Princy James| The News Minute| July 3, 2014| Updated at 8:04 PM ISTMaria Sharapova’s facebook page has been inundated with abuse after she admitted to not knowing who Sachin Tendulkar was. The five-time Grand Slam champion would never have imagined that her incidental remark on the cricket legend could trigger such an avalanche of diatribe. The infuriated fans have united for a holy war like never before, determined to ‘enlighten’ Sharapova about Sachin, and thereby teach her a lesson.I’m shocked and ashamed the same time at the intensity of the profanity-laced rants by the so-called fans that haven’t spared a single photo on her facebook page. It was disgusting to see the character assault by a few prigs, who seemed rankled by her dressing style. Apparently, Sharapova will now know who Sachin Tendulkar is, and is not likely to forget ever again - the virtual vandals taught her that in the meanest possible way, thereby tarnishing the very name of their idol.I cannot but think what fault Sharapova has done. Is it a sin not to be familiar with the name of a famous sportsperson? Last Saturday, when Sachin sat in the Royal Box at Wimbledon, there were several other sports personalities along with him, including Sir Bobby Charlton, David Beckham, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Robshaw, etc., to name a few. I have to confess that I am not familiar with the name Robshaw or Wiggins, for I’m not an ardent follower of rugby or cycling. I’m sure many of us don’t. Now, is that a crime? Another ridiculous argument of these haters is that since Sharapova is a sportsperson, she is supposed to know about Tendulkar, especially since she knows who Beckham is. Are we at the liberty to question her knowledge here? What if she isn’t familiar with Sir Bobby Charlton, the legendary footballer, who was sitting right beside Beckham in the Royal Box? I really doubt whether Sachin himself is familiar with all the sporting legends in this world. Some of them have even escalated this to a nationalist issue, citing the incident as a reflection of the white man’s disdain towards Indians. Racism does exist, it is everywhere, even in India. But one cannot simply attribute racism to each and every incidentThe hullabaloo over Sharapova’s remark reminds me of an incident related to Pete Sampras - on how he met his future wife Bridgette Wilson. It was in 1999, when he had to take a break from tennis owing to an injury. Sampras fell in love with Bridgette’s looks after watching her movie, and he got her number through a friend. When Bridgette heard about her famous admirer, she had no clue who he was, because she never watched tennis. For a die-hard Sampras fan like me, this was unbelievable, but I remember myself laughing about it when I read that, and joking about how Sampras married a woman who had no idea how great a champion he was. Was Bridgette insulting Sampras by stating she didn’t know about him? If that is the only logical conclusion you can reach, all I can do is pity your logic! All those Sachin-maniacs who take pride in spamming Sharapova’s fb account, understand that what you have actually done is nothing but destroy the image of the very person whom you admire. Even if the site admins go for a spring cleaning, that shame will never go off. Read- Sachin fans are still flooding Maria Sharapova's FB page, more than a lakh Sachin commentsThe comments on Sharapova's Facebook pageWhile some have simply repeated Sachin's name many times, others have called him their God. Some others reminded Sharapova of her ignorance and about Sachin's cricketing records. One picture posted by Sharapova recently has 16,000 comments in the afternoon, - a majority are by Sachin fans questioning Sharapova's impudence, but by evening it had crossed 24,000 comments. The self proclaimed fans have taken the pain to go to almost every picture on Sharapova's album, even pictures she posted many months ago and spammed with comments about Sachin. A quick glance and surprisingly most of the abuses are in Malayalam.. One person reminds her that it is not enough if she has white skin.