[Reader-list] Speculation and Sports

[faiz ullah]

Dear All,


After Kerry Packer changed the face of the game the element of speculation
has crept in measures more than what the obvious betting/fixing connection
suggests. With spectator sports audience devises various ways to associate
with and possibly intervene in the game and resist being just spectators
(and is spectator a speculator too? As the similarity between the two terms
suggests? contemplation, speculation, looking at, things looked at, to
consider, speculate, and look at).

If we take betting as an example then it I think goes on to show that the
element of speculation has now come to assume more importance than the game
itself- and in certain cases so much so that it threatens to influence the
natural flow of the game (which also happens when a reliable spectator- the
critic pans a film and dents the box-office collections).



A better part of speculation also builds upon the past-performances of the
subject in question. As soon as a batsman comes to the crease statistic
supers come on the screen and gives us the career average, strike rate,
centuries and fifties scored, ducks, who's gotten him out most, record at a
particular ground, against a particular team, at a particular batting
position, and what not. For a naïve spectator like me it meant that a
batsman with a strike rate of 100 will get India that run a ball chase to
victory. I was proven wrong many a times but not my expert friends who armed
with all the statistics speculated and put all their money on projected
outcomes. availability of information and the way its used also then comes
in handy while speculating. Abundance and over-abundance  of freely
available information or it's incorrect interpretation gives rise to
over-speculation, and maybe when the information is bogus speculations go
awry.



News media and brands also put their money on the 'potential' performers and
their best bet will be a Sachin or Sehwag as they have done well in the past
and could be expected to do well in the future too.



And finally mega sporting events like Commonwealth Games also give us a lot
of opportunities to speculate while putting on stake the health of the city.
Would we get to host the Asian games also in 2014 (bidding is on in
Kuwaitright now)? Maybe Olympics in 2016?  Maybe
if we do a good job at hosting the Commonwealth games.
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