That all started with The Big Bang !

“Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with The Big Bang!”

I have started watching The Big Bang Theory since last few days. I am so hooked onto this show. I finished the 1st season in 2 days and now am in the middle of the 2nd one. The show is sitcom where 4 nerds and a blonde form the main star cast. The basic theme is like any other sitcom where the humor is mainly based upon the interactions between the friends and the idiosyncrasies of their characters. The difference is that unlike most of the shows, all the friends are big time nerds and their idiosyncrasies are absolutely unique (not similar to any other characters on any other sitcoms. But, I always see a bit of Ross in these guys). The 5 main characters are:

Sheldon: The most brilliant guy amongst the 4. He literally thinks that he is the most brilliant man to have ever born.

Leonard: The most sensible of the 4 nerds, but a nerd nevertheless. He is head over heels for Penny, the blonde.

Penny: The blonde who stays across the hall from Sheldon and Leonard. A typical, real-life blonde who is a part time actress and waitress. A normal human being, unlike Sheldon and Leonard. A bit like Rachel in early Friends seasons.

Howard: My favorite character. He thinks he is the coolest of all guys and always has some lines for the girls. His pick up lines for Penny and Penny’s reaction to those lines are like gold.

Raj: An Indian nerd who cannot talk to women.

All I will say is that if you are not watching this show already then please start right away. It is freaking hilarious!

Casting for the "Mahabharat"

Sunday night, 4 friends, Mexican restaurant, mojitos on the table ... a perfect setup for some crazy talk. This time around, we had a very deep and intense discussion on the topic of casting for the movie "Mahabharat" (Bollywood and Hollywood versions).

The casting was made taking into consideration the chemistry between the actors more than their star status. Onkar, Amit, Tushar and myself were part of this exercise.
Here is what we came up with:

Bollywood Version:

Yudhisthir: Ajay Devgan
Bhim: Sunny Deol
Arjun: Akshay Kumar
Nakul: Sharman Joshi
Sehedav: Tusshar Kapor
Dropadi: Priyanka Chopra
Krishna: Govinda
Duryodhan: Sanjay Dutt
Karna: Salman Khan
Dushyashan: Imraan Hashmi
Shakuni: Paresh Rawal
Kunti: Jaya Bachhan
Gandhari: Reema Laago
Dhrutrarashtrya: Alok Naath
Bhishma: Amithab Bachhan
Drona: Vinod Khanna


Hollywood Version:

Yudhisthir: Tom Hanks
Bhim: Sylvester Stallone
Arjun: Leonardo DiCaprio
Nakul: Ashton Kutcher
Sehedav: Seann William Scott
Dropadi: Kate Winslet
Krishna: Geroge Clooney
Duryodhan: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Karna: Matt Deamon
Dushyashan: Imraan Hashmi (Just can’t think of anyone better equipped to do this role than this man. So he will be casted in the Hollywood version as well.)
Shakuni: Anthony Hopkins
Kunti: Meryl Streep
Gandhari: Helen Mirren
Dhrutrarashtrya: Morgan Freeman
Bhishma: AlPacino
Drona: Robert Denero

The hollywood version look much more appealing to me.

1st leg report card, 2nd leg predictions.

Apart from Bayern V Sporting tie, all the others are wide open. One goal on either side can turn it around. Here is my take on the 1st leg and a prediction for 2nd.

InterVManU: The game was story of 2 halves. 1st belonged to ManU and 2nd to Inter. But overall, ManU quite easily was more dominant side. Young Johnny Evans is already looking a world class defender and the fact that they did not even miss Vidic, currently the best defender in Europe, is a huge compliment to their strength in depth. However, in spite of all the domination they failed to score. If it would have been any other side then ManU would have scored 2 goals in 2nd half and the tie would have been dead. But, this is why Mourinho is rated the one of the best. He read the game wonderfully and slowed the pace down in the 2nd half. At the end Jose will be very happy with a 0-0 draw.
My prediction for 2nd leg is that it will be another 0-0 draw over 90 minutes. The game will go to extra time and then to penalties and ManU will win the penalty shootout. I am predicting a penalty shootout because I just don’t see any of these stellar defenses conceding.

ArsenalVRoma: A typical Arsenal game where they dominated the whole game but did not create nearly enough chances. They really should have put this game to bed but their policy of not shooting till you are 2 yards away from goal is hurting them badly. Roma were quite average but the tie is not over by a long way. Roma is a dangerous team at home, they have already shown that Chelsea.
My prediction for 2nd leg is a 1-1 draw and Arsenal qualifying. This is because Roma will have to go on attack to get that goal and that will give Arsenal a perfect chance to use their pacy players to play a counter attacking game.

LyonVBarca: A side is termed “great” if it has a knack to get good results even when it plays ordinary football. That’s what Barca is at the moment. They had a very average game but still ended up getting an away goal and a fairly decent result. Lyon is a dangerous team and played a good attacking game and probably deserved to win the game. But now they have their task cut out at Camp Nuo.
My prediction for 2nd leg is a 3-1 victory to Barca. Lyon should get a goal considering the defensive frailties that Barca has shown in recent weeks. But eventually Barca should be able to overcome a determined Lyon side.

AtleticoVPorto: Now this result was a surprise to me. You look at the team sheets and think that it should be an easy draw for Atletico. But they have made life difficult for themselfs by conceding 2 away goals. Overall, Porto deserved the 2-2 draw and now has a huge advantage going in the 2nd leg.
My prediction for the 2nd leg is a 1-2 victory for Atletico. Even though Porto has a huge advantage going in the 2nd leg, I feel that eventually the quality in Atleticoside will sway the result in their favor.

ChelseaVJuve: Drogba the drama queen had done it. A huge victory for Chelsea and a big advantage going in the 2nd leg. It was a really cagy affair all 90 mins and overall I think Chelsea deserved the 1-0 victory. After a long time I have seen 2 Chelsea matches where our defense has looked rock solid. This match and the match at Villa Park reminded me so much of the Mourinho era where we were by no means flamboyant but were mighty effective.
My prediction for the 2nd leg is a 1-2 victory for the Blues. I am basing this on the way we have played in last 2 matches. Juve will have to go on attack which will leave gaps open for us to score. We should qualify without any drama.

RealVLiverpool: What a result for Rafa! With title hopes crashing like a plane without fuel and being already ousted of FA cup, CL represents the only chance of silverware for Liverpool. Real too are in exact same situation. The match was again a cagy affair, much like Chelsea v Juve. I can’t really say that Liverpool deserved to win it but what matters is that they got a goal that will go a long way in them qualifying for the next round.
My prediction for 2nd leg is a 2-1 victory to Liverpool. Looks like Gerrad and Torres will be fit and back for the 2nd leg and that will make a huge difference. Real will surely go on attack but to come to Anfield and get a victory in a CL knockout round is probably the most difficult thing to do in Europe.

VillarrealVPanathinaikos: Villarreal were the heavy favorites but ended up conciding an away goal which makes the 2nd leg very interesting. Did not really follow this game at all so can’t comment on it any more.
My prediction for 2nd leg is a 1-2 victory for Villarreal.

SportingVBayern: Well ….

Problems with 4-3-3

For last few matches, the hottest topic amongst Chelsea supporters is the formation we are playing with. The result of changing the formation from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 was quite evident at Watford. But we have played with 4-3-3 for almost 5 years now and with a lot of success. So what has changed suddenly that we all are pressing for a 4-4-2? Here is my take on why 4-3-3 is not working anymore.

“Makalele role”: The holding midfield role is called the “Makalele” role for a reason. Claude Makalele mopped up every loose ball and thwarted every counter attack. But his most important quality was that he was the best reader of the game. Now we have Mikel who is quite a good holding midfielder but is still nowhere near Makalele. He is strong and tackled very well this season. But he is not the best reader of the game. As a holding midfielder you have to the best reader of the game in your team. Also we should not forget that he has played almost every game this season and has looked very jaded in last few games.

Drogba Power: To play a successful 4-3-3, you have to have a powerful man up front who will win 80% of the balls in air and will hold up the ball. Anelka is anything but this kind of a player. Put him in the box and he will get you a bagful of goals. But don’t expect him to win anything in air or hold up the ball for other midfielders to make runs. We have a perfect man to do this job in Drogba. But he has been injured, out of form and totally non-committed this season. So I can’t really blame Scolari not playing Drogba as a lone man up front. Also with the kind of start Anelka had this season, we just had to play him. This quandary meant that we had to play Anelka as a lone man upfront in most of our matches and that proved a royal failure as the season progressed.

The other Central Midfielder: Lampard has quite easily been our best player this season. But the other central midfielder has been a cause of concern to say the least. In a 4-3-3, you need your 2 CMs to make late runs in the box and find some defense opening passes. For most of the matches it has been either Deco or Ballack to partner Lamps. Ballack is playing the worst football in his life. He is not winning any tackles, not scoring any headed goals, not giving any defense breaking passes and basically doing nothing. Deco, who made an excellent start in EPL, soon realized that the games are played too fast for his liking. We see flashes of brilliance from him but he has hardly hit his best and most of the times he is just a passenger in the game. With the 2nd CM being such a failure, 4-3-3 is always going to struggle. We are badly missing Essien.

The support strikers: With a 4-3-3, the 2 players supporting the lone man upfront have to be the most skillful players in the squad. They should be fast, able to dribble past defenders, and should always have a trick up their sleeves. The technical abilities of these players compensates for the lack of width in this formation. The players we use for this role are JCole, Malouda, Kalou and at times Deco. JCole is the perfect player to play in this role but injures continue to mar what can be an excellent career. Kalou is brilliant on some days but very ordinary on others and is too inconsistent to make a difference over a period of time. I term Malouda as the worst left winger in premiership. The man doesn’t have pace, cannot dribble past anyone, doesn’t make any runs, hardly hits any good long range shots, cannot read the game and is basically a waste of time space and money. Deco in this role is never going to work because he doesn’t have any pace.

So in short, the reason why 4-3-3 is not working is because of the personnel we currently have and the form they are currently in. So the only option is to go back to the good old 4-4-2. My ideal starting lineup will be:

---------------Drogba--Anelka

---Quaresma----Lampard--Deco------Stoch/Kalou

---ACole-------Terry----Carvalho--Bosingwa

-------------------Cech

First test for the "Yes Man"

Ray Wilkins, the ultimate "Yes Man" of Chelsea Football Club, will be in charge of the first team for the first and probably the last time. Fortunately for him we are playing against a Watford team which is fighting relegation in Championship. Another good thing is that we are playing away from home. Its good because there will be less "boo boys" travelling and the team will not have to face the embarrassment of being booed by their own fans. Though we have a tendency to slip over such banana skins, I predict a fairly comfortable victory and progress to next round. Its a win-win situation for Ray in that, no one will judge him if the team performs badly and he will be given a lot of credit if the team destroys the lowly Watford. Although, frankly speaking, I don't think Ray will have anything to do with the result. We will win because of the quality, or lake of it, of the opponents. We should win against Watford even if we are coached by "Geoff Boycott's Mum". The only thing I am interested in seeing is if Ray has the guts to start the game with some youngsters. Me thinks, giving DiSanto and Stoch a complete game is long overdue. I predict a 0-2 victory for the men in Blue.

Elsewhere, it will be quite interesting to see if Derby give ManU another run for their money. Arsenal should progress comfortably. The biggest game is quite easily Everton Vs AstonVilla. It is extremely hard to predict a winner in this one because both the teams are flying high at the moment. But I am going to stick my neck out and say that if Cahill and Arteta are fit to play then Everton will get one over Villa.

Going back Grandpa Guus's statement of "Chelsea can win the title" .... well this is something which he had to say but almost all of us now know that it has to be a miracle (something of the order of sacking SAF) for us to win the title. What Grandpa meant was that we are mathematically still in the race and will fight till the end but you all already know whats going to happen. God, how cynical have I become !!

Celebrate like these guys !

Some awesome goal celebrations. Check out the one at 1:32.

Mission impossible for Grandpa Guus

It looks like Chelsea are going to appoint another 62 year old national team coach with a liking towards attacking flavor of football as a stop gap arrangement. For me, its a wrong wrong move. Explain to me how a Dutchman, who is coach of national team of Russia, and who is by no means a fluent English speaker, come in for last few months and inspire a team full of people who either know English or know only Portuguese!! Its just not logical. It looks like a Mission Impossible to me. And considering the squad that he is going to inherit, a squad full of players who might be in their early 30s but are playing like they are in their early 40s, I very much doubt his success.

If it was up to me then I would have seriously thought about some one like Alan Curbishly for the stop gap arrangement. The guy knows English Football inside out, won't have any problems communicating to majority of the squad and would surely bring some discipline in the squad. He could have been the ideal candidate for the stop gap arrangement. But it looks like we are yet again going for a "big name" instead of an "effective name".

If this trend continues then we are soon going to turn into a Real Madrid, only without the glorious history and without Robben.

Restart....

After a long long time I am planning to blog again. This time around, I am planning to dedicate this blog to the sports I love ... sOCCER and cRICKET. Lets see if I show any kind of continuity this time around.