Gentlemen ... What the Hell !!!

Saddam to be hanged, was the big news on Sunday. For whatever worth it was the farcical trial by a US backed tribunal subjected one of the most troublesome pains in the US neck to death by hanging. Has he been done away with? Will the US of A now breathe a sigh of relief? Well the questions are best left unanswered coz the bully that the US is any rising influence on any part of the globe will invoke the ire of Uncle Sam.

A rather funny looking sentence though oft used regarding the same stuck me during channel surfing on Sunday. “Saddam to be hanged by the neck till death” said a scrawley on a popular news channel. For god’s sake I thought how else do u kill a person by hanging. But then many people in the world would debate how fair it was to thus end the tenure of a great dictator . like it or not but he had gall.

And then do I need to say that once the news was out, we’ve had every possible guy who could’ve been called a lawyer.. expressing their legal opinion on the judgment. Hell these guys could never get out of law school.. how in blue blazes did they ever get this far?? But then as the old adage goes. Every lawyer (oops dog with all due respect to ram jethmalani and dogs) has his day.

The 11 models sponsored by the BCCI once more made a brief outing in the match against the wizards of OZ. Scraped and scampered around a bit and were off in a flash to other modeling sessions, this time not in sweltering heat or anything but in closed studios. India , they should now say is a land of opportunities if you know how to hold a stick and throw the cherry to the opposition that they can hit it out of the ground. Needless to say winning or losing doesn’t matter as long as the money keeps flowing in the BCCI coffers.

Talking about the gentleman’s game (erstwhile if I may say), our yellow dudes (for purists I am talking about the Indian media) have found something to chew upon. It so happened that another group of 11 models (real ones) who play real good cricket. Came to India and beat the hell outta other teams and when it came to accepting the cup showed some real attitude. Now our ex defence minister and now BCCI chief is a gallant enough man to let it pass by. But such an act by the kangaroos was uncalled for definitely. But again there is no need for our media to blow it up unnecessarily.

An ex offspinner in the Indian team now turned selector suddenly felt that Suresh Raina and Kaif need to perform in South Africa lest they be dropped in favor of a real example of aggro who was shabbily treated by our current coach. But then why is a balding model of a clothesline and a children energy drink who once in a while wields the willow in around 1 games in a 50 left untouched after so many failures. However you try to fathom how these guyz at the helm function you always end up getting confused. Hey, simply put , theres no explanation.

And all of a sudden an ICC umpire Darell Hair (remember the guy who no balled murali) was dropped from the ICC list of elite umpires because finally the Asian cricket councils flexed their muscles. Now that’s the way.. if you cannot beat them on it.. beat them off it. That’s not a gentlemans approach but then if you are someone who gets the most revenue for the ICC and you have people treating you shabbily , that’s a good way of showing them who’s in control. In such cases gentlemanly attitudes do not matter. Again the whole issue was blown up way out by the media across every cricket crazy country in the world and led to lengthy nonproductive debates on existing racism in the game. Racism does exist in world cricket , theres no denying it. (Remember Dean Jones?)

And yeah, a silver lining finally. The BCCI gave Mohd. Azhar a lifetime acheievement award or something. About time too. Yep.. there’s still place for gentlemen in the game of Cricket.

-- Antagonist