a 10-2 vote of the 12-member jury.Hayes said he armed himself only after he and his own passenger were accosted by Smith and Ri

August 26 The minute I entered Central Broward Regional Park, I knew what Id been missing for the past year in the USA: the long queues, the over-enthusiastic fans trying to sneak into the press box so they could meet players, the emotion behind every Sachin, Sachin.You can move to the US for work, you can go to innumerable baseball games to make up for not being able to watch cricket in person, but there is nothing like going berserk over Yuvraj Singhs sixes and crying over a lost wicket. You can never leave the game behind. Its what makes us who we are.I stopped in my tracks the minute I heard my mother tongue, Tamil. Sekhar Krishnan, a BCCI cameraman, looked at me and said, Tamizh ah? (Are you a Tamilian?). Hugs were exchanged. Numbers were shared. It felt like he was my long-lost brother. It was then that I realised how starved I was for my people - the crazy cricket fans from Tamil Nadu who welcomed everybody in and made them feel at home. He introduced me to everybody around him as his sister. I was already in his inner circle.I talked to more than two dozen people that day, in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and English. It felt like a reunion, although it was the first time we were all gathered together for an international series featuring India in the US.Day one ended with a trip to Hollywood, a 12-mile trek south from Lauderhill. It was my first time in Florida and Peter Della Penna, ESPNcricinfos USA correspondent, wanted me to eat at Mauros, a pizza joint he called the best outside of New York. The restaurant was tiny with no seating inside, strictly takeout, accepting cash only, and was tucked away between posh Thai and Italian restaurants.The pizza slices were huge and really good. I was also incredibly hungry and would have found a cardboard box tasty. With two days before I head back to Washington DC and with two matches to cover, I knew this was the most I would see of Florida during this visit.August 27 Why is there so much traffic on I-95, my Uber driver wondered out loud as we were making our way from Fort Lauderdale to Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill. He couldnt understand what was holding up the cars ahead on a Saturday morning. I knew the answer almost immediately. People were driving to Indias first official international match in the USA. Cars snaked down to almost a mile from the stadium two hours before the toss. People wanted to get there fast. Their adrenaline rush was palpable. As I walked into the stadium, I began to see people in India jerseys holding posters of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. It was like somebody had carved out Chepauk and planted it in Florida. It was like being back home. It was chaos, but it was my chaos. When Indias national anthem played before the match began, the crowd of 15,000 sang along, myself included.I spent most of the first match sitting with a group of Indian and West Indian fans in the stands. Suddenly this one Indian fan directly in front of me stood up on her chair and cheered, pointing to the big screen. Thats me. I am the fan of the day. Surely enough, her name, Fan of the day - Cherry Patel, popped up on the screen, with a picture of her. She was ecstatic, pointing to her jersey and screaming at the top of her voice. She had the word Virat painted on her legs and she was sporting a Virat jersey. And now she was going to get a picture taken with him at the end of the match as part of the Fan of the Day promotion.For the next ten minutes, she was up on her chair, cheering loudly. At one point, the whole stand started chanting Cherry, Cherry.I was in her shoes a few years ago when India played Australia in Chepauk. I screamed so much the first two days of the Test match that I lost my voice for a while. Indian fans are crazy and they embrace it. It put a smile on my face.I grew up in a household where family members took off work to watch India play, and this included watching pre-match analysis and post-match press conferences. Breakfast, lunch and dinner happened in front of the television and the conversations were limited to cricket talk. Since I was 15, all Ive wanted was to sit in as part of the media during a press conference.So when MS Dhoni walked in to the media room after the first T20I, it took a while to understand the magnitude of the moment for me. August 28 I walked down to have breakfast on the morning of the second T20I. Having been in the US for a year, Ive got used to noticing people of Indian origin. But Ive never seen a room full of them. People who didnt know each other eating their breakfast together and commenting about how India needed to have bowled better in the first ten overs of the first match.If I hadnt seen an American flag plonked in the corner of the room, Id have believed that I was in India. MS Dhoni was right. Even if the team went to the Bermuda Triangle, Indian fans would follow them there.Over the two days of cricket, there was a stark difference between the fan experience here when compared to India. While you get to eat peanuts and drink soda there, here you get to eat chips and drink beer. Fans jumped at the opportunity to relax and drink beers with their friends and family. The cheers got steadily louder as the day progressed, thanks to the alcohol. This aspect made it seem like a cross between baseball and cricket. Beer seems to be one of the main reasons fans trek to baseball games.The extent to which Indian fans love their team: players wives are part of their family. So when Sakshi Dhoni made her way to the VIP area above the press box, the fans were overjoyed. They stood against the railings that separated their part of the stand from the press box, phone in hand, trying to take a good picture of her.It something every Indian cricketer comes to accept - what he does is no longer just his business. Its the countrys business.After close to an hour and a half after the rain ended, the second match was officially called off - the outfield was too wet for play. Despite the washout, August 27 and 28 was a historic weekend - Indias first official series in the USA. And the fans seemed to walk out of Central Broward Regional Park satisfied.Peter generously offered to give me a ride to the airport, and on the way we stopped at Fort Lauderdale Beach. The rain had stopped by then. The clear blue sky, the breaking waves, the tall coconut trees and the Sunday afternoon beachgoers made my visit to Florida complete. It lived up to all the hype that beaches here get. I also learned that Fort Lauderdale Beach was Spring Break central in the 1960s and 70s before the crowd moved to Miamis South Beach. Cheap College Basketball Jerseys . -- Five former Kansas City Chiefs players who were on the team between 1987 and 1993 filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the team hid and even lied about the risks of head injuries during that time period when there was no collective bargaining agreement in place in the NFL. Cheap NCAA Football Jerseys . The scientists believe the small earthquake during a Marshawn Lynch touchdown was likely greater than Lynchs famous "beast quake" touchdown run three years ago, which also came against New Orleans during a playoff game. http://www.cheapcollegejerseys.us.org/ .500 on the season. The Jets are now 0-5-1 in the second game of back-to-backs. The game started the same way the Vancouver game started the night before, with the Jets taking the first two penalties of the game and killing off the first, but the Oilers getting on the board first, scoring on the second man-advantage. NCAA Jerseys Wholesale . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. Wholesale College Jerseys . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. NEW ORLEANS -- New Orleans district attorney said hell seek 60 years in prison for the man who killed New Orleans Saints star Will Smith -- the maximum 40 years for manslaughter, plus another 20 years for attempted manslaughter in the wounding of Smiths wife.We will do our gut-level best to get the judge to impose the maximum sentence of 60 years, Leon Cannizzaro told reporters Monday.Cardell Hayes was found guilty Sunday night after insisting that he only fired because the retired NFL player was drunk and violent and had grabbed a gun following their collision in traffic last April.No one else testified Smith ever held a gun. A loaded .9-mm semi-automatic handgun was found loaded but unused inside Smiths car.Smith, a 34-year-old father of three, was a defensive leader on the Saints team that lifted spirits in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. He helped carry the team to a winning season in 2006 and a Super Bowl victory four years later.His death in a dispute over traffic was shocking, even for a city with a high rate of homicides.Hayes, 29, will be sentenced on Feb. 17. State Judge Camille Buras will have the option of imposing less than the maximum sentences, and could order them served concurrently. But the D.A. said the crime warrants maximum sentences, served one after the other.Hayes would have faced a mandatory life sentence had he been found guilty as charged of second-degree murder, and Racquel Smith will press for a harsh sentence when she gives her victim impact statement before the sentencing, according to a statement from the family.Its very unfortunate that another child will grow up without a father, said Raquel Smiths lawyer, Peter Thomson, referring to Hayes 6-year-old son. But Mr. Hayes, regardless of that, must face the consequences of his actions under our system of laws.Friends and relatives of Hayes, a former semi-pro football player who owns a towing company, left court without commenting Sunday night.Hayes defense said Smiths popularity led to a rush to judgment by police and prosecutors. Assistant District Attorney Laura Rodrigue countered that the defense was trying to smear Smith.A pathologist report showed Smmith was legally drunk that night, after spending time at the citys annual French Quarter Festival, a bar and two restaurants.dddddddddddd He was driving with his wife and another couple, who were traveling with a group of friends in several cars -- when his Mercedes SUV may have lightly bumped Hayes Hummer.Smith then drove off, with Hayes in pursuit. Hayes vehemently denied intentionally ramming the SUV moments later -- he said he was trying to dial 911 to report a hit-and-run and didnt realize how close their cars were.The jury appeared to agree with Hayes on this point, finding him not guilty of aggravated criminal damage to property.Cannizzaro said Monday that Smiths apparent anger and his high blood-alcohol level were likely factors in the jurys decision to hand up a lesser verdict than murder. But, he said he was satisfied with the two convictions, each reached on a 10-2 vote of the 12-member jury.Hayes said he armed himself only after he and his own passenger were accosted by Smith and Richard Hernandez, a passenger in Smiths Mercedes.Hayes also testified that Smith didnt notice his .45-caliber handgun until Hernandez alerted him to it. And he said he only fired after Smith went back to his car to grab his own gun.Assistant Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Napoli repeatedly noted that no other witness said Smith was armed, and that Hayes never told investigators he saw a gun in Smiths hands that night.I never gave a full statement to anyone, Hayes responded.Napoli said in closing arguments that Smith was executed as Hayes fired into his body, once in the side and seven times in the back.This young man tried his best, trying to avoid doing what he had to do, defense attorney John Fuller shouted during his thundering closing, which lasted more than three and a half hours.Saints coach Sean Payton was in court for the late Sunday verdict. A host of past and present Saints players, including former safety Steve Gleason, current quarterback Drew Brees and former running back Deuce McAllister, also attended the trial. ' ' '