Well, well, who’d have thought this.
An Indian-born Columbia University economist as president of the United States Soccer Federation.
Born in Allahabad, Sunil Gulati grew up in Nebraska, studied at Columbia, worked at the World Bank and is now president of the United States Soccer Federation. Oh, our desi also teaches at Columbia.
Interesting, na?
The Sunday edition of the New York Times has an interview with Sunil Gulati (P.11 of the Sports Section, if you have the print edition).
Here’s an excerpt of the Q&A with Gulati:
Does U.S. soccer have an inferiority complex?
There is some of that for sure. Look, no one is claiming we’re Brazil or Spain. No one claims that M.L.S. is the EPL or La Liga. But we’ve made a lot of progress in building the league and a national-team fan base and culture. They are huge pluses. If we can replicate the growth of the last 25 years in the next 25, I’d do it in a heartbeat. There aren’t many countries that have made advances in all ways: M.L.S. is 14 years old; the U.S. makes the largest TV rights payment for the World Cup; Americans are the No. 1 ticket buyers to the World Cup; the U.S. has more registered players; our women’s team is unparalleled; and no one is taking the men’s team for granted anymore and we’re in the mix to be seeded. No one would have thought those things 20 years ago. We’re all impatient by nature. It’s not fast enough for me.
U.S. Soccer has an Inferiority Complex – Sunil Gulati added by SearchIndia.com on
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Where have you been?
Sunil Gulati “is now” president of the USSF? He’s been president for several years now and has been involved in US soccer for many years prior to that.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
True but given our ‘extraordinary familiarity’ with all things sports 😉 we just discovered Gulati today thanks to the NYT.
In any case, surely most SI readers have yet to hear of Coolata or Gulati. 🙂
surely most SI readers have yet to hear of Coolata or Gulati.
true.. including the smartest ones like me. don’t care about soccer.. much less about US soccer
planning to watch “Precious”? heaviest Oscar contender?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
(from inside a Borders store)
Most likely, no.
The surname Gulati would ring a bell for most Indian sports lovers. Anupam Gulati – one among the very few sports commentators we had (or that is what we were made to believe by DD) during the time when Doordashan was our only window to the world. I won’t be surprised if these two Gulatis are related because our Gulati is also somewhat of a soccer specialist.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Yes, we remember Anupam Gulati and Narottam Puri.
They were the cocks of the walk in yesteryears where cricket commentary was concerned.
‘Cocks of the walk’ is very apt.
This has nothing to do with Sunil Gulati, but here is a sampling of the kind of stuff we’ve had to endure over the years on Doordarshan, before the satellite channels started showing us how much fun listening to sport commentary can be:
(1) Kaafi accha khel rahe hai.
(2) Aur ye chaar run, koyi mauka nahi.
(3) Behtareen shot… lekin koi run nahi.
(4) Aur yeh uthaa diyaaa hai…..OUT!!! (after a second look), maaf keejiye, out nahi, do run ke liye.
(5) Behtareen takneek istamaal karte hai….(And the next ball, the batsman gets out, leaving our dude speechless !!!)
(6) “dekhiye kambli kaise baal krishna jaisa mohni khel khel rahe hain. Aur unka balla maano krishna ke haath mein sudarshan chakra ho…”
(Courtesy: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/9390-worst-cricket-commentator-year-2.html)
SearchIndia.com Responds:
No-6 is hilarious. 🙂
Very nostalgic that, medytrance.
May I add a few more:
1. Poore aatmavishwaas ke saath khela hai.
2. Scorecard me koi izhafaa nahi.
Once, a commentator started, much before the delivery:
“Wicket keeper Nayan Mongia ….”(with a rising voice)
and then, after a long pause..
“wicket ke peeche khade hai”
Now what do you make of that.
Such was the state of affairs before we were treated to Sunny Gavaskar, Ian Chappell, Geoff Boycott and the likes.
at least US soccer team are much much better than the most of ASIAN teams.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Back when we used to live in India, there were two famous teams from Kolkata (the bastion of Indian soccer): Mohan Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting.
Not sure, if they still carry the same weight.