Scribblings

With no disrespect to Rooney; it’s definitely stupid to trade Ruud for him. Rooney will do a great job in the devil’s uniform but at this stage we need Ruud more than anybody. With Ronaldo getting stronger, faster and trickier by the day; we need a pure striker up front to score every time within the 6 yard box. And by god ‘the Ruud man’ can do it better than most of them playing/retired, dead/alive. Imagine being chosen ahead of Patrick [all including I should accept he is a fine player] and as a fan of Ruud, it will be a step down for him if he joins Real Madrid. And in Real’s point of view it’s ridiculous to go for Rudd when they got Ronaldo, Raul and Gutti. I guess more money do spoil people, stop buying players who are available, start looking for the one you need. When there is a huge hole in your defense what the hell can you by adding numbers up front. By the way what difference is Ruud going to make, that Raul, Ronaldo, David, Zizu and Figo can’t. And it would be an insult to put Ronaldo on bench.

But It would be pure exhilarating if Rooney decide to turn evil[Not at the cost of loosing Ruud though]. If I was him I would grab this invitation with both hands and borrow yours if needed and never let it go for the mother of all wisdom. This is where all is happening, and I don’t see any club where he would matter and be respected the Old Trafford way.

It’s the last turning; Valentino turns back to check on Edwards who is running in at second. But to his amazement, he finds himself running a lone race. This turns to be the metaphor for this season and even so among the greats. It seems always in his last turn he looks back to find the mortals way behind sweating to catch on.

Why some may wonder all this fuss for winning a race? First this is Five out of nine races that he has won and even more great is that he is running a power deprived Yamaha! The last championship the bike has seen the lights of was in 1992; and it had the almighty Wayne on its back. Even with the like of Max and Luke testing its potential later; failed to even win a race. And here comes a kid with scrappy looks and a taunting style, turns the timid race horse into a miracle powerhouse.

Last, even the mighty Mike Doogan who picked up the championship reins from Wayne after he crashed out; couldn’t leave the dominating ‘Repsol Honda’. All he could do is just quit. But seriously who in his right mind will leave a constructor for whom you won the last 5 championship. If you acknowledge this, then there is nothing to be ashamed of as one is just a mere mortal. As Ali says “Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill”. Valentino is a champion of the champions; he has the will to leave the Repsol to find his glory in the ways of the Yamaha.

Analyze the season to find the awe within. Not even in its dream; Yamaha would have thought of putting up a fight with the powerful Hondas and Ducatis. Now look at it go mastering the turns and holding them up in the straights. It’s all in the attitude, its all in the confidence, its all in the will not just to survive but to conquer; it’s all in the ‘Doctor’.

Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.

- Muhammad Ali

In the year 1942, at about 6:30 p.m. on January 17^th, nature delivered a boy, who was to be named Cassius Clay, little did it know that he would latter become a 3 time heavyweight Champion, an Olympic gold medallist, military-draft resistor, a poet, a wit, a black-rights advocate, a philanthropist and one of the most recognizable faces on earth. He was born to Odessa Clay and her husband Cassius Marcellus in a little town called Louisville, Kentucky. His father painted religious and commercial plates and his mother worked as a cook and a cleaning lady to the upper-class whites.

His first knockout punch was against his mother when he was just 6 months. He punched so hard that she had to pull out 2 teeth. His first coach was a police officer Joe Martin, who also owned a boxing gym. He met him by chance, when he lost his new bicycle. Martin realized that Clay had very unorthodox style of boxing. He used his hands not as guard but held them at waist height while avoiding the punches of his opponent just with his reflexes and footwork.

In 1960 Clay won the gold medal in Rome Olympics. He defeated Pole Zbiginiew Piertrzkowski of Australia - a veteran of more than 200 fights. Clay, already the nation’s pride looked for a new coach. His father disapproved of Martin and Clay refused Archie Moore, who tried to change his game. So Angelo Dundee became his coach. By the end 1963 Ali had about 19 bouts and had won them all, 16 of then where knockouts. His most interesting fight was against his former coach Archie Moore. Clay had a habit of predicting how his matches would end. He would even predict the round in which he would knock his opponent out.

In the same year he met Drew "Bundini" Brown, who became his motivator, court jester and a life long friend. Together they invented the phrase ‘Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee’ that best described his boxing style. The "Louisville Lip" was 21 year old and was ready to achieve the goal for which he had lived almost all of his life - the World Heavyweight Championship.

Sonny Liston, who had lost only once as a professional boxer, was the world champion then. On February 25, 1964, the night of the fight, Liston entered the ring a seven-to-one favorite. Clay danced around the flat-footed champion the whole time, landing lightning-fast jabs and combinations again and again. At the beginning of the seventh round, Liston refused to resume the fight. After the fight Clay said “I’m 22. I’m the champion of the world and I don’t have a single mark on my face. Surely I should be the greatest boxer ever”. Such was his confidence!

In the same year he made speculation a fact when he changed his religion to Islam and called himself Cassius X and latter Muhammad Ali. Muhammad means praiseworthy and Ali means most high - Clay meant dirt. He was inspired by the words of his friend and mentor Malcolm X. Muhammad Ali was a true champion. The people’s champion but he never did it the people’s way he did it his way. Almost always his way was the people’s way.

Ali, for the first time, defended his title in a rematch with Liston. He knocked him out with a ‘phantom punch’ in the first round that the whole world saw except Liston. By the end of 1967 Ali successfully faced 8 challengers including "the octopus" Ernie Terrell who held the WBA’s version of the title. Before the fight Terrell refused to call Ali by his new name as a result Ali kept yelling, “What’s my name, uncle Tom!” through out the fight, while he thrashed him around. The fight against Zora Folley was to be his last fight for a long time.

On April 28^th 1967, he refused a military call to fight in the Vietnam War. The whole world asked WHY? He answered, “I won’t help murder and kill poor people. If I want to die I’ll die right here fighting you. You are my opposer when I wanted justice, you are my opposer when I wanted freedom, you are my opposer when I wanted belief and you want me to go somewhere and fight for you when you won’t even stand up for me right here in home”. They lowered the boom; he was stripped of his undisputed title, his license to fight. They took away his boxing, his art, his money, his religion, but they could never put out the raging fire in his heart. The storm was put on the hold but was waiting to blow the world over.

And it did blow in 1970, when his management got back his license to fight although the US Supreme Court had not judged yet whether Ali was guilty or not. His first fight was against Jerry Quarry in Atlanta on October 26, 1970. He had an unconvincing win by knockout in 3. On March 8^th 1971 Ali met Joe Frazier who was the then Champion of the world. That match was dubbed ‘The match of the century’. Ali, for the first time in his professional carrier was defeated. He lost to ‘Smokin Joe’ on points in the 15^th round.

After this stunning defeat came one of the significant victories in his life. He was unanimously declared not guilty for refusing the military call. He was given back his passport and license. But he had to get what was rightfully his - ‘The World Heavyweight’ title on his own. For the next 21 months Ali banged around 11 challengers with only one thing in mind - a rematch against ‘Smokin Joe’. Ali didn’t get more than $500,000 for any of these bouts.

His next opponent was to be Ken Norton, an absolute no name. Ali didn’t take the fight too seriously and trained just three weeks. This arrogance led to Norton breaking Ali’s jaw in the second round and winning the fight on points. It was incredible that Ali continued for ten rounds with a broken jaw but in the end it proved to be a fruitless effort. Ali was ahead by one point on the scorecards before the last round, but Norton won the last round and the fight.

After this defeat that had been even more painful than the one against Frazier, Ali was down on the floor and not many people thought that he could ever rise again. Ali did the unthinkable he came back and won the rematch against Norton. It was time for revenge. It was time for the next Ali – Frazier duel. Although this time it wasn’t as good as the last one, Ali won by points in the 12^th round. But Ali had only his honor to fight for because Frazier had lost championship title to a young man named Gorge Forman. Ali – Forman fight was thus unavoidable.

When the two heavyweights entered the ring on October 30, 1974, in Zaire, for the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ out of sixty thousand African throats came the slogan "Ali, boma ye!” meaning "Ali, kill him!" and kill was what he did. Ali knocked out Foreman in the 8^th round to regain what was his property, his life - ‘the World heavyweight title’. After the match Ali kept yelling to his critics, “Eat your words! Eat your words! I am the greatest”. Ali then went on to defeat Joe Frazier for the third time. In the 13^th round he punched Frazier 43 times in 6 minutes. Shortly after his victory was announced, Ali fainted in his corner. He would later say that this fight had been the closest to dying he knew of.

After reigning as the world champion for over 4 years, he lost his title for the first time in his carrier to Leon Spinks only to win it back for the record 3^rd time. In the ring after the victory he shouted out to his friend Howard Bingham “Write in my biography, here ends his career”. But he came back after two years, Why, ego? Defiantly not, finance? Maybe. He had 40 or odd person to take care of, and boxing was the only way he could make money- a lot of them. He was paid 8 million four times as much as Larry Holmes – who in the meantime had become the world champ. Training for it Ali lost 38 pounds, He was 216 pounds and looked his best. But the inside was empty. What many thought was vitamin that Ali was taking was in fact a pill to control Parkinson’s syndrome. It was a surprise to many how Ali could even walk let alone box. But the invincible Ali went on only to be knocked out for the first time. After the fight, hardly able to move, he was placed in an ambulance. He wiped the tears off Howard’s face and whispered, “Don’t cry Howard; don’t cry. I’m still Ali”.

At last as fate would have it, Ali lost what no boxer on earth could take from him, his body and his boxing, to nature. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He says “God gave me this illness to remind me that I'm not number One; he is; He tries you good and bad. I’ve never asked ‘why me?’ about anything”. With only his heart and mind under his control he set out on a new mission, to help and nurture his race - The human race. In the summer of 1986 Ali married long-time friend Lonnie Williams. Many intimates of the couple agreed that Lonnie was "the best that could happen to Ali". She was his third and last wife. When asked what his wife meant to him, he said “Everything”.

Muhammad Ali appeared on the global stage in 1990 when he freed fifteen U.S. hostages from the Iraq during the Gulf crisis. Ali was once again ‘The Greatest’ when he lit the Olympic fire in Atlanta in 1996. The confident way he presented himself, despite trembling heavily, impressed millions around the globe. Now at the age of 60 he is a slow motion version of his former self, but make no mistake, Muhammad Ali is in there – all of him. He never lost a fight he thought he would win. In an age were most of us were still in dippers; he knew exactly what he wanted out of life. Now he wants to be know as a man who took a few cups of love, one teaspoon of patience, one tablespoon of generosity, half a liter of kindness and stirred it up well and served it to each and every deserving person. As his close friend and TV reporter Howard Bingham said, “He is exactly what he said he was THE WORLD’S GREATEST”.

The story of the greatest.

Murugeyson Ramasuwame.

Let’s try to answer a simple question. Should Manchester United and its fans be worried with a nightmare of a season? In the right mind we should; it is their worst performance since the premiere league came into existence eleven years back and not to enter the quarter finals of the Champions league since 1995.

The Devils let go of the four point lead over the gunners in the mid season to actually finish trailing fifteen points. Suddenly, last season doesn’t look all that creditable. It’s a nightmare for any Manchester United’s fan to watch the Gunners finish the season without dropping a match. The Devils had lost 8 matches in a season before, we have finished 3^rd in the league before; so why this sweat? The difference is we were never submissive; never. When we lost 8 matches; six of them were in the 1^st half of the season. When we finished 3^rd; we had a huge goal difference better than any club in Europe that year. The most feared factor is not the place Manchester United finish or how many matches we lost, but it’s the way those matches were lost. Manchester United is always the aggressive one, the warrior, and the demolition derby. Now we surrender 4 -1 to their Siamese twins. With players, coach and the director leaving and with the meek performance this really is the season from hell.

Becks is a great ball player, He has got a fabulous right foot. He is so good in the right wing that even likes of Figo had to make way for him. Enlighten me, who else can bend it like Beckham. Man U will unquestionably miss him. All these years our strategy was pivoted on his golden right foot. And the Romanian chief is on a hundred million buying sphere; he started with buying people he liked, now just wants anyone he feels can play decent football. He does scar the life out of the all that stands in his way and he has also proved every philosopher’s preaching wrong; ‘Money can buy success’. And of course there are the Gunners; they have slowly become the force to be reckoned with. With Henry winning the EP of the year twice in a row and they look like they can go on forever without loosing a match.

To set the record straight Becks is a great ball player, He has got a fabulous right foot. He is so good in the right wing that even Figo had to make way for him. But he is just a one trick pony, very good at it but nevertheless a one trick pony. He could never get past his man. Will Man U miss him? Sure we will. All these years our strategy was based on his curling balls. Should we be worried by the likes of Paul, Ole Gunner, Roy, Wes and Kleb all side lined by injuries? We should be. We just managed a close 1-0 win over the new comers Wolfs when their own team captain predicted at least a 5-0 result. And the shameful lose against Southampton, who we trashed for a 6-1 victory a couple of seasons ago. And Ruud missing the injury time penalty. And now the Romanian chief spending more than a hundred million buying people he likes, and promises to spend more if they fail to perform. They do make a scary lineup. And of course there are the Gunners, who are more of hooligans than ball players. The referee was right in sending Patrick off. When you kick a player whether you connect or not, that’s a yellow card. Ask Becks, he knows more about it than anybody else and the frustration on the field is justified. But when you wait in the player’s tunnel to confront him you are taking it a bit too far. If you want to be a bully join high school.

Remember the scrappy lil kid from Italy, riding a small 125 Honda? After being the 125 champ, people said he is going to be the best ever 125 rider, then he became the 250 champ, 2 years later the 500 champ and now the 1st and only Moto Gp champion, god! he is the best racer in town. And The Doctor is back. Back in style. He is the first ever to win consecutive GPs for 2 different makers (Repsol Honda & Yamaha) and he is still the scrappy lil kid.

This is one of the biggest moves in GP history and if the story remains the same, he is going to create history. Mr.46 Jr with his long and successful GP innings has managed to steal Mike's thunder, Wayne's charisma, Biaggi's eccentrics and Kevin's style. I remember being little bored watching 'the great one' Doogan, win the 500 title for the 6th consecutive time. He must have been fed up himself, because he left the track soon after. Rossi has made a big difference to the man's game. He laughs, he cries, he teases, he celebrates, he morns without caring what the camera would think. And here is the secret everybody knows, It loves him. When you are different, the world expects consistency, that's were many have failed, that's were greats like Brian Charles Lara and Andre Aggasi failed. And that's were Valentino Rossi is different and a respectful handshake from his country man and his bitter rival, Mad Max sums it all up. Valentino could go on winning or at least competing with his grand children. Even they won’t dare challenge 'The Doctor'.

Hey Look, It’s Red, Its Fast, Its flying low, Iieeeets Ronaldo. He was nothing short of brilliant today. Don't be fooled by the score line; It was ManU all the way. It was Ronaldo all the way. With no Roy, Ryan and Ruud it was great pleasure seeing the kids perform the way they did. Christiano showed the maturity, the imagination, the confidence of a true champion. I've always believed the future is ours and the evidence was right there in Old Trafford today. The average age of the team was 22 on field, if that's not bright future then be kind enough to enlighten me what is. Why some may wonder, all this fuss about defeating a team which is fighting for its mere existence in the league. Hello, remember the 4-1 loss to Man City? Statistics doesn't matter in sport, it’s for the arrogant to make believe that soccer (for that matter any sport) could be predicted. Raise hands, who thought they would live to see a possible Monaco-Porto CL finals.

The Defense is growing in confidence, they did a clean job today. With Rio coming back next season and hopefully Sir Alex buying a full back, things are bound to be back on track. Loosing the season doesn't mean anything. But most definitely (To cote Sir Alex) the empire is not crumbling. So we will leave the money splashing, boot flashing, fist clenching, street fighting to the Guns and Blues. Our Fight, Our Cause, Our Life, Our smiles and Our tears are on field. You want to know what's the difference between the Red Devils and the other mortals, WE DARE DREAM.