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

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.