Feb 19 2011

Cricket Fever !

What a weekend ! As I write this little entry, I am damn excited about the Cricket World Cup which will be starting in an hour .
Like the old days, I think the streets will be emptier again…with people hooked onto the matches involving their favourite teams.

Add your own competition to the mix & it gets even more exciting.
I enrolled myself in theESPN Cricinfo Fantasy League competition. It makes for a superb platform to play alongside the pros as well as your own friends with whom you can setup your own private leagues.

As always, I have kept my computer ready for the multi-tasking to be done during the match with an addon to keep track of whats going on (if I am not near the TV). It should be helpful for those who are unlucky enough to have office policies in which all cricket sites are blocked .

Chrome Addon : ESPN Cricinfo
Firefox Addons : ESPN Cricinfo , CMDN.com

Also got a great World Cup schedule pic as my wallpaper :

I am glad that ESPN – Star Sports are the broadcasters this time. The other channels always tend to irritate the viewers with TV ads placed right on the pitch :-/

Lastly my own thoughts on the Cricket World Cup :
I hope India wins it. It will be Sachin’s last world cup & the team’s desire to achieve it for the country & for him is touching indeed.
If not, then its time to immerse myself more in the ESPN cricket competition

Jan 11 2011

2011 – An Exciting Year Ahead !

One more revolution around the fiery sun….A New Year – 2011 : the Year of the Golden Rabbit (Chinese Zodiac)

For me, the best thing of a new year is the fresh clean slate it offers. The time of beginnings…of new resolutions…of new opportunities…of new chances.
If you ever analyze the best moments of your life you can probably see a pattern. The most memorable moments have probably been those in which you either did something really different & managed to surprise even yourself. You left your comfort zone & ventured out into the unknown.
Experiences such as this enrich life & make it a worthwhile journey.

A New Year serves as a Pit Stop on the journey of life – a point where one can re-evaluate one’s goals & get set for a new strong innings.
I made my resolutions. New things are lined up on my road starting this very week. Can’t wait to travel alongside it .

Btw the New Year is also a good time to view the ‘Sunscreen Song’ video. Its one of my all time favourite feel good songs ^_^. It kinda paints the big picture of life in just about the right way !

On a side note – its an exciting year ahead even if you just view the event calendar !
For cricket buffs – with an event like the Cricket World Cup scheduled right at the beginning of the year, we can expect some fantastic fireworks ahead !

Heres to a brilliant year ahead !

Oct 27 2009

World’s Most Popular Sports

This blog entry took a long time to compile….but was forced to write it….there are way too many misleading articles out there .
I had a simple question :’Which are the World’s Most Popular Sports?’…but the Net had way 2 many unbelievable answers !

Sample this :

Myth	Truth
The Football World Cup attracts 36 billion viewers.	Umm…The world population is abt 6.7 Billion.(currently 6,706,993,152)
Basketball is the second most popular sport in the World.	Sorry..but it doesnt figure in the Top 5….
F1 Racing has the highest viewership rating compared to every other sport in the World.	Very Ambitious thought…

The problem is that the media lists the potential viewership rather than any actual figures…that explains the highly distorted figures out there…see this fantastic article abt it :
The Numbers Guy Report – Media Distortion of Viewership Numbers

Some points to be considered before reading ahead :

Its a modification of a Top Sports list I found which I tweaked to make it more accurate.
From the 6.5 Billion populace, 2.8B live below the poverty line. Also 250M are kids below the age of 2. That leaves us with 3.5B potential sports followers.
The USA has a population of only 300M.
China(1.3B) & India(1.2B) are the most populous nations in the world. Sports followed by them will naturally have a high standing.

Football :