Cricket Special Report: Selling sensationalism- Why do cricket stars write books?
The recent revelations by South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs about every topic that would rake him lots of tabloid journalism will put him in the limelight for a few days. The first-class cricketer has not been picked up in the national team squad for the past
two years and was yearning for attention and money of course. He timed his book-release perfectly, in between when http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 was in the land of Arabs surrounded by belly dancers and Arabic
sheesha playing against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and two months before the World Cup.
Gibbs autobiography is titled “To the Point” and was officially released on Monday though he gave the newspapers some well-chosen excerpts. These citing generated a pre-hype before the book release as he claimed that the current touring Proteas squad is
subjected to be a disjoint bunch which has some players taking the dominating lead reminiscent of the squad under http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mickey-Arthur-c1969.
He admits that Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AB-de-Villiers-c887 are all part of one camp but the current squad is “gelling well.” He also mentioned some disturbing and rather raunchy details about sexual escapades while on tour with the national
team. Clearly, Gibbs hasn’t heard about the saying that “what goes on the tour, stays on the tour.” Of course, he also has a couple of chapters on his battle with drugs and alcohol. He also gives his reader some solid names of drugs like dagga smoking.
The book comes from a person who himself has conceded that he never have read a book. He is already facing criticism from SA National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence (Sanca) as well as from his colleagues and rightfully so. If one is writing an autobiography,
they should write about their own career, how they trained etc or a detailed account of his own feelings, rather than making public announcements about the personal lives of fellow colleagues.
But none of that gets a mention in his book or any other cricket star’s book as well. They don’t write to tell his fans about how to polish their talents. Instead, they fill the pages that would have spicy details. While it is true that people generally
are interested to read such explicit material coming straight from the celebrity’s mouth or “hands.” It is more of a guilty pleasure thing; people would suggestively gossip about it when they have got nothing better to do.
The players are role models for the people who adore them. They practically worship them like Sachin Tendulkar in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750. They look up to them especially youngsters who are prone to be influenced by them.
They should encourage them to be a better person but in contrast, these celebrities only want to make money. These stars write about such stuff so that they can get the attention or in Gibbs case- lash back at their fellow colleagues in order to take ‘revenge’
of any injustice they might have faced.
The cricket stars should be able to influence the people who look up to them to do good things in life. For instance, if Gibbs really wanted to get something off his chest; he could have talked about “how” he came off the drug addiction and how was his experience
during the rehabilitation facility. He could have talked about how he coped up with being alone in the facility and how he felt about the devastating impact his struggle had on his family members. This insight could have given the large sections of the society
to ponder about rather than gossip about.
The players are not only being seen in a bad light but the game also leaves a foul taste in the mouth. Cricket is the main victim here. Everyone and anyone related to the game are accountable for any image they are trying to project to the world.
Coming back to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gibbs-c60021, he firmly stands by his ramblings calling them as an “open and honest account” of his fourteen years with the national team. But the most outrageous thing is that he hopes that the “people can respect the honesty.”
Well understandably, the cricket stars are also human beings and none of them are saints. However, they should be responsible enough to know when to carry a secret to one’s grave.
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