Stepping back to move forward

I am not the only person who has noticed the shortcomings of LeBron James when the spotlight gets intense. I was fortunate that my time in Chicago coincided with MJ's golden finish after his basketball "sabbatical". I even got to watch him play at the United Center (January 26th, 1997, against the Miami Heat). The Bulls won by 22 points, and went on to win an unparalleled 72 games (out of 82) in the regular season.

For the rest of his career LeBron will be compared to the man I firmly believe is the greatest sportsman in the clutch I have ever seen. Unless LeBron discovers some inner toughness he will lose out on the GOAT stakes.

If LeBron is the reading type, I'd ask him to read this tribute that describes Jordan's last run for the Bulls. Taking command of the tight moments is what defines a leader. Until he does that, Lebron will just be another talented fellow who faded away from the basket during crunch-time.

By the way, late in his career, Jordan taught himself to fadeaway from the basket, too. Except he did it as a scoring option that was virtually unstoppable. Watch and learn, LeBron.

Spanish for dummies and sundry things

1) If I had an iPhone, I'd definitely get this app. Especially since I am traveling to a predominantly Spanish-speaking country in the very, very near future.



2) Check out this slideshow (be sure to click through the 13 slides). Snowflakes as you have never seen them before. No wonder the saying that no two snowflakes are identical is probably true. Also, these are some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. No wonder when I grow old, I shall retire to a pace surrounded by snow-capped mountains.

Here's a sample of one of the photos...

These snowflake photos were taken by Kenneth Libbrecht of CalTech, using a specially-designed snowflake photomicroscope. They show real snow crystals that fell to earth in northern Ontario, Alaska, Vermont, the Michigan Upper Peninsula, and the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
(http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/dn16170-snowflakes/10)

c) Move your mouse over this image of Hong Kong and see it transform.

d) I know, I know. I am putting something sports-related but it is very interesting in its own way. Here's the background. Earlier this year LeBron James announced that he was going to leave Cleveland and play for the Miami Heat during a live televised event that was even called The Decision by ESPN.

"...I am taking my talents to South Beach..", he said without a trace of bashfulness. He was widely criticized for it. Where he goes to play is entirely his business and what we think of it should not be talked about, but doing it in such a crass way is what I had an issue with.

Anyway, Nike tried to rehabilitate his image with this ad:



Numerous responses were offered to that ad, but the one that takes the cake is this one:



Finally, to put an end to this business comes an ad purportedly offering Michael Jordan's point of view of the whole issue. End of discussion.

Doppelgänger

It is not often that you read an article and wish you had written it instead. I feel that way after reading this article by Sidin Vadukut. While the example he uses is not one that I am familiar with, the sentiments are the same. And he is funny, too!

Over the last 14 or so years Srinath has been single-handedly responsible for my wasting hundreds of precious man-hours watching the last few overs of cricket matches half-hoping India will grab victory from the jaws of unavoidable defeat.

Or that some form of power cut, rain, sandstorm or DDCA ingenuity will call off a match at the last possible moment before defeat and Duckworth-Lewis.

These desperation scenarios often call on India to score 60 runs in the last four overs, with Sreesanth being the only regulation batsman left. Or they involve opponents needing 10 runs with three overs and seven wickets to spare.

Your local cricket cynic - and this is a compulsory vacancy in offices - has already laughed off India's chances in that whiny, irritating voice. Publicly you laugh along with him and say things like "Traitors! Can only act in ads!" or "One billion people and you pick Joginder?!" or "Buy them all some Musli Power, I say!"

But that is an act. A ruse. For public consumption.

In reality, deep inside, you want to gently call the cynic to one corner and redecorate the conference-room wall with his face.

I spent some time trying to figure out if there was any such seminal event that made me think that the Indian team could pull it out against all odds. Many candidates come to mind, primarily the '83 World Cup and Kapil Dev's 175* or when India defended a total of 125 in Sharjah against Pakistan and won by a whopping 38 runs, thoroughly ruining a 6 for 14 performance by Imran Khan. But none of them really stick in the mind. What does stick are the ones that got away, the defining one being Javed Miandad and that six. Even that one I remember for two factoids that have withered away from public memory with time. One, it was the first time India lost to Pakistan in Sharjah and two, Miandad's 116* was the first century ever scored at Sharjah. That was a momentum-changing event of seismic proportions. (Also, the ball before Miandad hit a six, India messed up an easy run-out that would have ended the game. See the video to see what I mean.

But no, that did not make me think that no match was lost until the final note had been rung (to mix metaphors). For the past few minutes I have been sitting and mulling this. Through the '80's, my feeling that the Indian team would pull it out was rooted more in hope than belief. Then I came to Chicago and watched Michael Jordan play. MJ was many things - a selfish team-mate who shared the ball when it suited his means, an egotistical ballhog, a boorish sourpuss whose good looks and cultivated media image glossed over his personal faults - but he had one trait above all else - a dislike for defeat that veered into the realm of psychosis. With the game on the line he may have been as nervous as anyone else but he did not show it. All the fans in the stands, all the viewers on TV, the opposing team, the coaches, his teammates, all of them knew that he would take the game-deciding shot. And he did. And he did it often enough to fill an entire decade's worth of film roll. The aura of the fellow was such that the ones he missed are used as defining moments that show how great the fellow was because he came back and wiped them from memory.

Being in Chicago, I got carried away in the MJ wave and watched every game I could. Take LeBron James and Kobe Bryant today, mix them up, and you will not get the level of awe that MJ conjured. I used to think Miandad was the under-pressure guy to admire. To mis-quote Denzel Washington, Miandad ain't got nothing on MJ. When MJ hit the championship-winning shot to finish his legendary career, it was the perfect way to remember the man. (I never watched him or followed him in a Washington Wizard uniform so as far as I am concerned that never happened).

In the 90's and beyond as I heard about the Indian team (this was before CricInfo and live Internet streaming, boys and girls) choking away and ruining whatever chance Sachin Tendulkar had of leading a team to victory in his pomp, I wondered when the Indian team would come across the likes of MJ. MJ was paramount and unparalleled (in my esteem anyway) for a definition of a clutch player.

And then came Tiger Woods. It's funny how the unraveling of his life has diminished the man in the eyes of many, but on the golf course he dominated people like Mike Tyson in his prime, without laying a single punch. And he did not do this by blowing away the competition on good days. He did this by wrecking their hopes irrespective of how he was playing. I thought MJ was the quintessential pressure player until I saw Tiger Woods, especially circa 1999-2001. Even today, I feel TW is the best clutch player I have ever seen. It is an indictment of the man (and a great window into his soul) that most of the occasions when Tiger comes up short on a golf course are in team events such as the Ryder Cup or the President's Cup. When it comes to playing for himself, more often than not Tiger Woods makes the putt he needs to make. His career achievements are staggering and he is far from being done. Today he is the butt of jokes (and very rightly so) but once he steps on the golf course again, I can bet you a lot of money he will have a focus that will scare his opponents even more.

The greatest closer I have ever seen in sports is Tiger Woods. And he's the main reason I believe that no match is lost unless the last wicket falls or the last run is scored, whether it's the Indian team or the one I play on.

Here's one example from last year.



For me, here's the defining moment where there was never a doubt in my mind the fellow would find a way to get the ball in the hole. When it happened the overwhelming feeling was, "Yup, I knew it was going to happen."

Never. A. Doubt.

On the prowl again

Years ago, Michael Jordan famously announced his return to basketball with a two word fax that said, "I'm back!". Today, Tiger Woods takes a more sedate approach in this ad.



He is humming "Eye of the Tiger", by Survivor, from the Rocky movies (Rocky III).

Crap-e diem

The first Test is over, India and Australia are still tied 0-0, and the Indian supporters can heave a sigh of relief. Three more Tests to go and the mighty Aussies will leave the shores. Hopefully, we can sneak in a win and take the series. After all, the Aussie team is the strongest in the world, right? They do have Hayden, Ponting, McGrath, Gilchrist, Langer, Warne, Martyn, Symonds, and Gillespie, don't they? No, wait, they actually have Hayden, Ponting, Clarke, Katich, Watson, Johnson, White, and Haddin, etc. in their ranks.

Before I continue further, take a look at this fantastic commercial by Nike, featuring Michael Jordan, the greatest performer under pressure I have ever seen in the sporting arena (along with Tiger Woods).



India did not sneak away with a draw in the first Test match. They clung on to it. Desperately. Like a one-armed man hanging off a cliff. An attack that reads Lee, Clark, Johnson, Watson, and White (don’t they sound like a law firm?) was able to reduce the batting line-up featuring names like Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, and Ganguly into defensive heroes. Where is that vaunted Indian batting line-up, that juggernaut that has evoked memories of another Fab Four?

The target was 299 runs in 83 overs, probably too stiff for a 5th day wicket and the downside (losing) was too much to bear after being under the cosh from the first day itself. (Because, when you are running uphill, no matter how close to the target you are, it still seems way above you.) My problem with the Indian chase was that they did not even try to go for it. The general consensus was that if Sehwag got off to his typical start then there was a chance. Huh? That’s it? One and done??? The strategy was so palpable that even the Aussie captain knew this – Ponting began with just 1 slip to Sehwag. Stop Sehwag and the Indian run-chase was done. It took a brilliant catch, that Hayden made look very simple, to get Sehwag at the very same position. Sehwag was attempting a flick, completed his stroke when the ball hit the back of the bat and flew low to Hayden’s left. Hayden, never taking his eyes off the ball, stayed down and picked up the ball with his fingers cradling the ball just before it was going to hit the ground. With that one catch, the Indian run chase was done!

Here was a chance to test the Australian attack (if you want to call it that). See what stuff they were made of. What would I have done? I would have held back Dravid and sent someone else in. If Gambhir got out first, I’d send in Ganguly. If Sehwag got out first, I’d send in Tendulkar (to maintain the left-right combination). With the clear instruction that they had to attack the target like it was a one day international. Ganguly and Tendulkar are the most secure players in the team in terms of having a place for the 4 Tests, so there is no pressure on them to fail, so to speak. Also, if it is very clear that they were going for the target, then a failure will be absolved as they would have been following team instructions (a simple statement at a press conference later on can clear up this fact). Australia had just one swing bowler – Lee. The rest of them hit the deck hard and look for seam movement. Wouldn’t it be harder for them to attack if they had to put 3 or 4 men on the boundary? And seriously, if after reading this the thought that goes through your mind is what would happen if the 4 get out quickly, then I want you to tell me why we make a big deal of the 25 or 30, or 40 thousand runs that the Fab Four have made? The Indian batsmen are fantastic players; a once-in-a-generation kind of fantastic. If given the license to go and attack they will find a way to do just that. India would have won the match or drawn with Australia clinging to a leg-stump, negative bowling line to slow down the run-rate. Wouldn’t that have been a great exhibition of the strength of our batting line-up and shown the rest of the country that the Aussies can be had?

Instead what we got was a defensive effort that only underlined what an innocuous attack the Aussies really had. Tendulkar and Laxman, between them, batted for a little more than 41 overs, scored just 90 runs, and are feted as heroes, only serving to further reinforce the negative mindset of the Indian camp. I like them both very much, and I was watching them with gritted teeth the whole time, willing them to survive, but I was mad at the Indian think tank for, pardon the pun, tanking the run chase even before it started. Tendulkar, the man who gave Shane Warne’s nightmares was unable to impose himself on Cameron White, making his debut no less, and even suffered the ignominy of getting out to him. Enough said.

India are the home team, with 5 batsmen who have scored about 40,000 Test runs, with two spinners who have taken more than 900 Test wickets, and three fielders who have collectively taken over 370 catches. The Aussies have one batsman who has scored more than 10,000 runs, another great who has over 6,000 runs. One bowler who has taken more than 100 wickets (Lee has 291), and their lone spinner was making his debut. And we are celebrating the fact that we drew the first Test?

Seriously, those that are afraid to win are indeed condemned to repeatedly fail.

P.S. I see that Prem Panicker has a similar view on this subject on his blog. He also adds a couple of other interesting tidbits along the way, notably one that concerns Anil Kumble's health, or lack thereof.

Flying high

Televised sporting events and live webstreams have allowed me to watch some of the greatest players to have ever played in sports arenas – people who do not need full names to be identified. People like Gretsky, Montana, Tendulkar, Woods, and Federer. But the very first person to capture my imagination after I crossed the proverbial seven seas, is simply known as MJ – a man whose silhouette is just as famous as his face.

When I moved to Chicago, one of the primary motivating factors was that I would be able to watch Michael Jordan weave his magic on the basketball court. Two months after I arrived, he announced his retirement from the NBA at the young age of 31. A few weeks later, Michael was honoured by his organization by having his number retired and a life-size statue placed in front of the United Center (a building that was made affordable by the money that had poured into the city because of Jordan’s influence).

Seventeen months later, the Chicago Tribune received a two-word fax – “I’m back” and NBA was back to being Jordan’s turf. Three glorious seasons followed and the man actually played in an arena that had his life-size statue right outside it!!

He no longer plays in the NBA but his statue is still there, along with a listing of some of the stellar accomplishments of his glittering career. This time, during my Chicago visit, I took some time out to pay homage.