18 and successful? Time to write a book, son!

The book I had been waiting for had arrived. Finally. I ripped open the package in seconds, and blew the dust of the cover. The title on the gleaming cover read
"GERRARD: MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY"
For the uninitiated, Steven Gerrard is a professional English footballer, aged 27 who has achieved a fair amount of success with Liverpool FC.
The book is a good read -Honest and direct, but the thought that hit me when I was reading the book was- The average age at which these books are being 'written'[This word is so technically incorrect as the writing done by the sports person is Zilch. None at all. But that is a debate for another day] out is reducing so rapidly. What started as a medium for a successful sportsperson to look back upon his illustrious career, and the pathway to that career, has now become so commercialized that it leaves a inexorably bad taste in one's mouth.

And it's not just the footballers who are leading the way, Lewis Hamilton has 'authored' a book after one year in the sport. That's right, ONE YEAR.

The blame doesnt solely fall upon the players; they are under pressure from publishers desperate to cash in on whatever clout these celebrity players are generating. However, the over commercialization of every sport is a worrying issue.

In other news, Mahendra Singh Dhoni fetched US $150,000 in the recently held auctions for the IPL.