Over 10 percent of the world will watch the World Cup cricket from this week. That is over a billion people and 8 billion man-hours.

Irate wives, sulking in forced isolation. Bosses worried about absenteeism. Angry children deprived of the TV feed. Staff planning well-positioned sick leaves and convenient bouts of flu to coincide with the day their country is on the field. The fabric of social interchange put on hold for the time being, leave us be, we are watching cricket.

The downside is funny, sad, ugly, silly, awesome, happy, miserable, laughable and completely overwhelming. The irate housewife joins the golf widow and the bridge widow in a 42-day incarceration that promises to hold standard family life at ransom.

“Nothing last weekend, nothing this weekend, he just sits and sogs like old corn flakes in front of the TV, his cell phone his best friend. He won’t even go shopping, there is no interest in anything else. We have regretted three invitations for dinners, failed to fetch up at a wedding reception and he blatantly lied to friends flying through Dubai that he was out of the country. By next month, I am going to lose it, this is madness, it is a phobia. I dragged him to one function and he left the party and went to their bedroom and watched the endgame. I was mortified.”

The angry kids.

“We were supposed to go swimming last Saturday and dad said can’t, it is the Pakistan-Lanka match, I am not going anywhere, no way, guys, sorry and all that and we stayed home. Sunday, it was India-England and we couldn’t even get to see a single cartoon so we had to watch DVD. This is unfair, at least he should get us another sat connection, I mean all he does is discuss the match before, during and after with his friends, the after is the worst.”

The peeved boss.

“Nope, no TV in the office. I know you can stream the score and I know that those little knots of people and the extra coffee breaks are because of the cricket and no one’s asking how’s the business, but ‘what’s the score’ and the score, if you ask me, is that if you don’t get back to work there will be payback, I cannot afford this slackening off because of a game. If it is your day off, cool, but don’t you be holding me to ransom, that will not fly. Do you even know the man-hours that are massacred, in cricket-mad India, for example, life comes to a standstill, in Pakistan they crowd the roads and block the traffic, in Bangladesh they give the schools a holiday for the match against India, isn’t that crazy? It is the biggest blackmail con in the world today, sport cannot be equated with national pride.”

The stressed staff.

“Come on, we are not children, we will work and watch the game, too. It is much healthier and more productive to have access to a TV screen showing the game in an office, even government departments have it on. It is pointless to ban it completely. We waste a lot more time secretly tracking the score or calling home or trawling the Internet so why not just keep the game going, that is what a good company would do.”

The fan.

“There is no way I would miss any match if my country is playing, even if I was sacked, I mean that, I have taken 40 days annual leave and I am enjoying myself thoroughly and I am sure there are thousands like me who have done the same. This is cricket fever, like it is an illness.”

Those of the millions who watch on TV many will gain weight munching and drinking calories through a potential 300 hours of couch potato madness.

The media.

“For us it is a bonanza. Never does Sports sell more than with cricket and TV really rakes it in. it goes into millions of dollars worth of revenue and the eyeballs you get are out of the world. In numbers, it must now rival soccer. And media knows how to hype it up well beyond the level of gentleman’s polite game it was…none of that oh, good shot, Sir and the playing fields of Eton stuff…this is now packaged hostility. Which, for the fans, is great, it is a seven-week war and everyone wants to win it. At our TV station even those who dislike cricket know it is big money and more bonuses for us so yes, we go along with the hard sell, if the public wants it, we give it. There is so much money in analyses, you cannot imagine how consumerism consumes the manufacturer to associate himself with the game…we cannot fit in the ads.”

And so it goes on. Cancelled trips, reworked itineraries, postponed promises, even damage to the health as tension rises and the equation between national pride and hitting a ball becomes one. Either that or being injured in a police action, as uncontrollable mobs descend upon the venue. The most dangerous is the anti-climax when your country loses or is knocked out of the tournament. History kicks in. India and Pakistan supporters find satisfaction in beating each other, almost, if not more important than winning the Cup. The English and the Aussies bring every game down (or up) to the fierce clash of the Ashes and the traditional rivalry between Oz and the Kiwis is also legendary. The media markets past defeats as slurs, ten year old losses as the grounds for vitriolic revenge; personal relationships are hammered into armor for gladiatorial contests that would make Caesar smile. Hate, violence, meanness, controversy, pettiness, are all elements in the mix and with over a hundred experts ready to comment on body language, on field settings, on strategy, on minor confrontations, the game per se is often sidelined and the irrelevant issues placed on center stage.

Suddenly, it is all over. Stunned fans are rocked and that great tryst with destiny is now a dusty dream. The shock is often tragic with recorded incidents of stroke and cardiac infarctions.

It is just a game. No, it isn’t, not for these people who cannot get over it. In 2007 a 17-year-old Indian collapsed of a heart attack after his country was shown the door. Paradoxically, a teacher died of a “pleasant shock” because India won a one-day against Pakistan. Go figure. England supporter Gary Webb watched his country beat Australia in Melbourne then went back to his hotel room and died. Pleasant shock and dismay get common responses.

Psychologists have an explanation for it. “Sports can generate such a high rush of adrenalin, especially when your favorite team is playing a long-awaited game. For many sports fans, the adrenalin rush can span through the course of many days prior to the beginning of the game and then, leave a feeling of depression or melancholy when the game is over. Commonly referred to as “sports depression,” or atypical depression, sports fans experience this sense of loss whether their favorite team wins or loses. In fact, expressing sadness through anger, crying, and even disinterest in activities is quite common in the day or two after the sporting event. However, when the long-anticipated game has ended, if you still feel a sense of depression or melancholy, it may be prudent to seek out mental health services for you depression.

For men, in particular, the onset of sports-related depression, can lead to rage and anger — common symptoms of depression. When a sporting event has taken place, and the excitement and hype of that event has dissipated, the depression may suddenly turn to feelings of anger and this can lead to poor outcomes in your interpersonal relationships — even affecting your ability to work or socialize normally. With early treatment, many adults with sports depression can overcome their sadness and melancholy in time for the next long awaited game.”