The brand new season of F1 has begun after a 2 week delay (Bahrain GP non-starter owning to political instability). There were lots of changes asked from the teams – adapt to new tyre makers Pirelli, no f-ducts, a big yes to KERS and the new DRS apart from few other technicalities.
As was shown in pre-season testing the Red Bull was the quickest car, faster than the next speeding car by nearly 0.8sec. You really can’t beat that. The DRS was meant to provide opportunities for overtaking and it did produce those, but not in the desired scale. The top teams to finish had one commonality, while one driver was faster the other suffered. Vettel, Hamilton, Petrov, Alonso came through while their team mates Webber, Button, Massa, Heidfeld couldn’t replicate the same.
In short—Vettel & Red Bull are untouchable, McLaren are the closest, Renault the surprise package, Ferrari needs loads of improvement, Force India lucky to get points, Sauber needs luck, Mercedes needs luck & improvement and Williams needs to make Rubens understand the need to stay calm afterall he needs to be taugh, he’s raced in just 300+ of them.
For the Malaysian GP-- all teams watch out for RED BULL, they won the season opener without using the KERS !!! Just imagine what they could do, if they use that !!
The hottest topic of the town at any given point in a year is CRICKET and everyone is an expert at making a SWOT analysis of players --- I thought for a moment and decided not to let go off the tempting offer to be ‘one-amongst-those-so-called-experts’
We were discussing the most argued Q of – ‘Who’s a better batsman, in India?’. That is the NOT the question you ought to be asking any cricket frenzy public in India, for the deafening voice would answer it as ‘Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar’.
I always wondered why people are hell bent on comparing any batsman in India or around the world with Sachin. He’s the most gifted batsman that god could ever forge; he is a limited edition with just one copy made. Period. (trying to copy the style of some bloggers!!). Yes, gifted he is with perfectly still head while caressing a cover drive, absolute sense of timing, slick wrists to flick the ball from middle & off to fine leg, ability to pick the line & length of delivery in fraction of second and what not. These features have been hardwired into his mind, he could play the cover drive/ the straight drive/ leg glance even in his slumber.
Sachin is seen as the role model for youngsters, but I guess people shouldn’t be trying to ape him for they never can do so. Everyone ought to learn the aspects of dedication, discipline, work ethics and most important humility—having your feet on ground even after attaining dizzy heights. Youngsters should stop here, to learn anything more from Sachin would be like playing god!!! I definitely don’t think any cricketing coach worth his salt would want his pupils to emulate Sachin, unless ofcourse the kid’s been wired with the same programming as Sachin or simply said God made an extension to the limited edition copy!!!!
This is where I would want to bat for players like Dravid, straight forward truth- he is not a gifted player. He is what he is he because of the hard work he has put in to learn the game; he is a willing leaner and puts his heart and soul into understanding the game. He put in innumerable hours in the nets correcting his flaws, perfecting his technique and kept track with the changing rules of engagement. He has imbibed the coaching manual and ‘that’ is hardwired into his mind, not by god but by his own efforts.
One may not/ cannot coach or learn to become a Sachin but Dravid you can become. I always felt people have the habit of eyeing things that are easy to obtain- like Sachin’s batting prowess all u need is god’s gift and ofcourse his unflinching dedication. On the other hand, many would not like to sweat it out and put in mountain loads of hard work to attain the heights in life as Dravid did in his pursuit of cricket.
Being an ardent fan of sport, be it any I often follow many of them ranging from cricket, tennis, football, F1 etc, ofcourse I do sometimes watch basketball but hate it for the fact that the basket is placed way too high – I ‘will’ be needing a ladder to dunk the ball !!! … very bad game it is :)
I always saw the refree/ umpire being lambasted for any minor difference in judgement, the best example being cricket. Of late, the sport has been trying to imbibe the technology into regular useage. The umpires are under the lens every moment, they face immense pressure already from the players on field now add to that the ‘giant screens’ that display the replays over and over again in any dubious case. One mistake and the spectators, the commentators n everyone involved in the sport jump onto them, but do the IDIOTS forget that “we” have the advantage of technology- the ultra slow motion replays, the hot spots, the snickometers n even hawkeye. The umpire makes the call in real time—a split second infact.
I definitely agree that they are paid to do the job, the job to make decisions for others, the decisions that have an effect on the outcome of an event. But no one’s perfect and people do make mistakes. Just translate them into real life situations--- assume that you are entrusted to make a decision for others like a selecting a course, advicing on a career, counseling some on their life or even the simplest of tasks like picking a piece of clothing etc. How would one feel if they come back and state that their life had been screwed because you made a wrong suggestion? Someone keeps cursing u for one small piece of advice that went wrong or someone makes u know that ur choice of clothing wasn’t good!!!
We are all good at making decision for our own lives and do not crib at it, because we can’t blame anyone on how our lives pan out n neither can we pay someone to do the decision making on our behalf. But we never miss out on an opportunity to make a scapegoat out of someone just because they were kind enough to use their precious time in suggesting something to us. Lets understand the simple fact that, no matter how good we know the other person, their tastes and preferences we ‘can’not always make the perfect judgement everytime.
Next time you try to blame someone understand that they too are human and are bound to pass an advise they think is in concurrence with the situation at hand and don’t have the foresight to predict the future.
On a finishing note, I wouldn’t mind the on-field umpire making a mistake but will love to nail the @$*@#&@ like the 3rd Umpire, who makes the mistake even after going through all the evidence aforementioned. So, all the 3rd umpires out there, be careful I will not spare you guys!!!
