Cheers CSK!

I had to blog about this... Having started out with lukewarm interest in the IPL, looking back I realize that it successfully occupied almost all of my weekends over the past 6 weeks. And it was surprisingly comforting to sit in front of the laptop/TV and watch a match that was so entertaining because of its short format.. you didn't have to endure the middle over drag, etc. For purists this might be pure blasphemy.. but not for the likes of me. The shorter format was simply more entertaining. And throw in all the antics of Lalit Modi, Shashi Taroor, all the franchises, all their it girls, all those cheerleaders and the songs, the DJs, the terms DLF Maximum, Karbon Kamaal Catch and City moment of success, you had an exceedingly entertaining, enough-to-bitch-and-rant-about on FB cocktail. And really one doesn't expect much more than this from these things.

For a while there at the league stage, I was convinced that the matches had been fixed. Too many teams were competing for the 4 semifinal berths and it almost seemed implausible that all of sudden many times rose like phoenixes from the ashes and were all neck and neck on the points and everything. That being said, supporting CSK through the initial league phase became stressful too, given their sudden slump in performance in the middle of the tournament when it looked unlikely for them to repeat their accomplishments of the last 2 editions and make the semi-finals. And just when I had switched loyalties to MI, in came Hussey and Bollinger into the CSK team. While Bollinger did make a significant change to CSKs bowling presence, I really think his entry changed fortunes for the team and suddenly they were pulling victories out of thin air... and here they are now IPL Champions 2010! Congratulations to the team for a fantastic team effort and really, if there was any Tamil citizenship, Dhoni would be a shoo-in for his excellent work as a motivating captain. (Ok, I did tire of him and the references to the red-light "areas"(yes yes, he meant the traffic signal) where people spoke to him in Tamil, etc etc..)

But here's what irks me.. With this format of the game and with things happening so rapidly all along, the organizers are not giving the spectators enough time to rejoice or savour the moment that their teams did well (or drown oneself in denial or disappointment if they didn't). Instead, they organize back-to-back tournaments which doesn't let you rejoice the game, but instead dread it. I, for one, am not looking forward to the T20 World Cup, though it would be funny to see teammates of the last week compete against one another this time together for each of their countries.

Come on organizers... let us miss some action to look forward to the next series. After all an overdose of anything can't be good. Anyone listening?