Monday, July 20, 2015

A Lost Star

Late in 2014, when Ferrari was considering who to replace the disappointing Kimi Raikkonen for the 2015 season, it had many options.

Jules Bianchi, their long-time protégé, was at the top of the list.

Then in his second season driving the Ferrari-powered Marussia team, Bianchi had shown flashes of brilliance and remarkable consistency in one of the worst cars on the Formula One grid.

Yours Truly, at that time, thought that Ferrari would soon announce that Bianchi would be the second driver for 2015.

Then Adrian Sutil spun at the Japanese Grand Prix in appalling conditions. As his car was stranded in a precarious position, a heavy recovery vehicle was dispatched to remove it.

Minutes later, an ambulance was dispatched to the crash scene. Yours Truly, who was watching it live on TV last October, was puzzled as Sutil had been seen climbing out of the Force India, unharmed.

Even the commentators were unsure what was going on. Later, we all learned that there was a second crash at the same spot involving Bianchi, who had spun at the same spot and crashed into the recovery vehicle at a high speed.

Immediate medical actions at the track probably saved his life. But he had suffered serious brain damage and was later transferred to Nice, France, his hometown for further treatment and observation.

However, he had never come out of his coma. His conditions did not improve and even his father was pessimistic about his prognosis. Then last Friday, he finally succumbed to his grave injury, more than nine months after the accident.

Bianchi was not a back-marker, and was more than making up the numbers. Those who have watched him race in GP2, Formula 3 and Formula 3.5 can all tell you that he was truly an up-and-coming star.

Sadly, he never had the chance to fulfill his potential and his journey ended at a way-too-early age of 25.

RIP, Jules. #JB17

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Something New

In the NBA, the Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-2 to win their first championship in 40 years.

Everyone seems to be happy about it. Even fans in Cleveland do as many say they have already got used to getting oh-so-close to winning it all, be it the Cavaliers, the Browns, or the Indians.

To Yours Truly, the reason for happiness is simple. The Warriors are the underdogs, and Yours Truly loves to see the underdogs succeed.

And after witnessing the same old (no pun intended) teams like the Spurs or the Heat dominating the past couple of years, we have finally seen something new, something fresh.

Now let's hope the same breath of fresh air will spread to the NFL and MLB as well.