A Rose, By Any Other Name

Someone who has odd interests, and is often silly at times. A dork is also someone who can be themselves and not care what anyone thinks. Urban Dictionary.

Previously, we examined the word "geek" and how that appellation applied to me. The context was plane spotting, and two guys from London. Today's lesson - Why Jim is a Dork.

Our recent cruise aboard the gargantuan Oasis of the Seas was hit or miss - mostly hit. How can I complain about being away from work, love of my life at my side, margarita in hand aboard what is basically a floating all-inclusive resort. 

But, I am nothing if not observant. A quick run through the TV in our cabin revealed the following:

How to buy diamonds at the port calls, or;
Where we were, how fast we were going, or;
The cruise director (who was actually funny) being funny, or;
CNN,
Fox,
BBC.

There were two flavors of ESPN - one which had the usual talking heads yelling at each other about football players we had never heard of, and;

Cricket.

Okay, I can see you reaching for the mouse all the way from my office. I know what you mean. But, it was the only thing worth watching, since NBC has the Olympics locked up and Royal Carib hadn't bothered to buy the package. Lucky us, right? So, we gave cricket a look.

So, it isn't baseball... But, it actually is at least a distant cousin. But, let me try this out on you. It looks, for all the world, like a combination of baseball (a ball and bat), hockey (somebody protecting a goal) and that time-honored kid past time, running bases. Okay, go ahead and tell me that doesn't sound better than a sales pitch for bamboo sheets.

Combine that with the locale of the tournament  being broadcast - Antigua. I'll save you the trouble - It's one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. The matches we watched were played under the lights, the pitch surrounded by lush stands of palm trees swaying in the ocean breeze. Jamaica was playing Guyana...with some big dude from Guyana hitting the ball well into the darkness.

We went to a small Mexican restaurant aboard and watched cricket as we ate. One of the wait staff, a guy from India, explained some of the niceties. There is a strike zone (after a fashion) and if you can get past the sight of the "bowler" running up to the pitching line, throwing straight-armed and bouncing the ball up to a guy wearing leg pads, guarding wickets... One of the commentators actually said, "Oh, that's untidy cricket" about a play that would have made it to "C'mon, Man!" if this was the NFL.

I was fascinated. I was rooting for Guyana, but Jamaica had some serious game...

What? 

Never mind. I'm going back to reading Cricket Explained, a book my dear wife bought for the husband she knows so very well.