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Do You Know Any Of These Fans

by Megha

A few days ago I received this comment from Pratik on one of my posts

“Whoa. A gal in the tech industry who is an Indian fan and thinks like me when it comes to cricket, but, unlike me, is actually quite witty! I am in love! With someone I've never seen! Megha, now be a sweetheart and put up a pic as well.”

That was an interesting reaction to receive as a gal fan. I guess we are still not that vocal a bunch, so there is a novelty to female cricket bloggers. I have to add here that as a blogger I have had an amazing experience in the last 10 months or so. People have been kind, taking the time to read what I have to say and leave comments. No one’s told me I suck....yet ...and that I shouldn’t be calling myself a “real” cricket fan.

Which brings me to the next bit. You know, when it comes to cricket, I know of just two kinds of guys. Those who are fans, and those who are not. But with the girls, there are many kinds.

For e.g. the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” types. These are people like my mum. Those who never used to watch cricket. Who hated every moment their husbands spent in front of the television when matches were on, making them miss their serials. Who got seriously outnumbered when their kids grew up to be fans themselves. So they had to make a change. And this is how it usually happened.

Scene I – she enters the TV room not knowing anything about what’s going on in the match and declares “India to haar rahi hogi!” (India must be losing the match). Sometimes you ignore that comment, sometimes you tell her that is not the case...sometimes you even have to tell her that...er...India is not really playing this match?!

Scene II – She enters the room and sees India is 90/1 at the end of 15 ovs and says that India is not really playing that well. I mean come on...just 90 measly runs? (We are talking about an ODI in the 90s here, you must remember) But if she sees the other team at say 100/3 at 22 overs, that team is playing awesomely well!

Scene III – You are not at home for some reason, so out if her own volition, she calls you up and updates you on the score. OR at home, she offers to change to the sports channel by herself! Now that is improvement!

Scene IV – she has finished all the housework on time because the IPL is on and her favourite team, the KKR are playing. (Don’t ask! It’s an SRK thing...) Yes, she will still not watch a test match, but will join you for the other ones.

The next type is the “X player fan”. She thinks player X is like really, really cute. So she will watch a match as long as he is on the crease, or bowling. Otherwise she is not that much interested. (By the way, in my opinion, it is this type of fan who hurts girls like me the most. If I tell someone I follow cricket and RD is my fave player, I am automatically slotted into this category.)

Anyways. Moving on...there is a third category as well. These are those girls who just have to be seen as a fan to be seen as cool. So they pretend to like cricket. And it is a prime pain to watch a match with these people because you have to hear comments like these –

“Uff...this Ganguly I tell you...cant bloody hit a 4 at all!” (uh..not every ball has to be hit for a 4 y’know)

“Awww...poor Tendulkar! Bechara, he can only bowl at 50mph!” (This was after she had seen Zak bowl at about 90mph the previous over)

Grrr...

Then there are these co-hosts like Mandira Bedi. She made me cringe when she first came on. She was so not the kind of “expert” I was used to seeing between innings breaks. She generated a lot of interest. More so for her “noodle straps” than for the cricket talk. I, for the life of me, could not figure out what she was doing there. Still can’t! Has cricket become so boring that it needs to be “sexed up” a bit to generate interest? (On that note, is sexing it up the only way to do that?) Or are these mid-innings chats becoming too technical for the average follower and need to be dumbed down a little? What do you guys think about this? Do you take the Mandiras of cricket seriously, or are they just a pretty distraction?

All said and done, being a woman in this man’s world is not that bad :) I think the guys are fine with whatsoever type of fan you are as long as you don’t pretend to be a fan type you are not. And let them watch their game in peace.

As for you, Pratik. Sorry dear. The pic will have to wait!

Megha also blogs at Silly M(a)idon

12 comments:

straight point said...

megha...sometimes i wonder why we males grow as staple cricket fans and why females not...

i mean since that worldcup win in 87 there was obviously more and more interest in 'male' cricket but even our eve have been in the finals...then why it has failed to naturally propel more interest in females to become cricket fan if not hardcore cricket fan...?

may be being female cricket fan you can shed some light on it...?

Gaurav Sethi said...

Megha, Mum's the word.

That bit about 'India must be losing is a classic', guess it prepares them for the worst. Or it's their own kinda vodoo, like we spoke on the live show.

The third type are scum.

sraghuna said...

Am a male ... can't be bothered listening to/watching cricket ... this was a huge source of angst during my teen years ... relocated 2 Europe ... realised that it was OK & that soccer was indeed MUCH more fulfilling to watch/play/revere... returned to home shores ... everybody lived happily ever after!
PS- Did not succeed in weaning my progeny off cricket but like I said I'm OK if they're OK!

Megha said...

SP

Why girls in general dont grow up as sports fans? I don't know. I guess it is because they are not "expected" to be much into sports whereas boys are?

Not much interest in the eves teams - That is something I think affects all team games in all countries. Football, cricket, Hockey, you name it. The eves may be better off facility-wise in other countries as compared to the Indians. But I dont think people care much about them. Lack of good coverage I guess.

Megha said...

NC,

I think the "India must be losing" bit is them hoping India is actually losing so that they can get us to change the channel ;-)

Megha said...

sraghuna

It's the opposite for me...I grew up watching cricket. Saw football only when the WC was on, if at all I did. When I moved to UK, I could not understand what the big fuss was about football either. An ex-colleague was actually depressed because he was not able to get tickets to watch a small town team's game!! I don't think I would be that depressed if I was not able watch a Rewa vs Satna cricket match...

pRAFs said...

good one megha,
i dunno what is it with moms gets them in a perpetual indis-is-gonna-lose mode.
My grandma is a fanatic though. Actually we have to stay away from her during matches, coz she keeps on nudging after every single ball to know who's batting, who's bowling and why sachin hasn't still retired.
i keep on telling her, that he'll play till he's as old ash er

Megha said...

Thanks Prafs! :)

So does your grandma not like apna Sachin that she wants to see him retire?

pRAFs said...

she thinks he has more back aches,knee niggles than she has ever had,
although she might not have played anywhere near the 600 odd 1st class matches that sachin has played.
but trying to get that through to her is something i haven't been successful at.

Viswanathan said...

Meg,

On Mandira- I take her 'statistics' seriously.:)

Seriously, it was my mother who taught me cricket. I remember her sitting beside me with a page torn out of a book, marking all the fielding locations as we listened to the WI-India Test match on the radio. If I am not mistaken, it was early morning.

P.S. My Mom grew up with 6 cricket mad male siblings.:)

Cheers,

Megha said...

Otts,

so you've got Mandira all "figured" out, huh? :)

I can so see myself doing the same thing as your mom did. "You better learn all the fielding locations, or no ice-cream after dinner!!"

poorni said...

hey.. very nicely written.. pretty much find myself in the same position from time to time.. our types usually end up getting no gal to be with you while watching a match.. thats happening to me rt now.. sitting and watching the india-sl match alone :(