Blink and you WILL miss it

I am a sports fan - I will watch pretty much anything - rugby, cricket, football, baseball, etc. I have had the privilege of watching several of these sports from inside a stadium. As any true sports fan will tell you, very often the best moments, the ones that build up the excitement and give you a true understanding of the sport, are the moments in between the actual action. Watching a rugby captain rally his team before the scrum, a football team waiting to enter the stadium, and then discussing strategy before kick-off or the on-field discussions between overs in a cricket match.

Well, Sony TV, with all their "official telecaster" money to recover went one step too far during the recently concluded Australia vs The Rest "World Cup". No sooner was the over be called, SONY swung into action educating us on the reasons why VISA would somehow affect our "Mind, Body, Heart & Soul". I mean - WTF???
It got worse. They come back from the break and see that the bowler has been switched and some new chap is practicing his bowling action. Immediatement, SONY gives us a dose of another brand or doubles up our VISA pleasure. We come back from this unwanted second break to see the bowler already reaching the crease (the entire runup has been missed). The ball is hurled towards the batsman who dodges it like a live handgrenade. We immediately get to enjoy a large banner across the top of the TV screen talking about how Bharatmatrimony.com will get us all married ASAP. This ad manages to cover the face of the batsman who was either grinning or mouthing an obscenity (so no idea if I should be happy or getting fired up). The bowler reaches his crease and hurls another grenade which is despatched from the field. An idiotic tiger leaps out, does a loud bhangra (can we pls hear some other kind of music) and starts dancing and screaming. No idea what the commentators are saying, no idea what the crowd is cheering. I know we have a retarded tiger dancing for his life on my screen. The ball takes more than 10secs to return to the field...so...off we go with VISA again "Min, body, a$$ and ....."

Goddammit..$hit...WTF...

I am a sports fan and I am a proud Indian. I love the fact that we have the richest, most powerful cricket board in the world. I (unlike the BCCI and some other whining ninny Indian "fans") dont care if Tendli promotes tires or Dada promotes Viagra. Good for them - Indians finally getting their due.

But, this is where we started losing control. The BCCI starts charging a hellish amount for the various series. People use unethical methods to win. They are forced to try and recover these funds and join in the moneyfest that is modern-day cricket. Cricketers and brands are seen everywhere and all the time. The ugly side of capitalism. I pray we gain control of it fast, before we sell our very souls.

But what SONY did was worse than anything I have seen anywhere. Even in Aussieland and the US (bastions of advertising driven sport), the sport and enjoyment of every second of it is sacred. You screw around with 1 second of a superbowl prep huddle before the game, and you will be staring at the business end of the mother of all lawsuits. Consumers want to see the game. If we see better quality TV (with more angles, etc.) because of all the money surrounding the game, good! But, dont take away the actual game.

I feel SONY should be fined and made to apologize to the Indian cricket fan. Regulation might be the only way to keep these greedy TV channels in check and forcing them to show us the damn game. This may work to push down what they are willing to pay for rights. This in turn may drive down BCCI revenues slightly, and push some of their ego down. But other than that I see no "negative" side effect.

Professional sports are entertainment for the masses. If we dont see the damn game, we are not entertained!!!! SONY - bad show. You managed to f$%^ up a pretty f'd up World Cup.

I pray that when India starts winning again, I can atleast see the look on Gilchrist's face when he is struck by a Zaheer bouncer. I pray for that with my "Mind, Body, Heart & Soul"