When I'm 64, no 46 - My personal history of incurable sports addiction
Sir Paul McCartney famously sang about his insecurities and fears for when he would be a sexagenarian.
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The end of the Messi-anic era at FC Barcelona
Many a Barca fan would have been lulled into a bubble of complacency following the team’s recent string of good performances in the La Liga - 7 straight wins and most recently a comprehensive drubbing of Alaves 5-1.
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767, 2, 1 - Barca vs Huesca La Liga round 27
One of my favorite sayings is “ In life, there are no successes or failures only expectations” In sport, of course there are successes and failures but it is funny how expectations can lighten the blow of a failure. Last week was a bad week for FC Barcelona - a round of 16 exit coming on the heels of several years of disappointing performances. However last week felt different from prior years may be because almost everyone had resigned to the fact that Barca would crash out. Contrast this with the air of expectation that surrounded their trips to Rome and Anfield in 2018 and 2019. So when viewed in light of those low expectations, a performance where they were clearly the better team and indeed with better luck(Messi’s missed penalty, Dembele’s golden chances) may have even won, arguably left many a fan feeling less miserable than after the losses to Roma, Liverpool and Bayern Munich.
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A Champions League Quarter-final without Messi and Ronaldo
George W Bush was the President of the United States. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were yet to win a single Grand Slam. Erling Haaland was 4 years old and his father Alf was an active player for Manchester City. That's how far back you have to go to find a year when neither Messi nor Ronaldo played in a Champions League Quarterfinal. It is hard to fathom that neither of them is going to be in the quarter finals of this year’s UCL. To put this in perspective that would be like saying Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic all got knocked out in the 4th round of a Grand Slam.
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Ten changes that may just save baseball
Baseball is in decline
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Facial hair mandatory for Indian men's ODI, T20I teams
BCCI rolled out a brand new requirement for cricketers to be eligible for the Indian men’s cricket team. The fitness test aka the Yo-Yo has already generated a fair bit of discussion on various cricket forums. (Music lovers will be well advised to not conflate this with the great cello player who is the mother of this test)
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There will be no Bayern - Man City UCL Final this year
This is what my parents dreamed of when they sent me off to IIT, the finest educational institution in India - that I would make blindingly obvious statements about European club football. As obvious as it is, it still needs to be said because I know you were thinking about it, dreaming about it. After all who would not want the two best clubs in Europe to meet in the Champions League final. The best one can hope for this year is alas, a possible semi-final match up.
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Sleepless night for a Barca fan after a 6-1 win!
Barcelona beat Real Sociedad 6-1 last night. Messi and Dest each scored two; and the French musketeers Griezmann and Dembele scored a goal each.
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Joy in Indian community at first ever positive story in the NY Times - Chandro Tomar ki Jai
The New York times in a shocking new development has just published its first ever positive story about India.
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