US Open 2013

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Last night, my brothers and I went to the US Open. It was my first live tennis match and I loved it! See, I know not to call it a game!

We saw Nadal play against Kohlschreiber, and left before the second night match [a mens' double]. The stadium, Arthur Ashe stadium, I believe is supposed to be the largest tennis stadium!

The atmosphere was great, and thankfully the weather cooperated. It rained terribly all day and thunderstorms were forecasted for throughout the night. Luckily, it didn't start to thunder until we were back home late night!

It was a hectic, tiring, and a very busy weekend... otherwise it would have been nice to show up earlier and explore "the village" around the stadium.

Sometime in the future, it would be great to come back, especially for a later round, to see a more exciting competitive game. I loved yesterday's though and was actually rooting for Kohlschreiber - he played great the first two sets.

Life is on the hectic side lately, that's for sure. To top it off, I'm going to Virginia to spend some time with Papa mid next week and there's just a few short weeks away until my parents and I leave for hajj, inshallah. More on that later. I can't believe how fast time is passing by! So much to do, so very little time left!

Rutgers in the News. Again.

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Rutgers in the [national] news. Again. And not for something good.

As a Rutgers (New Brunswick campus) alumni, the thought on my mind since yesterday was something to the likes of "it would be nice for Rutgers to get [national] media coverage for something positive for a change".

The latest incident? The video leaked yesterday showing Rutgers Basketball coach Mike Rice verbally and physically abusing the players [with basketballs, pushing, etc.]

Do I believe Mike Rice deserves to be fired for his actions? Absolutely. But now? No.

The time for that was in the aftermath of when the school officials first became aware of the incident(s) in question. Sure, Rice was suspended for several games at the point. But if that was the punishment then, then why fire him now if there are no new incidents?

Why now? To save your own jobs because the national media picked up on the leaked video? That's ridiculous. The incidents in question were just as horrendous months ago when the mass public didn't know about it.

Several months ago? That was the time to take decisive actions. That was when the athletic department at Rutgers needed to stand up for their players and do what's right. That was when firing Mike Rice would have been justified.

Not now. Not when you take actions because you have to save yourselves. Not when you are only doing it because the mass public finds out about it and you have questions to answer.

Rutgers is better than that.

Cricket

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The sport, not the insect.

I don't understand it, I don't like it, and I certainly don't have the patience and/or attention span to watch it. Do you know how long those games are? 8 HOURS! Sometimes, they take FIVE days!

That means 8 hours X 5 days = you must be crazy if you think I'm going to watch that.

The rest of my family LOVES the sport. The World Cup just ended on Saturday and so around my house it was cricket time, all the time lately for quite a while. Pakistan (where I was born) lost in the semi-finals, and the final game was between Sri Lanka and India.

All I've heard lately is about cricket, and frankly I'm over it!

Before I end for the day, I'll share a related joke my dad shared with me yesterday -- Just saw a Sri Lankan drinking tea from a plate, he said the Indians took the cup.


P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

March Madness

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Are you guys into the March Madness craze?

I'm DEFINITELY not. I watch none of the games. I don't care who wins.

But for several years now, I have filled out the bracket for the heck of it.... using my method. You know what that is?

As I go through the bracket, I look at the names of both teams in a game... and choose which ever name sounds better. Ingenious, no?

Go ahead and shake your head in disbelief but two years ago my method led my bracket to be more accurate than BOTH of my brothers. You know, the ones that live off of sports and would probably watch all 16 games in a day at the same time if it was possible. Overall, my method leads to me to do pretty well each year.

This year, my oldest brother told me all of the mascots too to "help" me. That better not have had a negative effect on my streak is all I'm saying. :)

Anyhow, here's my bracket that I filled out on Tuesday:

The only team I didn't pick on purpose was St. Johns... because of how Rutgers (my alma mater) was ripped off in the game against them.

FYI, for the final score (for the tie breaker)... I totally just pulled out random numbers.

P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Cap and Gown = Graduation Day is Approaching

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So last Thursday I bought my cap and gown, which kind of made it official for me that I graduate in thirty-four short days! How unreal! There are just two and a half weeks of classes left (and I only have EIGHT actual days left of classes!!)

I gotta admit, it didn't really hit me when I bought my own cap and gown, but as I was helping someone else with their cap and gown stuff yesterday (I work at the bookstore on campus)... it hit me then! Everyone who knows me, knows how emotional of a person I am so it won't come as a surprise to many that it made me teary!

I just can't believe how fast the past four years have flown by! It feels like orientation was just some time ago, and yet here is graduation day approaching rapidly.

Not to mention the fact that I HATE changes!

As much as there has been things that have annoyed me like crazy, there are so many things I would not have done or got the opportunity to do otherwise. To name a few off the top of my head:

• going to Rutgers football games (repeatedly!). I don't think it was very likely that I would have gone to so many football games otherwise.. and actually enjoy them.
• going to a rally for Corzine where former President Bill Clinton was the featured speaker.

P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Five Year Old Delivers Herb Brooks' 'Miracle' Speech

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My brother, Faraz, just shared this video with me and it is hilarious and cute (but I don't condone or appreciate that kind of language from kids that age).

On opening night of baseball, five-year-old Joshua Sacco gave the speech that the Team USA coach Herb Brooks gave to his team (before 'Miracle on Ice') to the Red Sox.





P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Nike/Tiger Woods Ad

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I hate the idea that I'm still discussing Tiger Woods on here, but it's hard to not hear about him lately (and since November) so here goes:

Have you guys seen the latest Nike ad featuring Tiger Woods? If not, here it is:


What do you guys think of it?

I, personally, think it puts creepy to a whole new level. And to use a dead person for personal gain - how terrible! Not to mention your own father! How demeaning. Was this suppose to gain him sympathy votes?



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Olympic Thoughts

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Seems like just yesterday that we were watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia... and now it's already over!

I love the Olympic events, but never get a chance to watch as much of it as I would have liked... but always have fun watching what I do get to watch. Figure skating and ice dancing are my favorite events to watch in the winter games- and neither disappointed this time around.

Canada not only got it's first gold medal while hosting Olympics (this is the third time they have done so), they got fourteen of them! That'a s record, I believe.

The Vancouver games came with more than its fair share of sad events (read here and Joannie Rochette's mother passing away two days before her events were to start to name a few) that will definitely be associated with the Vancouver 2010 games. There were some sad times, but some great memorable ones too (the first gold medal on home soil, getting a record number of gold medals, Canada beating U.S. in ice hockey in the final, the Canadian gold medal in ice dancing are just a few).

Unfortunately, due to a prior family event commitment, I missed the closing ceremony last night - but I'll hopefully catch it sometime this week. I saw a quick clip last night about Canada mocking themselves from the glitch in the opening ceremony where the fourth pillar wouldn't open (remember that?) and in the same act - they brought the woman who was supposed to be one of the four to light the cauldron (but couldn't because her pillar was the one that got stuck), light the cauldron last night. I thought that was a nice way to round off everything and bring everything to a full circle.



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Olympics: Pre Mens Hockey Final

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I'm not a big fan of sports. I watch it rarely. Except for the Olympics (see my blog post about that here), the only time I'm really into watching a game would be when I was watching the Rutgers football games - and that's mainly because that is my school's team.

Realistically, I just don't see the excitement in it considering there's like always some game on and I can already think of countless ways to waste my time that I need to be working on. If sporting events occurred less frequently, their competition level would seem more exciting in my opinion.


So many times I hear from my brothers (and others) they can't do so and so at that time or can't go here then because this game or that game is on- I just don't see why and how something on TV would dictate my schedule. That's just pretty ridiculous. 


But that's not what this blog post was supposed to be about - it was supposed to be on the the much anticipated game with Canada against the U.S... the one i'll probably be watching.

Why? Well, there are several reasons.

I honestly don't think I would watch the final game tomorrow if the pair of teams playing in the final were any other possible combination- considering I've only seen minutes (if not less) of any hockey games so far in these Olympic games.

But I am a Canadian who is now residing in the U.S.. The rivalry could not be any more intense... which leads to a part of the excitement in the competition.

The fact that U.S. beat Canada in the quarterfinals (i think?) adds to it as well to see how this game will play out.

Canada has more gold medals than the U.S. right now - and adding one more wouldn't hurt :).

Canada just has to win!

Anyways, I doubt I'll watch the whole game (I know I won't watch the whole game), but I'll have to catch at least bits and pieces of it.

Hoping for a Canada win,



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Beginning of Winter Olympics '10

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Olympics - it's honestly the only time every two years that I look forward to sporting events. In the summer games, my favorite are gymnastics and swimming (because of the last summer olympics)  and in the winter games - figure skating and ice dancing. The fact that the Olympics are being played in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada this year is a plus -- I'm from Ontario, Canada!

It's kind of bittersweet this year because this morning Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili passed away as he was practicing. International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge said Nodar's death just hours before the opening ceremony “clearly casts a shadow over these games.” I heard that it will be announced in the opening ceremony that this years games are going to be dedicated to Nodar, which is a nice gesture. At 21( my age!), he had his life cut tragically short... but he literally died doing something he loved. While that does not make it any easier, it is in a way some sort of consolation. 

There are so many aspects of the Olympics that I find so fascinating - like the fact that the best of the best from each country compete again the best of the best from other countries in all sorts of sports. I'm not naive - westernized countries obviously have better technology and opportunities because of what is available to them to  prepare and athletes from these countries are obviously going to win more... but the idea is nice anyways.

No matter whether you like sports or not, chances are you watch some aspect of the Olympics. It's just one of those things that bring people together. I know I personally watch more sporting events during the Olympics than I do any other time. With everyone's lives so busy all the time, the Olympics are one of those times that we slow down a bit to watch it together as a family. Even when we are all home, usually we are in our separate areas doing our own thing, but times like these - all five of us are sitting in the same room - and that doesn't happen often enough anymore.

Now onto the opening ceremony - the 'Parade of Nations'. Forget the spectacular show each hosting country puts on in the opening ceremony... my favorite part is the idea of all the athletes from each country walking in together representing their respected countries. It's as if for sixteen days - all the differences are put on hold.

The opening ceremony is just minutes away now... so ENJOY! 

P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Super Bowl Party

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My brothers and I invited a bunch of our cousins from NJ and NY for a superbowl party tonight - with 30 people.

Here's the party recap in pictures (of food):

My dad and mom got this table cover for us!

A closer look at the edge:

Some of the snacks:

My brother Faraz helping me bake off some of the cupcakes (for which he took credit for):

I made the batter, Faraz poured it into the cups, I put them in the oven, I made sure they were done, I frosted, and I decorated. But Faraz takes the credit.

(Some of) the finished products!

 blue and white for the colts; black and gold for the saints. 

Dinner:
Pizza

and Cajun Chicken Pasta

My cousin brought this (it looked like a cake, but turned to be more cupcakes):

A lot of our other cousins brought various snacks, but I didn't get a picture of those. :( Thanks for bringing them though!

What a fun night it turned out to be... even though I watched not even a minute of the game. :)
Oh yeah - in case you didn't know... the score was Saints 31, Colts 17.

Did you guys do anything for Superbowl night?



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Olympic Highlights

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The highlights of the Olympics from my point of view so far:

Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay Final in swimming: in what was a very exciting race, Jason Lezak helped secure another gold medal at the end of the race. According to the Yahoo! Sports Blog (I know - I can't believe I was on it either!),

"When he dove into the pool as the anchor of France's 4x100-meter relay team, [Alain] Bernard had a .60 second lead over American Jason Lezak. Even though the 32-year old Lezak is one of the best sprint freestylers in the world, the .60 lead held by Bernard should have been insurmountable. Bernard held the world record in the event. A world record holder with a sizable lead... you do the math."

And of course in my favorite sport - gymnastics:

In the women's team final, the U.S team finished with a silver medal as the Chinese dominated the game throughout. My favorite was undoubtedly the Chinese performance on the last rotation in the floor exercise as it was incredibly great and they had so much fun with it. It was absolutely amazing to watch. In the Women's Individual All-Around Final: American Nastia Liukin won the gold, American Shawn Johnson won the silver and Chinese Yang Yilin won the bronze.

Then, in the individual competitions:

U.S. gymnast Nastia Liukin and her rival He Kexin get the same exact score on the uneven bars, but of course this is like the one sport that only awards one gold. With the IOC tiebreaker rules, Kexin won the gold medal, leaving Liukin with the silver medal. I read in an article that the reasoning was that: "Both scored 16.725, but He got the nod because her execution marks were closer to a perfect 10 than Liukin’s." I found that pretty unfair - if they both got the same score, they both should have received the gold medal, like in most of the other sports. What is even more wrong is that Kexin had more visible mistakes!

Throughout the gymnastic competition, there was talk if He Kexin was even old enough to participate and it'll be neat to see what comes out of that report. Several reports have He being as young as 12 years old.

And now onto specific people:

Michael Phelps: Outrageous. Wow. Incredible. I don't even know where to begin with him. 8 gold medals, 7 world records.. what a week for him! With the eighth gold, Phelps eclipses Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals and seven world records set at the 1972 Munich Games.

Earlier this week I read something on the Yahoo! Sports blog (I know - I STILL can't believe I was on it either!) that I found to be so true:

The biggest accomplishment for Phelps might not be the eight golds, or the seven world records or the $1 million bonus from Speedo. The greatest feat for Phelps was that, for one week, he turned everyone in America into a swim fan. People who couldn't tell you the breaststroke from the butterfly were hanging on each of his races, cheering on Phelps like they were lifelong fans.

I mean I am definitely not a sports fan in general, except for watching Rutgers Football games and the Red Sox here and there, but I got really into swimming this week. The excitement was incredible.

Usain Bolt: Jamaica's 21-year-old Bolt breaks own world record to win the gold medal in the 100m dash without even trying finishing at 9.69 seconds.

Constantina Tomescu: a 38-year-old Romanian runner, won the marathon with like no competition. Her closest competitor at the end of the race was 22 seconds behind her as she held a steady and large lead for a good part of the marathon-- and for sometime in the race she was even leading by over a minute. At 38, she is the oldest Olympic marathon winner.

Dara Torres: Proving that age is but a number, 41-year-old Dara Torres, lost the gold medal and won the silver medal by one-hundredth of a second — the same margin that helped keep possible for Michael Phelps to break Mark Spitz’s record. Torres won the silver medal in each of her three races this week.

And finally, Bob Costas himself as the host. He is incredibly funny and such a great host. I've definitely enjoyed his remarks throughout.

The idea of the Olympics is so incredible: to watch the best of the best from each country compete with one another. Even people like myself, who aren't into sports at all, get so into it.. it's amazing.

What I love even more is how for two weeks it's like a bonding time. With each of our increasingly busy schedules, it's been neat to make time to sit as a family every night to watch the Olympic events together.

Summer '08 Olympics

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The Olympics have began! It is mostly only during the Olympics that I actually find myself enjoying watching sports... and it's definitely the one time every two years that I look forward to sports. They are just a lot of fun and carry a lot of excitement. My favorite part is gymnastics, hands down, but Michael Phelps going for eight gold medal has me interested as well, so it'll be neat to follow that.

One of a Kind Sportsmanship Displayed

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I just read an article earlier on MSNBC (even though I should have been studying for an exam tomorrow :/ ) about an incredible story of sportsmanship that left me completely surprised and will undoubtedly bring a smile to anyone with a heart.

While playing in a College Softball game (the loser would be eliminated from the playoffs), Sara Tucholsky scored her first home run (ever) but collapsed near the first base because of a knee injury. According to the first-base coach, her team could not help her because she would be called out, and even if a pinch runner was put in the home run would just count as a single. Unbelievably, two girls from the opposing team -- vying for the playoff spots -- picked Sara up and helped her touch the remaining bases and brought her back to home base.

In this day and age, where most people don't even bother helping others in every day situations that would have no effect on them, these amazing girls helped the opposing team in a competitive setting, just so the results would be fair and Sara and her team would get what they deserved, while knowing they would be eliminated from the playoffs.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence.

But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.

She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch runner could be called in, and the homer would count as a single.


Then, members of the Central Washington University softball team stunned spectators by carrying Tucholsky around the bases Saturday so the three-run homer would count — an act that contributed to their own elimination from the playoffs.

Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman, the career home run leader in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, asked the umpire if she and her teammates could help Tucholsky.

The umpire said there was no rule against it.

So Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace put their arms under Tucholsky’s legs, and she put her arms over their shoulders. The three headed around the base paths, stopping to let Tucholsky touch each base with her good leg.

“The only thing I remember is that Mallory asked me which leg was the one that hurt,” Tucholsky said. “I told her it was my right leg and she said, ‘OK, we’re going to drop you down gently and you need to touch it with your left leg,’ and I said ‘OK, thank you very much.”’

Click here to read the full article.

March Madness Followup

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I believe I have the ultimate bragging rights against my brothers because I have not watched a single game of the "march madness", I know absolutely nothing about any of the teams...and I am still doing so much better than both of my brothers in the bracket. My brothers, of course, have probably watched like every game (or at least parts of every game) and had strategies and what not for their brackets.

I have done pretty well (especially considering how I chose my teams), and even have the remaining four teams correct.

On the women side, Rutgers made the "Elite 8" over the weekend. :)

March Madness

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Of course anyone who knows me knows that I know pretty much nothing about sports, but I filled out a "March Madness" bracket for fun. Even though I picked my teams based on which one of the two sounded better, it is still a fun activity.

Here's my bracket:



Either way, so far I have only lost one game. :)

What a Day...

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Maria Shriver made a suprising guest appearance at a Barack Obama Rally today at a rally at University of California at Los Angeles. Shriver, of course, is married to California’s Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who endorsed the GOP presidential hopeful John McCain earlier this week. Feeling inspired, Shrived quotes Eleanor Roosevelt :"Do something every day that scares you. Eleanor Roosevelt, this is my one thing for today.''

Also on stage were Michelle Obama, talk show host Oprah Winfrey, and Shriver’s cousin Caroline Kennedy. Michelle Obama has been campaigning for her husband and is an extraordinary speaker herself.

In other news, the New York Giants stunned the "perfect" New England Patriots having them end their season as 18-1. The ending to the game was extraordinary.

If Obama wins overall on Tuesday, that will make this week absolutely perfect :)
---
Before I end for tonight, a reminder that I also emailed out to many:

As all of you are already aware (or at least I hope so), this Tuesday (February 5^th, 2008) is the primary in New Jersey along with 21 other states across the United States.

This is a reminder for all of you as to how important it is you cast a vote this Tuesday. What I most often hear is that this is just the primary...that it doesn’t matter right now, and I’ll vote in the general election. If we want the right person to win in the general election, we need to vote for the right person in the primaries.

It is most often the ones that do not vote that are the first ones to bicker about all the things happening against us and so forth. Unless you exercise your right to vote, it leaves you no place to complain.

I am not telling you to vote for one candidate over another. I simply urge you to vote.