MUCH ADO ABOUT ... CRICKET?Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Let's begin with a roundabout explanation for why, at 7o'clock in the morning Saturday, I was in a bar on Victory Boulevard Victory Boulevard is a major thoroughfare on Staten Island, measuring approximately 8.0 miles (12.87 km) and stretching from the west shore community of Travis to the upper east shore communities of St. George and Tompkinsville. chatting with a man from Zimbabwe about the murder of Phil Jackson
Philip Douglas "Phil" Jackson (born September 17, 1945 in Deer Lodge, Montana) is the current coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, an American professional basketball team. . The Cricket World Cup, going on this month and next in the Caribbean, is the biggest sports event in which the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. can't even pretend to be interested. For one thing, there's no Team USA
Team USA (also known as Team NWA or Team TNA) is a wrestling faction brought together as part of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's X-Cup Tournaments, which in the 16-nation event, our passion for the essentially British bat-and-ball game having waned during the American Revolution American Revolution, 1775–83, struggle by which the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic seaboard of North America won independence from Great Britain and became the United States. It is also called the American War of Independence. . As far as most people here can tell, it consists mainly of hour upon hour of standing around a vast grassy field -- with official breaks for lunch and tea. So low is cricket on the U.S. popularity charts, its image might actually be improved by this week's scandalous reports out of the West Indies West Indies, archipelago, between North and South America, curving c.2,500 mi (4,020 km) from Florida to the coast of Venezuela and separating the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic Ocean. . Pakistan's coach has been strangled stran·gle v. stran·gled, stran·gling, stran·gles v.tr. 1. a. To kill by squeezing the throat so as to choke or suffocate; throttle. b. , a Pakistani insider has tied the death to match-fixing, losing fans in India have rioted, and England's vice captain has been stripped of his title after a drinking spree. So that's why they called him the vice captain? When I say cricket's image could improve, obviously I mean to the level of soccer's. But you know how it works with the niche sports: A few juicy off-the- field headlines, and interest picks up. Which is why I visited the heart of the Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, cricket community (yes, there is one) on Saturday, specifically the Springbok springbok: see antelope. springbok or springbuck Species of antelope (Antidorcas marsupialis), native to treeless plains of southern Africa, the national emblem of South Africa. It stands about 30 in. Bar & Grill in Lake Balboa and the well-hidden fields around the corner in Woodley Park Woodley Park refers to the following:
The good news is that U.S. sports fans aren't as susceptible to sensationalism sensationalism, in philosophy, the theory that there are no innate ideas and that knowledge is derived solely from the sense data of experience. The idea was discussed by Greek philosophers and is shown variously in the works of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, George as we fear. At the Springbok, a grand total of eight early risers were watching the match between South Africa and Australia on big- screen TVs. I was the only viewer without a rooting interest caused by being, you know, from South Africa or Australia -- or at least Zimbabwe, which is next to South Africa. "Cricket used to be known as the gentlemen's game in England," exclaimed Philip Lansdown, who was born in Zimbabwe (when it was Rhodesia) and lives in Ventura, as we talked about the WorldCup strife. "Imagine if the coach of the Lakers was murdered," Lansdown said. He imagined that for a moment and shrugged. "The game would go on," he said. For the Cricket World Cup, whose seven-week run will end with an April 28 final in Barbados, the mayhem began when England's all-around star Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff led a group of teammates on an off-night bender in St. Lucia, fell out of a paddle boat and had to be pulled from the water. Things got more serious when India fans marked their country's shocking first-round ouster ouster n. 1) the wrongful dispossession (putting out) of a rightful owner or tenant of real property, forcing the party pushed out of the premises to bring a lawsuit to regain possession. in Trinidad & Tobago by burning effigies ef·fi·gy n. pl. ef·fi·gies 1. A crude figure or dummy representing a hated person or group. 2. A likeness or image, especially of a person. , laying siege to players' homes and waving placards bearing slogans such as "Down with Sachin Tendulkar." Things got a lot more serious when Bob Woolmer was found sprawled on his hotel-room floor in Kingston 24 hours after he coached Pakistan to an upset loss to Ireland that stopped Pakistan in first-round pool play. The death was attributed to natural causes until word leaked out about marks on Woolmer's neck and blood in the room. So this means it wasn't a heart attack? Theories immediately pointed to frustrated Pakistan supporters and -- as claimed by a former Pakistan bowler named Sarfraz Nawaz -- gangsters out to stop Woolmer from revealing match-fixing. But Saturday, Jamaican police questioned Woolmer's assistant coach and his captain. Imagine if Kurt Rambis and Kobe Bryant ... never mind. My plan was to catch a little South Africa-Australia over breakfast, then move to the fields where the Southern California Cricket Association is warming up for its season. But breakfast and lunch came and went, and I was still at the Springbok, glued to an early skirmish between the World Cup's two favorites. By the time I got to Woodley Park, the only action was a casual game on a side field. Why would anybody watch cricket on TV for 7 1/2 hours? Because once you've put in 6 1/2 hours, you might as well stick around for the finish. And because, as the little matter of the murder might hint, this gentleman's game is not for the faint of heart -- it's tough, testing and engrossing engrossing, in English law, practice of acquiring a monopoly of goods in order to sell them at an inflated price. The offense was ordinarily limited to monopolies of foods. Related practices were forestalling, i.e. . During Saturday's slugfest (or, as the play-by-play man put it, "run feast"), I saw Australia captain Ricky Ponting hit an 85mph bouncer (think brush-back pitch) for a boundary (think ground-rule double) not with the bat, but with the bill of his cap. I saw a South Africa batter absorb a spinning delivery -- to use the TV analyst's euphemism -- "between the two big toes." The mostly pro-South Africa audience at the Springbok grew to more than 50 by the end of the match, and they had a lot to cheer about as their batters chased a massive Australia run total on a hard wicket (I know you don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what I'm talking about). But South Africa captain Graeme Smith went down with all-body cramps, came back and was soon caught in the slips (think pop to third). And Jacques Kallis, the guy who got plunked in the cup, kept his composure only long enough to be caught at long on (think warning-track power). "I'm still optimistic," Lansdown said, even when he wasn't. South Africa faded, Australia won -- both go on to the second round -- and everybody agreed it looked like a beautiful day in St. Kitts. "There is this Bob Woolmer thing floating around," the man on TV said at one point. But he was speaking to people for whom the game goes on. heymodesti(AT_SIGN)aol.com (818) 713-3616 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) A tribute in Pakistan pays homage to late cricket coach Bob Woolmer. Shakil Adil/Associated Press (2 -- color) A ball bounces off the helmet of Australia captain Ricky Ponting during Saturday's match against South Africa. Rick Rycroft/Getty Images |
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