Monday, July 9, 2012

What It Was, Was Cricket

From May 21st Time Magazine "The God of Big Things" by Bobby Gosh.

I'd never heard of him, and just know that Sachin Tendulkar's sport, cricket, is a bit like baseball.  But other than that, I didn't know much until I read this article.  On March 16th, he broke a record with his 100th century, a single inning score of 100 or more runs.  It was not thought possible

A century, or ton as it is also called, requires great batting prowess.  Top players may end careers with 25 to 50 of them.  Tendulkar once even hit 241 runs.  In cricket, a batter hits until they make an out.

To say he's India's pride and joy is putting it mildly, even though at age 39, he is facing retirement.

An interesting graphic about cricket was in Global Games, the single-game viewership of sports as an indicator of popularity.  Even though cricket hasn't caught on in the U.S., it is the second-most popular game in the world.

Persons Watching:

2010 World Cup Soccer Final: 620 million
2011 World Cup Cricket Semifinal: 150 million

And, putting it into context:

Super Bowl XLVI: 111 million
2011 World Series Game 7: 25 million
2011 NBA Finals Game 6: 24 million
2011 Stanley Cup Finals Game 7: 9 million

Maybe I'll Have to Find Out Stuff About Cricket.  --Cooter

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