A new sport: Watching the sports-watchers

As Headingley heads towards not so heady waters for India’s oarsmen, a sport other than cricket — but related to it — is gathering enthusiasts: spectating. In this sport, yet to be given official status, the players are the spectators reacting to their teams or athletes. Obviously, the first thing that comes to mind is the way Indian cricket fans have let it rip against their side for getting skittled out for 78 runs on the first day of the third Test against England on Wednesday, so soon after the very same lot pronounced the same side as the greatest for winning at Lord’s. Watching the switcheroo can be downright giddy.

Then there is Neeraj Chopra, India’s Olympic gold-winning javelin thrower, who is cheesed off at people making a hoo-ha about what he said in a recent interview about fellow javelinist Arshad Nadeem. Explaining earlier why his first throw at the Olympic final was ‘hurried’, he had said that Nadeem was holding the spear and he had to ask for it. That was it. But sports fans (sic) saw ‘Pakistani’ when Chopra meant ‘fellow javelin thrower’, stating that holding another athlete’s javelin, risqué as it may sound, is quite legit, and not to make it an issue. But spectating knows no bounds. It has no rules. For the spectating fan, it’s actually a free-for-all to be watched on a wildlife, not sports, channel.