CSK Reigns Supreme in Facebook

Facebook has just released the top 10 words that ruled status updates in India in 2010. And CSK has ranked  as the eighth most popular word - even higher than Rajnikanth. It shows clearly that CSK fans can't keep their enthusiasm to themself, making the team - only sports team in the list. With it, CSK has firmly established itself as the most loved team with the most passionate fans. 

Please find below the words that ruled status updates from India in 2010. 

1. Common Wealth Games 
2. World Cup 
3. ChitChat 
4. Cancer 
5. Endhiran 
6. Raajneeti 
7. Suresh Kalmadi 
8. CSK 
9. Rajnikanth 
10. Tere Liye

Why should u follow @albiemorkel

Thought i do check out Albie Morkel's twitter page on&off.. I have not been following him so far. So it was a surprising to visit Albie's page today to find out that he has confirmed that he would stay with CSK on Nov 23rd. 15 days ahead of submission of names. Hmmm.. So started following him today to catch any more news like this.
So if you are not following Albie Morkel so far, follow him @ http://twitter.com/#!/albiemorkel

Chennai Super Kings Launches Kings Club

With only ten days left for the start of Champions Twenty20 League, Chennai Super Kings management team is slowly springing into action. They have started with a bang by launching the official membership programme -  “Kings Club”. The fan club was launched  today at Chennai by Mr. T. S. Raghupathy, Executive President, The India Cements Limited in the presence of Mr. K. V. P. Baskar, Operations Director, South, Aircel Cellular Limited. Adding to the excitement was percussionist par excellence, Mr. Sivamani. 

The KINGS CLUB membership programme consists of two membership levels, Senior and Junior. Membership is for a year which can be renewed subsequently and is priced at Rs. 500 for School Children(Junior) and Rs 1,000 for others(Senior). The KINGS CLUB offers its members, unique incentives designed to satisfy their priorities: 

•  Home ticket priority access & Discounts for IPL home Matches
  
• Invites to practice sessions
  
•  Welcome gift hamper with a host of goodies
  
• Participation in special events
  
• Newsletters
  
• Discounts on team merchandise available on the E-Store
• Photo opportunities with the cricket stars
  

With the Kings Club, Chennai Super Kings has extended its relationship with its fans and has provided them with an opportunity to belong to the extended family of the Chennai Super Kings. Also it makes much more sense in these days of credit crunch to bring in cash into the company by using Chennai Super Kings' Brand Name.

Enrolling in the KINGS CLUB is easy. Membership forms will be available from Friday November 28, 2008 at select outlets of Café Coffee Day and Aircel. Filled in forms with cheques attached can be dropped off at various collection centres. Within a week, membership cards will be dispatched and a welcome kit with gift hamper in 3 to 4 weeks time. There is also the option of joining the fan club by visiting www.chennaisuperkings.com to register their payments and details. 

My Take on Kings Club

Though the benefits of Kings Club is not yet clear, i think it is worth the money to buy one (I am buying one), if you plan to go to the stadium during IPL or CL T20.

News Source: Official Website

Gony - A Loving Husband and A Heart-Broken Parent

Manpreet Gony has impressed one and all by his performance at Indian Premier League. For a novice bowler, who hardly had any first class experience, he has lead the CSK bowling attack with aplomb. Not only that, he has also won a match for Chennai Super Kings with his bat. A man, with a big heart and a great attitude, he surely has a great future before him. Times of India in its article - aptly titled - "The ecstasy and Agony of being MS Gony", reveals his personal side that you will never hear from him again.

A Few Excerpts from the Interview:

"As he stood alone in a Delhi hospital, clutching the lifeless body of his baby, the light seemed to have gone out of his life."

"When a father holds the dead body of his son, the other things in life become insignificant. I was selected to represent PCA in the Buchi Babu meet within seven days of this tragedy. I went as it was my maiden call-up, leaving my wife behind"

"I was frustrated as I was taking wickets in club cricket consistently but was not being considered for selection. I was thinking about leaving but my wife insisted that I should just carry on. Those were hard days"

"I still don't have a job. I used to earn peanuts playing club cricket. My wife sustained the family"

"I snapped all ties with my parents as they were never nice to my wife"

"I want my wife to take the Civil Services entrance test"

News Source: CSK Fan Club

P.S: On reading the personal experiences of players like this, I thanked Modi & Co. for coming up with this concept.

And Thank you, Manpreet Gaur for standing-by Gony during those dark days... Was reminded of the old quote "Behind every successful man, there is a woman". How true!

Goodbye Hayden, Hussey & Oram

A Letter from a Chennai Super Kings Fan

Hi Hayden, Hussey and Oram,

         Thanks for the amazing roles you have played in each of the CSK's wins so far. You have proved that you are worth every penny that Chennai Super Kings paid for you. [may be even more]. It was on your performances that Chennai Super Kings won all these matches.

Dear Hayden,

    Your presence at the top of the batting order was the factor that made Chennai Super Kings' batting the strongest in the competition. Your booming drives and powerful shots made every opposition bowler go for cover.  But we are most thankful for the way, you & Hussey ensured that one of you lasted the entire innings.  Though new players are coming into the team in your absence, you can never be replaced.

Dear Hussey,

    I have to say this "You have won yourself another fan(Me) during your stay here". Seeing you play made me understand why 'Mr. Cricket' is the perfect nickname for you. You showcase everything good about cricket. A professional, you always put the team needs before personal glory. Hope the younger players in the team learn commitment and professionalism from you. While Hayden can never be replaced, it is you, we will miss the most.

Dear Oram,

     Thanks to Hayden and Hussey, we never got to see the towering sixes that you are known for. But still, you understood your role as a bowler and came back strongly in the third and fourth match. But it was your mere presence in the lower middle order that added the touch of invincibility to our batting order. Hope we get to see more of your batting and bowling next year. It is you we await the most.

 

Good bye Hayden, Hussey & Oram. Chennai Super Kings Fans would really miss you all. And do keep in touch with your CSK team mates and share your wisdom. And all the best for your upcoming tours.

Thank you Readers/CSK Fans

In less than 75 days of its birth, this blog has hit 100 RSS subscribers. No mean achievement, considering that this number is achieved by a non-tech blog. This stands as a proof for the immense support for Chennai Super Kings. So, a Big Thank You for all the readers and subscribers for this blog. You have made this site the leading blog/fansite for Chennai Super kings fans.

Not only the RSS subscribers, but even the page views has been quite high for a such a young blog. (More than 10,000 visits in this 74 days)

Welcoming Gaurav

You all might know Gaurav Kannade, who wrote the first guest post on this blog. A great narrator, he now joins the Chennai Super Kings Fansite team as an author. So you might hear a lot of his analysis and thoughts regarding Chennai Super Kings and IPL in general on this blog.

About Gaurav:

Gaurav is a Computer graduate student in a college in U.S. He is on a 4-month visit to Chennai as a visiting student to the Institute of Mathematical Sciences. These 4 months and a few matches at Chepauk Stadium is enough to turn him to a Chennai Super Kings fan. He candidly accepts that he also loves the place and the city. [Treasured words since they are coming from a person who is not a Tamil].

If you are a cricket lover, do subscribe to his blog - Cricket's Outside Edge

Dhoni drives around Chennai at Night

Dhoni in his column on cricketnext, confesses that it was great to have back to back wins. He claims that the bonding within the team was great. Most importantly for Chennai Super Kings fans, he confesses he loves riding on his motorbike around Chennai. [If you spot him riding his motorbike on night, do mail me @ chennaisuperkings@gmail.com, I will surely post it]. Dhoni also said his vocabulary now includes the Tamil words 'ille', 'thambi' and 'anna'.

But what I liked most about his column is identifying the key issue for today's match against Kolkata Knight riders

"The battle that could decide the result of the encounter is between the pace bowlers of the Knight Riders and our top order. If Hayden takes on Ishant Sharma and company, we will do well."

Bulls Eye Dhoni.

Chennai Super Kings Promo Video

Chennai Super Kings Promotional video is finally up in the YouTube. Though the quality is not that great, it is the first one to be uploaded in YouTube. Hope to see better quality ones in the near future.

This video is a shorter version of the ad but of better quality

Karunanidhi wants Chennai Super Kings to win

Even the politicians are joining in the IPL craze. Karunanidhi, Chief Minster of Tamil Nadu, joins thousands of Chennai cricket fans in his support for Chennai Super Kings. He appended his name to a “wish-petition”, urging hosts Chennai Super Kings to win both their T20 Indian Premier League outings to be played here Wednesday and Saturday.

Chennaionline.com, one of the leading city portals, had organized this campaign.The petition was ceremoniously handed over to CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni by officials from India Cements, the company that owns the team.

Both Karunanidhi and Tamil Nadu Governor S. S. Barnala are expected to be present for today's match at Chennai.

Chennai Super Kings Website Rocks!!!

On seeing Chennai Super Kings Official Website for the first time, I thought that though the Design was not great, it should suffice. But on seeing the other IPL teams' websites, I am satisfied that Chennai Super Kings have done a wonderful job with their website and it is surely the best of the lot. Even Aditya Ramgopal, who did a survey on all the websites, agrees with this opinion.

 

Simplicity

One thing that Google has shown to the rest of the world wide web is that Simple and Neat design always rocks. This is much more important for Indian websites since most of us are still using dial-up connections and even our Broad Band is ultra-slow. But Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Dare Devils forgot this and made their websites loaded with flash and videos that suck up the bandwidth. Just by its simplicity, Chennai Super Kings scores over Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders

 

Design

Creativity lies in coming with simple, elegant and attractive designs that does not suck up bandwidth. Though, Rajastan Royals have come up with an elegant design, the website looks so professional that most of its fans would mistake the website for a corporate website rather than the website of a sports club. The web layouts and colour combinations of websites of  Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab does not seem right. But the worst of the lot is the website designed for Bangalore Royal Challengers. Right from the prominence given to Vijay Mallaya in the website to the red-yellow colour combination makes you doubt whether this is the company that comes up with Kingfisher Calendar.

Operational

But the downside for Chennai Super Kings' website is that it is still not fully operational. Hopefully, all the links and sections of  CSK website would start working soon.

P.S: Mumbai Indians still does not have an official website.

Rajiv Menon to direct Chennai Super Kings' Anthem

If this source is to be believed, Ace cinematographer-cum-film maker Rajiv Menon is going to direct the music video/anthem for Chennai Super Kings. Rajiv, responsible for the success for  several commercials, is taking every effort to make this video stand out from the rest. Both Vijay and Nayanthara are expected to shake their legs for the video.

 

According to insiders, the video is expected to be ready within the first week of April. A segment of the video, featuring  a bunch of youngsters and top players from the Chennai team, was recently shot at AVM studios. [To know about AVM's connection with Chennai Super Kings, read here]

'Yellow Nation' at Chepauk

Chennai Super Kings Fans, watching the test match between India and South Africa, were in for a surprise - Chepauk Stadium wore a festive look with a number of banners, hoarding and signboards all decorated in bright yellow. [Thus ending the long debate among Chennai super kings fans about the official colour of the team and the colour of team uniform] Even all roads leading to the Stadium, walls and parts of the Stadium were painted with the logo of the Chennai Super Kings team.

 

Not stopping with the banners, India Cements Limited has also announced various promotions during the test match  - Prizes for those coming dressed in yellow, Surprise gifts, etc. Also India Cements Limited is expected to start off its merchandise (T-shirts, caps) sale in the next few days. With a flat pitch, the 'yellow nation' became the hot topic of debate rather than the cricket played on the stadium. Even Cricinfo and rediff cannot stop themselves from commenting about "Welcome to Lion's Den" banners, seen on the stadium.

 

News Source: Hindu

Theme Song - Chennai Super Kings

Theme song of a sports team plays a major role in stirring up the passion of its fans. All the fans of Chennai Super Kings know this and would have the expectation that the theme song of CSK should not only be great, but also should be able to inspire both fans and players. It seems the same care has been shown by the management of Chennai Super Kings team too.

India Cements Limited has brought in the best available talent for composing the theme song of Chennai Super Kings. Ergo reports that 20 year old wonder GV Prakash(nephew of veteran film composer A.R. Rahman) is going to be the music director for the theme song while Vairamuthu is the lyricist. Since Vairamuthu is the lyricist, we can be rest assured that the theme song would be in Tamil.

Member of CSK Orkut Communities??

Are you a member of Chennai Super Kings Orkut Communities?

Until today, I was not. Don't know how I missed it. But until the lighting bolt struck me today, I never thought of supporting Chennai Super Kings and networking with other Chennai Super Kings Fans through Orkut. If you are like me... yet to become a member of any Chennai Super Kings Orkut fan communities, it is time you became a member of one.

 

There are already 78 Orkut Communities that support Chennai Super Kings. But three of them have emerged as the leaders:

• Chennai Super Kings - IPL with 2918 members
• Chennai Super Kings - IPL with 1960 members
• Chennai Super Kings - Official with 1014 members

Hope you became a member of a Chennai Super Kings Orkut Fan community.

P.S: You can add me as a friend @ http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=12456944139455719818

Chennai Super Kings Fans Blog Directory!!

As an ongoing project, I am collecting the Chennai Super Kings Fans' Blog... So if we have one, please post your url in the comments section.. I would be giving you a link in my side bar...

Fans' Blog I know until now:

• Ottayan
• Super Kings Fan Club

Why I am doing it?

• To provide a one stop for Chennai Super King Fans searching for Chennai Super Kings Fans' Blog to follow.
  
• To provide some link juice toe each other.

Cheerleaders for Chennai Super Kings

It is a rare phenomenon in marketing in which a product/service is successfully able to expand its category. To be successful, Indian Premier League has to achieve this rare phenomenon by expanding its category from Sports to Entertainment. ICL has already shown the way in this regard and Cricinfo list packaged entertainment as one of the key reasons for the success of ICL in Chandigarh. Hope Chennai Super Kings, Chennai Franchise of Indian Premier League also follows suit .

If it does:

We can expect dance and music shows by famous Kollywood stars during the breaks. If India Cements has the courage, it may even bring some half-clad cheer leaders(mostly foreign exported) to M.A. Chidambaram Stadium[:)]. [Remember ICL has already shown the path by having cheerleaders dancing on the either side of the park].

Ottayan(another Chennai Super Kings Fan) is running a poll on his blog on whom should be the Cheerleader(Sorry Ottayan, I prefer the word 'Cheerleader' to 'Mascot') for Chennai Super Kings. Choices he has listed are:

Whom do you prefer? Any other choices you suggest?

Update: Since Nayantara has been officially choosen as the ambassador of Chennai Super Kings, I think it is time to close this poll...

Advertisements...

After the grand auction on Wednesday, IPL franchises have started their brand building exercises. All the marketing managers would understand the need of any new sports franchise,etc to concentrate on promotions, advertisements so that they could create a support base - life blood for any franchise. And Chennai Super Kings management also understand this(thankfully). And they are first off the block with regard to adverstisements.

Financial express reports that Chennai Super Kings has signed the local ad agency - Salt advertisement agency to handle its ad campaigns. First of the series of ads reads “8 teams, 44 days and 59 matches--one victory-name Chennai Super Kings.”...

Chennai Super Kings! Hope you stay true to those words...