Shaken......and Stirred......and Dizzy

When the stakes are high, when the money involved is a lot, when the competition is tough, and when the goal to be achieved is heavily desired, by many, the very basics of principles and ethics are severely compromised with. It was proved, much to my disgust, once again in the ongoing "spy row". Being an ardent fan of Motorsport, and Formula one (till now) I feel a moral obligation on the behalf of everyone who is remotely interested with sports to clear the closet of the skeletons that have been piling up heavily in the recent days.

I am feeling shaken to the core, my basic trust has been broken. The sickening feeling is awefully similar to the feeling I got in my childhood when I learnt that the "sport" we call as a "religion" is nothing but a farce. Yes, I am referring to the match fixing scandal in cricket that left me broken. No, it was not only the Indian team that was tainted. The likes of Late Hansie Cronje proved the depth to which the sickness was spread. Similarly, it is not just McLaren that is tainted (as i will put forth later).

What the match fixing scandal did to every Indian was possibly nothing more than to give an ugly scar on the face of its history, which is, visible, but it doesn't bother the eye much and we can happily go back to watch the Twenty20 world cup. But what it did to me was to shake the very foundations of my beliefs. That the sport is about prestige, national pride, and the players are out there to prove their worth in the sport. That they are playing to win. That they are principled. Hence my passion in cricket was gone forever. Yes I have watched a few matches off on occassionaly since then, but with zero emotion. It has never retained me long enough to be glued to the screen for the entire length of the match. It is just not the same knowing that a few mobile phone calls from a bookie can change the very outcome of a match.

It is like being a child believing all through that Santa Claus exists and climbs through the chimney of its house to give it gifts. The child is rudely awakened to the fact that there is, in fact, no santa claus and the friendly ho ho ho that it hears every christmas indeed comes from the father. The future efforts of the father to dress up like a santa claus with the fake pot belly will not instill the same passion and the excitement in the child anymore.

The spy scandal has proved the ugliness of the situation. It has rudely awakened all of us Die hard Formula one fans that how individual interests and ambitions can snatch the beauty of the sport and leave it at being called a farce. Yes, a few individuals at McLaren were guilty. Even the Ferrarri mechanic was guilty. Yes, there was an exchange of information between them all in the interest of the coveted top spot. The funny thing is, that how this is not the first time that it has happened in the so called "sport". Let me remind you of the 2005 Honda incidence.

How they manipulated their Fuel tanks to carry that little bit of extra that was outside the regulation. If you are a Ferrarri fan beaming with a grin that how "justice" was done to your favourite "clean" team, let me remind you that Ferrarri is equally guilty in this case. You don't even need to look that far back to come up with an incidence that proves you in the wrong. The Melbourne fiasco earlier this year proved that even the "best" team can resort to cheap tactics like movable floors to gain the advantage. If you are a Renault fan laughing at the hapless Ferrarri McLaren and Honda fans, let me also remind you of the accusation (yet to be proved)that an engineer by the name of Phil took with him 3 CDs carrying confidential data about the cooling system and what not from the McLaren garage when he joined your favourite team earlier this season. If for some unfathomable reason you are a fan of any other team, then your happiness is short lived, as it is just a matter of time when it will be proved that your team also resorted to something beyond the legal boundaries to gain the edge.

The feeling of disgust is so gripping that many fans have simply resigned from the sport altogether. It has definitely played with my passion in such a cheap way that I will no longer have the passion or the rigor with which i used to watch this dear sport. I will watch a few races, yes, I will watch a few completely also, yes (as the race doesn't take more than 1 hour 45 minutes). But it will take a full one and a half season before I can even begin to imagine that it is a "fair" sport. Even if I become a full fledged fan then, i will never believe in the sport completely. Coming to the favourite team aspect. It will continue to be McLaren, because of the
basic reasons I started supporting it initially (Equal driver policy, drive to improve performance, balance in all the aspects, not a blind focus on speed or acceleration, consistency, independent thinking and behaviour). I will start watching A1 from now on (For those who don't know, everyone is given an equal car there, and drivers represent their country, and India has been an integral part of that sport). If a parallel series comes up challenging F1, yes, I will watch it also.

There is only one truely pure sport left for me now, and it is football. I can find solace in the fact that any tweaking in the performance is clearly visible (as proven by the Serie A controversy 2 seasons ago) and it is the most transparent sport available. I hope this trust doesn't get shattered so easily.

As for the general Indian Public blissfuly unaware of the details of Formula one, you will know what it is next year, when the liquor baron from India (Vijay Mallya) starts applying his business strategy to Spyker team that he bought out recently. The average indian's knowledge about the sport will grow more than the presence of a certain Karthikeyan not so long ago.

Hope for the best for all sports and all competitions in life. I vow that I will not play aroundwith core values in whatever i do in life. I hope to give integrity more preference than success.