I hope and pray that Chicago does not win the 2016 bid. The city should spend its money and resources on making it better and balancing the budget rather than creating a legacy for its mayor and line the pockets of officials and businessmen of the city and crook county.
About four years back, when I was in B-school, a classmate of mine did a class paper on relationship between populations, economic factors to Olympic medals. The outlier in his analysis was India, which has a large population, and decent PPP GDP. This analysis pretty much confirms it.
There is certainly a lot to cheer about India's performance. For the first time an Indian won an Olympic gold in an individual event. And, Indian performance in the 2008 Beijing Olympics bettered its performance in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. 56 years is an awful long time. The lessons from Beijing are clear - In India, it is better to get the government out of the way to make progress. Unlike China, Indian government has an impeccable record of screwing up things. Take the case of field hockey. The team did not even make it to the Olympics. Of course, that did not stop them from sending four coaches to Beijing to "observe."
Let us hope that good sense prevail, the Government gets out of the way, the corporations and media step in to create a better talent pool and Abhinav Bindra remains a player in shooting and not a player in politics as a member of Rajya Sabha. Being nominated to Rajya Sabha is no honor for someone like Bindra. It will do good for everyone to remember that... "We are all fools, in different subjects."
Suddenly the whole world seems to have woken up and is angry about China's human rights record. They are now hell bent on making noises before the Olympics. The last time I checked, the site of the 2008 Olympics was decided way back in 2001. So, where were all these people, government and agencies back then? It is not like China has changed. If anything China has stood its ground. In the last six years the western firms have made good money putting up the infrastructure for the Olympics. So, why now? Couldn't their conscience lie dormant for a little more?
US speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to complain about Chinese actions in Tibet while on a visit to India even though the Indian government which hosts the Tibetan government in exile decided not to make noise. I wonder how the US would react if a visiting Indian head of state decides to praise Cuban healthcare system?
If the world was really upset about Chinese occupation of Tibet or the lack of democracy then China should not have been offered the 2008 Olympics. We all want the cheap stuff from Chinese sweat shops. Why worry about someone else's freedom and liberty? BTW, are the "Free Tibet" t-shirts and stickers made in China?
If It’s Hip, Fast and Furious, Is It Cricket? - New York Times
I guess NYT (and, Somini Sengupta) should stick to reporting on things that they know about. This is NYT equivalent of Sports Illustrated reporting on the 2000 elections. Maybe, NYT thought Ms. Sengupta is competent to report on Cricket since she is south asian. And, maybe Ms. Sengupta thought she knew cricket because she was born in India. Or, maybe India was not getting enough coverage in this "flat(ulent) world" But, tell me, when did Sree Sreesanth become a batsman.
Anyway, I wonder how many of the NYT readers cared to treat this a little more than one of those travelogue/ exotic sports articles. I remember an American friend of mine (a good midwestern boy) ask me - "Why do you think Cricket is not popular in the US?" with the look which said - "I don't care about your answer." And, I told him - "It is a gentleman's sport."
I had fun reading this open letter to Flintoff
And, I had a good laugh when a friend of mine sent me this.
MISBAH THOUGHT HE WAS SENDING THE BALL TO A PLACE WHERE THERE WAS NO ONE.
HE DID NOT KNOW THAT THERE IS A MALAYALI IN EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD!!!
I am not sure if I like the Twenty/20 format - with just 20 overs and 11 players it is easy for everyone to get lucky. But, it sure does make for entertaining cricket
FOX Sports on MSN - NFL - Desperate Bears turn to Griese
My favorite Bears joke goes this way - "Bears are the only Chicago sports team who live up to their name. Come winter, they go into hibernation."
No wonder then, last year's performance had me worried. I thought all those talk about global warming is really true. Boy, am I glad that they are back in "form".
Here are a few other Bears jokes.
"What do you call a Bears match? Unbearable!"
"Who is the Bears Quarter Back?" Wrecks Grossman or Rex (that was) gross man
With Rex gone we need Brain Griese's help for a few more jokes. Griese hands... anyone?
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