Things I've Noticed

Quick Quote on Cleveland Sports 2

"For Cleveland fans, instead of saying, 'There's always next year,' we've started saying, 'There's always never.'"

+ Atul

Presumptuously Taking Ownership of Colors and Letters

I have a three name full name for a reason.  The combination of my first and last name is ridiculously popular not only in India, but even here in the U.S.  Using as much detail as possible helps to specify who I am.  My first name starts with the letter A, but so do the names of about 200 million other people.  In this internet age, one practice I've noticed is people signing their emails with just the first letter of their first name, (as if they own that letter).  I find the habit to be kind of annoying.  At least people should use their initials, or better yet, just use their given first name or their nickname.

Many institutions are also described with letters or colors, but people should take into account that when they get too general, most people in the country don't have any idea of what they're talking about.  Michigan State University is known as "State" in Michigan, and their flag is green with a big white 'S' in the middle.  That's really presumptuous considering that there are so many state colleges in the country.  I know it's meant to differentiate the school from the University of Michigan, but still.  And what is OSU?  To me, it's The Ohio State University.  But some people think it stands for Oklahoma State University.  That would be fine except that the Ohio school was formed first, (and it's bigger).  In this case, the Buckeyes should get to uniquely claim OSU amongst other colleges.  By the same logic, the University of Michigan is the real U of M, not the University of Minnesota.  (I know that that statement is going to upset some Minnesotans.)  Since I moved to Minneapolis from Michigan, it has been really hard to get used to comprehending what is meant when I hear "the U of M".  I also remember when I used to wear a yellow blue and white rugby shirt in the 90's, while I lived in the Detroit area.  Whenever I wore it, people assumed I was a University of Michigan fan.  I had to tell them that I wasn't.  I would get responses from people telling me that I should only have worn it if I was a U of M fan.  But that school doesn't "own" those colors.  I can use those colors without pronouncing my allegiance to anything.

With this being St. Patrick's Day, I'm reminded that we tend to associate green with Ireland, red with China.  The downside of this is that we're attributing characteristics to colors, ones that might have inadvertent and sometimes negative connotations.

It's all no big deal, but people need to consider others outside their world when they try to attribute certain very common things to people or institutions that they're familiar with.  When meeting people from other circles or traveling to other parts of the world, interpretations can vary drastically.  That causes confusion.  Confusion isn't good; and neither is presumptuousness.

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Olympic Thoughts - Coming Together, India, Medals, and Obscure Sports

I was one of the billions who watched the amazing opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympics in Beijing and once the torch was lit, my thoughts on the Olympics over the years came rushing back to me.  The controversy over censorship and then the fact that Russia used military action on Georgia goes to show that, although it’s a game, sports culture is ironically more mature than the culture of politics.  When the athletes get together, political and cultural barriers come down and competition somehow leads to harmony.  While they had the parade of nations, I learned about new countries that I had never heard of, (and I thought I was pretty good at geography).

But then it dawned on me that countries with less than even a million people get to participate and represent such a small political entity.  Accordingly, each of the 28 states in India, (average population of 40 million), should get its own team.  But then, India just earned its first gold medal ever.  It was Abhinav Bindra who won in the men’s 10m air rifle competition.  I’m not used to seeing the Indian flag on the podium or hearing the Indian national anthem.  Perhaps some of the mega-billionaires in India like Mittal or Tata should start an Indian Olympic fund to better develop sports programs there.  There are probably many potential talents out of all those people.  It’s also been great to see fellow Indian-American Raj Bhavsar winning a bronze with the US men’s gymnastics team.

As an Indian-American, if I were to try to get into the Olympics, I might represent India because it would be easier for me to get into the games, and they need medals more than the USA does.  I would have to partake in a sport like curling or mountain biking, sports that most Indians there probably don’t even know about.  I wish bowling was an Olympic sport because I know a few buddies of mine with whom I could start the Indian national team.

I also find the sports selection in the Olympics to be funny.  Some sports seem so obscure that I wonder how they were ever added to the list or how people decide to pursue them for serious competition.  K1 kayaking looks like fun, but how do you get scouted for that?  Synchronized diving is never part of a child’s sports dream, is it?  Or are these just athletes that want to find an easy way to win a medal like I do?  Speaking of the number of medals, if a team wins a medal, I believe, (but can’t confirm), that everybody on that team gets an actual medal to wear.  So, if a guy subbed in for a soccer game for 5 minutes out of 8 matches, he wins a medal.  Add a new team sport and the International Olympic Committee has to provide more medals.  Add a weight class in boxing… new medals.  But to balance out the medal supply issue, sports like baseball and softball are getting dropped in the next Olympics.

I do enjoy watching the Olympics though.  They happen infrequently enough to make them special.  You inevitably see some amazing sports moments like Michael Phelps winning gold medals as if they’re no big deal.  You learn about new countries and culture, all while watching sports you wouldn’t otherwise get to see and rooting for your country (or countries), and the occasional underdog.

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Dedicated to My Father - Please Donate for Leukemia Research And My 100 Mile Bike Ride

For those of you who don't know me well, my father passed away in July of last year due to complications from treatment for a relapse of his Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  I've been wanting to do something in his honor, preferably something that would help others.  I'm also a bicyclist who is far from a professional. 

So, I put the two together and decided to join the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training.  I am training to ride my Specialized Allez Sport bicycle 100 miles at their event at Lake Tahoe in June.  (The most I've ridden at one time is 25 miles).  More importantly, we are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives.  Hopefully, by donating money for research, scientists will be able to develop a cure for these diseases.  My goal is to raise $3,600 and I will have to cover whatever I can't collect.  I have to raise close to $1,000 by March to keep training with the team.

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and to help advance the Society's mission. Anything you can contribute will be appreciated.  My donation webpage takes credit cards and of course, donations are tax deductible.

Thanks for your support!
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Regarding the Ad on The Right: Official Debate

My friend, "The Boss", (but much younger than Bruce Springstein), has created a new site which I find quite interesting.  It's called OfficialDebate.com.  It's just starting up, but it has lots of neat topics that are at times controversial.  Every good debate needs lots of debaters so click on the link and register if you like to argue with people on topics that you know you're right about.  I did.  Please argue respectfully and soon the site will add other interesting features including debates in which the users get to vote to determine the winner.

Oh and tell "The Boss" I sent you there.

+ Atul

Quick Quote on Cleveland Sports

"When it comes to sports, God hates Cleveland."

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Writing One For The Team, For The Champions

One of my most loyal readers, (let's call him Dave), has been disappointed in me for not writing about a significant event in our lives.  At least it's significant from the perspective of our recreational sports lives).  We are the champions.  It's that simple.  Now, most of you may not have heard of our volleyball team, (The Hi-Risers), or of our league, (The Detroit Stay and Play Social Club's Wednesday Intermediate Southfield Sand Co-Ed 6's Volleyball League).  But trust me, it was a challenge.  We are a team consisting of players of varying volleyball experience that range in age from early 20's to late 40's and are represented by various ethnicities and occupations, but we all have one thing in common...  We like to win.  (And we like to drink the free beer we get from the league when we do win a match.)

We were possiblly not the most talented or physically fit team, but during the regular season, we didn't lose a single game.  Being down in score never got us down as we just kept coming back.  During the finals, we lost the first game convincingly, but our attitude kept us from getting down.  We won the second game in a tough match through some scrappy play and more grit than the sand we played on.  Great sets and digs followed mixed in with some good blocks, good hits, and occasional wicked serves got the job done, even after making some mistakes.  Our skills complemented each other very well.  The heat, humidity and biting bugs made conditions worse for all of us, but Game 3 was no contest as Amy, one of our ace servers led us to a convincing 15-2 win with 13 straight points!

Winning the championship also got us snazzy long-sleeved champions t-shirts which you can see us wearing in the picture below. 

This pic is also located towards the bottom of  http://www.myspace.com/spscdetroit

Now Dave, I'm expecting a comment from you.  Here's to winning the next indoor session.  We're off to a 3-0 start.

+ Atul

Ramblings on Supporting Sports Teams and Players

Football season is upon us and as a native Clevelander and Buckeye, it's kind of exciting.  Pride for my city and state rides high during times like this as Northeast Ohio was the cradle of professional football.  (That's why the Hall of Fame is in Canton).  But this time around, my sports team support has got me thinking about why do I support sports teams in general.  I know it's about city pride, but if I remember back to the Art Modell owner theft of the Cleveland Browns from the city of Cleveland to transport them to Baltimore as the Ravens, it reminds me that I stopped supporting the same players who a year earlier, I had cheered for.

The sports philosophical question is, shouldn't I support the same players that I liked before?  Few of them are from the Cleveland area.  (I do think it would be great to have teams only draw players from their surrounding region.)  Since that's not the case, why do I need to give support for these millionaires to play a fun game?  Sure they are talented, and what they do is entertaining, but I'm beginning to question my "fanacism" a bit.  All most athletes usually do is move a ball a certain way faster or more skillfully than a typical person and usually in a way that deceives another.  Impressive?  Perhaps.  But this world needs to pay for other skills, ones that can do more for the world, like sciences to help the environment, and teaching.  I don't downplay the fact that humans need entertainment, but I don't think we need entertainment that's this expensive.  Although their economic benefit is questionable, I should be clear and express my general support for what sports do to give pride in a city or university.  The value here is hard to measure and it varies widely.  So I guess I can understand why people root for sports teams.  What I don't understand is why they root for individual players in individual sports.

Why should I support one golf player or tennis player over another?  Do I choose one who is more like me or whom I can better relate to?  If all the players are from the same country as you, then why choose anybody?  I just don't get it.  Tiger Woods and Roger Federer seem like a nice guys but they don't need any of my help, especially when I would have to be quiet most of the time while watching them play.  That's another thing that bothers me about these snooty individual sports.  If they're getting paid this much, they should be able to handle some fan noise.  Besides, it's harder to hit a split-fingered fastball in baseball than it is to hit a stationary ball in golf.

People praying for themselves or their team to beat another team is just wrong.  God shouldn't be playing favorites, (unless one team has more evil people on it).  But we can't judge that.  One way I've maneuvered around this sports theology question is by the number of fans in one city versus another.  Supporting the team with more fans helps "the greater good".  That would continually favor teams from New York and Los Angeles.  How horrible that would be.  Alternatively, I sometimes think God should help the team that hasn't won a championship as recently as the other.  That's fair to me, but God must not agree, because it hasn't worked for Cleveland for 50 years.  Regardless, I'll still support "my teams", even though I have no ownership stake in them.  They really haven't done much for me lately, but they may someday.  That's why I support them... I think.

+ Atul

Cleveland Sports Fanaticism, Superstition, and Despair

So I've had some time to recover from the sweep that the Cleveland Cavaliers had to endure at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs.  Second place was never so embarrassing.  The whole amazing season for the Cavs has confirmed that despite my attempts to detach myself from sports and city pride, I'm still a bit of a fanatic.  As a Cleveland fan from the age of about 11, I have had to deal with so many losing seasons for not only the Cavs, but the Indians, and the Browns.  Even when these teams were good, they could never win a championship.  I shudder every time I hear about "The Drive", "The Fumble", "The Shot", and "Jose Mesa".  To be fair, I did experience an Ohio State Buckeyes NCAA football championship, but this is getting old.  I'm convinced God hates Cleveland sports teams.

Now that we've established that pro sports hasn't been kind to the teams I support, I need to confess that I still get excited rooting for "my teams".  It raises my blood pressure, puts me on edge, makes me happy or irritable depending on the outcome.  Add to that the fact that I become temporarily superstitious, (kind of like driving amongst bad drivers makes me swear when I ordinarily don't).  I actually wear certain clothes, change seats, turn the light in my living room on or off, or intentionally have more pessimistic thoughts in a kind of reverse psychology game I try to pull on sports karma.  Despite the fact that I'm generally rational and logical, I somehow get this temporary feeling that my subtle actions have a cosmic influence, a butterfly effect if you will, on the outcome of games for "my teams".  Team skill, coaching and experience have nothing to do with it.

I suppose to that I want some positive press for the hometown I love.  It doesn't matter where I live or move.  I always say that a real fan is a fan for life.  I know it's "just a game," but I and many many others somehow equate how good our hometown teams are with how great our city is.  I really wanted the Cavs to beat San Antonio partially because I despise some stereotypical things about Texas, like conservativism, wastefulness, over-religiousness, prejudice, southern 'justice', and guns.  Also, something about Tim Duncan bugs me.  But, the Cavs lost.

What makes pro sports so important is the morale boost it provides a city.  And few cities need this boost more than Cleveland especially with its depressed economy and after it has  been the butt of so many jokes for so many years.  It's actually a very liveable and nice city.  In fact, The Economist ranked Cleveland higher in this respect than many cooler cities.

In baseball, the Indians are doing well this year and they might make a run at the World Series.  (Some Cleveland fan somewhere will now blame me for a new Cleveland sports / Things I've Noticed jinx).  Once when I was in Las Vegas, I inquired about betting on every team except the Cleveland teams to win a championship.  In essence, I wanted to buy a Cleveland championship.  Apparently, they don't do that sort of thing in Vegas so it's back to the drawing board.  Maybe I should pray more.  I just hope a Cleveland team wins a championship before I die.

+ Atul

Quick Quote on Skateboarding

"Skateboarding is not a crime, (unless you're doing it while carrying a concealed weapon.)"

+ Atul