To burn in effigy is not far from...

As an ex-ardent cricket fan, who is currently on a self-imposed ban, the only snippets of cricket I see are in the SUN news highlights.

Today, they showed a mob burning effigies of an Umpire (Referee) who gave some decisions against the Indian team in their games against Australia last week.

Apparently, India lost to Australia and these decisions played a big role in the loss.

But to burn the dude in effigy??? is only a step away from burning the dude for real. What kind of craze is this?

I seriously have my doubts about Cricket being called a game or a sport. This should not be considered a sport anymore. There is nothing sportive left!

In religion we have gradations like

moderately religious
religious
orthodox
exteremly orthodox

and for a lot of religions there seems to be a militant wing somewhere between the orthodox and exteremly orthodox and in a lot of cases, they are branded as extremists or even terrorists!

Religion : Extremism :: Cricket : "that mob that was burning the umpire in Effigy"

Cricket has finally transcended Religion. Sharad Powar, the BCCI (board of conrol for cricket in India) president gave a press conference later saying he was happy that his appeal to replace the umpire had been accepted by the International Cricket Council ...

This man could teach the TV Evangelists a thing or two about making money in the name of religion. Cricket is all about money now. Coaches get murdered, bookies and the mafia have dipped their hand deep into the game and politicians and governments are getting into it.

We should not be surprised if Cricketers start running for elections or start campaigning soon..

The self imposed ban, continues!

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Just another Cricket post ...

Have been reading all the furor over the recent India-Bangladesh match where India lost to Bangladesh (India are strong favorites and Bangladesh were typically being reffered to as Minnows in the media !). There is similar if not worse reaction to Pakistan losing to Ireland and exiting the Cricket world cup!

Mostly the blog world is polarized about the mob mentality of the Indian Cricket fan and how the ardent fan is justifiably pissed at the performance of his / her Cricket hero ! Most of it is in reaction to how a mob stormed into one of the cricketers home and destroyed property, etc.,

A sample is here.. here..and now that the Pakistan cricket coach's death has been declared "suspicious", we are going to see a lot more posts on losing and winning games when you have a huge fan base in the billions!

A message to my cricket loving brethren :

CHILL OUT !!!

It is a sport. Someone wins, someone loses, sometimes someone makes some money, sometimes someone loses money, they all become part of the statistic and pretty soon it is all forgotten and one goes about buying ones favorite brand of shaving razor or tea bag or insurance policy. Yeah, that same favorite which is common between you and your Cricketer idol!

Just think of how you would have watched the game were it advertised a little differently as a SUN TV movie.. (now pardon the Tamlish! and imagine the below words with a strong Tamizh accent)

Indhiya tholaikatchigalil mudhal murayaaga
thiraikku vandhu sila mani nerangale aana
Satchin, sEvAg, DhOni, Mandira matrum palar nadiththa
Indiava Bangladesha pOtti

Kaana thavaraadheergal !

I am sure it would be a laugh fest at that point..

I am still waiting for the Indian team to make it to the final 8 for a personal reason. I get to watch the matches only if they make it to the final 8 or else I forfeit the right to order the games on Dish Network (My bet with my home bookie a.k.a. wife!).

Considering the 250 Crore rupees loss mentioned in a few blogs ($ 50 Million) in advertising revenue, ticket sales etc. being projected, they must be playing like they have a fire under their youknowwhats, but I hope the match does not get fixed for ticket sales. I would rather see those cricket heroes do their absolute best and win it with their talent and teamwork!

Good luck to team India!

On a personal note to my dad : You are probably right. Most matches are rigged and I am still stupid enough to succumb to cricket fever! I always feel like that dude who watches the action replay and says "I hope he hits the ball at least this time"!!

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