My favorite sporting moments

Sports have played an important role in my life. As a kid, it was the most important thing, my only religion. As I grew up, I notice it has started to matter less and less. Watching games has become a rare occurrence. I don’t really know why, but this seems to be one of the many things you lose as you grow up.

This is a trip down the memory lane to remember some of the most joyous moments of my life.

As a child, football wasn’t just a hobby for me — it was an obsession. Every day after school, I’d play tirelessly for hours. I watched every match I could and proudly wore the captain’s armband for my school team. Those were the golden years, bursting with cherished memories.

During these years, I followed David Beckham’s career up close. I used to watch every game he played. I loved his free kicks, I remember not letting anyone else take free kicks during our inter school tournaments. He was by all means one of my favorite footballers.

Before I talk about this picture, let me set the stage. The story starts in 1998, England vs Argentina game, world cup quarterfinal. Game is tied 2-2, English team playing their hearts out to win. In the extra time, Beckham gets a red card for a foolish mistake he shouldn’t have made. English team plays 2 men down, game goes into penalty shootout and England loses 4-3. England goes out of the world cup in a game they had every chance of winning.

At 23 years old, it didn’t bog down the young footballer, it made him even stronger.

In the immediate season, Manchester United won the Treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League, the first and to date only side in English football to do so. David Beckham was named UEFA club Footballer of the Year and was runner-up to Rivaldo for 1999’s Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards.

He was handed the reins of English football team which wasn’t doing very well.

Fast forward to 2001, Beckham is now leading the England team through world cup qualifiers. England team is playing against Greece in a game they cannot afford to lose, a game that will get them to world cup finals.

Game goes into the extra time, score reads 2-1 Greece. No one on the field is pushing harder than English captain, his team is down, they need a miracle to not get kicked out of world cup. It’s 93rd minute and England gets a free kick. “One thing you can be sure of, there won’t be many chances coming along after this“. The pressure on this young man was palpable.

The captain, one who needed this the most scored a winning goal when his country needs it the most. The 13 year old me was euphoric, it was an incredible end to a long and hard fought journey. A journey, that I lived alongside my idol.

Years later, I still draw inspiration from this moment.

In August 2010, I left India to pursue my master’s degree in the US. In 2011, India was hosting the cricket world cup, an event everyone had been long anticipating.

Things were going well for me in the US. After two successful semesters, I’d landed an internship at Amazon. But being away from home for so long started to tug at my heartstrings. So, in a mix of homesickness and cricket enthusiasm, I decided to watch all the world cup matches that summer.

Indian campaign started off well, they made it through the group stages with only 1 loss and then beat Australia in knock-outs to make it to semi-final. I’d get these wild pictures of celebrations from my friends and family back home every time India would win a match, just streets packed with people waving Indian tri-color.

The semi-final against Pakistan was noteworthy. At my university’s apartment complex, we had a sizeable Pakistani student population. Both Indian and Pakistani student associations came together to co-host the match screening. There was mouth-watering food, lighthearted jests, and lots of enthusiastic cheering. It was a new experience for me, watching the game with both Indian and Pakistani fans. The atmosphere was electric. India triumphed and set their sights on the world cup final.

Indian student organization managed to host the world cup final screening event at Orange and Brew, one of the biggest social spaces at University of Florida campus. Game started at 5am Florida time. I remember getting up really early, catching a shuttle and barely making it in time to get seats, it was packed and for right reasons.

The final was gripping! Neither team maintained an upper hand for long. Sri Lanka set an imposing target of 274 runs. If India managed to chase this, they’d set a world cup final record. The Indian innings had a shaky start, but Gambhir and Dhoni steadied the ship. The entire venue held its breath when Gambhir, who seemed set for a century, fell for 97. With the departure of four key batsmen, India required 52 runs from 52 balls, with Dhoni and Yuvraj at the crease. The tension was palpable. Supporters were hanging onto every run, every ball.

Dhoni, ever the maestro, directed a perfect chase: every run calculated, every shot measured. As the requirement came down to 4 runs off 11 balls, the atmosphere was euphoric. A R Rahman’s masterpieces echoed, uniting supporters at the venue and those back home.

The climax was cinematic. Dhoni’s final six sealed India’s victory, ending a 28-year world cup drought. The joy around me was contagious. Despite being miles away from home, that day, I felt the warmth and connection of my homeland. It remains a cherished memory from my university days.

I completed my education and started working in August of 2012. I paid off my student loan the same year. It was for the first time in my life I had money to spend on things I liked doing. I wasn’t tethered by the constraints of my wallet 🙂 It was a liberating feeling.

In 2014, Brazil hosted a football world cup after 64 long years, cup was coming back to the Mecca of football. Growing up, I lived and breathed football. It was the only religion I knew. Even in my adult years, I never missed playing football at least once a week. I knew I had to go and see this world cup in person.

Prior to this, I hadn’t actually done any international travel. I mean I came to US to study, but I hadn’t travelled to any other place, let alone a Portuguese speaking nation. I remember applying for tickets online, we were able to score a best of 16, a quarter final and semi final tickets. We made plans, decided on our stays and booked our flights. I was excited.

Highlight of this trip was football. It was unreal to see how much of a hold a simple game had on day to day life in Brazil. Every person was the biggest fan of this beautiful game. Every beach we went to, every street corner we stopped by, every empty lot we saw had a game going on. There were yellow jersey’s everywhere. There was only 1 thing running 24×7 on all news channels. The whole nation was consumed by one and one thing alone: football.

I have so many fond memories of this trip. Standing in the crowds cheering for our favorite teams was really a dream come true.

My earliest memories of watching TV are watching Sachin Tendulkar play. India wasn’t a formidable cricket team back in 90’s. There wasn’t much to cheer for, they would lose more games than win.

During that time, India rarely produced any world class athletes. I remember watching olympics and wondering why India’s medal count always read 1 at best. If you liked watching sports, there wasn’t much to cheer for, except for one person, Sachin Tendulkar.

He was the only world champion a billion people country produced during that time, a true #1. Naturally, he held a status of god for an entire generation that watched him rise to stardom.

My earliest memories during my school years are from Sharjah cup in 1998. He single handedly won that tournament for India by scoring back to back centuries. Even today, watching him dance down the pitch to hit Shane Warne for 6’s gives me goosebumps.

He followed it up with another epic knock to help India win that tournament.

I obviously never saw Muhammad Ali fight live, I wasn’t alive back then. I however watched every movie, documentary about this man, I watched hours worth of interviews, everything I could find on youtube. I watched his fights. I was possessed to know everything about his life. His story seemed so unreal.

A black man, rises to prominence and takes the boxing world by storm in a pre-civil rights movement America. He challenges the best, tells the world he’s going to knock them out in less than 4 rounds, trash talks before the game, and then actually backs his claim by knocking them out like he said he would.

He achieves every dream, becomes an absolute superstar and then pushes his fame and riches aside to stand for something he believes in. He stakes everything he fought so hard to earn.

He changes his religion, changes his name. Plays a major role in fighting for civil rights of black Americans. He does so from a position in his life where he has everything to lose, and not much to gain.

Then comes Vietnam war. He takes an anti-war, anti-government stance. Refuses to join the army. They take his boxing license away, trying to intimidate him into joining. He refuses still, Gives up 4 best years of his boxing career (from age 25-29), for his beliefs, for his conviction.

I don’t know if I’ll ever have a strength to give up everything that I hold dear, everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve, if I’m asked to choose between that and my beliefs. I don’t think I can, and my achievements are nowhere near this man.

It is for that reason, I find it incredible that he could, a person like him existed.

 “I am America. I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.”