You can be my wingman anytime …

And so, the chequered flag on a largely checkered F1 season.
But if its a page turner that you were looking for, if you had any doubts about F1’s viewership after Michael Schumacher drove away into the sunset, if box-office was Bernie Ecclestone’s mantra, then it really could not have gotten much better than this.
It all [...]

Sportswriting & all that …

Every once in a while, one comes across pieces of sports writing that defy time & remain with you. Strong stories of champions like the one below. Will try and bring some of those here in a random series.
This one is by S L Price and was first published in the Sports Illustrated [...]

Battles of the Mind …OR … Postcard from the Sledge.

When in 1991 Vishy Anand played his first Linares event he met a Spanish couple Maurice and Nieves. They were the reason Anand moved to Collado Mediano. They travelled with Vishy to many events over the years. Still when Vishy wins, Maurice is the first person he thinks of. He is by far Anand’s biggest [...]

Halfway there – or are we ? ; Dhoni’s opening gambits…

Lets get this off to the realistic start it deserves. 4 matches into this series, we’re 1-2 behind and although we’ve won 1, it was our first win since 2004. Of the last 25 matches that we’ve played Australia, we’ve lost 17 (3 were No Results). Yesterday’s loss was Australia’s first in 15 games.
Now for [...]

The Gold Rush …

They say that pictures are worth a thousand words. When one looks back at these, one wonders what the doubt was all about.
This is Marion Jones. And yes, the photograph is the end of the 100m finals at the Sydney Olympics.

And this, ahead of the haze (and Carl Lewis) is Ben Johnson at the [...]

What the Deuce …?

I happened to be a proud recipient of a complimentary pass to the Kingfisher open Men’s singles final match conducted in Mumbai last Sunday. Now, I have always been a Tennis fan but never had the opportunity to watch a ‘live’ tennis match. Oliver Rochus v/s Richard Gasquet (I hope I got the spellings right), [...]

Check De, India !

There’s no point in getting into arguments about who India’s greatest Sportsman is. Those kind are just interesting talking points and blog posts. But Vishwanathan Anand’s sponsors’ NIIT call him India’s Mind Champion. Anyone feel like arguing ?
Many years ago , Anand recalls … “once I was on this train in India . [...]