Cochin Cowboys

This post is purely a work of fiction and any likenesses to real life are purely coincidental. Also, all the disclaimers that have ever been created/documented/undocumented by anyone in this universe applies to this post. You are responsible for anything and everything that you get /not get after reading this post. Read at your own risk. 

Ever since IPL picked 2 additional franchises, one of the team and the franchise team members (FTM) got together and started to layout plans for next year IPL.

FTM#1: What should be name of our team? ideas உண்டோ ?

FTM#2: ஆலப்புழா ஆண்டவாஸ்? Trivandrum Titans? Cochin Cowboys? வேஷ்டி Whales?

FTM#1: நன்னாயிட்டு உண்டு. Let's pick Cochin Cowboys.

FTM#3: Brand ambassador யாரானு?

FTM#1: Mohan....

FTM#2: Team song choice guess செய்யும்? 

FTM#4: கடலை நக்கர போனோரே..

FTM#2: Correct.

FTM#5: What is the Jersey களர்?

FTM#3: வல்லிய half whiteல், brown, ஜரி வெச்சு, பஷு மாடு logo?

FTM#1: டாப்-ஆயிட்டு உண்டு.

FTM#2: Who are the ஸ்போன்சொர்ஸ்?

FTM#1: Kerala Jewellers, Ramraj வேஷ்டி... 

FTM#4: Cheerleaders அல்லாம் வேண்டா. நம்ம கதகளி, மேளம் போதுமாணு.

FTM#2: Gra-eat idea!

When the FTM went to the new site where they planned to build a new stadium, they were surprised to see 2-3 டீகடா that have already started the business there. They promised those shop keepers a contract when the stadium is complete. The whole FTM team is working over time to be ready for IPL 4.

IPL 3 - Day One

Here's my initial thoughts on IPL 3 after day 1 and match 1.

- Not a full house, could be due to the fact that there is no local team involved.

- Commericals in between balls in the scoreboard - Pathetic. I am not a big fan of commentators these days, but this trend will totally take them out of picture soon. In between DLF maximum, Citi moment of success, MRF sky cam, how great this tournament is and bunch of other meanderings, they speak Cricket. Special note to Sunny Gavaskar: Please retire from your commentary job. I had great respect for you as a player, and I still do. I am tired of your Ranjit Singhji leg glance story every time someone plays a fine leg glance.

- It is very clear that only Superstars of Indian cricket and foreign players will be able to make this tournament attractive. Example: Vaas chiming in with early wickets, Matthews and Shah having a huge partnership, Gilchrist's 50 and more to come, which goes to show the importance of Test cricket and ODI existence and competition between national teams, so it will be easy to market T20.  I am hearing 90+ games next season, Modi needs to be very careful with overkill. 

If I were to bet/guess on 4 teams that will make it to semi-final (which looks so so far away), here it is:

Delhi - They are my favorites since IPL 1 and they really look a strong team even this season.

Chennai - Dhoni as captain & Hayden as a player are very capable of dominating any team and hence they are my favorites too.

Mumbai -Though I don't believe in Sachin's leadership, I strongly believe they will perform well this season to make it to top 4.

Bangalore - They have some very talented in-form youngsters in their side. Once they have all foreign players available, they will be a strong team.

Double Standards

Watch this first: Gambhir Watson Incident 

and then watch this: Johnson Styris Incident 

Gambhir gets one test ban -  International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Chris Broad charged Gambhir with a level-two offence of not conducting play “within the spirit of the game as well as within the laws of cricket”.International Cricket Council (ICC) appointed commissioner Justice Sachs reached his verdict after studying video footage, documentary records and written submissions. “I am prepared to accept that he (Gambhir) had been the victim of prolonged and persistent verbal abuse by members of the Australian team, culminating in a moment of anger that led to his unfortunate lapse,” Sachs said.

Johnson was fined 60% match fee - Johnson, who was charged with a Level 2 offence, pleaded guilty at an early stage to avoid a full hearing. The umpires felt Styris contributed to the verbal exchange that preceded the physical contact and that his actions contravened clause 2.1.8 which covers actions that are contrary to the spirit of cricket or bring the game into disrepute. "Sometimes in the heat of competition players cross over the line of what is acceptable behaviour and that has clearly happened in this case," Madugalle said. "I made it clear to them that as role models it's important that they conduct themselves not only within the laws of cricket but also in keeping with the spirit of the game." 

This is clearly a case of double standards that sub-continent ex-players, commentators and even public are complaining about for several years. The above scenarios are near identical and they both are breach of code of conduct and they both deserve punishments. Concerned players were punished, however the punishments were different. There is very little or no hope on the hearing process and how ICC would handle a situation.

Day/Night Test Cricket

Mr. T20 genius came up with this new idea - "Test cricket must go day and night", if not he warned that test cricket will die. 

Here's my take:

- What do we do with the ball? Seeing a RED ball under lights is difficult not only for the players but also for the spectators. Changing it to white will NOT work since they already cannot keep the white ball white for 50 overs in ODI. So we need a change in law to make this happen.

- What about the pitch and outfield? It gets wet due to fog in most of the countries and in some of the countries, even summer is cold during night time. The dew and cold weather could dramatically favor batting team or bowling team.

- Spectators in the stadium - Though ticket sales does not impact the revenue in a big way these days, spectators in the stand is crucial. Thinking people will show up after work for a test match is a huge assumption. (BTW, claiming that people have work to do during day time hence cannot watch a game is an useless comment. People in the nineties had to go for work too.)

- Claiming broadcasters run the game - This is such a shameless comment. The game should be bigger than anything. Regardless of commercial interests, passion for sport should be the prime reason for playing a sport. The same should be the case for administrators too.

When ODI was introduced everyone thought test cricket is waste of time, now everyone hates ODI. T20 is new and people seem to like it for now. I am sure money motive people, the one dimensional nature of the format and the overkill of number of tournaments will make this format boring soon. T20 organizers have successfully shortened the career for bowlers, made batsman more greedy and demoted spectators, especially young ones, from being involved to impatient.

Don't worry about test cricket and leave it alone, it will survive and people who loved test cricket will always love it.

(Dis)Connected..

"I have more than 200 friends"
"Wow! so many friends..so what are you doing this Saturday evening?"
"I will be in front of the computer"

This funny, yet eye opening dialog from the movie "Funny People" on social network is the inspiration for this imaginary post.

Raj - Son
Dia - Daughter
Mom and Dad

Raj: Hi Mom, sorry I woke up late, good to catch u on IM, what do we have for dinner?

Mom: I am late to a meeting, the menu and sample pictures of the food for the entire week is posted on my Facebook, your Dad sent a text to me and trying to reach you. love u Raj, c u later.

Raj: Great, I will check it out and comment on the changes I want. I will also call Dad.

Raj calling Dad: Pop, I need cash.

Dad: I will wire transfer to your checking later today. We need to catch up on arrangements for Dia's wedding.

Raj: Don't worry Dad, I have high level plans almost finalized and I will send you the PPT when it is ready.

Dad: Thanks Raj! Buzz me and I will check the PPT. love u, talk to you later.

Slide 1 - Invitation: Raj logged in to Geni, Facebook, LinkedIn contacts and created an invitation distribution list. He also roughly calculated the invitation numbers based on other family member's social network contacts. Once Raj had the headcount, he selected eVite, Facebook and Twitter updates for sending invitations and updates.

Slide 2 - Photos/Video: Raj Google'd photo/video broadcast professionals in the area and short listed a few. He planned on podcasting the event live and later make it available on YouTube. Twitter updates will be posted every 5 minutes during the marriage ceremony.

Slide 3 - Food: Raj short listed Pizza Hut, Saravana Bhavan and Jamba Juice with Salad as the possible options for food ordering. The attendees will either get a food coupon that they can redeem on the marriage day or get rain check for later use.

Slide 4 - Thaamboolam: Once the attendees successfully login and attend the function, they will get album of their choice as free download from iTunes as thaamboolam.

Slide 5 - Gifts: Attendees can send their gift via Fedex (prepaid free shipping) or choose to use Paypal for cash gifts.

Raj emailed the PPT to Mom, Dad and Dia and sent an Outlook invitation for video conference call later that day and hoped every one can attend.

If we continue our passion and craze for social connections through technology, who knows, we might end up like this soon.

Are we really connected?