Sometimes work pressure brings the best out of The Daily Star Sport team and our stomach starts yearning for 'something good'. At that point, all eyes move to the birthday list on the bulletin board to check out the next fulfilling dinner.
January and July are the best months while May, October, November and December do not disappoint either.
After every hearty meal on these birthdays, a big "Thank You, ..." follows; someone points his finger to the next birthday boy at that point.
TRAGEDY IN THE MUD
(A BRAZILIAN DOES A KAHN) Quarterfinals of the Meril Media Cup football tournament saw The Daily Star leading 1-0. Our captain and goalkeeper, who had an answer to everything flung towards him in the tournament till that point, let an innocuous looking long-range shot slip between his hands in the muddy quagmire of the Bangabandhu National Stadium, although the defence was to blame for the ball going through that far (1-1).
Minutes into the extra-time, our form striker (who once posed with Jamie Reeves) missed the simplest of chances laid on by the playmaker/sports editor.
So off we went to the penalties and as it happens to England almost in every tournament, The Daily Star missed those vital spot kicks and bowed out gracefully, with the Fair Play trophy in its bag.
THAT PHONE CALL TO
RAFIQUE
One night in November. Al Amin bhai wanted to take Mohammad Rafique's immediate reaction after the veteran left-arm spinner was 'rested' from the New Zealand tour.
Photographer Anisur Rahman, apparently quite a friend of Rafique, provided Al Amin bhai with his mobile phone number but it wasn't quite what we thought. Rafique, the man in question here, gleefully asked him to call up the photography section of his office for a better conversation on a land phone. A confused Al Amin bhai expressed his surprise that how does our Dhakaiya hero Rafique sit at a photography section of a newspaper office; stomach-churning laughter ensued.
Al Amin bhai did get to talk to the real Rafique but only after we crosschecked, double-checked to see if it was the right man.
OURSHIFT
The Sport Section was on the third floor, which is the top floor, until
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mid-June last year. Since then some of our previous floor-mates come downstairs to visit us and 'taunt' us that we got a demotion.
We take it sportingly firstly, we are on the same floor as our Editor is and secondly, the promoted ones must be working on the roof of The Daily Star office!
NIGHT SHIFT DURING CRICKET WORLD CUP Matches in the West Indies are sometimes a nightmare if they are tight contests because one, you can't take your eyes off it, and two, it’s during the dreaded (for newspapermen) wee hours of the night and you struggle to keep your eyes open.
The Daily Star Sport made sure the result was in print when you woke up next morning and in order to make that happen one of us had to stay till after the end of that match everyday.
So, a roster was drawn up here in the sports section and each of us got a day every week during the tournament to stay up till the match ends. With blind faith in his knowledge of calendars, Zulquarnain picked Saturday as his night shift!
All we could tell him was that he was a lucky charm, as he had to cover both Bangladesh's wins over India and South Africa. He even had to stay during the Australia-South Africa match and the final.
THE SKY IS AZZURRI
With so many sad retirements this year, our Daily Star Sport teammate and football extraordinaire Atique Anam also decided to hang up his coat leaving behind a lasting memory.
He had the last laugh and word though when his favourite Azzurri and Luca Toni lifted the Football World Cup in 2006. Apart frotn his liking for all things blue, Atique bhai was well-versed with the ins and outs of European (read Italian) football.
A huge fan of West Indies legend Brian Lara, Atique bhai said he would stop watching cricket the moment “the prince” decided to retire.
He was on his way home to watch Lara's final hurrah from the comfort of his living room when the West Indian was cruelly run out thanks to party-pooper Marlon Samuels. And when we contacted him to convey the 'bad news', our poor Atique bhai hadn't even make it to Abul Hotel. His reaction was a unique one-liner that shall forever
be remembered.
THETREAT
India-Pakistan could be the mother of all matches but when Al Amin bhai (the Sport Editor) took us to South African chicken giants Nando's one balmy night, it was the father of all treats.
Earlier that morning, Bishwajit dada informed Simon bhai of our boss's appearance on a live television talk show. And as all TV appearances of The Daily Star Sport team goes, the aftermath had to be a treat. And someone soon pointed out that Nando's remains open till 11 pm at night
The lucky three, comfortably placed in and around Nando's, hopped into our boss's car but trouble soon followed. As soon as the orders were placed, yours truly had the chills as boss went for the extra hot menu!
Tears followed soon after and only the cold and rather refreshing coleslaw was the only hope of keeping the tongue from being burnt. The irony was that the informer, Bishwajit dada, himself missed out on the feast.
But it was worth all that.