1. That Neetaben really, positively, didn’t want to be hefted and lugged and hugged around again. err.. Mukeshbhai neither.
2. That ‘Chin had a bad injury to the webbing of his hand, and he wasn’t really in a mood to lift a heavy trophy. Besides, he’s more used to leading on his statistics front, not really in terms of picking up and hefting trophies, etc. Which is one reason why cheques are so light, y’know.
3. That Dhoni couldn’t go into world cup with a defeat as a captain, and both teams were … *ahem*… aware of problems that happen to posteriors when benches are warmed.
4. That the cheerleaders weren’t exciting enough to watch when you scored a success, not after the cops filed a case against *THEM* for obscenity. Though whats obscene about watching a pretty leg shake, or a bountiful belly bounce is, I fail to figure out.
5. That the fielding went haywire, with 2 catches, easy sitters that too, being dropped, mostly ‘cuz the fielders developed itches and rashes on tender parts, and got confused as to which ball to get their fingers under.
6. That MIs didn’t realize that when it Raina, it poursa Runsa, and gave him too many lives.
7. That Ms. Modi looked so darned stunning, that the ball was often missed for a better view of awesome legs crossing and uncrossing. Which prolly explains all those dot balls in that stretch of game.
8. That Pollard being so tall, dark and handsome, and an extremely ballistic hitter, was missed out in the roll call somewhere till someone suddenly woke up and said EFF … We’ve got Pollard … daym !!! Send him, better late than never.
9. That everyone in the MI team was being rested for the World Cup in a spirit of patriotism that only the great can achieve, where one confuses the dish and the spoon for the meal, y’know.
10. And last but not the least, that the script of the game was suitably “Modi-fied” … AHEM… COUGH !!! you know what I mean, to get a Chennai to Win.

A Friday spent in musing always augurs a great weekend. And today, is one such Friday. So here’s to great Friday Muses and Better Weekends

• Spent the morning reading hate posts/tweets/mails against the Mangalore Pub incident buggers, the ShriRam Sene
• Joined an amazing group on FB thats gonna celebrate India Cultural Day sometime in March, with Kamasutra as its central theme. (drool !!) See a lot of opportunities happening on that day !! Tan tan taraaaaaaa. And ohh !! these guys are doing this to get back at the guys in point 1.
• Noticed that TCP, the guy I’ve been tweeting with regularly has landed in Mumbai today and is tweeting away as regularly as ever. Welcome TCP and lets meet.
• Aware that today is IPL Auction Day, when the rest of the sports in India take a backseat, and non cricketers watch in shock and awe as obscene amounts are offered to cricketers.
• That IPL is a WWE kinda thing. More show than sport.
• That cricket was always too slow to be a sport the way Soccer is.
• That the difference between cricket and soccer will always be that soccer doesn’t have a THIRD REFEREE, and that cricket has a THIRD UMPIRE. Sucks !!! If cheating, and passion rising outta human errors isn’t there, whats the point in a sport? Might as well let robots play it.

Cheers
Sanjeev Sarma

Was any provocation enough to actually loose one’s cool, and hence such a horrendously huge amount of money ?

Sheesh

The games people play !!!

I hope it happens.  Cricket “owners” (read the Board) have led the people, media, agencies and other lovers of the game by their collective noses so far.

Now, they’ve decided that grabbing by the balls is the next best thing to do, and have apparently imposed a range of content rights restrictions on media, that promises to stir up a hornets nest. And when the media decides not to give their readers the regular daily dose of stuff that they want and thereby risk a fall in readership, you know somethings seriously haywire.

But all in all, I think its the right thing they’re doing. I mean, people who do give you coverage are entitled to make money out of the coverage they give you too, right ? Right !! and thats what the media guys are fighting for.

I support the media guys in their move to boycott this “reign of content monopolism and tyranny”.
Here (from the Times of India website) are the guidelines. Go read, and make your own judgements:

The New Guidelines

Only one sports reporter recommended by the editor/sports editor of a publication will be given accreditation at a venue. However, the national dailies can get two accreditations.

Two journalists representing a recognized news agency will be given accreditation at a venue. Only one photographer per news agency will be given accreditation at a venue.

However, an open and flexible accreditation process will be followed in case of the above three clauses.
Only one pair (journalist+cameraman) representing an electronic media group will be given accreditation.

Only one photographer representing a print media publication (national as well as regional) will be accommodated on match day inside the venue. One more photographer may be accommodated subject to availability of space.

Website reporters will be given access to the venue the day before the match and for post match press conferences only.

Every application for accreditation will have to be accompanied by two photographs.

Every application will have to be accompanied by a covering letter signed by the editors/sports editors of the concerned publication/channel.

The accreditation cards will have to be collected in person, at the venue of the first match he/she is attending.

All journalists holding accreditation will have to meet the media managers at the match venues to collect their match ticket from the day before the match. However the passes will be available up to two hours before the start of a match.

They will be permitted to enter the venues only if they have their accreditation card as well as a match-pass on the match day.

Conditions of Accreditation for Photographers:

The accredited party will be allowed to use, free of charge, his/her name, voice, image and likeness by means of live or recorded audio/visual broadcast or transmission, recordings or photographs whilst he is at the venue.

Only representatives of licensed/authorised media licensees (licensed or accredited by the IPL) may make sound and/or image recordings of any match.

The accredited party and/or principal shall not at any time, whether now or in the future for commercial use or otherwise (save in respect of the exercise of any rights which have been expressly granted by IPL and in the case of accredited photographers save as provided in paragraph below):

A: Take, produce, or publish or distribute via any media or device, any still or moving image, moving film or electronically generated images (which shall include without limitation images generated, or distributed by any form of digital camera or device capable of picture messaging such as, without limitation, mobile telephones) of any match. This clause shall not be applicable to print publications who shall have a right to use the said pictures as per their discretion.

B: Take, produce or transmit via any media or device of any kind any sound recordings or audio transmission or any live (or “as live”) sound reporting of any match including (but not limited to) any interview or broadcast originated from within any Venue and/or any mobile telephone and/or wireless and/or on-line data service.

Each accredited party and/or principal shall make available to IPL, if requested, for inspection and approval, any equipment capable of capturing any still image. This is mainly to ensure hi-definition equipment is not smuggled in by non-rights holders.

The accredited party and/or principal shall not cause or permit the use of any material captured and/or recorded by the accredited party to be used in any way, which may challenge, damage, prejudice, undermine and/or in any way devalue the intellectual property rights pertaining to IPL and/or the League. It is clarified that intellectual property rights of any publication shall not be restricted in terms of this clause.

( Note: Publications may publish stand-alone pictures as long as any logo/image/or any other material commercial or otherwise — is not superimposed on a part or the whole of the picture and, they do not change/tamper/morph/blur the IPL sponsors/partners logos/brands etc from the original picture)

The accredited party may, notwithstanding paragraph above and provided that he/she is an accredited photographer, originate still photographic pictures of a match for use exclusively on or in print media (such media having been disclosed at the time of application) and the websites of the said print media house provided that:

(A) They appear as still images (and not as moving images or rapid-sequence streaming or refreshed images) and cannot be used to support a so-called on-line match-tracking report, audio or text based commentary service.

(B) Images are published in the relevant media for editorial reporting purposes only.

(C) Images are not used in direct association with any marks, names or logos of any third party (commercial or otherwise), meaning the above, i.e, no part or whole of the image is superimposed upon and the original image is not tampered with in any way.

(D) No online use or publication or syndication of any such still photographic images is allowed except for the website of the publication.

The media gallery of a website can have up to any six pictures per match beyond whatever else is carried in the newspaper’s various editions.

The accredited party photographer shall be solely responsible for obtaining all necessary third party consents in relation to any use of images published and any proposed commercial use of match photography by an accredited party and/or his principal is subject to the prior written approval of IPL.

Furthermore, no accredited party or his/her principal (or any other party on his/her/its behalf) shall make photographs available, nor sell, distribute or supply (whether directly or indirectly) such images to any individual or entity such as the general public at any time during or after any match (eg via a photo library) without the prior written permission of IPL and subject to such conditions as IPL shall determine.

IPL may request publications to provide for use and reproduction, free of charge, worldwide and without limit in time, any photographs/images captured by the accredited party at any ground and the accredited party shall make the same available to IPL.

Note: The above clauses have been incorporated to ensure that accredited photographers…

(1) Take only still photographs.

(2) Provide pictures only to their daily/periodical/news agency they are employed with.

(3) Do not supply pictures to any third party, including web portals and syndicates.

(4) Are barred from video shooting /sound recording from the venue

The photographers’ accreditation will be withdrawn should there be any violation of the above clauses.