England Dissapoints Again !
What a match ! Three in the morning and we are wide awake staring at our TV screen witnessing England's exit from the championship ! Beckham suffers from a incurable virus : PSDS, Penalty Shoot Deficiency Syndrome. He has been the culprit on more than one occasion now. Me may be a bit harsh on him...but isnt the most expensive (or second expensive) player in the world supposed to deliver on such occasions? All the adulation, fame, riches did not come to this bloke overnight. The fact that he stays in a royal Beckhingam Palace makes him the king of english football..captain of a team raring to go and conquer many tournaments. But alas that doesnt happen in case of England. Neither in Football nor in Cricket. England, to my mind is a great underachiever.In any respectable team sport, it reaches the quarters or semis, but then reaches the nadir. They have the some of the best sports facilities, oozing talent, tough local leagues, great infrastructure, untiring fan support (includes hooligans) but yet fail to deliver. How many times has England won the Football World Cup ? Once. How many times has England won the Cricket World Cup? Not even once !
All this makes me wary in becoming an English Supporter. Crash and burn, always ! Some of my office colleagues know it, but their emotions take over. They vehemently suppor this choking team and swear on its success.
I am happy with the Czech team. They are the underdogs. And they are playing smashing well. Today's match is between France and Greece. Will there be another upset ? My money on France....

The EURO 2004 championship has been a treat so far. Hosted by Portugal, it has all the elements of a great finish. The group matches are almost over and only the resilient few have made it to the quarterfinal stage. The biggest upset so far is Spain. Losing 0-1 to Portugal, they are heading back. Home to one of the most expensive and competitive football leagues, Spain always underachieves on the big arean. Be it Euro or the world cup.
The most enthralling games so far have been Czech v/s Holland and the game between Crotia and France. The Czech is the first team to reach the QF beating Holland by 3 goals to 2. They played an outstanding game. 0-2 down in the first half, they came roaring back.The Czechs constantly bombarded the Dutch post and were rewarded with three outstanding goals.
The Crotia v/s France game was even better. The latter being the luckier of the two. Crotia almost won the game but France somehow managed to hold them back at 2 each.

More later, now back to work !

These days wheres our pal, Mr.Pramod Mahajan? Most of us who watch NDTV religiously found Mr.Mahajan dishing out regular sermons on India's new found shining powers ! I miss him, I must say. He had his unique style, with free gesturing hands, trying to make his point. He had a good (sometimes spiteful) sense of humour, something that was reserved in plentiful for the Congress and its Italian Born Indian Bahu (IBIB).
Mr.Mahajan has a knack for narrating anecdotes. It was well demonstrated when he visited NITIE during one of our B-School events. His one liners and friendly demeanour had the crowd in raptures.
The level of (over) confidence was well evident in his speech and more so in his body language.I guess he had gleefully assumed that his party will pass the examination in flying colors giving him another opportunity to chatter on TV for five years. He must have envisaged more such discourses at institutes of higher learning. Maybe one day, deans would call him to present students with their degrees in convocation ceremonies. Or better, if one day universities would bestow upon him an honarary pHD degree...for outstanding extempore skills !!

Pramod where art thou...