There'll be bhangra dancing in Banglore tonite!

Originally posted by FMF
Team mates patting each other on the back? Whatever next? 😀

Sunil Gavaskar ? You can't just dismiss the opinion of everyone of note who watched it or has seen it. Can you find anyone of note in the cricket media who didn't appreciate it for what it was ? I can only find dissenters in forums and comments sections. And I don't mean find someone who will say the bowling attack was weak. I mean someone who will say that given the bowling was weak it was still not a remarkable feat.

Whatever next ? Maybe fans who can enjoy multiple formats of the game. What an innovation that would be.

Originally posted by thaughbaer
Sunil Gavaskar ? You can't just dismiss the opinion of everyone of note who watched it or has seen it. Can you find anyone of note in the cricket media who didn't appreciate it for what it was ? I can only find dissenters in forums and comments sections. And I don't mean find someone who will say the bowling attack was weak. I mean someone who will say th ...[text shortened]... xt ? Maybe fans who can enjoy multiple formats of the game. What an innovation that would be.

I never said anything about you not being allowed to enjoy the format if you want to. I have simply expressed why I don't like it and why Gayle's achievement means nothing to me, even after decades of watching and playing the game.

None of the cricket fan family or friends I have [and am in regular touch with] in Australia, back home in the UK - or even among the expats I know here - none of them pay any attention whatsoever to the IPL [having sampled it, like I did]. This is my personal cricket world: by FB, text messages, e-mails, on the phone, there will be about a dozen diehard fans babbling about cricket once the NZ tests start and it'll increase to about 20 when the Ashes get going. For years I can't remember any of them saying anything at all about the IPL. Different strokes for different folks. I am sure everyone is aware of its popularity.

The only people I have had any personal contact with and discussed cricket with of late who are the slightest bit interested in it are you, robbie and Crowley. You seem to be somewhat more than "the slightest bit interested in it". 😀

Perhaps that is why you find my being utterly unimpressed by it all difficult to compute. Enjoy multiple formats of the game by all means. Welcome the innovations you welcome by all means. Declare "feats" remarkable by all means. I do not have to "find anyone of note in the cricket media who didn't appreciate it for what it was". And yes, if I do not care for the format, and I am not impressed by the nature of the contest, I most certainly can dismiss the opinions of those who say to me "You can't just dismiss the opinion of everyone of note who watched it or has seen it." I have seen people smashing poor bowlers for boundary after boundary before.

I haven't been trying to make you like first class cricket any more than you already do [or don't]. Why are you trying so hard to make me think I ought to like T20? 😀

Why are you trying so hard to make me think I ought to like T20? 😀

Errr.. this thread is about why we should not like the IPL.. not why you should like it. Would you like me to start one ?

Originally posted by thaughbaer
Errr.. this thread is about why we should not like the IPL.. not why you should like it. Would you like me to start one ?

OP: "I will post this message here and perhaps any further discussion of T20 cricket can happen here".

Originally posted by FMF
I never said anything about you not being allowed to enjoy the format if you want to. I have simply expressed why I don't like it and why Gayle's achievement means nothing to me, even after decades of watching and playing the game.

None of the cricket fan family or friends I have [and am in regular touch with] in Australia, back home in the UK - or even amon [or don't]. Why are you trying so hard to make me think I ought to like T20? 😀

Come on FMF, you are just being silly. Give credit where it is due. You are the same with football, you know.

In international football, the record for the most goals scored by a single player in a game is held by Australian Archie Thompson, who scored a whopping 13 goals in a 2002 World Cup qualifier against American Samoa on April 11, 2001. The Socceroos won 31-0 (the score was originally reported as 32-0 as the scorekeepers lost count).

This is the greatest performance by an international football team ever, and by an individual. Facts are facts, and 'context' is the last refuge of the damned.

Why won't you just accept it and move on?

Originally posted by thaughbaer
I can only find dissenters in forums and comments sections.

Does everyone you know who likes cricket enjoy T20 more or less to the same degree as you do?

I am starting to wonder if my apparently grinch-like grumbling about IPL/T20 is seeming a bit odd to you because we come from completely different 'human landscapes' when it comes to following cricket. I do not interact with anyone who likes it, follows it, rates it - except for you and the other two posters. Is your situation the opposite: are most friends/contacts of yours who are cricket fans into it?

Originally posted by FMF
OP: "I will post this message here and perhaps any further discussion of T20 cricket can happen here".

Followed by 4 unanswered posts ( apart from bangra lessons ) about the insignificance of Gayle's innings ? Was this not meant to shape the thread ? Ship sailed. I said that already.

Originally posted by FMF
Does everyone you know who likes cricket enjoy T20 more or less to the same degree as you do?

I am starting to wonder if my apparently grinch-like grumbling about IPL/T20 is seeming a bit odd to you because we come from completely different 'human landscapes' when it comes to following cricket. I do not interact with anyone who likes it, follows it, rates it ...[text shortened]... your situation the opposite: are most friends/contacts of yours who are cricket fans into it?

I don't know anyone who likes cricket anymore. I used to watch with my Grandad on a Sunday afternoon... and go to county matches when it was local... and watch test matches if I got the opportunity on terrestrial... but everyone I know now is in to football or rugby. I never see kids in the park playing cricket.. probably more likely to see them play Amercian Football.. and why would they if they get no exposure to it.

Originally posted by thaughbaer
Followed by 4 unanswered posts ( apart from bangra lessons ) about the insignificance of Gayle's innings ? Was this not meant to shape the thread ? Ship sailed. I said that already.

The Gayle innings, to my way of thinking, illustrates perfectly the gap between the hype and the actual meaning of achievements in the T20 format. I think this gap gets right to the heart of what I see as the problem - for the sport of cricket - posed by the commercially-driven over-emphasis on and preponderance of T20 and the actual sporting significance of the "feats" we see there. I am speaking as someone with an enormous passion for cricket that will not wane till the day I die. I am perfectly happy to stop discussing what happened with Gayle, Pandey, Dinda, Marsh, Murtaza and Finch the other day. I enjoy any discussion of cricket and I have enjoyed your robust presentation of your views but if you feel I have been personally offensive or unfair to you in any way, then I apologize.

Originally posted by FMF
I enjoy any discussion of cricket and I have enjoyed your robust presentation of your views but if you feel I have been personally offensive or unfair to you in any way, then I apologize.

This is an internet forum. I don't take personal offense. Actually that's not quite true. There is another forum where I would take offense but it's more of a personal nature. This is RHP. I know what to expect. I don't think anyone cares whether you personally like T20/IPL or not ( robbie might but he has some form of forum tourettes ). I'm defending the IPL. You're not defending first class cricket because there's no need ( I made the Broad comment but you confirmed you knew that was a mick take ). I can easily compute that you prefer first class cricket to T20. I can compute that you have no interest at all in T20. It's somewhat more difficult to compute.. maybe I need a calculator. What I do find difficult to compute is that you need to say it so often and start threads about it ( yes I'm well aware of the OP ). In the broader context of cricket I don't think that's helpful at all. Maybe robbie got your back up. Maybe I got your back up. Who knows. Right.. now.. is there anything I can say to make you like handball ?

Originally posted by thaughbaer
Right.. now.. is there anything I can say to make you like handball ?

Which country would I have to move to get it on terrestrial TV?

Originally posted by FMF
Which country would I have to move to get it on terrestrial TV?

Denmark might be your best bet.

Originally posted by thaughbaer
I don't know anyone who likes cricket anymore. I used to watch with my Grandad on a Sunday afternoon... and go to county matches when it was local... and watch test matches if I got the opportunity on terrestrial... but everyone I know now is in to football or rugby. I never see kids in the park playing cricket.. probably more likely to see them play Amercian Football.. and why would they if they get no exposure to it.

If you went to Banglore you would certainly see kids paying cricket in the street, same I suspect in every Indian and Pakistani town. I was offended by FMF's assertion of meaningless, its certainly not meaningless to the fans of the IPL, but maybe they dont count as real cricket fans.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
If you went to Banglore you would certainly see kids paying cricket in the street, same I suspect in every Indian and Pakistani town.

But then cricket is the most popular sport in India. This wikipedia page makes interesting ( depressing ) reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_in_the_United_Kingdom. There's a poll from 2003 which leaves cricket some way behind in terms of participation. Given this poll was pre removal from terrestrial TV ( yes I know I have a bee in my bonnet about that ) I can't see the figures being any better now.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
I was offended by FMF's assertion of meaningless, its certainly not meaningless to the fans of the IPL, but maybe they dont count as real cricket fans.

You were offended?