Live India, Love Football

During the entire time I've been in India, I've been asked the same question over and over and over again, "Do you ever think about moving back to the US and working in sports over there?" To be honest, yes, I do think about this from time to time as the US sports industry is incredibly structured (something that I appreciate and can thrive within), the US soccer industry is growing at a rapid pace, and US Soccer & MLS are two organizations that have taken up a big place in my heart. All that being said, my typical response to this question is, "Yes but I'm happy to be in India where I have a genuine opportunity to be a pioneer within the sports industry." This is a sentiment that I had before I got on the plane to move to India back in 2009 and it is a sentiment that holds true for me today in 2017.  With the right amount of passion, creativity, persistence and resilience anyone can launch an impactful and meaningful initiative in India - one

T he 2017 FIFA U17 World Cup just finished with an exhilarating 5-2 England win over Spain in a match where England came back from 0-2 to score 5 unanswered goals. FIFA and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) couldn’t have asked for a better way to end this mega-event that was officially awarded to India way back in December 2013. As I normally do for many major sporting events that are organized in India, I’ve summarized my thoughts on the organization of this historic tournament below broken down into what was “Great” and what “Could Have Been Better.” The Great It Actually Happened India is a fascinating country where the unexpected can arrive out of thin air and something that is guaranteed can just disappear into thin air.   The fact that the tournament actually took place is a massive achievement and testament to the efforts of the LOC, AIFF and FIFA. They were able to persevere through Government red tape, a new Prime Mister, limited budgets, the threat of terror

I was fortunate enough to be invited to Bengaluru as a guest of the Premier League to attend their Premier League Live football festival.   I participated in the same event in Mumbai in 2014 and was blown away with the turnout, not just of the supporters who came out in droves to experience the festival, but also from the Premier League clubs who spent massive amounts of time, energy and resources to travel to India to engage with Indian football supporters.   The weekend kicked off with a private VIP reception at the Whitefield Marriott where we had the opportunity to listen to and interact with Premier League legends Alan Shearer, John, Barnes, Shay Given and others in an intimate setting.   While they are all incredibly down to earth and easy to speak with, there is just something awe-inspiring to be interacting with the person who has the record of scoring the most goals scored in the Premier League and others who have represented their club and country at the highest levels.

Over the past 30 years I’ve must have seen well over a hundred football matches live from the stadium and can clearly remember some goals that just made me go wild – I mean jumping around like an excitable monkey hugging random strangers sort of wild. This is the beauty of football, it is an on-going build-up and when that goal finally arrives emotions just leap out of you from every pore.   I experienced this quite a bit this past I-League season whenever my club, DSK Shivajians FC, would score but that excitement would always be tamed as I would typically sit in the VIP box with executives from the club we were playing against and it’s not respectable to show too much happiness at the expense of others.   Also, my team was notorious for giving up last second goals this past season so no matter how many goals we scored I wouldn’t get too excited until the final whistle. I didn’t have to worry about either of the above during the India vs Colombia match – India’s second match

When you work in professional football, you always get asked the question, “Who do you support?” Once that question is asked, people just assume the next word out of your mouth will be “United,” “Chelsea,” “Arsenal,” or “Liverpool,” and if the person is very young then, “City.” My answer always surprises the questioner as well as anyone within earshot of the conversation who slightly understands global football as I proudly proclaim that I support “Everton.”   I support Everton because when I was studying in London back in 2000 my dorm-mate, Will Mitchell, had access to Everton FC season tickets and took me to matches across the United Kingdom.   Given the fact that I didn’t support a club back then, it was inevitable that I would choose the team whose supporters I rode in trains around the UK with, drank in multiple pubs with, sang Everton love songs with and fought other club supporters with (actually I never fought anyone as my role was more of the scrawny, American cheerleade

It seems like the past few years have just been a series of “firsts” and I’m proud to say that today I’ve experienced another one: My First TEDx Talk.   Like so many people I’ve been touched, moved, inspired and intrigued by the myriad of speakers that have been offered the opportunity to get on stage and share something unique in no more than 20 minutes. While watching these videos online, I’ve always wondered if I would ever be invited to deliver a TED talk and, if so, what message would I convey. This opportunity showed up unexpectedly about 2 months ago when I received a call from a senior member of the MIT educational institution inviting me to be one of the speakers at their upcoming TEDx Youth event.   I immediately and graciously accepted with no clue what I would talk about. The person who had invited me suggested that I speak about the power of sports given that I’ve been involved in sports for most of my life but for some reason I didn’t feel that I wanted to utilise m

Anyone who is in my life or has been reading this blog for a while knows that teaching is something I am deeply passionate about.  I am not sure if it is because I’ve been blessed with extraordinary education, professional experiences and mentors and feel that I should pay it forward or if I just love being the center of attention. Most likely a little of both, but regardless I do get a high not just from actually delivering a lecture, I enjoy spending hours researching while I prepare my notes, practicing my lecture in front of my wife or any other poor soul who meets me within a week of my lecture and analyzing myself after the course to see how I can be more effective the next time I have the opportunity to teach.    Fortunately, over the years, I’ve had a number of opportunities to realise my passion as I’ve been invited to deliver lectures in the US, Europe and all over India.  However, up until now I always consider my teaching engagements to fall within the “Fun Uncle” c