One of the great benefits that a cricket fan had till recently was that there wasn’t much cause to change one’s opinion about the players. Cricket has traditionally been divided on geographical lines: a player represented his local club , then his state or county, and ultimately his national team. There’s very little changing of teams by players. So once you decided you didn’t like someone, you could carry that hate pretty much till the player retired.
Then came the Indian Premier League, an American franchise-style tournament with players from around the world playing for teams based in eight Indian cities. This posed a dilemma. The team based in Chennai, the Super Kings, has for two of its star performers Matthew Hayden of Australia and Mutthiah Muralidharan of Sri Lanka. The problem? I’ve loathed these two guys for years. Now I love 'em.
Am I fickle? Not a bit. In my mind, they’ve undergone repentance (by joining my team) and I’ve forgiven them. Being a star player for one of my teams wipes out a multitude of sins. Welcome to my world.
(Mind you, when Murali represents Sri Lanka, I still loathe him. My forgiveness is not yet unconditional.)
2 Comments:
You certainly are loyal to your loyalties. :o)
What happens if one decides to *gasp* leave the team for another?
OH!! I love it! You are awesome!! Glad that they changed it up a bit! Guess I will have to start watching cricket.
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