As much masala the IPL is providing with its high voltage on field action, over the past two weeks cricket fans have been getting their daily fix of off-fieldmasala through the blog of the "Fake IPL Player", someone who claims to be providing "andar ki khabar" titbits of the travails of the Knight Riders. Fakey, as I call him affectionately, is supposedly a member of the KKR, whether of the playing or the non-playing squad is still an arguable point, and he certainly has done his bit to dish out the dirt on one and all, including those not in the KKR squad, per se.
I am one of those who have always believed in the fallibility of the cricket superstars, considering them to be normal men like you and me, with normal weaknesses and fallibilities like you and me. So most of the tidbits in the blog posts don't really come as a shocker; power and ego struggles, camps within camps, skirt chasing, gossip mongering - what is there that we don't see in every team, not necessarily linked to cricket or any other sport, whether it be in our own offices or our neighbor's?
The only thing which makes this blog unique is its openness in tearing reputations to shreds, its total lack of humility and don't-care-attitude about what the consequences will be once, as always happens even with the best of them all, the identity of the blogger is known. Starting off with sarcasm and humor being the weapons of choice, the blog has become steadily nastier in its commentary, and the last couple of posts have been totally of the "gloves off" kind.
I am not a legal expert but the fact that not even a single person in the blog has been identified by name seems a pretty good cover against legal charges, if ever they arise. Yes, so one thought thatKishen Kanhiya was one of the commentators known for his liking of the fairer sex, but hey, I never said it was him. So, Appam ch****** was slapped in the last IPL by Meera Bhai? Ok, so what does the imaginary "Indians in Philadelphia Limited" IPL I talk about in my blog have to do with Sreesanth getting slapped by one "Meera ke Bhajan" in the last "Indian Premier League" cricket related IPL? Is there even a cricket tournament called the IPL going on? Hey, I didn't have a clue, honest!
I like the blog, honest! It is bold, nasty and interesting and I definitely go to it every now and then to see if there is a new post on. Obviously, like many others, I also cannot help but wonder who the blogger is? I am very clear about one thing - it is someone very close to the action, most probably in the KKR squad, and it is someone very obvious. The blog is getting too personal and nasty for it to be just someone doing this for kicks; it smacks of someone so pissed that he wants to take the rest of them down. It smacks of someone who has been humiliated and wants revenge. The blog is vindictive towards some, passive about others, and derisive about yet others who might not be directly responsible for the humiliation but against whom Fakey nurses some grudge for some slight someday, somewhere!
I see the person who provides the information and the person who uploads the blog posts to be two different people. The information provider is very likely a senior member of the KKR squad who knows what is happening even if he is not in charge, while the writer (and uploader) of the blog is most likely a friend in the media. The names chosen for the various people in the blog posts have obviously been chosen with great care, to make it sound off-the-cuff but still managing to let everyone know who exactly it is. That is not a simple task in itself and shows that this is not just casual blogging going on by someone who has a couple of extra hours on hand. This is a much planned effort, being executed with precision, and there is a lot of anger hidden behind the blog's supposedly "cool" Fakey.
While the "media friend" might not really have too much to lose, and much to gain, with the expose that will eventually happen, what makes it interesting is that the information provider will obviously have to face more serious consequences. As suspected, if the information provider is a member of the KKR, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he will not be in the KKR squad next year, and no other franchise might be willing to touch him. Heck, for whatever reason if you can kick your team in the balls once, you can kick them again, even if the team is different. In addition, in cricketing circles - at least the decent ones - his name will be mud as he contributes his bit and more to show that cricket can just be as dirty and masaaledaar as the latest Bollywood flick.
So it is obviously someone for whom the millions at stake are not as important as the revenge factor is! It is obviously someone who doesn't give a damn what those (decent) cricketing circles think about him. It is someone who has money, a means of livelihood outside cricket, and hey, if who I am thinking of is correct, then I am sure he will find cricketing circles who will welcome one of their own with open arms and think that he was absolutely spot on with this "Fake IPL Player" business. "He showed them that he cannot be screwed around with", they would tell each other in glee, displaying the same self-righteousness with which they booed the Indian cricket team and supported the opposition not so long back when their beloved icon was left out.
Fakey, in one of his last couple of posts, has already expressed an intention to cut himself off from all forms of cricket (playing, I would assume) and also reveal himself on the last day of the KKR schedule of matches. This effectively means that on the day (or night) of the last league match for the KKR - since they have as much chance of moving to the semi-finals as a Nutty-Buddy ice cream has of lasting five minutes with me - we should know who Fakey is, always considering he keeps his word and there are no new twists to the tale.
I would be surprised if the blogger was not who I indicate, because otherwise the nastiness and venom in the blog doesn't make sense. If it turned out to be the bus driver of the KKR squad who was doing it to amuse his nephews and nieces, it would come as a dampener. Even if it was someone who was doing it just for kicks, I would be looking towards a cover up operation because baby, the cut here runs deep.
Anyways, May 20 is the day I am waiting for! As I said previously, I like the blog if not the blogger.
I am one of those who have always believed in the fallibility of the cricket superstars, considering them to be normal men like you and me, with normal weaknesses and fallibilities like you and me. So most of the tidbits in the blog posts don't really come as a shocker; power and ego struggles, camps within camps, skirt chasing, gossip mongering - what is there that we don't see in every team, not necessarily linked to cricket or any other sport, whether it be in our own offices or our neighbor's?
The only thing which makes this blog unique is its openness in tearing reputations to shreds, its total lack of humility and don't-care-attitude about what the consequences will be once, as always happens even with the best of them all, the identity of the blogger is known. Starting off with sarcasm and humor being the weapons of choice, the blog has become steadily nastier in its commentary, and the last couple of posts have been totally of the "gloves off" kind.
I am not a legal expert but the fact that not even a single person in the blog has been identified by name seems a pretty good cover against legal charges, if ever they arise. Yes, so one thought thatKishen Kanhiya was one of the commentators known for his liking of the fairer sex, but hey, I never said it was him. So, Appam ch****** was slapped in the last IPL by Meera Bhai? Ok, so what does the imaginary "Indians in Philadelphia Limited" IPL I talk about in my blog have to do with Sreesanth getting slapped by one "Meera ke Bhajan" in the last "Indian Premier League" cricket related IPL? Is there even a cricket tournament called the IPL going on? Hey, I didn't have a clue, honest!
I like the blog, honest! It is bold, nasty and interesting and I definitely go to it every now and then to see if there is a new post on. Obviously, like many others, I also cannot help but wonder who the blogger is? I am very clear about one thing - it is someone very close to the action, most probably in the KKR squad, and it is someone very obvious. The blog is getting too personal and nasty for it to be just someone doing this for kicks; it smacks of someone so pissed that he wants to take the rest of them down. It smacks of someone who has been humiliated and wants revenge. The blog is vindictive towards some, passive about others, and derisive about yet others who might not be directly responsible for the humiliation but against whom Fakey nurses some grudge for some slight someday, somewhere!
I see the person who provides the information and the person who uploads the blog posts to be two different people. The information provider is very likely a senior member of the KKR squad who knows what is happening even if he is not in charge, while the writer (and uploader) of the blog is most likely a friend in the media. The names chosen for the various people in the blog posts have obviously been chosen with great care, to make it sound off-the-cuff but still managing to let everyone know who exactly it is. That is not a simple task in itself and shows that this is not just casual blogging going on by someone who has a couple of extra hours on hand. This is a much planned effort, being executed with precision, and there is a lot of anger hidden behind the blog's supposedly "cool" Fakey.
While the "media friend" might not really have too much to lose, and much to gain, with the expose that will eventually happen, what makes it interesting is that the information provider will obviously have to face more serious consequences. As suspected, if the information provider is a member of the KKR, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he will not be in the KKR squad next year, and no other franchise might be willing to touch him. Heck, for whatever reason if you can kick your team in the balls once, you can kick them again, even if the team is different. In addition, in cricketing circles - at least the decent ones - his name will be mud as he contributes his bit and more to show that cricket can just be as dirty and masaaledaar as the latest Bollywood flick.
So it is obviously someone for whom the millions at stake are not as important as the revenge factor is! It is obviously someone who doesn't give a damn what those (decent) cricketing circles think about him. It is someone who has money, a means of livelihood outside cricket, and hey, if who I am thinking of is correct, then I am sure he will find cricketing circles who will welcome one of their own with open arms and think that he was absolutely spot on with this "Fake IPL Player" business. "He showed them that he cannot be screwed around with", they would tell each other in glee, displaying the same self-righteousness with which they booed the Indian cricket team and supported the opposition not so long back when their beloved icon was left out.
Fakey, in one of his last couple of posts, has already expressed an intention to cut himself off from all forms of cricket (playing, I would assume) and also reveal himself on the last day of the KKR schedule of matches. This effectively means that on the day (or night) of the last league match for the KKR - since they have as much chance of moving to the semi-finals as a Nutty-Buddy ice cream has of lasting five minutes with me - we should know who Fakey is, always considering he keeps his word and there are no new twists to the tale.
I would be surprised if the blogger was not who I indicate, because otherwise the nastiness and venom in the blog doesn't make sense. If it turned out to be the bus driver of the KKR squad who was doing it to amuse his nephews and nieces, it would come as a dampener. Even if it was someone who was doing it just for kicks, I would be looking towards a cover up operation because baby, the cut here runs deep.
No comments:
Post a Comment