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I can’t believe I would be writing this, considering that I regarded baseball the “raanti”(wild) cousin of cricket a few years ago. Baseball is merely a slug fest – stronger you are, the harder you throw or further you hit, as compared to the sweet timing and eloquent elegance of cricket’s leg glance. There cannot be any strategy which involves no great planning nor pitch conditions, which makes it like some wild sport that you would indulge for the kicks, certainly not as a national passion. How hard can it be to play baseball – the pitcher throws the ball, the batter hits it and runs around the diamond to complete a run or better still – hit a homer and yet run around the diamond among the wild cheers of your teammates and fans. But, things changed dramatically in the season of 2001, when Arizona Diamondbacks came from nowhere to beat the fabled Yankees in game seven of the World Series. My baseball knowledge quadrupled and watching those intense seven games not only convinced me that baseball was more than pitching and slugging but also justified the intensely passionate fan following. With academics on a low simmer this semester, I am indulging myself to some great baseball this season. Rooting for the Atlanta Braves proved to be short-lived as the jinxed Chicago Cubs beat them in game 5 at Turner Field. But then again, Atlanta isn’t half as crazy about baseball as those notorious Cub, Yankee and Red Sox fans. But frankly baseball holds interest for me only when its October playoffs time, otherwise its monotonous boring, at least as of now.
To give the uninitiated, I will give a brief rundown. The Cubs downed Braves and the Florida Marlins shocked the mighty San Francisco Giants in the so-called quarterfinals to set up a classic Cubs-Marlins semi-final. A duel of best-of-seven, Cubs were up 3-1 in no time expecting to proceed to the World Series for the first time since 1945. But Marlins in a typical underdog comeback shocked the Cubs by beating them 4-3 in a front of approximately forty thousand blatantly partisan Cub fans on Wrigley field. But what stuck me in all the ruckus was the belief in curses and superstitions, so much like in cricket (remember the “taavees” thingie with Azharuddin?). It is believed that a guy who wanted to bring his goat to a game was not allowed to do so for a World Series game in 1945 at Wrigley Field, Chicago. In anger, he cursed the Cubs by saying that they would not only lose the World Series then but would never make it back. They haven’t since then. Cubs shudder at the Curse of Billy the Goat and numerous preposterous anti-curse quirks like flying a goat to a game, or licking a charm have been tried in vain. The curse came back to haunt them again on a windy Wednesday night as the Cubs perished plunging Chicago in a deathly silence. Also in a earlier game, the Cubs were denied an entry into the World Series when a fan stuck out his hand trying to catch a foul ball thereby blocking the catcher from making a catch. That reflex action made him the most hated man in Chicago, with people baying for his blood and the media circling his house with choppers and news vans.
Oh boy! This reminds me of the numerous times India has lost and players’ homes targeted to vent their frustration. You can claim to be a civilized and rational nation where free speech is a basic human right but cannot counter the angry utterances and threats of a disillusioned fan. Sports certainly brings out the worst in man – right from the time of killing the losers in Grecian Olympics to the brutal killing of an errant Columbian footballer. Rationality, common sense, logic all take a back seat when excuses are dug up to disguise the pent-up frustration of your home team losing. It sounds so familiar. After all no matter where you are, which nation you belong to – fans have only one religion – passion for the game. The scary part is when they let that passion spill over on to horrific consequences in the real world. You are supposed to go home in peace when the game is over…after all it is just a game.
When heard last, the Marlins owner has offered a three-month vacation on a ocean front resort to the errant Cub fan and has even suggested a witness protection program enrollment for him. That surely doesn’t help.
by Patrix | on Thursday, October 16th, 2003 at 1:52 pm | 
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