September 2012
As I sit at home watching Chris Gayle take the Aussie bowlers to the cleaners, I wonder what it is about sport that holds so many millions in thrall. Is it the physical ability, the beauty of a freekick, the elegance of a straight drive or the joy of winning against all odds?
The clue lies perhaps in analyzing the reason behind the popularity of grea
t sportsmen. What is it about Federer that makes him the crowd favourite wherever he goes? I don’t think it is just the fact that he has won 17 Majors. He has lost most Grand Slam finals to Nadal and does not have a classical net game like McEnroe, Edberg or Sampras. If Rafa stays fit, he may go on to win more than 17 Majors but he will never achieve the kind of popularity that Fedex enjoys. Similarly, Sampras in his prime was never as popular as Agassi although he won a lot more and had the better record in head-to-head battles. The key I think is in the languid grace that Federer brings to the game, the classical one-handed backhand and the apparent ease with which he wins his points. The fascination with Borg and Becker is another case in point. Borg was the icy cool guy who conquered grass and clay while Becker’s success as a teenager fascinated everyone. Becker won only 5 Grand Slams while Borg never won the US Open or Australian Open but both are larger than life figures in tennis history.
Think now of cricket – our nation has obsessed over Sachin for the past 23 years. Here is the stuff of dreams – a schoolboy takes on the feared Pak pace battery in his debut series, then has the temerity to knock the stuffing out of the best fast bowlers on the planet and does it all with classical grace and technique. Brian Lara ended up on the losing side most of the time but his classical backlift and strokeplay always made him a connoisseur’s delight. Dravid played lots of match winning innings, Waugh and Border were the crisis men, most of Ponting’s centuries may have resulted in wins but none of them ever came close to matching Sachin or Lara’s popularity. David Gower has an average record but always got more than his due to his style. Sunny was a defensive batsman and hardly won any matches for India but he remains a childhood icon for all of us as the first Indian batsman to flourish against quick bowling around the world. People also have a morbid fascination for brutality – it explains the craze for Viv Richards, Sehwag and Chris Gayle.
In the beautiful game, Messi today holds far greater sway over our emotions than any of the Spanish stars despite all the Spanish team successes over the past 4 years. He has not won anything for Argentina but remains the most popular footballer for his grace, immense skill and goal scoring exploits at Barca. All of us who watched that Maradona goal against England in 1986 would count it amongst our greatest sporting memories. Even if Argentina had not won the WC, he would probably be as popular. Only Pele can claim outstanding individual skills backed by a fantastic winning record.
There are similar examples in other sports. The guy voted the greatest sportsman of all time – Muhammad Ali – was as much a showman as a boxer. The bottomline is that sport is about entertainment and hence the highest accolades go to those who entertain, display great skill and become icons for their generation, not necessarily to those who win the most. Many of us live our dreams vicariously through these sportsmen and women.
Through our preferences, are we actually disproving what Vince Lombardi said many years ago “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”?
Think now of cricket – our nation has obsessed over Sachin for the past 23 years. Here is the stuff of dreams – a schoolboy takes on the feared Pak pace battery in his debut series, then has the temerity to knock the stuffing out of the best fast bowlers on the planet and does it all with classical grace and technique. Brian Lara ended up on the losing side most of the time but his classical backlift and strokeplay always made him a connoisseur’s delight. Dravid played lots of match winning innings, Waugh and Border were the crisis men, most of Ponting’s centuries may have resulted in wins but none of them ever came close to matching Sachin or Lara’s popularity. David Gower has an average record but always got more than his due to his style. Sunny was a defensive batsman and hardly won any matches for India but he remains a childhood icon for all of us as the first Indian batsman to flourish against quick bowling around the world. People also have a morbid fascination for brutality – it explains the craze for Viv Richards, Sehwag and Chris Gayle.
In the beautiful game, Messi today holds far greater sway over our emotions than any of the Spanish stars despite all the Spanish team successes over the past 4 years. He has not won anything for Argentina but remains the most popular footballer for his grace, immense skill and goal scoring exploits at Barca. All of us who watched that Maradona goal against England in 1986 would count it amongst our greatest sporting memories. Even if Argentina had not won the WC, he would probably be as popular. Only Pele can claim outstanding individual skills backed by a fantastic winning record.
There are similar examples in other sports. The guy voted the greatest sportsman of all time – Muhammad Ali – was as much a showman as a boxer. The bottomline is that sport is about entertainment and hence the highest accolades go to those who entertain, display great skill and become icons for their generation, not necessarily to those who win the most. Many of us live our dreams vicariously through these sportsmen and women.
Through our preferences, are we actually disproving what Vince Lombardi said many years ago “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”?
