INDIA WON THE ICC WORLD CUP!!!!!

Hey guys,

I don't know if any of you are die hard cricket fans. I for one am not to much into it. How could I have been? Although I was born in India, I moved with my family to America at the age of 9. I was pretty much raised in the American culture. As I was saying, I am not to much into Cricket, but my Dad and sister-in-law are. My sister-in-law tells me how people in India are so over the top that stores all around are closed and people perform pujas (religious ceremonies). Heck, they'd even perform a puja of their T.V.s before each match. She mentioned how people take vows just so their favorite team would win. For example, her Mom vowed to travel to some temple and donate money (they call it "prashad chadhana"). All this is just down-right crazy if you ask me.

Anyway, so after hearing all the craziness surround around the sport, I figured I'd watch it. I watched the semifinals, which was India Vs. Pakistan and India won. Apparently it was a big deal as India and Pakistan have a huge rivalry going on for ages. It was a bit interesting as i was trying to learn all the rules (there aren't too many) and more importantly all the techniques they were using in the game (i found some to be pretty silly, but i guess it was just my view). Anyway, so i decided to watch the Final Championship match, which was against India Vs. Shri Lanka. This was suppose to be a very big deal because India has only won the championship once, which was 28 years ago in 1983. You'd think for a team that hasn't won the championship in so long to get into the finals, it be a very interesting match. Sadly, most of the match was almost mundane. It wasn't until the last 5 overs (each over has 6 balls/pitches by the bowler/pitcher), when the game got a bit interesting because India was batting and they were inching towards their required number of runs needed (keep in mind that the game was 50 overs after which the game ends.) At the point in the game when India needed 6 runs (points) and had 13 balls/pitches left, even i got excited. I was at the edge of my seat murmuring "come on India, hit a 6 (kinda like a homerun)" The batsman grounded the ball and they take two runs. The new pitcher comes on and again i find myself murmuring "Come on India, add insult to their injury. Hit a 6 instead of a 4 (grounding the ball to the boundary at the outskirts of the field)" Sure enough, the batsman, coincidentally the captain of the Indian team, hits a fly ball right into the stands for the win."

I learned something that day. Cricket is a fun game to play, watching it is only fun with a group and its only fun to watch the last few overs. What really got me was the fact that I sat with my Dad while he was watching the Indian news on T.V. and for the duration of half an hour all the newscaster talked about was how India won the Championship. That was evidence enough of all that my sister-in-law told me out the people in Indian and their craziness pertaining to the game. What are your thoughts about this sport and also about the nation of die hard fans and how this is the only news they have to talk about now (lol)?