True Indian Sportsperson

Was having a chat with Neeluking on Sunday evening when he commented on numerous aunts and grammas commenting about cricket. His objections, quite rightfully so, were towards their attitude to comment on anything and everything that they perceived were against India. He was upset that an exquisite shot from Lara was condemned whereas, a french-cut from Dhoni was eulogised.

I agree totally with him. We as a country have always been obsessed with cricket. Probably its the only sport where we have at least a chance of being the best, at least on paper.

Lets face it. The Indian cricket team has always been a bunch of over-hyped occasional performers. There are some exceptions, but then they are just that - exceptions.

And in this day and age, with the media coverage being what it is, I simply cannot accept people's blind acceptance of one person by name Sachin Tendulkar.

He WAS one of India's finest batsmen. He WAS the world's greatest batsman for a year or max two. He HAS had some great innings in the PAST.

But very clearly he is a thing of the PAST. Has he had a decent series in the last 2-3 years? The supporters will immediately jump in to say that he scored a century after he returned from a major injury. I don't deny it. But after that? NOTHING.

If you compare his stats against, say even Ganguly, he doesn't appear any better. But while Ganguly lost out due to lack of a Godfather, that problem never came up for Mr.Tendulkar. He has so many Godfathers in the BCCI basically by virtue of being a Mumbaikar, that he might as well not play for 2 years (like he has been doing for the past few years) and he will still be revered.

Just imagine. If you paint the true picture of Sachin, people will start baying for his blood. Then what happens to all the crores and crores of money that Pepsi, Boost, MRF and many many more Corporates have paid him to endorse their products? To save their big investment, these people pay quacks like Sunil G, Ravi S, Harsha B and countless others to air their expert opinion in all forms of media.

For all his recent failures (and by recent, I mean to say 2-3 years; that's recent enough in terms of the number of years for which this third rock from the sun has been in existence) these experts have either of these two things to say: "He has been carrying a big injury" or the ubiquitous "Form is temporary, Class is permanent".

I will tell you what? Bring back all the people who played for India. Their form today will be quite bad, but their class is great.

But NO. We will continue to idolise ST. Reel off stats on how many centuries he has scored. The total number of runs he has hit. What his contribution to an Indian victory is. No sir. That we will never talk.

When the Indian Govt condemned the inappropriate usage of the Indian Flag and brought regulation, so many people raised a big hue and cry. Oh, Sachin will no longer be able to wear the flag on his helmet. What a true national, but still he cant display it. BS.

What do these idiots know about playing for the country? All this pride that they want to exhibit, its only because they have to mask the true reason why they play. Money. Fame. Not country's pride.

Against all this, I want to bring to your attention the below two links. These are from the Doha Asiad that's going on now. Please visit the site and read about what being a True Indian Sportsperson is all about.

You think we will talk about her after a year or so. No. She will fade away into oblivion. She doesn't play cricket. Nor is she photogenic. Unfortunately, those are bad things to have on your resume, if you are trying to make it big in Indian sports.
Link 1
Link 2