AlPhA KaPpA DeLtA PhI

The IPL auctions for 2010 season are about to start. And this time the franchises will have a pool of 66 players from across the world to choose from. The list even includes a player from Canada. Initially, no Englishman featured in the list. However IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi revamped the list to include them. The auctions start today.

Every year the auctions drama catches every ones attention. The curiosity to know how much each player sold for creates a feverish buzz in the media. And every year, at the time of auctions, a few people, like me, keep rambling about how the concept of bidding for players is not in keeping with the ethics behind the game.

I accept that cricketers making money by playing the game they love is not morally wrong. My only concern is whether this trend will open a Pandora’s box in the coming years. Already, a lot has been said and written on this topic year after year, but they all seem to have fallen on deaf years. Consider this, if the only reason for the auctions was to help players make money, then a flat price, arrived at by consensus among franchises should be fixed for each player and let other factors like player’s interest determine the side a player plays in. Performance based hikes should be granted by franchises. This way, if a franchise is not forth-coming by announcing hikes, less players will prefer it and the team will ultimately loose sheen. I strongly believe that current system of bidding is not the right way. The concept of bidding looks an obvious ploy by the BCCI to milk as much money as it can from cash-rich franchises.

Cricket is a gentleman’s sport. The game evolved from lazy barristers stroking the ball to fit athletes competing hard on, the field. This evolution explains why money is important in this sport. Also, performance and performers need to be rewarded. But issues relating to money have to be dealt with cautiously. The BCCI in its excitement to market the IPL has taken the wrong route in selling the players so blatantly.

Express your views below. Please donot refrain from expressing your thoughts.

A friend of mine changed his home to a new locality and wanted me to help him in getting a new Direct TV connection in his new locality. I logged on to the website of Direct Sat TV and checked out the options available. Finding Direct TV in that new locality was really easy. I had to enter the first five digits of the zip code and I had a plan generated for that locality. It was really easy and fast and took no time at all.  I understand from sources online that a recent law passed by the Congress allows Direct TV to air local channels. This step has translated to a flexible option of choosing local channels at my will. This is Direct TV’s biggest advantage for me. The ease of finding a local Direct TV option in any area in the US and the ease of configuring local channels are real kicks.

In addition to getting local channels for my friend, the flexibility didn’t end there. I also got to provide him with a local feeds from his previous locality. I think this will help him follow his local baseball team from his previous locality. Direct TV Packages are really customizable.

With my job done, I signed off on a happy note.

Every time I open my inbox, I get a flurry of interesting mails that I signed up for on various websites. This kind of E-Mail Marketing Solution really baffles me. What’s more, these auto-generated mails designed so aesthetically designed as well. So, I looked up to find various companies that provide e-mail newsletter services. iContact was one such company that I found online. The company provides a variety of E-Mail based services ranging from e-mail newsletters to working on the Barack Obama 08 Presidential Campaign.

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So, what started of as a simple mail in my inbox, lead to a great deal of number-crunching and stats on e-mail marketing services. Add more to the list by commenting on this post.