tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post3360019844135363536..comments2024-03-28T22:01:11.059-04:00Comments on Murder is Everywhere: Cricket and the Black DogOvidia Yuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749549092493567689noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-84845602045058105182011-03-25T17:24:07.573-04:002011-03-25T17:24:07.573-04:00Dan,
When I was a boy I wanted to be a profession...Dan,<br /><br />When I was a boy I wanted to be a professional writer. I wanted to travel the world, stay in nice hotels, visit exotic places, and get paid for [non-plagiarized] writing. What better life could there be? <br /><br />Nah, I too wanted to be a professional athlete, but an American football cheap-shot ended that dream before athletic reality had the chance to do to my mind what that blocker nicely did to my knee. <br /><br />Good luck with the comeback.Jeffrey Sigerhttp://www.jeffreysiger.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-9371727969735016832011-03-25T15:05:18.137-04:002011-03-25T15:05:18.137-04:00Beth,
I suppose one way of looking at it would be...Beth,<br /><br />I suppose one way of looking at it would be if, a week or so after the World Series, MLB sent a team of their best players over to Japan to tour fora few months, then stopped off in China on the way back for another tournament. It is insane. It's motivated purely by greed, yet players will burn out, the standard will suffer and the public will stay away.<br /><br />Canada actually were in the World Cup, with a team made up almost exclusively of Asian immigrants.<br /><br />Interesting story about Orr - as someone who played game to a high standard, I saw parents of other kids push and harry their kids to a point where they fell out of love with their sport. With my son, he plays a game if he wants to, not because I want him to. I hope I stay that way.Dan Waddellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04320741202757960766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-60080787322958200102011-03-25T10:08:15.826-04:002011-03-25T10:08:15.826-04:00I can't think of a sport in the US that is so ...I can't think of a sport in the US that is so inhumane. Does Canada have cricket?<br /><br />Here the sports, at least on the professional level, do have seasons. Baseball is the longest but, as you say, everyone gets their chance at bat on a predictable cycle. Then, when they are not at bat, they are on the field, running, jumping, sliding, banging into walls.<br /><br />Hockey and basketball are intensely active games. In hockey offense and defense swap off so their is some off-ice time during the games and their is, of course, the penalty box. It isn't a good game unless the gloves come off and there is a fight. American football, I now know to qualify it, is the only sport in which four 15-minute periods can last three yours. Most of it is a game of inches except when it is a game of men running madly down a field, dodging other behemoths who want to take them down. In football, the only thing that is beautiful is the passing done by the quarterback or, in the case of the New England Patriots, the quarterback (Tom Brady now married to Gisele Bundchen).<br /><br />About forty years ago, a teenager from Canada came to Boston to play hockey for the Bruins. Bobby Orr was the best the game had seen in a long time. He made is seem effortless and every parent in the northern part of the US figured they could turn their sons into Bobby Orr if they started them playing at age 4 and had them in skating rinks at 5:00 am.<br /><br />Orr had nothing to do with the insanity. Parents didn't consider such a thing as talent and grace on the ice as necessary to success. Orr had to retire before he was thirty because his knees were destroyed. He stayed in Massachusetts, married, and had sons, none of whom play hockey or were dragged to hockey rinks before the sun came up.<br /><br />Orr has not had one bad word written about him in over forty years. His private life is private, his public life is his work with charities. He did not marry a supermodel. Not surprisingly, he was not known for getting into fights on the ice. He played the game by the rules.<br /><br />BethAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-29055966794168350272011-03-25T09:07:46.851-04:002011-03-25T09:07:46.851-04:00Stan, too right about the itinerary. Some of the E...Stan, too right about the itinerary. Some of the England players and staff have spent three nights at home since last October. Many have young families. Must be torture. Glad to see the Aussies losing is aiding your convalescence. I think we all hate them because for so many years they swaggered around beating us all up like charmless playground bullies. They used to beat people with such ruthless, almost teutonic efficiency.<br /><br />Ah Geoffrey - he is not a particularly nice man, and outside the commentary box isn't liked at all. Where there is peace, he will bring dischord. He has no empathy and little humour. He said some rather nasty things about Yardy's illness: in a nutshell, he was depressed because he wasn't very good! I could tell you some more Boycott stories, good and bad. You must let me know when you;re next over this part of the world so we can get some tickets, sit in the sun (!) and swap tall tales! Beer's on me.<br /><br />DanDan Waddellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04320741202757960766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-57422335411443162252011-03-25T08:43:16.649-04:002011-03-25T08:43:16.649-04:00Oh yes. I played frequently against Geoff Boycott...Oh yes. I played frequently against Geoff Boycott, who used to winter is South Africa. He was not well liked because he took everything so seriously. Even when a match was essentially over, he batted as though the Ashes were in contention. I do not recall ever seeing him smile! However, I do think he is a good commentator, bringing his experience to the listening masses.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-83528203868969561952011-03-25T08:40:52.750-04:002011-03-25T08:40:52.750-04:00Dan, I too played decent cricket when I was young ...Dan, I too played decent cricket when I was young - represented SA Universities - but never good enough to be a Springbok. However, cricket then, at the top level was very different from what it is today.Then cricket was a summer sport, often played by amateurs, with an occasional overseas tour to an area in a different hemisphere. Today cricket, and all other professional sports, are played at full pressure all year round. I think that is what is causing the players to wilt. And, frankly, I find little passion in watching most internationals because there is just too much. The World Cup is different and it has provided a much needed distraction as I recover from my surgery. Yesterday my health improved even more as India beat the Aussies. (Why is it that nobody outside supports the Aussies?). Good luck for your comeback! I look forward to hearing stirring tales of your prowess and successes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com