Would you be watching the sport if you were from a lesser cricket nation?

[Biggy]

Why don't you just ask any Indians if they watch it.


Aww snap!

[Howsie]

Hilarious

[Cricketdude]

I thought it was a little funny.

[Cricketman]

I've lived in America for the last 10 years and have followed cricket probably more regularly than my friends back in India. I've pulled allnighters, gone to the World Cup, and have even gone to stupid exhibition domestic matches in India (which I find absolutely fascinating AND gives me free, unrestricted access to all the players )

The downside is that it gets tough. There is no one to talk to about cricket, my biggest passion. This is probably the reason I have as many posts as I do on PC. Perhaps without PC my love for cricket might have even faded.

Since I live in a small city, cricket is not known here at all. There are 4 other Indian kids but they are like white on the inside and don't know anything about india, let alone cricket. In the summers, I play for a city a bit larger than mine which is 45 mins away. Previously I played for a suburb in Detroit, and drove around 2 hours just to get there . I only played about 2 matches and 3 practices for them, but I am grateful for my parents to drive me all the way there to play.

I feel so at home on the cricket pitch. It feels as if it is what I was meant to do. Sometimes, I wish I still lived in India and if so I would have definitely pursued cricket as a career.

[shirazu]

I'm from the US and kind of had a slight interest in the sport watching some vids on youtube etc. but didn't really get into it until I lived with an Indian guy for a year. For a while I supported India but their fans are a big turnoff, I still enjoy Indian cricket the most though because I know all the players very well and the games are the most popular, although I support their opponents on occasion.

This sport is absolutely off the radar here and probably always will be. People think it's a weird variant of baseball played over 5 days, most people couldn't name a single cricketer, the only people who play are first-generation expats, their kids don't even play the game usually due to lack of leagues outside of the largest cities. The games are available on pay-per-view for obscene prices (and are actually advertised pretty heavily, probably the only exposure cricket gets) but the broadcast rights are split between two different satellite carriers so you can't watch all the games even if you're willing to pay. Only game that has been on TV in my lifetime was the Stanford match where they showed boundaries and wickets/close calls only, at like 2pm on a Sunday when everyone was watching the NFL.

To give an example, rugby is also absolutely followed by no one here due mostly to the NFL and it's never shown on TV, but people actually play the sport especially at college/intermural level and in the northeast and it is at least gaining in popularity. Most people under 30 could tell you at least the basic rules of the sport and a good number would have played an informal game. It would take 15-20 years for cricket to even reach this level.

[King Pietersen]

Originally Posted by Howsie

MMA is a passing fad and tbh I don't see what all the fuss is about. The few fights I've seen the guys just lay on the ground and do jack all, it's so boring it makes watching a whole 12 rounds of boxing look good.

Judging by the Boxing comment you're clearly not a fan of combat sports, so you'd obviously not like MMA. It's far from a passing fad either, it's getting bigger and bigger, and if the rumours of the UFC taking investment from Shane McMahon are true, then I see it becoming an even bigger sport. As for the rubbish about them laying on the ground and doing 'jack all', it's just not true. If you don't enjoy or understand the compexities of Jiu-Jitsu then you're obviously not going to find it interesting, but if you actually understand what's going on, then it's very, very interesting.

It's the greatest sport in the world as far as I'm concerned. I don't think you'll find many athletes around the world that work as hard, put there bodies through as much and have as much athleticism as Mixed Martial Artists. Guys like Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva are serious athletes that could compete with the best in the world in more than 1 sport. St-Pierre's looking to compete for Canada in wrestling at the 2012 Olympics, and it's a sport he didn't start to learn until he started in MMA, just proving how talented an athlete he is. Then you've got guys like Forrest Griffin who, when in a training camp train 6 days a week, 3/4 times a day, at 3 or 4 different gyms; working on every aspect of MMA.

I've got so much respect for Professional Mixed Martial Artists. The work they put in, the pressure they put on their bodies and then the entertainment they provide is just unparalled in any sport I've ever seen. MMA is going to be around for a long, long time. It will not be a passing fad, I can assure you of that.

[Gazza]

Originally Posted by Cricketman

I've lived in America for the last 10 years and have followed cricket probably more regularly than my friends back in India. I've pulled allnighters, gone to the World Cup, and have even gone to stupid exhibition domestic matches in India (which I find absolutely fascinating AND gives me free, unrestricted access to all the players )

The downside is that it gets tough. There is no one to talk to about cricket, my biggest passion. This is probably the reason I have as many posts as I do on PC. Perhaps without PC my love for cricket might have even faded.

Since I live in a small city, cricket is not known here at all. There are 4 other Indian kids but they are like white on the inside and don't know anything about india, let alone cricket. In the summers, I play for a city a bit larger than mine which is 45 mins away. Previously I played for a suburb in Detroit, and drove around 2 hours just to get there . I only played about 2 matches and 3 practices for them, but I am grateful for my parents to drive me all the way there to play.

I feel so at home on the cricket pitch. It feels as if it is what I was meant to do. Sometimes, I wish I still lived in India and if so I would have definitely pursued cricket as a career.

Are you like, gun??

[Howsie]

Brock Lesnar fights in this stuff right? The same Brock Lesnar that was cut from the Vikings pre-season squad when he tried out for the NFL. Sorry, I just really hate it when people say "this athlete could compete with anyone and could do anything" I know you didn't name Lesnar, but he's pretty big in this irrc.

[King Pietersen]

Brock Lesnar is pretty big yeah, he's the UFC Heavyweight Champion, and is an incredible athlete. So what if he didn't make it in the NFL, I didn't say that MMA stars could turn their hand to anything and be a success. Lesnar was an incredible college wrestler, and his skills have adapted brilliantly to MMA. He's huge and happens to be one of the few top HW's to have to cut down to the 265lb weight limit, but he possesses incredible speed as well. He's such an impressive athlete, he's got everything. Size, speed, strength, conditioning and he's learning at an incredible rate.

Georges St-Pierre's probably one of the top 2-3 athletes in the world right now as far as I'm concerned. Dominating the worlds best fighters in his weight category, is world-class in a discipline he's only been learning for a few years, has an incredible work rate and level of physical fitness.

If you honestly think that MMA's going to be a passing fad, then you're going to be very surprised in 10 years when it's one of the biggest sports in the world. I truely believe MMA is here to stay, and it's the most exciting and fascinating sport I've ever seen. I love it, everything about it.

[Howsie]

Originally Posted by King Pietersen

Brock Lesnar is pretty big yeah, he's the UFC Heavyweight Champion, and is an incredible athlete. So what if he didn't make it in the NFL, I didn't say that MMA stars could turn their hand to anything and be a success. Lesnar was an incredible college wrestler, and his skills have adapted brilliantly to MMA. He's huge and happens to be one of the few top HW's to have to cut down to the 265lb weight limit, but he possesses incredible speed as well. He's such an impressive athlete, he's got everything. Size, speed, strength, conditioning and he's learning at an incredible rate.

Georges St-Pierre's probably one of the top 2-3 athletes in the world right now as far as I'm concerned. Dominating the worlds best fighters in his weight category, is world-class in a discipline he's only been learning for a few years, has an incredible work rate and level of physical fitness.

If you honestly think that MMA's going to be a passing fad, then you're going to be very surprised in 10 years when it's one of the biggest sports in the world. I truely believe MMA is here to stay, and it's the most exciting and fascinating sport I've ever seen. I love it, everything about it.

This. I really hate when people do this. I have no idea who this guy is but that's a pretty big call.

Yes I believe it is just a fad, but will continue to exist and 'live past it's prime' But there's noway it becomes one of the biggest sports in the world.

[King Pietersen]

It's true. St-Pierre's recently aquired sponsorship from Under Armour, the first Mixed Martial Artists to front a big campaign for a Under Armour. He's appeared on the covers of various big magazines in the US, and he's the first MMA fighter to be sponsored by Gatorade. He was also named in the top 49 most influencial men list by Ask Men magazine. The guy's a big star that's continuing to grow in popularity and name value, and as mentioned previously he's a superb athlete. To have only started training in wrestling in his late teens-early 20's, and now to be considered for Canada's Olympic team is seriously impressive.

I don't think MMA's even close to reaching it's prime yet. The UFC are the only company that are making serious attempts to go global, and they've only been doing it for a few years. They've not even broken all of the US yet, with the various Athletics Commisions failing to accept MMA and it's rules as a sport worth holding in the state. That'll change as people learn more about the sport and start to appreciate it for what it actually is.

A common misconception of MMA is it's human cock-fighting, but it's so much more advanced than that, and it was really the UFC and Dana White that started to change that, with the Ultimate Fighter, which showed that the fighters are intelligent, hard working sportsmen, not savages beating eachother to a pulp in a cage. It's actually safer than most Contact Sports as well, with no death or serious injury having occured because of the fighting itself, unlike boxing, where there are alot of deaths each year.

I think the UFC and MMA will continue to grow over the next 10 years, and by 2020 it'll be one of the biggest sports in the world. EA Sports have just picked up their own MMA game, and are currently in development of that and it's starting to really become popular around the world. Here in the UK it's seen massive growth, even from the days of Cage Rage a few years back it's grown massively. The UFC are breaking Australia in February of next year in Sydney, it really is going global. It definitely has the potential to be the next massive sport, and one of the most popular sports in the world. It is not a fad.

[hMarka]

MMA and UFC are gayer than AIDS. If I want to see two guys humping each other on the ground for 20 minutes I might as well watch gay porn.

[Cricketman]

Originally Posted by Gazza_11

Are you like, gun??

What?

[STLIndian]

Originally Posted by aditya123

We`ve seen a lot of members here claiming that they don`t support their country of nationality and that they are die-hard fans of some other country (I have no right to comment on their choice and respect it). However, my question is whether a person ABC would be watching the game in the first place had the team from the nation of his birth not been a decent cricket nation?

I`ll tell you the case of many Indians related to football. Indians usually adopt sides in football because the Indian football team is ranked way down in the FIFA rankings and our side never qualifies to the big events. Thus, Indian fans end up supporting Brazil or Portugal or England in football because of this reason. However, we have qualified for the 2011 Asian Cup (Asia`s version of UEFA European Championships) and most of the Indian football fans will support their home country during that event.

My question is that how would it be possible for a person X or Y or Z to totally support any side which plays against his nation of birth, although he claims he does not support that side at all.

You're being too modest.

People like this are downright disgusting.

[hMarka]

Judgmental much?