What Did You Call Me?

Monkey. That is what the captain of the India national cricket team supposedly called a player on the Australian cricket team which resulted in a 3 match suspension that sent the cricket world into a tailspin. The players involved are: Andrew Symonds of Australia and Harbhajan Singh of India.

After Australia took 3 matches in a row from India there was a flurry of news reports reporting that Singh had called Symonds a 'monkey' during the final match on Sunday.

This is not the first time that there has been controversy within the ranks of cricket. I have been over here for 6+ months and it seems that there has always been some controversy following the Australian cricket team. Either they are being accused of racism or they are accusing their opponents of racism. I can't figure it out.

Cricket over here is as big a sport as rugby is. Its played during a different season and is basically the only game in town. There are professional cricket teams that represent their own states within Australia but the entire country gets behind the national team when it is playing.

India has been a powerhouse in cricket for years which in itself is puzzling. I wasn't aware that India was a powerhouse in any sport?! The rivalry between Australia, a fairly new and upcoming world powerhouse, and India is similar to the Red Sox and the Yankees. Every year when MLB releases the following season's schedule every Red Sox fan immediately looks to see when the Sox are playing the Yankees. Its a right of passage to grow up hating the Yankees for no reason other than you are a Red Sox fan. The same can be said for Australians regarding the Indians when it comes to cricket. The major difference is that national pride is at stake here too. That makes this 100 times more rel event than any city or state rivalry back in the US. The Australians take cricket very seriously and have deep passion towards their national team.

Long story short is that the cricket board suspended Singh for 3 games due to the allegations. India in turn protested and appealed. They also said they will not finish the tour in Australia until Singh is allowed to play and vindicated. The one scape goat in all of this? The head referee of the match on Sunday who it was determined lost control of the players on the field. Everyone knows that is not the case but someone had to be the scape goat. India flexed its muscle and the cricket world caved in. The matches are going to go on as scheduled and Singh will be allowed to play.

I am not sure how the news casts are going to take up the 10 minutes they have allocated to this lead off story for the past week going forward. They can't even report about the drought anymore since its been raining for 3 straight weeks!

I don't understand cricket at all. I have tried to understand it and watch it but I lose interest about as quickly as I do when I am watching NASCAR or Indy. One of these days I am going to take the time to learn the game but as of right now I have the New England Patriots and the Boson Celtics who are my main concerns!

Bring on Jacksonville!