Patterson's Sports Page

For various unknown reasons it never seemed like Christmas time to me, unless the special day arrived. Unfortunately I was travelling from Mangalore to Goa on Christmas eve, thanks to the UGC-NET exam.

Nevertheless, nothing stopped this day from being special. Before I could embark on my journey back home, I took part in the prayer service at Milagres Church. It was the first time I celebrated Christmas away from home or without any of my relatives (to be precise). During the Holy Mass everyone's attention diverted towards the prayers recited loudly at a nearby mosque. It seemed like our Muslim brethren were also rejoicing the birth of our Lord.

After the Holy Mass I hurried my way to catch the bus to Goa and was delighted to be with my family on Christmas day.

Relatives, friends, neighbours and many more dropped in to share greetings. Just love to live in this togetherness. Oh! I just love this time of the year.

Merry Christmas everybody. May the new born King bring joy, happiness, love and peace in your life. Stay blessed!

When Sachin Tendulkar scored a double century against South Africe early last year, immediately all eyes shifted to only one man who could break that record - Virender Sehwag. Today, the flamboyant batsman stamped his class by scoring 219 from just 149 balls against West Indies in the 4th ODI. Eventually, India won the match and series but undoubtedly all eye were on the 33-year old batsman who was expected to achieve this feat much earlier than he did.

[caption id="attachment_107" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sehwag celebrates his double ton"][/caption]

Personally what I like about Sehwag is his approach and attitude when he is on the pitch. Be it any situation, he plays his natural game. He seems to be least bothered about milestones hence he is never cautious when he is about to reach one.

He certainly lacks technique if you compare him to his own team mates like Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid. But what sets him apart is his style of play and if noticed, he excels when he plays his natural style. The moment he tries to modify or experiment, the big hitter always lands in trouble.

The Delhi-based cricketer has always been considered as an entertainer as he continues to do his job well.

A proud moment for India - the top two batsmen amongst the highest scores in an ODI innings are Indians.

After the fairly good examinations and a hectic third semester in college, I was delighted to have a worthy 20-day break. Alas! There’s barely any time to relax.

The first ten days of the holidays went into the very enriching media tour for the second year students of MCMS. Our journey began from Bangalore, where we visited some big media houses namely Deccan Herald, Samaya TV, Whyaxis and Nirvana Productions. The welcome we got at every juncture was utterly encouraging. The people we spoke to were some of the best in their respective fields and are thorough professionals, yet they took time of their busy schedule to make us feel at home. They were open to any question and made sure the objectives of our visit were fulfilled.

Similar was the case when we next visited Mumbai. The busiest city of the country welcomed us with open arms as it does to a millions of others. The day starts and begins here at 4 in the morning. We travelled places via the packed Mumbai local trains, pushing and pulling our way in and out of the trains. Somehow, we managed. In Mumbai, we first visited Waggener, a PR agency, and then later Mudras, one of India’s biggest advertising agencies. Finally, we visited CNBC TV, a channel owned by the Network 18 group. CNBC was probably the place where we learned the most and were explained each and every detail of their production process. It was indeed a lifetime experience to get to know all these media houses so closely and learn directly how they function.

From Mumbai, we headed to Goa, my home, for the 42^nd International Film Festival of India where we combined with our juniors and lived in Nuvem for about four days. Like the previous few years, IFFI once again was a disappointment for me, simply because of the poor manner in which it is organized. The volunteers are inefficient and are not delegate-friendly. Nevertheless, I am happy that at least the films were not a disappointment.  Among the few films that I watched, Nader and Semin: A Separation, was one that I liked the most. The beautiful Persian film makes you feel for every character regardless of how positive or negative their role is. The climax is simply classy.

So that was all about the media tour. The remaining ten days seem to be vanishing in no time. I’ve spent seven days at home doing all the possible chores, meeting up with friends, visiting relatives, attending funerals and what not. Ghosh! College is better. Anyways, just a few more day for college to begin and before that, I may make a small trip to Pune.

I still remember my school days very well. November 14 was always special, not just because it was children's day but because it was a holiday. Yes, we had to go to school but we were back home soon after some exciting time in school, unlike the usual working days. As a child I always felt special only on this day.

I can never forget the fun I had in school; I'm sure nobody will. Every morning began with a hurry to get to school on time; well dressed yet half asleep.

I was having my daily glance at sports websites. One story immediately caught my eyes and no points for guessing, it was an Arsenal related story.

Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry asks the same question that I have been trying to answer from a long time - Can Arsenal find anyone better than Arsene Wenger?

Well, with the six seasons without a trophy critics would certainly feel that its time for a change in manager for Arsenal. Wenger hasn't been using the funds well and he has failed to get results from his extremely young squad.

For once lets assume Arsenal sack Wenger. Now what? Whom do you look for? Bring in any name and ponder whether he can provide the same things that Wenger did. A change in manager would mean a change in the entire system at the club. The Gunners may have to do away with their most impressive style of play, something that the club has been admired for ever since Wenger joined the Gunners in 1996 as manager. The team spirit that is visible in the current squad may vanish too.

I was comparing my photographs of the present with ones of just about three years old. The difference in my stature is easily noticeable. From swollen cheeks to a small tummy, I seem to have gained weight from all the sides. Well, I was pretty aware of this fact from quite some time now.

I often made promises to my myself that I will start working out or join the gym to regain the physique is had about three years. The physique is solely the result of intensive training with Dempo juniors. Now that I don’t train with as much vigour and with my appetite increase without limits, its natural for me to gain weight.

After all the fake promises to myself, I am finally working on it. For the past two day I’ve been making time to play and following that doing much basic exercise to reduce. Fortunately I have not been lazy this time. Usually I give up after working out for a day. This time I’ve managed to take it to three days. Hopefully it will continue regularly.

I’m not at expert at physical exercises so I just follow what I had learned during my playing days. My exercises mostly consist of some abdominal exercises, skipping and push-ups besides regular jogging and sprinting.

Anyone has some more exercises to suggest my? I’ll be more than pleased to accept them. You may feed in your suggestions in the comment box bellow.

Just when I was adapting to a hectic routine, off comes one of my most dreaded enemies - Examinations! I wish I could avoid them. The only good thing about the examination period is that I am relative free compared to the other working days at college.

MCMS at St. Aloysius College, Mangalore keeps me occupied with some work or the other. The daily schedule is so packed that there's no time to breathe. I kinda enjoy it although I am drained by the end of the day. So, examinations actually frees up a lot of my time, giving me the benefit to relax. However, its hard to relax when exams are just a day away. Isn't it? Nevertheless I have mastered the art of not worrying about exams - something completely opposite of what I use to do during my school examinations. All kinds of illness wrapped around me during those days. Thankfully, its not the same now.

Today exams don't bother me even a bit. Instead of preparing for my first paper (Development Communication), I preferred editing a feature story for 'Campus Eye' (weekly campus news bulletin produced by the students of MCMS and telecast by a local TV channel). My mom will kill me if she reads this. Good that she has no access to the internet. Readers kindly keep you mouth shut.

Don't worry, I am not neglecting my studies. I have tomorrow's day to prepare for the paper. Will be busy with my books the whole day. Hope these examinations turn out to be better than the previous.

Happy studying to all in examinations mode. Do well.

To wish me luck, which I will need a lot this time, post in the comment box below. Cheers.

 

Its funny! I usually avoid posting such content...but don't know why I am doing it today. Probably been a tiring day.

Anyways...good night

About a year and a half that I have been studying in Mangalore and all I have been hungry for is - access to television so that I can follow whats making news in the field of sports. I have been so loaded with work that I don't even have time to update this blog. Was fortunate enough to get the time to add this post.

The strict hostel regulations allow me no time to even touch the remote-control of the television. And even if I get to do that, a fleet of students blabber something in Kannada and I understand that they want me to switch to a Kannada channel. That's my fate!

Frustrated enough, I have to rely on the newspapers for news. But somehow I prefer witnessing events by my own eyes rather than the next day's newspaper telling it to me. I have been missing on all the thrills that sports have to offer, be it football, cricket, tennis, F1, MotoGP. It makes me realize how handicapped I am without proper access to the television.

As a sports journalist I definitely want to know beyond whats making headlines. Without viewing sports matches, it is impossible for me to analyze and have my own opinion on various aspects of a particular sport.

I fear this will hamper my aspirations to pursue sports journalism. But I have been trying to at least follow up with sports updates from various social media and sports websites.

Ghosh! never been so frustrated. Hope things get better and the remaining six months of academics come to an immediate end.

An Arsenal v/s Manchester United clash is one fixture that thrills me a lot. I am sure its the same for many others. The Red Devils certainly have had a dominant history over the Gunners. Yet, Arsene Wenger's side remains the most dreaded opponent for Sir Alex Ferguson's champion team.

My dream club Arsenal made me proud about the fact that they defeated United by a solitary goal, despite the absence of captain Cesc Fabregas. It now seems like, Arsenal are very well able to manage themselves without the wonder kid midfielder. Go Cesc, live your dream life at Camp Nou.

What excites me about the win is that the team has shown remarkable determination and composure in a tensed match like this one. Despite the experience, Arsene Wenger's boys have delivered outstanding performance. Yes I agree they have faltered with it mattered most...but hey 'they just kids'...give them some time.

Sunday's result was a big blow for United. Arsenal's 1-0 win at the Emirates Stadium meant that United will have to wait to play Chelsea later in business end of the Premier League. This could very well be the decider but the teams will also have to keep in mind to maintain a healthy goal difference as the chances of Chelsea and Man United being locked with same points, at the end of the league, seems to be a big possibility.

Leaving the Chelsea-Man Utd chapter aside, let me cherish Arsenal's victory.

And hey Chelsea...u owe us a 'thanks'!

Today I was lucky to get a break from the regular shoots. I had the opportunity of visiting the Boys Home at Ullal, Mangalore. This place is one of the outreach programs of St. Aloysius College. Children from remand homes, broken families are taken care of here.

Well, what was I doing there then? To tell you the fact, students had become teachers for a day. Yes, me along with a couple of my MCMS mates were requested to teach these unfortunate children a few techniques of using the camera. And boy! they were game at it. Although all of them were handling the camera for the first time, they managed to pick up quite a bit from what we explained to them. The best part was that they were breaking all the stereotypical shots and that just left me amazed. We also explained to them a few things about lighting and how to use light wisely.

Working with a video camera is become an habit. Every time I use a camera, whether it is the PD 170, Panasonic 102, Sony HDV or any other, I learn something new as I am not a thorough professional at handling a camera. At MCMS, we have the opportunity of using the camera frequently for our day to day activities. But today's day was special. Don't know why, but 'teaching' is just so much more pleasing compared to 'learning'.

After politics and bollywood, sports is the next popular area of interest for the people of India. However, in Indian context, when we say ‘Sports’ it is mostly restricted to ‘Cricket’. As a result cricket has reached to a level where cricketers are considered not less than God.

It’s amazing that Indian cricket is getting the backing of the media as well as of the people. But when will the other sports grow? Cricket gets more than 75 percent of the total sports coverage by the media, especially electronic media. Cricket, definitely, is not to be blamed for that, but it is the media itself. The simple reason being that they have the freedom to pick the stories they wish to cover. But with this freedom, is the media acting responsible in doing justice to all sports disciplines? And the answer is pretty much visible through the newspapers and television news channels.

There have been instances when the Indian media has neglected major stories of other sports disciplines to make way for ordinary cricket stories that could be published the next day. During the time of former Indian Hockey team captain Dilip Tirkey’s retirement in May 2010, a couple of newspapers carried not more than a 50 to 60-word report while many just did not publish anything about the great sportsman. Tirkey is considered as one among the finest captain’s of the Indian hockey team and certainly, his retirement makes big news. Surprisingly, the media did not consider it to be so. Imagine if it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s retirement. How would the media act in this case? There was another case when chess maestro Viswanathan Anand regained the World Chess Championship last year. In Mangalore, only one English daily carried the news, that too as a small story to fill up the space.  Recently India lost all their group matches in the Asia Cup 2011 football tournament. It was after more than 20 years that India had qualified for the mega tournament. Although India lost all of their group matches to Australia, Bahrain and South Korea, critiques maintain that the overall performance of India has been good considering their actual status in world football and the high class opponents they faced. And we very well know how the media made a mockery of the Indian team after their successive defeats. How can we expect the team to perform better if it has never been given the right amount of support and motivation?

If this is the attitude of the media towards sports, other than cricket, how could one expect good results from the low priority sports. India is lagging way behind in football. In Hockey too, the country has lost a lot of ground. But that does not mean we don’t have the potential. The media needs to think beyond TRPs and act in a way that is conducive for all sporting disciplines. The media not only has the power to influence but also encourage and boost the morale of sportspersons through a few words of appreciation.