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Time zones...

by Homer

The hardest part of watching cricket is to stay awake long enough to watch it. And if you are in the United States, it is harder than usual.

For starters, there is really no discussion of the game to be had - at the work place, in social circles and amongst friends ) okay, a little bit amongst friends, but nowhere close to the enthu that is the hall mark of a cricket discussion in des).

Then there are the weird hours - the best time zones from a cricketing perspective are Australia and New Zealand. 6 PM starts, 2 PM ends, late to bed,early to rise, making Homer wise.

India is brutal - 10:30 -11:30 PM starts, game stretching on to 5 AM or later, totally murdering the sleep cycle.

England heralds 5:30 AM starts, South Africa 3 AM - how I lived thru the World Cup of 2003 and the Ashes of 2005, retaining both my job and my sanity, still staggers me!

Logically, the West Indies is the best time zone to be watching the cricket - because it is the same time zone as the Eastern seaboard ( Jamaica excepting). And possibly the worst time zone to be watching cricket because, unless you are on a paid vacation, it is difficult to get any cricket in. Something called life seems to continuously intrude!

The IPL, in South Africa ( and India), beamed for prime time in India, is just about perfect. The first game begins at 6:30 AM, the second at 10:30 AM - Ctrl - R/ F5 do the trick thru the second game while I can get to see the first half of the first game.

And since there is the replay, watching the game ( despite knowing the results, or because of knowing the results) does not intersect with life. Atleast,not as much.

That being said, bliss was February of 1998. I was between jobs, spending the entire month at home ( this was in India). Australia were playing South Africa in Australia, Sri Lanka were in India and England were in the West Indies. And this was well before there was a dedicated channel just for the cricket ( yes,I remember those times and yes, I AM that old!).

The term "round the clock coverage" took a whole different meaning then.

Bliss!

10 comments:

Prabu said...

The biggest gain for me in moving to Australia from the US Homer has been the cricket talk that I can have in the workplace! It is sooo much better than only being able to talk over phone to a few close friends over the weekend.

Homer said...

I hear you Prabu..its a hard knock life for cricket fans here :)

Cheers,

straight point said...

'Michael clarke had a blast yesterday...'

'ya...i know...'

'do you follow cricket?!!'

'what cricket...i was talking bout my cousin...who's this clarke...?'

'actually...oh forget it...'

sraghuna said...

Get a 'cricket' as opposed to get a life ... the eternal dichotomy ...time to move back to home territory methinks!

Ziddu and Inzoo said...

Time Zones are just another way of clubbing together people who sleep and wakeup together.

Cricket is entertainment, whether you want the entertainment in the morning or evening or night , in office at work? at home at 4 (in the morning) or at 7 just in from work.. is upto you.. Time and Entertainment especially cricket waits for none.

For more gyaan do check out my blog..

Gaurav Sethi said...

for me the nzl series was manic - waking at 3am not on. WI cricket, crash at 3 am spot on.

Homer said...

SP,

Been there, heard that :)

Cheers,

Homer said...

sraghuna,

Every trip to home territory is akin to a red rag to the family - I am glued to the TV set all day and my family is all ready to disown me :)

Cheers,

Homer said...

Ziddu and Inzoo,

Cricket is not entertainment.. Cricket is life, everything else is mere detail!

Cheers,

Homer said...

NC,

The advantages of being 10 hours ahead :)

Cheers,