Sachin Tendulkar scored 200 points in a cricket match yesterday afternoon, breaking the previous world record for the most points scored in a day-long cricket match. His achievement was the top news story in every major paper today, topping the Indian government's new railway budget.
When Sachin was up at bat yesterday, on the verge of the historic 200, all activity in my office ceased. Everyone - from the chai walla to the chiefs of bureaus - gathered around the few TV screens. Sachin hit a six-pointer. One of my co-workers turned to me and said, "that's like a home run."
Then he hit the 200. He didn't do an elaborate dance or pump his fists or run a victory lap. He kept on playing. But murmurs of proud appreciation went through the crowd. For a moment longer, we watched, then someone switched the channel and we all went back to our work.
A man once described Sachin Tendulkar to me as follows.
"He is the greatest athlete in the history of his sport. And he's quite short."
But Tendulkar is a lot more than a great athlete. After all, Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in a basketball game in 2006, an NBA second-place high, but except for Sports Illustrated, no one cared. To some of us, Kobe is a great player. To others, yet another representative of the overfed, pampered athletic elite. And to a minority, he's a criminal who, as a result of his fame, got off easy.
If American pro sports are suffering, they have only sky-high salaries, player shenanigans and their own alternate reality to blame. But Tendulkar is, frankly, the same way - perhaps minus the (public!) sexual misadventures.
So why do we love him so much? Maybe it's because he's short, which makes him an underdog in the world of sports. Everytime Sachin gets up for India, he makes this country proud.
But it's not just India.
When Italy won the World Cup, there were riots in the streets. I saw people climb the gates of national monuments and wade into fountains. I watched groups of half-naked young men burn - burn! - the French flag. It wasn't just on the front page of the paper, it was the paper.
Why don't Americans get so worked up about ANY sport? (And no, I'm not talking about Green Bay after a Packers win. I'm talking about national-level excitement.) Maybe it's because of our sports isolationism. The US doesn't play soccer, rugby or cricket. In fact, our sports franchises are largely our own. How often does any player get to say that he represented America? Maybe once in four years, if his game features in the Olympics. That's it.
Maybe Americans don't have any need for sports as a source of national pride. As the world's most successful democracy, Americans have enough to be proud of.
Or maybe it's because sports have become associated with a negative culture - testosterone-fueled, irresponsible, uneducated - that turns people off. In which case, it's a shame. In a country suffering from a childhood obesity epidemic, we could use a few Sachin Tendulkars to inspire kids to play sports.
hmmm....you make a point about American isolationism in sports. although there's plenty of game obsession alive and well in America - go to a Nascar game or even a local high school football game (where a parent is quite apt to beat up the opposition blocker's dad). An ex-associate of mine who had never been on a plane, ate only white pancakes for breakfast and roast beef or ham on white bread for lunch (if there were sesame seeds on his white bun, he wouldn't eat his sandwich, no kidding) and spaghetti with red sauce and meat for dinner (if the pasta was shaped like rigatoni, forget it), knew EVERY football player's scores, stats, and game details for the past 50 years. He didn't know a thing about Wimbledon or cricket, or for that matter couldn't tell you which continent Israel was on (forget Myanmar). but man, he had 2 TVs that were switched on all week (with picture in picture) so he would catch every football move as it happened). AND he had a fridge full of beer.
ReplyDeleteRight. IE< Green Bay after a Packer's win. But that's not the same, really. In the US, people who like sports are "people who like sports." In India, liking Sachin and being an Indian seem a lot more synonymous.
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