If you think the only intention of the Sachin Tendulkar post was to have some fun at the expense of a national icon – you should read the first line of my post again. So i am posting the original post and some of the replies it generated on a popular forum. I still think my points are pretty valid and people are biased by their admiration for the superstar.
ORIIGINAL POST
Sachin Tendulkar: A Spineless Hero ( revisited) – GetUpdated.in
I have tried to play the guitar.I have tried to play the drums. But i have realized what i really play well is a jerk and an asshole.
So i have decided to repost my “controversial” post on Sachin Tendulkar as the whole nation celebrates double ton by the “GOD” himself.
” I was a fan as a kid. Those days Indian cricket meant Sachin’s innings, as the rest of the Indian team was so lame that it was depressing to watch them. But then as I grew a little older I realized he is a good cricketer but a really boring guy. I began to find his cricket soulless and mechanical.
So I don’t like Sachin Tendulkar that much – fine who cares as I have been annoyed by seeing too much of him in newspapers lately; I just want to raise one point that has always been bothering me. If Mohammed Azharuddin was fixing matches when Sachin was scoring runs at his peak, is it possible that Sachin knew nothing about what was going on.
Don’t we say that hiding a crime is as bad a sin as commiting the crime yourself. Perhaps Azhar had connections with the underworld and Sachin was scared and just chose to remain indifferent, pile up his hundred, make lot of money and retire peacefully.
Now is that really a HERO ??? ”
Sachin has such a lofty status in India since we have always had a dearth of sporting heroe’s in our country.In his prime this dearth was particularly acute. If cricket was tennis Sachin would be Pete Sampras. Great but greatly boring. And no he is not the greatest ( just like Pete is not – that will be Roger or even Laver and Borg are ahead of him). People even remember less accomplished but more colorful stars like McEnroe , Connors, Agassi and even Becker and Ivanesavic but not Pete the bor
REPLIES
found this a rather funny (and rather sad) little post – sad because for a post on a CAT forum, the logic is depressingly weak.
(a) Of course it is possible. Do you think a match-fixer does his work in public? If it is possible for a man to cheat with his best friend’s wife for years (which happens very often, mind you) and the best friend not come to know of it, then this is hardly a problem.
If your assertion were true, then (to take an example) every single employee who was working for Enron, or for say Lehman Brothers, at the time when they had their respective debacles, must have been aware and responsible and hence should never be given a job again.
(b) Match-fixing operates by promising to “throw” a match. I can believe someone scoring less because they got paid money to do it, but scoring more? Let’s assume SRT doesn’t know about the match-fixing. What difference can you find between his deeds in this scenario and the actual performance? (Yes, I’m aware that proof by contradiction is not supposed to be applied in real-life situations. Even so!)
Assuming you’re right and Sachin was aware of it (and scared of Azharbhai’s henchmen (sheesh, what a thought – I’m still laughing!)…), shouldn’t his scores have gone down for fear of what those aforementioned henchmen would do to him otherwise?
Unless, of course, you are saying that he would have scored even more, otherwise. (I can’t contest it if you also subscribe to the “Sachin is God” view 
I am not great at arguing religion!)
(c) This point is nothing to do with your arguments, just your examples – I respect Pete Sampras a lot more than Agassi, Warne and many other “showmen”. How you play your game is also important. If you choose to find a person who uses drugs to enhance performance a superior role model, or admire a person who prefers to spew insults and/or break racquets on court to a person who has generally been decency incarnate, that is entirely your discretion – but it says more about you than about them. You’re entitled to your opinion, however. I can only respectfully agree to disagree (and yeah, I can suggest Serena Williams as your next potential object of admiration).
Myself, I don’t quite subscribe to the Sachin is God view. I think he’s a very impressive human. To paraphrase a comment in a different context (by, I think, Nehru?) if Sachin were God, there would be nothing great about what he has done. If he is human, however, then it is truly impressive! Either way, I plan to sit back and enjoy his career while it lasts.
Peace!
~lakesidey
ou might find some portion offensive here, but it is not directed to you.
Also, I apologize in advance.
I liked the opening line of this post (no offenses). Rest all didn’t actually make any sense. I have noticed one thing. People bash Sachin or even any other person who has a reputation, just to sound intellectual. It is fast becoming a fashion to bash a Sachin, SRK, Aamir or even Chidambram just to claim that the respective speakers or authors belong to that intellectual league.
On the other side as well, people supporting them also wear their passion on the sleeves voicing their opinions.
The word silent admirer and constructive criticism are long gone now. I believe art (sports or any other form) were meant for these people only.
This particular article seems to have been written by someone who might have lost all hope from pure cricket. May be, he never intended to admire the game. It is not wrong to expect fun or antics from the players on the field. But, cricket is not that game. Neither is tennis. A straight drive would certainly give purists more joy than ball biting incidents.
There is different section of games (whatever you call them) that have full doses of antics from the players.You will get loads of entertainment from WWE or many soccer/rugby games full of that stuff. It would be better if we leave cricket & tennis alone.
Actually it depends on individual’s perspective. Of course, all people don’t like roses. Some are allergic to them.
And this match fixing saga…straight from some movie. Sorry to disappoint you but this doesn’t sound intellectual. Try other points.
- EUPHORIC
truly believe Sachin knew NOTHING of the match-fixing going on behind his back in the late 90s. He had all the qualities he has today – except one – worldly wisdom of the street-smart kind. He was still a kid. He was quiet, did what he did best (beating the hell out of the world’s best bowlers). He was too engrossed in batting really well to pay attention to the indiscretions of the would-be-fallen hero Azhar.
Having said that, I must agree with some of the people here and say that this allegation seems to be malicious in character. I hope the intention was to argue reasonably and not use flimsy logic and long-gone controversies, making very weak attempts to tarnish the image of the world’s best batsman.
But this is hardly surprising. One of my close friends – who dislikes Sachin – made this allegation too. His logic: “Kumble or Dravid could never throw matches since they lack too much natural talent. But Sachin could. Dravid has to dig deep to make six runs an over, but if Sachin were asked to play out a maiden, he could, and make 15 the next over easily. If he were asked to get out for a low score in a big match, he could, knowing it’s not very difficult for him to score 150 the next time he bats”.
Such disgusting and hair-brained, concocted logic just shows that Sachin’s “critics” have lost a lot of their puffed up abusive air over the last three years. Perhaps it is the wholesome popularity and praise the world over that riles some people. As someone here pointed out, critics are born because it’s a fashion to bash big achievers. It’s the loser’s mentality. This 200 is almost the final nail in the critics’ coffins. A World Cup victory will seal it.
- Enigmatic Pranav
oh man u answered urself…..
everyone can shout and jump and abuse and break racquets and Dope (agassi)……but few can do it the right way…
that’s why Pistol Pete..Fedex & Sachin are different……
yes you can say Mcgrath was boring…he bowled only on off stump ..but to do it over years is not as easy as u and me think….that’s why we wre not there
- sushantgupta
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