Wednesday, August 13, 2008

T - 47 It's Sport, Jim, But Not as We Know It

Today the Red Sox scored 10 runs in the first inning and needed their ace reliever, Jonathan Papelbon, to eke out a 2-run, come-from-behind win, 19 - 17. This is one of those days I really miss not having someone around who has even the slightest understanding of baseball.

(I should add that Linda understands it after years of Little League with the boys and softball herself. However, I should also add that Linda just doesn't care. Last week when I tried to tell her about the storybook Red Sox debut of Jason Bay, I got a distant gaze and a "That's nice, dear" response. I didn't even bother telling her about Manny's debut with the Dodgers.)

Learning all new sports was one of the really strange things about moving to Australia. The games they prefer here are Aussie Rules football, cricket, rugby and rugby league. Ha! I bet most Americans didn't even know that rugby and rugby league are two different sports. Well, even Linda knows that. As she explains it: "Isn't rugby the one played by the rich people's kids?" Actually, she's more or less correct.

Cricket, of course, is famous for the fact that it can be played for five days and end in a tie. Most Yanks watch a game and start to do mental lists of things they've been meaning to do for the past ten years. I, however, like cricket. Think of it as baseball on valium - lots of valium. But it's interesting in a waiting for something to happen sort of way.

Aussie Rules is fun to watch, except they hold the match in a stadium about the size of a small city so you end up watching the jumbotron and eventually realize that you could be watching TV in your home where it's warm and the drinks are free.

For Americans, here's a quick rule of thumb to help you understand Aussie sport:

Cricket is baseball without a desire to end the game some time this year.
Key difference: They actually bring out a drinks trolley to serve the teams on the field in the afternoon.

Aussie Rules is like soccer, football, lacrosse, Gaelic football, and roller derby, and played without protective helmets.
Key difference: To what? It's really not much like any other sport Yanks know.

Rugby is like football without blocking or forward passing.
Key difference: No shoulder pads or other protective gear. Ouch.

Rugby union is like rugby only it's for the kids of rich people.

On the plus side, things are better here now than they used to be for transplanted Yanks. We had no pay TV for the longest time, but now we get a weekly fix of three or four NFL games. It's called gridiron, and the live games often start at 4am Monday our time, but never mind. It's really football.

And Major League Baseball has for three or four years offered a subscription service that lets you watch all games live on your PC. Most of the games come on in mid-morning Sydney time, so I have been sneaking in a peek now and then during work. One of the great promises of retirement is watching it full-screen with the sound on.

Now if only I can find someone to talk about the game with me.

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