Storyline: What if I were invited to speak about the unfathomable, undeniable success of Leicester City Football Club? What would I say? Well, here it is.
Dignitaries on the Dais and My Dear August Audience,
I stand before thee on this very sacred stage that once uplifted me from the abyss, a sports stadium. It’s always difficult to put an epic on a single sheet of paper. One cannot describe in 3 minutes a tale as surrealistic as the men from Leicester City Football Club. However, I’d like to narrate an exemplary tale of human beings I call Football Players.
Jamie Vardy, star player, Leicester FC (photo, youtube.com)
Life, they say, is a poem of enthralling verse and a prose of everlasting verbs. Myself, as a Columnist and a Researcher by profession, clearly understand that my eyelids will halt to rest, if only forever. But…but, before that inevitable happens, and before I start ringing my pals in the medical profession for one final time, I dream to touch many a heart and travel the farthest distances unknown in my chosen area of expertise.
You are, dear Leicester, to me (in short) a thaumaturgy, a marathoning enigma of blood and flesh beneath the human skin and not-so-bad students of many an adaptive wit. If you can make our heart humor with your relegation threatening 90 minutes, you can make the same fly in 7th heaven with the sound of our Football.
I was neither a stray sperm in the pelvic cavity of a young woman nor was I a wandering atom in the heavens when a man from San Saba, Italy, made a move from playing Football to Managing a Football Club, Vigor Lamezia, in this very temple (Football Ground). The gaffer? Claudio Ranieri.
Courtesy: H-4entertainment.com
This man made the best of it. Rahul Dravid, one of the finest cricketers to have ever walked on this planet, said, “As individuals, we were asked to play to the absolute outer limits of our capabilities and we often extended them.” This man, too, crossed the most callous hurdles with an ignition of soul from the deepest crunches of his bosom.
His stint of teaching young lads was nothing but an epitome of patience, sincerity, and above all, that unfathomable passion to nurture the budding brains of many a student of the game. Well, those fortunate who have heard his teachings and preachings modest lines, are now leading a life worth and tranquility. But this man stuck to the noble profession.
Boy! Should I mention a noteworthy point here? The way he presents himself in grace, humility, and sticks to the annals and basics of the game, allowing the players to perform at their individual best (to name a few) from the prestigious Football Clubs across Europe. The way he showed fortitude and mettle in the most detestable spells of time during the what–if, where-off, and what–about moments of an eventful relegation, which for the sake of hell, did not happen, is nothing less than inspirational.
Courtesy: bbc.co.uk
At this juncture of time, speaking about Ranieri and his team, I realize the gaining weight of my heart and moistening of my eyes. Aaah god! It’s getting harder. A fine exhumation will only get decent verbiage from my tongue now. I can go on evincing the character of this team, legendary eternally and without exaggeration.
I have been, and will forever be, an Old Trafford Faithful. Bryan Robson is my hero, Paul Scholes, is my inspiration. But, time, and space forces me to stop talking Leicester, a team many would prefer taking lessons of bravery and passion in adversity. As all good things must come to an end one day or the other, me in stoicism would lend my prudence a technical knack and say one final statement.
In the history of English Premier League I believe Claudio Ranieri will be one of its finest chapters. His is a tale that would embrace anyone in solace and tranquility eternally up there in the heavens.
Courtesy: bbc.co.uk
Thank you one and all.
Ravi Mandapaka
Exquisite.