Food For Thought

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983.
From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?
To this Arthur Ashe replied:

"The world over -- 50 million children start playing tennis, 

5 million learn to play tennis,

500,000 learn professional tennis, 

50,000 come to the circuit, 

5000 reach the grand slam,

50 reach Wimbledon, 

4 to semi final, 

2 to the finals,

When I was holding the cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'.

And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?' "

Chelsea - A Pre-Season Review

Well fellas,I'm back and being the sports nut i am with another football article this time pertaining to my favorite club,Chelsea.

After a trophyless last season when Chelsea competed on three fronts viz. EPL,UEFA Champion's League and League Cup(which actually speaking is not given much importance by football puritanists) without any success,it looks like things will definitely get better under the regime of Luiz Felipe Scolari a.k.a "Big Phil".Having taken over the reins of Chelsea this year from Avram Grant(or should i say Avram Grunt given his penchant for speaking in mono-syllables),he's definitely taken his steps in the right direction with the signings of Jose Bosingwa and Deco.Though the signing of Deco may be a highly contentious with Chelsea already having four excellent central midfielders in the form of Frank Lampard,Michael Essien,Michael Ballack,Mikel Jon Obi,it would be interesting to see Scolari picking the starting mids.However if he decides to play the 4-5-1 formation,it will give him plenty of choice and also it is a formation he is used to playing with Portugal.

Also Chelsea has been linked to a lot of strikers such as Robinho and David Villa.But the question is does Chelsea really need another striker?Me thinks not and the reason according to me is Franco di Santo.The Argentine U-20 international who joined Chelsea in January on a four and a half year deal worth $7 M from Chilean club Italiano Audax and had also drawn interest from clubs like Man Utd.,Real Madrid etc. is widely touted as the next big thing in football.In his first year in Chelsea,he scored 7 goals in 8 matches for the reserves and had also contributed in many assists.He also featured in the pre-season friendlies and has responded well by scoring goals.His pace and dribbling have drawn comparisons to Lionel Messi from Argentina U-20 coach,Sergio Batista.Also with Didier Drogba deciding to stay,there wouldn't be much point in signing another striker.However,should Chelsea decide to go ahead and bid for Robinho,it would make more sense to play him in the right wing position making way for Shaun Wright Phillips to leave the club.

The Chelsea defense has got a much needed shot-in-the-arm with the signing of right back Jose Bosingwa from Porto for $26 M.Chelsea,who were forced to play Essien in the right back position for a large portion of time last season can now bank on him to deliver the goods.Also Chelsea's January signing,Serbian international central defender Branislav Ivanovic may very well make his league debut this season having featured in the pre-season friendlies.

Chelsea have also shown a lot of promise for the forth coming season by their performances in the pre-season friendlies where they have notched up some excellent victories.

With so many options at his disposal,it would be interesting to see who Scolari picks in his starting 11.But i think i can safely say that Chelsea can definitely compete on all four fronts this season and easily end up with a few silverware.

GO CHELSEA!!!!!!

BPL Season To Kick Off Soon

Football enthusiasts all over the world will be hopefully awaiting the beginning of the Barclay's Premier League 2008-09.All the big clubs will be gearing up for a fight to the finish to claim the bragging rights of being the best club in England and one of the best in the world.Though the Big Four(read Chelsea,Man Utd,Arsenal n Liverpool) have been rather inactive in the transfer market in this season,there have been good signings like the Portuguese pair of Deco,Bosingwa by Chelsea n Robbie Keane by Liverpool.Man Utd have brought into their youth ranks,the wing back twin pair of Rafael da Silva n Fabio da Silva whereas Arsenal completed the signings of Samir Nasri and Carlos Vela.Also the speculations regarding the future of Cristiano Ronaldo have been laid to rest after he decided to spend another season at Old Trafford.However it seems that the surprise package of this year may be Tottenham Hotspurs who have spared no cost to bring some very good players like Luka Modric et al.With such an impressive array of talent at display,we can definitely look forward to a season of some great football.On the other hand the doomed team of this year(read the Derby County of last season) could very well be Stoke City or Hull City.However,whatever be the outcome fans can definitely expect a nail biting finish to what looks like a very competitive season.

India Finally Wins Olympics Individual Gold Medal

India finally won its first individual Olympics gold medal after Abhinav Bindra won the 10m air rifle shooting event in Beijing.Some may say it was long overdue but considering the shambolic state that Indian sports is in(except cricket that is) its no surprise that it took such a long time.Even though so much money is pumped into cricket,the Indian team is busy getting its ass kicked in Sri Lanka whereas our athletes who rarely get any financial monetary support from either the SAI or the IOC are managing to bring home medals(or should i say medal considering that they have won only one medal each over the last three Olympic games).Its about time the focus shifts from cricket to other games whose players have as much potential.Hopefully this gold medal may go some way in changing the current scenario impossible as much it may seem.However for the present Abhinav Bindra CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!