Ricky Ponting and the Graduation Goggles

I think I’ve been fairly vocal about my contrasting feelings for Ricky Ponting . Despite the immense talent the bloke was blessed with, I would’ve still hated to see him beat Sachin’s records at any stage.

During Sachin’s lean patch in 05- 07 and Ponting’s peak I was afraid my worst fears were about to come true. I could’ve handled anyone else outshining Sachin – Lara, Kallis, but not Ponting – I hated him so much. But despite this hate, I’ve never denied his greatness, he remains among the best the game has witnessed.

Today I came across this article by Andy Bull in the Guardian and these lines got me thinking:

And it was exactly at this point, moments after Phil Hughes had edged a catch to slip with Australia still needing 291 to win, that ripples of goodwill for Ponting began to spread out around the world. On Twitter English fans and journalists were lining up like guests at a wedding to wish him well and urge him on. The mere idea that his career might be punctuated with one more 0 as its final full stop was too much for many to take, as though they couldn’t stand to countenance watching the humiliation of a great, much as they would have enjoyed watching him fail in years gone by.

The lines took me to the “Graduation Goggles” phenomenon explained by Robin in How I Met Your Mother.

Graduation goggles is the nostalgic feeling one has about a time or someone in their life when it is about to end, even if the time was completely miserable.

So all I can gather now is that most of us Ponting haters are currently experiencing the Graduation Goggles phenomenon when it comes to Ricky Ponting.