What's up Dog?

When I was in the UK, I made friends with this hefty 120 pound black dude, Devon Charles.
(Please note ~ I am not a racist! I call a spade a spade. I call the Brits white! But most often I refer to them as Pommies)
Don, as he likes himself called, is a very good buddy of mine. His towering stature and his magnanimous belly often puts you on the back foot.
Cricket followers would know what I am talking about. The ball comes at you at a brute pace and is directed to take your head off.
The best option for you is to step back and sway away from the line of the ball. Well, Don is 'THE BOUNCER' when you first meet him, but when he befriends you and speaks in his "YO" accent, the bouncer becomes 'A JUICY HALF VOLLEY' which you can just ease out of the stands.
I should stop talking about cricket. The minnows eating the sharks have gotten into my head. It's an amazing feeling, one of exotic intoxication, when I see the underdogs performing so well.
When everyone had written them off, they just came on to the field and gave a sterling performance.
It just set my tears rolling!
I am sad that India and Pakistan are out of the tournament, both teams studded with superlative cricketers!
(India is only virtually out as there is still one in a thousand chances of Bermuda defeating Bangladesh. And I bet that all of India would be praying for Bermuda's win. But I most sincerely wish that this should not happen. It would not be good for Cricket-more specifically Indian cricket. It was sad to see Dravid break down, as he did, after the team's loss to Sri Lanka. I don't think Indian fans have the heart to witness the team lose another match.)
But, I must say Bangladesh and Ireland played very well on the day that mattered the most.
Coming back to Don, he had called me up yesterday.
"Yo Dog! Wassup with you?" were the first words that he spoke to me after three months.
When you call some one a Dog in India you are sure to be reverted back with a barrage of the vilest abuses you might have ever heard.
Dharam paji during his peak times used to address every villain in his movie as Kutte! Kamine!
But when Don calls me Dog, he speaks so reverently and earnestly that I can only reply back with 'I am cool! Doggg' (with the added stress on the 'G')
I wonder why he adresses me as dog.

Ah! Maybe I know the answer.

• Don is a Man.
• Dog is man's best friend.
• I am Don's best friend

So does that mean I am Dog?

:-)

Cheers Dogs!
TLT

P.S> Indians were Lankan'ed yesterday. I knew that we lost the game when Sachin got bowled through the gate. I switched off my TV after that. I read in today's newspaper that Dravid tried to achieve the impossible, fighting and struggling to save the team from embarrassment, till the very end. It is very sad to note that the stalwarts of modern Indian cricket (Sachin especially) will retire knowing that they could not bring home the glorious cup even after competing for 3 years.

A much sadder note this World Cup is the murder of Pak coach Bob Woolmer. Pakistan was literally annihilated by the nascent Irish team. It is not yet confirmed who were responsible for this shameful act or what were the motives behind this. The killers may be anyone - some lunatic cricket fans, some members from the Pak team, the underworld. Let's not point our fingers at anyone before they are convicted. But whatever happened was really sad....and shocking! The entire cricketing community should be ashamed. Malcolm Speed has announced that such tragedies happen, and that the quest for the cup has to go on. I don't seem to agree.

Cricket has just become a way to earn some quick bucks- be it the corporate houses that use Cricket to lure the public into buying some crap, be it the cricket stars who themselves unabashedly plunge into the world of advertisements, be it the underworld who thrive on the betting racket to fund their despicable acts. I am sadder to see the common man getting trapped into all of this. I hate to see the sensible and passionate cricket fans to be turned into some sort of raving frenzied monsters who burn effigies of cricketers, attack their houses, when they don’t perform well!!!! I shudder to think how far they might go on with this.

This world cup would be marked as the event when Cricket lost its glory. It has become a devil's paradise - betting, match fixing, drugs, assault and now MURDER!

God Save Cricket!