Rewind

The last year had lots of action, in the domain of sports. I will try through this post, to look back at what has been a wonderful year from a sporting perspective, with an unapologetic biased view. A lot of things could be inferred from the year gone by, which I will try to list, in no particular order.

The biggest event of the year, without a shadow of a doubt was the Olympics. The Chinese government's effort to produce a generation of freaks brought them 100 medals. Through, the same time, the Indians effort to produce another generation, of people, produced three times the medals given at Athens. What it also taught us, is a man can beat the 100m WR, by walking the last 10m. Bolting through the first 90 helped. It is tough to understand the hype and hoopla behind Bindra's gold medal performance. After all, all it takes is a jump into the pool. Ask Michael Phelps.

This was also the year of the Spaniards. The Euro Champions, when you talk about individual performances, VAMOS RAFA, comes up foremost. Spaniards one the Davis cup, and also had many individual success firsts, never heard of in the history of Spains. In fact the year was so good for the Spaniards, that a Spaniard who did not win anything, just managed to win over the beautiful Women's French Open Champion, Ana! I never had a reason to hate Fernando Verdasco, now I am glad I do.

While with Verdasco, and ofcourse Ana, lets stay with tennis for a while. The year proved winning grand slams has nothing to do with being the best in world. Ask Jelena. This year taught us that King Federer is proud of winning the doubles gold, where their toughest opponents were two old Indians, who were never a team. Doubles??? However, 2k8, also taught us that Federer is not invincible at Wimbledon, Rafa is, at Roland Garros. Andy Murray has ruined any chance of Djokovic winning any other grand slam by dominating the hard courts. But, 2k8 will always be the year of Rafael Nadal. VAMOS RAFA!

Still with Ana. Oh Verdasco. He reminds me of Fernando, Fernando Alonso. He had a great year, by turning around the horrendous Renault racing team to race contenders. This year also taught, that the class of Kimi, needs a driver 0f Alonso's calibre challenging him, to keep him interested in racing. The year also taught us that the eventual world champion is either color blind, or just plain stupid! I would like to tilt on the latter. Lewis! No idea who sees a tiger in him!!

That brings me to golf, we learnt that Tiger can beat rest of the field, on a wheel chair, when he won the US open with no legs. No wonder, he says he would be embarassed to return to the field now :). Sticking with USA, we also learnt that, KG is delusional. When he barks non decipherable shouts aimed at some one sitting in the roof of every arena, visible to no one else. Also, incredibly, the guy most valuable to a team, with a winning record, is not LeBron, but a guy called Flash. Luckily, NBA does not seem to agree with that definition for the MVP, so the King, has his hands on the trophy! The year also taugt us that Boston still remembers the Beat LA chant from the 80's and Boston still remembers how to win a championship.

Speaking of championships, Manchester United, were crowned champions of the world!!! Ridiculous as that sounds, this will blow you over. They beat some random team from the far east, Japan, after beating another random team in the semi finals! Is this the new definition for farce? However, they were also crowned champions of Europe and England! The second half of the year taught that Liverpool actually knows that a league in England exists, and have finally showed up. Arsene Wegner wants to be the new Jose! Chelsea actually play pleasing football. Manchester United - I have nothing to say. And Hull City has loud fans! Else where, the year also taught us that the Spanish League, is a misnomer. It has just one team.

For no reason, I need to shift focus, to the greatest city in the world. Hyderabad. The biggest sports starlet from the city, and also, of the country, has the letter S, A, I, N and is not Sania. Saina got into the top 10, and apparently, the most promising, and has promptly managed to get herself a few ads. Meanwhile Sania, after her memorable, for whatever reason, 2k8 campaign, managed to become the first Indian woman to earn 1 million US dollars in prize money. If you thought that is unrewarding, how about 1 million, for a 9 over spell! Another dude, to break the mark, was Jeev, with a season to remember! So now you know what sport you should have taken up! 9 overs for a 900,000!! Hyderabad - Nothing about Hyderabad in 2k8, can be complete without talking about the Deccan Chargers!! The IPL introduced a new era into international cricket. Enough has been written about it. But, the absolute brain wave of Lalit Modi, besides - like everything Indian, taking the best from European and American leagues, was to fight all those who opposed cheer leaders for the games. It was the single biggest move and Deccan Chargers benefitted the most. Without a shadow of a doubt, DC had the best cheer leader troop. Nothing else can explain 50,000 people lining up to cheer the home team crash to 7 defeats in the space of a month! Remaining with the Deccan Chargers, Afridi is up for sale folks! Any buyers?

But yes, the IPL, has taken cricket into an exciting phase. 2k8 was a particularly good year for cricket with a frightening end for, forget the purists, probably even the generation brought up on t20. A little on that later. The year started off magnifying cultural difference, where a probable Hindi abuse, was thought off as a racist abuse. The Monkey gate was entertaining! But through this year, we learnt, that only two teams are fighting for the top spot, and Australia isn't one of them. Shocking! This year also showed that bowlers can think of alternate career options, with teams chasing scores in the unbelievable realm with effortless ease. Even Bangladesh threatened! But, for good or for bad, atleast for now, the year ended with Test cricket back above one day cricket in popularity, with amazing run chases. The year also witnessed, international cricket matches decided in a best of 1 over!! The golden over, introduced in the match between New Zealand and West Indies, was used to decide the better team. Thankfully, NZL and Windies were those teams. Who cares? The year also saw right handed batsman hitting left handed sixes, Pakistani cricketers in action in IPL, and nothing else, oh, of course the home series in Abu Dhabi. The year saw a prodigious carrom board talent make a name atleast for some time. The year also saw matches held in an environment where an excited Michael Holding, saying "whizzing bullets past the batsman's nose", might no longer be a metaphor. But 2k8 will always be remembered, as the year, Australia, fell, at a pace, that would make cricketers believe in gravity more than ever before.

A lot to look forward to in the coming year. The power struggle for the top of World Cricket, a great tennis rivalry, and an engaging F1 season to look forward to, are just some of the things that come to my mind foremost.

However, for all the great things that happened through 2k8, in the sporting domain, a few natural disasters, a few man made atrocities has drilled in more emphatically than ever before, that at the end of the day, all we are talking about, is just a game.

Wish you a happy new year!