Thank god for the one-day game

Cassandra's Candid Corner
Stabroek News
August 22, 1999


* Well, our new President and Maximum Leader has had his first Cabinet meeting as Commander-in-Chief and Numero Uno. What would I not have given to be able to observe that first gathering. Who behaved sycophantically? Who was hostile ? Who kept one eye on him, one eye on JJ'S demeanour and one eye on the potential competitor and front runner for the post? I wish I could share with him my two cents worth of advice.

For one thing, I would tell him to follow the Godfather's advice: he who sucks up the most is to be least trusted. Then I would tell him to ease out the dedicated and filter in the educated. On second thoughts, it is probably better advice to just dump those incompetent, inefficient and counter-productive loyalists en masse with one fell swoop, and introduce proven and tested managers who have a progressive vision for their respective fields. These latter inductees could even be (but must not necessarily be) PPP cadre, who might have actually been sidelined because of and by the insecure old guard. Weed out the sick and infirm; eliminate those with boisterous superficiality who cry and laugh as the occasion and media cameras demand. Also, I would gently suggest that he must escape the apron and too much looking-over-the-shoulder of the ex-President.

You, young Bharrat, are the President of all of Guyana now. You know your professional portfolio better than any of the other ministers know theirs. But ease with the arrogance and embrace magnanimity. Listen to advice but do not necessarily act on it. Weigh it and analyse it for its substance, keeping in mind the possible hidden agenda of the advice-giver. Then act - wrongly or rightly. Remember also that no decision is carved immutably in stone. If the implementation of the chosen direction is proving incorrect and is leading to irreparably damaging consequences, do not insist on defending the indefensible. Lastly, eradicate the hate and bitterness that your party feels for the PNC. Cultivate like-minded elements in the opposition and even co-opt their services in matters of national interest and emergency.

So there. It is my penny's worth of experience which has served me in good stead and which I have passed on successfully to my sons of Bharrat's age.

* On another note - perhaps meaningful, perhaps ridiculous. Do you think that the next Link Show will carry on with the insinuating, unfair, unproven, assassinative characterisation of Mr Jagdeo? Should this be allowed? Should we not start thinking of establishing a body of noble men and women who could define and defend the nation's morals and ethics vis-a-vis entertainers' vulgarity and depravity?

* Ah giv up! My bronze queen, the most medalled woman in track history, Merlene Ottey, has now been accused of taking performance-enhancing chemicals. No! No! Not her! She is not Mary Slaney or Katrin Krabbe. I hope that if they find testosterone in her urine/blood, it will be because she was on birth control pills. Or, if they discover traces of Clenbuterol, it derived from her asthma medication.

But you and I know that the Olympic motto of higher, faster, stronger, and the millions paid out in endorsements are making athletes have objectives other than the laudable interests of sport and the laurel wreaths of victory. In retrospect, perhaps Mr Avery Brundage, who fought relentlessly against the professionalisation of athletes, was right all along. And the chemical companies seem themselves to be in an Olympic competition to see who can produce drugs which are undetectable, while increasing muscularity, vascularity, strength, endurance and fat metabolisation of the consumer.

Look, whenever big bucks are involved, cheating will inevitably take place. Following that logic, it is clear that the more pervasive the dollar becomes, the more institutionalised cheating will become. Is this trend reversible? Was it a natural progression? Is it a biological imperative? It might be true that the runners from Sao Tome and Sweden both have that compulsion to win. That's good so. My naive wish is that they reach the peak of their respective disciplines, via training and dedication. It might be argued that scientifically advanced methods of training could give a sportsman an edge (these methodologies are soon copied anyway), but no science can compete with and detract from the dedication of the sportsman.

If Merlene or Ato or Linford or Javier prove positive, I will be disappointed. But I will heap more blame and shame on the likes of Samaranch and the corporate board members of Nike and Adidas and those of their ilk who believe that money is everything. In fact, it is that same philosophy which has permeated into the athletes' collective psyche. I am reliably informed that there was a poll taken by Sports Illustrated not so long ago, in which one hundred athletes were asked if they would take a drug that will kill them in five years, if during those five years they would win every race (and reap the concomitant benefits).

More than fifty per cent replied in the affirmative!! Will you, dear reader, bother to look at the Olympics and World Sports if this continues? I surely will not watch the fraud.

* While we are on the subject of sports, I notice that the Region's press has given great coverage to Mr Tony Cozier's views on the problems affecting West Indian cricket. Now, Mr. Cozier is arguably the most insightful sports commentator in the Region, and his knowledge of cricket is encyclopaedic. His logic, while delivering a lecture recently to honour Charles "Jim" Alden (a cricketing hero of Montserrat?) was at best questionable. Tony Cozier blamed TV and imported cultural phenomena (soap operas, the wrestling farces, computer games, even soccer, etc.) for the decline of WI cricket. Well I don't know if he is right or wrong, but I do know that Test cricket mostly is depressingly boring. What sort of game allows you the agony of getting sunburnt for five days, then it ends in a disappointing draw?!? Even on a "batsman's paradise" like Bourda (on which Richie Richardson now, after scintillating performances at the crease, has a definite claim of ownership), watching cricket there is like watching paint dry. Thank God for the one-day game and the musing fans and rum and roti. Aint dat dee trut'?


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