Fans or Fanatics???

I am not much into cricket but I am certainly aware of the drama that plays around it. SriLanka thrashed India down by 69 runs and knocked it out of the World cup tournament in the first stage itself. Our dependence on Bermuda for getting a back door entry to the second stage just tells us how hopeless our team's performance has become. This has turned the lives of our players upside down. Earlier, they were the super heros; now they are looked upon as criminals. Earlier, they were busy going around endorsing all types of products; now they dread to step into their own country. Earlier, policemen were deployed outside the homes of players to keep the adoring fans out; now, the policemen are there to protect the players from violent attacks by those same fans.

When a small kid can underperform in his final exams because of the pressure put on him by his parents, how can you expect our players to perform well in the matches with the whole of nation continously looking over them with highly expectant eyes. I dont understand why we Indians view the cricket matches as a battle between nations and not as just a sport. Why are we worried more about the world cup than the innumerable other problems we are facing as a nation?

Is it becuase we all are hopeless optimists who are just ready to mistake dreams for reality? Or may be we all are just gullible; gullible and naive enough to become prey to marketers and advertisers. You certainly know about many of Pepsi's very famous campaigns like 'The Blue Billion', 'Oooh Aaah India, Aaah Yaa India' and 'Men In Blue'. This hopeless optimism is nothing but the creation of advertisers who well took advantage of our gullibility to promote their products even those as small as biscuits and hairoils. I totally fail to understand why someone would buy a certain hairoil just because shewag endorsed it even with almost no hair in his head. And whats with this whole "Buy this shampoo and go on a date with John abraham" thingy? Why would I want to have a dinner with a total stranger?

I guess our players deserve this humiliation for trying to earn some quick bucks by endorsing so many products and appearing in so many ads promising the dream of world cup even after knowing that they are just average players. Sadly Consumers are stupid enough to buy products endorsed by sportstars and filmstars. Our Indian cricket team may have failed the worldcup but we Indians failed as a nation by being so naive ,petty minded and childish.