DID YOU SEE THE CRICKET CUP??



Last week India defeated Sri Lanka in the Cricket World Cup. The game is though to have been the most widely viewed sports event ever, with 1 billion people around the world watching. India's victory sparked wild celebrations and governments bestowed lavish rewards on the players, who are treated like "national treasures" even when they are not winners. The Board of Control for Cricket in India gave each player $225,000 and other governments also gave their players tens of thousands of dollars. Other rewards included land, medals, and honorary doctorates. Kingfisher offered each member of India's Cricket Team free air travel for life and several auto companies offered free cars.

First of all we are talking about cricket here, not the chirpey little animal that sets off awkward silences, but the sport. I have heard of it before but how could this sport that is relatively unheard of in America inspire 1 billion viewers to go nuts? Think of cricket as a more refined version of baseball but with no catcher. The team batting seeks to hit the ball and run around the bases to score, while the other team wants to get 3 outs to end their "innings" or opportunity to bat. In a way cricket is the world's baseball. While the rest of the world watches cricket, the U.S. has to be different, we watch baseball and instead of futbol we watch football. This may explain why when everyone else was watching the cricket game, I was probably watching Grey's Anatomy. It is crazy to me the benefits these cricket players receive! Free air travel for life, money, land and medals? Maybe cricket should be my new hobby...I could even get a free car out of it!