Disclaimer: Originally published in December 2017. It is being republished since it still remains an interesting topic till today.
There was a time when I actually used to love the sport.
Cricket defined my childhood more than anything. It shaped my social life immensely, from defining how I interacted with my friends and made new ones, to how my weekends were spent (watching cricket), to how my PT classes in school went (playing cricket), right down to the analogies that my teachers used to explain concepts to me.
Even though I wasn’t (still ain’t) the most athletic person on the planet, I loved cricket to death. I had all the stats memorized, idolized players and watched all matches, even the test series.
It got BOOOO-RING
But then, I got bored as I grew up. Test series became monotonous, ODIs became meh. When T20 was finally introduced, it was interesting for a while but then that interest died off too. Instead, I started watching basketball, the NBA that is. And I follow it to date.
And that got me thinking, why did I end up hating the game I used to love. Why did I stop watching it?
Well, the answer is quite simple, cricket has become boring, hella boring.
I mean just compare NBA and cricket. Cricket has remained the same (more or less), the same format, the same commentary, the same coverage etc. Although I am seeing some differences crop up in terms of coverage, I still get bored.
On the other hand, NBA, or basketball, in general, is a treat to watch, and I have the Americans to thank for that.
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NBA is a model to follow
Basketball is so wonderfully packaged and presented. The first example would be the “March Madness” that takes place in the collegiate wing of American basketball wherein college students play professional-level basketball.
In March Madness, people place their bets on which team is going to qualify. This practice is prevalent literally everywhere, from offices to schools to homes. And this practice was not present earlier but was introduced by the companies behind NAAC themselves.
This makes the practice of even watching the damn thing so exciting, you have a personal stake in it, you are getting affected by the outcome.
Plus it is presented in such a flamboyant and attractive manner that you can’t take your eyes away from the spectacle. With cheerleaders and halftime shows and commentary, God, the commentary.
The commentary is actually a big sticking point for me. Cricket commentary is downright boring. They are telling me what is going on in the field when I can see it on my damn TV.
It was fine when they had 5 cameras on the field and even those 5 were pretty bad, so inevitably they had to explain what is going on in the field.
But now they don’t, we have HD cameras and everything won’t cut shots and slow-mo videos. So now the commentators saying the same thing is just redundant. And it’s bloody boring, I don’t enjoy old dudes telling me what I already know. Be more like NBA commentators, joking, talking, conversing, kidding around and stuff.
Make my sport watching an experience and then maybe I will like it.
Something like this is already happening in IPL, it’s becoming increasingly like NBA and kind of like the combination of sports and entertainment. So let’s hope that I finally get to watch the sport I loved and the sport I love right now.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Wikipedia, Livemint, The Hindu
