West Indies Cricket Fans

LOOK HERE! WE CYAR LET THIS OPPORTUNITY PASS!!!

this is a great westindian day over a great achievement by westindians in the greatest showcase in the world...the Olympics.

tons of medals including a bagful of gold. we must allow this achievement to have full positive impact on the westindies, on its citizens in our nation in waiting.

all of these tremendous young men and women ought to be collected and toured through the westindies, to mingle, mix and celebrate with our people, and be example and incentive to the children in the schools and everywhere, to make someting of their lives no matter what.

we must ge this across to our governments and to this effect I am calling Toronto tomorrow..the Titty consulate.. to pass this idea on to them and urge them to get moving on it so it can be done as soon as possible.

the more calls urging this sort of develoment the merrier. so please fell free to call as well to increase a sense of urgency in their parts, to convey the most surely accurate impression that all westindians, at home and in the disapora want this development

tenks in advance.

please feel free to encourage all westindians yu know to do the same.

I have already contacted several people I know, and all night and tomorrow I will be calling and emailing to drum up support for the idea.

I have no contact with sissy dot com so who has please rope them in as well

Excellent idea Maps. Rope em all een

i agree de WI athletes must be congratulated an promoted throughout de region, as symbols an as role models fuh we yutes. we all know raw talent is abundant in WI, an now is de time to take advantage of we success an to build on it

i tink jamaica can be a microcosm fuh what de whole region should be doin. jamaica has had plenty T&F success recently an has built on it, an now we see de fruits of dat work startin to bear, wit all de young, successful athletes comin out of JA. de whole WI must take note an do de same

WI ALL IN

Agreed....

As posted elsewhere, here's the medal per capita table:

http://www.medalspercapita.com/#medals-per-capita:2012" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1 Grenada 1 medal 110,821 total population 110,821 population per capita
2 Jamaica 12 medals 2,705,827 total pop 225,485 pop per capita
3 Trinidad and Tobago 4 medals 1,317,714 total pop 329,428 pop per capita
4 New Zealand 13 medals 4,432,620 total pop 340,970 pop per capita
5 Bahamas 1 medal 353,658 total pop 353,658 pop per capita

As a region, we are punching above our weight. Four of the top five are Caribbean nations. That is something to be celebrated....

I remember when Merlene Ottey eventually won her World Champs gold medal, and she was taken on an open-back motorcade throughout the island. I was in Montego Bay when that happened, and as she came down St James St, I took my young son and young daughter to witness that historic occasion. THe crowd was so huge that I had to alternate putting my son and daughter on my shoulders so that they could catch a glimpse of Ottey waving at the crowd.

Now, Jamaicans almost take winning gold medals for granted. I agree with Maps...take the gold medal winners on a tour of their respective countries, get them to wave at and meet young people, and that may inspire them to be the future Usain Bolt, Kirani James, Shelly-Ann Fraser and Keshorn Walcott.

Daaamn Maps, you on the ball with this idea here. Get it done man!

Excellent indeed, Maps!

we must honor the great achievements of the yutes from the caribbean! They made us proud! lets get it done!

btw - Kudos to Kamla for declaring a holiday for their gold!

psss...someone light a fire on the guyanese youngsters to ignite their ability!

Grenada also has a half-day holiday to celebrate Kirani James getting gold in the men's 400m....

Good to see Trinidad had a motorcade for Keshorn:

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/R ... 11046.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Since the world junior champion returned to T&T along with some other Olympic athletes after an eight-hour delayed flight on Monday—which was declared a public holiday in their honour—the thrower was celebrated for more than an hour at Piarco International Airport. He left the airport in a motorcade that proceeded North East to Toco and got there 11 hours later, before the celebrations continued into the early hours of yesterday morning"

Yea I watched it on the telly, it was jam packed in that airport and outside was worst, I feel sorry for people who have to board urgent flights. I heard people took hours just to get from inside the airport to the car park.

He got alot of stuff for his gold medal too.

1. 1 MIllion TT dollars
2. 2.5 Million dollar house
3. Lighthouse, school and aircraft named after him
4. 20, 000 sq ft of land in his home town of Toco
5. University scholarship

DMan wrote:Yea I watched it on the telly, it was jam packed in that airport and outside was worst, I feel sorry for people who have to board urgent flights. I heard people took hours just to get from inside the airport to the car park.

He got alot of stuff for his gold medal too.

1. 1 MIllion TT dollars
2. 2.5 Million dollar house
3. Lighthouse, school and aircraft named after him
4. 20, 000 sq ft of land in his home town of Toco
5. University scholarship

some perspective:

1 million titty dollars is 160,000+ usd

the house wud 400k

the land is nice. he can grow stuff on it. the house must be kept up. he better sell it if he not ready to live in it. the scholarship is fine.

but wont he be making a lot of sponsorhsip money?

I dont agree with government giving athletes money/gifts. those guys will earn anyway.

if we start to produce a lot of gold medalists we will run out of money and land.

and though I like the scholarship...university education should be free in Titty..for all who get to that level.

all school in fact mus be free..like health care

Good points, Maps....though, as DMan pointed out, it hasn't been since the days of Haseley Crawford in 1976 that Trinidad last had a gold medal, so I guess we can forgive some exuberance.

That said, I don't think Trinidad will have to wait long before its next gold....

The interesting debate is this...will the success of Walcott, and the continued decline of the West Indies team, result in sports fans from the eastern Caribbean shifting their focus on heroes away from cricket and towards athletics? I saw that trend when I visited BIm in September and April, and that surprised me, because Barbados always was the headquarters of cricket. And with the politics surrounding WI cricket, will talented young sports men and women feel that they have a better chance of unfettered success if they choose athletics instead of cricket?

Usain Bolt started out life playing cricket:

"I saw myself mainly as a cricketer who only did track and field because he was fast." 'Usain Bolt: My Story', p32.

One of the main reasons he opted for sprinting over cricket had to do with the vagaries of selection:

"I chose to be a sprinter, not only because I was the fastest kid in school, but also because I knew that politics couldn't interfere. In team sports it can be down to opinion whether you are the best. One coach might think you're good enough for the team, another might not, or the side could be picked on friendship and family ties. But in athletics you are either the fastest or you aren't - opinion doesn't come into it." p13.