Octopus Paul becomes TV host

The mass hysteria that Octopus Paul has created amongst football fans worldwide has to be given due consideration. (Not to speak of the jealousy caused to millions of octopuses in the ocean). Keeping this, and viewers' interests in mind, it would be only appropriate if Paul also hosts the pre-match show tomorrow. Mayanti Langer can have a day off. Here's a sneak preview...

FIFA 2010 - a tournament of Humpty-Dumptys?

Football statisticians have a far easier job than their colleagues who keep track of cricket statistics. There is no end to cricket statistics. There are so many variable that you can just go on and on. In football matches, there are fewer variables - just the percentage possession, shots on target, corner kicks, fouls, and just about a few more. Hmmmm... is that all? No, there's more interesting stuff! Falling!!!

Source - Google/www.fifa.com

So I thought I must invent some new statistical variables for football. The inspiration for this brainless activity came from the just-concluded Spain-Chile match. The first half left an impression that players spent more time in falling down and getting up than trying to score goals. So during the second half, this is what I did.

Vuvuzela - an overdose of culture

Life was simple during school days. There was only Olympics that happened once in four years. For all the hype around Indian medals in Asian Games, these games hardly attracted much attention till Delhi hosted them in 1982. As for Winter Olympics, I didn't even know that such a thing existed when I was in school. Commonwealth Games too passed without making much of a dent on my childhood memory.
Now there's Summer Olympics, Winter Olympics, Commonwealth, Asian, and as if these are not enough, there is Cricket World Cup, T20 World Cup, IPL, Champions League, Formula 1, Hockey World Cup and yes, FIFA world cup. So much to remember.... :-(
Each game promises to be bigger and better than the previous one. And the organizers pull out all stops in the opening and closing ceremony. Either they are getting repetitive and/or monotonous, or I am losing memory, but after all these years and all the ceremonies that have come and gone, only TWO instances remain etched on my memory.