So who needs football?

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We had done a post yesterday on Nike’s latest cutting edge commercial on the soccer world cup. While looking for stuff related to that post, a colleague stumbled on this:

Unrelated, but worth your time: in his latest column, Amit Varma points out that all of us, every single day of the week, gamble in various ways with our lives. So why is gambling with our money illegal?

If gambling *was* legal, how much would you bet on the likelihood of a shark attack during the soccer WC? Oh okay, there’s lots of other whacky bets to chose from — here you go.

Back to foosball — and a closer look at some of the specific skills showcased in that video:

Unrelated, but fun — my colleague Tenzin has a post up, on football songs to rock to. Any additional suggestions?

13 thoughts on “So who needs football?”

  1. Silence by itself can be deafening like Manmohan Singh on the Bhopal issue.Seems like the Congress does not have the courage to apologise .They did not for the 1984 riots and not for this,They may crucify Arjun Singh or PC Alexander but will protect the Gandhi family at all costs-maybe yes they owe it for holding onto power for so many decades!How long will this go on?Maybe they wish to enter the Guiness Book of Records for spending the most time in power.

  2. Dhoni’s take on Yuvaraj

    “Of course we will miss him. If you see his performance in the last couple of years, he has been one of our main strength at the middle order. The way he can bat, hardly any batsman can do in that manner. Definitely we will miss him, but at the same time it will be really great if some of the youngsters could fill in the space. But hopefully we will not miss him on the field. But the kind of talent Yuvraj is, I don’t think it will be difficult for him to come back. I am hoping that he will be back as soon as possible. I am a big fan of Yuvraj and it is a pleasure to have him in the side. He is one of the best batsmen in the world
    Especially the way he bats in first and second powerplay situations has been remarkable. He is sort of a batsman who can be really cashed on as he can play in the both ways – aggressive as well as defensive”

    Did you notice that Dhoni has not mentioned one word about his lack of fitness and his pathetic performance these last few months. While no one disputes Yuvi’s abilities in the ODI, what is shocking is his attitude and taking his place in the team for granted. Dhoni was appreciated by all of us when he came to the scene first for being candid during his press briefings. But statements like these is not going to make him very popular. A captain has to be impartial and have the guts to tick off his non performing, unfit and players, however talented they are

  4. Once again disappointed by Amit Varma’s column. Just a lazy bit of work. Though it’s a popular perception that stock markets is like a casino. But it’s not really true is it ?

    • I hardly think that was his point — his core argument is, we all gamble. governments, institutions, people. Besides, gambling exists, from the days of the Mahabharata on, all the morality tales and punishments have not eradicated it. So why not legalize it and make money, is his premise. Individual reaction to a column is a personal thing — I don’t like everything Amit or my other regular writers write, but I’d personally suggest that it is unfair to characterize as ‘lazy work’ something, say, I have written that you disagree with. Anyway.

      • I understand what he was trying to say here. Amit has been quite vocal about victim-less crimes on IndiaUncut. But while trying to make his point he is just something(see below) that is totally wrong :”Investing in stocks, for example, is as risky for the average investor as most things you could do in a casino”.
        It’s not a question of disagreement. Saying that investing in stocks is same as gambling in a casino is just wrong.

  5. Swamy: Thanks for the link.
    Almost the same can be said of the rise of football in most African nations, Australia, USA… Don’t know when will our sport administrators learn or will they ever learn. I mean not only BCCI but all Indian sport associations.

    Prem: Awesome ad, how do you spot these videos? 🙂

  6. Hi Prem..This could be unrelated, but wanted to have this exchange with you anyway. recently after IPL/WCT20/Zim triseries, there was an implied vibe going around the public (sampled from web/blogs/responses) at large that the players ‘performed’ when money is great (ie., IPL) but were not motivated (or tired etc.,) at the the other events. I believe this presumption could be terribly wrong..Could it be the other way around..? Good (NOT Great) players thrown obscene money thro’ IPL, where quality is several rungs lower than international cricket, just got found out at higher quality world events? Isnt that a better way of putting it, than lazily saying otherwise..?

    • Yes. Exactly. There has been a heck of a lot of knee jerk analysis going on. Related — when you say players “performed” in IPL, who exactly did? Yuvraj was outside of one innings a total dud. He remained a dud in the WCT20 and after. You could underline that point by looking at who performed in IPL and how they did in the national team.

      • Thanks for the response Prem. Yuvraj, yes.. was quiet this IPL. But, I was looking at folks who have ‘shone’ thro 3 seasons of IPL – Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar etc., Raina, hasnt stepped up, even though he has punished attacks in friendlier conditions. Even Rohit, who seems to have the skills, needs to turn it on regularly. Everyone has been hankering for Robin Uthappa based on his IPL form (and Irfan Pathan), no one can say for sure he would have done any better..Yes, they could have been a victim of selection whims recently..but, there was a reason why both of them ‘were’ in the team earlier, and are now ‘out’ of it..right?

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