Monday, December 22, 2008

Tube of Hell

Every team in the Spanish League (La Liga) this year has to play Sevilla, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Villareal in succession. This phase of the league I call as "Tube of Hell" as these teams are the top ones in Spain and Europe/world. It can be devastating for lesser teams to play such hard games, all in a row. Also it is made more intriguing for the teams themselves from the above list, by including Valencia in the place of their own, when they pass through the "Tube of Hell".

While most teams have stuttered in this tube of hell, Barca has come out gloriously. 3-0 vs Sevilla, 4-0 vs Valencia, 2-0 vs Real Madrid and 2-1 vs Villareal.

A lot of critics were dismissing the notion that Barca is the team to beat this season, before December, citing that they haven't played any of the top teams. Now that Barca has come through the tube unscathed, no one is questioning as to who is going to lift the title.

10 points ahead at the table already, they are in for something big. Whether it will be a thing or things, May will tell. For now, the next question will be, will Real Madrid be forced to give Barca a "guard of honor" when they meet again in the Bernabeu in 2009. That will happen, if Barca goes to the capital 16 points clear. That will happen.

Forca Barca.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Makkal - dawn of a new age?

I have been (forced to) watching a lot of TV in the recent times and could not escape appreciating the quality of programs in one particular channel - Makkal TV.

First and foremost, Makkal has made a sincere effort to make the programs completely TAMIL. Yes, all their studio made programs are pure Tamil scripted - no English, no Sanskrit. No hellos, no sorrys. I am no fanatic of pure Tamil, but it is refreshing to see the effort these people have put in. Only time you get to hear some other lingo is when the interviewee's cannot cope with the interviewer or during the commercials(you cant help there!). (If you complain about not understanding the language in a couple of political comedy shows, then it is because they are talking in the famous "Madras bhaashai")

The programs have variety - politics, economics, fun-games, live interviews and mostly reality TV. No movies. No mega serials. There is so much of silverscreen crap stuffed into the home box channels these days, that it is more choking than entertaining. The future for successful TV channels lies in dumping their current image as a 24x7 mini movie theater and it seems like Makkal is the first Tamil channel in that direction.

Like most of the Tamil channels, Makkal also has its origins from one of the political parties (PMK), and hence most of its NEWS and political programs appear heavily biased, and from my limited experience with the channel, I can say that this is the only downside of an otherwise excellent TV channel, which has a lot of scope for becoming a pioneer of reality TV in the Tamil speaking world. Even in the sub-continent.

With a very talented set of anchors, a handful of novel shows and total abstinence from movie based programs, Makkal has a strong potential for carving for itself a very niche audience. How far it will go will depend on how much of political agenda will be infused into its otherwise seemingly "neutral, independent and secular" schedule. Time will tell.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

futball fuss

The Euro fever has come to an end with those unending chants of 'viva espana'! For invalids like me who cannot be awake to watch the matches at those ungodly hours, it is the news bulletins that give a vivid description of the flow of the game! Yes, I find that the written articles bring the matches more alive than the video highlights. That is probably because the written word has more perspective than the 21" screen.

There are two columnists in particular, whose articles I never miss: Rob Hughes of IHT and Phil Ball of soccernet (espn). Both have their own styles of writing and their own prides and prejudices. I just love reading both of them.

Rob is very emotionally attached to football - he can't digest the hyper commercialization of the "world game". He follows all football news with an eye on the financial implications. He makes it a point to mention the absence of local talent in rich clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea. Like me, he loves Barca and Argentina. No wonder, I love his writing.

Phil is also a gifted writer, who can blend humour even into his most serious sounding articles. He is an Englishman settled in Spain for a long time now (he probably married a Spanish girl!) and loves to follow the La Liga, Spain's top league football. His writings are influenced by the social and political events of Spain - surrounded by the separatist forces of Andulasia, Basques and the Catalans. If you know a little bit of Spain's history, then Phil Ball is sure to amuse you with his digest of the Spanish league.

I would have never come to like football if not for these writers' articles with their mix of economics and politics into what otherwise would have been vanilla commentary.

Afterall I am a desi. I always like it with 'masala'!

I followed the Euro games with a different perspective - grouping the teams based on their kit sponsors.

* There were 16 teams in total and 4 kit sponsors - Nike (5 teams), Adidas (5 teams), Puma (5 teams) and Umbro (1 team).
* All 5 Nike teams made it to the quarterfinals. Only 2 Adidas and 1 Puma entered the last 8.
* Each semifinal featured a Nike vs Adidas and in both the games Adidas won and entered finals!
* In spite of all its teams getting into the second round, Nike could not feature in the finals! Adidas entered into the knockout round with only two teams, who eventually entered the finals.

Honestly, I supported Nike (Russia/Turkey), but ended up in disappointment. (as usual, bun!).

Another point to note is that the winners of all groups, save Spain, lost in the quarterfinals. It is the second placed teams from each group who reached the semis.

Last but not the least, I still dont understand why the schedule was drawn in such a manner to allow Spain to meet Russia again in a match before the finals. Had it been like A vs C and B vs D, such a repetition could have been avoided before the final match. I have no idea why UEFA did not think about this!

Hope the coming season will get my favourites back to where they belong - Barca, Liverpool and AC Milan - the top of their respective leagues. I wouldnt mind sponsoring a bash on the night Barca sets their hand on the Champions League Trophy!

Forca Barca.