A review of NL Hafta by Arijit, Utsav, Prakash, Ratnam and Dhiraj
NL subscribers get back with bouquets and brickbats!
Hi Abhinandan,
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I’m writing to you regarding your rant about game vs sport, and the difference between the commercial prospects for men’s and women’s sport.
As has been pointed out by another letter to you in Hafta 228, your rant served little purpose as it wasn’t really germane to any of the issues being discussed that week. That however is not why I am writing in. During the course of the segment there were a couple of points made I felt were just plain wrong.
When discussing game vs sport, you mentioned that a “game” like golf requires little hand-eye coordination. I think that contention is demonstrably false. If you watch golf for even five minutes you will notice that it requires a lot of hand-eye coordination, as does something as lame as carrom 🙂 You cannot judge a sport based on whether playing it at the top level requires one to be blessed with a six-pack and zero body fat. By this logic even baseball is not a sport, but a game. Maradona was the best in the world while actually being fairly rotund. And I could disqualify basketball by characterizing it as a game played by abnormally tall people, requiring nothing else but height. Different sports require different athletic skillsets to varying degrees. I agree that objectivity in outlook is an ideal that is unattainable but one should at least try. In your case, your disdain for cricket and golf bleeds into your reading of what it takes to play it at the very highest level 🙂 And I say this as a person who has zero respect for golf (for other reasons, not because of the lack of skill involved).
There was then a discussion on the financial backing given to women’s sport vs men’s sports. One cannot deny that sexism exists, but to pretend that in any given sport, the women’s discipline is just as good as the men’s discipline is to be plain blind. There is a huge gulf in class in sports like football, tennis and cricket (three sports I watch extensively so I can comment on). The example of tennis is instructive in this debate. John McEnroe got in hot water a couple of years back for saying Serena Williams (who is without a doubt the greatest female exponent of the game) would not be able to beat a man ranked 700 in the world. I think that’s an exaggeration, but Serena herself has gone on the record saying she stands no chance against the top men (my own bet is that in her prime she couldn’t beat a Top 100 guy over 5 sets). Keep in mind Serena is an absolute outlier. There is no one in the women’s game even 1/100th as good as her. Why then should we expect financial parity (in terms of prize money at least; endorsements follow a different logic) between the men’s game and the women’s game? Why should we expect more fans to be interested in women’s tennis than men’s tennis, which for the last 10 years has featured three players who will land up being in the Top 6 or 7 players to have ever played the game? The same goes for football and perhaps some other “sports”. One can argue that we are conditioned to think of the women’s version of a sport as inferior to the men, and maybe it’s all a question of giving women two or three generations to compete with men on an equal footing, but for the moment there is simply no comparison—at least in the three sports I called out.
Consequently, one cannot compare the financial backing that men and women receive. It is a direct outcome of who carries more financial muscle. Just as women fashion models will always earn more and be more famous than men. It is what sells. This isn’t like being a Chartered Accountant, where one can argue that there is basically no difference between the economic value that an average man and woman can produce. Sport relies on athleticism, strength and stamina (all of which are products of conditioning to some extent—granted), and if men can display more of it, they will be more rewarded as a result.
Tldr : encourage women’s sports but don’t *demand* parity because men and women are not bringing the same box office value to the table.
That’s my rant. Keep up the great work guys!
Arijit Sarkar
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Dear Newslaundry and NL Hafta Team,
I am Utsav Mannu, a subscriber and an NL Sena contributor. I am a Post-Doc researcher in Tokyo University, Japan but I grew up in Muzaffarpur (Actually I was born in Kejriwal hospital there where the bulk of the AES related death has happened). This mail is a great thank you to everyone at Newslaundry for the great work you do and for the fact that you sent Ayush for the ground report. These AES-related deaths happened in Muzaffarpur every summer and their causes were always shrouded in mystery. When we were kids we were told that this happened due to Japanese encephalitis, but it was always wired as none of the kids in my colony had it. I am really looking forward to the report from Ayush.
I find almost everybody at NL and especially NL Hafta be so interesting to listen to. It would be great if you have more podcasts and read out reports that could be listened to.
Utsav Mannu
***
Hi NL team,
Long time subscriber here, love your work.
It was good to have a sports journalist on Hafta. I think now the time has come to retire the topic “is cricket a game/sport?” Its been repeated too much in NL, and neither Abhinandan nor others add anything new, totally boring. FWIW my “new” points:
The examples Abhinandan quotes (Inzamam, Ranatunga etc) are from the 1990s or early 2000s, game has changed. Just like athleticism of football players now is far superior to those in ’50s and ’60s, look at how athletic the current Indian team is. Also, the level of athleticism of different sports is different, the BEST backup defensive position players in American football are 300 lb guys who can’t run fast like the quarterback can. Does that mean NFL is not a sport? Obviously not. Cricket just needs a different level of athleticism. Even in this super-fit era of cricket, a leg spinner doesn’t need to be that fit, but a fast bowler needs to be.
Also, I have noticed that this type of criticism is usually from Indians (Abhinandan is not the first guy I have heard this from) who like other sports which are not followed as much in India, and it really comes across as they are just jealous, trying to convince other Indians how cricket is not a sport. Cricket fans don’t go out of their way to seek approval from others.
Move on, please.
Prakash Iyer
***
Hi,
It was sad to hear the ill-informed comments on Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme.
KLIS was the only thing on Telugu media for a very long time. TRS came back to power using this (and many other welfare schemes). There wasn’t a campaign speech where Chief Minister KCR, his son KTR, and his brother-in=law T Harish Rao—also the ex irrigation minister mentioned KLIS.
KLIS is an extension of the erstwhile Pranahita-Chevella project that was part of Jalayagnam, conceptualized when late YSR was still the Chief Minister. Scroll had done a nice series on this scheme.
You can see all the three pieces here :
Mallannasgar oustees put up a long fight. This was reported a lot during TRS’ first tenure. Here are some recent reports :
KLIS is not the only Lift Irrigation scheme in Telugu states. You can read about others here.
Palamuru Rangareddy, Telangana:
Pattiseema, Andhra Pradesh:
Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravanti, Andhra Pradesh:
I will stop here.
Please try and have a longer discussion if you find the links interesting and useful.
Regards,
Ratnam (Gurugubelli Sai Ratna Chaitanya)
***
Hi all,
Rant 1
Nanniji and Nikku, Anjana Om Kashyap is 44 years old hence not a millennial. A millennial by definition is somebody who turned 18 after 2000 or was born after 1980. So Miss Anjana is not millennial by any stretch. If I remember right, a 40-something (Gen something!) on Hafta keeps talking of how he was involved in shouting and fighting during his youth … Guess Anjana belongs to the same generation.
Rant 2
Indians can’t play sport because of genetic makeup blah … they don’t have the speed blah … etc etc etc ….. O bhaiya do you know Nisar Ahmed, a poor Delhi boy who was selected and trained with Usain Bolt last year … Dutee Chand tho pata hai na … Now shush, listen to this podcast to know why Indian sports hasn’t thrived for people now in their 40s.
The podcast is building sports ecosystems.
If you can call Nisar and Dutee to Media Rumble to discuss how much these sportspersons need the media to make things better and also to make a livelihood…
And just so that you know. Here in the UK, they spent 2 million pounds per athlete chosen to represent UK for 2016 Olympics. Tokyo is next year, are you going to get a crowdfunding to fund our fine athletes?
Rant 3
This attitude of Iss Desh ka kuch nahin ho sakta is the exact reason why India has failed to reach potential. Now if you Gen X Y etc etc move away, millennials like me, Manisha, Cherry and others can do something about it.
Oh btw, the most popular shows on NL are hosted by millennials, tho Bhai saheb thoda hume bhi side de do.
Rant over
Bye
Dhiraj
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