Fans: 'Cricket loses its innocence in Pakistan'

Source: CNN

There are many articles on CNN that are related to the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus earlier today. This is my favorite one because it about hurting the sport and all of it's fans.

Cricket has long been considered the gentleman's game -- a sport in which the tenets of fair play and respect for authority are so revered that it introduced a colloquialism to describe something unacceptable: "It's just not cricket."

Cricket fans around the world found themselves shaking their heads and muttering just that Tuesday morning, after gunmen in Pakistan opened fire on a bus carrying members of the Sri Lankan national team on their way to a stadium for a match.

At least seven police officers and a driver were killed and at least eight members of the Sri Lankan team were wounded in the well-coordinated attack in the eastern city of Lahore.

No one immediately claimed responsibility.

"The sport that was so important that it helped usher the thawing of tense India-Pakistan relations, the sport that finally led the UK to join the rest of the world in embargoing South Africa during apartheid, it just lost its innocence today," said Razab Chowdhury of Fremont, California.

Sport transcends politics. Throughout periods of war, there have been truces to celebrate sport. The Olympic Truce is the most famous one. Countries that are in isolation such as Cuba and North Korea can still come to world stage in baseball and soccer respectively. In Canada, our most famous series was the 1972 Hockey Summit Series where both Canada and the USSR offered friendship to celebrate hockey during the height of the Cold War. The friendship series wasn't so friendly by the end of it as it became one of the most famous sporting events in history due to it's competitiveness.

Most Pakistanis would agree that before today, an attack at a cricket venue was unthinkable. A cricket venue is sacred ground. And to attack 'guests' makes it even worse. Most politicians and sportsmen thought that no matter how violent terrorist attacks were that sport would be spared. There needs to be a re-think now and Pakistan must be suspended from all cricket competitions for at last one year.

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Five Sri Lankan cricketers injured in terror attack in Pakistan

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene is reported to be one of those injured in the ambush

To keep track of live updates, please go to Cricinfo's Live Blog

Source: BBC

At least five members of the Sri Lankan cricket team have been injured in a shooting incident in the Pakistani city of Lahore, a Sri Lankan minister says.

Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge told the BBC said that early reports said indicated that the injuries to five players and a coach were minor.

The incident happened when unidentified gunmen fired on a convoy carrying Sri Lankan and Pakistani cricketers.

Unconfirmed reports say some policemen had been killed by the shooting.

Sri Lankan media reports said two of the players including Thilan Samaraweera, who scored a double century in the ongoing Test match, have been taken to hospital.

The convoy was carrying Pakistani and Sri Lankan cricketers to the Gaddafi stadium, which is hosting a Test match between the two sides. The third day of play in the Second Test was scheduled to begin.

Source: Cricinfo

Five Sri Lankan players have been injured in a terrorist attack near the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Mahela Jayawardene, Ajantha Mendis, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana are those being treated in hospital for minor injuries.

The Sri Lankans were on their way to the Gaddafi Stadium when their bus was attacked by five armed terrorists near Liberty market. Habibur Rehman, chief commissioner of police, said 12 masked terrorists fired at the Sri Lankan team bus. The gunmen shot at the wheels of the bus and also injured the driver. A grenade was also thrown at the bus but it missed. The incident puts the ongoing second Test and the tour in doubt.

"The bus came under attack as we were driving to the stadium, the gunmen targeted the wheels of the bus first and then the bus," Mahela Jayawardene told Cricinfo. "We all dived to the floor to take cover. About five players have been injured and also Paul Farbrace [a member of the support staff], but most of the injuries appear to be minor at this stage and caused by debris."

Sad isn't it. India were to play in Pakistan for a test series but after the Mumbai attacks, the Indians pulled out and are playing New Zealand instead. Pakistan hadn't played a home test match in 14 months and were desperate for an opponent. Sri Lanka volunteered as a gesture of goodwill to play two test matches. The fist test match went without a hitch and was a draw. The second rest match was underway but as the SL team bus arrived at the stadium for Day 3 it was ambushed. It's so sad that a team gets attacked because of a gesture of goodwill.

The ICC (International Cricket Council) must ban Pakistan indefinitely from all future cricket events.

Mumbai - I hid in the Bathroom For 7 Hours

Source: Forbes

Just Frightening!

American Michael Pollack was having dinner in the Taj Mahal Hotel with his wife when attackers struck. He gives one of the first comprehensive accounts to emerge of the terrifying hours that followed. This is an excerpt from his story published by Forbes.

My story begins innocuously, with a dinner reservation in a world-class hotel. It ends 12 hours later after the Indian army freed us.

My point is not to sensationalize events. It is to express my gratitude and pay tribute to the staff of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, who sacrificed their lives so that we could survive. They, along with the Indian army, are the true heroes that emerged from this tragedy. More....

Mumbai Attacks: A Video Timeline

Source: Mashable

I haven't posted much about the Mumbai attacks because I don't really know where to start or where to end. The best I can present to you in this timeline. Press "View in Dipity" to go the the website and see the timeline in full

The horrendous attacks in Mumbai, while covered extensively by mainstream news outlets, have also been credited as another landmark moment for social media sites like Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. CNN called the Mumbai attacks Twitter’s “coming of age“, while one Flickr photoset has received in excess of 70,000 views.

How to make sense of the outpouring of social media from Mumbai? Social timeline Dipity has just served up a particularly useful account tracking how events unfolded, pulling together news stories and YouTube videos and posting them along a timeline (embedded above).

Some things to try while playing with the above widget:

1. In Timeline View, click on the first bubble, then continue hitting “next event” for the easiest navigation.

2. Hit the Flipbook View, then click on the far right of the timeline to flick through the events of the most recent attack (the Mumbai timeline goes right back to 2001)

3. Click List View for the simplest representation of the data - a list of the videos in reverse chronological order

4. Click Map View to see videos plotted on a map (largely useless in the Mumbai case, but a good Dipity feature)

Dipity is imperfect, for sure: you can quickly lose your place while navigating the timeline. And yet, there is so much social media content created during world events that new ways to view and navigate that data are becoming invaluable. Perhaps even more telling: use cases like these are helping social media to shake off its stigma of being a tool for narcissists or a wasteland filled with life’s minutiae.