what is the vertiginous chapati saying to me?
Somebody call Shoeless Joe Jackson and tell him…we’re going to the World Series. Crede! SoouthSIDE!
Recently, WaPo and NYT did pieces on the growing dominance of Christian prayer in baseball. Jesus is my designated hitter, indeed. I chuckled at the conflation of sports and religion in present day USA. Why can’t the Americans keep their religion off the pitch? The overt religiosity has always grated me in, what I perceive [...]
Bloody good show, eh? England win back the Ashes from the Ozzies who have been hoarding them since 1987. The Ashes, lore has it, symbolized the cremation of the English cricket after their first defeat by Australia on home ground in 1882 [at the Oval]. The urn doesn’t really exchange hands - it just sits [...]
As I mentioned, yesterday we went to hang out at Washington Park for some sporty fun. The park is an amazing urban space. Someone recently was grouching that Chicago parks have no character and I wish they had come with us to see how much character and life they do have - from people, [...]
A few days ago, I hit a perfect drive over mid-on. It was a gorgeous shot, really. The bat moving as an extension of myself. I saw the very moment that the ball hit the pitch and, seemingly, slowed down for me. I have hit that shot hundreds of time, in real matches even. During [...]
Pakistanís Military Dictator-cum-President Parvez Musharraf is in India this weekend, in what is being hailed on both sides of the border (India, Pakistan and even in vilayat) as another successful round of cricket diplomacy (the first being Ziaís surprise trip to meet Rajiv Gandhi in Rajasthan in 1987). This cricket match, played in the Firuz [...]
Played a few games of cricket yesterday. The venue was the entrance to the Reg. Ostensibly, we were all there for this. But, the sun was shining blue and I had a bat in my hand after a long, long time. The teams and the audience were a mixed bag of subalternists, cambridge wallas, and [...]
We were seniors or juniors, I cannot remember. The sun had baked the earth of Lahore into clay even in early March. I was a new convert to cricket. Having been raised on the mean streets of Doha, the game was as foreign to me as Gulli-Danda [also a source of shame]. However, in any [...]
No fun being a fan of Pakistani cricket lately. Of course, I have risen above such petty nationalisms a long time ago. I am now an objective connoisseur of the tao of cricket. But for those that care, Pakistan has taken a beating far surpassing their usual flameouts. Consider this: First Test - Australia wins [...]
Over at tsk, is an ad hominem attack on Cricket. And I am asked to defend it. Just as tsk has to defend white man’s brutal colonialism that has led to the unfortunate situation where a poor sepoy has to defend the landed gentleman’s leisurely pursuit of sipping tea and knocking around a leather ball [...]
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