Odyssey of a Sports fan

I started watching cricket when I was 5-6 years old. My first memories of the same were Vinod Kambli's back to back double centuries and India routing England 3-0 in that series. That series set me up to become an ardent sports fan, a follower whose devotion to games has only grown as I get older.

Cricket was THE game to follow for a long time. I remember watching every absurd game that was aired on television including Ranji and other domestic forms of the game. when new players debuted for the Indian team, most of their names were already familiar to me çoz I had already followed them for so long. Hence I knew names like Amol Mazumdat, Jatin Paranjape, Noel David , S Sriram, Debang Gandhi etc. I was a fan of Rahul Dravid almost 2 years before he made his debut on the national scene.

Around 2000, the whole match fixing scandal broke loose, and I grew very disillusioned by the whole sordid scene. It was almost overnight that I lost all affection for the game as I realised what a cheap commercial exercise it had all become. The kind of emotions evoked by the game are crazy. One only had to see the firecrackers and celebrations post an India win or the tears and sadness post an Indian loss to know about this. Match days used to be non-games day for my gang as we used to all be glued to our televisions watching the game. When sportsman don't respect that kind of passion, its just a bitter pill to swallow.

Around that time, EPL was just about getting its roots in on prime time television. I became fascinated with Liverpool following Michael Owen's wonder goal for England v/s Argentina and begun to silently cheer for the team. Around 01-02, with fantasy football making an appearence and with many of us declaring teams as our favourite, I begun to honestly shift to watching soccer, I became the lone pool fan with Sid a Gunner, Nikhil, Macneal all being devils. Bruno (God bless his soul) was a lone Fulham fan due to him liking the Pizza Hut jersey.Football became a passion, a way of life.

I have been following Liverpool football club for the past 10 years now, with 8 of those being in deadly earnest where in I have learnt the club song, bought 4 jerseys and other memorobilia, known by heart every player playing for Liverpool and their backgrounds that they come from etc.. etc.. Its just a real sponteaneous thing. When they win, they can at times bring tears to my eyes. and when they lose, they plunge me into the depths of dark despair. I pray for them diligently every day in order that they win more games, and may finally achieve the holy grail of the premiership, that Rafa may be able to weave more magic. Once you start watching the game, its like an addictive drug that you can't get enough of. I have never been higher than when I watched Steven gerrard lift the CL trophy and I truly believe that my prayers had some thing to do with the same.