Steve Nash Charity Game

I went to a celebrity soccer game hosted by Steve Nash in NYC last week.. It was a lot of fun.. Lot of NBA and Soccer stars participated in this event and it was free for the public to watch.. Raja Bell, Leandro Barbosa, Baron Davis, Thierry Henry and Jason Kidd were some of the celebrities who played the game..

Steve Nash really knows how to play soccer.. I think playing soccer till the age of 14 has helped him become a better Point Guard in the league.. He scored the final goal with a reverse kick and his team won 9-4.. But the fan favourite was Baron Davis.. He was playing soccer for the 1st time and everyone encouraged him with oohs and aahs everytime he touched the ball.. And he responded by making some beautiful passes and acknowledging the crowd for their support..

I was able to take a few snaps at the end of the game.. Steve Nash left early.. I was tantalizingly close to Raja Bell and Jason Kidd and was getting ready to take a snap with them, when the security guard whiskered them away..Damnit!!!!

A final comment.. Steve Nash is not as short as he looks on TV.. And Barbosa is freakishly tall..

NBA - Where David Stern happens

I am back after a long hiatus and wanted to jot down some random thoughts about the recently completed NBA season.
First of all, this was one of the most competitive seasons that NBA has ever seen in a long long time. Not only was the league able to re-generate interest in NBA, but also was it able to restore some relevancy and pride to the two forgotten franchises, thanks in large part due to the commissioner. You have to take your hats off to Mr. Stern. He knew that the league had taken a big hit after the end of the last season due to the Tim Donoughay scandal. Even the ratings of last year's finals between Cavs and Spurs touched an all-time low. I am pretty sure nobody outside of San Antonio and Cleveland watched that series. So Mr. Stern had to desperately do something to restore the pride of the NBA. What more could he have done, other than to pull the strings on two franchises with so much history and rivalry and put everything else in the back burner. A master move which worked to perfection.
The Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen before the season started and along with Paul Pierce, they were the new "Big 3". The Lakers got a gift from Memphis in the form of Pau Gasol. That trade where the Lakers sent Kwame Brown and some rookies to Memphis in return for Gasol was the most lopsided trades ever in the history of the NBA. But again, anything is possible in the NBA, when Mr. Stern is the commissioner.
Moving on to the regular season of hoops, the disparity between the talent levels in the Western Conference and Eastern Conference was huge. Golden State, a team with 49 wins, could not make the playoffs in the Western Conference, whereas Atlanta, a team with 33 wins was able to achieve the 8th spot in the playoffs. NBA should come up with a rule where the top 16 teams should make the playoffs, irrespective of the conferences. But I am pretty sure that Mr. Stern won't make this happen.
The Western conference was highly competitive. The top 10 teams were separated by a mere 6 or 7 games. The team in the 7th spot would very well find itself in the 2nd spot the next day. Boston and Detroit were the only teams in the Eastern conference which were on par on talent levels with the teams from Western conference and gave them a good run for the money.
Moving on to the playoffs, my favorite team, the Phoenix Suns, lost in the 1st round to its long-time nemesis, San Antonio Spurs. This time, they had no one to blame but themselves for the loss. They should have easily won the 1st, 2nd and the 5th game of the series, had they displayed some mental toughness and calmness under pressure. Having Shaq on their side was a big plus, but they definitely missed the services of Marion. It was very difficult to swallow the loss and the search for an NBA championship to a team, which has waited for 40 years, will continue for atleast one more year. The Cavs Celtics series could have gone either way. Game 7 was amazing and in the end the experience prevailed over youth.
Going into the finals, Lakers were touted heavily to win the series. But I always knew that with the experience that C's had in their team, it will be a gigantic task to overcome them. Having the home court advantage was also a big plus for C's. Game 4 of the series, in which the C's came back to win the game on the road after being down 24, was one of the best games I have ever seen. Reminded me of the Suns vs. Nuggets regular season game, in which the Suns came back from around 20 down to win the game by 16 points. But the best part about the whole game was Sasha Vujacic punching his fist on a chair and crying like a baby during one of the time-outs. Just seeing that in close-up in a slow-motion in ABC-HD made my day. God, I hate that dude..
Anyway, in the end C's were the worthy champions. The Game 6 blowout was a lot of fun to watch. "The truth" pouring Gatorade over Doc Rivers is a first time in a NBA game.
A special mention about Kobe winning the MVP award. He truly deserved the award this time. He incorporated his team-mates and made them into a title contender. But, to say that he had transformed himself into being the best team-mate and his often reference to his team as "band of brothers" is all b***s***. Come-on, the guy bitched about Bynum , Kwame and the ownership and demanded to be traded through out the whole off-season. Read the blog below by Curt Schilling, who attended the Game 2 of the NBA finals and decide for yourself.. (Read from the 5th paragraph)

http://38pitches.com/2008/06/09/manny-jd-papi-lester-and-the-nba-finals/

MBA details

I came to US in Dec of 2004. I always thought that doing a MBA in US would be very costly and did not give it so much of thought. But during one of his visits to my place, my BIL, who did his MS here, asked, why don't I try for a MBA here? He said that even though it is costly, student loans are available and it will be worth the investment...

Only then, I started thinking seriously about doing a MBA in US. My initial concern was I did not have enough experience and the average age of entry to B-Schools in US is 28. I was just 23. But I thought, I will give it a shot and see what happens. So I booked the dates for GMAT and started preparing for the same. As essays play a very important role in the application process, I started to prepare some outlines that explained what I needed to write in my Career Progress and Why MBA essays.

I gave my GMAT after 2-3 months of preparation and was able to score 710. The toughest challenge that I faced in GMAT was the level of concentration that was needed. We need to write 2 essays at the beginning of the exam and only then we can attempt Verbal and Quant sections. Since we need to concentrate for almost 4-4.5 hrs. without any break, chances are that we might lose our focus towards the end of the exam. That is why practice tests play a very important role in our preparation. When you practice tests at home, DO NOT forgo the Analytical Writing Assessment section. Take full length tests and try to complete all the 3 sections within the desired time, so that you will have a good feel of how the real exam will be like. I prepared from 3 books for GMAT.

1. The Official Guide for GMAT: The questions are comparatively easy and do not get fooled if you score very high in the practice tests.
2. GMAT 800 from Kaplan: The questions are pretty tough and it is always good to prepare from this book. Even though the questions in the GMAT exam will not be as tough as the ones in Kaplan, it is a good learning practice and it will prepare you for the worst.
3. Princeton Official Review: The level of difficulty is almost the same as that of the actual GMAT. So I believe you will most probably score within +/- 10 of what you score in these practice tests.

I gave my GMAT and I did not know whether I had to take TOEFL or not. Some colleges required the international students to take TOEFL and some colleges did not. So I went ahead and booked the dates for TOEFL anyway. I did not prepare much for this. It is very easy and the only section they have added is a Speaking section. They have also changed the format of the test. It is not for 300 now. It is for 120. 30 marks each for Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening sections. It is called iTOEFL now. I was able to score 113. And one more thing regarding TOEFL... I didn't get any dates within one month in and around Phoenix area. I guess it is hard to get dates on such a short notice..So I travelled to Virginia( that is where my sis and BIL live) to give the TOEFL.

Now that I had crossed the first 2 hurdles, I was ready to start writing the essays in full swing. The following are some of the tips that I can give for writing essays:

1. Finish the career progress and why MBA essay first. Almost all the colleges have this essay. The trickiest part in this essay is that you have to relate your career progress so far and your desire to do an MBA now.
2. Spend a lot of time in the above mentioned essay. This essay may break or make your chances of getting in.
3. If you don't know how to start, read the 'Great Application essays for Business Schools' by Paul Bordon. This book has a lot of tips for writing essays and also has around 20 sample essays. Once this essay is complete, the main burden is over and you can finish other essays in comparatively less time.

After completing 3/4ths of all your essays and if you have a pretty good picture of why you want do an MBA, shortlist the colleges that you are planning to apply. Plan to apply for at least 5-6 colleges. Visit their websites and get an overall idea of whether the plan that you have for your future matches with the college profile. If you are in US, call up the college and make sure you visit the college. Most of the colleges are closed during summer holidays. So plan a visit during early September or October. That is when most colleges re-open. When you visit a college, make sure that you do the following things:

1. Research about the college in advance and make sure that you have all your doubts noted down so that you can clarify them when you visit.
2. Most of the colleges have a Connectwithstudents forum where you can interact with current students. Use this forum to connect with current students and try get some insights about the college.
3. When you visit the campus, make sure that you attend a class, talk with an admissions officer and also talk with current students. Most of the students and the admission officer will give you their business cards. Make sure that you keep in touch with them. Send a thank-you e-mail after your campus visit thanking them for their patience in answering your questions.
4. Most colleges also conduct interviews when you visit the campus. If possible, you can finish that part also. In that way, after your campus visit, you only need to submit an application form. Your interview will be added as a part of your application.
5. The interviews are very stress free. Most of them ask about you career progress, your desire to do a MBA and what attracted you towards that college.

Now that you have finished the campus visit, give some final touches to your essays before submitting them. If you were able to make some good friendship ties with the current students, when you visited campus, make sure that you send them your essays and ask for their comments and make the necessary changes.

Almost all the colleges accept applications in 2-3 rounds. I applied for all the colleges in R-1. But it is entirely up to you. If you feel that your essays still need some polishing, then don't apply in R-1. Make the required changes and then apply in R-2. It is always better to submit a finished essay rather than an unfinished one. But do not postpone it later than R-2. The chances of getting in R-3 and R-4 (Yes, some colleges do have a R-4) are slim to none.

I think I have covered most of the important points. Will add some more to this, if I remember any.