h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I may be wrong, but I think I speak for a good number of Americans when I say that cricket is one of the most mind-boggling sports out there. Finally, due to the miracle of the Guide, I have something (although not much) of an idea of what cricket is. I can sleep well tonight.

I have played cricket (I am a US citizen born & bred) and find that playing it in real life makes for a lovely afternoon (I especially enjoy tea with lashings of anything). DO NOT WATCH THIS SPORT ON TV! It is very, very slow (imagine molassas - er - treacle). I have it on good authority that I have no appreciation for statistics (which is true) or no soul (which is not). I find that the difference between PLAYING a sport and WATCHING a sport varies greatly. I can appreciate sport that I know I simply have no skill for (ice hockey for instance), but watching a sport I can play is directly as fun as the time is brief (i.e., the shorter the game the more intersting to watch). A good game of raquetball is brief and entertaining. Watching cricket is like watching paint peel. Just the humble opinion of a NON-sportaholic female.

wsfn

The ability to watch cricket relies on being brought up on the sport. Cricket fans revel in being able to watch a fascinating game coupled with the chance to get completely twatted on beer/wine/champagne (or whatever) for up to 5 days. Having said that, some County matches are boring as hell!

The best games are usually between national teams with a 'history'. I.e. England and Australia competing for the Ashes (well, at the moment more like England turning up to get hammered by the bloody Aussies!), the Pakistan/India rivalry, etc.

(now trying to think of boring US sports to compare to paint drying - bollocks, can't think of any)

Anyway, in order to enjoy cricket, you have to be able to understand it.....

:0)

I have a boring sport but I believe it originated in Scotland. It's called golf! You use a really thin bat with a knob on the end to whack a very tiny white ball! The object is getting the little ball in a little cup. While this sport has been compared to watching paint dry and peel, I feel that is an understatement.

I like watching sports, but as for boring US sports I haven't been able to find any that are played anymore. And I can't mention the extinct US sports. It's not PC.

SO let me see if i got this: cricket is a game intierially unlike base ball, sorta fun to play, and about as amusiong to watch as golf.
I don't get it.

The interesting thing about Cricket is that it has a rather strange effect on time, for example:

I play Cricket, generally on a Saturday afternoon and the game, depending on how good
(or bad) my team has been, can take around 5 hours to play. The conversations about
that particular game however can still be going on several years later!

This brings me on to the subject of parallel universes:

On a number of occasions I have been umpiring matches and have given Batsmen out for
what have been clear cut LBW decisions. On returning to the pavillion after the game
however the Batsmen in question have claimed that they:

1. Hit the ball

2. The ball missed their pads

3.They were at the other end of the wicket when I gave them out

and many other bizzare excuses. Therefore this leads me to the conclusion that in between
me dismissing the batsmen and returning to the pavillion, I or they must have slipped through
some kind of break in the space time continuum and have ended up in a completly
new universe where my umpiring decisions are as completely incomprehensible to the
Batsmen as their reaction to the decision is to me.

Cricket and quantum physics, fascinating!

The problem with golf is it's not fast enough.If the rules were changed so it was played against the clock and you could take as meny shots as you like,now thats more like a sport.Also body contact could be aloud. E.G. stricking each other around the head with clubs would liven things up a bit.

I agree. I've also thought that a few lions prowling the course would help make things more interesting.

Your are nearly right... actually the batsman, bowlwer fielders and the umpire all exist in separate universes with different laws of physics and even causality.

therefore all of them are right all of the time and none of them can possible agree or communicate properly.