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Suraj Randiv, the latest reason for all of us to dive deep into the Old Testament of Cricket which contains incorrigible words and phrases such as “Fair play” , “Spirit of Cricket”, “Cricket is a gentleman’s game” et all. Before we proceed further, let me say what the world is saying… What Randiv and Dilshan did was criminal, especially denying a century for a beloved Indian cricketer. They should ideally have tried these guys at The Hague, than these hogwash fines and match bans.
As we keep fanatically persecuting the Sri Lankan cricketers for this dastardly act, I asked myself, “Is cricket really a gentleman’s game?”
You might see an answer to that question in this post. If you don’t, let me know your point of view.
1993, was the year when this famous word “recusal” was added to my vocabulary thanks to one Prof. Rajagopalan. This man was a cricketer of some repute during his youth, at 50+ he was a decent bat yet. He could famously win 3-point basketball challenges against the best of the basketball players from the college. He was the chief selector of our college cricket team. The man stood down because his son was in the fray, an aspirant for a place in the college cricket team. He made sure the others didn’t know who his son was, he wasn’t selected in the team that year although he came back into the B team next year flaunting his connection (or was that talent ?) to the Prof’s annoyance. That for me was an introduction to the “Spirit of cricket” and “a gentleman’s game”. But unfortunately that also was the last time I heard about those words or phrases.
1994, it was an intramural tournament and I was batting on 47 (I was sure). I glided the ball down the fine leg and ran 2 to hear & see my teammates standing up and applauding. They were sure that I had made my 50 and I played to the gallery, celebrated and promptly got out the next ball. As I was walking out, I could hear my captain telling the guys around “Come on we did well, this guy wouldn’t stop talking for eons had he made it to 50”. I didn’t quite understand it till I saw the scoresheet “R Baradwaj, Runout 49”
1996, many of the guys I knew were abusing a particular parent, the father of the guy who captained a cricket team. The accusation was that he interfered in selection, the toss, the field placement and the batting order. Why should he do it ? He always wanted his son on top of things.
1997, we were playing an intramural cricket match. It was the semifinals, a closely fought one. Our opponents need 33 with their last recognized batsman shepherding the tail. We needed to get “Srinivasan” out. He was having a ball in the middle, but still he was tense. After every ball he was rushing out like a mad man to speak to his partner who was playing snooker on the cricket field. The wicketkeeper (one Mr RajaB) took advantage of this attitude of Srini and ran him out, he knew Srini wasn’t trying to steal a single but still he put him out of the game. And his team won.
1999, I lived in a lodge (what they call a mansion in Triplicane, Madras) near the famed MAC stadium in Madras. Every morning as I went for a jog I could see kids, as young as 4-5 buried between the kitbag and the stepney of a slow moving scooter as his father ferried him to his cricket coaching camp. For want of space the kid invariably had his helmet on. One day, the curious I went in to see what happens in the nets. I could see parents standing behind the net and barking orders “put your leg forward”, “Drive that one straight”, “In the back foot”, “Fool, don’t commit yourself there” etc. I also saw fathers arguing with the coach about the time their kid got to bat vis-à-vis another
2000, I befriended a dad, who was an officer with SBI. His 9 year old son was too small even for that age. His kid had a problem, he was what we call the “Rabbit on headlight”. Every time he was put in a match situation, he had a problem running between wickets. He would freeze the moment he saw the fielder throwing the ball, endangering himself and his partner. The dad was livid as we spoke about this particular shortcoming of his son, “That idiot doesn’t change. Have told him many times… At least you don’t get out, I have tried to reason… but he doesn’t understand the value of his wicket… It is a minimum 30 runs”. I didn’t quite understand the 30 run logic till one of my friends confirmed that 30 is the minimum on board in your name you require to see your name on the next day’s papers.
There are many parents today who think cricket brings them easy money and hence goading and prodding their kids to take the game up. At one point they come to a stage where they do anything for their kids to get selected, to be in the playing 11 and to score and get seen. We have heard stories of parents gifting the selectors with televisions, mobile phones, mopeds and cars. There is also this nauseating story of a mother sleeping with a selector to ensure her sons selection (the fact that the selector found that the dad had tricked him by pressing the services of a prostitute to proxy for his wife is another story)
The expectations of the parents, the pressure they put on their kids, their greed for seeing their kids name on the scorecard and in the newspapers & television, the lure of IPL and the monies it offers, the endorsement contracts it would bring in and most importantly the urge for being on top at any cost have made this game a business.
No one cares anything about being a gentleman or about spirits, all they care about is the scorecard & winning, how they or their wards and their teams fared.
So, let us not recite the Old Testament and fool ourselves. Cricket is no more a gentleman’s game. The only spirit cricket and the cricketers have is Ethyl Alcohol !!
PS: Heard NC is upset with me not writing my two lines to commemorate the two years of BCC!, “Sorry NC, I’ve never wish myself on my birthday”
Showing posts with label 2nd bored day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2nd bored day. Show all posts
Why Cricket is no more a gentleman’s game…
Happy Bored Day - Peep Lee Live
You could say that I am 7 days late for my Bored Day post. But the fact is I am 5 years early. For the 2nd Bored Day, I have already said my 2 lines, this post is coming to you from 2015. Yeah, it is one of those premonition posts, and you could stop reading right now, if you love the suspense.
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Hi, this is Brett Lee reporting Live from the 7th Bored Day held here in a local coffee shop called Bored Coffee Crazy Indians in Delhi. Peeping in to the Bored Day celebrations has long been a dream and I am glad it is coming true.
xxxxxxx
Most of the bored memebers are present here, considering they all have to report to Red Fort day after tomorrow on account of India's Independence Day. If the rumours that are trickling in are to be believed, Indian PM Rahul Gandhi will be felicitating the entire Bored team, for making cricket bearable to its masses.
It has been decided (after a handful of choicest Punjabi abuses, hurling everywhere) that the shop will not be throwing out RajaB for not bringing in his suggestions to the Bored Menu for the coffee shop.
Som has come prepared with a 7 point agenda (it reads 7 entries in Shahid Afridi's Diary on 7 Bored Days)and ABisht's in a corner cartooning on stray tissues
The two Ankits cannot be seen, but I'm sure they're lurking around.
Although Homer and Maheka are seated alongside each other, they have entered into a heated discussion on Twitter
Achettup has arrived in trousers that are short on length and is the butt of most jokes here. Most of them are from Naked Cricket, as his 'Jokes are funny, Butt...' has become a best seller in Pakistan.
Breaking News: Bored has got a new member, the youngest at that. It should be remembered that her debut game was some years away, but then she was so very young too.
Straight Point can be seen beaming in a corner. Bored is like family, after all.
xxxxxxx
happy bored day – the day after…
bored could not see tears in the eyes of bored fans so they decided to throw a party on their 2nd happy bored day... although it was a 'rushed' affair after the 'grueling' days of being bored... surprisingly everybody turned out...
here is some inside stuff bored fans might be interested in...
afridi came with so much of zest and hoopla... but to everybody's surprise... announced he can’t take it anymore after just one hour into the party... declaring ‘i wasn’t good enough’ to attend it for five hours... and left abruptly...
pakistan team came to the party but were ‘out’ before anyone could notice... although no official statement was issued but apparently they could not handle the swinging beauties...
although invited... MoYo could not attend the party coz he was too tired...
broady was game for it... ‘I liked this idea of bored ‘throwing’ the party on 2nd bored day as they call it...’
pricky looked bit uncomfortable throughout the party... he kept elbowing fans to create his own personal space on the dance floor... once he settled into the party after a good patiala peg or two... he started ‘pulling’ one joke after another from his hat but for all his jokes he could not ‘pull’ any laughter from the audience... he seemed in denial mode and kept on pulling them till he realised he was alone in his own personal space...
finally after 'grueling' test series parties in sri lanka... dhoni and his troops arrived late into the bored party and seemed a little upset as soon as they stepped on to the dance floor... the floor appeared too ‘spongy’ to them... although they refused to offer any excuse for ‘tossing out’ so early (from the party)... some bored members saw dhoni complaining to BCC! president for the ‘rushed’ scheduling of bored party... but before leaving... he thanked BCC! for arranging the helicopter to the party venu...
watch this space for more details...
Happy Bored Day: Get Bored !!
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| Bored is celebrating its second B'day Today |
The first time I visited Bored, I actually thought it was a site by the official BCCI. :-) Only later did I realize it was something far more important - the best online community of cricket bloggers with the best variety of opinions and writing on cricket today. Long like BCC!
- Krish
2 lines about myself: I talk nonsense.
And I will never stop.
2 lines about cricket: Cricket is a way of life
If you don't watch cricket, you have no life
2 lines about Bored: Fact: We are all bored
Fact: BCCI just does it in style
-Purna
Cricket has begun to border on boredom. And there comes in Bored for me.
Bored Cricket Crazy Indians has come in as my savior, for bored makes cricket bearable.
-Ankit Poddar
Two lines for two years, 4 lines for four, 2635 posts and counting, coz we want more
-Homer
First, I liked the name. Then I liked the cartoons. Then the songs, the Bored game, the opinions, the quips, the debates, the favourites-lobbying and the philosophy of bored. This here is the one outlet of our voices and our thoughts on the game. Who are we? We are all Bored Cricket Crazy Indians!
- Crownish
About Me,
Socially awkward techie in normal life. expletive-spewing, shadow-searching, butter fingered fast bowler on the cricket field
Cricket,
is not my religion, sachin not God. but its something which has given me great memories, good friends
Bored,
Is a fun place to be in. To say one thing in a thousand different ways, that we love cricket
-Prafs
For me, cricket and Bored have merged, reckon I watch more Bored than cricket. 2 years on, it's still the bored anthem for me. Who's gonna be the next bored member, what's his cricket story?
-naked cricket
About me and bored…
I don’t know for sure whether bored reflects me or I reflect bored… but the one thing I know for sure is that the moment I know the answer to the question, that started it all… ‘what is cricket to you’… I won’t be bored anymore…
- sp
In a nation where those who are powerful and those who have most listeners have indoctrinated the masses and cricket lovers with most biased and self serving notions-- Bored has shown how bored talk can be more powerful than most listened to notions and opinions. I still say, before anything else; I write for Bored.
--A Bisht
I had been stalking BCC! for awhile till one day I got the courage to walk up and ask it out for a date. BCC! agreed and let me wine and dine. I had an interested "member" while being a "bored" guest. In the end, we just hit it off and we are going all the way! Yeah baby, Yeah!
-the cricket couch
Achettup: Assumes cricketing harbingers enlightened the totally unassuming perfunct
Cricket: 'Coz running in circles keeps everybody tired
Bored: Because our readers enjoy discussion
Happy Bored Day Bored - Bored for two years, here's to being Bored forever!
That's all from me for now; if u thought that was brief, you obviously missed the Indian innings against NZ the other day. Well, no worries, the Indian batsmen did too.
-Bhaskar Khaund
The first time I came across BCC! was during the 2009 T20 World Cup. Ironically, it was the banter of a Pakistani and Sri Lankan that was the rage at that time. Going deeper into the dark dungeons of the blog one could see it didn't spare any cricketer of criticism when it was called for, but it also did so in a very good-natured way. None of that effigy burning, expletive spewing rubbish. No, the criticism was registered through screenplays, cartoons, tapped phone conversations and khufia reporters. Reminded one to be sincere about the game but not take it too seriously. Happy Bored Day to all Bored Members.
-Mahek
I had this sneaking suspicion that cricket was invented to facilitate and justify the existence of Bored Cricket Crazy Indians and two years down the line, I stand vindicated.
-Som
Stranded halfway around the world with no TV meant I had to look elsewhere for the cricket I could not do without. Bored has been filling just that void for me and then some. Between Homer's didactic rendering of the laws of the game, Mahek's trenchant critiques, SP's straight points, NC's many many gems and all the others, guests and members alike, it's been an experience to savour. And one that I will continue to enjoy in the years to come.
Happy Bored day!
-Rohit Pillai
The enthusiasm and fervour with which Bored members write about the game and the intricacies they point out is just amazing and cannot be found anywhere. Have been hooked on to Bored for an year now. By the look of things will be hooked for life as well..
-Aditya
Bored is an adda; come, hang out, shoot the shit with fellow Desis. Check all reverence at the door; kick off your shoes. Wait, keep them on, coz' there's nothing holy about this place and we want to keep things secular. Like Good Desis, dontcha know? Indians often don't make sense to each other; cricket brings us together. Bored is where it comes together.
-Samir Chopra
I started blogging roughly 3 years back using my internet persona (VM, VMM, Victoria, VMMinerva, either way is fine). Some very nice folk stumbled on my blog and then more followed. With time, we are all buzzing at each other's virtual homes. Most of these folks joined BCC! on NC's request and it has been a lot of fun ever since.I still vividly remember that day 2 years ago when NC had mailed us very excitedly about his thoughts on Bored. It's wonderful to see that it has blossomed into a very entertaining site. When I'm bored and not so bored, I check by. Thanks to everyone here who's made it a great place to visit! Cheers!
-VM
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