Shamefull Exit

To be shown a red card in football match purely indicates that the team has to play the remaining part of the game with 1 player short. It plays a detrimental role as the one of player remains unmarked gives the opponent a huge chance of scoring relatively easy. To be booked for yellow card or red card for misconduct or dangerous challenge was introduced in football in 1970 FIFA world cup, and became mandatory in all forms of domestic matches since 1982.
On screen most of the time details are missed when we see player being booked committing a foul, but the on field referee and linesmen help make a sensible decision at last.The point I noticed as I sat and watched late night the Champions league final between Manchester United and Chelsea. There were ugly scenes that occurred in extra time as Tevez was pushed around and finally Didier Drogba was handed red card for slapping Vidic. The greatest ignominy that a player feels is being handed a red card and that on a special occasion like final of great football tournament. The greatest(most shameful) of such exit was that of Zinedin Zidane for head butting Materazzi. The player rated twice as the Fifa world player and golden ball winner in the year 2006, before making a shame full exit from sports with his famously infamous headbutt against Materazzi. So with Beckham against Argentina in the 1998 world cup quarter finals.
Some decision could have been harsh others subdued, but the fact is the player leaves the ground in shame. For some it could have been the most shameful exit of their career, for other just a punishment for their bad tackle on the opponent. It took me by suprise that there were some player on whom the entire teams moral and strength rest, and they carry the team spirit till the dying moment of the great matches only to lose their cool in some untoward incident( they might have been provoked). This exit for many has caused the team to lose their trophies Zidane and Drogba are the 2 names that immediately strikes me as i remember watching the entire match only to realize that their misconduct resulted in losing the silverware for their team.
I just feel that heavy expectation from these players result in loosing their head in the most crucial moments of the game. But after all its these pressure that test every player and separates boys from men.

Blowing The Flame.

Human right violation is not new to mankind, and has occurred ever since man has ruled his fellow men. The society with power and an eager thirst to conquer beyond its occupied territory has always resulted in clash between societies with and without power always resulting in destruction of life and property. The aftermath of such conquest is of more importance as it always result in extreme human right violation, resulting from the revolt of sufferers.
Most of the occasion, the suffering of the oppressed is slipped below the carpet in name of planned violence. But the present scenario, where Chinese government unleashed terror in Tibet resulting in large scale death of local citizens needs appropriate solution. The western world views it as complete death of democracy in Tibet, where as the Tibetans voiced there protest against the Chinese government by disrupting the Olympic flame throughout the world Olympic relay beginning from Athens, London, Paris, San Francisco and Delhi.The question that got highlighted was whether Tibetans were right in their attempt to disrupt the Olympic flame, did it get the required attention by the world in large of the growing atrocities of the Chinese government towards the Tibetans.
A certain part of me accepted the way the Tibetans voiced their protest, as its well known that their peace loving master Dalai Lama is completely against any form of violence, and he ensured that in any kind of protest that were carried out were completely non-violent. Disrupting a rally without hurting, or breaking any law is clearly a matured form of voicing concern. The most important point to notice is none of the protest resulted in any damage of any life or property. They ensured that by targeting the Olympic torch run which ran news in every corner of the world, the Tibetans could reach out to the entire world showing the atrocities suffered by them under the illegitimate Chinese rule.
But how right were they in targeting an event which plans to unite mankind under a single umbrella. Sports and games represented in Olympic brings out the best of an individual, It's a proud moment for any individual to represent his/her country and win accolades by competing with the best in the world. Chinese Olympic event has become a political target for everyone to voice their concern about Chinese inability to provide humanitarian succor to people in Darfur and Tibet. Even Steven Spielberg quit the Olympic artist director after mentioning that he felt the Chinese government did nothing to resolve the crisis at Darfur despite having such strong hold in Sudan national politics. Even the event got out of proportion in India when many top notched sports person decided not to involve themselves in the torch run. Even decision by great leaders to boycott the opening and closing Olympic ceremony as a mean to drive home the message that the Chinese government is wrong in there approach to handle the humanitarian crisis in Tibetan and Darfur.
It looks absurd to choose an occasion like sports to voice their concern about political crisis around the world. Sports is an event that should try to unite mankind in spite of all the differences that exist amidst us, but by we are missing the opportunity that we get what sport and games has to offer. My views are not against the voicing of the concern, but against the occasion used to voice the concern.