3 Weeks, 3 Cities and a bunch of great sports conversations and experiences
Happy New Year! I finally went back to the “western world” after 14 straight months in India. It was amazing spending time with my friends and family in New York, Los Angeles and London and much happened on the trip. However since this is a sports blog, I’ll stick to some of my sports conversations and experiences while I was in the US and London.
New York
One another day I went uptown to Columbia University to sit down with US Soccer President Sunil Gulati, then downtown to SOHO to visit the NY Cosmos office and see some of my friends working to revive the brand and then midtown to meet with my friend at the NBA whose job is to grow their brand in India.
It was a hectic schedule, but well worth it. What I found extraordinary was that when you’re known as someone who has followed his heart, a whole new conversation is available with people. My conversations with the top brass of soccer in United States and others revolved more around dreams and what’s important in life rather than the day to day administrative items that we used to talk about it. I left most conversations feeling fully self expressed and knowing much more about these individuals than when I interacted with them on a daily basis while living in New York.
Los Angeles
I didn’t plan on many sporting activities in Los Angeles. It was supposed to be all about the family, however in the end a few individuals and experiences surfaced.
My friend Fernando Orvananos was handling the marketing for a match at the Home Depot Center between Club America and Guatemala. I don’t know what got into me but I decided to ask for tickets for my family and fortunately he came through. What resulted was an unexpected party of night where my family and I watched an exciting soccer match in a Home Depot Center box. A full night with tailgating and all. I love creating memorable socceer experiences for my family and this definitely was something we all won’t forget for awhile.
The next day I drove to Thousand Oaks to meet my friend Krissy. Her sister is married to former LA Lakers player and current New Jersey Nets star Jordan Farmar. I walked into the house and noticed a lot of Jordan’s pictures all over the family room walls and thought it was kind of odd that Krissy’s family would fill their valuable family room wall space with pictures of their son-in-law playing basketball. After an hour I realized that we were actually in Jordan’s house and the woman who I’d been speaking to for the last 20 minutes about youth development through Basketball was Jordan’s mother. I’m not a huge NBA fan, but I know that the Lakers have singlehandedly created a unique bond between my brother and father which is why I was really excited to be in Jordan’s home that afternoon.
After that I drove to Calabasas to meet my friend Ranbir. Ranbir is of Indian origin and owns the Ventura County Fusion PDL football team. He is a great guy who is always looking for ways to support the growth of Indian football. While soaking in the southern California sun, we had a nice conversation about a range of topics including Indian players who would do well in the US, what it takes to own an I-League team and the fact that the Kardashian sisters’ store was nearby.
London
The last stop was London. I had scheduled two informal meetings with Arsenal FC on the day I was heading back to Delhi. My friend Will drove me to Emirates stadium and I remember staring at the beautiful facility kicking myself for not scheduling my flight so I could catch the next day’s home match versus Manchester City.
As I walked into Highbury House for the first meeting I was hit with an incredible sense of déjà vu. In 2001, I had travelled to London with a few CVs hoping to land an internship with a London based football club. I remember waking up at my friend’s place in South London, putting on my best clothes, grabbing my CV and heading to Arsenal on the tube. I walked through the office door right up to the receptionist and said, “Hi my name is Neel and I’m an American looking to work for Arsenal.” Before she had time to respond I put my CV on her desk and quickly walked out. Not surprisingly, Arsenal FC never offered me a position.
Now its 10 years later and I actually had appointments with the Marketing Manager and the Chief Executive of the club. Man I’m really happy how things have worked out. The meetings went well and I will never forget sitting in the Chief Executive’s office sipping tea and talking about life as we stared into the dark gloom of a winter evening in London. These are the moments that I turn to when my professional life throws its challenges at me.
The 3 weeks came and went and now I’m back in India with even more energy to contribute to the growth of football in this beautiful country…..
New York
While in New York, I was fortunate enough to spend quality time with all my old friends at the Major League Soccer league office. I was nervously excited walking back into the office I spent most of my 20s in and seeing people who are much more than colleagues. I felt at home within those buzzing walls and had the opportunity to have a chat, lunch or dinner with many of the senior staff at the league including Commissioner Don Garber and MLS President Mark Abbott.
One another day I went uptown to Columbia University to sit down with US Soccer President Sunil Gulati, then downtown to SOHO to visit the NY Cosmos office and see some of my friends working to revive the brand and then midtown to meet with my friend at the NBA whose job is to grow their brand in India. 
It was a hectic schedule, but well worth it. What I found extraordinary was that when you’re known as someone who has followed his heart, a whole new conversation is available with people. My conversations with the top brass of soccer in United States and others revolved more around dreams and what’s important in life rather than the day to day administrative items that we used to talk about it. I left most conversations feeling fully self expressed and knowing much more about these individuals than when I interacted with them on a daily basis while living in New York. Los Angeles
I didn’t plan on many sporting activities in Los Angeles. It was supposed to be all about the family, however in the end a few individuals and experiences surfaced.
My friend Fernando Orvananos was handling the marketing for a match at the Home Depot Center between Club America and Guatemala. I don’t know what got into me but I decided to ask for tickets for my family and fortunately he came through. What resulted was an unexpected party of night where my family and I watched an exciting soccer match in a Home Depot Center box. A full night with tailgating and all. I love creating memorable socceer experiences for my family and this definitely was something we all won’t forget for awhile.
The next day I drove to Thousand Oaks to meet my friend Krissy. Her sister is married to former LA Lakers player and current New Jersey Nets star Jordan Farmar. I walked into the house and noticed a lot of Jordan’s pictures all over the family room walls and thought it was kind of odd that Krissy’s family would fill their valuable family room wall space with pictures of their son-in-law playing basketball. After an hour I realized that we were actually in Jordan’s house and the woman who I’d been speaking to for the last 20 minutes about youth development through Basketball was Jordan’s mother. I’m not a huge NBA fan, but I know that the Lakers have singlehandedly created a unique bond between my brother and father which is why I was really excited to be in Jordan’s home that afternoon.
After that I drove to Calabasas to meet my friend Ranbir. Ranbir is of Indian origin and owns the Ventura County Fusion PDL football team. He is a great guy who is always looking for ways to support the growth of Indian football. While soaking in the southern California sun, we had a nice conversation about a range of topics including Indian players who would do well in the US, what it takes to own an I-League team and the fact that the Kardashian sisters’ store was nearby.
London
The last stop was London. I had scheduled two informal meetings with Arsenal FC on the day I was heading back to Delhi. My friend Will drove me to Emirates stadium and I remember staring at the beautiful facility kicking myself for not scheduling my flight so I could catch the next day’s home match versus Manchester City.
As I walked into Highbury House for the first meeting I was hit with an incredible sense of déjà vu. In 2001, I had travelled to London with a few CVs hoping to land an internship with a London based football club. I remember waking up at my friend’s place in South London, putting on my best clothes, grabbing my CV and heading to Arsenal on the tube. I walked through the office door right up to the receptionist and said, “Hi my name is Neel and I’m an American looking to work for Arsenal.” Before she had time to respond I put my CV on her desk and quickly walked out. Not surprisingly, Arsenal FC never offered me a position.
The 3 weeks came and went and now I’m back in India with even more energy to contribute to the growth of football in this beautiful country…..
Comments
Post a Comment