playoffs every day

yesterday toward the end of the day, i was chatting with my colleague manoj, a good-natured, ultra-smart friend in the office. he's generally a quiet guy, very professional, and doesn't often initiate conversation, which is why i usually start obnoxious conversations with him not unlike the one i started with him yesterday. 'yoyoyo manoj. whaddup. what're you doing this weekend? clubbing? shoplifting? elephant taming?'

he giggled and said, 'oh no. just watching cricket. the last test matches of the series are this weekend. '

i keep forgetting that cricket is to india what baseball is to america, although they, along with almost all other televised sports, possess the same unique ability of putting me to sleep immediately. the only exception i can remember in recent history is when arizona was in the ncaa finals when i was a junior in high school, and there was some really good-looking guy on the team, so i watched every game. my dad was excited to have someone to talk about the games with, and although we were absolutely not the typical audience demographic, we enjoyed them. when the games were over, i would go back to my room and wonder what i was going to be when i grew up, and my dad would go back to reading the wall street journal, which is pretty much how i remember almost every day of high school ending.

i would like to take this opportunity to point out the fact that although i may not express any overt (or covert) interest in winners brackets in the context of sports, that it doesn't mean that i am disinterested in nice, healthy competition now and then.

observe:



this is essentially the same thing as:

















congratulations, cheesecake! you were the most delicious dessert i had at brunch today, followed closely by fresh kiwis. pineapple came in third, and the strawberry mousse in an uninspired and distant fourth.

let's see how the two books i brought to brunch today fared in their battle:













hmmm. not sure how that happened.