A Common Fan’s Sports Diary

The IPL has the advantage of having multiple role models

The first year of the IPL saw player auctions, player quotas, icon players and a draft equivalent for the U-19 players. The organizers of the IPL – the BCCI got most of these spot on, well, except the concept of the ‘Icon Players’ maybe.

Now in its second year, the IPL has new modality-related issues to deal with. Mr Lalit Modi borrowed heavily from international Leagues like the NBA and the EPL in the first year of the IPL and it turned out to be a good move on his part. So why not do the same this time as well. So let’s look at the various issues that need to be dealt with and what is the best possible solution for each – based on how similar issues have been best handled the world over.

The first matter is the salary cap. This was a completely new creature for everyone involved and most of the teams wouldn’t have envisaged the complexities it would involve. And that is precisely why the cap needs to increase – because most of the contracts are for three years and teams will have no financial flexibility to engineer any changes in their composition if they have already utilized the existing cap.

It would also be a good idea to announce approximate cap numbers for the next 4-5 years. This is how it works in the NBA and allows teams to plan out their cap structure. It also gives them a lot of options in devising player contracts. For e.g. If you have less money free in your cap this year but have a lot more next year, you could still sign up a big time player for big bucks by offering more money in the second year of the contract. But all this becomes possible only when the contract structure is not rigid. Teams should be allowed to offer contracts ranging from one to any number of years. Such flexibility is beneficial to both players and teams and ensures that both their interests are protected. The combination of cap planning and flexible contracts adds another exciting element to the league and rewards teams who plan their team composition judiciously and just throw money around – which is how a league should be.

Another question is about the sanctity of the Cap amount - should teams be allowed to spend more? Yes, they should be for the simple reason that there is no league in the world where the cap amount is sacrosanct - it allows teams to go for the jugular and assemble super star squads. You can however protect against teams going over board by having a luxury tax - for every rupee that they spend over the cap they need to pay the league a percentage of it as tax.

The next issue is that of transfers. The league proposes a transfer fee similar to that in European football, with the decision to move depending on both the player and the owning club. As we have seen in football, the balance of power soon shifts to the player and the club targeting the player. The club dangles the carrot of a massive contract and the player soon starts putting pressure on his parent club leading to ugly episodes.

The American model is based on barter and far more cordial. Their exchanges generally involve players moving in both directions with some money and draft picks also thrown in. The club has full right to decide whether it wants to transfer a player or not. Therefore, teams can hold onto their best players and don’t have to re-build every now then. It also encourages a club to develop new talent as there is no risk of richer teams snatching their precocious young players away from them. And development of young talent is high on the BCCI’s agenda for the IPL.

In these transfers, the team also tries to match the annual component of the contracts of the players moving out to that that of those moving in. In this way they can still improve without adding more salary. So for example, Hyderabad could trade one of its big hitters in return for a bowler to fix the balance of their side and not take on any additional salary. This kind of cap management is also a key feature of running professional teams. It’s a far healthier system where disparity between teams is far less than that in Europe where there is a huge gulf between rich and poor teams.

The next point concerns the entry of new players in the league. The League had four different systems last year. There was an auction system for international players; a draft for Indian U-19’s, a catchment area system for domestic players and the rest where signed up in an open market system. The auction was a unique method but a necessary one to form the teams the first time round and can be done away with for the second year. The draft works best in an American scenario where there is a very organized collegiate system and each and every player enters the league via it. Therefore, the draft system for U-19’s who are taking their first steps in big time cricket via the IPL. The catchment area concept was based on the popularity of domestic players in their own states. However, as we saw in the first episode, fans don’t care for that. They just love performers. Therefore, this system can be done away with – will also ensure that there is one uniform recruitment system.

The ‘Icon’ player system also needs a re-think. It was unfair that some teams had certain players thrust upon them and that too for big money, whereas some used the same moolah to grab players of their own liking. However, the three year contracts are already in place and the ‘Icons’ will continue to be so for another two seasons. Some concessions could balance the situation though. The full salary of the ‘Icons’ should not count towards the cap. This way the existing contracts stand but teams with ‘Icons’ have a little more money to play with.

The IPL did well to copy the best practices of the top international leagues during its inception. A similar approach would do it a world of good this year as well

Maradona can inspire Argentina again

Diego Maradona is going to be the next coach of the Argentinean national side, and personally, I am mighty kicked about it

Can anything match the sight of a portly Maradona pacing the sidelines, shouting expletives at the officials and rival players, and jumping animatedly at the slightest sign of excitement?

You bet

But jokes aside it’s a bold move on the part of Argentinean Football Association and is a risk that is definitely worth taking.

The national side has been through a really rough patch the last 7-8 years and was going nowhere – in spite of having the most hugely talented generation of players. It’s been painful to watch such a gifted bunch mesmerize us one day and then fall flat the next day

A host of great coaching names have come and gone, each laid low by depressing results. While Bielsa and Pekerman were at the helm of disappointing World Cup campaigns, Alfio Basile couldn’t even last the qualification campaign. The failure of these illustrious names also makes it plain obvious that this team needs more than just a coach.

This team lacks a leader on the pitch. Riquelme can orchestrate the attacks but he is hardly a natural leader. The manager needs to fill-in for that lacuna, and who better than Maradona to galvanize the troops with his powerful personality – after all he continues to remain the biggest influence in Argentinean football.

The doubters will question his coaching credentials, with both his previous stints having ended rather unceremoniously. But there is a huge gulf between coaching Racing Club and managing the national side – and it is the enormity of the task at hand and the prestige attached to it that will bring out the best of Diego – a la 1986. Maradona loves his country and its football heritage dearly and will do anything to restore it to its rightful place. And then there is always Carlos Bilardo to take care of the coaching stratagem. They have created magic previously and could well do an encore.

There are also fears about his cocaine addiction – will he turn up for training in an inebriated state and make a fool of himself during international matches?

I don’t think that will happen and the reason is simple – Maradona loves the game of football too much and is a different person once he is actively involved in it. He was an addict almost his entire playing life but football kept him going. The dependence on the drug and his subsequent deterioration also coincided with inactivity on the football front. Now that big time football is back in his life, Maradona will have fewer reasons and less time to snort cocaine.

Argentina could have gone ahead and appointed another excellent ‘coach’. There is no shortage of those in Argentinean football. But they needed the ‘hand of god’. And there is only man in the entire country that has got that.

This article was originally publised on www.soccerlens.com

Will we have a successful Games?

Here’s an update on the state of preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

This comes courtesy of Richard Moore’s report in The Scotsman. It’s really a credit to the Indian media that we have to depend on a Scottish newspaper for updates on something that is happening in our country

Now for the update

The preparations for the Games are lagging seriously behind schedule – so much so that the Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Mike Hooper has been spending half his time in New Delhi overseeing the work.

There is also talk that the Games could be in grave danger, with some even talking of the worst case scenario – that the games will be handed back to the last host, Melbourne – becoming a genuine possibility. That would really be a proud moment for Indian sport.

But are we exaggerating the issue. Preparation for such mega events have known to be behind schedule, most recently during the Athens Olympic Games.

The Delhi case, however, is a little different. This because the projected completion dates for most of the facilities is very aggressive in the first place, leaving very little breathing space.

Work began on the 58,000-seat main stadium last August and is scheduled to finish on 31 January 2010. The same completion date is given for the lawn bowls facility. The final touches to the facilities housing weightlifting, gymnastics, wrestling, shooting, table tennis, archery, squash, badminton, table tennis, tennis and swimming is set for a month earlier.

So what stage are these facilities in?

As per the official games website these facilities – all of them – still exist only as artists’ impressions.

And that is not all. It gets scarier

The “final design” is still being developed for the swimming pool, while the cycling velodrome appears to be at a “concept design” stage.

If you still aren’t worried, then either you don’t care about these games or have Alladin’s magic lamp lying at home.

Interestingly, at the recent Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, encouraged India to bid for the 2020 Olympic Games

He was either being sarcastic or is a very good diplomat

The domestic airlines of Nauru - the world’s smallest island nation, Our Airlines, offloaded two passengers to make way for two athletes on their way to the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune. This was the only way these athletes could have made it to the games on time. Their efforts were rewarded when one of the athletes won a medal.

In India such things happen for politicians all the time

Wonder what they are winning for the country

Would you give him your seat?

Shame on you, you poster child of nepotism

Arjun Yadav is a part of the India Blues side for the ongoing NKP Salve Challenger trophy. I would assume that he has been given a chance by the selectors on the basis of his strong domestic performances. They haven’t shared with us what they saw, so let’s go and find for ourselves.

I last remember him playing in the IPL for the Deccan Chargers. The Chargers stunk as a whole - surely Arjun must have stood out as a shining star. But the stats show something quite on the contrary. Arjun was 12th best in the worst side in the IPL with a total of 49 runs at an average of 9.80 in 8 games. Even Nuwan Zoysa was better

Surely, Arjun wasn’t selected on the basis of his IPL performance. Then I guess the selectors would have been buoyed by his Ranji performance. After all 20-20 is tamasha cricket and the four day game is a true test of batsman’s ability

Let’s check Arjun’s performance in the last Ranji season

Arjun scored 370 runs in 6 games at an average of 33.46. His state mate DB Ravi Teja on the other hand scored 653 runs at an average of 59.36. And Ravi Teja isn’t playing in the challengers

And how good was Arjun’s performance on an all India level.

This is the list of top 50 batsmen (in terms of average) in the Ranji Trophy in 2007-08. And surprise surprise, Arjun is not on this list. So he wasn’t even one of the fifty best batsmen in the Ranji trophy. In fact he was way behind the last guy on this list – SS Das with an average of 39.40

So Arjun sucked in the Ranji also. Then he must have surely been on fire in the Vijay Hazare trophy. After all it is the domestic one-day competition and is the perfect tournament for selecting players for the Challenger Trophy.

Here are the lists of the top fifty batsmen by average and the top fifty batmen by run scored in the 2007-08 Vijay Hazare Trophy. Surely Arjun must be near the top of both lists. But no – he is actually missing from both lists. The cut off for the first list was 48.33 and for the second list it was 176 runs. So where is Arjun?

Arjun is way back with an average of 26.20 and a total haul of 131 runs. He is fifth on the Hyderabad list. In fact two of his state mates - SA Pai and A Shinde have better averages and more runs. And they are also not playing in the Challenger.

So what has Arjun Yadav done to deserve a chance in the Challengers? Why is a batsman who has fared poorly in the IPL, the Ranji Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy being given such a golden opportunity? Is it fair to all the guys who missed out? All the others present in the top fifty lists. Or has he been given a chance just because he is former selector Shivlal Yadav’s son. Is it just a coincidence that Arjun’s father is the Director of the National Cricket Academy. Is there a more blatant case of nepotism - at such a high level?

This comes after the nepotistic policies of the Hyderabad cricket board led by Shivlal Yadav forced most of their talented players to risk their careers and join the ICL.

Will Mr Pawar, Mr Shashank Manohar and Mr Srikkanth please tell us why Arjun Yadav is playing in the Challengers?

The cricket fans of this country deserve to get an answer

St Louis Blues goal keeper Manny Legace slipped on a carpet placed on the ice for Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and injured his hip – badly enough to miss most of the game.

This carpet was placed for the Alaska Governor to walk to the centre of the ice and drop the ceremonial puck

Politicians always make bad things happen to sports and sportspersons!!!

Somebody break this chain

Logo of the Indian Football Fan - that's me

Dempo’s dream run finally came to a crushing halt with a 1-4 home defeat to Safa SC. But what the heck, we are still proud of the club. They gave us a hitherto unknown pleasure and thrill – that of following an Indian football club deep into a continental competition.

We have been doing that with our adopted European clubs for so long but this was different in a very ‘they are really my own’ kind of way. We can select our European favourites and always pick out a big glamour club. In Dempo’s case we were all bound by nationalistic pride. And that felt so good.

The experienced has totally whetted my appetite. I want more

Tiger could have been the best caddy in the world

Recently, John Abel had Tiger Woods caddy for him. And Tiger like a true sport went the whole hog as a caddy – carried the bag, handed over the clubs, the balls and the towel, held the flag when Abel putted and offered the usual caddy advice on what club to use and what line to follow on putt. While he is expected to do a good job of the last task, he did not disappoint Abel with any of the others either.

John Abel was truly in Sports Fans’ heaven

I would love to be the guy on the green

The unique role of the caddy in golf was the singular reason John Abel got to experience this – I don’t there is anything else which can quite compare to this

No other sport has anything like a caddy – someone who is completely involved in the game without any involvement in the playing part – someone who makes you feel like a king

The best you can do in other sports is be coached by a superstar player or play with one. But what fun is it to play with someone who is light years ahead of you in terms of talent. Would you really enjoy Tendulkar smacking you all over or Roger serving ten aces in a row?

I wouldn’t.

A watershed moment for Indian cricket

WE INDIANS HAD DI**S ALL ALONG BUT DADA TAUGHT US HOW TO FU**

In what is probably the most important discovery made by India since we discovered zero centuries ago, Indians have now found a way to beat the athletes from Jamaica

At the recent Commonwealth Youth Games, the rats in the Games Village scared the Jamaican athletes to death and the poor guys almost fled from the scene

The record showing of Jamaican athletes at Beijing had left the entire world looking for answers. Now we know how to keep the Jamaican sprinters in check or rather running for their lives

This news has caught the attention of all the big sporting nations

The exports of these ferocious Indian rats could really grow

See you at the Olympics

London has already placed a first order for 50