when you have to write, write, don't talk

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Location: India

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

cricket vs football

warning: the intention of this post is not to hurt the sentiments of all those who adore the game of cricket, but just to express the views of the author on the two popular sports

i think for someone born in India, it's real hard to avoid getting hooked to cricket in childhood itself. i was no exception. still remember the days when i used to play with the neighbouring kids and sometimes with my dad. even worse, when i was alone i still used to play it. it's very easy, u treat the front wall as a charging bowler, throw the ball at the wall and when it rebounds and comes back to you, you try to hit it for a four or six. the passion continued to grow on me and cricket remained my favorite sport throughout my schooling days.

things started to change when i joined college. even though we used to play cricket in our hostel wings, i found playing football in the water-filled slippery grounds more fun. i guess the drastic change in my interest came during the summers of 2002. i was doing summer internship at bangalore and the world cup (football offcourse) fever was at high. i used to even watch live matches, courtesy the tv at my co intern's room, screen at our office and cafe coffee day. since then this is the third year that i am following the european football with full dedication.

anyways finally coming to the point, cricket is over-hyped in our country. more than that, people tend to attach their sentiments with the outcome of a game in which india is playing. players are treated like god if they do good in just one match even though they might have performed real bad in several of the previous matches. most of all, i feel spending 8 hrs watching a match is a real waste of time especially when the viewer has a biased opinion. i rarely see the cricket viewers appreciating the game of the opponent in any match against their favorite indian team.

the first good thing about football is that indian team doesn't figure in the list :) so there is no point of attaching sentiments with the game for the sake of patriortism or otherwise. and secondly those 90 minutes of game on the football field are far more exciting than a 8 hour long boring cricket match.

ending the discussion, now i have shifted to football from cricket completely. i don't remember when i last played cricket, but i do play football every evening in campus unless there is a lecture at that time or exams are close by. above all, thanks for bearing with my views.

ps: chelsea play liverpool in the first leg of champions league semifinal tonight. may the best team win.

my first post

well.. so i am here finally.. tried hard to resist the tempation of blogging but inspired by my friends jat n vyas gave in to the temptation at last.. hope it will also be a good way to pass some time during the not so busy office hours during my internship..

'll try to keep the first post short n sweet.. hereby ending the post with one of my favorite quotes: Say what you think and act how you feel, because those who mind don't matter,and those who matter never mind.

ps: as a matter of fact, the title of my blog is also an edited version (replace 'write' with 'shoot') of a famous quote from the movie "the good, the bad and the ugly"