With the International Cricket Council World Cup, [ICC] going on In India I have enjoyed some good Cricket games. I support any good side so you can see that I am not fanatical but a true “gentleman”.
One can judge what a good game is? For different people with different tastes a good game can mean different things. For me it is not about wining the game or losing the game but the joy that goes with it. The professionalism that goes with the practice. It is about the better team wining. It is about delivering the internal goods of the practice not about the external goods which could buy cheap, temporary status.
I am not sure about those who gamble and how they feel about the whole thing. I suppose it is not about wining at all cost so one can get that extra buck that counts.For me that kills the whole purpose for enjoying a a good competitive game . It is not about winning but about taking part.Taking part is just more than losing and making numbers but experiencing that joy that comes from the practice by the the fact that one was practicing the practice.
It is something that goes beyond that. Something spiritual or Soulful?
What ever sport you like? But for me it is about sitting on the edge of my seat. You do not know whats gonna happen. For those who follow the English FA cup they may understand what I am writing about. It is when the minnows or the underdogs perform a giant act and conquer the “invincibles”. The top “teams” in their minds may feel that they are great and invincible. But the exciting thing is that it is just figment of their wild imagination.
Not in the minds of the opposition.
When the game goes down to the wire that is when I enjoy the real game. The chemical releases that goes with it. The adrenalin rush! Where have you been.?
The psychological game. The real cyber warfare? Your winning has nothing to do with your history but the fact that you are good on the day and you are able to wage a psychological warfare.
Gone are the days when you had to lose you life to make a point or rather to “kill”. Thats the reason why the FA cup has been so interesting ever since it was created. It is unpredictable! The giants can fall by the way side. The unknowns know no one can stop them from….killing the giants but themselves only.
It is a mind game. It is not about playing the game at all.
A good game is the one that keeps me on the edge of my seat. All those chemicals doing their funny pain-killing job bathing my pleasure zones in my brain. For soccer a team trailing and scoring in the dying minutes of regulated time and winning is the team. A mark of perseverence and utmost dertemination. Never giving up until the last micro second.
I have been getting this kind of feeling by watching some of the cricket games currently going on in the ICC World Cup in India. Unbelievable. Adrenalin rushing. It – is -not -over until- the- last ball. Out of this world but exhilarating for some of us earthlings!
These games have taught me very important lessons in life:
You are never out and buried until the last ball or last over.
If you are batting do not look at the history of your previous batsmen.
If there are no runs on the scoreboard it’s up to you to start making the runs.
You cannot change the past but the future.
Concentrate on the work in hand, not that of previous batters.
The team and the whole world is looking at you for inspiration and deliverance and you must not let them down.
But do not care about the world but just stay in your crease and make a run out of every ball.
It is not a matter of fours and sixes, But the staying power and partnerships that counts.
Bat ….but never out: You must be the last man but not out.
I do not know how the bowlers look at themselves but it a question of putting pressure on the batsman and varying your pace to deceive the batsman who thinks the previous delivery could be a lesson learnt?.
No ways.
Experience is about playing the unpredictable shot or bowling unpredictably.
It is when the pressure is on players that I enjoy the game. I start to imagine what is going in their minds and how they are going to handle the pressure. I cannot handle pressure my self and that is the reason why I appreciate these players who can last or who have this flash of brilliance to win this game.
The talented and the true heroes or heroines.
Those who make us happy because they can handle the pressure without swearing or banging the doors.
Those we pay generously to entertain us.
The celebrities and millionaires.
Those who makes richer or poorer because some of us have to gamble.
Many games have brought this kind of competitive contest out for me but Cricket seems to have the lasting impression. Not knowing who is gonna do it. that puts my life on the knife-edge, driven on the edge of the cliff by a charging old hungry lion. The adrenalin rush that goes with it. It is like pumping that chemical into your brain or self and you feel that good forever feeling but for a moment. You wish it could last forever!
I do not understand how you players feel it? I suppose you like it when you are playing!
Is that so?
Tell me your story!
Jameson on Blogline 