Thanksgiving II
We had a very nice Thanksgiving, with our friends Peg and Andy. There were probably 35 people there, about half of whom were from Iowa, including lots of Aunts and Uncles. All of the traditional fare: turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie.
As is typical, the guys were planted in front of the television, only we were watching Cricket. The game is actually pretty easy to follow: one guy runs up and throws the ball, another guy hits it with a bat, and everybody runs around, or, more precisely, one set of guys runs around, and another set runs back and forth. The score changes like the numbers on a pinball machine (on the first day, Australia scored 346 runs). Every once in a while, something else happens, and the team in the field jumps up and down and hugs each other. This will go on for 5 days (seriously).
What makes it even more unusual is that the fields are huge -- an oval up to 160 yards along the main axis, roughly 4 times the size of a football field, twice the size of a baseball diamond. The spectators are sitting so far away that it has to be close to impossible to see what's going on. I'm told, though, that beer is sold in the stands. Perhaps that's the answer.
In any case, the U.S. is one of the few places in the world where the game isn't huge. People love it here, and the Australia-England rivalry is comparable to Michigan-Ohio State.
To me, it looks like what baseball would look like to someone who has never seen it before. If you combined it with lawn bowling.
We were all talking about how much we missed watching the Lions and Cowboys play.
As is typical, the guys were planted in front of the television, only we were watching Cricket. The game is actually pretty easy to follow: one guy runs up and throws the ball, another guy hits it with a bat, and everybody runs around, or, more precisely, one set of guys runs around, and another set runs back and forth. The score changes like the numbers on a pinball machine (on the first day, Australia scored 346 runs). Every once in a while, something else happens, and the team in the field jumps up and down and hugs each other. This will go on for 5 days (seriously).
What makes it even more unusual is that the fields are huge -- an oval up to 160 yards along the main axis, roughly 4 times the size of a football field, twice the size of a baseball diamond. The spectators are sitting so far away that it has to be close to impossible to see what's going on. I'm told, though, that beer is sold in the stands. Perhaps that's the answer.
In any case, the U.S. is one of the few places in the world where the game isn't huge. People love it here, and the Australia-England rivalry is comparable to Michigan-Ohio State.
To me, it looks like what baseball would look like to someone who has never seen it before. If you combined it with lawn bowling.
We were all talking about how much we missed watching the Lions and Cowboys play.
posted by Badger Down Under at 4:02 PM
1 Comments:
Hey big brother! Can't wait to see in December! Lots to tell you and want to hear about your adventures!!!!
love you, n
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