My Sporting Spirit!!!

Money, Glamor, Girls, Entertainment, Stars, and More Money. Ten years from now, these were the terms that you would only in your fantasies or in your most wildest dreams associate with our Religion, and what better it would be than Cricket. For a country, which eventually lost its spot in the 1950 Olympics, in Football for the Non-Availability of shoes to wear, for playing the sport, we really have come of age in witnessing and hosting the biggest Cricketainment show on Earth, The INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE.

Huge Stadiums, Short Boundaries, Shorter Clothes on Girls, Big Players, Full Throttle Music, Huge Rewards and Front Page News Headlines, this is not an everyday story for any Indian. April 18th, 2008, is a day that has got its name fixated in Platinum Alphabets on the very face of World History. A day that finally brought to an end a long debacle, a great debate, on which is THE sport of India - Hockey or Cricket. The answer is obviously taken. For a country that turns a deaf ear to the news covering their National Sport not getting its Olympic Berth, and still scribbling through the news papers on the next morning to get the pin point details of the late night match that they eventually missed because they came home late because of the Traffic again due to Sports Voyeurs(Pun Intended) returning altogether at the same time is something that has really made many a heads turn.

So what is the reason behind all this cacophony? As they say "Yeh Paisa Bolta Hai" its all about the money involved. And the best part is that everyone gets benefited. Its actually a cycle of events, look at the process:
1. Players get Money from Owners, they are Happy and Popular(Get a Couple of Ad Shoots as well, its Bonus).
2. Owners get Money from Sponsors, Endorsements, and Television Rights, Accessories, etc., they are Esctatic.
3. BCCI gets its Money from Tickets Sold & Media Rights, it is Rich(Wonder what it does with all that money).
4. The Media Channel gets lots of Advertisements, which spells out as lot of Bucks.
5. The Endorsers and Advertisers get a much higher Customer Base, they are Ready for More.

You must be wondering then where does this Entity "I, Me, We, Us" lie in here. The Answer is pretty obvious, we buy from the advertisers, we pay Money to them; we purchase tickets of Matches, we pay Money to them; we shop for Cool Accessories(As a Kolkata KnightRiders T-Shirt, which I Proudly Own); we pay Money to them.

Strange isn't it, Its said "Life Goes In Full Circles", however what we find here is that its basically OUR MONEY thats doing the rounds.

So next time you get to watch an IPL math think thats its actually for you that the entire Cricketainment is in its full flow. And if you do come across an IPL Player or even Shahrukh Khan or better the bubbly Preity Zinta, tell them that after all it was your Money, that helped them win matches and most probably even in the near future.

Don't forget the Importance of your contributions, so keep your chin high and C YA...