Haydos High on Weed

BBC reports: Matthew Hayden has been charged with a breach of Cricket Australia’s code of conduct after describing Harbhajan Singh as an “obnoxious little weed”.

This was expected. CA has already drawn a lot of flack for the way this tour has shaped up. I wonder what punishment would be in store. IMO though, Haydos needs to be sent a rehabilitation centre to help him get rid of his liking for weed. Really, how ridiculous could one get with commenting about the opposition players? Calling Harbhajan an obnoxious little weed could be ignored. But the following statement about Harbhajan proves that Haydos must have himself been high on weed when he gave the interview to a Brisbane Radio station:

“His record speaks for itself in cricket. There is a certain line that you can kind of go to and then you know where you push it and he just pushes it all the time.”

This about a bowler whose maximum wickets (64/256) have come against the Australians. How dumb can you get? Effect of weed I guess.

As if this wasn’t enough, he goes on to give further proof. This time talking about Ishant Sharma, who, again, just by chance, happens to be the best bowler against the Aussies in this series.

“He is just young. I have said to him many times, ‘You are 19, take it easy’,” added Hayden. “He is 19, why doesn’t he just worry about his bowling for a while? I like the idea of actually getting into the ring (with him). I like that, bring it on.”

Not to mention that this comes from a player who is (read was) one of the most respected Australian cricketers in India. We make fun of Sreesanth’s antics, but this one’s at a different level all together. Unprovoked and downright stupid. Get a life, old man.

Sledging to be Banned*

The ICC has formally announced that sledging on the cricket field has now been banned* with immediate effect. The decision was arrived at after a thorough analysis of the indecent scene created by the Indian players during the One day international match against the Australians at the Sydney on 24th of February, 2008. The ban, of course, is subject to the following terms and conditions:

*Terms and Conditions apply

Terms and Conditions

With immediate effect, India should stop giving back to the Aussies in their own coin, else, strict action shall be taken against the offending players for violating the spirit of the game**.

Australia will continue to sledge whenever, wherever and howsoever they wish to. This will not be against the spirit of the game, but in fact be a part of the game. ‘Hard Cricket’, as the great ones call it.

Umpires will be neutral. However, as and when Ricky Ponting desires, he will interfere and ask the umpires to do as he wishes. This he will do in order to maintain the spirit of the game**.He may then go on and say to the press, “These are minor issues and happen on the field all the time. But Symonds said so in response and he did not provoke it.” Videos suggesting otherwise shall not be considered by the referee.

Indians will be expected to maintain the highest values in the spirit of the game**. Failing this, the offending players will be: a) Banned or b) Penalised or c) Both a & b

Australians will be expected to maintain the highest values in the spirit of the game**. Failing this, the offending players will be : a) Not banned or b) Not penalised or c) Lauded for their ‘hard cricket’ d) or a, b & c

**The term ’spirit of the game’ carries multiple meanings. The meaning that suits the Australians the best in a given situation shall be in force.

For any further clarifications on the new set of rules, please feel free to contact Ricky Ponting or Andrew Symonds.

New Books Arrived

Spent about 3-1/2 hours at Crosswords today. 2 hours with the guys from Hyderabad Photography Club at Flickr and the remaining searching books. Here’s what I came out with (click on the links to know more about the books):

The Interpretation of Murder – By Jed Rubenfeld – Rs. 280/-

Tales from Firozsha Baag – By Rohinton Mistry – Rs. 295/-

Anandmath – By Bankim Chandra Chatterjee – Rs. 175/-

Ravan & Eddie – By Kiran Nagarkar – Rs. 295/-

Identity and Survival – Sikh Militancy in India – By Kirpal Dhillon – Rs.  395/-

Red Earth and Pouring Rain – By Vikram Chandra – Rs. 395/-

Suffice it to say, I am not even sure I’ll read all of them. Feels good to own them though.

Update: Prices added.

Thackeray Uncle Says

Valuable advice from Thackeray Uncle to all of us useless, free market-loving, politician-hating people.

“These industrialists are throwing money in your cricket field as a result of which cricket is getting corrupt.”

Boy! If only we knew this about 15 years back when the explosion of TV took cricket to every part of the country. We could have stifled the flow of all the dirty money from the profit-hungry industrialists…cricket would have been so much better without the money, no?

“Cricketers are being purchased as a result this their concentration will not be in the game and the sport will decline in this country,” [sic]

That’s right. Money will ruin the game. Look at what happened to football in England, Spain and other countries as a result of their successful domestic leagues where players are bought and sold like vegetables. All that the players do is run after the money and not the all important ball. Such losers. And the worse thing is, the leagues are still doing well. Talk about money making the world go round.

“If this is how industrialists wield their money then a day will come when there will be no need of government because it will be the industrialists who will call the shots and run the country,”

Wow! Really? You mean, NO Government? As in, no politicians? No bandhs? No bad infrastructure? No bureaucracy? No family politics? No lalu? No KCR? No commies? I shudder at that thought because all this means no free-of-cost entertainment on news channels. Which in turn would mean that people like me would have to start watching bad movies in cinema halls, and, worse, pay for it! And who gets all that money? That’s right, them industrialists! How shrewd, how cunning. But fear not, ‘coz we have Thackeray uncle taking good care of us.

Thank you for enlightening us Thackeray uncle.

Image courtesy: Saharasamay

What’s in a Name Anyway?

This has to be the best name I have come across in a long long time:

A young couple named Natalie Jeremijenkoand Dalton Conley recently renamed their four-year-old son Yo Xing Heyno Augustus Eisner Alexander Weiser Knuckles Jeremijenko-Conley.

I came across this one in Freakonomics.

This instantly reminds me of some of the strange, or shall I say, unique names I have heard in my life time (not necessarily in that order):

• Eureka
• Symphony
• Sigma (So named, as my friend told me, because her mom loved mathematics)
• Prince
• Bombay Jayashree (The singer of Zara zara from Rehna Hai Tere Dil mein)
• Sandali (Tum Bin fame)
• Kehkasha (One song wonder from Hera Pheri)
• Hansika
• Himesh (Is there any other name irritates me more?)
• Mimo (Mithun da’s son named after Michael Jackson and Mohammad Ali)
• Ryan Sidebottom
• Tata Young (Best known for her title song from Doom err Dhoom)

A few more could come up if tried a bit harder to recall them. But anyway, my point is this: girls seem to take the cake when it comes to strange names. Sandali, for e.g., is more likely to remind one of a sandal than sandalwood. And what to make of Kehkasha?

For some more such gems, here’s the Wikipedia list of unusual names.