Cricket vs Football

Which one is a better game?  This debate has been raging in our room since the world cup started. Some of my friends are hell bent on watching cricket, doesnt matter if its a test match between Kenya and Bangladesh, they would still follow it diligently, keeping track of the team score, individual scores, bowling stats and all such stuff. Im no big lover of cricket. Though I used to follow important games closely, Im not crazy about the game and no, I dont know how much Tendulkar scored and in how many balls in that I dont remember the name Trophy played in I dont know the year and I dont know where. But its a different thing about football. I was never a follower of football, until may be 4 or 5 years ago, when I found it to be interesting, exciting, and dekhte dekhte I fell in love with the game. Now I find cricket terribly boring, lacking any passion and extremely painful to watch. When my friends were watching a Bangladesh Srilanka test match recently, I commented saying how come you wont miss even this series, its Bangladesh playing for God's sake. They replied, its the game they enjoy, doesn't matter who's playing. Now how do I answer that?  Then the world cup started, and I was watching Italy vs Ghana match when they questioned me, India is not even playing in the tournament, and its some God forsaken country whose name we haven't even heard before this. Why are you watching this match then? It was then that the debate started, myself and another friend, firmly supporting football and the others firmly supporting cricket. Whats so good about the game I asked, one guy comes running from so far and throws a ball, and another guy standing infront of those stumps hits it with his bat and the ball falls to the ground. Once in a lifetime, the stupid ball crosses a stupid line to which all stupid people clap stupidly. They question me in turn, what's so good about football, the stupid people running after a bigger and hence more stupid ball, kicking it aimlessly, and once in two lifetimes, the ball falls into a stupid net and more stupid people clap more stupidly. Because of all this debate, I have come to hate cricket, so much so that I have come to believe that all games are played as per a script, which is prepared when the tournament is planned. The players just play their parts, and are paid for it. All the people who spend time and money to watch these games are being fooled by the players and their boards. Look at what happenned in yesterday's match. They just don't want to win. There's just no passion for the game. Look at the way a football game is played and the difference is there for everyone to see. Though my friend would have been very happy to answer this after watching the Switzerland Ukraine match, such a dull game it turned out to be.