World Cup of Hockey

I mentioned that while we were in Delhi, the World Cup of FIELD HOCKEY was taking place. It is entirely fair to mention that India isn't quite a world contender in ICE HOCKEY. As far as I can tell, the vast majority of all Indians have never left India, and therefore have never seen snow, and never been ice skating. Well, field hockey it is then. I was shocked to find that men play this game. In the United States this is only a women's game, at least at the collegiate level. So while the world cup was on, and especially while India was playing, you couldn't get anything in any store or restaurant. Indians are definitely crazy for their team. So, I got to watch several of the games. I gotta say, I learned the rules of field hockey while in graduate school. I used to go watch Northwestern's team play and just realized that field hockey is sort of a silly game. I mean no offense to anyone who really lives the game, but it's weird.

Quick disclaimer: It would also be fair to say that most, if not all, sports are completely ridiculous and absurd, but in my mind field hockey is much higher on the list than most!

So here we are, in India, world cup of hockey taking place, Indians completely crazy for their team, watching every minute of every India match intently. I noticed some other strange things. The teams playing included Australia (champion), Germany, Netherlands, England, South Africa, Pakistan, India, Spain, and a couple others I can't remember now. For the most part, the teams look identical, clean cut white guys running around with sticks. The peculiar thing was that the Pakistani team (largely full of muslims) looked like this as well. In cricket for example, Pakistan's team looks like a group of muslim athletes, long beards, religious wear when appropriate, and a general appearance of a religious group of people, playing a sport. In hockey, Pakistan's team doesn't give this appearance. The strangest thing to me, was the appearance of India's team.

India's team really looks like a bunch of rag tags. There are all manner of religious hairdos, and unkempt looking individuals running around together. I have to say, while the appearance of EVERY OTHER TEAM IN THE TOURNAMENT was clean cut and mildly appealing, the appearance of India's team was quite slovenly. It's funny to me because in cricket it's different. India's cricket team generally looks well kept and appears on the pitch well. As it turns out, India placed 8th of 12 (I think) and so their appearance didn't matter much, but I had a hard time watching them play as a team, because they didn't appear to be one. As it is Pakistan finished at the bottom of the tournament, so their appearance didn't matter much either.