Flashback Friday: Bong Hits Edition

We’re reminded of when we were kids and our school in which had started just that year (Go NPS!) had to come up with names for the four houses. Those were simple times with simple teachers apparently so when it came time to choose the names they went with simple Red House, Blue House, Green House and Yellow House. It was a letdown of sorts but with appropriately themed paraphernalia we were quite willing to root for our color and did it enthusiastically and vociferously. We have to believe that the theming had something to do with it, we could tell our red themed compatriots from a distance, and knew to boo when the blue fellows had their turn up at the starting line. (Today of course, NPS seems to have gotten a lot more sophisticated and has real historical names of mighty significance for its houses.) Why are we reminded of this? We’re watching the NKP Salve Trophy on the TV. It features 3 cricket teams from India, chosen by a nameless face in the sky. The teams are India Red, India Blue and India Green. So already it’s looking weak. Why not just choose the three strongest state teams? Then, the teams are chosen completely randomly, so what’s in it for me to root for one team over another? Finally, here’s the India Blue uniform:

India Blue: Image © The Hindu

That’s not so bad, nice and bluey. So what does India Red look like?

India Red: Image © The Hindu

That’s right. Mostly blue. But if you’re thinking that’s bad, wait till you see India Green. Check out the guy in bright yellow:

India Green (and Blue): © The Hindu

Oh noes! He said a bad word.

Pepsi has this really funny ad feature MS Dhoni doing a Rajni imitation. I just saw this ad on DD. They’re very sensitive at DD. They mute out the word “rascal.”

Indian Cricket League

Initial thoughts watching the inaugural match of the Indian Cricket League. I’m already a big fan of anything that challenges BCCI hegemony of course.

Pros:

• 20-20 format
• Blonde cheerleaders

Cons:

• No team for Bangalore. WTF?

Also, the 20-20 format needs some rule changes to make it a tad more interesting. Right now, it’s like a home run derby atmosphere. Soon enough, folks will realise that some power needs to be returned to the bowler to even things out a bit. Perhaps make the wide ball rule more liberal. If umpires were not so quick to declare wides, batsmen would chase the ball a little more and make more mistakes. It’s the equivalent of widening the strike zone in baseball.