Good, Bad, and Ugly this week

I am happy to have subscribed to digital TV just in time to be able to view all sports events happening on 2-3 different sports channels right now!! This week has seen quite a few interesting events in the sports world and to my surprise, cricket is not exactly the leading one among them. With the Grand daddy of tennis championships underway and the Euro Cup in its final countdown stages, let us see some of the major joys & sorrows in these 2 sports of late.

Football

Good

It seems Spain is the new Australia; dominating in almost all sports they play. With only 8 goals scored in this Euro, people may call their play boring. Does it really matter as long as they are winning enough matches to make it to the finals? Some players have been accused of playing well only for their clubs, and not for their country. Spain are lucky enough to have Torres in their side , who seems to do exactly the opposite! The team has done well, and we hope to have a great summit clash on Sunday night.It is said that challenging times bring out the best in the champions. The Azzurri have always risen to the occasion whenever the odds have been against them. The semifinal match against tournament favourites Germany was a classic manifestation of that. Balotelli, and the evergreen Buffon were stars of the night no doubt, but Cassano and old fox Pirlo were no less good. It is going to be a treat to watch the two contrasting styles of play of the Italians and Spaniards in the grand final. Their draw in the earlier group match also shows us that both are equally good

Bad

I award this title to the English side. They seem to suffer from Penaltyshootoutphobia. A penalty shoot out is quite similar to tie-breaks in Tennis or Super overs in T20. It is nothing but a mind game. The fact that England seem to be unable to conquer this mind game, and have lost big matches in big tournaments over the last decade indicates that they are bad at this game.

Ugly

All may not agree with me for putting the Germans here. But you cannot carry the tag of tournament favorites for the last 15 years, play exceedingly well in the league matches and finally commit harakiri in the knockout matches. The team reminds us of South Africa in Cricket, although the Germans haven’t been as ugly as the Proteas when it comes to knock out matches. The Germans really need to ensure they do manage to cross the final line, and award themselves the trophy they deserve. Maybe the 2014 World Cup could be the moment when they turn from ugly to good.

Tennis

Good

The old fox known by the name of Roger Federer is generally not known to lose sets, forget matches. In the previous match, he was down & out in the first 2 sets, but was good enough to return to what he is known best for; annihilating the opponent. In the process, he ensured that he did not follow the path taken by his nemesis. He may go all the way to record a 7th win here, unless of course the Djoker has other plans.

Another good part at this Wimbledon is the introduction of the roof on the Centre Court. It ensures that big matches are not disrupted, either by natural forces of rain or fading light. Nadal may not be too amused by this change, and might be thinking of registering a complaint in their feedback book, if any!

Bad

Time to look back home. The drama surrounding India’s representation at the Olympics tennis event has now become too farcical to even think about it. Everyone seems to be throwing their hat into the ring of verbal volleys, with the latest being Sania Mirza. I quote one of my friends on this topic; “Husband and wife have, in general, huge differences of opinions ranging from who will make tea in the morning to important investment decisions. Yet, considering the bigger picture, they carry on. With our country winning medals in single digits at almost all Olympics, the concerned players need to look at the broader picture and move on.” Unfortunately, that has not been the case, and the current unnecessary accusations put across a very bad image of India to the world. If I were the AITA, I would have disqualified all the quarreling players, and sent out a strong message. Unfortunately our associations are themselves too bad to take any strong decision.

Ugly

As the Spaniard himself said, it may not be a tragedy, and needs to be treated just as a bad match. Yes, anyone can have a bad day at the office. Yet, the jokes doing rounds in social media make this most unexpected defeat quite ugly for the 2 time Wimbledon champion. We are quite sure though, that this magnificent player of tennis will bounce back, just as he did after his loss to Soderling on clay, and let us all know what a really good player he has always been over the last 8 years.

The Good, Bad & Ugly moments are the ones that make any sport match interesting and entertaining. Let us all sit back, and watch the grand matches coming up in these two sports over the next couple of days. Hopefully, we will get to witness more good moments, and lesser bad and ugly ones in them.