"LAST Saturday, man of the second Digicel ODI match against Sri Lanka at the Oval, West Indies star batsman (and one of Wisden's five cricketers of 2007), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, made a point of thanking - ahead of family and fans, and while religiously ignoring new, successful coach, John Dyson - the Hindu god, Lord Shiva, without whose blessings, Shiv piously intoned, nothing was possible; and I was deeply touched; it's so refreshing to see one of our overlooked gods getting the media attention He deserves."
"Excluding Trinidad & Tobago captain, Daren Ganga - as overlooked a cricketer perennially as Shiva was a god until last weekend - I am yet to hear a West Indian cricketer declare that the team won a match because they worked damned hard to improve their fitness, practised their technique until it was second nature, regarded and carried themselves as professional athletes, respected themselves, one another & their leadership, followed the advice of the training staff rigidly and concentrated on playing every ball of every over as if it were the only one."
"If, against the run of pray, West Indians are not willing to deify the Old Saint Nick the way they do milk-drinking statues, there's still one god we can pray to for the next series: Thor, the Norse god of thunder, whose blessings, in the form of uninterrupted rain for all five days of all three Test matches, will be our only hope; especially if Shivnarine Chanderpaul is preparing in the temple and not the nets."
*Thanks is given to a god for a cricket win over a human--the coach. And then the hard work of the players towards the win is attributed to a god. For the next match a rain god will be summoned, just in case. Sounds like Christianity except that there are more gods to share honors. Oh, right, Christians pray to one god in the form of three persons. ~ BlogHer
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