[GeeGee]

I too am surprised at the popularity here of cricket. My choices (watching, I'm way too old and unfit to play most things any more, and some of my partners may say that's true of bridge as well)

Cricket,
Football,
Motor racing, especially the historics, it's wonderful to watch these old Coopers and Lotuses drifting all over the place,
Cricket,
Golf (only thing I can almost play now)
Cricket,
American Football when they show the highlights and we don't have all these ad breaks,
Cricket,
......
Cricket

Last time I played cricket, I was relatively fit and young and worked out regularly at the gym. I scored 10 runs, and couldn't move the next day. Those were muscles I hadn't exercised before.

[Walddk]

jchiu, on Mar 13 2006, 05:18 AM, said:

Walddk, on Mar 10 2006, 04:49 AM, said:

Cricket as explained to a foreigner:
You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man
that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes
in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out,
the side that's out comes in and the side thats been in goes out
and tries to get those coming in, out.

Sometimes you get men still in and not out. That happens when
the captain of the batting side decides to declare the innings.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get
him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in
goes out and goes in.

There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time
and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both
sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both
sides have been out twice after all the men have been in,
including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!

Howzat!

Roland

Absolutely lucid, Roland. Except for one question, which is
what the heck is the "batting side"? Also seems obvious to
diagram (remember those petty diagramming exercises in
middle school?).

The team that bat, as opposed to the team that field. About 15 minutes before start of play the two captains toss a coin. The captain who wins the toss decides if he wants to bat or field first.

The batting side is the team with batsmen whereas the fielding side is the team with the fielders (I believe "fieldsmen" is used in Oz). The batting side has two batsmen at the crease; the fielding side has all 11 in the field at a time.

Talking of Oz. We all know that they like everything upside-down since they live down under. The same applies to cricket. It's normal to say that Team A has scored 298-4 (298 runs for the loss of 4 wickets, i.e. runs first, wickets next). Not so in Australia where they would put it 4-298.

Roland

[MickyB]

nickf, on Mar 11 2006, 09:10 PM, said:

Walddk, on Mar 11 2006, 08:25 PM, said:

I suspect that Nick actually loves cricket

i was weaned on cricket. but what i really love about it that australia is to cricket what the squadra azzura were to bridge.

Surely that should say "Australia *were* to cricket what the squadra azzura were to bridge"?

Motorsport and badminton are my favourites, both for watching and participating. Formula One looks to be in for an exciting year.

[FrancesHinden]

Active
--------

Top by a mile: Alpine Skiing
Then: Walking (is that a sport?)
All others a long way down, then more or less equal
croquet, table football, pinball, pool, bar billiards

I used to enjoy running (OK, jogging) but it did my knees in and I had to stop to preserve the ability to ski.

I do a lot of cycling, mainly in the gym, but I don't enjoy it; it's just to keep fit.

Passive
--------
Cricket
Alpine skiing
Biathlon

[Elianna]

Oooh, Croquet! I forgot to mention croquet, as I don't play it anymore. But I used to love it. My favorite thing was attempting to jump over a dead ball. I could do it at least half the time!

[aisha759]

To play and watch: Tennis

To do : ski (snow and water)

To watch: basketball only... i hate football except the world cup!

[the saint]

To Watch:

Moto GP - Catch Vale while you can...
Football (Proviso - World Cups are usually rubbish (crap refs, played in too hot weather), although Germany will be an exception because the conditions will be there for the players to give 100%. Premiership and Champion's league are the most exciting)
F1 - The reason I did aerodynamics. Senna is still my hero.
Cricket - Ashes 05. Still sends shivers down my spine. Have you got the DVDs Roland?
Biathlon - Ole-Einar Bjorndalen. The greatest athlete on the planet today?
Ski-Jumping - Nutters. Spectacular.
Rugby (6 Nations)
Bobsleigh - See Ski Jumping
Boxing (Top Fights Only)
K1 (As above)
Rallying
Athletics
Cycling - Le Tour. What an event.

Definitely not:

Anything with horses (just so sad losers can lose their money), Ice Skating (Not a sport), American Football (Get knackered after 5 seconds and have a rest and wear padding - play rugby you wusses)

To Do:

Football - Indoor 5-a-side
Cycling - Freedom of the roads (and I get to wear lycra!)
Table Tennis - Haven't done this in ages
Tennis - Or this
But all the general weights/fitness training too - need the fitness levels for those hard sessions at the table

[Walddk]

the saint, on Mar 25 2006, 12:05 PM, said:

Cricket - Ashes 05. Still sends shivers down my spine. Have you got the DVDs Roland?

Do I have them?? I got them before they were released!

Roland

[y66]

Golf - Feel the sun and wind on your face. Think, decide, play, laugh, cry, walk, rehash everything … with family, friends, strangers … all fellow golfers.

Baseball - I love to listen to baseball on the radio.

Football – Live college football on a sunny afternoon is hard to beat.

Skiing – Sun, wind and incredible feelings of exhilaration I don't get anywhere else.

Favorite sports moment of all time – Dan Pooley vs Tom Watson in 5-hole playoff at Caves Valley, U.S. Senior Open, 2002. Wow!

[Gerben42]

To play:

1. Alpine skiing
2. Hockey (the real thing not this agressive ice sport)
3. Volleyball (normal or beach)

To watch:
1. Hockey (see above)
2. Anything but soccer

I don't understand a thing about cricket but probably would be interesting to watch.

[Walddk]

Gerben42, on Mar 25 2006, 04:42 PM, said:

I don't understand a thing about cricket but probably would be interesting to watch.

To all who might be interested:
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London.
I'll show you something to make you change your mind.
(Ralph McTell)

and

Roland

[GeeGee]

I have a friend at work who professes he cannot like or understand cricket. It is far too slow and boring, with nothing happening for so much of the time.

His favourite sport to watch is tennis. Yeah, sure, action-packed every second.

[Al_U_Card]

Walddk, on Mar 9 2006, 05:50 PM, said:

Top 10:
1. Cricket.
2. Football (the real thing, aka soccer).
3. Handball.
4. Ice hockey.
5. Tennis.
6. Badminton.
7. Basketball.
8. Athletics.
9. Table tennis.
10. Swimming.
.
.
.
57. Baseball.
.
.
.
98. American football.

Roland

Hey, you forgot to put a number in front of your name.......

[Al_U_Card]

To watch (because I can play bridge while I'm watching)

Golf
Curling
Baseball

To do

Golf
Curling
In-line skating

[Codo]

To watch:
Football (Worldcup, Champions League)
more football (German leagues)
beach volleyball
Olympia
american sports (Esp. the Mavericks and the Seahwaks)
biathlon (Michi Greiss beat Bjöndalen quite often..)
curling
sumo


Hate to watch:
Motor sport
equestrian
darts
tennis
ice-hockey
bowling

Love to play:
Volleyball
Beach Volleyball
Bridge
Chess
football
curling

[onoway]

don't quite know where all the hostility to equestrian sports comes from..a favorite of mine is cattle penning..useful sort of thing in this part of the country. I have seen teams with children five or six years old and grandparents who had to be pushing 70 sharing the responsibilties....can't touch the cattle, nothing gets hurt, but the time limits assure there is plenty of action once things get going...how many sports activities can be identified where generational teams can be truly competitive? Pam

[Lobowolf]

Boxing
(American) Football
Baseball
...
Various lesser sports

[Winstonm]

Matt Damon, Good Will Hunting

[1eyedjack]

Interested to know how all y'all define "sport". Until relatively recently in generational terms there were only three true sports: hunting, shooting and fishing. Times move on. So, what collection of features are the minimum requirements of a sport? And if those features are present, does that necessarily mean that the activity is a sport?

I ask because at the outset the OP expressed the opinion that Bridge is not a sport. That is also the view held by the UK VAT authorities, although as far as I can tell that interpretation has not been tested by the judiciary. UK VAT law is subservient to EU VAT law, but neither defines "sport" as far as I can tell although they grant VAT exemptions to those activities.

I suggest that among the requirements are
1) an organised activity
2) as a competition
3) requiring skill

There may be other requirements, for example to distinguish it from pure gambling.

A popular requirement as perceived by some is the physical element (whether speed, strength, endurance, or dexterity) as opposed to a skill that solely relies on the exercise of mental acuity. That would certainly be a convenient distinction drawn by those who seek to exclude Bridge.

Normally in law where terms are undefined we look to the common English usage (I know a load of lawyers are reading this so tread carefully!), although context can also be influential.

Looking at a couple of free online dictionaries (dictionary.com and Webster's online) is not a great help. They provide multiple definitions although the first listed does in each case require athleticism or physical exertion, but not in all cases.

Part of the problem is that the vast majority of activities which are uncontested as regards falling within the definition are indeed physical activities. So there is a temptation to extrapolate from that fact that this is a requirement and, once that is accepted, so the minority are then excluded by definition despite that in all other respects they pass the "elephant test".

It is a moving goalpost as time progresses, and the boundaries are perhaps being stretched all the time. As I said at the outset, we are no longer restricted to hunting, shooting and fishing. Among the activities which the VAT authorities DO accept as "sport" are snooker, billiards, pool, and competitions involving flying model aircraft. But not Bridge. And if you try to find out what features HMRC deem to be of relevance via their manuals that are available online to the public you will find that they have been "withheld due to exemptions granted in the Freedom of Information Act". I ask you, what national interest or security issue is served by concealing these principles?

If someone who knew nothing of either Bridge or Golf were to wander around a bridge club and a golf clubhouse when there is no activity taking place, they will see a remarkably similar scene: Cabinets full of trophies, noticeboards listing captains and competitors in forthcoming events, and the walls festooned with veneered plaques listing competition winners going back over the ages.

Well, there is a lot of money riding on the issue, if only someone were to have the courage to test it.

[dicklont]

Swimming
Speed skating
Snooker
Soccer

Really, I don't deliberatelly choose sports that begin with S.

Chess
Athletics
And don't forget to mention ballroom dancing