Football or Fakeball?

No Nothing. No matter how much I try to get infected by Soccer flu, the FIFA WC fever doesn't catches me.The only thing I know about football team is their country's capital.

Perhaps if India had qualified it would have been interesting.
Which springs forth to this question..
Why is India inherently bad at football but is Brazil of cricket?

I can think of two reasons..
Fitness. In soccer, first you acquire physical fitness and gradually the required skills but in cricket fitness comes second to skills (physical fitness is under-rated in India). VVS Laxman and Virendra Sehwag were not the fittest of players but went on to play some historic knocks.

Secondly, the problem lies with the game itself. Football is an "unjust game" with which Indians cannot relate. There is a huge incentive for the players to cheat. A single goal can make a huge difference in soccer which is why players/referee cheats (eg:- faking an injury in box can earn you a penalty kick ). While in the Gentleman’s game, there is very limited scope of cheating. Moreover, in Football a team which dominates the game may still lose while in Cricket, a team which dominates the game is always rewarded.

Memoirs of Cricket

Those were the days when life used to be a second priority against Cricket. The only thing which we look forward to the week was Sundays. The span of time between the Saturday evening and the Sunday morning, mostly, went dreaming of either taking wickets on every delivery or hitting sixes on each ball.

Train of cricketing thoughts used to board at the platform called sleep, only to be alighted at the station called Cricket Ground. Awaken on first sound of alarm at 4 am on chilly morning and frenetically calling friends to ensure they are all up and rushing.

Some used to steal themselves from their parents' eye, some unyielding as granite to their parents' chide but all as active as quicksilver used to march on the cricket ground on time.

Be it a freezing morning or an overly heated afternoon, nothing would matter except the lethal leather ball in the hand and the three wickets infront of the eyes. And whenever the sound of timber (wicket) reverberated in the labyrinth, like Alexander the Great, there was no more world left to conquer.

Oh! The mini heart attack when the ball missed the bails
Oh! The long cry of unfairness
Oh! The illusion of hope when trailing
Oh! The wild jump of elation when victorious
Oh! The crazy celebration, popping soft drink bottles after winning the match
Oh! The bitchy discussion on the way home- hailing the hero, chiding the villain

And the idea of relaxation after the match was to play more cricket matches (on terrace).

If Life could have been summed up in two syllables, they would have been "Cricket", if four then "Cricket, Cricket", if six then "Cricket, Cricket, Cricket”

Cricket taught us how to handle success, how to handle failure and how to fight back adversaries. We didn’t know while enjoying our first priority we were learning about the second.

Sometimes winning is everything| Wake the spirit| Leave your mark| Take a stand| Play with pride |Kill doubt| Choose a high| Live your dream |Now or never| Make waves| Never say die |Conquer your fear| Take risk| Erase boundaries| Beat the odds| Trust your instinct| Its your time| Taste Victory

I will never forgive Tendulkar

I will never forgive you for reddening my palm during India vs Australia final at Sharjah (1998). I was only 11 year old.

I will never forgive you for keeping me awake till 3 am just to watch your boring cover drives and stupid straight drives during Toronto cup (late 90’s). I had to go to school next day.

I will never forgive you for playing with MRF bats. I had spent months of my pocket money buying a stupid heavy bat labeled MRF.

I will never forgive you for trusting your team-mates (to score 17 runs) after getting out on 136 vs Pakistan at Chepauk (1999). India lost the match by 12 runs.

I will never forgive you for your blatant show off of Patriotism during 1999 world cup. It had been only two days since your father passed away and you came back and scored 140* against Kenya.

I will never forgive you for walking without protest after being adjudged SBW-Shoulder Before Wicket, during India vs Australia test series (2000). You didn’t learn anything from Gavaskar.

I will never forgive you for the indelible moment of sixes off Akhtar and Caddick during the 2003 world cup. I have only one brain with limited memory.

I will never forgive you for being the first man on the planet to score a double century. I lost a wager that if anyone could score then it would be Sehwag.

I will never forgive you for not reacting to criticisms and let your bat do the talking with records recorded for posterity.

I will never forgive you for preserving your dignity and integrity in the shower of money, when cricketers were stripped of their respect in the chalice of avarice in 2000.

I will never forgive you for holding the Titan cup in your hand wearing a white cap. I have always preferred MRF in your hand with blue on your head.

And lastly, I will never forgive you for retiring from cricket. God never retires.