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As the football frenzy of the World Cup erased geographical barriers, Gautam Bhimani also tails another sport trying to make geography history.
It was another nippy night at one of the sports ultimate arenas, imposing Soccer City, on the outskirts of Johannesburg's South Western Township (SOWETO). Just before midnight local time, Spanish Skipper Iker Casillas proudly held aloft the 14-inch tall, 6 and a quarter kg 18 carat solid gold FIFA World Cup, a first for his highly skilled but hitherto underperforming footballing nation. Moments later, the giant 'Calabash' (the native African pot that inspired the design for Soccer City) erupted in a riot of colour and noise. One final flourish that drove home the message that South Africa, indeed the whole continent of Africa had left a lasting impression on the world.
The moment took me back to Vienna on 29 June, 2008, as I wandered around the Champagne soaked Spanish dressing room at Vienna's confetti laden Ernst Happel Stadium, hours after the Spanish Matadors had just lifted the EURO 2008 trophy, their first step towards a unique double.
It also took me back a few weeks to a quieter moment on a different continent. To a different sport. A sport not quite as fanatic as football. A sport called cricket. With football pushing its boundaries, thanks to the first ever world cup staged historically and successfully on the African continent, cricket too continues to break geographical barriers and sees the game played at tiny venues like the island of Dominica, returning to war torn Zimbabwe and seeking to be played in the bustling bylanes of Beijing. The latest addition to an ICC recognised venue is far from obscure or remote but is still unheard of in cricketing terms! Just a short 35-minute drive from one of the world's most sought after sandy strips, tanning territory of the rich and famous, sun-soaked South Beach in Miami Florida, is the sleepy township of Lauderhill, on the fringe of the better known beachfront town of Fort Lauderdale. Lauderhill's 110 acre sports complex also boasts of a cricket-only facility, Central Broward Regional Park Cricket ground, the only ICC-approved ground in the United States.
Sitting here, penning this down at bustling Mandela Square in the heart of Johannesburg's posh Sandton district, dwarfed by the legend's giant statue, surrounded by a cacophony of high decibel Spanish fans testing the limits of their Vuvuzelas, and as South Africa prepares to cope with withdrawal symptoms, I can't but feel the stark contrast to my experience of being an integral part of cricket's brush with a quiet nondescript virgin setting a few weeks earlier. The most obvious contrast, of course, is the fact that here in South Africa it is 2 degrees below zero at 8:15 in the morning (it's already been dubbed the coldest world cup ever) and the cricket was basking in the Miami sun at 37 degrees.
Not to take away from the fact that cricket in the United States was still breaking new ground and could be sowing the seeds of another sporting revolution. Flashback across the Atlantic. May 2010. Even before this new revolution had got off the ground, the New Zealand team had already started to break the ice (no reference to the weather in Johannesburg), thanks to an early exit from the ICC World T20. They spent a fruitful one-week vacation in the Miami area (7 days without an international fixture would feel like hibernation in this day and age!) and in that time made their way to the imposing Sunlife Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins Football team and the Florida Marlins Baseball team. There they proceeded to tutor some of the nation's top baseball legends in the art of cricket and in turn the likes of Jake Oram and Kyle Mills tried their hand at bat. Baseball bat that is. One must not lose sight of the fact that several terms are not mutually exclusive to the two sports!
But even more of a fascinating exchange of thoughts and ideas happened a couple of days later at the venue for the actual cricket matches in Lauderhill where the local ESPN USA baseball camera crew had to be taught cricket from scratch in 24 hours flat! I was part of that unique briefing session and it was a sight to behold! The image was a classic, as the crew was seated on an all-American John Deere tractor, attired in loud tees and reverse baseball caps with hot dogs and mustard waiting in the wings. The conversations were worth being a fly-on-the-tractor for. 'Maaan, why doesn't the batter guy run every time he bunts the ball"... "get outta here, the catchers don't get to wear mitts?"... "hey hey, he was not the third man who walked out, he was seventh"... "silly point huh it's a silly game?"......
At the end, baseball married cricket and the new couple went hand in hand the next day taking the first few hesitant steps on the honeymoon. The high priest overseeing the entire union was USACA President Don Lockerbie. He was aware that thanks to the sluggish pitch and the absence of teams like India, Pakistan and the West Indies, the honeymoon was not going to be spectacular, but nonetheless he was over the moon and confident that this was just the beginning of great things to come. Lockerbie, whose brainchild this whole operation is, has an aura of fallen Texan Billionaire Allen Stanford, albeit minus a few pounds (the weight and the money!).
He had enough reasons to be happy as there were some technological breakthroughs. The games were not just televised around the world but also watched by many on their sleek new iPads and iPhones, thanks to the live streaming on the web. For the locals though the biggest breakthrough was the fact that one diving catch from the first game made it to ESPN's prestigious SportsCenter Plays of the Day, usually exclusive territory for American sports. But despite all the hype and the ground that was broken, as my thoughts came screeching back to the southern hemisphere, it became clear that football's quadrennial extravaganza is untouchable in size and stature. Whether you follow the sport or not, the football world cup is more than an event. It is one single entity that manages to bridge all barriers, that reaches out to every corner of our vast planet via one tiny spherical polyhedron better known as a football.
I stepped on to the Emirates Airbus A340-500 at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International airport bound for Dubai, still coming to terms with the startling realisation that despite the fact that cricket may be larger than life in our country, and we may have taken 'giant' strides promoting it in the US of A or elsewhere on earth, it remains but a mere speck on the horizon against the beautiful game that for the past month had summoned the attention of the world to the southern tip of the vast continent of Africa. One shining example: At Centurion Cricket ground, more people turned up to watch football on a giant TV screen than have ever turned up for even a live world cup cricket match. Now that the final whistle has blown, normal life can resume. For the next four years at least.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board
Ragging rights and wrongs
Arindam Chaudhuri: Movie time for Kapil Sibal
Indian universities and higher education institutes seem to be caught in a time warp teaching things
Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU): Students' Unions can not be banned
As the football frenzy of the World Cup erased geographical barriers, Gautam Bhimani also tails another sport trying to make geography history.
It was another nippy night at one of the sports ultimate arenas, imposing Soccer City, on the outskirts of Johannesburg's South Western Township (SOWETO). Just before midnight local time, Spanish Skipper Iker Casillas proudly held aloft the 14-inch tall, 6 and a quarter kg 18 carat solid gold FIFA World Cup, a first for his highly skilled but hitherto underperforming footballing nation. Moments later, the giant 'Calabash' (the native African pot that inspired the design for Soccer City) erupted in a riot of colour and noise. One final flourish that drove home the message that South Africa, indeed the whole continent of Africa had left a lasting impression on the world.
The moment took me back to Vienna on 29 June, 2008, as I wandered around the Champagne soaked Spanish dressing room at Vienna's confetti laden Ernst Happel Stadium, hours after the Spanish Matadors had just lifted the EURO 2008 trophy, their first step towards a unique double.
It also took me back a few weeks to a quieter moment on a different continent. To a different sport. A sport not quite as fanatic as football. A sport called cricket. With football pushing its boundaries, thanks to the first ever world cup staged historically and successfully on the African continent, cricket too continues to break geographical barriers and sees the game played at tiny venues like the island of Dominica, returning to war torn Zimbabwe and seeking to be played in the bustling bylanes of Beijing. The latest addition to an ICC recognised venue is far from obscure or remote but is still unheard of in cricketing terms! Just a short 35-minute drive from one of the world's most sought after sandy strips, tanning territory of the rich and famous, sun-soaked South Beach in Miami Florida, is the sleepy township of Lauderhill, on the fringe of the better known beachfront town of Fort Lauderdale. Lauderhill's 110 acre sports complex also boasts of a cricket-only facility, Central Broward Regional Park Cricket ground, the only ICC-approved ground in the United States.
Sitting here, penning this down at bustling Mandela Square in the heart of Johannesburg's posh Sandton district, dwarfed by the legend's giant statue, surrounded by a cacophony of high decibel Spanish fans testing the limits of their Vuvuzelas, and as South Africa prepares to cope with withdrawal symptoms, I can't but feel the stark contrast to my experience of being an integral part of cricket's brush with a quiet nondescript virgin setting a few weeks earlier. The most obvious contrast, of course, is the fact that here in South Africa it is 2 degrees below zero at 8:15 in the morning (it's already been dubbed the coldest world cup ever) and the cricket was basking in the Miami sun at 37 degrees.
Not to take away from the fact that cricket in the United States was still breaking new ground and could be sowing the seeds of another sporting revolution. Flashback across the Atlantic. May 2010. Even before this new revolution had got off the ground, the New Zealand team had already started to break the ice (no reference to the weather in Johannesburg), thanks to an early exit from the ICC World T20. They spent a fruitful one-week vacation in the Miami area (7 days without an international fixture would feel like hibernation in this day and age!) and in that time made their way to the imposing Sunlife Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins Football team and the Florida Marlins Baseball team. There they proceeded to tutor some of the nation's top baseball legends in the art of cricket and in turn the likes of Jake Oram and Kyle Mills tried their hand at bat. Baseball bat that is. One must not lose sight of the fact that several terms are not mutually exclusive to the two sports!
But even more of a fascinating exchange of thoughts and ideas happened a couple of days later at the venue for the actual cricket matches in Lauderhill where the local ESPN USA baseball camera crew had to be taught cricket from scratch in 24 hours flat! I was part of that unique briefing session and it was a sight to behold! The image was a classic, as the crew was seated on an all-American John Deere tractor, attired in loud tees and reverse baseball caps with hot dogs and mustard waiting in the wings. The conversations were worth being a fly-on-the-tractor for. 'Maaan, why doesn't the batter guy run every time he bunts the ball"... "get outta here, the catchers don't get to wear mitts?"... "hey hey, he was not the third man who walked out, he was seventh"... "silly point huh it's a silly game?"......
At the end, baseball married cricket and the new couple went hand in hand the next day taking the first few hesitant steps on the honeymoon. The high priest overseeing the entire union was USACA President Don Lockerbie. He was aware that thanks to the sluggish pitch and the absence of teams like India, Pakistan and the West Indies, the honeymoon was not going to be spectacular, but nonetheless he was over the moon and confident that this was just the beginning of great things to come. Lockerbie, whose brainchild this whole operation is, has an aura of fallen Texan Billionaire Allen Stanford, albeit minus a few pounds (the weight and the money!).
He had enough reasons to be happy as there were some technological breakthroughs. The games were not just televised around the world but also watched by many on their sleek new iPads and iPhones, thanks to the live streaming on the web. For the locals though the biggest breakthrough was the fact that one diving catch from the first game made it to ESPN's prestigious SportsCenter Plays of the Day, usually exclusive territory for American sports. But despite all the hype and the ground that was broken, as my thoughts came screeching back to the southern hemisphere, it became clear that football's quadrennial extravaganza is untouchable in size and stature. Whether you follow the sport or not, the football world cup is more than an event. It is one single entity that manages to bridge all barriers, that reaches out to every corner of our vast planet via one tiny spherical polyhedron better known as a football.
I stepped on to the Emirates Airbus A340-500 at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International airport bound for Dubai, still coming to terms with the startling realisation that despite the fact that cricket may be larger than life in our country, and we may have taken 'giant' strides promoting it in the US of A or elsewhere on earth, it remains but a mere speck on the horizon against the beautiful game that for the past month had summoned the attention of the world to the southern tip of the vast continent of Africa. One shining example: At Centurion Cricket ground, more people turned up to watch football on a giant TV screen than have ever turned up for even a live world cup cricket match. Now that the final whistle has blown, normal life can resume. For the next four years at least.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board
Ragging rights and wrongs
Arindam Chaudhuri: Movie time for Kapil Sibal
Indian universities and higher education institutes seem to be caught in a time warp teaching things
Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU): Students' Unions can not be banned
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