World Cup Rants

We lost badly yesterday, and I am upset about that. After all, I do support my team and expect them to put up a good fight, especially on a stage that is the biggest to showcase national pride. I am upset that the team that had the top three one-day runscorers in its ranks bowed out so meekly. I am upset that I see on the snapshots, ad clips, hoardings, and any other media you can think of the big guns of team India every time I look up or switch on the TV. Because, face it, while we are ranting and raving about sacking Dravid and Chappell and Tendulkar retiring, these guys are still getting their fat paychecks. It is sad that people spend time staying up late to cheer these guys and watch them win. That temples offer puja before a match. And that Team India turns out to be such a farce.

But these things only upset me. What angers me is when the media, the same media that were going gaga over Team India till yesterday, now try to crucify them. Face it, did you for once seriously think this Team India could win WC 07? Whom are you trying to fool? This is not Team Australia or Team South Africa. Now those are teams that can win the Cup, because they have the fighting abilities and the passion to win. And also talent.

No, you did not think we would win. You hoped. We all did, and that is no crime. But what you did next was criminal. The media, cricket, life, everything today is all about the money. You not only hoped, but you stoked the fires of illusion. You floated around the ridiculous ads of the boys transforming into tigers or whatever cock and bull you would have us believe. And the moment the boys tripped, you pounced on them. You put on your self-righteous hats and passed judgment on all - from Sachin to Greg to probably the driver of the team bus, all the while making it seem like you were only passing on the fan's feelings. The same feelings that you with your pre-WC hype, helped stoke.

No sirs, you are equally responsible for this fiasco. This fiasco would have been acceptable behavior instead of the stunning loss had you guys not sold us these dreams. You talk of accountability. So stand up and accept your role too. There is this program on CNN IBN running right now, called Tryst with Disaster, which is supposedly analyzing the reasons for Team India and Team Pakistan's loss as well as Bob Woolmer's death. What it instead was for the first 15 minutes was this dubious presenter screaming from the rooftops the standard disgruntled fan reaction - sack Dravid and Chappell, put Sachin to pasture.

Instead of putting up such ridiculous drivel, why doesn't the media do something more constructive? Stop propagating the hype. India is not equipped to win the World Cup. Have you ever stopped to wonder how it is that we managed only one World Cup title? That we always choke under pressure? That after the WC 83 triumph, West Indies, whom we beat to the title, came to our backyard and hammered us to kingdom come? Wake up, sport, it is not within us. Not yet.

Finally, stop this 'Hang the foreign coach' nonsense please. The only reason we went in for foreign coaches was because we had a procession of home grown coaches that could do nothing about making us winners. Final word. It is just a game. Let us stop living our fantasies through a bunch of bewildered 'gods' and get on with the other great things that life has to offer us.