difference betn legends n mortals

Difference between the Legends and mere Mortals

While watching the final day of the first test between India and West Indies on television, I heard an Australian commentator (couldn’t guess his name from his voice) argue Kumble and Ponting’s case against Warne, Muralitharan and Lara, Tendulkar respectively. He had based his arguments on the fact that Kumble and Ponting have records which are comparable with the greats mentioned above. But what he was forgetting is that sports (as well as art) and society are radically different and statistics cannot be used as Constitutional laws.

“Why isn’t Kumble mentioned in the same breath as Warne and Muralitharan or why isn’t Ponting mentioned in the same breath as Lara and Tendulkar?” was his query. Hearing such comments from watchers of the game is quite normal but what surprised me was the fact that these words came from someone who has played the game himself.

I have had heated debates on this topic with quite a few of my friends and there are a couple of points I would like to make.

Firstly, one needs to accept that some people are just born with talent and charisma and these attributes cannot be acquired by any amount of hard work. How much effect does Dravid or Ponting playing or not playing a game have, on the ticket sales or television viewership? We all know that the answer to this question in case of Lara or Tendulkar is ‘huge’.

Another thing is that players like Dravid or Steve Waugh need an occasion to shine. Let Steve Waugh walk in to bat with Australia comfortably placed at 250/3 on the first day of a test match and he will rarely impress. Agreed he has bailed Australia out of many crises but he needs divine intervention in creation of these crises whereas Lara and Tendulkar can entertain and enthrall the spectators under any given circumstances.

One point which is seldom brought to light is the ability of these greats to make playing easy for their teammates. Yuvraj Singh smashed Glenn McGrath to all parts of the park enroute to a match-winning 84 not out, on debut at Nairobi. Prior to that memorable innings, Sachin had blasted a 25 ball 39 in which he clobbered 3 fours and a six off Glenn’s first 3 overs. The question that arises is, could Yuvraj have played a similar innings but for Sachin’s cameo? The answer is ‘NO’ because I have never seen the Punjabi lad destroy the Australian seamer ever after. There are very few batsmen in world cricket who possess this virtue, Gilchrist, Sehwag and Afridi being the others but none do it as consistently as Sachin or Lara.

Another hallmark of great champions is the ease and enthusiasm with which they play the game. If you observe stalwarts like Sampras, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Ronaldinho, they have a twinkle in their eyes and innocence in their smile which ‘mortals’ can only dream of possessing.

Also it is said in dance and other art forms that the efforts you put in practice shouldn't be seen in your performance. If you are a connoisseur of cricket you will agree that while Dravid and Steve Waugh play cricket on the playground, Sachin and Lara perform the art of batsmanship on the cricketing stage

We all know how the country heaved a collective a sigh of relief when Tendulkar signaled his return to form by hitting that unforgettable workmanlike 241 in Steve Waugh’s farewell test at the SCG. My question to that Australian commentator is, would Rahul Dravid’s or Ricky Ponting’s comeback innings invoke similar responses?

This reminds me of Kumble’s comment after picking up 8 wickets in the first innings of the same Test. When queried by a reporter as to why he hasn’t performed with this consistency overseas, his retort was, “When have I got a chance to bowl with 500+ runs on the board when playing abroad?” This reply justifies Kumble’s place in the class of ‘mortals’. What he was forgetting is that Warne and Murali run through sides irrespective of the playing surface and the score they are defending.

There is no arguing the fact that players like Dravid, Kumble, Ponting and Steve Waugh are of immense value to the team they play for. But as the popular MasterCard advertisements rightly show, there are some things in life which are invaluable and these some things are the distinguishing factors between ‘the legends’ and ‘the mortals’.

I remember a poster at the GABBA which said “I came here to see GOD bat!” Do I need to specify who he was referring to? Only certain blessed ones are lucky to get such adulation from opposing fans.

These sportsmen cross boundaries of teams and nations and come to epitomize the sport itself. The definition of ‘Cricket’ to the non-cricketing world could well be a game played by Lara or Tendulkar just as we associate Cycling with Lance Armstrong and Basketball with Michael Jordan.

Having said all this, I still feel that no extent of vocabulary is sufficient to describe these geniuses. I really pity people who make comparisons like that Australian commentator and try to find faults with these heroes for they don't know what they are missing. As an avid sports lover I feel priviledged to have witnessed these ‘legends’ grace the sporting field.

A TRIBUTE TO STEVEN GERRARD

“It’s Gerrrraaaaaarrrd, oh yessss. It’s a Steven Gerrard special and Liverpool are level.”

This 91^st min thunderbolt from the Liverpool captain at Cardiff just a few days ago forced the FA Cup final against West Ham into extra-time which the Reds later won on penalties. This match, which pundits rightly called the Steven Gerrard final, is what inspired me to pay my respects to one of my favourite footballers.

With the likes of Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Beckham and Zidane around, humble and hardworking players like Gerrard, often don’t get the fame and attention they deserve.

Steve g, as me n my friends fondly call him, was born in a middle class neighbourhood in Liverpool. He was an avid Toffee fan until he moved over to the Red half of Merseyside and made his debut in the Premier League as a promising teenager in 1999. Gerrard and another local boy, Michael Owen were the pillars around which Gerard Houllier, the then Red coach, endeavoured to rebuild the depleted Liverpool side and again make Anfield the fortress she used to be in the 80’s. Gerrard’s first taste of silverware came when the Reds won that famous Cup double in the 2001 campaign. And finally it seemed that Houllier had found the right balance in his squad. But disappointing seasons followed which led to the sacking of Houllier and Owen’s departure to the Bernabau in search of greater success. But Gerrard, like a loyal son, stayed at Anfield resisting many lucrative offers from clubs around the continent.

And as luck would have it, Owen’s new club Real Madrid went out in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and a Gerrard led Liverpool side were crowned champions of Europe in that epic final in Istanbul against Italian heavy weights AC Milan. The Reds were down 3-0 at halftime and it was left to Gerrard again to engineer a miraculous comeback, probably the greatest in European history, in which they found the back of the net 3 times in a space of 6 minutes. He scored Liverpool’s first with a towering header off a John Arne Riise cross and then won the penalty which culminated in Xabi Alonso equalizing for the Reds. The sight of Steve egging on his teammates and the forty thousand odd traveling Liverpool fans, after scoring that first goal, has had a lasting impression on me.

But Steve g, to me, is much more than just a player who can score crucial goals and win matches for his club and country. He is an epitome of self-sacrifice. He is a naturally attacking player but curbs his instincts while playing for country and assumes a more defensive role. And this is more due to the shortcomings of his England teammates than his own. He probably doesn’t have the dribbling skills and trickery that some of his illustrious colleagues possess. But he makes up for that with tremendous stamina, unflagging fighting spirit and most importantly his boyish exuberance. I remember a game between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford a couple of years ago in which Gerrard was virtually omnipresent providing crosses and through balls to his forwards and helping out his defenders with crucial tackles at key junctures.

He is known as much for his superhuman like work ethic as for his defence splitting passes and powerful long range strikes. Michael Owen owes a significant fraction of his Liverpool goals to Gerrard’s vision and accurate passing. His favourite right foot is feared all over the world. You give him space and time around the 18 yard box and invariably he will make you pay for your spectatorship. Ask the Olympiakos fans, whose dreams he shattered with one of his trademark screamers in the dying minutes of the Champions League first round match last year.

On current form, he is arguably England's best midfielder and a sure successor to David Beckham's thrown as English skipper. The fact that an avid Manchester United supporter is paying his tributes to the captain of his arch rivals is the greatest compliment to Gerrard’s abilities.

Having unfortunately missed the last World Cup due to an injury, he will be looking to make amends at this year’s finals in Germany. An overjoyed Steven Gerrard holding aloft the Jules Rimet trophy on the 9^th of July in Berlin is one of the sights I crave to see!

P.S.-If any of the readers feel i am exaggarating gerrard's importance please watch this-

http://www.footballclips.net/steven_gerrard_top_10_goals

shifting homes

Having stayed in the same house for fifteen years, I had my first experience of this dreaded activity just after my SSC exams when we decided to change our residence from the quiet neighbourhood in Matunga to the busy and industrial suburb of Chembur. But we weren’t vacating our old home and so the process went off quite smoothly.

My next date with ‘Shifting’ was to follow within a year when my grandparent’s apartment was taken up for redevelopment. Fortunately, as I was preparing for JEE, I was the golden-eyed boy and was exempted from my responsibilities.

But this time when my grandparents were returning back to their newly constructed swanky tower, there were going to be no excuses. I had gone picnicking with my friends after my semester was over and my father had purposefully arranged the shifting date to coincide with my return to the town. And with my sister being in final year MBBS I was definitely the scapegoat. This surely was going to test my patience and ability to see the lighter side of things.

As you get older you tend to resist change. At least this was what I experienced. With the May heat really troubling her, my grandmother (aaji) would get frustrated on frivolous matters and it would need my dad’s intervention to calm her down. Incidentally, I discovered quite a few interesting things while going about my latest assignment.

I realized that we had innumerable utensils in our house carefully preserved to encounter the ultimate eventuality of a hundred relatives storming in to give us a warm surprise. The fact that there was not enough space in the house for so many human beings to even stand, forget having food, is a different matter altogether. But analyzing this matter in more depth lead me to the realization that my aaji was actually a great visionary! With iron ore deposits around the world diminishing and with the likelihood that stainless steel prices would escalate in the near future she had thoughtfully made arrangements for her future generations.

Then came the woolens. While packing all the blankets and shawls in the cartons I happened to look out of the window and mistook the dog for a polar bear and the coconut palms for pine trees. But again there was futuristic thinking behind this accumulation. What if the sudden movement of the earth’s plates changes Mumbai’s altitude so drastically that we start experiencing snowfall and thunderstorms or what if the world is struck by a fifth ice age? We had to be prepared, didn’t we?

After that, while emptying one of the cupboards we came across so many crockery sets that if I put them all on sale, I would gather enough wealth to make sure that I would never require monetary assistance from my parents to satisfy any of my needs. But I will have to accept most of the blame for this addition of glassware to our already overstuffed home. The authorities of all the basketball clubs in Mumbai had probably started a co-operative business venture because there was a period when the finalists of all tournaments in Mumbai were awarded glassware. So in about 3 years I had received almost a dozen sets of glass bowls and cups. Finally, fed up of this, I hung up my boots!

As if this wasn’t enough, one day, my grandfather (ajoba) pulled out so many share certificates and annual reports from his closet that would put even Babasaheb Ambedkar to shame. But I have no qualms with him because that’s one of his few passions and he otherwise leads a very simple life with frugal requirements. And also his perseverance and methodical approach in these matters have been the key to our family’s financial progress over the last two generations.

Fortunately, my mom and I were lent a helping hand in all this by my dad and he is quite an expert at getting rid of unwanted goods. Although he would never accept it, in his hurry to clear the mess in the house, he has put my mom in trouble a couple of times by throwing away some important things. I hope he doesn’t read this article. Otherwise I could be the next one to be the victim of his skills.

This reminds me of an anecdote related to this subject. A few years ago we had added a couple of new wardrobes to our crowded house and my ajoba was proudly showing off the new additions to my dad’s friend. He politely appreciated whatever he was shown but later queried, “Now, where are you going to stay?”

After having gone through all this I would any day buy ‘studying for exams’ at the cost of being involved in this agonizing and torturous activity of ‘Shifting’