Alrite baby! Lance is BAYK on the BIKE! Tour de France starts in < 6hrs and me, am ready to cheer. To all the naysayers – THERE IS NO WINNER OR LOSER IN A BIKE RACE. There are the mortals, and then are the cyclists! For the next 20days, a few hun100,000 fans will line up the alps of france to cheer the 200 odd men who battle their demons to pedel beyond what man was ever supposed to. I can’t be there, this yr but I will cheer – cheer cos THE SPORT IS STILL ALIVE, and cos, IT IS A SPORT WORTH GETTING PAINED FOR!

To LANCE and the rest of the PELETON Viva la TOUR!

Watched Snooker after ages today after some discussion on club. So much has changed… Hendry looks more and more tired, Williams has put on too much weight, but Ronnie O Sullivan seems to have taken off to be the best player around.

Back to back world championships, top gear – not bad! And the highest number of 147’s beating Stephen.

147 break in the Championships…

On Top Gear…

Missing this sport to… on telly and actually.

WC begins and here i am, yet to see how the new Indian team looks like. The pics are all of bowlers with menacing looks and the batsmen full of concentration but haven’t seen a ball being bowled or a boundary being hit in ages. No TV, no cricket.

Cricinfo 3d link is awesome but no the real deal. Need to find a streaming link soon, anything close to $10 is fine by me to get the rights but can’t afford more than that.

West Indies Vs Pakistan on now. Smith’s done it for WI huh! Read a few days back abt India cruising to a victory over WI and that WI looked pathetic. Is it that or is the Indian team really that good. Any of you really informed cricket pundits who follow the game and know about the present team care to enlighten me about our chances?

For now, GO WI. My Jamaican friend is all excited about the whole of India talking about Jamaica and how cool their dances are… she chatters a lot about it and now her dream of showing off is coming true…

India Aus and India Pak will be in April if what i heard is right… looking forward to them…

What started out as a way to kill time on Sunday afternoons about 8yrs back grew to being a passion that was fuelled by hrs of strenuous analysis, fanatical cheering and jealous wonderment of craftsmanship of a man who in spite of all the bad-press that the so called purists try to attribute to downplay the greatness of a man who truly is a hero in the truest sense of the word – Michael Schumacher.

About six yrs back in spa when all the drivers chickened out to change to oil slicks to get grip in a downpour, there was one man who stood out and challenged the elements to outrun all the others lap after lap on hard compounds to win an inconsequential race and when asked why the risk the man replied – its all about racing wit oneself in one’s own terms, the opposition is but an excuse. Such was the arrogance of a man who knew he was good and had no regard to the idiocracy of the rules framed by incompetent men who had big bucks.

My dad and I supported rival teams but after every masterstroke of MS, when my dad would smile at the sheer genius of this man, I knew my worship of this man was no futile. I have not been able to watch F1 after coming to the US so when I called my dad todey, the first thing he spoke to me was abt MS retiring.

It’s sad in way that F1 has changed forever it’s funny that the image’s of the climax of the movie – Truman Show come into my mind where after the show goes off air, the audience ask “ All right, what else is on television”. Without schumi, F1’s just another race.

Kimi is to replace MS but I still hope that someday Jenson Button races in the great man’s place. For me he is the only one who come’s close to Schumi in both attitude and arrogance. I won’t be able to watch F1 for a while here so am not bothered but for all great hours of racing that I have watched, its Schumi who made all the difference.

For one last time – Go Schumi!