09.24.07 How 'bout them Indians!

For those of you who don't know, Cricket is this really dull and deadly boring game that allows spectators hours of G&T sipping lethargy.

It is also an incredible passion for most men in India. I have snaps of kids playing cricket in the fields, on sidewalks, in the street.

Not only does it make American Baseball look frenetic, the sports talk here on radio, TV and the Web makes American Sports talk sound like NPR.

So this year in order to make the sport even MORE popular, the invented a type of Cricket called Twenty 20 or T20.

Suffice it to say that it does not take 5 days to play a game, and most who don't think that they've given up the sanctity of the game (much like the Designated hitter Rule), think that they've improved the game immensely.


So tonight was the final match of T20, and it had come down to arch rivals India and Pakistan. Needless to say, when the game started at 5:30 there was no one, aside from a few nerds and foreigners left in the office.

I went to join the boys in the bar and have someone explain the game to me, but found that there was a line to get in. I called the guys who told me that at a cover of R500, no happy hour, and that crowd they decided to go over to someone's apartment to watch.

So I grabbed a couple of Kingfishers and joined them.

The game was actually fun. The strategy is not immediately evident, and the pitcher does this hysterical little bicycle hop when he throws, but the game has subtlety and skill.

The pitch is this tiny thing in the middle of a huge field, so I'm not sure that sitting on a bleacher seat or patch of grass for 5 days would be that much fun, but the fans who were there had a great time, as did we.

The team is young, they got rid of all the old guys and they've got a bunch of rookies who never expected to make the finals. Pretty fitting considering that something like 50% of the Indian population is under 30. The guys are fit and good looking, from all the different religions and backgrounds in the country.

Real hero material.

It was a terrific game, and it came down to the very end. It's not difficult to make the analogy that in the final game of the World Series, in a match between the Yankees and the Red Sox, the Indians were ahead by three points, pitching (-er bowling) the bottom of the 9th inning with 3 men on base and David Ortiz, premier slugger, who has just hit 4 home runs at his last 5 at bats in this game, comes up to the plate.

Then he pops out!

The whole town is going crazy. There are fireworks going off and people dancing in the street.

And tomorrow is the last day of the Ganesh festival! It's gonna be a hell of a week!

So maybe I'm going a little native...