The Tendulkar Fatigue Syndrome

[Sachinism]

I got a shout out :aha:

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Dhondy]

Sachin was fuming. Over 25,000 runs in test cricket. Twenty years of brilliance. Two Ferraris. Three go-kart titles. A slightly taller wife, a la Zubin Mehta. You'd think he'd deserve a better monicker, wouldn't you? Pele was called the "Wizard", Maradona was lovingly anointed "The Golden Boy" by the Argentine fans, even that thirteen-timer Eldrick Tont Woods carried the sobriquet of "Tiger" through his playing years. And what does Sachin get called for his trouble? "Vicar!". That's right, a shapeless, stodgy man in white robes on £30,000 a year. Vicar? Padre? Pujari-ji? Come on- whatever next? Surely, the man who set billions of souls on fire with his electric batting deserved better? A hundred years hence...Vicar Tendulkar? Nah...didn't ring right. The Sabre Bat, the Lightning Commodore, even the Buccanerring Bishop perhaps, if you really had a weird religious bent, but phleaase, not the Vicar. Reminded him of Brother Bonello in Sachin's old missionary school, with his cheroot and all, with his ever fornicating pet dogs- who'd often make love in full view of the school assembly at 8 AM sharp (Animals have this weird diurnal cycle). Sachin could scream in agony at the mortification of it all. To be equated with a lowly dog breeder! But the ultimate insult was yet to come. When he was very very young, Sachin had learnt of this nonagenarian prime minister, put up as a stooge by a coalition that had overturned the Congress government for the first time in history. After much bickering and horse trading they had arrived at a consensus candidate for the sole reason that he was expected to kick the bucket in a couple of years and thus pave the way for another consensus candidate- hopefully one of the real big boys. There had been whiffs of rumour that the new PM liked nothing better than to drink his own pee, a thought that thoroughly disgusted young Sachin. Now to be mentioned in the same breath as that pee-vorous ex-PM, to be considered for the same vacuous award as that politician was repugnant. So what if it was the highest honour in the land? Sachin simply couldn't be seen as a sponsor for rival drinks. He had a lifetime contract with Pepsi. He'd have gladly undone that double hundred if he could. Why didn't Dhoni declare on him at 194?

[flamy]

O my Goddy!

[nballa]

i see you've gone back to making love to a thesaurus, but that union is producing some ugly articles.

[atul]

The real worshiper is back with poetry and wanting more from GOD which was not fulfilled by GOD in worshiper last birth. Now Worshiper is following new GOD who himself is Bhakta of Original GOD. Worshiper remembers unfulfilled last birth's wish list and Praying new GOD to fulfill his wish list and unknowingly worshiping Original GOD.

[gloryof83]

If sachin was an Australian then Dhondy & co would have been his biggest fans.... sad but true.

[vvvslaxman]

It is better to be neither worshipper nor basher. Better to stay neutral.

[Rajiv]

His 175 in a losing cause was big news too, this was after all a World Record. Fan following has no limit, some worship and others even try to kill. No worries about the Afghan Immigrant, they assimilate in society sooner or later

[Rajiv]

It is better to be neither worshipper nor basher. Better to stay neutral.

Why? if you like a sport or player - express it without worrying about the guy next to you

[satishg]

I thought Dhondy was a SRT fan before he turned to Viru for unknown reasons :dontknow:

[thevortex]

I am still learning the ways of ICF and the personalities. Even so, posters such as Bossbhai, The Outsider, Dhondy, marris_mania have all caught the eye. And I am sure I have missed other names as well. This piece of prose by Dhondy is interesting to read but disturbing to reflect on. It is even entertaining - in a macabre, morbid sort of way. Not to put it down at all. Very few dark pieces end up having the ability to arrest attention and to entertain. With that out of the ways, lets get down to facts. Tendulkar scored a double century in a meaningless ODI fixture? Excuse me? That was a decider in that series. Next Dhondy goes on to derisively ask - how many centuries does he have in World Cup finals? Well, how many World Cup finals has Sachin featured in Dhondy? You rightly point out that it was only the one time he got to feature in it. How then can you find it right to criticize him for not scoring a century in that one match? Perhaps you feel that is the fairness of things. If so, I will disagree. Lastly why should Sachin be a 'Vicar'? Why not 'buccaneering bronco' or whatever funky title is hot and happening right now? I think the answer to this is present in the article titled 'Crickets own Vicar'. Just to remind you (that is in case you did read it), the argument was that sports as an activity was one that provided vicarious pleasure to its followers and that being that, nobody was quite as much qualified to be the Vicar as Sachin Tendulkar. While the allusion was towards religion (as in Chrisitianity) every cricket fan would know that the connotation was more towards the game and its culture. Or rather that was the premise. There are people such as Nasser Hussain reflecting that Sachin is the 'greatest' after this ODI double century. In my mind this ODI double century did not drive any nail in any coffin. If Tendulkar had to be graded against the Don then that has to be done in Test matches. Not in ODIs. But then, my own preference of rating Tendulkar higher than Bradman did not take root after this particular momentous ODI. It took shape much earlier. Being a 'stick in the mud' cynic does not quite explain the derision apparent in these posts. Against Sachin Tendulkar and the millions of people who count themselves as his fans.

[Laaloo]

I thought Dhondy was a SRT fan before he turned to Viru for unknown reasons :dontknow:

Does it matter?

[Shehezaada]

Sachin was fuming. Over 25,000 runs in test cricket. Twenty years of brilliance. Two Ferraris. Three go-kart titles. A slightly taller wife, a la Zubin Mehta. You'd think he'd deserve a better monicker, wouldn't you? Pele was called the "Wizard", Maradona was lovingly anointed "The Golden Boy" by the Argentine fans, even that thirteen-timer Eldrick Tont Woods carried the sobriquet of "Tiger" through his playing years. And what does Sachin get called for his trouble? "Vicar!". That's right, a shapeless, stodgy man in white robes on £30,000 a year. Vicar? Padre? Pujari-ji? Come on- whatever next? Surely, the man who set billions of souls on fire with his electric batting deserved better? A hundred years hence...Vicar Tendulkar? Nah...didn't ring right. The Sabre Bat, the Lightning Commodore, even the Buccanerring Bishop perhaps, if you really had a weird religious bent, but phleaase, not the Vicar. Reminded him of Brother Bonello in Sachin's old missionary school, with his cheroot and all, with his ever fornicating pet dogs- who'd often make love in full view of the school assembly at 8 AM sharp (Animals have this weird diurnal cycle). Sachin could scream in agony at the mortification of it all. To be equated with a lowly dog breeder! But the ultimate insult was yet to come. When he was very very young, Sachin had learnt of this nonagenarian prime minister, put up as a stooge by a coalition that had overturned the Congress government for the first time in history. After much bickering and horse trading they had arrived at a consensus candidate for the sole reason that he was expected to kick the bucket in a couple of years and thus pave the way for another consensus candidate- hopefully one of the real big boys. There had been whiffs of rumour that the new PM liked nothing better than to drink his own pee, a thought that thoroughly disgusted young Sachin. Now to be mentioned in the same breath as that pee-vorous ex-PM, to be considered for the same vacuous award as that politician was repugnant. So what if it was the highest honour in the land? Sachin simply couldn't be seen as a sponsor for rival drinks. He had a lifetime contract with Pepsi. He'd have gladly undone that double hundred if he could. Why didn't Dhoni declare on him at 194?

babuji ki thodi khiskhi hai...

[gloryof83]

I am still learning the ways of ICF and the personalities. Even so, posters such as Bossbhai, The Outsider, Dhondy, marris_mania have all caught the eye. And I am sure I have missed other names as well. This piece of prose by Dhondy is interesting to read but disturbing to reflect on. It is even entertaining - in a macabre, morbid sort of way. Not to put it down at all. Very few dark pieces end up having the ability to arrest attention and to entertain. With that out of the ways, lets get down to facts. Tendulkar scored a double century in a meaningless ODI fixture? Excuse me? That was a decider in that series. Next Dhondy goes on to derisively ask - how many centuries does he have in World Cup finals? Well, how many World Cup finals has Sachin featured in Dhondy? You rightly point out that it was only the one time he got to feature in it. How then can you find it right to criticize him for not scoring a century in that one match? Perhaps you feel that is the fairness of things. If so, I will disagree. Lastly why should Sachin be a 'Vicar'? Why not 'buccaneering bronco' or whatever funky title is hot and happening right now? I think the answer to this is present in the article titled 'Crickets own Vicar'. Just to remind you (that is in case you did read it), the argument was that sports as an activity was one that provided vicarious pleasure to its followers and that being that, nobody was quite as much qualified to be the Vicar as Sachin Tendulkar. While the allusion was towards religion (as in Chrisitianity) every cricket fan would know that the connotation was more towards the game and its culture. Or rather that was the premise. There are people such as Nasser Hussain reflecting that Sachin is the 'greatest' after this ODI double century. In my mind this ODI double century did not drive any nail in any coffin. If Tendulkar had to be graded against the Don then that has to be done in Test matches. Not in ODIs. But then, my own preference of rating Tendulkar higher than Bradman did not take root after this particular momentous ODI. It took shape much earlier. Being a 'stick in the mud' cynic does not quite explain the derision apparent in these posts. Against Sachin Tendulkar and the millions of people who count themselves as his fans.

mate... its no use, they won't...can't be satisfied even if sachin scores a century in every innings and then takes 5 wickets... they will still find faults in him. We are blessed that a sportsman of such calibre & character is an INDIAN...

[Dhondy]

Ravi, you and the others have worked incredibly hard to make this place what it is today, yet why do I always feel that this was an opportunity lost? Somewhere along the way, this place became a Tendulkar fan club, a place to talk up Indian players . Perhaps the "Indian" in ICF was an error? I may be an impractical fool, but I had grandiose visions of us turning into a serious journalistic portal one day- sharp, dispassionate, short write ups tearing apart cricket myths. Look at the drivel that's published on the 20 million user-site. I had also hoped that some day we'd grow beyond cricket. Was it too ambitious to think on those lines? Don't get me wrong. If three years ago, somebody had forecast that we'd grow into a 9000 member site, I'd have bitten his right hand off. Why is it then that I feel frustrated when I should be proud? Was it just self delusion to dream of a well rounded board bursting to seams with objectivity or wit? Or may be it's just middle age. It does terrible things to your mind. You can keep the body trim and healthy, but the mind- it's got its own little agenda, revolting, terrified at the apoptosis of neurons, raging against the dying of the light. Perhaps it is folly to hope that the mostly young here would see it that way.

[flamy]

tl;dr :rock:

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[goose]

The raison d'etre for this site was unfettered freedom of expression i do believe?

[Dhondy]

That's right Goose. We'll never go the BR way. If I wanted peer review, I'd write to a medical journal. But was it unreasonable to hope that the forces of free writing would in due course unleash quality? Besides, Boss, that site has too much of an Indian flavour for me. Indian defence, Indian this and that doesn't carry that much meaning for me any more. Those feelings just kind of faded away.