Sold? Uh...

The news was flashed repeatedly on the bottom of the screen:

"Ganguly and Lara unsold at end of Day 1".

And then it went on, "Gambhir sold for Rs. 11 crore"

Doesn't it sound odd? No, not that Lara was still up for grabs but the very use of the word "sold"? Buying people and they selling themselves to the teams?

It just sounds so unprofessional and unethical to hear that a person was sold for some amount of money. It reminds of something that existed once upon a time and is even now existing in different forms across the globe - slavery. People used to be put up for sale and could be bought by a process of bidding - pretty much what happens in an auction. The more able the person, the more price to be paid. The only difference now is that the money goes to the player whereas in those days it went to the slave dealer.

I still don't get it as to how everyone in the system accepts this concept of "being sold"; couldn't they think of better words? You buy and sell commodities, not people. And you aren't buying a player; it's similar to just paying the player for their service for the team. Couldn't they say, "Gambhir signs a contract for 11 crores" or "Gambhir strikes a deal for 11 crores"? I'm sure they have enough people who could come up with better alternatives than saying "sold".