The arrogant spectator

So I read this article by Suresh Menon, and he makes a number of excellent points. I've rarely gone to the stadium myself, but it also put into my mind the last time I saw a match at the stadium: during IPL 2008, when CSK was playing DC at the MAC. It was one of only two games that DC won in an otherwise sad campaign, and Adam Gilchrist led the way with a nice fifty. I remember how the people around me stood up to applaud when he hit his fiftieth run - I was a little disgruntled, I remember, stubbornly remained sitting until I realised I was the only one in my section of the stadium - and I overheard the couple of guys sitting next to me saying, "it was worth coming here, just to see Gilchrist play like this." It wasn't even a terribly special innings - this was back in the days when CSK's bowling attack was wafer-thin and sucked horribly - but everybody thoroughly enjoyed the game, stayed right till the end, even when it was more than apparent that CSK was losing.

I know it doesn't speak for the majority, and an IPL match doesn't compare to the atmosphere of a proper international match, but I think I might've just felt a little proud of my city then. Just a little.