Big across the border
“You and your Lahore Badshahs,” said this friend of mine recently after I sent an SMS asking her to switch on the television and tune in to the right channel. Indifferent to the game herself, she duly passed the message on to her husband, and thereafter, as she describes it, time stood still.
It was the night when Hasan Raza was blazing his way to 98 not out from 52 balls in Chandigarh. Coming in against the Mumbai Champs at 28 for 2, with two golden ducks behind him, he conjured up an innings from nothing almost. Perfectly pitched balls headed straight for the wicket were carved over square leg for six. Yorkers aimed at off stump were deflected for a boundary past wide third man. Replays showed Raza twisting the face of his bat, adjusting his footwork, even changing his mind, in the split-second after the ball left the bowler’s hand.
Let’s be honest about it. You would never see such a rabbit-out-of-the-hat innings in Test cricket, and even in ODI cricket you would have to go months, at least, before one came along. In Twenty20 cricket, by contrast, such magic tricks abound. There are rumblings that this is the dominant future of international cricket, and these rumblings are threatening to become an avalanche. The configuration of this game - skill and conflict compressed to the point where risk-taking simply overflows - is forcing it to happen.
Take a league competition enhanced by the addition of regional pride, a generous sprinkling of international stars, a top commentary team, and shapely cheerleaders dancing to music, and you’ve got a concept that goes from zero to water-cooler talk in the space of just a few matches.
The Indian Cricket League also has the extra charm of being forbidden fruit. It has not been a priority for the major news outlets and wire services. India’s BCCI, the most powerful cricket board in the known universe, has declared it “unauthorised”. Luckily for the ICL, everybody loves an underdog who stands his ground and fights, and the controversy has become its own best advertisement. And since the competition has its genesis in discontent over television rights, the one thing you can trust the league’s owners to be good at is television coverage.
Tags: 1992, series, world
Down in that neck-of-the-woods they shoot stop signs with shotguns, sidewinders with pistols, like, doesn’t anyone own a high power rifle? duh! Take back America dot .com / dot .net / dot .org / dot .stupidgovernmentbushisanidiotandaassholeontopofeverythingelse
Seconded. This is bullshit.
They’re not allowed to report on unfunny news? I guess we need to hear more about how Britney Spears did something stupid and hilarious today, then!
You’re free to buy shares, too, you know.
The Comedy Network (as spek, above, states) has the rights for Canada. And thus, comedy central has to block Canada. But if you point this out, they get pissed off at CC instead of TCN.
Yet everyone (who drives a car or buys any goods) sure loves their product.. Got a problem with their profits? Don’t buy anything that is derived from petroleum. Good luck!
Kinda getting late in the “stop the illegal immigration problem at the source with 12 - 30 million of them already here” game don’t ya think?
not only do I want a fence but I want a wall, motion detectors, guard dogs etc etc etc etcI also want to deport all 12-15 million of them.That said, If this camera can point into the town then it shouldnt be built.
here in southern Oregon, we had a camera installed up on the top of a grange co-op grain tower… it wasnt there for long because of the public disapproval of it.
I thought the writers weren’t on strike anymore. That was the least funny Daily Show sketch I’ve ever seen.
I don’t get it. The video pauses every 10 seconds for 5 seconds while “buffering”, but if you hit “pause” and go do something else for five minutes, the browser does not manage to buffer the whole thing. Hit play again and see 10 seconds before frozen/”buffering” again!!Always have this problem with videos there.
This is what happens when you don’t want a fence, you get cameras instead. Hundreds of cameras.
While you’re a tad more free market than I am (bleeding heart liberal here), I think you remind us of a good point. My biggest beef with high oil prices is just that, unlike high oil prices in Europe/Canada, ours have little to nothing going toward the environment. At least those governments have the sense to tax the hell out of oil companies to help clean up their mess. And if people still choose to drive all the time? Well then they can just shut up about high prices. We’ve already proved here that high prices aren’t the deterrent everyone thought they’d be.