I’m impressed. I thought the specimen of cricketer was a bit of a dullard, given the sport they play. But I’m wrong. It turns out now that some of them are quite smart. They’ve known all along that there’s only this far this sport can take you.
Yesterday I found out that Mathew Hayden has written a cook book. Not one but two. Shoaib Akhtar’s entering Bollywood. He’s also singing some random songs in a reality show in India. Brett Lee once sang with Asha Bhonsle but it was unfortunately a failed attempt so he’s gone back to being an express bowler. But to play safe, he’s still part of a band Six & Out. And he’s got his own fashion label !
Tendulkar has 2 restaurants. He’s also part of a company that makes health and sports fitness products. And now apparently, he’s going to feature as a super hero in a comic series.
And then ofcourse there are the various endorsements all these cricketers do. Sometimes I wonder if they endorse to play cricket or play cricket to endorse. That sentence is a bit tricky.
Whether it’s for hair care, shaving creams, razor blades, colas, clothes, shoes, engine fuel – they’re everywhere. And it’s a known fact that cricketers earn more money from endorsements than they do from the sport. So…really…they do play the game so that they’re endorsement worthy. Interesting.
Now the nay sayers will argue that other athletes like Tiger Woods and Schumi and Beckham endorse products too. But the world out there waits before signing them on. They have to prove their mettle before being invited to sing songs or model for hair gels. They’re involved in their sport more and less in modelling. It doesn’t effect their performance on the track or field. It takes a lot of hard core driving before a Raikkonen gets Tag Heuer. A lot more than just a few outstanding demo laps.
1 Comment
January 3, 2008 at 2:16 am
Tendulkar, Shoaib, Lee…. (demo laps?)
Raikkonen, Beckham (?), Woods
With Raikkonen, it takes a lot of hard core engineering for him to exist in the first place