sportaholic's world

Not for $ale!

2005-05-15T01:33:00.000-07:00

R.I.P Manchester United Footaball (oops, Soccer) Club. I will love you forever with all my heart and soul. Manchester United till I die. Ironically, a similar scene made for most tv shots when Leeds United FC got relegated last season. A kid, around 8 years old, had written on his bare chest "Leeds till I die" and I thought "sigh. As much as I dislike Leeds Utd, I never wish for a club with such history to get kicked out of the Premiership". I may sound a bit pessimistic but that's what everyone is saying.
The rumour all Utd fans wished never to turn true is a reality now. Malcolm-Old-Fucking-Faggot Glazer owns Man Utd now. Well, almost. He only needs 0.4% to get hold of 75% percent to take it into private ownership. After that, he will pay his debts through United and put the club in debt. This debt is said to be about 5 times the debt that Leeds Utd was in at the end of last season. It's hard to imagine such a situation being a United fan. We've only known success in the last two decades or so. We've been the ultimate, the unbeatable, the history writers, THE BEST!
I try not to think about what might happen but it's obvious, Sir Alex wants to leave which automatically means Keano will also leave. Rio is already planning to move out and then why would Rooney, Ruud and Ronaldo stay in? It's the most depressing of thoughts.
I know it's hard to imagine getting depressed over a football club but this is not just any football club, it's Manchester United Football Club for God's sake!

"money on their minds"

Pakistan to host Asia Cup '06

2005-05-12T00:07:00.000-07:00

It is official now, Pakistan will be hosting the Asia Cup in February 2006. Great news for a country that is feared by many international communities and cricket councils as being a terror threat. Also, this is good for the non-ICC member nations like UAE etc to get a chance to play with the world class teams. All this has become possible because of the resumption of Pakistan-India cricket matches.
The two pools are:
A: Pakistan, India, Oman
B: Srilanka, Bangladesh, UAE

Karachi and Rawalpindi will host the round robin (first round) matches whereas both the semi-finals and the final will be played in Lahore. Hmm, I guess it's a bit unfair. Karachi should've been hosting at least one semi-final. Come on man, we're not that bad. We deserve to host one semi. Oh well, PCB's the boss. What if even the Pakistan-India match is not played in Karachi? They can't be that unfair to us!
We, more or less, know who the semi-finalists will be. So it really gets down to Pakistan, India and Srilanka since Bangladesh is not yet a strong enough opposition to beat either Pakistan or India. I know they beat us in W.Cup '99 and beat India in the ODI series last year but it was more due to complacency from Pakistan and India rather than a threat from Bangaldesh. But when Dav Whatmore is coaching a side, you never know. Seriously, I consider him to be the best coach around at this time. Pakistan needed a coach like him. Not that Woolmer is not good but Whatmore seems to be more strict and harsh in his approach towards building a team. Look what he did to Srilanka. A team that was at one time as lightly treated as Bangladesh are treated now, came out to stun the Aussies and win the world cup in '96. Who knows, maybe Bangladesh might do that too in the future.
Umm, I tend to digress at time and digress a lot.
For me, February is the perfect time for the Asia Cup since I'll be on my Winter(that never is) break after my finals. yay! But hmm, what about India's tour of Pakistan? Will that be canceled? Or will it be delayed. I don't think it would be such a great idea to have the tour chalked out for a time just before the Asia Cup. I mean, come on! Pakistan vs India is a mini world cup in itself. Actually, it's more a test of mental strength than physical. It gets the best out of both teams. They can't and shouldn't be expected to play the Asia Cup afterwards.
In other news, Pakistan might also host the ICC Champion's Trophy next year if BCCI doesn't clear it's troubles with the Government and TV rights etc. Imagine how cool that would be!

The unsung heroes

2005-05-06T00:44:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, 1st May 2005, Aisam ul Haq and Aqeel Khan of Pakistan created history by qualifying for the Davis Cup World Group playoffs. This is no mean feat considering the situation of tennis in our country. They are the first team to have come this far in the Davis Cup qualifiers. Team Pakistan won by beating Taiwan 4-1. The order of results was something like this:
Aisam won his singles and reverse singles matches (2)
Aqeel lost his singles match and won his reverse singles match (1)
and finally, both came together to win the doubles match (1).
After what was an overdone celebration of Pakistan cricket team's victory in India, let's hope these deserving players get some appreciation and a good reward from the government.

the dreams that never came true

2005-05-05T17:27:00.000-07:00

My dreams that might never come true, will at least have a touch of reality now...