Wednesday, February 27, 2008
All for One, and One for All
It’s all so easy these days, ain’t it ? You do exactly what you want, how you want and when accountability is demanded, you throw a tantrum and petulantly kick the ground till you get your candy.
It does not behoove players of the calibre of Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj to ignominiously attempt to unseat Leander Paes of the Indian Davis Cup team. A storm that began in a tea-cup or whatever assorted beverage the boorish younger Amritraj was quaffing the night he was out socializing when he had been advised to prepare for the next day’s Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan. And when dropped by Paes for the opening rubber ( in favour of the remarkably untalented and improbably names Somdev Deb Burmans) , Prakash promptly pronounced himself fit. B-ah !!
Given the fairly narrow SEC areas of these four—all from well-to-do sporting backgrounds with distinctly Western upbringing, it is difficult to see where the chasm is. The younger ones claim Leander constantly belittled them gnaqing at their confidence. While that itself is unverifiable, I am sure coaches and managers may resort to such methods to buoy up their wards. Maybe the problem is that they have never been hauled up in their lives—sunny California being so high on optimism and so distanced from reality.
My prognosis is that when push comes to shove, Leander will withdraw and let the pups earn their 0-5 Cup losses on their own.
Sad, very sad !!
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It does not behoove players of the calibre of Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj to ignominiously attempt to unseat Leander Paes of the Indian Davis Cup team. A storm that began in a tea-cup or whatever assorted beverage the boorish younger Amritraj was quaffing the night he was out socializing when he had been advised to prepare for the next day’s Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan. And when dropped by Paes for the opening rubber ( in favour of the remarkably untalented and improbably names Somdev Deb Burmans) , Prakash promptly pronounced himself fit. B-ah !!
Given the fairly narrow SEC areas of these four—all from well-to-do sporting backgrounds with distinctly Western upbringing, it is difficult to see where the chasm is. The younger ones claim Leander constantly belittled them gnaqing at their confidence. While that itself is unverifiable, I am sure coaches and managers may resort to such methods to buoy up their wards. Maybe the problem is that they have never been hauled up in their lives—sunny California being so high on optimism and so distanced from reality.
My prognosis is that when push comes to shove, Leander will withdraw and let the pups earn their 0-5 Cup losses on their own.
Sad, very sad !!
