Cricket : A fanatic enthusiasm
Amalshan GUNERATHNE
As idiotic and brainless as it may sound, if anyone queried me as to
what was the happiest day of my life, without having to pull any of my
hair strings, I would eagerly shout-out and say that it was the day that
Sri Lankan cricket team against all odds got qualified to the 2007 world
cricket finale. That moment as I pumped my fist in ecstatic exhilaration
at the joy of witnessing our idols marching their way to the tournament
final was a greater moment than any other I can think of. It felt great.
As I was not old enough to cherish the joy of 1996 world cup winning
moment, 2007 remains as a cherished memory, the first time the team made
it to a final after their heroics in 1996. Strange enough it was the
very year that I along with my colleagues were supposed to face our
Advance Level examination. We were supposed to prioritize our exams over
everything else, but a minor matter of cricket stood in the way.
Portable radios and mobile phones were smuggled in to class rooms
just to keep ourselves updated on latest scores. There we were, at the
brink of one of the major junctures in our school life, yet not caring a
dime about the hurdle that stood in our way, worrying heads over heals
about how our cricketers were doing. Looking back, it sounds fun enough,
and may be cricket helped us to get away from all the stress and anxiety
that exams brought with it.
Special about cricket
But few years down the line, as I started to contemplate on what is
so special about cricket that we let our entire happiness revolve around
a silly game of cricket, it left me rather perplexed and confused. Come
to think of it, cricketers make all the money, get fame, glory and get
to cherish all the glamour and spotlight, but for all the hours and
minutes we spend observing every single ball watching a game of cricket
that has no defining significance on our lives, what do we get? As if
our lives depend on it, we watch in anticipation a game that we have no
control over, for what? I started to wonder.
For all that concentration levels and emotional energy passionately
invested on a game of cricket, what do we get? Perhaps nothing, but
still we watch it and crave for it.
Without cricket
The game! Pictures by Kamal Jayamanna |
Thus I thought hard as such and went without cricket for few weeks,
an abstinence from cricket you would call it. Like an alcoholic going
without his daily alcohol dose, I tried to live a life devoid of
cricket. And as I was going through that period, refusing to watch any
cricket, it just occurred to me that you just cannot pretend to ignore
it.
Then I met a friend from my school days who chuckled at it and said,
“Come on now, it is in your blood, genes, there is no way you can get
away from it. I know you and take my word for granted; you will get back
in to watching cricket in no time.”
And funny enough I did get back to my cricket watching habits in no
time. It is strange the way we go crazy and nuts when the cricket season
is around, some called it the cricket fever, talking as if cricket
pundits, scrutinizing the players’ performances even-though you have not
ever played the game, that cricket has become part and parcel of our
lives that we cannot live without.
All is fine, as long as you do not let the passion get in the way of
your routine life, but unlike other sports, cricket is a very time
consuming one that sometimes without you even knowing it you may tend to
spend countless hours following the sport, instead of giving priority to
your daily routines. Parents had lot to complain about with this regard-
especially most mothers who expressed their concern at their kid’s
addiction towards the sport had similar views to share saying how
cricket gets in the way of their child’s studies.
“Not like spending countless hours watching cricket matches going to
have any positive outcome on their lives. They telecast cricket matches
almost everyday and kids get very distracted. Even when they are
studying, they are always concerned on what the score is,” Shanthi
Fernando, concerned parent of a seventeen year old noted.
While many go crazy over the sport, there are also those that do not
seem to get all the hype that comes with the sport. With that regard,
seventeen year old teen girl who did not seem to get all the fuss that
came with cricket eloquently expressed, “I never seem to understand why
people seem to go crazy over cricket. I tried to follow it just to see
what the hype is all about, but I did not get it. It is hard to fathom
out what they find so fascinating about the sport. And to invest so much
time on a game that does not create a significant impact on their lives
is bit stupid.”
Excitement and adventure
But then again die hard cricket fan would oppose and disagree
vehemently to that sort of a view point. Cricket for them means more
than that; it is a life style and a one that adds excitement and
adventure to their lives. “It is a more than just a form of
entertainment. It fuels your blood, gets your adrenalin going and brings
everyone together, not many things can integrate people like cricket
does,” a die hard cricket fan twenty one year old Hisham Galiph
commented.
However way that everyone perceives it, Sri Lanka has become a
cricket crazy nation, and hence there is no escape from being surrounded
by all that fanatic enthusiasm, fervor and passion that comes with it.
Therefore what matters is that we do a proper balancing act and manage
the time that we invest on the sport in a manner that it does not get in
the way of our routine life. |