"Mother of all matches today"

That was the headline in today's Deccan Herald. I switched on the TV this morning... MTV was showing the song "Hum ko hai pura yakin..." - a song made for the World Cup '03 to motivate the team.... [V] was showing the latest hit "Jeet Lo Dil.." the official song of the Samsung Cup... NDTV shows y'day's press conference... If u thought that's passion for the game.. then here's more.. Infy is broadcasting today's match Live in the big-screen...!! So much for being passionate... Its amazing to notice how a sporting event raises so much nerves bringing the entire country on its toes.. Lets get to the other side of the whirlwind... there have also been scattered deliberations of the "unnecessary" adulation given to cricket when there are innumerable people just down the street who wouldn't care for who plays or who wins as long as they find enough to satiate their hunger... or sparing a thought for the jawans on the border who are eating bullets for breakfast and dinner... There have been occasions in the past when the fans themselves have gone overboard.. a case being the burning effigies of Indian players when they lost to Australia in a preliminary World Cup match... Where was this "anger" when coach S6 was burning in Godra... where was this "anger" when Fr.Staines was burnt alive... this list would never end... There is a very thin line between just being passionate about a game as an individual and seizing things to the deepest of emotional depths... Being passionate is not wrong... as long as we believe that its just 11 guys playing a sport and trying to give their best... But monitization and politicization by the media and politicians does go a distance in fuelling phony emotions that is far from the margins of "love for the game"... Its the "love" for the game that is important and healthy.. and not an irrational, emtionally inflicted passion...