Welcome Back!!!

He might have captained England at Old Trafford but last night was the official home coming for the blue eyed boy of the English football. David Beckham, not quite was he a prodigal son on the pitch last night but was an opponent. It surely must be an emotional night for the player, who was not only loved but revered as one of the Manchester United best players and former captain of the club. Then, also, there were protestors with the yellow and green scarves to show the support to the Red Knights and dissent towards the Glazers. Currently, the Glazers are probably the most hated figure in Manchester, if not in England. But Beckham’s comeback was completely overshadowed by the man, who has been constantly getting better this season. He has been a revelation. Wayne Rooney. It has been absolute joy to watch Rooney this season. He made some incredible moves, great runs and once again he was very good in the air. He has now scored 30 goals so far this season, only 12 short of the record 42 goals by Cristiano Ronaldo in the penultimate season.

And of course, what a match! Rossoneris’ defense did look fragile from the beginning, but still I was quite surprised by the full-time score line. After all its AC Milan, the seven times champion of the Europe. But by the time Manchester United scored the third goal (Ji-Sung Park), the Rossoneris had probably already given up and they looked really demoralized. The aggregate score line for Man U vs. ACM after the two legs, 7 -2. Amazing ain’t it??

I, however, was surprised to see Real Madrid crash out. It was unbelievable. With over $200 million spend over last summer; this team certainly needs to perform much better than their current form. One more reason to believe that there actually might be lack of value in the market (in terms of players), as stated by Sir Alex and Real Madrid did grossly overpaid for some of their stars, like Karim Benzema. Real Madrid has not qualified for the quarterfinals for the sixth consecutive year, too much for a team which boast of the Galacticos. For, the Los Blancos need to win to justify their investments. :)

Maple Leaf Magic

Nobody is supposed to beat Canada in Hockey, just like nobody is supposed to beat India in cricket and the US in Kardashians (: P). I was in Toronto, Canada and could really feel that Canadians wanted Hockey Gold more than Favre wants to wave another Super Bowl ring at Green Bay. How often do you see deserted downtown streets and a relatively quiet harbourfront (Toronto) on a nice although not such a balmy day? My Uncle quipped “Apparently most of them are glued to the idiot box as the match begins in couple of hours and also the bars look busy!!”

Like Kevin Greenstein said “If several NHL owners are nervously watching the Olympics Hockey, it’s with good reason. More than $300 million worth of hockey players are still participating in the tournament, risking injury for the sake of national pride.” That’s right; the combined salary of the final four Olympic Hockey teams would cost more than $300 million in combined NHL salary and the combined value of the two final Olympic Hockey teams (the US & Canada) would cost more than $200 million.

I so much wanted to see the game but could not as I had to travel later that day and also had some personal commitments. Being from Buffalo where Hockey is really ‘the most in thing’ and Buffalo Sabres the only thing to write home about, I started following Hockey sometime in 2008. I was, in fact, completely nonchalant about the free tickets from my workplace which I used to get then (and I still get) for the Buffalo Sabres game. So like when I start to follow any new game, I tend to check out the teams and the players doing well in that particular league. Sidney Crosby (a Canadian & plays for NHL) was the name that crossed my mind couple of times during 2008-09 seasons and I was not surprised Crosby’s team, Pittsburg Penguins, actually won the NHL Stanley Cup that season. Although Crosby had already shown his mettle in his earlier years in NHL, with the Stanley Cup victory in 2008-09 season Crosby became the youngest NHL captain to hoist the Cup. He remains one player to watch out for, along with Ryan Miller (Buffalo Sabres Goalie), in this season of Stanley Cup. Why Miller? After all the silver medalist got louder cheers in Pittsburg on yesterday night than those given to the Penguins own Sidney Crosby. Frankly, on Sunday I was cheering for the US only because of Ryan Miller, but Sidney outshone him.

“Sidney Crosby recorded an assist in his first game after a star-turn capping Olympics. Crosby has won a gold medal and the Stanley Cup in the past eight months, and he is a threat to win his first NHL goal-scoring title this season. At 22, he is the toast of Pittsburgh -- and the hockey world.” ~Yahoo Sports