NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India

[Parth]

There was a debate between two schools on NDTV, about is cricket given too much attention, tell me your thoughts, our national sport is Hockey and why do we give cricket soo much attention, I believe cricket is isnt given too much attention in India and pls tell me what you think.

[Lurker]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India Is that even a question? A resounding YES to the poll.

[beetle]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India yes and rightfully so.....just a question of demand and supply.

[Lurker]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India I would not say rightly so. Obviously it is not right if you look at how we have done over the years. But yes true to that demand and supply thing, Indians are stupid enough to follow the game 24*7*365 and media is only too happy to cash in on it.

[yoda]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India tell me another sport where we are world number 2 or world number 4 and one which is interesting to watch? yes, only a few countries play the game, which helps immensely. but there is no doubt that the gap between us and the world's best is very small in cricket when compared to other sports. so, yes, cricket is given too much attention in India and rightly so.

[Lurker]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India

tell me another sport where we are world number 2 or world number 4 and one which is interesting to watch? yes, only a few countries play the game, which helps immensely. but there is no doubt that the gap between us and the world's best is very small in cricket when compared to other sports.

So are you seriously telling me that when Hockey was India's bread and butter the same adulation was thrown on them? Answer is NO. Even when we would win Hockey World Cups, Olympics and Asian Games(sometimes together) people would not remember the name of the players. Here is a simple question that would tell you how India(and Indians) perceive other games. Ask an educated sports fan to create an all-time Indian hockey team and ask him to create an all-time Indian cricket team. I would bet not more than 1%(if that) can do the former while 100% will do the latter. xxxx

[yoda]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India i wasn't a big fan of hockey. wasn't interesting enough to watch. also, when we were good in hockey, how many TV channels were there? zero or one? and how many of these matches were even shown live?

[Lurker]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India

i wasn't a big fan of hockey. wasn't interesting enough to watch. also, when we were good in hockey, how many TV channels were there? zero or one? and how many of these matches were even shown live?

Yoda, Thats a faulty argument my friend. Think it this way. How many of us have seen the likes of Chandra, Bedi, Vishwanath play? Let alone the likes of Gupte, Hazare, Merchant etc. NONE. We know about them, right? Not only us but our Dads and Grandads knew about them. It was not because they saw them play - like you mentioned there was not enough media exposure back then, but cricket still had a wide following. I shall again reiterate my question. Ask an educated sports fan to create an all-time Indian hockey team and ask him to create an all-time Indian cricket team. I would bet not more than 1%(if that) can do the former while 100% will do the latter. Bear in mind that hockey has won us our most International accoladates and is our National Game. xxxx

[yoda]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India

i wasn't a big fan of hockey. wasn't interesting enough to watch. also, when we were good in hockey, how many TV channels were there? zero or one? and how many of these matches were even shown live?

Yoda, Thats a faulty argument my friend. Think it this way. How many of us have seen the likes of Chandra, Bedi, Vishwanath play? Let alone the likes of Gupte, Hazare, Merchant etc. NONE. We know about them, right? Not only us but our Dads and Grandads knew about them. It was not because they saw them play - like you mentioned there was not enough media exposure back then, but cricket still had a wide following. I shall again reiterate my question. Ask an educated sports fan to create an all-time Indian hockey team and ask him to create an all-time Indian cricket team. I would bet not more than 1%(if that) can do the former while 100% will do the latter. Bear in mind that hockey has won us our most International accoladates and is our National Game. xxxx

Not a faulty argument at all. Cricket has picked up momentum cause we started doing very well when TV also picked up in our country starting with the WC win of 83 followed up by the B&H win. And when a sport becomes popular it is natural for people to talk about it and learn about past greats, etc. Regarding old timer's interest in cricket, I am sure there are a good number of old timer hockey fans as well who will be able to tell you the starting all-time XI, etc. And like I said, Hockey is not an interesting game in general, atleast for me. Same is prolly true for many Indians. And I bet you will find Hockey buffs on a hockey forum as opposed to a cricket forum.

[Lurker]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India

Regarding old timer's interest in cricket, I am sure there are a good number of old timer hockey fans as well who will be able to tell you the starting all-time XI, etc. And like I said, Hockey is not an interesting game in general, atleast for me. Same is prolly true for many Indians. And I bet you will find Hockey buffs on a hockey forum as opposed to a cricket forum.

So let me get this straight. A game that is your National Game, the game that has won us the Most International Medals and stuff does not seem "interesting". The only thing that I can say is that you are not in a minority, most people dislike hockey. Why else do you think we went from being World Champions to an absolute nobody, even in Asia now. If you ask me most cricket fans are sports fans in general. Sure we know more about cricket but we know about Schumacher(F1) and a Zidane, we know about Sania Mirza and a Jaspal Rana back home but even the most ardent of sports fan who would know a Ponnapa in Indian tennis team do not know Indian hockey team. No wonders then that if you ask a sports fan, not a cricket fan but sports fan, to compile India's greatest hockey team he will draw a blank. Khair we both have made our points clear. Lets just agree to disagree on this one Yoda. xxxx

[theguyinallblue]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India Lurker...i will tell you how i approach the games i want to see... i was fortunate enough to watch Major Rathod winning the silver medal for india in olympics...and since then i am following his progress and performances..i read the articles written on him.. when sania mirza won some matches..and all those hype...i started watching her games...but soon fade away from her...when she started losing.. when i read that indian football team defeated pakistan in pakistan..in first match to lead the series 1-0..i watched the second match...which was in DD sports..they lost it...and lost another after that... i watched the final of all england baddy when gopichand won the title... so its basically those games which i can comprehend and in which indian team does well....interest automatically generates... hockey team is in shambles..they are no where near our glorious past... where as in cricket...we always see something interesting..be it some centuries..or wickets..and this is one game where we can compete with the best..and win... if our hockey team raises their level and defeat pakistan in bilateral hockey series...regularly....within 2-3 years..you will see..people following hockey..religiously.. i would watch paes..and bhupati doubles match...because i know they are among the best in business.... i would watch anand in chess...because i know he is the best in the world... no one talks about football..here...but if some how...we are able to raise a good enough team and become a force in asia along with japan... india will be one of the biggest market for fifa... my school football team was bloody good in delhi..and won many inter-school tournaments...and our cricket team sucked.. we students would always watch our football team practicing after classes...and no one would bother with cricket.. " sabhi ugte suraj ko salaam karte hain...doobte ko nahi"....

[King]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India A lot depends on how well the media represents a sport. The players should be thanking the media for giving non stop attention and cricket hitting the headlines more often than not. Figure this, if India wins the media praises the team and puts them on the front page. If India loses they thrash the team and still put the news on the front page. Whether the team wins or loses it gets attention, it is as simple as that. I agree television advent of the sport created larger than life heroes out of the players. Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid have been the biggest advertisement for the sport in India so far. Watching ball by ball cricket creates more tension, following than reading a news report as was in 70s. No wonder the player popularity has been high since 80s. I think India winning the World Cup 83 and the 1985 B&H cup in Australia put Indian cricket on the map. Indian team was quite a hit down under and their players were looked up in awe down under at that point in time. It is the media that has given a lot of attention to this sport and in turn have prompted the general public to respond likewise. The channels run non stop news about cricket whether India loses or not. It is a golden egg for the media whatever the circumstance. The recent news about sponsors queuing up to sign up Ganguly after his recent success (not phenomenon success mind you) says it all, the result doesn't seem to hamper the popularity of this sport.

[Lurker]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India

" sabhi ugte suraj ko salaam karte hain...doobte ko nahi"....

Bhai mere, If it was indeed the case of "ugta suraj" then can you please tell me the name of the players who comprised of Indian kabbadi team? It is the only sports where we have won consistently at Asian Games. Okay forget the players just tell me the name of the captain and the coach. Can you? Right I hope you get the point. It was the same case with Hockey. We were World Champions once. For a good 3 decades or so(starting from 1928 Olympics). Even if 70's and 80s we were good force but the sport died for the lack of support from fans. I am not going to blame media, I shall blame the fans. And Administrator today. It all goes back to giving undue importance to cricket. Period. xxxx

[yoda]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India Lurker it shows that those other sport (hockey and kabaddi) suck and are not as interesting to the fans. If they were interesting, they would have survived. You can't expect the public to support something they don't enjoy. It is survival of the fittest, rather in this case, survival of the interesting + reasonably well performing team.

[Lurker]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India

Lurker it shows that those other sport (hockey and kabaddi) suck and are not as interesting to the fans. If they were interesting' date= they would have survived. You can't expect the public to support something they don't enjoy. It is survival of the fittest, rather in this case, survival of the interesting + reasonably well performing team.

Yoda, If I use your yardstick pretty much every game suck other than cricket in India! Every single sport - tennis, football, athletics, hockey, basketball etc etc, sucks in comparison of cricket. Which means only one thing - either the entire world except us is stupid, or we are stupid. You decide. xxx

[yoda]

Re: NDTV- is cricket given too much attention in India

Lurker it shows that those other sport (hockey and kabaddi) suck and are not as interesting to the fans. If they were interesting' date= they would have survived. You can't expect the public to support something they don't enjoy. It is survival of the fittest, rather in this case, survival of the interesting + reasonably well performing team.

Well, let's see. Tennis is big in India. Mirza earns a gazillion. I used to watch Tennis as eagerly as I did tennis and so did many of my friend. Basketball - we don't play. Athletics - we suck, hockey - we suck now, football - we suck, altho world cup is quite popular in India AFAIK. Cricket rocks cause of two reasons - it is interesting to watch and we don't suck that bad.

Yoda, If I use your yardstick pretty much every game suck other than cricket in India! Every single sport - tennis, football, athletics, hockey, basketball etc etc, sucks in comparison of cricket. Which means only one thing - either the entire world except us is stupid, or we are stupid. You decide. xxx