Eventful Two Days - 12/30/2007

So last year, a major political player in the region was killed (Saddam Hussein). This year, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on Thursday.
I didn't know much about Bhutto, and until she came out exile a few months ago, I honestly didn't know idea who she was. And I don't know much about the politics within Pakistan, so I wont act as if I do. But she was a progressive politician trying to spread democracy in a region that may not want change. She was educated in the West and the people that hate Western civilizations feared her winning the elections next week. Since I didn't know much about her, I hadn't really formed an opinion on her. I hadn't decided whether I liked her or not. I don't know how to weigh the corruption accusations. But if she was truly about spreading democracy and equality throughout a region that isn't know for those two things, then she couldn't have been all that bad. I've seen major world leaders die, but this is the first assassination I've witnessed, and it's a fairly scary thing. You never think something like this can happen in an age of high security. And I've had to try and figure out how my family feels about this. They have a lot more knowledge of the politics in the region, so they have defined opinions of who they like and dislike. I still can't tell how they felt about Bhutto, but they do think the Pakistan Govt had something to do with her death rather than al Qaeda. I tend to agree that I don't think al Qaeda had anything to do with it. They will take credit for just about anything.
The photojournalist in me was hoping that there would be some protests or gatherings to mourn Bhutto around Bombay, but I didn't hear of anything. Oh well.

So the reason why I haven't posted in a few days is because my cousin didn't pay the internet bill, so the internet was cut for a few days. We finally got it back this morning, but I was out of the house all day.

Friday morning, I woke up fairly early and was about to catch the sun coming up. Brought back memories of waking up with my mom and watching the sun come up. The only difference is that we were watching from my grandmother's house, whereas I was at my aunts house.


Speaking of my grandmother, I visited her for the first time on Friday.

My cousin Samira and I went to see her. And while I love her to death, I can't help but feel frustrated with how stubborn she is. The girl that she has looking after her is about as useless a human being you will find on this planet. All she is good for is lying and taking advantage of my grandmother, and playing all of us for fools. My grandmother has about a half dozen or more medications that are prescribed to her, and she's supposed to be taking most of them daily. When Samira and I opened her medicine box, we found enough medicine for about two months. In the case of some of her medicines, there was enough for three months. I've said it many times, but if I could speak Hindi, I'd have ripped into that girl three years ago. I've told Nani that this girl isn't helping her, but she refuses to get rid of her. Nani hasn't taken her heart medicine in nearly two months, and she hasn't had her calcium pills in nearly as long, yet this girl is checking off on the schedule that Nani is having her pills. The girl isn't too bright because she never got rid of the pills.
But it was really sad to see my grandmother practically crying when Samira and I told her that we were going to have to tell my aunt that she wasn't taking her medicine. It was like one of those scenes when a child breaks something and doesn't want there parents to find out because of the fear of being yelled at. Except this was the mother scared of her child doing the yelling.
There's only so many times I can come here and watch this girl basically whittle away the life of my last remaining grandparent. Each of the last three years, I've told Nani she needs to get rid of this girl, that she is no good. Last year, this girl wasn't feeding her proper meals. Now she's not giving Nani her medicine.
I've always loved going to Bandra and spending time with my grandmother, holding her hand and spending time with her, but when somebody refuses to listen to you about something so serious and refuses to make the requisite changed to improve her life, it makes the visits tough.
But I love her. I don't like to give up on people. And my mom wouldn't be happy if I gave up on her mother.

So I've been looking for stories here that i might be able to photograph and send back to the photo editors for the first issue of the school paper next semester. I was given some ideas but I felt like I hadn't started soon enough, so I figured that finding a hard-hitting topic which required special access would be too difficult (may next year). I decided that I would just come here and find a story in the news and see if something comes of it. Talking with one of next semesters editors, Amanda, she suggested that I try and localize a story here in Bombay to San Francisco. She suggested finding some groups that might be in Bombay but were organized in California.
Anyway, I've been checking the three papers we get at the house and cnn-ibn.com regularly, and I think I found the story I want to pursue. It's not a breaking news story, but it can related back to San Francisco on some level.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Mumbai/1200_trees_face_axe_for_city_projects/articleshow/2654059.cms
Since the internet had been down for the last two days at my cousins house, I haven't been about to do any research into where these trees might be or when the chopping might happen, but I think this story relates back to us because San Francisco was deemed the Greenist city and because of the whole tree squatting protest going on in Berkeley. My cousin said he knows a few journalists and that he will make a few calls for me. Hopefully I can find something before I head home.
Next year, I'll plan better and shoot for the heavy story.

This year, I've been a little more hesitant to take pictures of "mumbaikers." Don't know why exactly. Might be that I was told that while the photos I took last year were good on some level, they weren't photojournalistic photos. But it might also be because I feel bad for the people that I see. Last year, I just shot unconsciously, but this year, while I see things that I want to photograph, I just can't bring myself to press the shutter button.
I was hanging out with Zahir and his friend Ashu and Karl last night and the street lighting was cool. Even after midnight, there were taxis available and one of the drivers was just standing around. I think the photo came out pretty well.


Today, we went back to Kharghar to meet with the owners of one of the apartments that Rahim liked. On the way back, we made another pit stop at Center One and I did some shopping. Picked up a few small gifts.
Tomorrow, I am going with my aunt and uncle to pick up Sarah's mom from the airport. Her flight lands at 11:30. Hopefully we'll go to Bandra and I'll get to meet all my aunts on that side of the family. A couple of them have been calling me here trying to find out when I'm coming to see them.

Alright, well, it's 1:30 on Sunday morning, and I'm tired and I have to be up soon. More later.

Take it easy,
Ali

'Flat Hunting' in Kharghar - 12/26/07

Greetings. I spent Day Two with my aunt and two of my cousins in Kharghar looking for a new apartment for my cousin Rahim. This place is about an hour and half outside of Bombay, and the best way to describe it is a bunch of apartment complexes in the middle of nowhere. It's so out there that there are designated times during the day when there is no electricity. The place that Rahim lives in right now has no power from 10am to noon, and 2pm to 4pm. We were sitting in his bedroom with the fan on full blast when all of a sudden, it stopped. You know you're roughing it when there are specific blackouts every day.
While I know that the goal of a photojournalist is to get up close and personal with the subject and find the bigger story, I honestly think some of the best, or rather, most interesting photos you can take can actually come from a moving car. There are things that you see while riding around that you never see in the States. I wish I had the photos to prove it, but my aunt had the Air Conditioner on in the car and she wouldn't let me roll down the window, so I was limited in the pictures I could take. But I saw a child, no more that 13 years old, steering a bull-drawn carriage and whipping the bull. On the drive home, I saw a guy sleeping the back of a cargo rickshaw. It may not be the idealistic photos that professional photographers want to see, but I think they are just as telling about the country and the culture.
So on the way home, we stopped at one of the new malls, Center One, to eat. I'm still amazed by the amount of the Christmas decorations I've seen. I just wasn't aware that Christmas was such a big deal in a country made up of Hindus and Muslims.

This was the scene inside the mall. They had Christmas trees and presents hanging from the ceiling. Funny thing is, during my both of my Photojournalism classes, we've gone over where you can and can't shoot, in terms of permission. We've been told that we aren't allowed to shoot in malls, and apparently, the rule carries over to India, because after about 10 minutes, I was approached by a police women who told me that I wasn't allowed to take photos in the mall. She wasn't rude, and when I told her I'd put the camera away, she walked away. Chances are if this had happened in the States, they would have tried to get me to delete the photos.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to go to Bandra to see my grandmother. Amazing how when I made my trip at the end of 2005, the main reason was because her health wasn't very good and we weren't sure if she would make it to the summer of 2006, which is when I really wanted to go. Now, it's 2007, going on 2008, and while her short term memory is gone, she's still going strong.

Have a good Wednesday everybody.

Take it easy,
Ali

Greetings from 9,000 miles away - 12/25/07

So I just got to India a few hours ago. The weather is great. 77 degrees at 10:30 when I got out of the airport.
The plane rides were fine. The flight from Newark to Bombay was 14 hours, and to make matters worse, the battery on my ipod ran out about half way through the flight.
While we were boarding the flight in Newark, one of the ladies conducting the boarding process was stunned when everybody rushed the gate rather than waiting for there row to be called. We started talking and she asked me why everybody was in such a rush to board a 14 hour flight. I told her that this is the Indian way. There is no sense of organization. But the real reason everybody was rushing the gate was to make sure they were able to get there bag in the overhead compartments. About a week ago, I thought my flight may have been delayed due to weather. Never did I think my flight would be delayed due to the passengers taking forever to store their bags in the overhead compartment.


Tomorrow, I am going with my aunt to visit my cousin Rahim about 90 minutes away.

I hope everybody is having a good Christmas. I was surprised that there were so many Christmas decorations in Bombay. I'm hoping to go to Bandra in the next few days because I've been told that there is quite an elaborate Christmas setup that I'd like to photograph.

Until next time, take it easy,
Ali

Etch-It-In-Stone #3: Santana will stay in Twin Cities...for good.

This time last week, the perception was that Johan Santana would be a part of the Yankees collection of $20 million players.
This time yesterday, the feeling was that he was about to turn the Red Sox into an even bigger juggernaut for the next half dozen years.
The Yankees had the best offer on the table. Phil Hughes has been widely considered the best pitching prospect in baseball. The only player the Red Sox have that is of equal talent and ceiling is Clay Buchholz, and the Sox said he was off limits from day one. The Red Sox were willing to part with Jon Lester, but he's not close to the same talent as Hughes.
When the Twins didn't accept Hughes, Melky Cabrera and a prospect from the Yankees, I had a gut feeling that they wouldn't trade him. At the July trade deadline, every team that talked to the Yankees wanted Hughes. Now, when the Twins had the chance to get him, plus an above average center fielder and possibly a 5-tool talent in Austin Jackson, they turn it down, to me that signals that they are expecting too much in return for Santana.
Santana may be the best pitcher in baseball, and for that, the Twins should receive a bounty of talent for him. But he doesn't have a contract after the 2008 season, so since the team receiving him has to throw down a hefty chunk of change to keep Santana, that drives down the price they should have to pay for him. Twins GM Bill Smith needs to understand that.
Personally, I wouldn't give up arguably the best pitching prospect in baseball, and then have to give Santana $150 million over six years. I'd just as soon take my chances with Hughes and save $24 million a year.
When the Yankees pulled out of trade talks on Monday night, that was another thing that made me feel like he wouldn't be traded. The Red Sox may want Santana just as badly as the Yankees, but they can't financially take him. Sure they may have the budget right now, but if they trade for him, they'd have to give him the $150 million he wants. That's all fine and dandy until 2007 Cy Young runner-up Josh Beckett comes knocking on GM Theo Epstein's door asking for a pay raise from the $10 million he's going to make over the next two years.
No pitcher has ever made more than $20 million in a season, so I don't think the Red Sox are too eager to have two pitchers in the same rotation making over $20 million. Chances are Beckett would want something similar to Santana's deal. Two pitchers making a combined $50 million is absurd, even for the Yankees and Red Sox.

My money is on the Twins keeping Santana, and not just for this season. I have a feeling Twins management will find a way to pay him. After all, Twins owner Carl Pohlad is one of the richest owners in baseball. And with the new stadium opening in a few years, they will have a lot more revenue money coming in.
You heard it here first, Santana will stay with Minnesota beyond 2008. The money may not be what he wants, but I think he will get enough to make him the highest paid pitcher in baseball.

Death Comes with a Heartfelt Message

Very few things shake us like death. Death stops us in our tracks.
The sports world was hit with two prominent losses in the last week that froze me.
Joe Kennedy, a free-agent pitcher who played for Oakland, Arizona and Toronto last season, passed away at the young age of 28. He had a wife, a 1-year-old kid, and his wife was pregnant with their second kid. Those two children are going to grow up without knowing their father. That’s the kind of heartbreaking news within a story that brings out the emotion in me.
Tuesday morning, I woke up at 5 a.m. to an analyst on ESPN2 saying “we have some sad news…” and he went on to break the news that Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor, all of 24 years old, had died from complications to a gunshot wound he received 24 hours earlier when someone tried to break into his Florida home.
Anybody that knows me will tell you I love sports, maybe a little too much. I take wins and losses pretty seriously. After I spend almost 12 hours on a Saturday watching college football, I feel like these athletes have become a part of my extended family. Sort of like distant cousins you know exist, but you never physically meet.
So whenever an athlete dies, I take it a lot harder than everyone else.
Taylor’s death upset me because I honestly liked Taylor as a player. He was a dominant Free Safety, which is a position on the football field that I love. Taylor’s job was to sit back and strike when the ball was in the air. My dad asked me if he was a good player and emphatically, I said he was a great player.
ESPN.com’s Marwan Maalouf broke down Taylor’s skills in a recent blurb for Scouts Inc., saying “Not only were Taylor's coverage skills exceptional, he brought a physical mentality and toughness that was well respected around the league. A devastating hitter, Taylor wanted to leave his mark in every game by letting receivers know that they had better think twice about going up for a ball in front of him.”
When I see coverage of the memorials that Washington fans are holding for Taylor, I have to fight back a few tears. He was only a kid, just one year older than me.
But I think we can learn something from Kennedy’s death, though. As of right now, everything about his death is speculation, but the people close to him believe he had an enlarged heart and that probably played a role in his death.
According to WebMD.com, there are three types of an enlarged heart and many people who suffer from any of the variations don’t have symptoms. The only version that lists “sudden death” as a possible symptom is Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), so I’m assuming that this is the variation that Kennedy had, if in fact he had an enlarged heart.
Kennedy isn’t the only athlete to die from an enlarged heart recently. Earlier this month, Olympic Marathon runner Ryan Shay, 28 years old, collapsed, and later died, during a Men’s Olympic Marathon Trials event in New York City. After the tragic event, his father revealed that when Ryan was 14, he had been diagnosed with an enlarged heart.
HCM is something that runs through a family history, or can associated with high-blood pressure. Hopefully, enough people will see the stories of Shay and Kennedy, and take a look in the mirror, and get checked out for form of Heart Disease. If these athletes, in pretty good physical condition can die from something like this at such a young age, then I think more people can.
If anything good can possibly come from these deaths, I would hope that the mainstream media would work together with a heart disease awareness group, and get the message out to viewers and athletes, and advise them to get regular check-ups. The deaths of Kennedy and Shay should warn people that you don’t have to be on the downswing of life to have heart problems.

My BCS Outlook, as of Monday, November 26th, 2007

By a show of hands, I’d like to know how many people had the Missouri Tigers as the #1-ranked team in the polls heading into the final week of the College Football regular season. Anybody?
I imagine if I asked that to a room of 100 college football fans, everyone in the room would be looking around to see if any hands were in the air.
I hope everyone enjoys watching Missouri and West Virginia duke it out for the National Championship on January 7th. I’ll be enjoying the comfort of a bed 9,000 miles away.
For the third straight year, I will in India when the National Championship is decided. And this year, I will not be scrambling to find a way to tune into the game. I will be sleeping like a baby and I won’t shed a tear when I wake up.
Missouri and West Virginia just doesn’t get my blood pumping like USC and Texas two years ago. That was a match-up we saw coming for weeks. USC and Texas were 1-2, respectively, in every week of the BCS standings that year, except for Week 8, when Texas was #1 and USC was #2. USC was dubbed “the greatest team ever” by the mass media and the Vince Young-led Longhorns weren’t supposed to have a chance to win the game.
Don’t get me wrong, I like watching both teams run their offenses. I wish more teams used Missouri’s Run and Shoot offense. I’d love to see more teams spread five Wide Receivers out on every play. And the speed of West Virginia, with Pat White, Steve Slaton and Noel Divine, make them extremely entertaining to watch.
But the Tigers and the Mountaineers just doesn’t have the punch to make me get up at 5 a.m. this year.
What would cause me to wake up at such an odd hour while on my vacation?
A rather complicated scenario, actually. Follow me on this.
The simple part involves Missouri losing to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship and West Virginia losing to Pittsburgh on Saturday, thus eliminating both from the title picture. Ohio State, needing just one of those two teams to lose, would claim one of two vacant spots.
Now here’s is where things get tricky, and a little wishful thinking comes into play.
Watching ESPN’s BCS expert Brad Edwards recently, he went over the possible scenarios in order for LSU, the team I still feel is the best team in the nation, to make the National Championship game.
Right now, LSU is #7 in the rankings. They need Mizzou and WVU to lose. Then they need to handle their business in the SEC Championship game against Tennessee. Their chances are greatly improved if Boston College can beat Virginia Tech in the Big East title game, but VaTech doesn’t necessarily have to lose.
If all of this happens, the voters would have no choice but put LSU above Kansas and Georgia, both idle. If Missouri, West Virginia and Virginia Tech all lose this weekend, that leaves Ohio State and LSU as the last teams standing.
Now that would get me up at an ungodly time during my vacation.

******************************

After all the event of last night, it seems as though my wish will come true, and I may actually be waking up very early in the morning on January 11th in Bombay. I had a massive headache last night, so I slept through the Mizzou-Ou game and the West Virginia-Pitt game. When I woke up, my dad broke the news to me. I was too out of it to put everything together, but now it looks like LSU will leapfrog VaTech in the rankings today.

Good Riddence to a Loser and a Quitter

So the Red Sox just won the World Series again. I didn't think this day could get any worse. Then there's the breaking news that Alex Rodriguez, the man that had finally won over the fans of New York and proclaimed his love of playing in New York, has decided to opt out of the final three years of his contract.
As a diehard Yankee fan, I was devestated when I first saw the A-Rod news. Then I read the reported reasons. My mood changed to 'to hell with A-Rod.'
The article on ESPN.com says that A-Rod opted out because of the uncertainty of the free agents of the Yankees. The players he's all of a sudden concerned about are Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte.
So logically, to show your concern, the best thing to do is to bail on them?
Listen Alex (and Mr. Boras, if you'd like, you can listen to), if you were really concerned about whether the Yankees brought those players back, you should have called all three of them up and said "if you come back, I will come back. We have something good here, so let's keep it together."
You're not fooling anybody. You don't give a hoot about Jorge, Mo or Andy. All you and Scott care about is having the biggest contract in sports. Now that David Beckham has a $250 million contract, you feel the need to top that, even though technically, your current contract was worth more when you signed it.
You're not fooling us. You never cared about any of the players on the Yankees.
This is a perfect example of why Derek Jeter will always be twice the man you'll ever hope to be. Derek will go to Jorge, Mo and Andy and tell them the right move is to come back. He's not going to go to Cashman and say "I'm worried about Jorge, Mo and Andy not coming back, so before you attempt to re-sign them, I want to be traded." Derek would go on recruiting trips for Cashman if he was asked to.
Alex, I hope you find happiness in whichever city you decide to go to. But remember, for as long as you live, you will be remembered as a loser and a quitter in New York. That's something nobody can live down, even if you hit 800 home runs.

Take it easy,
Ali

There is Hope after all

A little over three weeks ago, I called for the firing of Greg Ryan, the coach of the U.S. Women's soccer team, after he benched the current and unscored upon goalie, Hope Solo, for the grizzlie veteran, Briana Scurry. I wonder if someone read that posting.
If only I had that kind of influence.
Either way, come January 1st, Ryan wont have to decide between Solo and Scurry.
When the goal of the team is to win every game, and a decision made by the coach costs his team a chance to win, the coach has to go. It was the right move, and I commend U.S. soccer president Sunil Gulati for doing what was right for the team.
I defended Solo and her comments, and by firing Ryan, Gulati backed up his goalie. Most people in the media ripped Solo for speaking out, but she was right, and this move proves it.

Take It Easy,
Ali

George, back from the dead...

BREAKING NEWS: George Steinbrenner is, somehow, still alive!

Yes folks, The Boss, is still here. And today, he announced his resurrection with a profound bang.

If the Yankees don't win the next three game, start with the game starting momentarily, Joe Torre will be looking for a new job, just like Jim Tracy and possibly Tony La Russa.

I've been a huge supporter of The Boss over the years. I think he has been unfairly criticized by the media and fans of other teams for his spending. It's his money, there is no salary cap in baseball, so stop whining.

I've loved just about everything about George. The win-or-else mentality. The spend-at-all-costs way of doing business.
But I hate how he puts all the blame on Joe Torre. No other manager would be able to do the job that Torre does. No other manager, not even Sweet Lou Pinella, would have been able to get this year's Yankees out of the rut they were in at the end of May. Torre stayed calm, knowing that eventually the stockpile of talent on the team would wake up.
Torre has the respect of these Yankees. They trust him. He has a bond with Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera that a new manager will not have, and probably will never have. The other veterans are comfortable with Torre, and firing him would be a colossal mistake.

Hopefully, this is just a scare tactic in an attempt to light a fire under the Yankees, who are on the brink of elimination. With the hole the Yankees have dug themselves, it probably wont work, and George will have put himself into a position where he has to fire Torre.

Yankees fans need to hope for one of three things to happen:
1. The Yankees stage a miracle comeback by winning three straight, including a Game 5 in Gnat-Land.
2. Brian Cashman grows a set of onions, and publicly backs Torre, stating that Torre isn't going anywhere. And lastly...
3. Before he has a chance to hand Torre his pink slip, Steinbrenner dies, thus bringing sanity back to the Bronx Bombers.

Sadly, I don't think either of those three things will happen, and a combination of Steinbrenner sticking by his words and Torre finally being fed up with having his job dangled in front of the Yankees playoff success, will part ways.
The Yankees will then bring back Torre on Opening Day 2008, where he will get the longest standing ovation in recent memory. Following that, there will be a long chant of "Fuck You George" by the Yankee faithful, showing their support for Torre.

I saw the future of the Warriors flash before my eyes late last night...

...Thankfully, the future remains bright.
Last night, the top headline on ESPN.com was a breaking news story from Hawaii, where the Warriors are holding their training camp. The story said that Monta Ellis, the 21-year-old diamond in the rough, had hurt his neck during a drill, and lay prone on the ground for over 20 minutes. Reports from eye witnesses said that he had no movement in his arms and legs.

It took a while, but the Chronicle finally put something up on SFGate. Janny Hu, who was at the practice, said that Monta fell and hit his head on the hip of Brendan Wright.
The news left me with a heavy heart. Anytime we see a player suffer an injury involving the neck, we instantly think the worst. My first thought when I saw that he had hurt his neck and had no movement was that at 21, his career was over.
I'm not a religious man, but I was praying for him as I went to bed.

When I woke up, and turned on ESPN, I caught something out of the corner of my eye. It was the scroll on the bottom of the screen. I managed to read the last part which read something along the lines of "left hospital under own power." I didn't have to see the rest of the scroll. I knew it was about Monta. The biggest sense of relief came over me.

When it comes to sports, neck injuries terrify me. Torn tendons in a players elbow or knee can heal with surgery and inactivity. Concussions take time, but the player gets over it (until he gets hit hard again...see Steve Young) and broken bones mend themselves. But serious neck injuries can be life changing injuries. Players may walk again, but it can take years, and usually, the effects are noticable. Think Kyle Brady, Adam Taliaferro, and now, Kevin Everett. Time will tell what kind of effects Everett's injury will have on him. Doctor's think he'll walk again, but the chances are slim as to whether he'll ever play again.
Monta Ellis should be saying a million prayers, and thanking his lucky stars he doesn't have to start planning rehab assignments in order to walk again.

Solo by herself, but I'm with her

Let me preface this post by saying that I'm not a big soccer fan. I've tried really hard to make it a sport that I care about, but I just can't get past the lack of action.
But when the World Cup, Men's or Women's, starts, I find myself paying quite a bit of attention. As was the case this past week when the USA Women made it to the semifinals to play Brazil. I figured that it would be a good match-up.
Since I don't really follow the day-to-day news of soccer, I had no idea that Briana Scurry, the goalie for the USA for the better part of the last decade, had been replaced by a younger, better goalie, Hope Solo. From everything I heard on ESPN, Solo was playing really well during the tournament, and hadn't allowed a goal in over three games.
Then, after the U.S. wins their quarterfinal match, with Solo patrolling the net, coach Greg Ryan decides to replace Solo at goalie with Scurry. Scurry hadn't played a full game in about three months, and Solo was playing shutout, shutdown goal tending.
It's one thing to do this if the match is just an International Friendly or an exhibition, but you don't make this kind of a move in the semifinals of the World Cup.
Some of the reasoning I heard from ESPN analysts was that Scurry had a great record against Brazil, and Solo had never faced them. My problem with that reasoning is that Scurry accumulated her sterling record against Brazil in the late 1990's and the early part of this decade. And just because Solo has never faced Brazil doesn't mean she can't stop them. We're never going to know if she can stop Brazil until she faces them.
I woke up at 6 a.m. on Thursday morning to find Brazil up 2-0 at halftime, with the U.S. already looking defeated. Scurry looked old, and Solo looked pissed on the sideline. When the match ended with the U.S. on the losing end of a 4-0 score, Solo walked off the field, practically in tears. And I don't blame her.
After the match, a reporter stuck his microphone under the nose of an upset Solo and he got an honest reaction from her. She criticized her coach for making a dumb move, a comment which I wholeheartedly agree with. But she then made a comment saying that she would have made saves on the shots that got by Scurry. The media heard this, and ran with it as a criticism of Scurry by one of her teammates. I saw it as that, but also as a confidence in her abilities to make the crucial saves.
Solo was the goalie who hadn't given up a goal in over 300 minutes. She was the goalie that got her team to where it was. She should have been starting, and I applaud her for being honest. She later apologized, and I honestly think that was the wrong move. She should have stood by her words.
Coach Greg Ryan should be fired for making such a boneheaded move.
In baseball, if you have a young, phenom pitcher who is pitching well, you don't replace him with an over-the-hill veteran just because the veteran has experience in tough situations.
Ryan cost the U.S. team a chance to bring back the World Cup to the States, and for that, he should lose his job. The ultimate goal is to win, and he sabotaged his teams' chance of winning. There is no forgiveness. There should be no second chance.

Etch-It-In-Stone Prediction #2

In my last post, I analyzed this years Heisman race. To recap, I predicted that Tim Tebow would walk away from the ceremony with the hardware. Colt Brennan sprained his ankle and did not play this weekend. If he sits out another game, I think his chances of winning the Heisman might vanish.

Now for the prediction part of my post. I've been wanting to write about this for about two weeks now, but since I didn't have a place to post, I was just telling friends about this prediction.

During the first week of the season, I watched Oklahoma play, and got my first look at true freshman quarterback Sam Bradford. For a freshman he looked confident and was making precise passes. 21 of 23 for 363 yards is nothing to sneeze it, even if it was against lowly North Texas. But then again, it was North Texas.
But four weeks into the season, Bradford has a 78.1 completion percentage. That's not too shabby. In fact, that's the best completion percentage in the nation. USC senior QB John David Booty has a 70.1 comp pct. Did I mention that Bradford is a true freshman. A true freshman is propelling the #3 team in the nation.

My Etch-It-In-Stone for today is that by the end of his junior year, Sam Bradford will win the Heisman. I'll take it even further. If he wins the Heisman in 2009, he will be the first overall pick in the April 2010 NFL Draft. A kid that has this kind of accuracy and confidence is sure to have a bright future at the next level.

Take it easy,
Ali

Etch-It-In-Stone Prediction #1

With the college football season in full stride, the candidates for this years Heisman Award are seperating themselves for the wannabes.
Steve Slaton and Pat White are powering West Virginia through the Big East, but they still have to go through Rutgers and South Florida. One loss for WV could mean the end of the run for both Slaton and White.
Brian Brohm is arguably the best quarterback in the nation, but his Louisville Cardinals just lost their second game of the season. In the weird college football world that we live in, his chance are pretty much gone, no matter what kind of numbers he puts up.
Darren McFadden is the most overpowering running back in the nation, combining wrecking ball force with blazing speed. The problem is Arkansas has to run the gauntlet known as the SEC. They've already lost to Alabama and Kentucky, and football isn't what the University of Kentucky is known for. They still have to play Auburn, Tennessee, new power South Carolina and national power LSU. Since the Razorbacks already have two losses, I feel comfortable writing off McFadden. If they lose one more, he can go ahead and ask for a refund on his plane ticket to New York City.
In my eyes, the leading contenders are USC quarterback John David Booty, Florida QB Tim Tebow and Hawaii QB Colt Brennan.
Booty is the conventional pocket passer with a dozen weapons surrounding him. I expect USC to run the table, which means Booty is going to have a solid season, ensuring his spot in NYC.
Tebow and Brennan are the true sleepers in the field. Tebow is the dual-threat battering ram that now gets center stage with the graudation of Chris Leak. Leak had low expectations and ended by winning a National Title. Tebow has high expectations, so he has to do more than just win the National Title. Tebow's candidacy depends almost solely on Florida's mammoth meeting with LSU on October 6th. If Florida leaves New Orleans with a win over the Bayou Bengals, Tebow should be considered the favorite for the Heisman.
Colt Brennan is the player I always keep an eye on. More accurately, whoever is playing QB for Hawaii gets my attention. If you can't put up big numbers in June Jones' offense, you shouldn't be allowed to play quarterback. While the offense scheme does comtribute to Brennan's ridiculous numbers, he still has to execute the plays. I really feel like if more people had a chance to watch Brennan play, he'd get more consideration. Hawaii's schedule may be soft compared to what Booty and Tebow have to deal with, but if Hawaii remains unbeaten, I think the committee has to at least invite Brennan to the Heisman ceremony.

With all that said, my pick for the 2007 Heisman is Tebow. Booty may get more exposure and have an easier chance of getting to the National Championship game, but Tebow does it all. We all knew he could run, but now he's proving that he can throw the ball down field. He's flashy and has more personality. And he's a sophmore. And he has the defending National Champions thinking Repeat, just like their basketball counterparts.

So Etch-It-In-Stone: 2007 Heisman Trophy Award Winner: Tim Tebow, QB, Florida.

Take it easy,
Ali

Welcome to my Opinion-driven World.

Since this is my first posting, the polite thing to do would be to introduce myself. My name is Ali Thanawalla. I go by the name Ali Thanawalla. But you can call me Ali.
I'm a 23-year-old student at San Francisco State, majoring in Journalism and Photojournalism. I'm trying to decide which concentration I want to focus on. Photography is what I enjoy more, but I've had a real passion for creative writing since my senior year of high school. I finished high school with more experience looking through a viewfinder than writing about the thoughts that came into my head. But at the community college I went to, there was no photography department. So I put my mom's old Minolta camera down and turned my attention to creative writing classes.
Writing was the first solid direction I had. During high school, I dabbled in website design and thought about psychology, but I was never able to grasp those concepts completely. Writing is what pulled me towards journalism. I never thought about being a journalist growing up. But when I would pick up the newspaper every morning, my first move was to pick up the Sports page and see what columnists like Dave Del Grande, Bruce Jenkins, Tim Fitzgerald and Scott Olster had to say.
I'm a huge sports fan. I've had friends tell me that they've never met anyone that knows more about sports than I do. Combine that with my love for writing, and that's how I came up with journalism.
As one can imagine, my dad is a quite skeptical of this journalism thing, but I'm determined to do something I love with my life, and on some level, prove him wrong. I may not make as much money as he's made in his life, but I want to do something in life that makes me happy at the end of the day.

This blog is going to revolve around sports. I am going to tell you how I genuinely feel about a lot of topics, and I am going to make predictions. One of my favorite things about debating sports with friends is making bold predictions, having your friend laugh in your face and tell you that's the dumbest thing they've heard, and then have your prediction come true. I may even post some photographs that I take.

I welcome feedback, and I love to debate sports, so I hope anyone and everyone that reads this feels compelled to challenge me.

Take it easy,
Ali