[Leica] Cricket images MCG

[jbm at jbm.org (Jeff Moore)]

2007-01-11-09:39:45 Ric Carter:
> The fog is beginning to clear.
> 
> Thanks for keeping the lingo down
> 
> I, of course, apply your description through a baseball filter;^)

I have an odd story -- from early youth I've always been that classic
glasses-wearing, craving-a-good-curl-up-with-a-book geek.  Sports
("sport" for the Anglophones) practically never interested me, whether
to watch or to attempt to participate.  I was a pretty good competitive
swimmer, but all those games with balls flying through the air and lots
of running around never went well.

One year, though, when I was in school, I wondered if I could dip my
toes in the water of team sports at that late date.  I decided to try
joining the Cricket Club, which was an organization which enjoyed being
a quirky anomaly in the late-1970s US.  I figured if I tried a sport
which all the other kids *hadn't* been playing since before they were
out of diapers, we'd all be starting even, and I wouldn't be as
relatively bad as usual.

The main lesson I learned was that natural athletic ability and practice
in the ways of hand-eye coordination will always win out, even if the
rules of the particular game are just being learned.

Another lesson I learned was that I don't ever want to find myself
stationed at "silly mid on".

Mostly it was a lot of fun -- I've developed an odd fondness for, if not
any kind of conoisseur's appreciation of, cricket.  Our coach/sponsor
was a truly charming and enthusiastic man (and engaging teacher of
English) named Max Maxwell (I wonder if he's still alive and kicking?).
We had friendly matches with whatever other teams we could find in the
area -- which meant that we schoolboys did surprisingly well against a
team from Princeton University, but were always soundly and expertly
thrashed by the local Pakistani doctors' club.

 -Jeff M.