A real-life case of Bend It Like Beckham has erupted in Bangladesh:

Bangladesh’s government has stopped women taking part in a swimming competition after pressure from an Islamic group. In July, a women’s wrestling tournament was cancelled after threats to disrupt it, and a women’s football competition was called off after protests… a radical Islamic group threatened to bring the entire district around Chandpur to a halt with protests… The Committee for Resistance to Un-Islamic Activities said women taking part in the sport would offend Bangladesh’s more than 100 million Muslims.

How could we ally with a country which bans Gabrielle Reece? Such an ally would be positively un-American. Next thing you know, they’ll ban women from driving.

Star NFL running back Ricky Williams shocked his Miami Dolphins teammates and sent several fantasy football owners into convulsions when he abruptly announced his retirement before the NFL season this summer, at the tender age of 27. Ricky is known to suffer from a sort of anxiety disorder and describes himself as very shy. He used to do interviews with his helmet on sometimes. He is also known for his love of marijuana which is what first got him in trouble with the NFL and was going to get him suspended. He has hinted in recent months that he regrets his decision and would like to return to the NFL. He thinks he might like to play in the Bay Area (Oakland specifically), because to paraphrase, weirdness is accepted out there. But what has Ricky been up to lately? From SFGate.com:

He’s no longer Ricky Williams the football player. He plans to become Ricky Williams the holistic healer.

It’s been more than 10 months since Williams, one of the premier running backs in the National Football League, last ran off tackle for the Miami Dolphins and four months since he suddenly announced his retirement at age 27.

Then he dropped from sight. But now Williams has turned up about as far away from professional football as you can get, as a student of the ancient Indian medical system known as Ayurveda. In the Sierra foothills, no less.

“I realized a while back that I have an innate ability to be compassionate,” he said, “and I saw that the strength of compassion is something that healers have and healers use.”

Sweet. He’s traded in one set of herbs for another. Or more likely he now uses both kinds. I am actually afraid that Ricky will fall into the hands of one of my fantasy football opponents now should he make his way back to football. A spiritually centered Ricky could be devastating on the gridiron.

“Ayurveda deals with using your environment to put yourself in balance,” he said. “I’ve realized, both on a psychological and physical level, that the things we do in football don’t bring more harmony to your life. They just bring more disharmony.”

Update: Here is where Ricky is studying- The California College of Ayurveda in Grass Valley

Though Anish Shroff was recently eliminated from ESPN’s competition to become the next sportscaster there, I give him props. I only saw parts of one episode but it looks like a tough job. A lot of sports stories are coming in while these guys are already in the middle of the show and they have to improvise and think on their feet to describe whats going on. I don’t care how many years of experience you have, nothing can prepare you for this scenario though. From The Times online of UK:

FOR a commentator, it would have been a nightmare. “Patel passes to Patel, it bounces off Patel’s boot, but Patel comes in from the wing and shoots and oh, a brilliant save by Patel. Every Patel on the terraces is on his feet.”

The reason was simple: all 124 players in a weekend five-a-side charity football tournament in Leeds, and 300 of their fans, were called Patel.

For the participants, it was an extended family occasion. The Patels may not all know each other intimately, but they are all in some way related.

This is scary. It reminds me of a nightmare I had once. Pretty soon there will be Patels within the ranks of the Mutiny as well. Oh. Too late.

Patel is merely the 24th most common surname in Britain. Nonetheless, two years ago an eleven from Mr PatelÂ’s society played cricket against another Bradford-based Indian side. All 22 players turned out to be Patels

The Washington Post has run an interesting piece on Retesh Bhalla, aka Sonjay Dhatt, the professional wrestler (yes WWF style) whose name-tag is “The Original Playa from the Himalaya,” or more specifically from Northern Virginia. Retesh, a young desi, a student at Northern Virginia’s George Mason University, wears jeans and sneakers by day, next to unsuspecting classmates, but by night, and most weekends, for that matter, he is Sonjay Dutt, “The Original Playa from Himalaya,” a guy who flings himself off the ropes of pro-wrestling rings, performs dazzling twists and flips, and then lands — with theatrical impact — onto, well, big guys wearing spandex pants and too much baby oil.

“From India . . . ” screams the announcer, as Dutt bursts out of the tunnel, struts down the ramp, then leaps onto the ropes, whipping the crowd into fierce applause. Dutt, now 22, was still pretty young when he got hooked. On Saturdays, he and his father would watch wrestling on television all afternoon. Ric Flair. Hulk Hogan. Dusty Rhodes. He taped the shows, bought the magazines, begged for the action figures. Then decided he wanted to grow up to be a wrestler, just like other little boys grew up wanting to be John Elway or Michael Jordan. At first, his parents thought it was amusing. Saw it as a phase. Assumed he’d grow out of it. Certainly didn’t take it seriously. “My parents?” says Dutt, as he prefers to be known. “They laughed in my face, of course. They had the same idea that every Indian parent has for their child. Being a doctor or lawyer or something to that effect. I chose totally the opposite.”

Click here to read the full article, you really should.

Eight hours isn’t much these days. I mean, who does all their work between 9 and 5? Most of my friends work 10, 12, or even 14 hour days. But Pemba Dorje Sherpa was just confirmed by the Nepali government as having ascended Everest in 8 hours 10 minutes!!! His claim had been under dispute by his main rival, Lakpa Gelu Sherpa, who held the previous record of around 11 hours for an ascent of Everest. Even 11 hours is amazing for any of us, except perhaps the intrepid Abhi. I mean, think of how quickly the time flies between 9 AM and 8PM. How much do you really get done?

The BBC ran a great profile of long jump queen Anju Bobby George:

She’s the only Indian ever with a world championship bronze… On the runway she’s imposing, attractive, five feet 10 inches, her legs long, her elegant face carrying a hint of cosmetics… Ask her about the make-up and her giggle skitters down the phone line from Paris. She sees herself as an ambassador, and that means presentation is important… She stands there, visualises her jump, and in and out of her mind flow technique and prayer, asking perfection from herself and from Mother Mary…

When Anju competed in Madrid two weeks ago there wasn’t a single brown face in the audience. They know, they’ve looked… despite every achievement she has only one sponsor, Sobha Developers (though the government helps considerably). It is an absurd universe… “Imagine,” says Bobby, “Indian cricketers playing abroad without supporters, not even one.”

More here, here and here.

Across America, I expect sports columnists to be remarking on how the crown has been passed from a black man to a brown man in what used to be the white man’s sport (largely because the only way you could get on the court if your skin was darker than manilla was by caddying). But why talk about the transition from black to brown? Why not say that a browner black man was overtaken by a blacker brown man? Or that the yellow man lost to the brown man? Continue reading →

How does a new Olympic silver medal winner celebrate? Mohini Bhardwaj is tattooing the five rings to her wrists and exchanging rings of a different color by getting engaged. It’s a far cry from surviving on PowerBars:

“… [A]fter practice, I’ll grab all the pennies and go to the Coinstar and get like $12 off the Coinstar and be so excited that I could buy some soy milk and cereal…” [The coach] became aware of Bhardwaj’s fun-loving side in 1997, she said, when Bhardwaj stayed out late with the members of the Russian team at the world championships in Switzerland. She partied too much and studied too little, once coming to the coach in tears, proud that she had finally earned a B in a class. “Her peak of being a rebel was probably in the late 90’s, so it really wasn’t her time,” Kondos Field said. “This time, she did it for herself…”

By the way, that multi-culti paragon The New York Times thinks a desi with a nose ring is ‘walking on the wild side’:

She has walked on the balance beam and walked on the wild side; she still has a subtle piece of jewelry pierced into the left side of her nose.