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Poor Mets Fans, Poor Sandy Koufax
Ode to John Keats, Cricketer
Today is 193 years since John Keats was struck and injured by a cricket ball. Although I (Evander) am no writer of odes—and being twenty-four hours past Saint Patrick’s Day—permit me to celebrate (poorly) the event via “County Limerick”:
There was once a poetriarch named Keats
To no author does he take a backseat:
Surely all ye agree
That no rhymster like me
Could knock the metaphors out from his cleats!
A Tale of Two Series
Two cricket series recently ended. A resurgent Pakistan took on top dogs England in three Test matches (in which Pakistan thrashed a hopeless England 3-0), four one-day internationals (in which England thrashed a hopeless Pakistan 4-0), and three Twenty20s (in which England eked out a narrow victory 2-1). It was thrilling stuff from two evenly matched sides, both of which learned important lessons about their strengths and weaknesses and provided entertaining cricket.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Australia, India, and Sri Lanka played 15—count em, 15—one-day internationals, at the end of which nobody could give a toss as to who won. The grounds were half full and by the end of the endless parade of undifferentiated games, I ([Martin] along with many others) was on my knees begging for the series to be over. True, the Australians blooded a few new players, but the series was the kind of overkill that threatens to turn everyone off the game. Sometimes, less really is more.
Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, India, One-Day Cricket, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
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Farewell to The Wall
Unbreachable
Rahul Dravid, for sixteen years the seemingly impregnable foundation of an extraordinarily talented Indian batting line up, has announced his retirement from international cricket at the age of 39. He hadn’t had a particularly successful recent tour of Australia. But his 2011 was a year of considerable achievement, and he went on his own terms. Beyond his remarkable temperament, infinite patience, and excellent technique—all of which contributed to his moniker The Wall—Dravid was a self-effacing servant of the game at a time in its history when flash, smash, and dash guarantee the cash. He is the first in the blessed trinity (V. V. S. Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar) to retire; the other two won’t be far behind, and it is likely that when they do go we will not look upon their like again.
Dravid wasn’t a global brand like Tendulkar. He wasn’t an elegant stylist like Laxman. He wasn’t box office boffo like Virender Sehwag. But his stats were—and are—remarkable. He ended his career as the second-highest run scorer in Test cricket (after Tendulkar), with 36 centuries and 63 fifties, at an average of 52 per innings. (This makes him, baseball fans, a world-class player: batting the equivalent over a career of .340.) And he brought something else to the game: dignity and decency. Sometimes, it’s worth celebrating the quiet professionals of a sport: the men (and women) who practice their craft with diligence and excellence over a long period of time, in the process accumulating records and achievements that remain unmatched. Dravid is a good man and was a great cricketer.
Posted in Cricket, India
Tagged Literature, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V. V. S. Laxman, Virender Sehwag
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Going Viral (We Hope) with Keats Injured Playing Cricket
Cricketer John Keats injured himself the way A. J. Burnett recently did!
On this date (almost), a Great Poet recorded his failings in a late-winter, spring-training game of cricket. This would be March 19, 1819: 193 years, roughly 70,500 days (counting Leap Years like this one), or 1,692,000 hours ago for the curious. The five-foot-one, ultra-coordinated cricketer—to our own time the greatest prodigy in English poetry—wrote to his brother and sister, George and Georgina, the following letter:
“Yesterday, I got a black eye—the first time I took a cricket bat—Brown who is always one’s friend in a disaster applied a leech to the eyelid, and there is no inflammation this morning though the ball hit me directly on the sight—’t was a white ball.”
New York Mets Will Do Something Great May 27
Slowly, Citi Field takes on the identity of the New York Mets.
Posted in Baseball
Tagged Citi Field, Jackie Robinson, New York Mets, Shea Stadium, Wild Card
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Manny and Ryan
If only life and sports were so clear cut
“Don’t do the crime / If you can’t do the time.” The catchphrase may have its beginnings with Robert Blake—who knows something about both, and with some changes sneaks into Bob Dylan’s “Heart of Mine.” More to the point, I (Evander) wish to address a possible discrepancy in viewpoints in two of my recent blogs. “Way, Manny!” Ramirez did not have the lawyerly presence of Ryan Braun. Ramirez tested positive and has paid a serious price, which undoubtedly will hurt his chances for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame when his incredible career is closed. Braun, on the other hand, has made a shambles of Major League Baseball-testing regulations. You see, he did the crime but did not do the time. His “press conference” of self-exoneration was a farce. Performance-enhancing steroids, and related substances and procedures, are deathly in their long-term and unpredictable impacts on quality of later life.
Ryan Braun and FedEx
Ryan Braun—All American
The man that finished a close second in the National League batting race in 2011 (ever-clever José Reyes of the New York Mets beat him out—by collecting a hit and benching himself on the last day of the season: Reyes won’t be remembered as another Ted Williams with that move), Ryan Braun has seen his name cleared of illegal-substance ingestion because an open FedEx office was not found. The now well-known story takes on a further Surreal touch with Braun’s filmed “press conference” in front of no reporters—at least within my (Evander) sight. His suspension suspended, and absent an injury, Braun will start the season for Milwaukee.
Is this any way to run a sport?
The issue of questionable and/or illegal-substances ingestion is complex. Chewing tobacco. Alcohol. Pot. Uppers. LSD. Crack. HGH and Steroids. Platelets’ injections. Why the fuss? Players have turned on, fueled by all of the above and more. Batters have set records. Pitchers have thrown perfect games and no-hitters, so it has been claimed, with hangovers and even while tripping.
There are issues of the right to privacy and the right to one’s body; there are issues on maintaining competitive balance and excellence.
Ryan Braun was clear to proclaim that only in Major League Baseball is an American guilty until proved innocent.
By finding a loophole to drive a truck thro, Braun and his handlers have succeeded in making a mockery of major-league drug-testing.
Sadly, the message sent (not by FedEx) to young people, regarding steroid ingestion, is twofold. Part of the message, though most are too young to understand it, is that a Dream Team of attorneys can turn commonsense upside down. The second part of the message: “Steroids (and similar substances) are really OK if your hero resorts to them and doesn’t have to pay the piper.”
Steroids taken for performance enhancement are insidious: dangerous substances that alter the metabolism in ways that are not completely understood, particularly over time.
Posted in Baseball
Tagged Jose Reyes, Major League Baseball, Milwaukee Brewers, National League, New York Mets, Ryan Braun, Steroids, Ted Williams
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Manny Ramirez Returns
Manny Ramirez, RBI machine with the Boston Red Sox, back when....
Posted in Baseball
Tagged Boston Red Sox, Major League Baseball, Manny Ramirez, Oakland Athletics
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Another Passing of a Sort: Tim Wakefield
Bearded Tim Wakefield "firing" his signature knuckleball
Right Off the Bat 