Okay. Now I completely comprehend the bigger universal appeal sports enjoys over academics. Both these fields have been peppered by many a men who have time and again displayed astounding skills and an indomitable, indefatigable spirit to overcome adversity. The Einstiens, Edisons and Newtons have shown what ingenuity and creativity the human mind is capable of. The ideas they conjure up in those lofty grey areas have continually helped in the advancement of the human race. In a similar way the Sachins, Anands, Federers and Nadals apart from displaying their unique talent have also exhibited amazing mental fortitude and the highest level of competitive spirit. But in an era of instant gratification, sports heavily scores over academics because it involves live and streaming display of the primordial instinct of survival of the fittest. And one such display was the epic battle(it literally was one) fought out between Isner and Mahut on Court 18 of Wimbledon for 11 hours and 8 mins over three days!!!
Frankly I didn't get to watch a significant portion of the match courtesy FIFA world cup which has flooded all television channels with football matches. But a scorecard which reads 6-4 3-6 6-7 7-6 70-68 conveys all the missed action and drama. I can't fathom what kept these guys consistently inspired considering the fact that it was only the first round of the Wimbledon, both the players didn't have any pride at stake and at the end of this epic marathon one man's effort was going to be in vain (And the winner Isner lost the next match in 74 minutes!!). It surely wouldn't have been the urge to win the Wimbledon championship or the adulation they were recieving from the spectators. Infact after some point they would have been impervious to their surroundings. The one and only motivating force would have been the human mind which gets an orgasm everytime it is faced with adversity and the unrelenting human spirit which has taken our civilization so far. Interestingly almost exactly two years ago Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal played the Wimbledon final which is widely regarded as the greatest tennis match ever. Luckily I got to see the entire match live and what a match it was! I was relatively new to tennis those days and didn't know the nuances of the game. But it didn't matter because after some time tennis was side-lined and it was two supreme champions testing the elasticity of the insurmountable human spirit. The quality of tennis was always on the ascent and it seemed like the two players were conduncting a symphony on grass.
The above two instances are only a small subset of a sample space that boasts many such hair raising experiences. Even now the thought of 'Operation Desert Storm' (Sachin's exploits in Sharjah and not that of U.S against Iraq) gives me goose-bumps. And add to this list the way Vishwanathan Anand won the FIDE chess championship this year after a 40-hour road travel and losing the opening match. (All this makes me regret the way I treated sports and games with disdain in my school and college days. This was owing to my physical disability (read as "overweight") coupled with my pre-concieved notion that academics was superior to sports.) For all the despiseful things that we humans keep doing to the earth's habitat and its habitants, that grey matter within our skull and its far-reaching capabilities displayed by some of our fellow scientists and sports-persons makes me to yearn to be born a human being if I have another chance.
