More Ntini!
Oz v South Africa first cricket test, day one: Makyaha Ntini,
first black man to play for South Africa, bowler with an eccentric
delivery but the persistence of stone, takes five Aussie wickets on the
first day. (This is something akin to a baseball pitcher mowing down a
dozen or more batters.)
If the South Africans could actually catch a batted ball occasionally, he would have had more.
I’m cheering for Oz, but I could watch this guy all day.
Day two is about to start, with the underdog South Africans in command, holding what this statistician considers about a 3-to-1 chance of winning the test. If you’re curious, you can follow the match here.
Baseball may break your heart, but cricket will drive you to a horrible early grave
Blogging will be slow for a bit; must work on the book. Still, something fun to share:
Psyched up for Oz’ first test against South Africa, which I’ll have on while working in a few hours. Which reminds me:
I’ve been working my way through Pageant Of Cricket,
a 600-page tome on the game’s history filled with thousands of photos
of the games’ greatest players — all of whom seem to have died
tragically, usually after a long decline of addiction, mental problems,
and general dissolution.
Actual excerpts, chosen entirely at random from the last few pages (I’m up to the turn of the 20th century):
in a match for the first time in his career in Notts’ match against
Gloucestershire… but declining health and melancholia overshadowed
his soul, and in the following May he shot himself.
or
the dangerous reputation of Jack Marsh, the Aboriginal fast bowler… A
colourful dresser, he began to drink heavily, and in 1916 he was killed
in a street brawl in Orange, New South Wales.
or
Nobel, during the MCC match, right over the Lord’s pavilion, a gigantic
hit… A victim of dropsy and booze, Trott shot himself at his
Willesden lodgings in 1914.
or
Yeesh. Pretty damned dangerous sport, from the looks of it.
I’m not sure I’ve picked the right pastime after all. And here after I’ve spent the last month learning to squeeze out a flipper.
How depressing.
Dick Cheney, vampire
Or at least, that’s what you guys say:
 How the hell does Dick Cheney sleep? |
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| In a coffin, wearing a cape | ||||
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| Halliburton spends $3 billion firing sheep over a nearby fence | ||||
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| His midbrain and hindbrain take turns, just like sharks | ||||
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| Lulled by a brightly-colored mobile constructed of innocent Iraqi civilians | ||||
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Today comes word of a new videotape from Osama Bin Laden. But some analysts think it may actually be an old one, recycled. Why? New poll at left.
Maybe this will fix what ails me…
Although I would be a little worried about the risk of MSD.