Shriya's skirt issue won't go away

With the enormous attention that Shriya's skirt has raised, she should auction the now made world famous skirt and donate the money to her favorite charity.

I bet some of the TN Ministers may be more interested in bidding for the skirt based on the interest they have been showing on this non-issue

Public Works Minister Durai Murugan responded saying: "There can't be a yardstick to judge obscenity. We cannot say to what extent a woman should expose herself and what kind of undergarments she should wear."

"It is all in the eyes of the beholder", added Durai Murugan.

His colleague, Electricity Minister Arcot Veerasamy, chipped in: "All that we can do is advise them (the actors) to be appropriately dressed."

Deputy Speaker V.P. Duraisamy had the final say. He told the PMK legislator: "You seem to have seen all these programmes scene by scene."

What a waste of tax payer's money !

Cricket notes

"The thing that pisses us off is that it shows how much power India has ... the players are frustrated because this shows how much influence India has, because of the wealth they generate. Money talks."
An unnamed Australian player quoted in a Sydney newspaper in the aftermath of the decision to reduce the charges levelled against Harbhajan Singh

Courtesy: cricinfo

I still don't get it. What does money got to do with this? This is a straight forward "he says she says" case and unless one has conclusive evidence it is difficult to prove these cases. It was stupid of Mike Procter to ban Harbhajan based on hearing just one side of the story and any fair judge will throw the case out. This is what happened here.

A free advise for Harbhajan - Shut your mouth and try to pick up wickets.

There were multiple occasions in the past when Indian players have got the wrong treatment from match referees including Mike Procter. ICC must revamp the system (umpiring, rules, technology, match referees, etc.) completely to improve the game.

Oh by the way, the unnamed Australian would be one of the first players to sign up for IPL to earn big money. Just a hunch! Not that there is anything wrong with that.

One other quote caught my attention ...

"And when John Buchanan was in charge ... let me tell you, we needed as much common sense around as we could, because I believe the coach had none."
Shane Warne, in a tribute to Adam Gilchrist, can't resist another dig at his former coach

Seriously, John Buchanan must have ratted Shane Warne (antics/sexcapades/text messages) to his ex-wife to earn this wrath. Warne has been consistent in digging his former coach at every given opportunity.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Mohammad Ali

Tsonga stuns Nadal in the Oz Open semifinals. Amazing win. It is good to see some more players stepping up. Otherwise, Federer seems to have it too easy most of the times.

Doesn't Tsonga look like Mohammad Ali in his younger days?

Pictures courtesy: bbc.co.uk and answers.com

Brett Favre Retirement Watch Party Countdown starts

Will he? Won't he?

After throwing the overtime season ending interception against New York Giants, will the future Hall of Famer retire? Brett would like to have that throw back. Suddenly Bad Brett came from nowhere in the overtime. He has been patient throughout the season in avoiding those throws until that throw. Having said that, Giants deserved to win and the better team won.

In terms of personnel, Favre's future is the only major, immediate concern for the Packers. Favre -- surprise, surprise -- was noncommittal on his future after Sunday night's 23-20 loss to the New York Giants, saying only that he planned to talk to McCarthy on Monday before heading back to Mississippi to huddle with his family.

Neither Favre nor McCarthy were available to the media on Monday.

Keep waiting.

But one thing for sure, the first season after Favre retires, it will be difficult to watch Green Bay games? NFL will miss Favre. NFL fans will miss Favre.

Roger Federer: Supreme Dominance

In modern day sports, only Tiger Woods and Roger Federer have dominated their respective sports. In my humble opinion, Roger's dominance is even more remarkable as he has to be on top of his game whenever he plays Tiger can have a day or two off and still win the tournament by dominating the other days.

I have not seen any tennis player in as dominant as Federer. His opponents just hope of not getting embarrassed on the court when facing him. He seems to relish adverse situations on court when he gets into one of the occasional five setters. His dominance has been so compelling that he enjoys those occasional tough matches.

His comments after the recent five setter with Tipsarevic:

"It's not such a relief -- it's more happiness," Federer told the crowd at the Rod Laver Arena, where he has won three Australian titles including the last two. "I'm happy I could deliver a five-set thriller. It was good to be part of something like this."

He considers himself a performer/entertainer, entertaining us with his sublime tennis.

Lleyton Hewitt on Roger Federer's 5 setter:

"Obviously, an incredible day of tennis," Hewitt said, sounding hoarse and tired. "I mean, for Roger Federer to go five sets -- how often does that happen?"

Poetic Justice

Picture courtesy - Getty images.

Undoubtedly, this is India's best win abroad for the following reasons:

1. It happened in Perth. Except for the Caribbeans in the 80's (with their barrage of fast bowlers) no team has beaten Australia in Perth. India is the only team that can claim a rivalry against Australia since 1992.
2. It happened after the ugly incidents in Sydney.
3. It was complete team effort with everyone contributing in the bowling and some spectacular knocks by all recognized batsmen.
4. Anil Kumble's captaincy and diplomacy in this tour.

Green Bay Packer fan tapes his son with Packer jersey

Not a model father behavior in this case.

Upset that his 7-year-old son wouldn't wear a Green Bay Packers jersey during the team's playoff victory Saturday, a man restrained the boy for an hour with tape and taped the jersey onto him.

Mathew Kowald was cited for disorderly conduct in connection with the incident with his son at their home in Pardeeville, Lt. Wayne Smith of the Columbia County Sheriff's Department said. Pardeeville is about 30 miles north of Madison.

The 36-year-old Kowald was arrested Monday after his wife told authorities about the incident. Kowald was taken to the county jail and held until Wednesday, when he pleaded no contest, paid a fine of $186 and was released.

Watch for those hotel cups

For those that travel - your health is at stake.

Just ask for throwaway paper cups, even if it is not the most environment friendly option.

Shankar's Robot

Is Director Shankar's Robot (Rajini in lead role) based writer Sujatha's "En Iniya Eyandhira" story that was published in Ananda Vikatan in the 90's?

Bucknor cries foul

Bucknor like all kids caught red-handed doing a mischief, is upset that he is no longer part of the India - Australia tour.

"I am disappointed that I am not continuing the tour," he said.

"I consider it a sad day to see umpires sidelined after making only two wrong decisions out of a record 35 appeals."

Yes it would be unfair if he is axed for 2 wrong decisions out of 35 appeals. But Bucknor has history of consistent incompetence including the major goof up in the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup Final.

Here's a partial list on Bucknor related incidents.

Bucknor riles the Indians

On age and technology

Pakistan v India, 2nd Test, Lahore, 3rd day

The only jarring part of the day came at the start of the Indian innings, when the course of play was altered not by the players of either side, but by the incompetence of an umpire. Steve Bucknor was appalling during India's tour of Australia, and consistently so, through first the Tests and then the one-dayers. I had argued then that Bucknor's powers seem to have diminished with age - for umpiring relies on physical faculties that only get worse as the years go by - and that umpires should be regularly tested by the ICC to see if their abilities are still intact.

It is scandolous that despite the Indian team's complaints about him, based on an entire series and not a handful of stray understandable mistakes, the ICC has taken no action on this matter. John Wright, India's coach, reportedly complained to the match referee yesterday about the poor umpiring, and Bucknor gave India more reason for anguish today. After not upholding a number of good appeals during Pakistan's innings, he gave Aakash Chopra out lbw, after Chopra had inside-edged the ball. Given that Rahul Dravid was out immediately afterwards, run out without facing a ball, Bucknor's mistake had a huge impact on the game. It is unfair to Bucknor that his legacy as an umpire should be tarnished by his performance when he is clearly past the peak of his powers, and it is unfair on the players as well.

India v Pakistan, 2nd Test, Kolkata, 3rd day

Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar had added 98 in 168 balls when Bucknor struck. Tendulkar was beaten by the late swing of a ball from Abdul Razzaq, and the daylight between bat and ball was visible from the press box, at the furthest and highest part of the ground. Bucknor, after his usual deliberation, lifted his finger. Tendulkar shook his head and walked off. India have been hard done by Bucknor before, but they were still in a strong position as the day ended.

I'll stop here. The list is long. You get the point ...

Thinovation

Apple has introduced the ultra portable, ultra thin notebook - Mac Book Air.

Surprisingly, it is nicely loaded for its ultra thin size.

I wish it came with embedded WiMAX chip. This would have helped in easy internet access using WiMAX networks where WiMAX coverage is available. We can expect many WiMAX networks to pop up all over the world - at least according to WiMAX forum.

Asus has announced EeePC product line with embedded WiMAX chips in collaboration with Intel.

Watch out, here comes the Attire Police!

Here we go again. A local Hindu organization has filed a case against actress Shriya for wearing an outfit that offended Hindu culture.

She may not worn an outfit that befits the event, but let me assure you that there is nothing objectionable to the outfit. For the record, I am not offended.

It is high time that we stop spending valuable tax payer's money and super precious court time in handling cases like these. I guess the courts have millions of important pending cases to rule before figuring it takes cases like this. Indian judiciary system must do something about victim less crimes and handling frivolous cases like these.

Some of these people must find something to do with their lives.

Guys, you can check out more of Shriya here.

This headline caught my attention.

Pay Right

In recent times, we have seen excessive pays for CEOs that is not in line with the company performance.

But it is time to acknowledge and credit the Amex (AXP) Board and CEO Ken Chenault for agreeing to this structure.

Even more striking are the extraordinarily high hurdles the board requires Chenault to clear if he's to get any of those options. To receive the full grant, he must beat several goals over the next six years, an unusually distant time horizon. AmEx's earnings per share must grow at least 15% a year on average, revenues must grow at least 10% a year, return on equity must average at least 36% per year, and total return to shareholders must beat the S&P 500 average by at least 2.5% a year. Chenault can receive a fraction of the grant for lesser performance, but below certain limits, which are still quite high, he gets nothing.

Now consider a couple of scenarios. Chenault misses all the targets but the market booms, returning 10% a year, and AmEx stock matches it. After their full term of ten years, his options would be in the money by $258 million - but he wouldn't get any of that. Why? Well, AmEx's stock presumably rode a rising tide, and his shareholders could have done just as well with an index fund while exposed to less risk. Alternatively, the market returns just 6% a year, in line with what many experts predict, but under Chenault's leadership AmEx hits all the targets and the stock returns 9% a year. Chenault collects a pretax gain of $222 million after a decade - an awful lot, but his shareholders are $35 billion richer than if they had chosen an index fund, and he's a hero.

Let us hope many more corporate leaders follow his example.

NFL Divisional Playoff Games - Thoughts

Note: I will try to post my thoughts on the weekend NFL games on Monday/Tuesday on a regular basis.

NY Giants (21) beat Dallas Cowboys (17)

NY Giants continue their road wins and get their most important win of the season at Dallas to get into the NFC Conference Championship game. They will have to travel to Green Bay and beat Favre and the Packers next week to make it to Super Bowl.

The Giants Defensive Line continued their outstanding play. The huge Dallas O-Line got outplayed by the consistent Giants D-Line. The Giants pass rushers harassed Tony Romo in the second half consistently. The Giants win is even more impressive because they have to fill in their secondary with back up players after Aaron Ross got injured and they played impressively to stop the talented Dallas wide receivers. Terrel Owens was a non-factor in the second half of the game. The return of terry Glenn did not have a great positive impact for Dallas.

It looks like it is safe to bet that a Manning would always play in the Conference Championship game. But very few would have expected Eli Manning to play instead of Peyton. Eli has stepped up big time and managed the game very well for the Giants. He has cut down his mistakes and ha splayed smart. His 2 minute drive at the end of the first half was a huge morale booster for the Giants going into half time.

Game Ball: My game ball goes to Steve Spagnuolo, the Defensive Co-ordinator of Giants. He is the rising coaching star and a head-coach in waiting. He is a Jim Johnson disciple and he follows his master's techniques consistently and with remarkable success so far.

Green Bay Packers (41) beat Seattle Seahawks (20)

As usual the weather forecasters got it wrong. Light snow was predicted before the game. By the time game got into the third quarter the ground crew has to use fancy snow equipment to see the hash marks.

Ryan Grant, the Green Bay RB survived two early costly fumbles to make it a career day for him. Grant ran for 200 yards and Favre managed the game beautifully to get a win.

I think Seattle cannot win on road in the playoffs. They were not ready for the bad weather and Ryan Grant. When Favre is playing smart, it is going to very difficult for Giants to beat Green Bay @ GB. Eli Manning is not experienced enough to beat Favre and the Packers.

Game Ball: My game ball goes to Ryan Grant. Dah!

San Diego Chargers (28) beat Indianapolis Colts (24)

This is the shocker. I think Indi lost it in the fourth quarter when Peyton manning tried for too many deep balls instead of getting first downs with easy check down throws to Tight End and Running Back. He played like this couple of years ago in a loss to New England. Indi offence tried to score too fast by going for too much. They should have played like Brady and Patriots. Take what the defense gives, make first downs, move the chains and sustain the drives.

Game Ball: Vincent Jackson of San Diego. He made some spectacular plays and helped San Diego on many 3rd down situations.

Having said that, Philip Rivers acted like a jerk by getting into verbal jaunts with the Indi crowd. If he is smart he will learn about class and quarterbacking from Brady and the Pats next week. I pick Pats to win this one easily.

New England Patriots (31) beat Jacksonville Jaguars (20)

Another clinical performance from the Pats. Do whatever it takes to win. As I said earlier, Brady can win throwing deep bombs to Moss or dunk and check to Faulk and Watson for easy first downs. What else can be said - Pats are Pats.

Game Ball: Tom Brady - 26 of 28. Dah !

Cricket and technology

It' high time for cricket to get hi-tech. (courtesy Prem Panicker)

Here's some ideas on cleaning up and improving cricket.

1. Scrap the "take the word" idea

Even though this is not used very often in today's game - there is a rule in place to accept the fielding team captain's opinion on questionable catches. Some umpires like Benson seems to like this idea.

Cricket is no longer a gentleman's game. I am not saying that players are not gentlemen. The game has become too commercialized with huge money at stake to believe the cricketer's integrity on the field or accept correctable human errors on the ground. We can no longer believe a captain/player's opinion on whether a catch was taken cleanly. It is like asking a NFL defensive back if he had committed pass interference.

2. Technology and Challenge

As everyone has been suggesting, we have to use technology effectively. We have to use TV replays for catches, LBW decisions. We have to bring in the challenge system like NFL whereby both teams (batting and bowling) should be provided with 3 or 4 challenges per innings. The captain or any player should be able to challenge an umpire's decision. This should be referred to a 3rd umpire for further review. The final decision should be based on conclusive video evidence or else the decision on the ground stands. The teams should be able to retain successful challenges - that is they won't lose a challenge if they win a decision in their favor and they can use that challenge at a later part in the innings. The team that loses the challenge must be penalized 20/25 runs. That is if a batting team loses a challenge, their score would be reduced by 20/25 runs in addition to losing the challenge. If a bowling team loses the challenge, the batting team would gain 20/25 runs that may categorized as "Penalty Runs". So Penalty Runs on a score board could be positive or negative based on their challenge.

3. Front Foot No Ball

As Prem Panicker of rediff.com has suggested in multiple articles, the umpire should no longer judge front foot no balls by the bowlers. The umpire has too little time to make a decision on no ball and then decide if the batsman is LBW or not. There is too much room for error. We can easily use "cyclops" technology to decide on front foot no balls and let the umpires focus on the batsman.

4. Constant review of rules

There should be constant review of rules every year and see what works. If there is a need to tweak the rules, then make the changes. There is harm in making the game better and removing human errors as much as possible. Don't hesitate to make the required changes on order to preserve the tradition that is no longer valid in this age of technology and commercialization.

5. Increase the pool of players

Allow 13 players to be part of the team with 11 players active at any point in the innings. Of course, only 11 batsman should be allowed to bat - but the batting team captain can play any 11 out of 13 players. This will game more interesting which bring in additional strategies to the table. The batting team will have to focus on additional bench bowlers and athletic fielders that bowling team may deploy on the field. The bowling side may be surprised when a bowling all-rounders bats instead of recognized batsman.

RIP - Sir Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to conquer Mount Everest has passed away.

I will always remember his famous "We knocked the bastard off" comment. I have attended too many quizzes at school/college where this was a standard question.

New words in dictionary post Sydney Cricket Test

Ponting: (n) (adj)
1. A substance or entity or even a person of unquestionable integrity
2. An act of uncivilized behaviour. [Also, pontingness (n)]

Usage: The judge was driven towards justice because he knew that the pontiff was a ponting.
Sir Bonkers said, Don't try to bully me. I surely can fathom the pontingness in your eyes.

Bucknor: (n) (adj)
1. Temporary blindness leading to missing out on the obvious.
2. To be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
3. Situations leading to grave judgement errors.
Usage: I feel bucknored by my boss; Life often throws a bucknor at you.

Benson: (n) (adj)
1. Something that legitimizes a severe bucknor.
Usage: First they bucknored me and then they bensoned it! I am toast.
Also see bucknor


Courtesy: Through email from Chandra

Monkeys - 101

In wake of the recent "sprit of the game" incidents, here's a primer on Monkeys - 101.

In other words, if you call an Indian cricketer a “monkey” and a “bastard” during the course of a innings, as Brad Hogg is said to have done, he is more likely to take offense at his parentage being questioned, rather than his lineage.

Amen!

Eagle Pattasugal Poster @ Disney Animal Kingdom, Orlando

I never expected to see posters in Tamil at Disney Animal Kingdom, Orlando, Florida. I also saw a few other authentic posters/themes from different parts of the world. This one is classic poster that we are used to seeing in Tamil Nadu, India.

Legs pointing toward sky

I have enough problems being steady on the ground. This is why I am not a dare devil roller coaster maverick.

A roller coaster stalled at the top of a loop at China's biggest amusement park, leaving passengers stranded upside down, their legs pointed toward the sky.

Tiger's path to a Billion dollars

This article by Yahoo's Dan Wetzel caught my attention. He states that based on PGA's FedEx Cup - PGA version of year end play off tournament, Tiger would retire with a Billion dollars - yes, the one with the B.

FedEx Cup earnings are put in a retirement fund. If we go by the conservative assumption that Tiger would win 7 FedEx Cups over his career, he could end up with a retirement fund over a Billion dollars, as listed below.

Path to a billion
How Woods' retirement plan could possibly reach $1 billion, even if his production falls off, and he doesn't make the top 70 in some years.

Year	Assumed retirement fund compensation
2007	$123,100,000
2008	112,900,000
2010	95,000,000
2011	87,200,000
2013	73,100,000
2015	61,500,000
2017	51,800,000
Total	$604,600,000
Plus interest	114,700,000
Plus other plans	300,000,000
Total	$1,018,700,000

But the line that best summarizes Tiger's earning potential is the following:

"When it came to figuring out the plan, Tiger was the last person we thought about," said Joe Ogilvie, the tour pro who helped implement it. "For Tiger, $10 million is a rounding error."

Amen !