Enjoyable day, Wednesday(IST), especially in the Champions League.
Started of with an okey-dokey match between Chelsea and CSKA Moscow (Chelsea playing away), which Chelsea won. Not one of the best games. Nonetheless the match did show that Chelsea is getting better by the day. Now that their star-studded side of last year has been whittled down they are forming themselves into a formidable team. Now that they are level with Arsenal in the Premiership I think their future is going to be even better. The main reason for this optimism is their defence. They have only allowed one goal in their Premiership campaign. That, my friends, is phenomenal.
Getting back to the Champions League, the second match I watched was the one between Arsenal and Panathinaikos. A letdown for Arsenal fans whichever way you look at it. The fact that the match was a draw (1-1) might look all right in the record books but the fact is that the gunners were found lacking ammunition inside their own fort. I was never an all-out fan of Arsenal (last year I was swaying between ManU and Chelsea, this year I am squarely behind Chelsea, and I am backing an underdog, Real Madrid:D)
Nonetheless I do think they have great players and are normally good value for money. I mean with Henry and Pires attacking and competent feeders of the ball like Reyes and Viera available they play the best open football west of the Channel. However their loss at Old Trafford seems to have broken their spirit. Both the games after that loss has been lacklustre and the truth is that have just about managed to scrape through both. Feels like they are sulking and it is getting just a wee bit too childish. Hey ManU are not the best and if you let them get under your skin it speaks a lot about you too!!! More about this rant in another article another time.
The last match I saw was the best - AC Milan v/s Barcelona. The game was played in Barcelona and the hosts were the winners, the score line being 2-1. The score line does not tell the whole story. This was a fantabulous game. It was to be expected when the best of Serie A was facing the best of the Spanish Liga. The game was so beautiful that even if the score line was to be 1-1 we could still say that football was the winner.
The first goal went AC Milan's way when Shevchenko(as usual) put one in 17 minutes into the game. It was a beautiful long ball from Pirlo that made this possible. It seemed to be going all Milan's way when suddenly the tide turned. It started with Barca keeping much of the possession. Then around the 35th minute Cafu got hurt on his jaw and was momentarily outside the field to have a lookup by the medicos. Play was still on and in this crucial time when they were one man less Barca came up with a beautiful play which resulted in a through ball to Eto’o who did not make a mistake. The Score 1-1.
The score remained the same more the most part of the game. However the game was riveting with both teams playing beautiful football. For Barca it was a must win situation and it showed with them keeping possession for the most part. Then came the magic moment. Just when everyone had resigned themselves to a draw Ronaldinho takes a pass from Eto'o feints to the right, cuts the ball at speed to the left. In the next moment he moves from a packed field at the centre of the field just outside the penalty box to the left wing which was completely empty, picks the ball up again and shoots it to the back of the net. All within a matter of seconds in the 88th minute.
Sheer Magic!
No time for Milan to make a comeback and a beautiful game ends. After watching the ManU- Arsenal fixture last week I needed a game like this to make me believe in the beauty of football again. Thank you AC Milan and Barca. And THANK YOU Ronaldinho.
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Whatever,Wherever!
"Let there be Light"
Funny how the cheesiest of phrases pop up into your head when you should be cringing instead!!!
In some ways the words are apt. Here I am, wherever here is!!! At least I think I AM!
I cannot see anything around me...anything of note that is. It is all stark white. 'Like the "Prayer for the Dying" video'. Inconsequential thought but apt again. It is indeed like that the depiction in Seal's video. I seem to be in a large, no make that a 'very' large, room; bright white in colour. Nothing in the room, bounded by the walls and the ceilings and the floor all reflecting light, or maybe creating light as I could not see any source.
Why am I here?
I am not ready to leap to conclusions so I decide to sit and think. No idea of how much time has passed. Does the fact that there is no change in my immediate surroundings mean that time is still, or worse, is it irrelevant. No! That cannot be true. I am thinking, which basically means that I must be progressing from one thought to another. This implies that I must be moving forward in time, on the assumption that each thought process does take some time, however infinitesimal it be. At least I think they do.
But that is not the problem here. I need to get out of the room and there does not seem any point of egress. Well! No point trying to think my way out of this problem. It is time to get up and check the room more closely. Since I have no sense of direction here I start to walk towards one of the walls. Seems like it is almost 10 feet away. In fact it seems like I was placed right at the centre of the room, as all the walls seem to be equidistant from me. Maybe it is some kind of optical illusion. Anyways, there's no time to be worrying about that.
Hey! I should have reached the wall by now but it still seems the same distance away. Even more worrisome it doesn't look like I have walked any further away from the wall behind me. Curious!!!
Maybe walking is not helping. Lets try running. I hate running but beggars cannot be choosers. To no avail: I end up with the same result. Now this is getting irritating. 1…2…3…1…2…3...calm down...losing cool will not help...there! That's better.
Look around the room again. Could the floor be a massive treadmill? ('Thank god at least all the walls are not mirrors like in most flicks. That would have been really spooky') Stray thought again!!! Get back to the problem! What if the floor is a gigantic treadmill? If it is then it should have some inertia. Lets try it out!!! I start running to one wall, just as I reach my top speed I take an about turn and run back ('Do I look like T. Henry when I do that? Maybe mirrors would not have been such a bad idea!') I did not feel any inertia from the floor. Furthermore the result seems to be the same. Not the best time to feel like I am the centre of the universe.
Maybe I did not do this right! Maybe the floor is very sensitive! Lets try a lot of zigzags. But first lets leave my pen at my feet. If I do this right I may not move a lot but at least the pen should be some distance from me. So here goes nothing...
... That was fun. Never ran so far in a long time. Lets see how far that was. Damn! The pen is right at my feet!!!
Now this IS getting g real spooky. Do I dare keep running for the rest of the day? Where the hell am I? Hey maybe this ain't really happening. Yes, that's it. I must be dreaming. No other explanation fits. What do I do now? Wake myself up!!! I heard that waking oneself up was dangerous. Maybe if I refuse to accept the reality of this it will go away. Yes! That's it! I lie down and close my eyes. That is much better. Yup, much better. Sorry 'White Room' you cannot frighten me for I know you do not exist. HA, HA, HA...sheeks, that was unnecessary and corny! Whatever, isn't it a moot point?
I can feel the idea is working, feels like I am slipping back into my sleep. Note to self, must analyse this dream tomo...
Bright light dazes me. I must have dozed off. Feels like I have had a nightmare judging by the heaviness I feel. I have to use my hands to pry my eyes open.
" Let There Be Light"
Funny how the cheesiest of phrases pop into your head...
Funny how the cheesiest of phrases pop up into your head when you should be cringing instead!!!
In some ways the words are apt. Here I am, wherever here is!!! At least I think I AM!
I cannot see anything around me...anything of note that is. It is all stark white. 'Like the "Prayer for the Dying" video'. Inconsequential thought but apt again. It is indeed like that the depiction in Seal's video. I seem to be in a large, no make that a 'very' large, room; bright white in colour. Nothing in the room, bounded by the walls and the ceilings and the floor all reflecting light, or maybe creating light as I could not see any source.
Why am I here?
I am not ready to leap to conclusions so I decide to sit and think. No idea of how much time has passed. Does the fact that there is no change in my immediate surroundings mean that time is still, or worse, is it irrelevant. No! That cannot be true. I am thinking, which basically means that I must be progressing from one thought to another. This implies that I must be moving forward in time, on the assumption that each thought process does take some time, however infinitesimal it be. At least I think they do.
But that is not the problem here. I need to get out of the room and there does not seem any point of egress. Well! No point trying to think my way out of this problem. It is time to get up and check the room more closely. Since I have no sense of direction here I start to walk towards one of the walls. Seems like it is almost 10 feet away. In fact it seems like I was placed right at the centre of the room, as all the walls seem to be equidistant from me. Maybe it is some kind of optical illusion. Anyways, there's no time to be worrying about that.
Hey! I should have reached the wall by now but it still seems the same distance away. Even more worrisome it doesn't look like I have walked any further away from the wall behind me. Curious!!!
Maybe walking is not helping. Lets try running. I hate running but beggars cannot be choosers. To no avail: I end up with the same result. Now this is getting irritating. 1…2…3…1…2…3...calm down...losing cool will not help...there! That's better.
Look around the room again. Could the floor be a massive treadmill? ('Thank god at least all the walls are not mirrors like in most flicks. That would have been really spooky') Stray thought again!!! Get back to the problem! What if the floor is a gigantic treadmill? If it is then it should have some inertia. Lets try it out!!! I start running to one wall, just as I reach my top speed I take an about turn and run back ('Do I look like T. Henry when I do that? Maybe mirrors would not have been such a bad idea!') I did not feel any inertia from the floor. Furthermore the result seems to be the same. Not the best time to feel like I am the centre of the universe.
Maybe I did not do this right! Maybe the floor is very sensitive! Lets try a lot of zigzags. But first lets leave my pen at my feet. If I do this right I may not move a lot but at least the pen should be some distance from me. So here goes nothing...
... That was fun. Never ran so far in a long time. Lets see how far that was. Damn! The pen is right at my feet!!!
Now this IS getting g real spooky. Do I dare keep running for the rest of the day? Where the hell am I? Hey maybe this ain't really happening. Yes, that's it. I must be dreaming. No other explanation fits. What do I do now? Wake myself up!!! I heard that waking oneself up was dangerous. Maybe if I refuse to accept the reality of this it will go away. Yes! That's it! I lie down and close my eyes. That is much better. Yup, much better. Sorry 'White Room' you cannot frighten me for I know you do not exist. HA, HA, HA...sheeks, that was unnecessary and corny! Whatever, isn't it a moot point?
I can feel the idea is working, feels like I am slipping back into my sleep. Note to self, must analyse this dream tomo...
Bright light dazes me. I must have dozed off. Feels like I have had a nightmare judging by the heaviness I feel. I have to use my hands to pry my eyes open.
" Let There Be Light"
Funny how the cheesiest of phrases pop into your head...
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