Rambling is an art; I have come to discover.

I am not very skilled at it, I will grant thee this.

But mock me at thy own peril. Once I get good at it, thou shall suffer!

What in the world does “gob” mean? I do not know! So I asked Answers.com: Sailor, lump, and mouth? That was not helpful.

Why I ask? Apparently, according to a tabloid, a vagabond “gobbed” up Cristiano Ronaldo’s 150,000-pound Bentley.

Tabloids need more interesting events to cover. I bet they still curse the luck of their predecessors during the war days. Or maybe they don’t! That is beside the point.

The point here is Ronaldo. For God’s sake, will the guy ever get a break?

With defenders aiming to chop off your legs and referees all too happy to allow them, the last thing you want is your favourite toys being gobbed by angry citizens. It is a hard life.

It has not been that great a season for Ronny. He has much fewer goals and a few extra assists, but whoever received a Golden Boot for assists? The only bright side has been the prospect of winning more championships.

Poor Judgment

Sometimes I wonder what it would take for referees in the Premier League to go a weekend without stirring up some sort of storm in a tea cup. They seriously make cricket umpires look like computers with their rate of efficiency!

Indeed, we at the Gentlemen’s Game Parlour have seen our fare share of atrocious decision making by the umpires, but there are a few who can claim a near-perfect record in all forms of the game.

One such umpire is Simon Taufel, no, not Truffle.

Therefore, you know you have hit the nadir when The Only Umpire With His Very Own Fan Club makes a bad decision, like the one he made to send James Franklin on his way in the first Test today in Hamilton, New Zealand.

The all rounder, returning to the fold of the Kiwi team, could not have gotten off to a worse start in the series.

Facing just his second ball of the innings from a fired up Ishant Sharma, he played inside the line of a ball that was slightly short, heading just wide of the left hander’s bat and deflecting off his pads en route to skipper Dhoni behind the stumps. Up went the Indians and umpire Taufel’s dreaded finger and down went Franklin’s head in dismay.

After it was all said and done, what stood out was Franklin’s reaction, which was non-existent. He formed a sorry figure as he trudged towards the dressing room for a blob, but did not make a single gesture or even look at the umpire.

Lesser men and better cricketers have done some shocking things, even the saintly Sachin Tendulkar allows himself a look of anguish towards the umpire on being given out wrongly. He once even managed a smile (for which he was later fined believe it or not).

But Franklin’s humility-filled acceptance of the erroneous call is an example to all of us.

While Franklin impressed even in failure, the FIA continues to fail.

F1

I do not what the reaction is in the Bleacher F1 camp, but I do like the new rules for deciding the World Champion.

Winning is an important aspect of the game, but consistency over the whole season is important too. While awarding the title to the person with the most wins does reward him or her for their stellar performances, it equally mocks the driver who earned podium finishes more consistently and indeed garnered more points.

Now I know, as a Ferrari fan, I should be thanking the stars, but I just prefer it the old way.

Yes, I am not too comfortable with change, not early on anyways.

But I will not rule out eating my own words come November!

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