March 21, 2007
Cricket: Farewell, My AlooSports
…wherein Whose God is it Anyways? inspires a second cricket post in a row!
The education of my cricket-ignorant kundi continues; I shall torment you with my progress, much like a toddler rushes back to a parent to exclaim, “I did it in the potty!” Like aforementioned kid, I, too would like a cookie and a pat on the head. Thanks, you’re the best.
So. WGiiA left a comment on my last World Cup post which piqued my kitten-like curiosity:
ok. just got very emotional seeing inzi get out and leave the field for the last time in an ODI. he deserved better circumstances under which to leave. [link]
I immediately assaulted consulted one of my cricket tutors, the one who kindly told me a bedtime story via speakerphone last night which starred Sachin Tendulkar— look, when one runs out of Ambien, one reaches for desperate alternatives— and expressively typed “?” in his GChat window. I didn’t expect to like or care about what I’d learn, but I wanted to find out more nonetheless, if only because I’m a sentimental wench and anyone’s last __ always makes me a bit verklempt.
I was told that the Pakistani captain was retiring and that because his team will not move to the next round, this would be his last opportunity to play cricket. At this, I became a typical sorority girl and murmured, “Aww—” but before I could tack more unnecessary “W”s on that cliched reaction, I learned even more. “Inzi” was a complex figure, the type who owns my attention; just as I was ready to dismiss him for being a PUNK at the Sahara Cup (you can’t assault a fan for calling you “Aloo!”), I learned that he also refused to back down from bullshit accusations leveled by racist umpires (yay for walking your team off the field…or…um…not coming back on the field after tea…whatever, the protesting is still hot).
Then, when I discovered that the klansman who inspired that dramatic gesture had been banned from hating on Asian teams, I was hooked. But. I’m still going to learn how to pronounce “O mote, sidha khara ho. Mota aloo, sara aloo!” or whatever it is he gets heckled with…like attracts like, and I’m a bit of a punk, too. :)
No wonder you all love cricket so much! This is fun! :D
::
Anyone know where I ganked the caption from, i.e. what song I pilfered in an attempt to be clever? I’ll give you a hint; I’ve seen the movie whose soundtrack it is a part of over 90 times. Wot? Not enough of a hint? Your bad. :D
anna on March 21, 2007 07:03 PM in Food, Humor, Music, Sports · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
Sigh:
A friend e-mailed me this earlier:
++++
And he gets a big standing ovation; each Zimbabwe player jogs over to shake his hand. And as he raises his bat, his Pakistan side all come down to greet their captain who, by now, is in tears. He takes his helmet off, acknowledges the crowd while wiping the tears dry. And 15 years ago today, Inzamam scored 60 off 37 balls to help Pakistan win the World Cup semi-final against New Zealand
27.4 Mupariwa to Inzamam-ul-Haq, OUT, fine catch, a very fine catch to end a brilliant batsman's one-day career. Inzamam trying to launch another six over long-on but got an outside edge behind Williams' head at mid-off who jogged back and took it in front of his nose. Fine catch. The end of an era, an era ending in the shadow of a tragedy.
++++
that's not The Sound of Music, is it? That "cuckoo" song?
Cicatrix: WINNER! :D
Sound of music? So long, farewell, auf wiedersehn, goodnight?
ANNA I said before that you'd bring the right vibe to the World Cup coverage and you're doing it -- thanks for allowing us to play :)
Anyway, I think things are shaping up. If England qualify they play Ireland in the fist match of the super 8's. Plus India have to beat Sri Lanka or they're going home.
What a tournament -- good bad tragic amazing -- -and we're only in the first stage.
Nevermind, I will reluctantly ignore my inherent bias towards Cicatrix and reopen the competition until someone comes up with the EXACT song title. Oy, you whiners and your texting. ;)
Anyone know where I ganked the caption from, i.e. what song I pilfered in an attempt to be clever? I’ll give you a hint; I’ve seen the movie whose soundtrack it is a part of over 90 times. Wot? Not enough of a hint?
Sound of Music.
The original lyrics are:
There's a sad sort of clanging from the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple too
And up in the nursery an absurd little bird
Is popping out to say "cuckoo"
[Marta, Gretl, Brigitta:]
Cuckoo, cuckoo
I love how people are more in to my favorite movie than "my" aloo. :D
I won! I won!
Does this mean I get to knock wickets with Captain von Trap? For my prize, I mean?
Only if:
1) Mr. Cicatrix doesn't put the hurt on me for setting such sin up
2) I get to flickr it.
;)
what about cricket in america?
So Long, Farewell
That's the song title, I mean. I won again!
er, maybe I didn't..?
In any case, I'm logging off and heading home. Right after I pick up some cricket uniforms for mr.cicatrix ;)
anna, no love?
Thats quite all right Anna....just like the aforementioned parents,we are also taking lot of delight and pride in your developmental milestones......today,potty at the right place;tomorrow,eating porridge without spilling!
Someone already asked about that.
Considering that she left the following on another thread, I'd lay off the guilt trips right now, but that's just advice:
Anna, thank you for your continuing--and singularly engaging--coverage of the World Cup.
So what are India's chances at this point, how does the run rate come into play? Here on in, I'm routing for India. It was charming watching minnow Bangladesh slay the excessively complacent Baby Blues, but Sri Lanka is a cricket powerhouse, with a World Cup victory to its credit. This is especially impressive given that it has roughly as many people as Delhi. Like Holland in football, its boasts prowess beyond what would be suggested by its demographics. Murali is my Tamil boy and all, but its time to come back home. And, as a Hindu, I must invoke my deva to remove all obstacles in their path.
Vicket!
Well the runrate should not be a biggie. As long as India beats Sri Lanka, we should be fine. The comment about Murali and all, I am confused. Should I be saying Edo or should I be saying Machan?
And ANNA Just like nfa@17 said, we are all enjoying your coverage and like reading your posts as much as we like discussing run rates and related stats. Good job and we appreciate the time, patience, effort and initiative you have taken.
I think I have discussed the Friday game ad nauseam on the phone......who knows what the men in blue have in store.But still,for the sake of discussion since passion is still running high,
1.I will kill myself if they play Agarkar again.Time for A N N A 's hearthrob to take a bow........(my favourite description of Agarakr is that of a wicket-taking bowler with a very skewed notion of how and where to take those damn wickets)
2.Jaysuria needs to go early.
3.Negotiate Vaas carefully.More dangerous for India than Murali.
I dont think I will be watching though.Dont have the balls anymore to go through the rolla-f***-costa that Indian cricket.
is
(to complete my previous post)
ANNA, you are da bestest cricket writer :D
Its sad to see "Gentle Giant" leave the game this way :(
and the sinister plot to have sepia mutiny become all-cricket all the time is working :) just kidding.
it was sad to see inzamam retire from ODIs to such an empty stadium. he should have ended it to a full stadium, perhaps in Pakistan. i don't know what it is, but the sparse west indian crowds at non-windies matches have been very disappointing, and some of the matches don't even feel like world cup matches because of eerily empty stadiums and barely any noise. perhaps the tickets are too expensive for the locals, in which case the officials should let them in free after the first innings or something, or let schoolchildren in for free.
as for india, given sri lanka's clinical demolition job today, they are going to have to send more animated doppelgangers instead of the team that faced bangladesh if we have any chance of moving on. changes i'd like to see: sreesanth in for agarkar, maybe pathan in for munaf (not sure), uthappa either pushed further down (hopefully sehwag will maintain some of the bermuda form alongside ganguly as opener) or replaced by dinesh karthik (although uthappa is a good fielder and we have been woeful in that department), and more use of tendulkar, sehwag and yuvraj in the spin dept. (although this is sri lanka, not bangladesh or bermuda) since neither harbhajan or kumble have fared that well (leaving powar out may have been a mistake).
the good thing about sri lanka's thrashing of bangladesh today, if india does manage to bea sri lanka, is that the run rate will probably be in india's favor, unless bangladesh beat bermuda by a huge margin. the indian team must be kicking themselves (and if they're not, they should be) for putting themselves (and their fans) in this stressful situation!!
oh, just wanted to add that although i'm not a big fan of umpire darrell hair, i think calling him a klansman goes too far :) but yes, he doesn't endear himself to some.
and although it's looking highly unlikely, i hope you get to see the real sachin tendulkar - the little master blaster - in action during this world cup. as far from ambien as you can get!
>if india does manage to bea sri lanka, is that the run rate will probably be in india's favor, unless bangladesh beat bermuda by a huge margin.
D***. I'd want India to make it but those Bangladeshis deserve to go through.
The crowds at these games have been abysmal - even worse than when the Cup was held in the UK two tournaments ago.
If you think its stressful to watch on TV, think about watching the Guardian website updates. There is nothing more stressful than waiting for the update to come in over-by-over! I can't really begin to imagine how awful a feeling that will be for India-Sri Lanka. But I plan to do it anyway!!
If they win this match, it may go down as one of the greatest events in Indian history.
Let's go India!!!
BTW, I will root for England, but how nice would it be to see Ireland become a test-playing nation, and for Bangladesh to cement its place among that group? World cricket would be tremendously the better for both developments
SM Intern, Nagasai brought this up in the other thread, but comments were closed before I could post this. This is not an ad hominem attack on you, but I don't get why discussions of moderation leads to snappish, defensive responses from you about hours worked, full time jobs etc etc, followed by a general kowtowing from other regulars rushing to your defense? Is this your singular moderation style?
I have to ask you the same question you often challenge readers with: if this gig is so soul-sapping, this crowd so thankless, why are you still doing it? Delete this comment if you want to, I agree that it is off-topic, but please think of this question when you are by yourself.
Sahej (#27):
HA!
:-) !
I fucking give up. After trying in vain to please you lot, after allowing myself the LUXURY of standing up for myself today, this is the bullshit I get. Yes, kowtow to me but just you-- and only because you are an unclear-on-the-concept anonymous coward. It's bitterly amusing; I told one of my closest friends that my attempt to be transparent today with this community about my limitations had all the wrong results. The people who are already kind to me reassured me that I was appreciated, when those sweet souls already made me feel that way with every interaction I had with them. The assholes accused me of requiring ass-kissing. Mais oui.
I mentioned my work schedule not because I was defensive or because I demanded some gratitude tax; I mentioned it because I was and am feeling besieged.
Your condescending, faux-thoughtful comment which you were "moved to" leave is worthless. I'm sick of these passive aggressive dares to delete pathetic comments-- I won't give you the pleasure.
I "Sepia Mutiny" because I can't NOT do it. I'm imperfect, but I put myself out there and give this my sincerest and best efforts, which is more than I can say for the anonymous voices who snipe at me constantly, like yours. And yes, this is usually thankless . But so is almost everything else which is worth it. Now go hate on me with your Mean Girl friends, but do it elsewhere-- I'm a terrible, narcissistic despot, or didn't you know?
Intern! Fetch me this black lime achar everyone is so enamored with...and fan me like you mean it! I'm overheating.
ANNA- I, among many more, got your six. Thanks for putting yourself out there.
Sahej, I'm with you on that one. Though I'm highly amused by the idea (and romance) of the Irish succeeding at cricket. I'm torn about the IND-SL match: it would be fantastic for Bangladesh to go through to the Super 8a and one could hope that they would then get more matches through the year. On the other hand, India not going through to the Super 8 would be woeful and Not Right, somehow.
And on the other hand, Go Lanka!
ANNA - I will get you some 'bellam avakai' when I return in May. I'll also bring whole-lemon ooragai also. Thats non-cut lemon pickle. That would be my share of asskissing :)
I never liked Aloo, so this farewell from him didnt do nothing for me. I was beri beri sad when Wasim Akram (the real Pakistani cricket king) retired. He was da-man!
hated aloo when he first came to play, but that guy is ridiculously talented. for all his sloth, his bat moves pretty fast :). difficult not to like him---and fat ppl in general :).
I like Aloo, not only is he an incredibly talented batsman but he's also a real old-fashioned Punjabi in a nice way. When the Indian cricket team went to Pakistan for that first tour after over a decade in 2004, there was one test match in Multan, which is Aloo's home-town, and even though we totally kicked their asses in that test (Sehwag making his 300!), Aloo gifted each member of the Indian team a set of clothes or something because they were "guests" who had come to his hometown for the first time. Now how sweet is that? And he took his kid to play cricket with Sachin's kid when Pakistan came to India the next year (no pressure or anything, little boys...)
I've also met Aloo in the flesh and he's really not that pudgy.
I also hated Inzi after the whole Canada thing. But with time came to appreciate what a talented and good hearted person he is. Sad for him to go this way!
Now thats an oxymoron if there ever was one innit.
As for the match....I dont know,India not going thru will be a disaster of sorts and rank somewhere between my first break-up and the anal boil I had in Nfa-disaster-index.But then,test of sorts for the MiB's.As we used to hear it ad nauseam in the 80's,WTGGTTTGT.Go blues...!!Oh wait,SL team is colored blue as well.....Go Sky Blues....!
Here is the video of his farewell.
Inzy was one of the good guys. And reminiscent of an old school cricket player you won't see again, like Arjuna Ranatunga or David Boon. I loved to see him play, and its sad to see him go.
And he had every right to go after that fan who called him "Aloo"
Today at cricinfo there is an excellent article on the World Cup and the state of cricket in general by Sambit Bal.I think it's a must-read for all cricket(esp Indian) fans out there.
I know this is totally inappropriate especially for this thread...and that she may dislike me based on my comments in the Kali depiction thread...insult or ridicule me if you must, delete this if you have to as I understand that this is not the purpose of the comment section... but Anna, you are incredibly beautiful, extremely sexy and so damn intelligent...goddamn! I just had to let that out I'm verry verry sorry.... Abhi is a looker too ;)
I've often wondered about this...it seems that cricket may be losing ground to other sports in certain countries...I've been to the UK, Australia, and the West Indies, and you certainly don't see that cricket fever that you do in India (and presumably Pakistan). Depending on the country, soccer, rugby, basketball, etc. are much bigger draws. Maybe Red Snapper and others can tell us...is cricket still huge in England at a grass roots level or is it becoming more of a niche thing?
I do think it's hilarious that one guy (Thind) started calling him 'Aloo' and now everyone's doing it. Also, Thind should have kicked his ass when Inzamam assaulted him...well, Inzamam did have a cricket bat in hand though.
Amitabh
Cricket is second to football in terms of popularity in England, but cricket is deep rooted. When England won the Ashes back a in 2005 it was the biggest public sporting celebration in years.
ANNA
Never mind the mosquitos who keep buzzing around you --- most important thing is you are loved. Because we couldnt send you a bouquet of flowers, myself, risible, whose god, amitabh, shodan and all the other cricket fans want to give you this present for your effort.
Mr. Haq, you will deeply missed. This is the supposedly the last world cup for a lot of great cricketers Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, McGrath, Jayasuriya. There is another great article by Sambit Bal on how cricket is not treated as a game anymore but a money making business
damn NFA,
you beat me to it
Lol....thats okay Jeet kaake,
As Mr Colbert would have said,your apology is accepted!!
But yeah,excellent piece,nailed quite a few points that had been swimming in my head.
I was just in the Windies (two islands), and the excitement about the world cup is incredible. Everybody I meet is talking about it. Unfortunately, the frustration at ticket prices is also incredible. Very few people who live there can actually afford tickets, and the audience are rich visitors, who are mainly coming for the Super 8s. Sucks.
You are so right. That is the most important thing; it is what I should remind myself of when I'm tearing my hair out, follicle by follicle, because of those dreadful mosquitoes.
and it still makes me cry, after all these years. No wonder it's my favorite Smiths song ever. No better present, for me. Thank you.
Smiths and Cricket? I like your steez Red Snapper. And totally approve of the message.
In all this excitement I posted my comment on the wrong thread.
Wow, a fantastic performance by India to take them to the next round. I think Sri Lanka really lost the plot once Sehwag and Ganguly started going after their attack. Also, great efforts from Yuvi, Sachin, and Dravid in the middle; Dhoni went berserk in the end to take the total over 350. As far as the bowling was concerned, I think our pace-men did their job beautifully and set it up nicely for Kumble and Co. to finish it off. This means Bangladesh are out; I feel for them though; to be so close and then lose out.
Shaking "UMM" out of the reverie. Wake up bro!!
Sorry guys,
It was real unfair of me to use my superhuman abilities to foresee things. The match isn’t until tomorrow. Please ignore the last comment and go about your ordinary lives like nothing happened. Damn, I need to be more careful…
Anna: Thanks a lot for all the coverage; it's brilliant.
Prasad,
You'll see; then, you'll believe;)
The departure of Inzi is indeed sad considering the activities in Jamaica at the moment. Pakistan is kicked out of the world cup, by Ireland. Good Lord man, Ireland had a policeman playing as a batsman. Within 24hrs of their loss, the Pakistani head coach is dead...now within Jamaica, considered murdered by a mafia. This is a tale of cricket gone very wrong. And at the helm of all this stands Inzi. As much as I love seeing the minnows beat goliath, the activities following this great win will forever put a damper on the whole tournament in the Caribbean.
And amidst all this Inzi decides to retire from cricket. Indeed it is a sad moment, from a lankan's perspective, he was a great player. Did not captain well but that does not mean the boy should leave unnoticed. When he goes back to Pakistan, their won't be crowds to greet him, instead most probably he will be welcomed by angry Pakistani's he wanted his head last week.
Hats off to a great player. No matter the current circumstances, this will always remain a fact.
UMM,
I didnt know that Mallus make such great bookies.. :))
So is it all true? That all the bookie income is tax-free (yeah yeah, apart from worldcup, its ALSO tax season)
Ack...this is what comes of football withdrawl. NFL and college football are done, nothing interesting will happen in the NBA or NHL for a month, and March Madness, while cool, only gives a few temporary fixes. Until the playoffs get going, we have to content ourselves with....cricket? God help us. The entire rest of the Galaxy must think we're a bunch of stupid turlingdromes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Places_in_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Krikkit
Well, at least it's not the summertime-- that long, sports-empty death march to September called "baseball season."
Speedy
But did he also feed them aloo-parathaas? Now that would have been really touching. :)
No, the more remarkable thing about him is his full religious beard. Given such piety, I can't get over how he rushed into the stands, bat in hand, TV cameras rolling, and getting arrested.
inzi seemed a nice enough bloke;laidback,genial,slightly rustic(his interviews in vernacular are hilarious) ; however,two sore points for me were
1.The Aloo incident of course.If I was Thind I wouldnt have let him off so easy.(Does anyone remember though that the much revered Sunil Gavaskar actually kinda sorta defended Inzi's bull charge)
2.The hyper-religiosity in the team.C'mon...its a game.....and plus,there are people belonging to other faiths in the team.....to revolve the team schedule around the prayers and make it a team effort IMHO(OMG,I just said IMHO!!) was a touch regressive.Prayers/God/religion is probably best kept personal in matters not directly related to religion.
"I was just in the Windies (two islands), and the excitement about the world cup is incredible. Everybody I meet is talking about it. Unfortunately, the frustration at ticket prices is also incredible. Very few people who live there can actually afford tickets, and the audience are rich visitors, who are mainly coming for the Super 8s. Sucks."
aah, thanks. it's good to know that the passion for cricket still exists amongst the people (who are being increasingly bombarded by american sports culture) and that it's the ticket prices that are the barrier. this is where the icc and the wicb have failed. what's the point of bringing the cup to the windies and then erecting barriers to local fan participation?
on a cheerier note, canada's john davidson is giving the nz bowlers a beating. canada's run rate was actually over 10 a few minutes ago! the target is steep but it's nice to see the canadians go for it.
I can't wait for this disgusting term 'vernacular' to fall out of use when describing desi languages. By itself there's nothing wrong with the word per se, but in the context it's used (by DESIS no less) it smacks of elitism, arrogance, condescension, and speaks of a powerful internalized self-loathing, illustrates enormously skewed power dynamics, horrible entrenched attitudes, as well as puts English up on a unnecessarily high pedestal. While treating our languages like slangy, infantile jargons to be laughed at.
Now back to Inzamam and cricket.
No offence to Anna but I expected more mature and extensive cricket WC coverage and discussion on SM. I don't remember how many GBs we spend discussing Kaavya V.. Its too big event in sub continent to miss.
Anna isn't a cricket expert; she's barely a cricket fan. She is doing exactly what she was asked to do (by cricket heads on this blog) and more importantly, what she promised she could.
SM is successful because it never deludes itself-- if you want a political blog, there are others which are a million times better. Same goes for cricket. Once we deviate from who we are, it ends.
The former thought is irrelevant-- if our readers feel like discussing her, it's not a waste. If it's not your cup of chai, too bad. What you like might irk some of them. As for the last sentence, perhaps you are mistaking us for a different blog. We're American. In America, this is wall-to-wall cricket coverage.
In the panoply of nations and national cultures, its only Americans that take pride, indeed nationalistic pride as shown in the comment above, in their ignorance of the rest of the world.
This is not to suggest that SM should somehow be in the business of cricket coverage.
Everyone is happy with the cricket coverage here --- there's a hundred other blogs if you don't like it, DJ. We're all having fun, and people are discussing cricket in the threads as much as they want to. In fact the tone of the coverage is just perfect, wonderful, superb, such a casual and fun vibe on these threads, it's the best.
Hari, I think you got the wrong end of the stick. ANNA means that as an American who writes for a blog from an Indian-American perspective, she's learning as she goes along, not having much knowledge about the game up till now. So she provides the space where we all shoot the breeze and crack jokes whilst we educate her about the game and brings her witty perspective on it all to us. It's all about fun! And hanging out with ANNA is fun. And so is cricket. And that's all she means. Nothing arrogant about it, just a way to be cool and vibe with people.
Hari, I think you're seeing jingoism where there was only truth.
Please don't twist my words. I'm neither proud nor ashamed of anything. Nor am I ignorant. The fact is, cricket is not popular in this country and that's not my fault. Everyone who blogs here was born here, in this country where cricket is not popular.
I'm doing exactly what I was asked to do, what I promised to do. I'm sorry it's not good enough for you, but since everyone else digs it, I'll live.
Just curious: who's everyone and how do you know they are all happy.
I am perfectly okay with the cricket coverage here, its interesting and offbeat and in any case I do check other blogs for deeper coverage, but things do seem to be getting a wee too cliquish. What DJ said was perfectly polite and SM Intern already replied to his/her comment. I don't see why another dressing down was needed.
Agree totally, but it still bears mentioning, cricket is growing strongly in America - United States of America Cricket Association. Not about to replace baseball, or even soccer just yet, but people have compared its popularity overall, to soccer in the 1980s. So in a few years it could become quite significant. Also, its history goes way back, back to before when baseball became big. It just remained an elite sport, while baseball morphed off of it to become what it is now. Just BTW, I saw my first cricket match in the US at Stanford University, the actual Indian XI as of then versus Stanford! Another bit of trivia - the first international cricket match anywhere was played between the US and Canada in 1844 !
ANNA:
I like boxing. You're being very rude and jingoistic by not covering it. How dare you care more about your job than pleasing me. I think this violates my constitutional rights, somehow. You are a public accomodation. Now, accomodate me!
No, it was perfectly ignorant and oblivious. We are a second-generation blog written from an AMERICAN perspective. We don't fly that flag to be obnoxious, we state that up front so people don't leave unnecessary comments like his. If something is huge in the subcontinent, it gets covered in Indian blogs. We will never be able to do justice to things which are "huge" in the subcontinent, because WE ARE NOT IN OR FROM THE SUBCONTINENT.
I love how for once, people are being nice to me and supportive after this rash of insensitivity, and you lot think it's indicative of a "clique-mentality". The fact that they're stepping up and trying to make me feel better while some of you continue down this path of complaint speaks volumes of how perceptive you are wrt what is actually going on here.
No, he didn't mean "everybody" if you're going to be a literalist about it, but perhaps a few of you are forgetting that a lot of our readers are just like me-- they barely know or care about this sport. My posts are accessible to them AND more experienced fans and THAT is what matters. I am sick of having to explain myself, over and over.
If I didn't cover it, I'm bad. If I cover it as a beginner, I'm bad. You are IMPOSSIBLE.
No matter how hard I try, there are complaints. And that sucks. And no, this isn't call for Shodan or Red Snapper or anyone else to try and soothe my feelings. They get it. So does Manju. A few of you persistently and consistently don't and to be frank, that's rather ungrateful. Would you come to a dinner party where I was showing off my new Thai cooking skills and bitch about how the food should be better? No? Exactly.
ANNA I am not bitching about your coverage. I like it and I said so in your first cricket post.
Sakshi, that's a plural you and I'm about to amend the comment to reflect that. After the first two paragraphs, it wasn't really about you. Sorry.
sakshi I was very polite to DJ, I certainly didnt dress him down.
You know what it is? It's the constant sniping and demands and moaning -- makes people look like ingrates. Everyone is having fun with these threads --- just read them, they're great. They're certainly not cliqueish because lots of people comment. Just relax and enjoy.
I know. Let's just call it Urdu, as it was here, or whatever whenever. (Let's save the use of 'vernacular' to refer to, say, the Syrian Xian church having its services in Malayalam, as opposed to Greek, e.g.).
BTW, Youtube has parodies of the Aloo speaking English, so it must have been hilarious when he did that too. There's also one which mocks his religiosity - supposedly he forgot to say "Bismillah-e-R-e-R" as he began answering a question, and so had to say it mid-sentence! For the World Cup, I understand the Pakistani Cricket Board banned him (and all other team members) from giving English intreviews lest they mis-speak.
Back to Cricket y'all... What do you think will be reaction to Inzi when (and it may be a while!) before he goes back to pakistan?
I've had the baseball v. cricket debate more than I've cared to have. Curves & sliders vs. spinners, using gloves vs. no gloves, foul territory/fair territory vs. the over system. Balls vs "no balls", umps vs. wickets.
Invariably, baseball comes out to be the more physically intensive sport. The velocities are just too high.
I was not as articulate as I should have been. I saw American exceptionalism where I shouldn't have, and I apologize for that. That said, there's no written law that being American is a reason not to be knowledgeable about things outside of mainstream America. Cricket is not mainstream here in the United States, but very few of the things covered in this blog are - that's one of its many charms.
That said, this is your blog - you shouldn't have to apologize for what you don't write about, or do write about.
As a footnote, a number of the best journalists who cover cricket (Mike Marqusee, notably) are American. Never underestimate the trenchant perspective of the outsider.
@HMF
And the 162 game season with open ended games. Theoretically, a baseball game could go on forever while a cricket game is limited to 5 days at most....
That said, there's nothing more enjoyable than an India-England Test match at Lords when both teams are playing well. One-day cricket just doesn't do it (for me)...
Subdued, because of what has happened to Bob Woolmer
To clarify my first comment was not directed to Anna but to SM. I like reading Anna and respect and appreciate her interest in the game of cricket and for taking pain in initiating thread for viewpoints/discussions. As a regular SM reader (being from subcontinent, i feel outcast now though ), I just thought it might not have been terrible idea having some guest blogger to cover this event.
I didn't know all things posted here are "directed" by some "heads" ? Again I repeat I din't point my comment to "her". Sorry if I wasn't clear enough. Stop being arrogant and callous. I know there are other blogs and I do read them. People have some openness to accept sincere suggestions/viewpoints. My thoughts exactly.PS: Are SM Intern and Anna different ? I am confused.
OK DJ thanks for the advice.
Yes. The intern could be any one of us. Or two of us. It could even be you.
Also, "heads" is slang-- in this context, for "cricet fanatics".
Amitabh kaake,
Thand rakh okay.......I dont think I owe you any explanation but the only reason I used the word 'vernacular' was because I have heard Inzi in both Urdu and Punjabi and rather than write Urdu/Punjabi ,I just said vernacular.His interviews in 'vernacular' are hilarious because of his dead-pan delivery at times and his perfect timing of idioms....something that you laugh 'alongwith' and not 'at'.......
But no of course,you had to make a big show out of it and beat your 'you got no pride' dhol since Bhai Veer Singh Ji handed down the custody of maan ,maryada and izzat of our languages in your hands of course.
Either I could laugh this garbage off or just say f.o.I choose the former.It reminded me of the phrase 'verbal diarrhea intellectual constipation'
nfa:
Dude, there is no way I could have realised where you were coming from in your original comment. Obviously what I said doesn't apply to you. But there are still a lot of English-speaking Indian snobs who look down on Indian languages, and 'vernacular' is a term often used by them, in the derogatory way I described.
Peace.
Thanks.
I apologize for (in retrospect) reaction,could have been more patient.
I actually have been guilty of wearing 'the pride' on my sleeve a a lot as well(as recent as on this post by Ennis).
Put it down to the loss against Bangladesh and the sinking feeling that I blew 199 rupees away.
Rabb rakha...
Anna and the Cricket Heads is all about love: love for Anna, love for the game, tested though the latter may be at the moment.
So, basically is this what SM has come to: unless we coo over the authors we are being ungrateful or disrespectful?
Seriously, SM Mods, why not move to Craigslist style community based moderation? You guys could hunker in the bunker, and intervene only when a comment got flagged a certain number of times.
No one said you should coo, but it would be nice if people weren't assholes. There's a vast middle ground to be inhabited. If people ARE cooing, it's to balance out the toxic presence of assholery.
Also, did you miss this?
Or maybe it's just more fun for you to have something to complain about?
Given that Sepia Mutiny maintains a uniquely open and friendly atmosphere, with new people commenting all the time, and a growing readership, accusations of turning into a closed community are laughable and silly.
stop complainin my brownies..we have a battle at hand...India vs Srilanka
Chaminda!!
Tendu!!!!!
Dada!!
whos with me?
Right, that's why in all the blogs written outside the US there are extensive posts analyzing the merits of the
3-4 defense and the Red Wings chances of winning the Stanley Cup. Smug, self-righteous idiot.
Speedy
Speedy (#97), not really sure where you're going with that one... Hari's bit o' snark said that Americans take pride in their ignorance of the rest of the world (I disagree with him that SOME Americans are the only ones in the world guilty of this - plenty of such cases from other countries as well) - you know, 'cuz Americans don't NEED to, and that's what makes America great.
The fact that there are blogs written outside the US in which you can find extensive posts analyzing the merits of the 3-4 defense and the Red Wings' chances of winning the Stanley Cup is indicative of the sort of influence which American culture has on the tastes of people living in other countries, which supports what Hari was saying, in an around-sort-of-way.
It's all about power.
Vivek,
Cultural ignorance is present in some places...but Hari originally tsk-tsked because he expected "more mature and extensive" cricket coverage-- from an admitted neophyte cricket fan in a country where hardly anyone plays cricket. When someone called him on it, he played the "Ugly American" card.
Speedy
Sweeeeeet! I was there at the aloo incident! I remember the heckler, long hair and leather jacket.
Canada or Scandanavia probably. Honestly, I don't think there are that many blogs inside the USA that care about hockey any more ...
Dhoni?