Did I Leave The Iron On?
Created | Updated Mar 21, 2005
Cricket Explained
After we see England trouncing the West Indies again at Edgbaston, Marcus Trescothick becoming the first man to make a hundred in each innings there, and Ashley Giles picking up another 9-wicket haul, we have every right to be proud of our cricketing nation. Some readers of this column, though, live in a country where cricket is not readily understood, which is a shame as they are missing out on that most noble and intricate of sports. Indeed, my co-columnist several has been known to be quite deameaning of the game, especially ridiculous given that the American equivalent is derived from a game that we only let girls
play over this side of the Atlantic. So here, for several, all other American readers and others who might be hard-of-understanding, is the Standard Explanation of Cricket:
The teams toss a coin to decide who goes in and who doesn't go in. Both teams go in and then the team that is not in comes out. Nine men from the team that is in stay in but the other two come out. The team that is not in tries to get all of the team that is in, out, starting with the two men who are out. A man can be out if he is bowled out, caught out, run out, leg-before-wicket, or out in a number of other ways that don't happen very often. When a man is out, he goes in and another man from the team that is in comes out. When all but one of the team that is in are out then everybody goes in and changes over. This means that the team who were all out are now not in and the team that weren't in (the ones who all went out first) are now in. The team who were in first, but are now all out, all go out first and the team who were not in first send two of their men out. The team who were in
first now try to get all (but one) of the men in the team that were not in first, out, before the team who are now in (that is to say, not the team that are all out now or were all out before) beat the score of the team that were in first. You will notice that a team can be all out but
never all in, which is a type of wrestling, except during lunch.
And people seem to think it's a complicated game...
Several A/K/A Random's 'sporting blues'
Greetings, AmSports fans, and hello August! Some big baseball moves over the weekend as the trading deadline between individual clubs has passed and there's less than 60 games left before the playoffs.
By far the apparent 'winners' in the wheeling and dealing were the Chicago Cubs of the National League Central, who obtained Boston Red Sox All-Star shortstop Nomar Garciaparra in a complex, four-team deal with Minnesota and the vagabond Montreal Expos. As the Cubs are some twelve games back of the St Louis Cardinals in the Central, it was a move made in the beginnings of the race for the final playoff position, the wild card.
Nine, perhaps ten clubs are legitimately vying for the four playoff spots in the National, with eight teams in the American League within reason. Take away the three winners each, that's 6-7 teams in the National, and five in the American so, by the end of a grueling August schedule, we'll see how the teams have fared. August traditionally is the toughest month, the hottest temperature-wise, and here's an example of a team's schedule (from the beloved Cleveland Indians).
Nine games in nine days in three cities; nine games in nine days in two cities before an off-day; finish up with eleven games, 12 days in three cities (and continuing into September with six straight games in three cities, moving from New York to Seattle). The fellas basically live out of suitcases 18 of 31 days, and then keep going through September.
On the Olympics front, tune-up practice games for basketball were held against Latino national teams, as the Athens Games are but a week away. A side note on the thoroughness of Olympic preparations comes from a very prominent New York newspaper, the Times. That prophylactic manufacterer Durex has donated 130,000 condoms and 30,000 packets of lubricants for the over 17,000 athletes and officials. The Times went on to say that at the Sydney Olympiad, each athlete received 51 condoms, and 20,000 more were shipped in when supplies dwindled.
Finally, outstanding congrats go to Brit Karen Stupples for her 19-under 269 to win the women's British Open golf. She made the major highlight shows here across the pond by opening her final round with an eagle and extremely rare double-eagle.
So, that's your weekly AmSport wrap, take it away, Post Team !
Did I Leave The Iron On? Archive
Master B
with Several a.k.a. Random
