Why am I writing this review? I read Sri’s (just_did_it)review,
https://mouthshut.com/readreview.php?rid=21793&r=1 and though I agreed with his some of his views, I found myself disagreeing with his views on why our fascination with this noble game borders on fanaticism and on corruption in cricket. I thought of commenting, but found I had too much to say, and took the advice of my brother (Sri) and wrote this to gain points. :-) heh heh
“Cricket civilizes people and creates good gentlemen''
Robert Mugabe
This, from a man who has ruled his country with tyranny, who exhorted the black people in Zimbabwe to kill all white landowners and forcibly seize their lands. This quotation, coming from a “man” like him, is the underlying theme for this review. I’ll explain.
Why do we get so involved with cricket?
An evening last year in Sydney got ugly... The sidewalks were packed with people who kept saying ''Woho!'' I never really got the Woho people; they don't make a lot of sense to me. Can you understand that? City blocks of people crowding the sidewalks, Woho-ing passing cars and busses? I knew cricket had to be involved somehow. People almost never get this stupid, all at once; unless cricket is involved they were all holding little flags. Ah ha! Those little laminate flags... I was closing in on the Mystery of the Woho. What's on the flags? Good ol’ Coca-Cola. I'd never seen so many people brought together by their love of Coke. Suddenly, mystery solved. The Kiwi cricket team had thumped Australia and the kiwi supporters had invaded Sydney. This is the unadulterated joy only a sport can bring.
The nation's focus on cricket translates many social issues into sports issues that often become the underlying basis for the resolution of social conflicts. We find ourselves discussing race, class, and gender in cricket. Why? This is a reflection of what we feel about the nation at large. Cricket serves as a testing ground for values about competition, human and social values, and personal morality. Issues of payment, corruption, competition, and finance capture our attention, because they are a reflection of the society at large.
The common man flocks to cricket not only because he likes it, but also because by getting involved emotionally, he is seeking escape from the pressures of everyday life. Like sex, drugs, and drink, the harsh reality of everyday life is obliterated, not by dimming that awareness but by raising it to a new intensity of concentration.
Commercialisation of cricket has turned it into a career, subordinating the athlete's pleasure to the spectator's and reduced the spectator himself to a state of passivity—the very antithesis of the health and vigour that sport ideally promotes. The mania for winning has encouraged an exaggerated emphasis on the competitive side of sport.
Remember the following?
“I justify any means necessary to win. Use of media to intimidate the opposition, sledging, intimidating the umpires, everything is fair in war, because make no mistake, we are at war every time we get on the field”
--Stephen Waugh
This mentality, to win at all costs, has made savages of the players and rabid chauvinists of their followers.
But should that mean that I should assign a game more relevance than it should? Should we as a nation hang our head in shame that we lost a match... come on guys grow up. We have already given cricket and cricketers enough and more attention. Why equate a corrupt cricketer to a traitor. We aren’t talking of amateur sports here, we are talking of professionals.
--Sri(Just_did_it) 5th para, https://mouthshut.com/readreview.php?rid=21793&r=1
This what Sri dada has written, and I totally disagree with it. I do get emotionally involved every time I see the blasted Indian team lose and win. (I have put lose before win ‘coz this what they do more often) I do get crazily excited every time we win. I do dance on the streets when we win major games and tournaments.(This explains the earthquake in Gujarat), I am very very emotionally involved with cricket. Why? Am I seeking escapism? I don’t know. What I do know is that when I realize Azhar and Jadeja have betrayed my trust, I get mad. I can never, ever forget the World Cup semi-final in Bangalore. Or the countess times Jadeja hit 100’s and 50’s at the bottom of the innings to shore up India. And I can never ever forget Azhar’s magic. Who can forget the century he made in Eden Gardens when Lance Klusener, Pollock and Donald were blasted to all corners? Or the magnificent hundred in Johannesburg? But, I felt as if I had swallowed a bitter pill when I learned about their involvement in the Match fixing scandal. Why did they do it? I will not go into that here. I do not want to know why. What I do want to know is how could they betray my trust. Because, make no mistake, cricket in India is bigger than religion.
As George Bernard Shaw has said, cricket is
‘Eleven fools playing and eleven thousand fools watching’
Well, I am indubitably one of the eleven thousand (more like 1 billion), and I want my cricket to return to the time when we never suspected player’s motives when he got out, or dropped a catch. I want to relive the ecstasy of a Sachin 100, a Saqlain “doosra”, A Wasim special, a Mark Waugh leg glance, a Lara hop’n’pull, a McGrath stare at Sachin when he has been smashed out of the stadium, a Saurav shouting at Srinath, a Jonty giving flying lessons to a bird, A Shephard hopping on the Nelson, a Warne statement about him having nightmares about Sachin and Siddhu, a Turbonator eespessal, Prasad’s reaction when Aamir Sohail’s stumps went flying at Bangalore Quarterfinal, Inzamam-ul-Haq lumbering for a single, Shahid Afridi’s Sixes, the English Teams’ whining and propensity to make outlandish excuses every time they lose, A Saurav scorcher bisecting the cover point fielder...I could go on and on..., without doubting their authenticity, without any doubt.
Yet, all this is blighted by the ubiquitous match fixer. Now, each time something special happens on the field, I am not sure whether it wasn’t fixed. I have started seeing cricket through the lenses of the satta bazaar. So, I get mad. I am so involved with cricket; I take its loss of innocence personally. While my head realises that it’s just a game and its fools like me who make money for the cricketers and administrators, (like J.Y Lele, may he roast in hell), my heart refuses to accept it as just a game.
For nearly a billion people, cricket; not Islam, not Hinduism, not Sikhism, not Christianity, not any other religion; is the opiate. Its what unites us as a nation. It’s an outlet of our patriotism. (I might be stretching it, but it is worth stretching) When we are watching a “game” of cricket, we are watching it as INDIANS. We roar as one voice. We weep together. We burst crackers together. We worship our human cricketers as God. How can a game, which invokes so much passion and emotion, be just a game? No sir. Nyet. Nada. Non. Nahin.
