He's pulling our leg ...

[Jayen]

... isn't he? It's tough to tell at times.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130523/jsp/opinion/story_16925253.jsp#.UZ3Oq6JFmS8

I liked this one, though:

"Men like Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar, who have been saying the
same things in unchanged sentences with iron consistency for years,
are now being criticized for tailoring their views to the BCCI’s
prejudices, of being the BCCI’s paid publicists. "

Regards,
Jayen

[gophe...@gmail.com]

I am pretty sure this is satirical, just not very well done. All the more confusing because the hyperbole quoted in the first para genuinely deserves to be mocked. Juventus deserved collective punishment as a club for corrupting the game for their benefit. In no way is this comparable to spot fixing.

[Bharat Rao]

On Thursday, May 23, 2013 5:07:32 AM UTC-4, Jayen wrote:
> ... isn't he? It's tough to tell at times.

He is. What makes it hard to tell sometimes is the dripping venom, and the fact that some of his satire is valid and some isnt'.

The writer clearly has an axe to grind.

Bharat

[Tweedle Dee]

Attempted sarcasm and satire. Didn't like his jibes at Kumble though. As Bharat said in another post in this thread, Kesavan is a little uneven in his sarcasm.

However, Kesavan's comments about Sreenivasan, and about the double entendres that Sidhu and Co. indulge in during the Extraa Innings segments, are spot on. I hate it when Isa Guha and Sidhu are put together as the experts on the show. Guha is actually quite a good observer and has interesting things to say about the game, when she is allowed to speak. But Sidhu, with ample encouragement from the likes of Gaurav Kapoor or Samir Kocchar, tries painfully hard to sound "charming" and complimentary towards her throughout the segments, leading to cringe-worthy situations. And when they are not picking on Guha, Sidhu and GK are busy noting the qualities of the cheerleaders, and of Rochelle Rao and Karisma Kotak.

I think the producers have decided that the IPL is watched only by red-blooded males of the 20-30 year bracket, and have decided to sell it on air accordingly. A little bit of this kind of "having fun on the air" is fine, but like a lot of the commentary, it goes over the top.

-TD

[CaraMia]

On 5/23/2013 4:58 PM, Tweedle Dee wrote:
>
> Didn't like his jibes at Kumble though.

Why not? Let's forget about Kumble the player who will easily get into a
lot to all time India Test XIs. In spite of that, what Kesavan has
written is clearly a conflict of interest if true - I don't remember the
full story and how it ended though - I just have a vague recollection of
reading something about it.

[Tweedle Dee]

Not the conflict of interest part. The part where he says of Kumble: "India’s greatest bowler, its most pugnacious captain, a man who has a traffic landmark in Bangalore named after him..." Don't get what is so sarcastically funny about that. If someone says that Sir Jadeja is the greatest human who ever lived, I get the sarcasm, but Kesavan's comments on Kumble fall flat.

-TD

[jzfredricks]

On Thursday, May 23, 2013 7:07:32 PM UTC+10, Jayen wrote:
> ... isn't he? It's tough to tell at times.

It's certainly hard to tell when you stop reading after "you have jealous (foreign) cricket boards and their Test-loving lackeys in the (white-and-Western) press, trying to characterize Sreesanth’s misdemeanour as ‘systemic’".

I give him 1/10.

[Gilly's Danda]

On Thursday, May 23, 2013 7:28:08 AM UTC-4, Tweedle Dee wrote:
<snip>

> However, Kesavan's comments about Sreenivasan, and about the double entendres that Sidhu and Co. indulge in during the Extraa Innings segments, are spot on. I hate it when Isa Guha and Sidhu are put together as the experts on the show. Guha is actually quite a good observer and has interesting things to say about the game, when she is allowed to speak. But Sidhu, with ample encouragement from the likes of Gaurav Kapoor or Samir Kocchar, tries painfully hard to sound "charming" and complimentary towards her throughout the segments, leading to cringe-worthy situations. And when they are not picking on Guha, Sidhu and GK are busy noting the qualities of the cheerleaders, and of Rochelle Rao and Karisma Kotak.

Simple solution: stop watching IPL.

<snip>

A

[Tweedle Dee]

But I really enjoy watching the games, especially since the team I'm supporting: the Rajasthan Royals, has done quite well. I guess the simple solution is to stop watching the Extraa Innings.

-TD