Managers '07

Lilian Fernandes - Manager, "Iron Maidens" (Retired)
Blurb: Lilian works out of Bangalore for an MNC and in her free time, cuts DVDs of popular TV shows for friends (in regular installments), books tickets for movies (wrong time, wrong day, wrong movie or all of the above) and reads Science Fiction (forcefully taken from a common friend's book collection).
Fantasy Football Fact (F3): Given a chance, Lilian would draft Tom Brady into all her starting positions. However, since being a hunk alone doesn't get any points, she has considered drafting other players too.



Thryambak Chandilya - Manager, Dr. Evil
Blurb: Thryambak recently relocated from the US back to Bangalore, but eventually spends more time travelling than spending at home thereby redefining the word "relocation". Thryambak is one of the two co-founders of the Bangalore Flag Footballers Association. Unfortunately, all that the club has is two co-founders and has sort of hit a dead end for the time being. However, we do hope to kick start it once we find out a nice green field in Bangalore (Yes, an open grass field in Bangalore with enough space for people to play Flag Football. We have also redefined the word "Optimism")
F3: Thryambak has regularly played the game during his time in the US and is quite possibly a stud in Fantasy Football. If there are enough votes, we can consider banning him for the first two rounds of the draft.

Ramgopal Thiruvengadam - Manager, Blasters
Blurb: Ramgopal studied in Carson-Country and works out of LT-land thereby owing his allegiance to both the Bengals and Chargers (the fact that they are two of the top teams in the AFC is only a convenience). Apart from Football, Ramgopal is an ardent follower of Gandhi, mad fan of Aishwarya Bachan (how does it feel to call her that, ram ;-)), die-hard supporter of Sachin Tendulkar and true admirer of Kamalhassan.
F3: Ram and I had a competition throughout last season where we used to predict winners for every weekend by using our unmatched insights into the game. And then, the Texans beat the Jaguars, the Lions beat the Cowboys, the Saints made the post season and Steelers sank without a trace. For the record, we never gave up and continued with our prediction game.

Tejus AG - Manager, Bangalore Wolves
Blurb : Tejus (or Tejux, when he frags people on the network playing Quake 2) has worked for three of India's top MNCs in the last four years. Never once satisfied, he is headed to join the Buck Eyes as a spectator. Tejus was thrown the usual bait of "a game of strategy pitting your wits against others" and he took it hook, line and sink. Apart from completing his transition activities in his company, Tejus is actively reading up on American Football to catch up with the rest of the crowd by the time the Saints visit the Colts.
F3 : Once he gets to the part where he can say a Running Back from a Corner Back, we will have something to fill this place.

Gautham Natanasabapathy - Manager, Bangalosers
Blurb: Gautham works out of Bangalore for (yet another) MNC in a position where he needs to wear suits more often than those single-colored t-shirts he wears. He likes to kick ass, literally (he has a license to do that) and figuratively (as evidenced from this). Apart from being one of Cricinfo's earliest key contributors, Gautham is also an active quizzer - only if the quiz is held in his building and someone else is hosting it.
F3: To understand Gautham's talent-spotting talent, consider this : During the early 90s, when the newsgroup rec.sport.cricket discussed only cricket, Gautham had a signature that read "#1 Fan of VVSL and Ricky Ponting". Enough said.

Hrishikesh Narasimhan - Manager, Vetti
Blurb: Hrishikesh works out of Cupertino for an MNC which most of you might have guessed by now. This fantasy football league, this blog and this boring text that you are reading would not have existed if not for that one moment when Hrishikesh actually invited a certain anti-social element home and ended up explaining the game over lunch ('06 Playoffs Steelers Vs Bengals or The Carson Palmer Game). Hrishikesh places American Football a distant second behind Cricket, which would be obvious considering his regular posts in rec.sport.cricket.
F3: Hrishi has spent almost 80% of the last decade in the US following the NFL season. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Praveen Shankar - Manager, Scarlet Knights
Blurb: Praveen or Pravin or 'Pacman' is a violinist / multiple-marathon runner / doctoral candidate at Rutger's (and hence the team name). He loves to watch Rugter's Football not necessarily for FB Leonard or WR Rice, but for DB Budweiser and LB Foster (Draught Beer and Light Beer respectively). Pravin was an active member of the super succesful 'Schumacher Sucks' gang and the solitary member of the 'Mesmerizing Montoya' club during his time in Bangalore.
F3: Praveen is a punter on the 'F1 Fantasy Grid', and with the amount of free time he has (total time - time praveen spends thinking about his docotoral thesis, which is miniscule anyway), he is sure to make a game out of this league.

Sivasundar Ramamurthy - Manager, Gators Rule
Blurb: Despite being an accomplished Golfer, Siva's desk indicates where his loyalties lie - a huge Gators flag, a football and other assorted paraphernalia. A strong believer in the maxim 'D Wins Championships', Siva is a patriotic fan of the Florida Gators so much so that he already has his fantasy team set up - Rex Grossman at QB, Fred Taylor at RB, Reche Caldwell at WR and Ben Troupe at TE - An all-gators team. Kindly watch out for Siva after the BCS games are over, since he likes to wear Gators' colors when they win (side note: The Gators wear Orange).
F3: When he is not playing Golf, Siva follows college football, plays flag football and participates in fantasy football. Now, all of you, run for cover.

Kesavan Mukunthan - Manager, This Is Not Football
Blurb : Kesavan is arguably the biggest fan and the most knowledgeable expert amongst us all when it comes to football. Only, it is played with a spherical ball and its a foul if someone is brought forcefully to the ground. As for as his American Football skills, I would be meeting him sometime this week with a tape of the Colts vs Pats AFC Championship Game (Jan '07) to explain things. A penchant for learning things, reading books and a master quizzer, Kesavan was dealt a cruel blow by the Indian educational system. Due to some very poor marks and low academic skills, he couldn't get into any of the premiere institutes in the country and had to settle for a no-name institution called the Indian Institute of Technology (Madras). He persisted with his mediocre skills and joined an equally no-name institution called Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore). Understandably, he is an investment banker or some such now.
F3: Kesavan trumps all his friends playing Fantasy Soccer till this day. Fantasy Football might be, as they say, a different ball game :-). PS: Our league (Fraud Footballers) gets its name from Kesavan's description of American Football.

Chandra Bala - Manager, All-Day

Blurb: Chandra Bala is one of our legitimate quadruple-threats (qb, wr, cb, rb) in the now defunct (?!) TFL (touch football league). Interesting factoid: For all of you who felt a mini boogambam in the San Jose area circa Jan 2010, that was Chandra unleashing holy hell after bread favor threw a well-timed pass to Tracy Porter and then looked at his own jersey. An All-Day fan all day, Chandra studied at the University of Minnesota and is a die hard Vikes fan (not "i like to watch AP, he is a great RB" die-hard, this is "i buy jerseys, i paint my face, i buy directv sunday ticket to follow the vikes even when they had tavares jackson as qb, i don't eat cheese because that ruddy thing is made in wisconsin" die-hard).

F3: Chandra was/is a commissioner in another fantasy football league, so any motions to strip him of his first two draft picks citing expertise will be duly looked into. Rumor has it that Chandra wanted to threaten Siva's all-gator team of Jabar Gaffney, Reche Calldwell, Rex Grossman and Fraud Taylor with his own version of all-gophers greats, the running back tandem of Marion Barber and Laurence Maroney. The world watches with bated breath.

Arunthur Dent - Manager, Bangalore Balrogs
Blurb: Don't panic.
F3: Seriously, What ??