Tennis fans were in for a rude shock over the weekend when Asian Channel- Star Sports decided to telecast the Paes-Damn doubles match at Wimbledon over the much anticipated and eagerly awaited third round encounter between Roger Federer and Marat Safin. It’s a little tough to find any semblance of rationale in the manner in which this choice was made. The channel then telecast the Sania-Peer doubles match, without giving any importance to the Federer-Safin match.

Tennis websites across the world mentioned the Federer-Safin match as the featured match of the day as well as a prominent match for the first week of the tournament. Here are some of the reasons why I think the channel decided to telecast the doubles matches over both the Federer and Serena matches.

1. The channel thought that a match featuring an Indian was a reason good enough for telecasting it and giving it a greater importance than a match featuring the four-time defending champion.

2. So what if Sania lost in singles, a doubles match featuring her would be good enough to sky-rocket the viewership of the tournament.

3. A sudden awakening of “Star Sports’ “political consciousness” in promoting the Indo-Israel and as an after thought the Indo-Czech Republic relations.

4. Federer is anyway going to win the title, so we can directly telecast the final?

Hope the channel does not repeat these sort of choices for the coming rounds and keep in mind that tennis enthusiasts in India do want to watch players other than Paes, Bhupathi and Sania.

If there are any legal substances that provide a thrill to rival that of those unique sporting moments; that have hairs perpendicular to the neck and knuckles clenched to a shade of white, then this author has yet to indulge. Whether one reaches this climax at the World Cup Final, at the Lakeside Darts Championship or at a rain-beaten windy Whitehall on a run of the mill Friday night, when tenants Belgrove entertain in the Leinster Senior league, is down in its entirety to the viewers’ ability to become immersed in the build up and ultimately the climax of the achievement.

What these moments are in essence is impossible to say although one can surmise that there are certain factors that need to be present. A degree of tension and notion of the unexpected are required while variables such as an undercurrent, hero to villain character role or rivalries renewed only add to the mix. Over the past few weeks I have had the fortune to experience a few occasions when the problems of the world and sundry get put on hold, utterly irrelevant to be brutally forthright, as a manic unearthly sound resembling “Yeeeeeeeeeees” is gushed forward.
The first of these cherished moments started in the unlikely surrounds of a chilly front room by a 28 inch box that transmitted, albeit complemented by constant fuzz, the finale of Irelands Six Nations Championship. It was the dishevelled “morning after” and we righteously tucked into the Championships sponsor’s best, hoping beyond hope that our nation’s warriors would catapult themselves to the 6 Nations title whilst captivating us in the process. We were not to be disappointed until the final seconds of Frances compelling victory against the Scots. By then captivation had turned into stir crazy frenzy as we watched with an unblinking eye. Ireland thrilled and excited in the best 40 minutes of rugby this nation has ever produced ironically killing their hopes with the “try or bust” mantra that had put us to within touching distance. Dennis Hickie’s second try stupefied us with happiness and glee on this most patriotic of days- it almost seemed to be fate. Only for a bravado which bordered on naivety in the dying seconds that glorious try, in an utterly wonderful display, would have been the coup de grace that would have delivered the championship. Alas it was not to be. France abetted by a Northern Irish television judge claimed the crown. We claimed the moral victory. As it turned out the thrill of watching your country defy the odds on St Patrick’s Day did not end there. Instead our motley crew of charlatan cricketers delivered a result against Pakistan that shook the earth (and in the fall-out one fans sanity) and had us cynical Irish clambering aboard the most unexpected of bandwagons. Cries of “Easy, easy” rang around the heaving venue of The Barge in Ranelagh as the required runs were delivered with more than a touch of panache. These were heady days for any sports fans, over indulgent even, for me it was bliss.

The following day, emotionally drained, I headed to Goodison Park- the home of my true love Everton Football Club. They were entertaining Arsenal in a match that would not decide any silverware but would nevertheless have a huge bearing on Everton’s season. A win and a money-spinning European place was firmly within our grasp. After watching the razzmatazz on Sky Sports “Super Sunday” nauseously over hype Arsenal for an hour, while unsurprisingly discount us as merely well organised and hard working, we left the homely surrounds of The Winslow pub with countless other riled blues taking our wooden seats in the aging stadium creating a creaking clanking orchestra in the process.

Emphasis again how important Europe was to the club’s future aspirations. As it turned out our seats had us pitted beside John Morrison from the Wirral. John was an unemployed, balding, single, thirty-something, who had been a season ticket holder for 24 years. How he put himself through the torture, aside from chain smoking, only his pate could answer. He continued to be forthright with us and the team for that matter, with unreserved barracking upon any hint of a mistake. The game typified the league it represented - hotly contested, physical and full of honest endeavour. Goal mouth action was aplenty but neither team, particularly Everton had a killer instinct to capitalise on excellent build up play, a trait that would not be uncommon to John and his fellow season ticket holders. That all changed in the 93rd minute. With the hail pelting down relentlessly and the wind abetting it in its quest to hit us flush in the face Everton won a corner. We stood behind the goal, the weather only one of the factors for our hand rubbing and shivering. Basque magician Mikel Arteta whipped the ball over and after a melee in the crowded box the ball rebounded to Everton’s record signing Andy Johnson. His first shot of the day was arrowed on the half volley into the back of the Arsenal net- cue delirium. It was a joyous haze that replaced the hail as the stadium shook to the rafters erupting in a deafening chorus of random chants emanating from varying places - the normally serene family enclosure encapsulating the disbelief with their vociferous cheering. John was a distance of two seats from me but at that moment we were worlds apart. It was a feeling that was ubiquitous and isolated at the one time. The thrill derived from separate personal variables, his undoubtedly more powerful, yet both immeasurably satisfying. On the journey home I mused what it was that set the touch fire alight in these instances. I could not pin point it but rather settled on viewing sport for me, as the sage Kipling once wrote of his love; poetry, “as the wind that blows away the dust of every day life.” You see the thing is these sporting moments that have the “X factor” all have some thing that makes you feel better about yourself. I firmly believe that you reach a point at which you have to view your life through the things you’ve spent so much time doing. The alternative is a depressing feeling of waste. Just ask Mr. Morrison from the Wirral.

Paul Bassett

Paul is a guest writer and will offer a truly english flavor to our site. Expect more articles from him….

I wrote this a few hours after two of the most shocking upsets in World Cup history. Both India and Pakistan have lost. India still have some hope, with that big win against Bermuda and a game in hand. Pakistan, however, have no such hope. Having already lost to the West Indies, they are out of the world cup.

The Format

When the organizing committee of the Cricket World Cup (CWC2007) came up with the present format, it was hailed by one and all. “We give a chance to the minnows, polish them off and have a proper world cup in the 92 format among the 8 major teams”, they said. Most people nodded. One thing, however, that people didn’t reckon was about the impact of an upset.

The pair of Saturday’s upsets has created havoc in the world cup schedule. Ireland are most probably through to the super eight, and Bangladesh will also be fancying their chances. However, it is unlikely that the minnows can consistently sustain their form, and this means that their games in the super eight will be rendered useless. Another upset, and England’s poor form could actually render the whole super eight exercise to a sham!

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In a sensational vote, Former France Captain Michel Platini was elected the new President of UEFA, a post widely seen as the most powerful in Europe. Platini won a secret ballot against Lennart Johansson of Sweden among the 52 member federations at the UEFA Congress with a 27-23 majority, with two votes being invalid.

This could have major ramifications across Europe since Platini had advocated to limit each Country’s participation in the lucrative Champions League to 3 teams. His controversial slogan during the campaign was ‘giving football back to the footballers’ . Besides this, some of his other radical plans were to Expand the European Championship from 16 to 24 finalists and that clubs should field at least six players qualified to play for the country they’re based in[Arsenal fans are pissing in their pants].

Lennart Johansson, the former incumbent, had agreed to increase the participation in the European Championship- A last ditch attempt to placate the smaller nations like San Marino and Lithuania who have as many votes as Spain in an election. It didn’t save his job but it was indicative of the way the smaller nations felt about the direction of the current administration. The proposal to mandate home based players could affect the way moneybags such as Chelsea, Arsenal and Real play the game. At the moment, Arsenal would find it hard to field a single English player.

Platini may have taken Robin Hood route to victory- take from the rich and give to the poor but are his policies feasible? As a fan, I would hate it. To have just three from the top leagues means that atleast 3 very good teams will miss out on the competition, and that could be an Arsenal or a Barcelona. Platini’s claim is that wealth distribution would level the playing field. Yes, it would but would you want it at the expense of 4/5 years of mediocrity?

Its fascinating to see whether this would goad the European top cartel, read the G-14, to breakaway and form their own format and spell the end for various Leagues in Europe. It would centralise the money and the power in the game but also impoverish your neighborhood football team, who have just made it to the English Third Division. That is precisely the situation that Platini wants to avoid but may unknowingly trigger with his pro-poor policies.

The self proclaimed Bull in a china shop may be getting a dose of reality in a few days when the powerbrokers in Europe come calling. It will be interesting to see if he answers their call!

Before the advent of these infinite news channels, ESPNStar came up with the concept of an hour of sports news, half an hour in English called Sportsline on Star Sports followed by an identical version in Hindi on ESPN. The timings were also pretty conducive to my viewing, 7:30 to 8:30, ideal for post dinner watching at IITM. Sportsline was impressively anchored by one of the few admirable Australians, Jason Dasey and despite the obvious and necessary bias for cricket, did cover the other sports also adequately. Sportsline and Jason Dasey were both pretty good hits I think. ( why else would ESPNStar come up with ads having aam junta recognise Jason Dasey on the roads? )

While this was going smoothly, for some inexplicable reason the languages were reversed. Sportsline became the Hindi version and Sportscenter became the English one. As a result, to me 7:30 to 8 now became the time to watch some comedy on Star World as the English version was the more impressive one. Slowly and sadly, both Jason Dasey and Sporsline got phased away to be replaced by the crap that is shown now.

Lousy Shows

Now-a-days, there is only Sportscenter, two versions, one tailor made for India, in Hindi and the other the Asian edition in English. The Hindi version is abysmal, the equivalent of a sporting Slimes of India. Take yesterday’s example. Instead of showing the highlights of the wickets first up, what they showed was an “exclusive” Indian team celebration in the dressing room. And these were the same guys who criticised the Indian team even during the victory against the Rest of SA team, claiming that Rest of SA was a third string team. There is unnecessary harping on the part that Ganguly played in the match. Agreed it was important, but Zaheer’s and Laxman’s performances were also equally important. There seems to be a lack of balance in their reporting, just the extremes and a lot of sensationalisation as well. One of the anchors, Anand Narasimhan is atleast ok, the other guy just plain sucks. Yesterday he said the word “aitihasic” atleast 5-6 times before the first break, amateurish to say the least. Not something that I expected from ESPNStar.

Decline:

This is symptomatic of the decline in the quality of our premier Sports broadcaster. Till they won the ICC rights, they had the cricket telecast rights of only the white countries ( England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand ) and the minnows (Bangladesh and Zimbabwe), still a majority but one that was slowly but surely being eroded by Ten Sports. They have lost the Champions League and hence have to act as if the English Premier League is the only league in the world. Last season the Champions League coverage was so so English centric and they did not even show the Spanish League live. I am sure it is only the loss of the CL rights that makes them telecast the Spanish League live this season. They have even lost the more fun WWE for the loser like TNA.

Last week, three test matches were being shown live. But unless you saw them live, there was no chance you could see glimpses of the matches outside of Sportscenter. The NZ-SL match highlights was just before the next day’s play at 2:30 am and the Ashes highlights was at 11:30 pm, too late in my opinion. What did they show from 9 to 11:30 pm? Among others, there was Ashes 2005, the crappy cricket comedy show and some classic boxing. Totally viewer unfriendly. There was also this crazy idea of showing our rape in the ODIs in two languages, must have been an MBA like me who came up with this idea to increase TRPs. As a result, some mid-week EPL matches were not shown live.

Despite all this, they still are our best sports channels, which does say a lot about the other sports channels.

-Kesavan

(Read the author’s blog at http://modestgenius.blogspot.com)

(Kesavan is an alumnus of IIT Madras and an MBA from IIM Bangalore. He is a top-notch quizzer and is currently working with a leading bank (I-bank) in Bangalore)