The real business
Folks on this blog will have noticed that I've spent most of my time (well, the little that I've been able to devote to the blog), on kvetching about the ICC/BCCI spats. Well, the BCCI/ICC have 'made up' (at least till their next dispute, which will happen sooner rather than later). I've often said the BCCI will ultimately win out in its battles with the ICC just because of their monetary clout. Is this a good thing? Only if the BCCI takes one part of Malcolm Speed's acid response - to Lalit Modi's fulminations - seriously: they should concentrate on fixing cricketing infrastructure in India, grooming young cricketers, constructing sophisticated training facilities, spending money on pitch maintenance, repairing stadiums - the list goes on. The sooner the BCCI learns that a board is only as powerful as the team that plays for it, the better it will be. Otherwise, your board president will get shoved off presentation stands by champion teams. [After all, had the Indian team won, would that have happened?]
posted by Samir Chopra at 8:14 AM
2 Comments:
Since when did marketing and management of the game equate to on- field performance?
And since when did the tag of"champion" become a carte blanche for boorish behavior?
Homer,
Marketing and management doesn't equate to on-field performance, I agree, and if you see one of my earlier posts on this subject, I said as much. However, the BCCI is the cricket board, isn't it? Ultimately, the best way to get respect in the cricketing world is by the performance of your cricketing team - whether its orthogonal to the issue of how well you sell television rights or not, it is an issue. And its not going to go away. The BCCI might get the respect that is handed out to fatcat bankers - they will not get the respect that will accrue if they are also seen as representing a champion team. They will have considerably more goodwill behind them now. Almost every single time the BCCI opens its mouth, and this is undeniable, one of the reactions that gets triggered is "Gee, these guys sure talk big for a board whose team is only fair-to-middling". Like I said, whether its logical or not, thats one perception you are going to have to deal with.
As for the second part, I think you misunderstood my little joke. I was simply saying that had the Indian team won, they would have been up on the dais, and Mr. Pawar would not have suffered the indignity of being pushed around. Thats all. I'm not condoning the Aussie team's brusqueness.
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