The problem with following great sporting events of the world on TV is that, they are all played in countries whose time zones severely challenge our sleep patterns, leaving us in a zombie-like state during the day.
Take the Euro Cup 2016, with teams engaged in a fierce battle in France. Next only to the cricket world cup in importance, this football extravaganza draws us insidiously to our TV screens, just as a spider draws a fly to its web.
In the normal course, watching the news or a serial on the small screen, propped up against our pillows, is the perfect soporific. By 10pm, we are in dreamland, like babies after their feed. Even the decibel-breaking primetime news debates are not proof against our drooping eyelids. But if it’s international football, cricket or tennis we instantly turn into incurable insomniacs. With all the adrenalin rush till 3 am, it is impossible to sleep thereafter. We try, but it’s no good. Those heartbreaking penalty shoot outs simply won’t go away.
It’s no different with tennis. The Wimbledon games are scheduled to start at a fairly respectable Indian Standard Time, around 5 pm. But England being England, we can only admire the efficiency of the ground staff in covering the courts at supersonic speeds, every time the rains come down, Which happens almost every half hour or so.
If you patiently sit through all this, you might be lucky enough to catch Federer at around midnight IST. Which means, several cups of black coffee and lying awake all over again. Many years ago, on a rainy day in Wimbledon, Cliff Richard provided the fans with an impromptu rendition of Bachelor Boy in the company of Martina Navratilova. It made for a great TV viewing as well.
The Indian cricket team is currently in the West Indies playing a Test series, all of which are telecast live. These prolonged five-day affairs start at around 10 pm IST and end at 5 am. Only die hards stay up for this. Already, with the ODIs and the T20s offering instant gratification to millions of four- and six-hungry cricket fans, the longer version of the game has lost its charm.
The forward defensive push and the judicious leave outside the off stump, are being bracketed with the dinosaur. So, why watch a Test match over five sleepless nights, with no guarantee of a result at the end of it? Just wait for the highlights the next day.
The Olympic Games will commence in Rio de Janeiro soon. We, in India, are eight-and-a-half hours ahead of Rio. This ‘ahead’ and ‘behind’ business is a bit confusing in time difference terms, but to a lay person, let’s just say that when Usain Bolt is trying to burn the racing tracks faster than the speed of light on a balmy evening in Rio, you may have counted more than one million sheep trying to stay awake. All for that precious 9.7 seconds of a Bolt of lightning to show a clean pair of heels to all the pretenders.
This is my simple advice. Get your normal eight hours sleep as always. Don’t scan the newspapers or the internet as soon as you wake up and spoil the fun. Log on to YouTube, and it’ll all be there. As far as you are concerned, it’s all live. Don’t lose sleep over it.
Published 04 August 2016, 18:09 IST