Posts
Listening to: Radio 1
So I watched a bit of the KKR v DC match a few days back...ugh. Words/phrases that came to mind: tacky, decadent, grotesquely flamboyant. I mean the cricket is good (because the cricketers are good and cricket, in general, is good), but it's masked by ridiculous cheerleaders and nauseating product placement. Why the hell are there cheerleaders?!?! Totally unnecessary (if I wanted to see sexy women shaking their perfectly toned naked midriffs, I'd just watch this). Not to mention it's totally hypocritical in a cultural context, but let's not go there.
Everything about IPL just screams nouveau-riche at me. Maybe I'm being snobbish, I dunno.
Anyway, whatever. I don't know why I care (I mean the way Kallis is playing, Moggie's not gonna get to hold a bat this season anyway). I think the post-WC lull has got me looking for cricket. I'm sort of following county cricket, for goodness' sake! At least there, the focus is on the cricket...I'll take that over IPL any day.
So I watched a bit of the KKR v DC match a few days back...ugh. Words/phrases that came to mind: tacky, decadent, grotesquely flamboyant. I mean the cricket is good (because the cricketers are good and cricket, in general, is good), but it's masked by ridiculous cheerleaders and nauseating product placement. Why the hell are there cheerleaders?!?! Totally unnecessary (if I wanted to see sexy women shaking their perfectly toned naked midriffs, I'd just watch this). Not to mention it's totally hypocritical in a cultural context, but let's not go there.
Everything about IPL just screams nouveau-riche at me. Maybe I'm being snobbish, I dunno.
Anyway, whatever. I don't know why I care (I mean the way Kallis is playing, Moggie's not gonna get to hold a bat this season anyway). I think the post-WC lull has got me looking for cricket. I'm sort of following county cricket, for goodness' sake! At least there, the focus is on the cricket...I'll take that over IPL any day.
20/20 Cricket is ONLY worth watching because of the cheerleaders:)
ReplyDeleteAs for the cricket - I've have grumbled about it in some detail here:
http://jestforkicks.blogspot.com/2008/12/demise-of-cricket-game-played-by.html
http://jestforkicks.blogspot.com/2009/06/2020-cricket.html
And thanks for the link ;)
ReplyDeleteYou may enjoy this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.economist.com/node/9432122
Ugh, the IPL. :| Don't watch, don't want. Give me 50 over cricket any day.
ReplyDeleteThough I caught a glimpse of Malinga getting those 4 wickets and highlights of Mahela's knock yesterday. Good cricket, bad packaging, imho. :(
So true. The IPL resembles just about everything that is wrong with cricket today. For one, I'm not a big fan of seeing so many sixes - so many of them aren't supposed to be hit ffs! I get pretty bored really. I think the best analogy to T20 cricket in general is that it's like porn. Nobody will remember tomorrow what you watched last night.
ReplyDeleteFuck IPL, though. It's ruining cricket.
I agree with you on the whole nouveau-riche side of things - definitely. So much so that it makes the whole event very tacky. I can't stand the cheerleaders but that is very much the American in India influence - I don't think that we can help that. But I admire the idea of it all. So much so because it has raised the profile of cricket as a sport in general. A lot of people who may not have been interested in cricket (because let's face it - Test cricket can be arduous to watch if you have limited patience!) now find the time to watch the IPL because it shows Cricket as fast paced and exciting and I think that raising the profile of this amazing sport can't be a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteScrumps, allow me to disagree.
ReplyDeleteThe point is, cricket is not just another sport; it is the one sport that pretty much is different from everything else. It's not for nothing that they say cricket emulates life. Cricket is 'meant' to be played over five days, so you see my agony, I can live with it being played on only one day but T20? Gah, that's not cricket.
So, yeah, 'raising' the profile of this game at the expense of it's very essence is a bad thing, at least it's the way I see it.
Jack Point - well I have zero interest in cheerleaders, so I beg to differ ;-). My gripe in the context of this post is not with T20 per se, just the IPL.
ReplyDeleteChavie - That's probably the best description I've heard regarding the IPL. Also, DC v KTK yesterday...bloody hell!
Sach - I'm not a fan of T20 but I'll accept that it has its place. Speaking of IPL ruining cricket, did you read the cricinfo article about Vettori's request for an IPL window? As much as I dislike the IPL, I think he has a point.
Scrumps - Unfortunately it's the tackiness that stops me from watching even the best IPL matches. It's nauseating.
As for IPL raising the profile of cricket, I'm inclined to agree with Sach. In my opinion, T20 is cricket stripped of everything that makes it unique. Test and ODI cricket fans will follow a T20 match if it's a good battle...but I doubt you'll find a T20 fan able to appreciate the complexities of ODIs and Tests that make those versions of the game so fascinating.