About at the same time, a 24 year old young man was making his presence felt on the Formula One circuits. He gave Ayrton Senna a run for his money. Neither does he need any more introduction. He is Michael Schumacher.
When these people were making news, on the tennis court a smart young guy was giving lessons on 'Serve and Volley'. He went on to win three consecutive Wimbledons. Yes, he is Pete Sampras.
A few years later on the Tour De France circles, a well-built racer started making news. He took a break because of Cancer and went to win Tour De France quite a few times.You guessed it right. He is Lance Armstrong.
I was also a teenager during that period and my horizons widened beyond Cricket during this time. I vividly remember how I started worshiping Beckham. I got myself a CD of FIFA'99 through a friend and started playing that game. I didn't even use to follow football then. For some inexplicable reasons, I chose to play with England and scored a lot of goals with Beckham. It was after this that I started watching football and was amazed to see those curling free kicks and pin point crosses by the star #7.
In the year 2000 I also started following Formula One. That was one of the most breathtaking seasons in the recent past. The way Schumi fought back from his mid season slump to snatch a victory in the driver's and constructor's championship was a legendary achievement. Then on, he won the championship for 5 consecutive times before his streak was broken by a newly arrived 24 yr old Fernando Alonso. A hint of what was going to come next. Maybe, Schumi's time was over.
At the end of 2005, the cyclist magician Lance Armstrong quit Tour De France. I do not know what happened in 2006 in Tour De France.
In 2002, Pete Sampras announced a fairytale exit from the Tennis circuit. He won the US open beating his greatest rival Andre Agassi in the last grand slam of the year and bid adieu to professional tennis. Rarely have I followed tennis since then.
Two years before that, the Manchester United's most hyped star David Beckham was sold to Real Madrid. He did play decently well there till 2006 but surely the old magic, that elegance, that class was missing. Finally, at the end of 2006 he announced his departure to USA to play for LA Galaxy. Europe, the international powerhouse of football, will no longer get to see how to bend it like Beckham. Sad as it certainly is the show must go on.
The reason why I am writing all this is because today was my farewell and in a few days I will be leaving this place, college life and entering professional life.
Who knows if I will get to follow sports afterwards. Sure there are players who are better than David Beckham today. There is Ronaldinho, there is Messi.and a few others too. It's just that football isn't the same for us without our heroes. We grew up with them and they will remain to be the champions for us.
Alonso could be better than Schumacher...though I claim that he isn't. But the fact is that charm is gone from Formula One. No longer on Sunday evenings I go rushing to the T.V. to watch a race.
At this juncture, when we are out to conquer the real world our heroes are fading away. A generation has grown up. A generation that used to go to the school,college and watch premiership, Formula One on the weekend admiring the skills and attitude of our idols no more has anyone to look up to. They are all gone but the show must go on...the spectators and actors have changed though.
