Deep Backward Point

Blog against the machine.

Category: Uncategorized

Dear Fan, You Are Complicit

Dear fan,

Are you planning to watch the IPL this year? Cheer for CSK? Wear Royals blue? Howl at the auction and moan about your uncapped wonder?

Congratulations. You, my friend, are complicit in a great con. You are guilty.

The next time a spot is fixed, it’s on you. The next time an owner makes a shady side deal, it’s on you. The next time one of the game’s caretakers takes a gamble that’s not cricket, dear reader, you are responsible.

Every time the powers are asked about the sickness in the sport, they respond that we’re giving the people what they want. The people keep watching. The people want the spectacle and we give it to them.

You are the people. You are bought and sold and sold again. The BCCI sells you for a cent. Star Sports buys your eyeballs for pennies, and sells your soul back to Pepsi for a nickel. You are the decimal point in a spreadsheet.

The fastest way to reforming the IPL–and the BCCI–is empty stadiums and dropping TV ratings. If you don’t like what you’re hearing, then don’t watch. Just this year, at least this year. Don’t watch.

Send a message. Withhold your time and attention. It’s all you have.

I'm Mad as Hell

(Photo credit: duncan)

Advertisement

I’m mad as hell

I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s cutting tests or scared of losing their contracts. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth; boards are going bust; players keep a gun under the counter; fixers are running wild in the street, and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it.

We know the sport is unfit to watch. And we sit watching our TVs while some commentator tells us that today we had fifteen T20s and sixty-three fixes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be!

We all know things are bad — worse than bad — they’re crazy.

It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go the stadiums any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we’re living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, “Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my local team and my remote and my LCD, and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.”

Well, I’m not going to leave you alone.

I want you to get mad!

I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot. I don’t want you to write to your Boards, because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the coup and the corruption and the broadcasters and the gambling in the street.

All I know is that first, you’ve got to get mad.

You’ve gotta say, “I’m a fan, goddammit! My life has value!”

So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,

“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!!”

Original:

Introducing: Teesra.com

The TeesraSo here it is, teesra.com.

First off, I’m proud to own a five six-letter domain.

Second off, I’m proud to now run a fake cricket news web site that I built from the ground-up. I love to write humor, I love The Onion, and even though there is a lot of competition in cricket-humor space, I really don’t care. It’s what I like to write, and god knows there’s always enough material in the cricketing world.

For opening day, I chose the following articles to start with:

I’m not sure if the video will be a regular feature. It was fun and quick to make. I’ve included it below. Read the rest of this entry »

A Meaningless Landmark in a Meaningless Tournament Against a Weak Team but-

I still watched and it still felt good.

Sachin Tendulkar, congratulations.