IPL and Betting Ho Hungama

These days IPL and betting scandal is all over the news. Media is going frenzy over it. TV news channels are inviting experts like "Vinod Kambli" and "Nupur Mehta" to comment over the Cricket Betting and Bollywood nexus. Almost laughable if that is covered in the prime time 9 PM news. I can understand if it is done in latenight past 2 PM reporting.

So what happened.
Some cricket players formed a nexus with betting bookies and were caught. Immediately they were booked and sent to jail. Well that is not fair. In recent days many politicians and their relatives have been caught doing almost similar thing. None of them has gone to jail. That politician is still serving his tenure in Parliament. All he had to suffer was resign from Ministry.

And now coming to betting. Why is betting on IPL wrong? Let me talk about some famous government approved bettings

1. Stock Exchange : People bet there on the expected value of stock every day. Huge amount of money is involved. Some make money and some loose. We also have betting on future values. If betting in stock exchange is legal, then why not legalize betting on games. Let it be legalized and let government make money on it. And punish those who influence the game to increase their chance of winning just like insider trading in stock exchange.
2. Lottery : This is one of the biggest source of income for government. People are betting on government provided piece of paper

So my request to government and media is that let not make this an opportunity to hide the real issues (big corruption) and make it a media lime light in the hope that people will forget them.
 

Sachin and his 100th hundred

So finally Sachin hit his 100th century today and once again it has proved that whole country is so emotionally attached with this game. In the England and Australia series, Indians were beaten hands down. All kinds of blame were put. Heros were made villains. Dhoni started loosing his charm. Cricket pundits started blaming coach, captain and Sachin. Talks of his retirement were the ice breaker of any conversation. It was very ridiculous to watch Vinod Kambli (one time buddy) putting his judgments on national television. Even advertisements shifted on this mood change. Hero started sponsoring Hockey (more of this need to happen as it is our national game) and Pepsi promoting football (soccer).
And now all has changed. Facebook is filled with all sorts of comments. People have again started comparing him with God. Some comments are as follows

Lets have a partyyyyyyyyyyy.

Finally Most awaited Milestone achieved.. 100th international 100.......

He is a true son of the nation... India Salutes Sachin

He always played for his country with average of 45 and more and still people will say he is nt a match winner, Those people should keep thr mouth shut and try to admire the ever greatest god of cricket Sachin.

And the list goes on and on.

Oh common people. He is just a sportsman, who has some good days and some bad days. No doubt he is great at what he does. But that is no reason to worship him as no doubt there are thousands if not millions among us who do equally well. Be it other sports, business, education, community service, defending nation etc. He is great, but as of my knowledge he has done well for himself. He has made lots of money from cricket match fees, endorsements and advertisements. I don't see him doing lot of philanthropic work (at least not in public knowledge).

So lets just give proper place to this game and its players and lets not get emotionally overjoyed or disturbed by it.