US Sports 2 Cricket

[Derek Jackson]

Is there any way real cricket- I mean some real matches not just one day affairs could have become significant in the US.

If so would it have made any difference to US society?

[Riain]

Could the US support a team good enough to challenge Australia?

[Permanganate]

IMO, that would be awful. Cricket is to baseball what American football is to rugby or football; ridiculously slow and much less interesting.

Originally Posted by Riain

Could the US support a team good enough to challenge Australia?

They have the population to supply good sportsmen, and the money to pay for training and attract the talent, if the popular will is there. But I don't think it wouldn't be, if baseball already exists. How people liked cricket before Twenty20 boggles my mind. The Japanese had the right idea about what English-speaking-origin sport to adopt - baseball.

[mishery]

As Englishman I have to say I am completely bemused by my compatriots' interest in cricket. It has to be the dullest sport in the world. Also, it is one of those sports where when you ask people what they like about it, a large number talk about the peripheral aspects and not the game itself.

[DMA]

Say NO to a USA Cricket team!

[1940LaSalle]

There was some microscopic popularity in the US (witness the Merion Cricket Club in suburban Philadelphia, located in an extremely old-money ultra-establishment area) but that's about it. It would take some sort of 19th century POD (say, for whatever reason, the developing version of baseball didn't get spread by troops during the Civil War) to open up an avenue for popularization of cricket.

[Riain]

I'm always amazed when people say cricket is shit compared to baseball, surely they are both just different types of shit. Similary with football codes, surely if one is shit then all are shit in their own way, although to be fair American football would have to be the worst of the football codes, taking a shit game like rugby and making it needlessly complicated.

Anyway, lets not let squabbles over cricket etc blind us to the real enemy; Womens Tennis.

[DMA]

Originally Posted by Riain

I'm always amazed when people say cricket is shit compared to baseball, surely they are both just different types of shit. Similary with football codes, surely if one is shit then all are shit in their own way, although to be fair American football would have to be the worst of the football codes, taking a shit game like rugby and making it needlessly complicated.

Anyway, lets not let squabbles over cricket etc blind us to the real enemy; Womens Tennis.

Women's Tennis?

[Ofaloaf]

Originally Posted by DMA

Women's Tennis?

Yes.


A quick game of Cricket (everybody: "Impossible!") is actually quite fun. I've played it before with some Pakistani friends, substituting trash cans for wickets. I agree with others, though, that a 19th-century POD would work better for this. Something involving radio broadcasts in the '20s and '30s might've worked, though.

[Riain]

Yes, Womens Tennis. The Williams brothers standing at the baseline, grunting and screaming through 2 sets really does suck as a spectator sport.

[DMA]

Actually I would have thought Golf far more sux as a spectator sport than women's tennis. Hell Golf even sux as a participant sport as I see no sence whatsoever in chasing a small ball around, what is essentially, a cow paddock whilst trying to get it into a small hole.

[DMA]

Originally Posted by Ofaloaf

Yes.


A quick game of Cricket (everybody: "Impossible!") is actually quite fun. I've played it before with some Pakistani friends, substituting trash cans for wickets. I agree with others, though, that a 19th-century POD would work better for this. Something involving radio broadcasts in the '20s and '30s might've worked, though.

Actually you've got Twenty20 these days which, although lacks in a number of cricketing skills, certainly makes up for it with all the action.

[Ak-84]

Twenty20 is a monstrosity.

As ara all Yank sports except Basketball and NASCAR.

[DMA]

Originally Posted by Ak-84

Twenty20 is a monstrosity.

Oh that's true as there's little skill involved other than slap n giggle as us Australians say. Still it's a spectacle which gets the crowds in.

Originally Posted by Ak-84

As ara all Yank sports except Basketball and NASCAR.

To be honest both bore me. Give me V8 Supercars anyday!

[Big Tex]

1. Cricket has about a 1% chance as success in America. It's way to boring, way to complicated, and way to dull. I have a good grasp on sports and when a South African friend of mine in High School tried to explain it, I had to stop him, it was simply beyond me. Besides why would we switch when we have baseball???

2. My answer to the knocks on Women's Tennis!

[Riain]

She's tidy, but I live in Melbourne so I only have to go to the shops to see attractive, stylish women. I'm not going to get up at 4am just to see one stand at the baseline and squawk as she plays hit-to-hit with another squawker.

As for spectator golf, I took up playing golf at Christmas, (my brother got me a set of clubs on hard rubbish day in Toorak) so I watch the highlights to get tips about styles.

[Big Tex]

Originally Posted by Riain

She's tidy, but I live in Melbourne so I only have to go to the shops to see attractive, stylish women. I'm not going to get up at 4am just to see one stand at the baseline and squawk as she plays hit-to-hit with another squawker.

As for spectator golf, I took up playing golf at Christmas, (my brother got me a set of clubs on hard rubbish day in Toorak) so I watch the highlights to get tips about styles.

We'll I get paid to watch women's tennis (college newspaper!) and its given us so many hotties, so I'll defend it!

As for golf the only tourny i'd pay for if I have the money is the Masters just for the experince, which i've heard is a top five experince.

[HARRY]

Crickets great advantage is that is something that is so English that it gives you that extra warm glow inside when you can beat the English in it.

[Mason]

Perhaps it grows in popularity after WWI due to American GIs.