 overseas players and 8 juniors. BCCI has had the monopoly for too long and has ended up being just a money making machine. Hopefully the new system would put a new life into Indian Cricket. I do not know how this new ICL would finally shape up or whether it would shape up at all (we are all very familiar with the arm-twisting tactics in India). But I think it is a nice initiative.
Just a thought, the time and money we spend on Cricket, if only we spend the same amount of resources on so many other things we would have progressed in so many different fields. I just hope that such initiatives are taken up for other social issues that really need attention.

India's 2007 Cricket World Cup Debacle

It was really a great “escape” I should say for India from the Cricket World Cup – 2007, because otherwise other teams would have mauled them anyway in the Super8. India was not even fit to go to the world cup in the first place. World Cup is a stage to showcase your talent not your shortcomings. Cricket should have a world cup for the team which exits first like the ignoble prize. India would win it all the time. Indian team’s performance was so pathetic that they deserve to be out of this world cup. It is time for the Indian team to do some reality check. This was the team, which every one said is the best it could get. If the best has performed like this then I think there is no future for Indian cricket. India has never ever been a powerhouse like Australia ever in its cricketing career. It has only gone from bad to worse where all other teams have grown from strength to strength.
India has never had a killer instinct, discipline on the field, or complete fitness. It has always been mired in some controversy or the other. It feels like players go out to play as a formality not because they have passion or the pride of playing for their country. Cricket is not their bread and butter because everything is taken care by their ads/endorsements. Cricket is just an extra income for them.
I understand that winning and losing is part of the game. But losing without a fight is called giving up. I have no hopes from any Indian team in future. 4 top players are going to retire soon and there is no succession plan. Cricket (in spite of not being a national game) gets all the limelight, money, status and facilities but still this bunch of 11 players cannot perform consistently (or rather they under perform consistently).
Australians and South Africans have taken the game to a different level. Indians cannot even conceive of it. It is like a 2-dimensional creature thinking about the 3rd dimension as being absurd or for us to be baffled by higher dimensions. What Indians play is not professional cricket it is leisure time pass. I feel the Indian team should be banned from playing any international matches till all the issues have been sorted out regarding talent search, management and such. The match money should be made performance based.

Bangladesh crushed India in the 1st round of Cricket World Cup 2007

India beaten by Bangladesh. First match of world cup 2007 for India. Before I start criticizing India let me first give full credits to the young and energetic team of Bangladesh. They played so very well in all departments of cricket. Lets start from the beginning. India won the toss and elected to bat. It was a 50-50 decision by Dravid (Indian Captain). He said that pitch had something for the bowlers early on in the match but was very confident about his batting line up.

Sehwag (not in form) and Ganguly came out to bat. Before I talk about Sehwag's performance today I would just like to remind that in the Ind-SL series just before the world cup he got run out in such unseen fashion ever. He is so casual on the field that while taking a single he was not even looking in the direction of the ball. Wicket keeper got the ball from the fielder and threw at the non-striker's end where Sehwag was caught short of his crease. So keeping that in the back ground. This morning he was running towards the danger end and again did not ground his bat. He was fortunate enough to survive but was very close. He probably got the benefit of doubt (which always goes to a batsman). Fortune would not favor him again, in the 3rd over he was bowled (dragged the ball onto the stumps). He was neither forward nor fully back to play that shot. Yet again he missed a golden chance to prove himself. I really wonder how he survived for so long in international cricket with zero foot work. He has absolutely no idea where his foot is.
I seriously feel that Sehwag should be dropped from the team and players like Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik should be given more chances who are technically solid players. I am not a kind of person who salutes only the rising sun but Sehwag has no clue about his foot work. He should be asked to improve his foot work until that time he should not be in the team. Full marks to the Bangladesh team who did not give anything away to the Indians. None of the Indian batsmen (except Ganguly & Yuvraj) showed any resistance to the B'desh bowlers India lost 5 wickets in the gap of just 2 runs. Tail enders added 32 runs in the end for the last wicket.
It was the same scene when B'desh started to bat, in the sense that India was again at the receiving end. Tamim started from the word go. He had absolutely no respect for the Indian bowlers and just butchered the bowling all around the ground. B'desh won comfortably at the end. With this loss, India's chances of getting into the Super 8 is hanging on a thin edge. India would have to win the remaining 2 matches for sure to be in any contention for Super 8. Assuming SL beat B'desh and B'desh beat Bermuda then India, SL, B'desh would be tied up with 4 points each and then the net run rate would decide which 2 teams reach the Super 8. India would have to beat bermuda by a huge margin and hope SL beats B'desh convincingly. By losing India has made it tougher on itself to qualify for the Super 8. Many people were of the view before the world cup that minnows bring down the level of the world cup and I always favored that they should be given a chance. India and Pakistan's loss (Pakistan is out of the world cup) has reiterated that one cannot take the minnows (B'desh is not a minnow anymore) lightly and have to take every game seriously. I being an Indian desperately want India to qualify for the Super 8 and better still to win the world cup but at the end of the day I would also like the best team to win.

Calculating Pressure Index in Cricket

I thought it was interesting and therefore I should share it with you. Some of you might already know about this. A new metric has been introduced in cricket called the pressure index (PI). I came across this index in the rediff.com page while looking at the scores for the first World Cup 2007 match between WI vs Pak.
I was curious to know what it meant. I clicked on it and it opened up the pressure index for the Pakistan team as 134/200. Then it also gave me the link to the article about the index. It seems like a good index to see where the match is tilted at any given moment. Index ranges from 0-200. 0 would mean near absolute victory and 200 near absolute loss. It is calculated only when the second team comes into bat. So if a chasing team’s PI is 125 then conversely the defending team’s PI is 75. Professor Rajeeva L Karandikar, the well-known statistician and psephologist, has developed the mathematical theory of the pressure index. Professor M J Manohar Rao, who also developed the Rediff Test and ODI Rankings and Rediff's Most Valuable ODI Player Index, originally conceived the idea of a pressure index. Take a look at the following articles.
http://www.rediff.com/wc2007/2007/mar/08pressure.htm
http://www.rediff.com/wc2007/2007/mar/13pressure.htm

Cricket Corner

1) BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/other_international/india/6376707.stm
actually predicts that there is a good chance of India winning the world cup (author is not an Indian). Being an Indian I just hope that it comes true. I seriously feel that Tendulkar deserves a world cup trophy to his credit and India owes him one. This might well be Tendulkar's last world cup appearance.
Australia and South Africa are going to be tough teams to beat but so was the case in 1983 (India one the world cup). West Indies was invincible at that time. Perhaps many people wrote of India in that world cup when India slumped to 17/5 and then Kapil walked in to bat with Kirmani and scored 175 (it is a pity that there is no recording of this match) .
The web site talks about the top 8 teams their strengths and weaknesses/injuries. India seems, at this moment, to be a very well balanced team(at least on paper). If only they click this time. Pitches in West Indies are not going to be fast. It might help the slower bowlers and India has plenty of them (even the fast bowlers are at max slow medium according to international standards !!!). Tendulkar might be very handy with the ball in the world cup. Ganguly has found his touch hope Sehwag does the same.
May the best team win.

2) Discussion on Super 8
This is seriously ridiculous..ICC has already predicted the results of round one...and have also put it in their official website..Rediff.com - Super 8s : India vs Pakistan, April 15

3) Sportstar Starspeak
I was reading this in the Starspeak column of Sportstar where veteran Indian players have put their bets on different teams. One thing that caught my eye was the views of 3 former Indian cricketers (Srikanth, Maninder Singh, Kirti Azad) who were not in favor of having the minnows for the world cup stating the following reasons that:

it might devalue the game in the initial stages of the world cup
the world cup goes on for too long
it tends to affect the fitness of the players
if it rains it might hurt the better teams

I myself am a little confused about which side to take in this debate but I tend to incline towards allowing the minnows in the world cup. My point is that if the teams have cleared the criteria for the world cup then what is the problem in having them. Granted that the initial stages of the world cup would be a little boring but this is a way for the weaker teams to experience the adrenaline rush. Even Soccer world cup has strong and weak teams. How much ever you play international cricket, world cup has it own charm and its own pressure.

Also a consistent thing, which pretty much every one is saying, is that India might have a good chance (given all other things) at the world cup because the pitches in West Indies are pretty much like the Indian subcontinent. Out of this, one funny thing I read was Maninder Singh actually giving England (Rank: 7) and New Zealand (Rank: 3) a go at the cup just because they have 2 good spinners in each team. Has he forgotten that even India (Rank: 5) has 2 great spinners in Kumble and Harbhajan (270 and 147 ODIs resp). New Zealand’s Jeetan Patel is just 17 ODIs old. England’s Panesar is just 9 ODIs old.

4)Duckworth-Lewis method of adjusting targeted scores
http://www.icc-cricket.com/icc/rules/d-l_method.pdf
http://www.icc-cricket.com/icc/rules/d-l_table.pdf

Sourav Ganguly back with a bang

I am also back to my blog with Ganguly back in the team. He once again proved his critics wrong. It is exactly one year since I last wrote about Sourav Ganguly in my blog. I felt bad at that time the way he was removed from the team. I am very happy to see our very own dada back on the field caressing the ball through the cover. It is always a delight to watch Ganguly play his shots through the off side.

He has class and he bounced back (India's pathetic past performance might also have been a factor for his inclusion) as he did after he was dropped from the squad in 1992. Granted that he had age on his side then, but he had maturity and records on his side now. He played so well that he walked away with the man of the series award for the Ind-SL series on his return to the Indian team.

Ganguly is a changed man these days. On one hand where he is still in fine touch on the other he is also taking more singles and rotating the strike and is also very agile on the field. May be the removal from the team was a blessing in disguise so that he could rejuvinate himself. I am happy that Ganguly took everything in his stride and walked back into the team like a true prince of Calcutta (I guess Geoffrey Boycott would be very happy to see him back). I agree that talent and only talent should be respected and no one should start taking their slot in the team for granted, but I thought that people played politics in Ganguly's removal and were harsh on him.

I hope India performs well in the upcoming 2007 world cup and Ganguly makes merry at the crease. 3 cheers for dada..

Not just cricket

Yes, it was exactly what the title suggests "Not just cricket". There is this program called "Not just cricket". The hosts were Maninee Mishra and I donot remember the male anchor's name and the panel members were Mohinder Amarnath and Ajay Jadeja & a person immitating Navjot Singh Sidhu.
I think I watched the program for 30 mins or so and they were discussing about the Eurasia cup finals cricket match between India A - Pak A. The whole time it was the male anchor asking all the questions (ofcourse many a times such discussion just talks about the same issues again and again but that is besides the point) not once did I see Maninee Mishra ask a question and moreover I thought she was wearing something "inappropriate" if I might say so. Mandira Bedi was criticized by the media in the past for a similar portrayal. Not that I am personally offended or anything. Why do we need two people to sit there, when one of them just sits quietly not asking or saying anything. Do we really need a glamour content in everything we do. I can still understand had she asked any questions, but this clearly seemed to me that she was there just sitting like a doll just for the glamour content of the show.
Talking about the other person who dressed like Sidhu and tried to immitate and basically make fun of Sidhu, I thought that was also uncalled for. I can understand these things if it is a comedy show or something. But when you call players who have played at the international level and are discussing about cricket why on earth do we want to make it all look funny. One time atleast, when this guy tried to immitate Sidhu the camera had a close shot and it focussed on Mohinder Amarnath's expression and it clearly showed that it was cheap or he was not interested.
I seriously think, where we are heading towards regarding the quality of programs that we produce and show on our TVs. In the garb of openness and freedom of expression we have deteriorated from bad to worse. I think the sanity would prevail and we would be able to produce good quality programs.

Indian cricket team struggles with the opening slot

Indian cricket has never been able to get a good solid opening pair(atleast in test matches). This issue was again in the discussions during this Indo-Pak series. Dravid opened with Sehwag in the test matches and did really well in the first two test matches both of which ended in draws. In the decider, opening pair didnot do well and India lost the game.
Everyone keeps saying that Dravid is too precious to be risked as an opener. He should be saved for the later part or the middle order. Same people say that many times Dravid was as good as an opener because he would come in early in the match to bat because the opening pair didnot last long. So if that is the case then what is wrong if Dravid opens for India in Test matches. Its a different thing if he doesnot want to open.
I fail to understand why is it that we cannot have same openers for ODIs and test matches. If Tendulkar can open in ODIs then why not in test matches. Tendulkar and Dravid are the best batsmen in the Indian squad at the present moment and I just do not see the logic of protecting them from facing the new ball. In fact in my opinion they are the best equipped players to face the new ball. If at all we want to have different players as openers in ODIs and test cricket then we have to get some good players like the australians and groom them well.
Everytime this issue comes up we hear talks about specialist openers. Our selectors come up with "specialists" like Shiv Sundar Das, Deep Dasgupta , Akash Chopra, Sanjay Bangar to name a few, who are nowhere to be seen now in the India team. It seems ridiculous that we call players, directly out of ranji matches as specialist openers for international test matches who cannot even last couple of years.
I hope sanity prevails and we get some real good and solid players who can open for the Indian team and can last atleast for few years.

Unfair treatment for Sourav Ganguly

Treatment meted out to Ganguly is not fair. Agreed that we should promote and groom young talent especially when the world cup is just around the corner. But the way the whole situation was handled was amaeturish. It seems like a conspiracy against the former captain. Raj Singh Dungarpur before the start of Pakistan series talks to a news channel about how having Ganguly in the team has a negative effect on the players and immediately denies it later. How can such a senior member of the board say such things especially when the player is in team for the series. Shouldn't people show some respect towards the players?
I myself am of the opinion that one should never take his place in the team for granted and should be in the team by sheer performance but at the same time the past performace should not and cannot be ignored. Player of 300 odd matches cannot and shouldnot be judged by his few failures. I have been a very fierce critic of Ganguly when it was reported during his initial days of captaincy that he doesnot show up for the nets. I feel that no one is above the team (including the captain). If you are in a sport you have to be disciplined there are no two ways to it. There should definitly be disciplinary action against the player who does not abide by the rules, but humiliation should be a no-no. Ganguly had a lean patch no doubt, but who doesnot have one. I think stripping him of his captaincy is punishment enough for his non-performace in a few matches.
Ganguly is the same player who was talked about as the leader that India long waited for. He took India to the finals of 2003 world cup. Everyone praised his attitude on the field and off the field. He backed lots of new comers like Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Mohd. Kaif to name a few and showed lot of faith in them.
I am having a hard time understanding as to what is it that made Ganguly a villain from a saviour. I think he deserves to be given a fair chance to prove his abilities on the ground before he is shown the door.
He was taken for the test series with Pakistan but was not given a chance to bat (even when India knew that it is a batting wicket) and then without any reason was axed from the ODI team. He could have opened the batting instead of Dravid and could have got some runs against his name. Player of his caliber should not be humiliated atleast when it is not clear what is wrong on Ganguly's part. Everyone salutes the rising sun no doubt, but we should also give a warm farewell to the setting sun.