38 Not Out, or Sachin's Last Stand

As of the time of this writing, Sachin Tendulkar is 38 not out. By the time I am finished and it is posted, he may be out, or he may have a century.

Neither one of those possibilities would matter in the least to what I have to say on the subject of Sachin's retirement after this match.

Many more knowledgable and respected writers than I (or, is that me?) have written on the legend and phenomenon that is Sachin Tendulkar. His career and impact have been dissected ad nauseum. So I will make my little contribution the discussion rather short.

As I said above, what he does in this final Test match matters very little to me, although it seems like the world is willing him to make one final century. But, what if he falls short? What if he is out on, say, 38? Will it make us respect him more? Detract from his accomplishments? Make him any any less Sachin? Did Bradman's final innings duck make him any less a legend and hero?

To me Sachin's final appearance is a bit of an anti-climax. Because his impact is above one innings. He has defied the gravity of the cricketing universe, much as Michael Jordan did with the NBA. Jordan has famously said he failed more than he succeeded...missed many more shots that he made. Sachin has failed many times and may fail when he strides out again in this final match. But the impact will still be there. The records. The inspiration to more than one generation of fans. The impact on other cricketers.

In fact, it might be fitting if Sachin either does fail, or perhaps retires when he gets to his century and strides off into the sunset, head held high. Because, althugh in one sense he has eclipsed the game of cricket, really he is not bigger than cricket. What a fitting tribute to the sport he has loved and done so much for if, after elegantly cover-driving his way to a century, he lifts his helmet and retires not out.

But even if he is out first ball on this new day, in my mind he will still be retiring not out.

Because among all the other accomplishments and strengths, the one which has my utmost respect is this: He is a sportsman and a gentleman who always has—for me, at least—epitomized the spirit of cricket. In this day and age, that says something.

In fact, if he had accomplished half of what he has, I'd still respect and honor him because of that.

Regardless of stats, we need more like him.

We Suck Sometimes

One of those "not about cricket" posts I promised.

I love my dog. That sounds like a silly, maybe even redneck thing to say. But I do. I love her like a family member. Which is the way it should be.

And yet I daily read articles, Facebook posts, blogs, and tweets about animals being mistreated, abandoned, abused, euthanized, and given up at high kill shelters for various reasons. My Friday started off with tears as I read one such story about a dog in Arizona. Only a year and a half old, the poor boy was given up by his owners because they found themselves without room for him. It was a high-kill shelter; within two days he was dead. Dead. Killed in a violent world for no other reason than convenience.

Here is a photo of our beloved Star Morgan.

If she looks a little unfamiliar, it’s because she is a Carolina Dog. Carolina Dogs are actually the only dog breed known to be indigenous to the United States—they weren’t brought here from Europe. They are in fact still running wild, mostly in the southeastern United States. She has many behaviors that are unlike other breeds. You can Google that for yourself. She has been my friend and companion for seven of her 11 years on this Earth and I owe her more could ever possibly be repaid with a couple of meals per day, some treats, and a walk every night. She is a member of our family. My wife and little girl feel the same.

When she was spooked by fireworks last year, got over our five-foot fence, and was gone for a week, we were panicked. We searched for her every day, everywhere we could think of. When we got her back, it was such a relief to all of us. I even wrote a message to deliver at my Friends (Quaker) Meeting (church) about it. I will share that as a post sometime, perhaps.

So when I read this morning that this dog in Arizona had been euthanized, it struck me, as such stories always do, hard. I railed in my mind, I cursed, a cried a bit.

Before you get all upset and comment that “they’re just animals, they don’t know what family is and can’t have feelings or know what is happening,” let me say this: I know that dogs (and cats) are just animals. But they do know what family is, and they do have feelings. Anyone who has ever had a dog or cat for an extended period of time knows this. And they know about “family.” My experience is with dogs, so I will talk about them. Dogs are pack animals; they function best in a setting where there are others around, depending on the dog and that the dog depends on. I believe they also can feel … maybe not love quite as we know it exactly but very similar. I know because I’ve seen it in action, and felt it personally.

So then why do people think it’s OK to take a dog to a high kill shelter? They are suddenly bereft of the pack that gives their life its meaning and its context. They are in a strange world of scary noises and the smell of death, and soon they, too, will probably be dead. Can you imagine feeling that way yourself? You might very well say that sometimes sacrifices need to be made. When it comes down to survival, the choice between the family pet and being able to eat or have a roof over your head must be made. But why is the death sentence of a living, loving being part of the equation at all? What if the dog had a vote, and chose YOU to be the one to go to death row?

The next time you or someone you know is getting rid of a dog or cat, do NOT take it to a shelter that kills animals. And if you do, check back on it daily and make sure it doesn’t get into the schedule for being euthanized. Google. Talk to friends. Talk to the shelter. Find out where the area rescue groups are. If you can’t find one locally, expand your search. There are many groups out there (and even if it is a breed-specific group, your dog doesn’t have to be pure-bred for most of them to take them in). It may wind up costing you some gas money and time. But isn’t a life worth that? Even if it is “just a dog (or cat)?”

Please, spare a thought for an animal today. Go to your shelter and adopt a dog or cat (make sure they are spayed or neutered, by the way). Donate. Volunteer. Lobby your local government to make your local shelter a “no-kill” shelter. Please. Do it today.

Knowingly dooming a life that has the intelligence level of a five-year-old human just isn’t cricket.

Return of the Jedi, or, where the heck have you been?

I’ve not been on this blog for some time. There have been several reasons for my neglect, none of which has anything to do with my love for cricket, or my desire for Americans to learn about and support cricket.

First of all, my reasoning has been, with so many excellent writers and exponents of the sport already blogging, what can I have to offer? What is different, more insightful, or more entertaining about me than, say, the most excellent Limited Overs (to name but one example).

Second, I have a little girl who is now five and the apple of my eye, as the saying goes. She and my wife come before all else.

Third, I am a Quaker and at the present time happen to be the clerk of my Monthly Meeting. I won’t explain too much about that right now—maybe I will talk about this in a later post. Meanwhile, you can Google “Quakers” or “Society of Friends” and “Monthly Meeting Clerk” if you want to know what that entails.

Finally, as a writer I need something to kick me in the pants and get me to pour something out. I cannot sit for “X” number of minutes or hours a day and write. Whatever is going to eventually come out of me has to percolate inside until it is ready. This is how most of my writing goes. The pieces in my collection of short stories, “Dry Fly Gospel,” were all that way, as were the short stories in my upcoming juvenile mystery collection, “Camille Miles, Private Eye.” So, even though I have still be listening, watching, reading, and thinking about cricket, there was nothing much poking at the sides of my head, trying to get out—at least related to cricket.

I am here today writing again because some things have been poking at the sides of my head, trying to get out. There are some cricket-related things, but there are many other topics as well. So I have decided that I will resume a somewhat normal blogging schedule, but with a difference: While this blog will still be entitled, “American ArmChair Cricketer,” because that’s what I am, the sole topic will not be cricket. I will also write about other things that are rattling my cage at the time. That could be fly fishing, books, music, kids, Quakers, dogs, the suckiness of humanity, or whatever. But cricket will still figure predominantly in the mix.

So, with all of that said, my next post will probably be a combination of the topics of dogs and the general suckiness of humanity, because that is what is grinding my gears today. Other upcoming topics will be thoughts on the Ashes series, US cricket, Quakers and cricket, and much more. Stay tuned!

Harrison Named CEO of American Cricket Federation

There was a big announcement today in the world of cricket in the United States. Jamie Harrison, the President of the United States Youth Cricket Association, was named Chief Executive Officer of the American Cricket Federation.

This is a big announcement because the ACF has come together to try and move US cricket ahead, apart from the bungling national governing body which is officially recognized by the ICC. Harrison could really lead this group, and American cricket, somewhere good. He has a track record of success with the USYCA, and, although I do not know him personally, from my observations he is passionate about cricket and is well organized.

Below is the press release announcing the move.

Good luck, Jamie!

American Cricket Federation Media Release

The Steering Committee of the American Cricket Federation (ACF) is delighted to announce today the selection of Jamie L. Harrison as its first Chief Executive Officer.

“This is a momentous step in ACF’s short history,” commented Professor Gangaram Singh on behalf of the ACF Steering Committee, “not only as it fulfills a pressing need, but it does so with a candidate of exemplary qualification for the future of American cricket.”

Singh said, “The ACF have laid a solid foundation of vision and principle, enshrined in its Constitution, by the enormously hard work of the many volunteers dedicated to the belief that American cricket deserves an altruistic national management that represents all U.S. cricket stakeholders. Such is the steadily growing support for these ideals in the nation, the need to focus operations has become rapidly paramount.”

“Given Jamie’s selfless track record as a home-grown American dedicated to the development of U.S. cricket, we have every confidence that he will bring an exciting new dimension to ACF’s future progress,” said Singh.

Harrison's innumerable achievements with United States Youth Cricket Association (USYCA) and the Maryland Youth Cricket Association, which he also founded, have brought him well-deserved recognition from the American cricket community.

In December of 2011, Harrison became the first recipient of the Shekhar Aravind Award for Spirit of Cricket, announced by DreamCricket.com. In March of 2012 he was honored by the C.C. Morris Cricket Library Association with the prestigious Comfort Award, given to individuals whose activities, both on and off the field of play, represent the highest levels of sportsmanship and personal character long associated with the sport of cricket. Later that year, Harrison was inducted into the Cricket Hall of Fame in Hartford, Connecticut. In 2011, the International Cricket Council's Americas Region named USYCA as the "Best Junior Participation Initiative" for 2010.

Harrison will continue to serve as the president of the USYCA, an organization he helped to found in 2010. USYCA has donated over 1,500 cricket sets to American schools and, in cooperation with local youth programs, has now begun funding the construction of dedicated youth pitches.

Harrison said, “I cannot express how honored and humbled I am to have been entrusted with this important position by the leadership of the American Cricket Federation, especially at this critical moment for American cricket’s public opinion.”

“I have long been impressed with the spirit of altruism and transparency with which the ACF has conducted itself, and am equally impressed with the collection of gifted administrators who have come together under its banner. Such a gathering of talent gives me great confidence, as I know that my colleagues at ACF are more than prepared for the challenges ahead of us, and I eagerly look forward to working with them to meet those challenges,” said Harrison. 

Projection Screens, CEDIA, and…Cricket?

I don't talk a lot about my "day" job when I get around to writing posts for this blog. But today I'm making an exception.

To pay the bills, I work as a technical writer/media relations person for Draper, a manufacturer of projection screens; motorized lifts for projectors, cameras and other AV equipment; window shades; video conferencing solutions; and gymnasium equipment.

As part of my media relations duties, I applied for and was accepted to participate in a social media effort to promote the annual CEDIA Expo taking place in September in Denver, Colorado. CEDIA is a trade association which basically promotes the design and installation of electronic systems-mostly for the home. That is perhaps an oversimplification, but you get the idea.

As part of my role as a #CEDIATweep (yes that is what they call us), I tweet on behalf of CEDIA using one of my company's twitter handles (@DraperAV). I also write the occasional blog.

Recently I produced a blog which used cricket to talk about the need for continual innovation, and how it is there sometimes even when we don't see it. The post starts like this:

"If you ask my friends and family what I really love, probably the first thing that will pop out of their mouths is “cricket!” This will no doubt be accompanied by massive eye-rolling and head-shaking on a scale not seen since I came home from college with an earring, zipper-front Michael-Jackson-style shirt, and parachute pants.

"Because, frankly, I think and talk about it a lot. In an obsessive-compulsive kind of way. Cricket is to me like baseball is to many other people: full of action, excitement, strategy, and metaphors. Metaphors for everything: life, work, kids, and yes, even projection screens and CEDIA."

If you want to read more, follow the below link. If you have any thoughts or comments, leave them on the CEDIA-hosted blog post, rather than this blog!

The rest of the blog: http://www.cedia.net/blog/projection-screens-cedia-andcricket/#

A Little Cricket on a Saturday Morning

This past Saturday morning I loaded the fam into the Chevy Malibu and headed off for Indianapolis to watch a little cricket.

I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from the third annual Indy Legends tournament, and because of the heat—and the fact that our little girl is four and really wanted to go somewhere else—I almost called the whole thing off. But my wife, knowing how much I love cricket, would have none of it. So, off we went.

The main business of the tournament—and when most people were expected to show up—was in the late afternoon and early evening, during the semi-finals and finals. But I liked the idea of going early, seeing several matches in a short period of time and being able to leave whenever the four-year-old decided she’d had enough.

The cricket was adapted to be played on a softball diamond. Instead of changing ends, the bowlers all bowled from the same end, just like in baseball. They still did switch bowlers as normal. In addition, there had to be some additional rules to cope with the fact that there were fences within feet of the batting crease—so if someone hit it over the fence close in, it was a two.

The brand of cricket was fast-paced and entertaining, and something that I think would appeal to a lot of people if we could only help them understand what is going on a little bit. We same some pretty quick bowling, some quite deft strokeplay, and some sitters dropped like hot potatoes in the field. My step-daughter was with us for the trip, and at the end of the day she enjoyed it enough to say she was going to check out a few more matches online.

I think, however, that her experience might not have been so positive had I not been there to translate—at least at the beginning. We never got too deep into things like field placements and positions, but those didn’t really matter to her at that moment and weren’t really needed for her to enjoy the matches. I wonder if that is where we go wrong sometimes in trying to introduce cricket to Americans who’ve seen little or none of the sport. We start out telling them all of this stuff about silly mid-on and third man and power plays and the history of how bowling came to be overarm instead of underarm. That is because we love it and want everyone to know every nuance of this thing we love. I do the same thing when I tell people about our four-year-old. By the time I’m done, eyes are rolling back into heads and people are collapsing from boredom.

On the down side, there was no obvious place for a neophyte or walk-in who’d seen something on TV and decided to stop by to go for information on what was going on. I think a lot of people who show up somewhere will leave pretty quickly if there isn’t someone in a booth or tent that says something like “Information” on it. But really that is my only criticism, and it is probably unjust because, as I said, this was the morning of a tournament when teams are just there playing to see who gets to the semis. We were able to navigate and find matches to watch and found it thoroughly enjoyable.

I think if it would be nice to have a one page graphic guide on the basics of what someone is seeing when they go to the cricket. Perhaps I will work to develop one and make it available for free or for donations. Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas in this regard. (Note to self: add to my to-do list.) And when someone is playing cricket—even if it is just a match that we think nobody will come to—it would be nice to have a card table or a little tent set up with a sign that says “Information” or “Cricket help,!” and have someone there to answer questions and tell people what is going on (maybe even offer to have someone sit with them and introduce them to what is happening on the field). Later we can explain all the lovely and delicate intricacies of this sport of sports.

Besides the cricket, one thing I particularly enjoyed at the Indy Legends tournament was being able to talk with some folks in the stands about cricket. We had a lovely chat with some British ex-pats (although his voice reminded me so much of Ian O’Brien that I mistook him for a New Zealander, for which I most humbly apologize) about cricket. That is something I have little opportunity to do—converse in person with cricket lovers who know as much or (in this case) more than me.

We also had some amazing Indian food, by the way. I want the recipe so if anyone from Indy Legends can tell me how to make what you were serving in your food tent I will be most grateful.

Although we were only able to spend a couple of hours there, in all it was a very enjoyable time and something I think would appeal to a lot of people. Now if we can just get them there to watch! Congrats to organizers (and tourney winners) Indy Legends. It was fantastic.

Indy Legends Cricket Tournament

So this weekend the cause of cricket in Indiana will hopefully take yet another step forward.

Tomorrow—Saturday, June 22, 2013—the third annual Indy Legends tournament will take place in Indianapolis. I am super excited because this is a nice opportunity for people not familiar with the game to come and see a game or two, have some food, maybe even have their kids go through some training classes on how to play the game.

Indiana Youth Cricket is playing a big role in sponsoring and supporting this tournament, so kudos to Jatin Patel and his organization. Jatin has been working tirelessly to spread the game throughout Indiana schools. As a guy with a full-time job and one four-year-old, I am so tired that I can’t keep track of the days sometimes, so I don’t know how Jatin does it! I’m just glad he does.

If you are close enough to have a drive over to Indianapolis tomorrow, you’ll find tourney information and schedules here: https://www.facebook.com/IndyLegends.

For directions to the Chuck Klein Softball Complex, 4702 Rockville Road, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46202, click here.

Did I mention it is free to get in? Also, there will be some training offered for kids to learn how to play.

So take the kids and head out for some cricket! The beauty of this tournament, for new spectators, is that you can watch one match or several. There will be some concessions available, but make sure to take a cooler with water and snacks, plenty of sunscreen, and lawn chairs.