That Messi goal!

Some time in the early 90s playing against the Aussies, Kapil Dev produced a magical spell of 3 consecutive out-swingers. I did not see this match, only read about it later in Sportstar. The 1st ball bowled out Alan Border (so technically an in-swinger), and the 3rd bowled out Dean Jones. Apparently it was the 2nd that was the best of the lot. It swung just a bit, and quite late. Dean Jones, who was in a purple patch at that time, played at it and missed. The ball missed the off-stump by a whisker on its way to the wicket-keeper. The writer opined that only Don Bradman could have got out to that.

Meaning the ball was so good, that even the best batsman in the world would have got out to it. And it was so good, that only the best batsman could have got out to it. Dean Jones, great batsman that he was, was not good enough and reacted a bit late.

Sometimes you need to have the best batsman at the other end to witness the excellence of the bowler. And vice-versa. Similarly it takes one of the best defenders playing currently, backed by one of the best goalkeepers to showcase the magic of Messi's 2nd goal against Bayern in the CL semi-final 1st leg.

The 1st goal was typical Messi. He has, so many times, picked up the ball near the right wing, and then cut across parallel to the goal, looking for an angle to shoot with his left foot. Sometimes this would mean skipping past 1, 2, 3 defenders until he found a straight line from ball to goal. He didn't have to do any of that here. Dani Alves did most of the work in cutting the ball across from the left and passing it. Then he moved it to his left foot and let go. Neuer thought he was going for the far end upper corner, and got beaten on his near-side lower end. This partly helped set up the 2nd goal. 

The 2nd goal was genius. Messi picked up the ball and started moving down the line near the edge of the D. When he neared Boateng, he opened up his left shoulder and arm very slightly as if to start cutting across like he normally does. Boateng, either seeing this shoulder movement, or knowing Lionel's propensity to cut across, started to shift his weight to his right, and deny any space for the maestro to shoot with the left. In less than an instant, the striker decided to change directions and go past the defender's left. Boateng, almost immediately noticed this and tried to change direction as well. But his weight had already shifted to the right, causing him to lose balance and fall.

That fall showed how good this World Cup and Champions League winning defender is. Most defenders would have just stood there, and then reacted much later. A very good defender, would have played on the probability, and moved to his right, then ended up looking bewildered as Messi ran towards his other side. Only the best defenders, would have  1st moved right, then immediately tried to change direction, and lost their balance. No one playing fairly could have stopped him.

It took the skills of Boateng to emphasize the magic of Messi's movement. And he wasn't done yet. He topped this with a delectable chip using his weaker foot that outfoxed the giant frame of Neuer. Something that Danny Welbeck tried and failed, the previous season.

Making to World Cup winners look like amateurs. What better way to drive home the point of who's the greatest?

Of Gods and Men

The requirements for the genesis of a religion

• Blind adoring fans. E

• Drastic fall in intelligence levels when talking about object of worship. E

• Animosity towards anyone who disagrees or criticizes. Ad Hominem attacks. E

• The feeling that everyone else shares the same devotion.

• Seeing meaningless patterns and co-incidences in words and numbers related to the 'diety'. E

• A place of worship, perhaps with a statue inside. E

• The need to prove that he / she is superior in all respects. Quoting numerous and twisted statistics / tales to do so. E

• Trying to outdo each other in proving allegiance. Often going over the top to do so. Bending rules in the process. E

• Ascribing miracles to idol <pending>

Perhaps in a few years, we'll hear of a little girl miraculously cured of blindness, after sleeping with a Sachin poster on her wall. And then we'll have all the ingredients.

My Tennis priorities

1. Watch Roger Federer play
2. Play Tennis
3. Watch Maria Sharapova. Preferably off-court. At one of those photo-shoots.
4. Watch one of the other top players in action - Djokovic, Nadal, Venus,...
5. Catch up on some doubles
6. Everything else

Reading Statistics & The G.O.A.T Federer/Nadal

One argument on why Federer cannot be considered the Greatest Of All Time is his record against Nadal. It stands 14-8 in favour of Rafa, with their 23rd competitive meeting scheduled for later tonight.

Their fascinating rivalry is also considered the G.O.A.T! They are the only pair in men's tennis to have finished 6 consecutive years as the top two.

I personally believe Federer to be the better player. And I propose to manipulate the stats to validate my case. This is also a good reason why stats should not be unquestioningly believed.

Splitting into court types the Federer -Nadal records show 4-3 on hard courts, 2-1 on grass, and 2-10 on clay. So one could argue that Federer is the better player on 2 of 3 surfaces.

But there's more to this. The 2 being the top ranked players for the last 6 years, would invariably be seeded to meet in the finals. If more meetings haven't happened between the 2, it's because one of them fell off before reaching the summit clash. This has been Nadal more often. Federer has been generally more consistent in reaching the finals than Nadal.

While Rafa has been the undisputed master on clay (over the decade), Roger has also been pretty consistent in reaching the finals of a good chunk of the clay-court tournaments the two participated in. This has led to >50% of their clashes being played out on clay, though going by number of tournaments this should have been less than 25%.

What this could mean is that while Federer was the 2nd best player on clay, Nadal was not the number 2 on grass or hard courts. Though he has been showing more consistency on all surfaces in the last couple of years.

I immensely like both the players. Roger for his graceful movement, effortless artistry and panache. Rafa for his tenacity, magnanimity in victory & defeat and humility. Also for being left handed;) And both for their talent, competitiveness, sportsmanship and excellence.

But I am wary of stats. And 6-sigma.