Pakistan 2007 = Colombia 1994 ???

From the Red Sox/Duke/Kentucky/Green Bay/Team X Fans Aren't Nearly As Crazy As We Americans Tend To Think They Are department:

So the cricket world cup is going on right now, which means exactly nothing to America but a hell of a lot to a good chunk of the world. It's like the soccer world cup in that it occurs every 4 years, and is very similar except for the fact that every nation on the planet does not go apeshit for it, only the ones where cricket is played. Hell I was in Barbados once when the Windies {West Indies} were playing a friendly match against I think England, and the entire Island went absolutely and completely batshit crazy over it for 5 days.

So there are 16 teams in 4 groups of 4 and the top two teams advance out of group play to the quarterfinals. Pakistan is a heavy hitter when it comes to cricket. I am no expert, but I do know that cricket is pretty much a national obsession and Pakistan is up there with the best of the best. So the fact that their shock loss to cricket minnows Ireland last weekend meant that they had no chance to advance to the quarterfinals and were eliminated from the World Cup.

So naturally the 3 members of Pakistan Cricket Board Selection Committee immediately turned their resignations in directly to President Musharraf {this should give an idea of how important cricket is in Pakistan - could you see the selection committee of USA basketball resigning directly to the President every time the US Basketball team gets embarrassed in the Olympics? No, you can't}.

"Yeah, whatever Kanu. That's no big deal."

Well, the next day the manager of the team turned up dead in his hotel room, and authorities have termed his death "suspicious".

And Tubby Smith thinks UK basketball fans are demanding?

Damn, it sure sounds like some crazed Pakistani cricket fan offed the coach because the team was shockingly knocked out of the world cup. If so, a fucked up and tragic situation that is very reminiscent of Andres Escobar's murder upon returning to Colombia after the 1994 World Cup. Andres, you see, had the misfortune of scoring the own goal in a 1-2 loss to the USA that knocked Colombia out of the World Cup that they felt like they had a legitimate chance to win {they easily topped the South American qualifying that year behind Valderramma and Asprilla and absolutely thrashed World Cup favorites Argentina 5-0 in Buenos Aires, leading many to believe that they would go on to win the World Cup}.