Sebastien Loeb is to rallying what Michael Schumacher is to F1. The guy keeps breaking records faster than you can keep track of them. Wikipedia attests to this as well:

In 2004, Loeb dominated the WRC-scene in a similar way to the Michael Schumacher domination of Formula One from 2000 to 2004, by winning six events and earning many podium finishes in other events to securely give him the driver’s title. He was also responsible for Citroën’s second manufacturer’s title in a row…

In 2005, with victory in the 9th round (Argentinian Rally), Loeb became the first to win six consecutive rallies, and the first to win seven in a season, having already won the opening Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo . He was in a position to clinch the title while leading Wales Rally Great Britain, but after it was announced that the last two stages of the rally would be abandoned due to the death of Michael Park in an accident on stage 15, Loeb deliberately incurred a two minute penalty to drop him to third place and avoid retaining his title in such circumstances.

Now, Loeb has added another prestigious record to his kitty. With his latest rally victory, he has equalled the record of the recently retired Carlos Sainz with 26 career wins. With 81 points, he leads this year’s championship as well by 33 points over second placed Marcus Gronholm. Another championship will be added soon then.

The best thing about rallying is the variability for me. A bit more on this from wikipedia:

Rally is also unique in its choice of where and when to race. Rallies take place on all surfaces and in all conditions: asphalt (tarmac), gravel, or snow and ice, sometimes more than one in a single rally, depending on the course and event. Rallies are also run every month of the year, in every climate, bitter cold to monsoon rain. This contributes to the notion of top rally drivers as some of the best car control experts in the world. As a result of the drivers not knowing exactly what lies ahead, the lower traction available on dirt roads, and the driving characteristics of small cars, the drivers are much less visibly smooth than circuit racers, regularly sending the car literally flying over bumps, and sliding the cars out of corners.

I love dynamism in sport. For, it is always interesting to see how some one fairs in the different ways in which a sport challenges. It means that a sports person has to adapt to various conditions and circumstances to eventually become a champion as well.

The adaptability has to come not only courtesy the skill you possess but also by using the head. The mind, after all, is a key ingredient for success at top level sport. So, a Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari team has to know exactly when to cahnge tyres and what to do if it rains during lap x, keeping in mind the position of Michael Schumacher and the other drivers.

Challenges come. You over come them. You become a champion.

Signal of intent from McClaren or not, Beckham being dropped makes you ponder over the question which is oft repeated in sport - when should a sports man call it quits? I believe in the general thumb rule - a sports person should retire when the retirement leads people to asking the question why has he retired instead of why not when the person is still playing usually.

Beckham was past the stage of why and it was only a matter of time before his England duties would have finally ended. So, there isn’t much shock over the dropping of Beckham despite timelines and suchlike being written.

There is the bigger picture of there still being enough time for Beckham to make a come back if the young guns don’t come up with the level expected of them. He has had an injury recently, this is a friendly and McClaren hasn’t ruled out the scenario of Beckham making a come back. So, despite the media talk over Beckham being dropped, you cannot be sure if he has had his final bye bye where the national team is concerned.

Personally speaking, I would find it perfect for Beckham and ngland to part ways right now. There is a lot of time for the World Cup. The build up process with the attention shifted from Beckham can start from right now. Between now and the world cup, Euro does exist but with the world cup being of prime importance, why not give some one the experience in the Euro.

The current situation with Beckham can strike a common chord with any sports person in his final years. So a similarity can be forged with a Tendulkar post the cricket world cup 2007 for example. Even right now, there are questions being asked of Tendulkar and people will always do that. It is for the sports persons to make the big statements on the field. As Tendulkar makes his return, I back Tendulkar to make those big statements necessary of him.

What should happen with Tendulkar and India post world cup 2007 will be dependant on a lot of factors, among which will be how many years you think specific players can play for the team and how good they are at the given stage. I would still back Tendulkar to play on and play till world cup 2011 given that cricketers (batsmen particularly) can play in the latter years (cases in point - Inzamam, Brian Lara). That is a question to be pondered over after a few months and not right now though.

What this shows is that despite a lot of voices asking for your retirement, if you believe that you can silence those critics by the sheer weight of your performances, you can carry on despite why not being asked. However, you have to constantly prove yourself and if you do not do that, you cannot grudge some one dropping you from the team despite your records in the past. So, some one can carry one despite people asking why not if he has faith in his ability. If this wasn’t true, great comebacks and performances at the end of the career wouldn’t have happened. For example, Pete Sampras wouldn’t have won his last grand slam.

Whatever the sport, a sports person keeps battling to give in performances day in and day out - trying to defy age as nature catches up. There are always younger and stronger people trying to replace you in the team. It is tough to get into a team and much tougher still to maintain that spot. The battles keep happening not just against your opponents but with the youngsters and yourself as well..

The bye byes are never happy.

I have seen Sania Mirza on t-shirts but was surprised to see her on a rakhi. Now rakhi is a hindu festival between brothers and sisters which I like a lot. It is a simple and yet beautiful festival. For people who don’t know regarding rakhi, wikipedia sums up the festival in a few words thus:

The festival is marked by the tying of a rakhi, or holy thread by the sister on the wrist of her brother. The brother in return offers a gift to his sister and vows to look after her. The brother and sister traditionally feed each other sweets.

Coming back to Sania and rakhi.. Firstly, Sania Mirza is a muslim and isn’t related to hinduism in any way. Secondly, Mirza is hot property in India like Sharapova is in the world at large where tennis is concerned - not exactly sister material.

So how can we explain Sania Mirza on a rakhi? Sport transcends boundaries and once a star, you do not remain of a particular religion or even a particular country. Every one cherishes a spark of brilliance from Tiger Woods and such petty thoughts like caste, religion and country are insignificant.

So you can find a Sachin Tendulkar poster in the home of a Pakistani or a Shoaib Akhtar poster in the home of an Indian. Barriers are broken and hearts won by sport like few mediums can even hope to achieve.

Former Australian cricketer Dean Jones has lost his job over his recent comment as CNN reports:

Former Australian test player Dean Jones was sacked as a commentator on Monday after referring to South African Muslim batsman Hashim Amla as a “terrorist”.

Jones might defend his case saying it was a careless mistake and he didn’t mean it. However, Amla won’t feel the same. You cannot blame him if he is offended. Cricket South Africa, thus, took a stern stance:

“We take the strongest exception to this comment, and we will lodge an official complaint with the host broadcaster, Ten Sports, that employs him,” CSA chief executive Gerald Majola was quoted as saying.

When you are on air, you cannot give excuses for talking gibberish. Ten Sports had no option but to dismiss Jones. I loved Jones as a batsman and he was one of the best batsman in the one day game averaging 44.61. He would be kicking himself over his on air remarks now though. I doubt if there have been more foolish ways by which people have lost their jobs.

In Visitors, I invite one person each month to share perspectives on a sport, a sporting event, sporting aspects or any thing in between. This week, Craig Walsh, who had previewed the event, joins us again to review what was one the most controversial in history. If you would like to contribute for a future edition of Visitors, do not hesitate to e-mail me.

By Craig Walsh

The 2006 Tour de France started off with a controversial start, with Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, Francisco Mancebo, Oscar Sevilla, Alexandre Vinokourov and his Astana team (formerly Liberty Seguros), and the Comunidad Valenciana were not allowed to take part after they were linked with the Operation Puerto scandal. Vinokourov himself wasn’t implicated, but five of his team mates were implicated plus the team boss Manolo Saiz, so inline with UCI Pro Tour rules, twenty-two riders were not allowed to make the start line in Strasbourg. So instead of the 198 riders who were supposed to start, we had 176 riders. It promised the unexpected, as everybody’s predications went straight out the window, it was a case nobody knew what was going to happen next.

Ironically one rider making his comeback from a two year drugs for admitting to use EPO, Saunier Duval-Prodir’s David Miller of Scotland. Miller who had only got his racing license just five days before the start, went on to finish 17th in the 7km prologue, which was won by Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd of the Credit Agricole team. Hushovd, a favourite for the sprinter’s green jersey, pulled in the time trial of his life to take the win and to take his second maillot jaune (yellow jersey, Hushovd wore it for a day in 2004) in his career, just beating Discovery Channel’s George Hincapie.

Stage 1 took us from Strasbourg, out of town, through into nearby Germany, and back into France to finish in Strasbourg, a break got away but was reeled in by the chasing bunch, and in the ensuring sprint finish, there was a another surprise, with Tom Boonen’s lead-out train misfiring, and being forced to go too early, and in all the confusion, a French sprinter from Cofidis Jimmy Casper out foxed everybody to take the win. However there was drama as Hushovd was forced to go along the barriers, and cut his arm with a green cardboard hand (from sponsors PMU) which forced him to lose a lot of blood, but with the help of stitches he lived to fight another day. Hincapie took over the yellow jersey by virtue of the two second time bonus that was out on course.

Stages two and three were won by Robbie McEwen and T-Mobile’s Matthias Kessler. On stage two, Kessler tried a last minute break by was caught 500m from the line, and McEwen took the stage win. However, Kessler’s persistence paid off the next day when he attacked the final climb into Valkenburg, and held off the bunch. Kessler’s team-mate Michael Rogers of Australia was second. Boonen took over as the race leader. Stage three also lost one of it’s favourites in Spain’s Ajelandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) touched the wheels of a team-mate and fell and broke his collarbone. He was forced to abandon. Australia’s Stuart O’Grady (Team CSC) also had a crash and broke his vertebrae, he would ride sorely for the next several days but he did go onto finish the race.

Stage four was won by Robbie McEwen; his second of the race, but his train did not work on stage 5 as his lead out man Gert Steegmans misread the 500m to go sign for 400m, and McEwen was forced to go to early and Spanaid Oscar Freire (Rabobank0) took the win, Euskatel-Euskadi’s Inaki Isasi took third. Stage six, Steegmans got it right and delievered McEwen to his third stage win, by a couple of bicycle lengths. Onto stage seven and the first time trial into Rennes was won by T-Mobile’s Serhiy Honchar of the Ukraine, who trashed everybody bar Floyd Landis by about a minute. Honchar, a former world time-trial champion (in 2000) and a specialist against the watch, was surprisingly not taken as a favourite for the stage win, but proved everybody wrong to not only get the win, and to be the new race leader. Honchar who also lead the Giro d’Italia this year, became the first Ukrainian to lead the Tour de France. It was a bad day for American Levi Leipheimer, Iban Mayo, and Damiano Cunego all had the time trial from hell as the lost over 6 minutes each to all but end their GC hopes. Leipheimer’s best shot now would be stage wins. It was a sad day for CSC’s Bobby Julich of the USA, who was forced to abandon with a suspected broken hand when he crashed into a curb. CSC was now down to seven riders in the race.

(more…)

Rooney gets another red card. More fun can still occur:

Rooney’s sending off could result in a three-game Premiership suspension if the Dutch FA opt to report the incident to the English Football Association.

Such good timing and build up for the English Premiership… as always.

One sportsperson breaks his own world record. We applaud him. However, one more tests positive for drug after the recent positive tests of Gatlin and Landis.

The common excuse for taking drugs usually are - the competition is too tough, others might be taking it and I thus have no choice.. Well, you cheated and betrayed the trust of your fans. There is no justification. Sport is harmed in the process though and that is some thing which angers me more than any thing when any sports person is found out to have taken drugs.

A sports person might see that he isn’t that good and find himself in a position to not lose much. He might also suck into the pressure of maintaining past levels of performance or improve and might be willing to risk credibility in the pursuit as well. So he might take drugs. Sport suffers. For, the heroes do not remain heroes any more. Doubts may be cast over genuine heroes who do not take drugs as well. The worst effect is a portion of people not following a specific sport or sports in general as a direct impact of sports persons being found out.

A sad reality.

Shuttlecocks are getting thinner as a direct impact of bird flu? [Thanks Sakshi]

Scarcity means increase in prices but also lowering in standards and that is evident. Every thing is connected and this is one more case of the same.

This one was quite tough. Thank you for participating and congratulations to the top three finishers. Thank you to Nirav for hosting the quiz as well.

The results of Sports Quiz 4:

Top 3 (Prize Winners) (scores out of 9)

Srinath Sridharan 8
Ravi Gurnani 7
Vijay Jeedigunta 7

(more…)