@!ex$$w0r!d™ ©

We have been preparing for close to 50 days for our first tournament of the season @ BITS Pilani ,BOSM’08.Its undoubtedly the most prestigious & eagerly awaited of our fixtures simply because it’s one stage where we get to lock horns with some of the best colleges in the country.It’ is an open sports meet & yeah a sort of Olympics at this level.

And we go there almost like how India leave for an Olympics.Nobody expects us to win too many medals for there will be enough takers.Most among us go there basically to have a paid holiday in the best private technical institute in the country & obviously to satisfy our visual pleasures.

Though ours is a different case.The football team has a purpose.We believe the person who said “it’s all about participation & not winning” was a big time loser. For results do matter and football is all about winning and losing like any other sport, all about getting the goal that matters, all about doing the so-called ``right things'' on the field. And art and beauty often take a beating when they do not translate as "right things".

But, then, did Van Gogh worry about winning at a painting competition when he painted Sunflowers? Did Mozart think about winning at a music festival when he composed those great works of genius?I don’t know.

Did Maradona want his team to be world beaters when his timeless biological work of art helped create a few breathtakingly awe-inspiring sporting moments that should rank among the highest forms of art that any sportsman might have ever aspired to.He obviously did & so do we.

On a pesonal note this could very well be my last shot at the coveted football trophy at BITS since I may be busy next year due our campus placements.That in itself is a huge motivational factor not to forget that I have slowly but surely shed my junior tag in the team.I would very well be expecting myself to contribute substantially to the team’s cause.I have drawn enough flak trying to emulate David Beckham’s ticket to fame half line goal unsuccessfully(I am still confident of pulling it out one day)though someone whom I am pretty confident of emulating is none other than Zinedine Zidane & walk out of the ground like stud with a red card.Someone whom I wouldn’t want to emulate would be a Roberto Baggio during a penalty kick or for that matter a John Terry spot kick @ Moscow.And yeah i swear not to swear however hard my opponents provoke me.

I know none of you would care for what happens in the next week for our team though it wouldn’t be too much of a burden to carry some genuine wishes.

We have put in our sweat & toil with this sole aim to go out there & do well .Last time we were the semi finalists though i dint come back empty handed-i came back with the malarial parasite P Falciparum though i would prefer a medal this time around.Wish I could write a fairytale epilogue in a weeks time.