Aggie Football Preview

As we come closer to the new season in both professional football and the college football, I feel the urge and the need to put my two cents into the huddle. As the nuances and the ape like instances of our dream football (or as it is most likely known, the fantasy football among the elite of the elite) are unbeknownst to me, I feel like my ideas would be more than enough to quench the thirst of my own curiosity (and maybe anyone else who is reading).

So let me start off by my first love, the Aggie football team. Depsite the fact that their performance in the past few years has been excruciating to say the least, they alsways have been my college football favorites. Not to say that they are the best team, the reality is far from it, but they have my loyalties (just as Houston Texans, Rockets, Astros, Dynamo, and Aeros do). Aggie football was the first college team that I watched and it will always remain elusive to me to give out my loyalties to some other team. Anyways coming back to the team's performance in the past few years, I think that we are on track to falling on hard times, and we certainly will if we don't improve our performance this year. Let me explain this a little better. The strength of any college is not in the coaching staff, not in the stadium not in the total attendance or for that matter the support of the freakin college student body itself. Yes, these are very helpful vessels to carry the team forth and forward but a team can never prosper if the right people haven't signed onto the team, and most importantly if passionate people aren't in the pipes for the team. Recruiting comes to mind as the most important factor in a college's doing in the tournament every year (and the conference). Recruiting is no easy task, its not only the college visits, or for that matter any lavish and outlandish parties that are thrown in the honor of the upcong and prospective players. Recruiting depends on how the college does in a season, and more than that how much a college is featured on national television (which in turn depends on how the team does, which in and on itself is a catch-22) for the reasons for coming to college have changed drastically in the pastfew years. Now a days college athletes want to make a nig name for them in addition to playing big and sometimes one is not necessary for the other. Once a player is noticed on the national level he is on the radar (and please spare me tha crap about scouts, the scouting level has not been any good for the past few decades in the NFL) and once you are on the radar you are money (sorry to use the colloquial).

So back to our discussion about the very nature of the college football politics. More you win, the more you are on national TV, the more you are on national TV the more you have a chance of getting new and fresh blood into your recruiting lines.

So now that we are through with that lecture, the recruting for the past few years has not been that great and ruefully enough this year it wasn't that great either. With both Texas and Oklahoma getting the lion's share of the recruits (as has been the trend for the past couple of years) the team A&M has is still pretty young and still not that great at defense. This is the last year that we have any chance of surviving any more degradation in our ranks of the recruits because anyone that we got with a promise to "start" this year will not work next time, because who wants to be a starter when you are starting for a losing team. It is here that we must make our last stand and we must keep in mind that we have to win over our critics and win over the hearts and minds of the people in high school that are watching. Once this season is over and even if we are around the mark of 8 and above that will tell the rest of the crowd in Texas that there is still room here for them, that this can still be the launching pad for their career. Our offense is in truly good hands, as shown by the depth at TB, RB and FB and our QB is also not a freshman, but a yoiung veteran (aplogies for using the exymoron, but when he started against Texas it was kind of a done deal that he could take the pressure).

Nonethless, we have it to our advantage to go out there and give it, all simply because we don't have anything really to lose anyways.

The Ominous Clouds

As little black flower tops of umbrellas popped open and people scurried around trying to find shelter, after a very long time I remembered how rain really felt like. Rain! People have such a love affair with it. Some people love it some people hate it, and some people are just okay with it no emotions nothing. But for me I have a complicated relationship with it. I still remember when I was a kid that I used to love rain. I would incessantly ask my mother if I could go out and play in the rain and I still remember the extreme happiness I felt when she would put aside her motherly nature of caring for my health and look deep down inside me to the little child who just wanted to go play in the rain, no pre requisites, no strings attached nothing to gain nothing to lose, just go and play in the rain and she would nod her head keeping her own childish smile at bay. I would go out and look up at the sky and let the tiny droplets sting my eyes for little bit until they could take no more and partially blinded, I would run around in no particular pattern in the garden of my house. I think that in addition to the fact that I felt really happy, I would look at the rain as nothing but joy. I would have no presumptions, no requirements, nothing just pure and simple I wanted to be in the rain. I wouldn’t think of the consequences of what the rain might do to the millions of people who probably would be suffering or for that matter, the millions of farmers who had their crop out at that time of the season.

I think more than anything I was always happy in the rain, but as times change and they certainly have I really don’t feel that joy that sudden urge to run out and play in the rain. As I grow older (and supposedly take on more responsibility) the more I relinquish the very childish nature of things that I looked at. I used to have this knack of natural things a way about me that wanted to care for the life of the living things and not that I don’t anymore, the passion is completely gone. Decades have passed and I can still remember the sweet smell of the earth that emanated from the garden after the rain, I still remember that almost always, the electricity would go out during the rain, and my entire family would sit outside as darkness would fall and despite the humidity outside a subtle wind would blow now and then and I would feel so content and happy that it was unbelievable.

I try to recreate that same sensation now, but since rain usually destroys my “mood” while I trek my way across the puddles to work, I really don’t pay any attention to it but rather try to avoid it. Now during the rain I look up and even before the rain drops have a chance to sting my eyes and try to obliterate my resistance to happiness I sense the dark and ominous clouds that produce the rain and I wonder to myself “wow, never really looked at those clouds before closely” and even before I have a chance to break my shackles of responsibility and run towards the unbound populace, I put my head down and walk faster becoming one with the crowd of people who are trying to get away from the rain while my old friend still beckons.

Journalistic Integrity

I recently came across an article from Newsweek that detailed a behind the scenes look at how the American President is taking in stride the new violence that erupted in Middle East. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. One hand I had the sayings of Madeline Albright who said that being in the executive branch of the US is one of the hardest jobs but on the other I wasn’t sure how people can put a number on a human life. This doesn’t only go for the places that are outside the US where US involvement has wrought havoc, but also within the US. Decisions in instances like hurricane Katrina, Rita, the degradation of the healthcare, stem cell research and countless others decisions that have lives of people attached to it are made by the president, and yet he is barely moved by the value of human life but is spewing speeches from his pulpit to the civilians of this country explaining how he is working to save not only their lives but the lives of countless others in the world.

Albeit the fact that I am appalled by the president’s actions I was more aghast at what the reporter was detailing. According to the journalist the “grueling nature” of the president, was him sitting 30,000 feet above in the relative safety of his jet and make decisions that affect millions of lives. I believe that the journalistic integrity of the reporters is being damaged by the events in the world, in other words the incidents in this world are happening at such a pace that the journalists have focused their attention to the micro incidents rather than take into their mind the big picture. Before this advent of “Guerilla Journalism” journalism used to be a profession that was looked at with reverence, I still remember when in Pakistan the “press” sticker used to mean something. History stands witness that previously when there was a news item or a story that was worthy, journalists would ask tough questions, and not be looking for a flashy story that would catch the eye of the reader.
The Watergate scandal, the 50’s McCarthyism trials with brave souls who stood in the way of paranoia, and even in the international sectors, the release of documents that led to the conviction of USA in the Nicaraguan Contra affairs by the International Court of Justice was something to be proud of. People looked up to these journalists that were the stalwarts of the news stories. To me it doesn’t matter what side of the story you are going to present, at least which ever side you are presenting, ask questions that are worthy of your job. The unwritten code of honor and ethics that comes with a job such as journalism and yet more and more I see people abandoning the ideas that stood in the face of oppositions long ago.

The Great Divide

Since the attacks on Lebanon by Israel the divide between Muslims seems to be growing. Not that the divide wasn’t already close to a rift before that, but I think that within the Muslim community people have begun to take sides on a more macro scale than before. People have started to side with moderates, the angry (or as the media forces us to call them extremists), and the dejected. More and more it seems that the moderates that were a force on themselves have been siding with either of the groups. People have realized that there really is no ground between the dejected and the angry and that the world really doesn’t listen to the people who are in between but rather to the people who are extremely angry or extremely dejected.

The rift didn’t start now, but it has been festering in the community for about 1300 years and this is just another facet that we are seeing of this dark side of our Islam that we so toot our horn at. The rift between Shiites and the Sunnis has been there for almost 1300 years irrespective of the fact that it was political at first and then turned into a religious rift. The worst part about this is that this rift is following the entropy theory of the world. It gets bigger and bigger. Few years ago people were open to ideas and even inter Islamic faith relationships and now despite understanding what it might ensue people are not ready to accept the fact that there can ever be a union between the two sexes from the different part of Islam.

This is but a small example of what this divide has done, and there are so many other things that we have to keep at bay in order to keep this rift from drifting apart (solely on the internal forces). The people who want nothing but to keep Islam in this position have only but to fuel the fire and it will catch on like the fire in the forest.

I have thought about this long and hard and it seems that there is nothing that can resolve this rift other than a complete breakdown of images, ideas and revolutions of how we look, feel and think about each other and as we already know that has not been successful in the past, one can always hope though.

Specter of the President

I realize that there are a lot of people who have voted for the President, and to be honest with you there are certain things that President Bush did that I think I even like, but more or less I have come to think that the pressure from the September 11 tragedy has left a very blatant mark on the President, and he has become incapable of looking at anything without his “Conservative” glasses. My latest banter comes on the heel of a bill that passed both the House and the Senate (something really to be proud of in this partisan environment) and yet when it reached to the person whose counsel and opinion have started to matter less and less in the populace (only 33% of the people approve of the job President Bush is doing) he vetoes it saying that he thinks the American values are under attack and there is a Moral Boundary that shouldn’t be crossed here.

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t a moral boundary crossed when defenseless children in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon were being killed. I guess those killings are to be classified under the “Oops I did it again” folder in the Bush administration (which is filled up to the brim anyways). There are so many things wrong here that I can’t even begin to imagine, but I think I will start with the most basic hypocrisy that this administration is pursuing.

Although you will find that the Bush administration is very glad that they are protectors of peace and democracy and even lives everywhere, their policies are anything but. There have been more innocent casualties of war (after Vietnam) in this President’s period than any other (and I think if we take into account the global effects of the decisions of this president that my just push him overboard). With stem cell research there was one avenue that Bush could have acted to save some lives. To me you can never put a value on human life, despite it being any creed, race or religion, and yet this administration keeps forgetting that fact, conveniently I might add. I can understand the fact that the President is trying to save the lives of people who can’t speak for themselves, but then again I question why not put into jail every one of the parents who put those embryos to freeze out there in the first place. Aren’t they as guilty of committing this heinous crime of bringing a life into this world knowing full well that they can’t either afford to give to this new born life everything that he/she needs or they are just too busy in their own lives that they refuse to take care of it. No, no moral boundary has been crosses there, and yet to save another human being’s life through the use of stem cells is proving a dangerous decision.

It seems so blasé that every president wants to leave a legacy instead of save lives. This has been the trend of every president to date, no exceptions. The only man and president that I can ever have any sort of respect for would be George Washington, and only for the reason that he wasn’t after the glory of the president’s post, he already had won enough praise through his “Kicking the Redcoats out” thingy. But after than the post of the president grew its own specter that everyman since then has tried to control but can never do so. It seems ironic at best that President’s decisions take into effect the economics of life. That the only reason the US will even intervene is when enough blood has been spilt or the ends justify the means.

President Bush and not only him but anyone who is going to come after him are going to have to deal with issues that this century is going to throw at them with breakneck speed and they won’t be able to handle it.

A century ago, it was easy to be the President, your aura was enough to scare the boogey man out of someone, you made a few decisions, showed your face at a few inaugurations and signed some documents and you were free to smoke cigars in the Oval office and have red meat lunches with the best. Now the job isn’t easy anymore and yet every president seems to like the perks of the job, but no one is ever willing to take on the responsibility that comes with it. Every single person is involved with pleasing the Specter and not the people who elected him (which also brings in the foray the discussion of the Electoral College, but let us leave that for another day).

The president’s post needs to change and change fast, otherwise there won’t be a country around to rule anyways.

From Gibbon to Aragon

It is happening exactly how I thought it would be. The divide between the Muslims is growing everyday. I recently read the remarks from the president of Jordan that he made on this new support and alleged alliance between Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. He called it the Crescent sticking in the heart of Arabs. I was not only amazed by it, but also appalled by the use of such language by a head of state and not an ordinary one too, but a Harvard graduate as well as a Sand Hurst military graduate. Language like this is only going to add fuel to the already high rising fires of sectarianism. It is simply not Jordan but also Saudi Arabia, and other nations who are raising alarms that the rise of Iran as the leader of the Middle East is just not a viable option. The funny thing is that they go about it, by labeling this whole issue as the violent and unstable nation of Iran is going to rule the Middle East and it is going to create the unstable nation. I am completely baffled, for I thought that it was Saudi Arabia and the Iraq under Saddam who were terrorizing the Middle East but apparently that is never going to come into the picture. What is going to happen is the fact that alienation between the various sects of Islam are going to be deepened further and as a result there is going to be more bloodshed inside Islam even before we get to the rumors from the outside world, and even before we get to the people who want nothing but trouble for the Muslims (and for that matter the third world countries). Iran or no Iran, the west has at least been awoken to the troubled times that have been lain upon the Muslims for the past century. It almost seems like a déjà vu because not too far in the past, you could probably relate to the slums and ghettos of Europe where Jews were not only murdered but were considered something other than human. What did they do, they actually united in the face of adversity, worked hard and finally were able to wield enough power in 1917 to create a declaration that gave way to initial documentation of the creation of the state of Israel, and after 40 years they realized that dream by wielding enough power from the US and UK.

I am truly amazed that Muslims even though they see that only uniting and using the system against the oppressors if going to work, still dont heed the sirens. Most of the Muslim world is wrought with illiteracy and more than anything they are replete with the notions of the grandeur of yester years. They still think that they are ruling the Ottoman Empire or for that matter are a courtesan of the Mughal Empire which is not the case and will never be the case. But the worse of the worse things is that despite countless of other writers who have elaborated on this point so many times, there is no one who is willing to listen. No one is going to start working within the community and at least try to bring peace within our selves first. They are willing to put forth fatwa against the kafir of the day (who happen to be Shiites) and they are willing to kill Shiites even before they fight the plague that has wracked them from without, all the while we as a community are rotting from within. I loved a quote that Mel Gibson used (not from him but from Edward Gibbon the famous historian who said A civilization doesnt fall from wars without unless it has crumbled from within. I wouldnt even go as far as to call the Muslims of today a civilization. We have long forgotten the ways of a civilization and have taken refuge in the nation-states, and these nation-states are giving rise to antagonism that will not only work to weaken us but rip our identity, our religion and our very souls apart.

But as Aragon is asked by a little boy in the Lord of the Rings (and I loved that quote because it is very appropriate for our times) Men are saying that we will not last the night, that there is not hope to which Aragon replied There is always hope! To me hope is the quintessential human emotion, I just pray that we have enough of it left after these terrible incidents are over and the Muslim community is ready to band together to build a future for themselves.

Gnarls Barkley

I ralize that I will be breaking the momentum of the world cup entry, but I got my Gnarls Barkley CD and it was everything that I expected it to be. I mean this was fantastic. Cee Lo Green's voice is so soothing and yet at the same time so mature that it lures you in and lets you believe everything that is good about this world. Mix that with the dangerous sounds produced by danger mouse and you have St. Elsewhere a CD so complete that I was totally immersed in it, the CD reminded me of so many things like, summers in childhood, eating ice cream when you are really hungry for ice cream, takin a bath in extreme hot, or sitting and sipping hot coacoa deep in the mountains while snow falls outside. It was so great that for a moment you will be lost in the world of St. Elsewhere. Every song is different, no song is even similar to any other, no tone no beat, no rythm. Everything about it is absolutely great.

Of course the whole hoopla started with the best song that I have heard in a long time "Crazy" with teh lyrics that will remind you that there is a natural order to things, that there is someone up there that is looking down on you and everything is still good about this world.

I really can't stop thinking about the CD so don't wait too long. Yes, the CD is as good as people are saying so buy it already. It was the best $8 I have spent in a long time.

World Cup Part 1

I never posted anything on my blog throughout the world cup, the reasons although many, simply boil down to the fact that I never really got around to it because I was watching all the games. Now that I have time on my hands, I think that I should recap the event with a trite little summary. The world looked towards Germany this year, as the faithful around the world gathered their thoughts, sights, and minds and put them altogether for this one event. Although here in the US, hardly people noticed, but elsewhere in the world people were gearing up for this wild event with so much anticipation. The world cup has become one of the most anticipated events for the world. The reason in my opinion is because on the playing field, everyone is the same. You really can't distinguish between anyone except their playing ability. Its the ability to demonstrate their agility, skills and tenacity that matters on the field, nothing else. Through the group stages the most impressive teams were the Ghanaians, Ecuadorians, Germans, Portuguese, Australians, Swiss, and the Spanish. Although Ukraine did qualify through the group stage their performance was a direct relationship of their group. A lackluster performance by England, France, Brazil and Netherlands was indicative of how the rest of the tournament would turn out for these respected teams. South Korea, Iran and Japan were for me the biggest disappointments, simply because either of them failed to qualify for the second round match up and there were high hopes for the Japanese team. Unfortunately all these teams were also from the Asian continent, which speaks something about the state of Asian football. When the second round started, it dawned on me that the group stage was simply a stepping stone for most of the teams and as if a giant was awoken France beat Spain in their second round match up with goals from one of my favorite players of the tournament Franck Ribery. France mercilessly punished Spain for their lackluster performance in the second round and stole the victory from underneath the young Spanish team. England continued its dismal performance and only through the bend of Beckham was saved from returning home. Brazil started to look like itself again with a win over Ghana, which the Ghanaians fought very bravely but as it was said in LOTR, "There can be no victory against the power that has risen from the West" (South West of the world to be exact). Argentina played out one of the best matches of the tournament against the tri colores. I have to take a moment here and congratulate Mexico for their performance through the tournament. After a very long time, I have seen the team play out to their best, and to be very honest, they lost to Argentina in the overtime on a goal that was later declared to be the goal of the tournament so the Mexicans should have no fear, for the future looks bright. Italy advanced on a very controversial call to beat the Australians who also have proven that after an absence from the world stage, they can compete with the best of the best. The match between Portugal and Netherlands was something that no football fan should have watched, but Portugal came out victorious and that is all that I have for that match.

The round of sixteen produced some very great battles and teams with credible records proved that experience still counted for something as France overcame a determined Spanish team. As the quarterfinals approached the world sat in anticipation over the fate of the world cup. Stay tuned for the second and final part of the world cup