Hate To Lose
When I was in my pre highschools( VIII, IX, X), sports was as much a passion as studies. Every class use to have a team, and often we use to play each other. All teams stood in fairly equal stead. It used to be a fierce competition, and the spirits used to be so high that matches often ended just short of a brawl.
I for one, hated to lose, and the captain of my team hated it even more.
Year 1992, excitement of on going Cricket World Cup was on, and the disappointment of our first board exams was already behind. On an unusually hot day during the early spring we decided to play our last match as 'class X'. The opposition was 'class IX'.
I skipped the match because India was playing a rain shortened, loosing game with South Africa, and I decided to watch it.
Our opposition had two tear away fast bowlers, with contrasting styles - Nitin Mishra, and Vijay Shankar(our captain, who is reading this blog may correct the names, if wrong). Though none of us would openly admit it, but there was an element of awe for these two.
India lost pretty soon, so I rushed to watch the outcome of the other battle. Match was taking place on one the hardest pitches of DAV college. The moment I reached there, it was already in a thrilling phase.
We were chasing, and that pace duo had ripped off our top order. However, the captain was still playing with tailenders. He had already suffered the heat stroke, and had done some vomiting. He had taken some blows on the body as well. Still, he stood like the rock of Gibraltar on the crease, and took us to a memorable victory. Lagaan was scripted much later.
The key factor there was the emotion -'hate to lose', perhaps only one of the few times the word 'hate' could be used in a positive sense. See, at that time there is this undiluted, sincere, schoolboyish attitude for competing. There is no match fees, no sponsorship money, no TV interviews involved. Two things which drive our performance is the love for the game, and the extreme desire of winning it fairly.
The exact corollary of this is what happening with the hi-fliers of our Indian team. The money involved is obscene. The unmitigated desire to win is lost somewhere between it. This continuous flow of unlimited money has definitely diluted the zeal. Now careers have taken precedence. Wining is only a byproduct, a poor distant cousin.
One doesn't deserve 50 lakh a year for losing more than 50% of matches. Nor do we deserve their unwanted advertisements before our faces through out the year. Poor chaps, they have to speak same stuff before camera even when they lose. Also, graded payment shouldn't be according to the seniority of the players, but according to performance of that year.
Look how causally people walked back after every dismissal, as if they were more comfortable in dressing room. I think a few radical decisions have to be taken. Those with suspect attitude should be chucked out, until they mend themselves and fighters like Robin Singh should be sought for, who give more than they possess.
Heck, even my captain Hemant Upadhyaya would fare much better than these loud mouthed sissies just because he hated to lose. So would I.
I for one, hated to lose, and the captain of my team hated it even more.
Year 1992, excitement of on going Cricket World Cup was on, and the disappointment of our first board exams was already behind. On an unusually hot day during the early spring we decided to play our last match as 'class X'. The opposition was 'class IX'.
I skipped the match because India was playing a rain shortened, loosing game with South Africa, and I decided to watch it.
Our opposition had two tear away fast bowlers, with contrasting styles - Nitin Mishra, and Vijay Shankar(our captain, who is reading this blog may correct the names, if wrong). Though none of us would openly admit it, but there was an element of awe for these two.
India lost pretty soon, so I rushed to watch the outcome of the other battle. Match was taking place on one the hardest pitches of DAV college. The moment I reached there, it was already in a thrilling phase.
We were chasing, and that pace duo had ripped off our top order. However, the captain was still playing with tailenders. He had already suffered the heat stroke, and had done some vomiting. He had taken some blows on the body as well. Still, he stood like the rock of Gibraltar on the crease, and took us to a memorable victory. Lagaan was scripted much later.
The key factor there was the emotion -'hate to lose', perhaps only one of the few times the word 'hate' could be used in a positive sense. See, at that time there is this undiluted, sincere, schoolboyish attitude for competing. There is no match fees, no sponsorship money, no TV interviews involved. Two things which drive our performance is the love for the game, and the extreme desire of winning it fairly.
The exact corollary of this is what happening with the hi-fliers of our Indian team. The money involved is obscene. The unmitigated desire to win is lost somewhere between it. This continuous flow of unlimited money has definitely diluted the zeal. Now careers have taken precedence. Wining is only a byproduct, a poor distant cousin.
One doesn't deserve 50 lakh a year for losing more than 50% of matches. Nor do we deserve their unwanted advertisements before our faces through out the year. Poor chaps, they have to speak same stuff before camera even when they lose. Also, graded payment shouldn't be according to the seniority of the players, but according to performance of that year.
Look how causally people walked back after every dismissal, as if they were more comfortable in dressing room. I think a few radical decisions have to be taken. Those with suspect attitude should be chucked out, until they mend themselves and fighters like Robin Singh should be sought for, who give more than they possess.
Heck, even my captain Hemant Upadhyaya would fare much better than these loud mouthed sissies just because he hated to lose. So would I.
posted by Unknown at 10:38 AM
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