Gautam Gambhir was captain of the IPL (Indian Premier League) cricket team, Delhi Daredevils. Since his and his team’s performance were not to his satisfaction, he decided to relinquish the captaincy. He also decided to play for free of charge this season and decided to forego his salary of Rs.2.8 crore.
(To my non-Indian readers: Cricket is the only game where the captain is the deciding authority on the field and off the field. In other sports, the coach or the manager is the deciding authority.)
That is a class act. As stated in NDTV, he puts pride above everything else. This also shows his love for the game.
As I am writing this, my thoughts go out to Pete Rose, one of the greatest professional baseball players.
To say that Pete Rose loves playing baseball is quite an understatement. Let me give 2 examples of his love for baseball.
1 - He once said in an interview that he will play baseball even if no one paid him any money to play. He loves the game so much that he’ll play for free.
2 – During his games, whenever he got a “Ball 4 - Walk”, he would run as fast as he could to first base, instead of just walking to first base. (Non Baseball readers: If you do not understand the game, it is OK). This is just an example to show Pete’s enthusiasm for playing the game. He is like a 12 year old boy, playing a game with friends on the weekend, in the middle of the street.
Pete should have been elected to the Baseball’s Hall of Fame. He was denied because he was accused of betting on baseball games. Betting on baseball games is legal in Las Vegas but players are not allowed to bet.
What kind of bets did Pete make? He always made bets for his team to WIN. He never made any bets for his team to lose.
I think Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame. He does not deserve a life time ban from the Hall of Fame.
PS: Here is a hypothetical question. If Virat Kohli bets a few dollars that India
will win the next T20 World Cup, will you support banning him from cricket forever?
