What I will write about

After the why comes the what.

There will be rants about the state of international cricket. Post-1996, I became anti-one-day-cricket. 20/20 has really pushed me over the edge. Stop pimping and bring back test cricket is my battle cry.

I will talk a lot about football, the kind played with feet. I grew up in Pakistan, and have been in the U.S. since I was nineteen. Neither place is much of a football enclave. I am absolutely starved for friends who like watching football as much as I do. I have no one to really share this particular interest with, so I'll share it with the ether that is the blogsphere. 

I will write about the books I read. These won't be literary critiques, but rather discussions of my reaction to the books, whether I liked or disliked them, do I recommend them, how I can related to Harry Potter, etc. 

I will express my opinions about politics and world affairs. These will be decidedly more humble than my opinions about cricket and football. At some point I'll get into gory detail about my ambivalence towards Benazir Bhutto, why I want Imran Khan to be supreme commander of the universe, why the media's response to Hillary Clinton's presidential run awoke the very, very angry female inside me, why certain partnerships in coalition governments make no sense and the fact that no one points out that they make no sense makes even less sense. I am constantly astounded by how short public memories are when it comes to political leaders' peccadilloes (or felonies), and I seem to have quite a good memory for them, so I will express my outrage here. 

The blog is called parrot chatter, so there will be lots of parrot stories: happy ones, sad ones, funny ones. Before I got my first parrot, and before I started volunteering at the parrot shelter, I was very emotionally immature. Emotions constituted of being stressed about a test at school, being happy at doing well, unhappy at doing poorly. Working with parrots has taught me about love, second chances, joy, heartbreak. The hardest thing has been to open my home and heart to a parrot I know is going to die in a matter of weeks or months, loving it like I have never before been hurt by the death of another parrot. But the parrot stories are not going to be all gloom and doom. There are happy ones, like those of my current babies Chingu and Beerbal, and funny ones, like those of Houdini, a Moluccan cockatoo at the shelter who earned his moniker based on his habit of letting himself, and all other birds, out of their cages at night, and who bats his eyelids, blows kisses and raspberries, and says "Hi, Baby" in a little girl voice to everyone.  

Croatia-Turkey, and Euro 2008 predictions

So, in my infinite wisdom, I decided that if there was one quarter-final I could afford to miss, it was Croatia-Turkey. Fortunately, I decided to come home from work early, and began watching around the 70th minute of regulation time. Both sides had chances; both keepers made some near mistakes, and some brilliant saves. The 119th and 120th minutes, though, will be forever remembered for Rustu's ascent from the ridiculous to the sublime, for Croatia thinking they had secured a semi-final berth only to lose it 30 seconds later. Poor Slaven Bilic could only complain, to no avail of course, that there had been too stoppage much time added on. The whole situation was reminiscent of Wiltord's 94th minute equalizer against the Italians in the 2000 final, titled "Cursed Minute" by Italian newspapers. It would be condescending to say that either Turkey's or Croatia's successful run is a surprise: Turkey were 3rd place winners in the 2002 World Cup; Croatia were World Cup quarter finalists in 1998. I'm hoping Turkey chew up the Germans in the semis, but with four first-team players suspended, and the kind of mistakes Rustu seems capable of making, it might not happen.

Another issue is the draw. What is it with the possibility of group-mates meeting again in semis, rather than in the final, and why is there no media outcry about this? It seems dead wrong that only one team from any group can make it to the final, specially in light of how tight the group stages have been.

Other thoughts/predictions:

Netherlands are playing total football / beautiful football, and should get past Russia, who have done Guus Hiddink proud. 

Italy-Spain will be a cracker, but based simply on international success pedigree, I would have to predict an Italian win, even though Italy have shown up without a defense, and Toni cannot hit a cow's arse with a banjo / score in a brothel / insert ineffectual striker cliche here. del Piero still in the national side, and Totti retired: who would have thunk? Also, what is it with Azzurri leading lights Toni and Grosso playing in Ligue 1 and the Bundasliga? Is Serie A in that much financial trouble? Buffon will make some unreal saves, Panucci will score a goal, and we will have a repeat of the 2000 semi-final in Italy v Netherlands. Hopefully this time there will be no sending offs, and del Piero won't have to play as the 10th defender.

Like everyone else, I am predicting a Germany-Italy final. Being an Italian fan, I'll have to predict an Italian win. It would be fun seeing this motley Italian crew achieve the same World Cup / Euro double success as France's golden generation: should ruffle quite a few well-groomed European feathers.

Oh, and was anyone else scandalized by Ruud Gullit's comments on ESPN? He told the male anchor to complement the female anchor on being so knowledgeable about the game. As if women aren't supposed to know about football. Such blatant sexism from a champion of racial non-discrimination made my angry female side still angrier. Next we'll have sexism from Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama.