IPL

The British did an absolutely fantastic job hyping football. Making some clubs and spending ridiculous amounts of money is a brilliant technique, I think, when the game itself, when played by the people in question is rather boring. How amazinglyd defensive these people get in what should be a fast paced, offensive game! One team takes the ball to their goalpost and then runs off with it just as quickly in the opposite direction, toward the opposition's goal, just to make sure that their own goal isn't blocked. Wild!
This is not what I came here to talk about, however. The Indian Premier League is taking center stage in my brain right now and for the next five minutes, roughly, so I will say all that I can as quickly as possible, before my brain wanders off for a short sabbatical somewhere else.
The Indian Premier League has been one of the most ridiculously hyped events I have ever seen in my time in this world. I don't even knoow anymore what is actually being hyped. I'm sure a lot of people would have to think about that too. There's so much publicity now that the hype exists more than the game itself.
I was thinking last night about how much the players are being paid. It's absolutely absurd! Players from all over the world are giving patriotism a good hard kick in the backside, sending it as far away from them as quickly as they can. Racist comments are no longer an issue. Who cares anymore that they're all under committment to the lowly brown people? Money always always talks and I think that it's far better than colour talking.
Can you imagine the amount of betting money that's being put into the IPL right now? If you were to do a ratio of how much each player is paid in proportion to the amount of money that depends on him, the cricketeers are hopelessly underpaid. I can't seem to sympathize much, though.
What the British did extremely cleverly was to bring about an interestin the game itself. Schools in India, a country that really never played the game much, found themselves forming teams and going for tourneys. So, after a bit, even when the glamour of the thing dies down, the passion for the sport keeps it going. I wonder what will happen to the IPL.
Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar seem to be getting a lot more importance than any of the players are and here in Karnataka, the Royal Challengers are an advertisement for Vijay Mallya and his bounty. Yay.
I can't help feeling that the glamour of the thing is going to die down soon enough. It's terribly money consuming, firstly. Besides, for how long can anyone crowd inside a stadium on a summer night to watch firework displays and Vijay Mallya with all his playthings? Perhaps it will soon be brought down to the basics, an excting, fast paced game of cricket.