Last word on cycling. I promise (honest)

My first movie edit...

I hope that it loads properly (and that the internet faithful will forgive my rather 'gauche' presentation).

Grazie

Arise, Sir Christopher. Incredible

Sir Chris Hoy replete with Olympic gold medal haul (photo ©Telegraph.co.uk)

I'm really thrilled about Chris Hoy's knighthood.

I know that it's 'not cricket' ...

(it is definitely about cycling - the one thing that I really wanted to do but never got to because my Dad wouldn't get me a bike)

...but I was quite taken with the cycling, if not the Olympics as a whole - Nicole Cooke bum-rushing the show in the rain, then Hoy racing round the track, then him and two of his pals getting it on for more of the gold stuff - quite distracting, really. A change from the pampered, preening, 'modern-day slaves' that predominate in today's soccer Premiership (for example).

All in all an incredible year for the Edinburgh cyclist and his family.

God bless him.

And now, the doyen speaks...

And on the mic with Mr Nicholas, I hear the voice of my favourite commentator - 

Now I’m not quite so ashamed after all...

That’s it! I am now officially off the wagon...

The Mumbai massacre has finally been quelled. The poor people of Mumbai are now starting to recover from the sixty-hour plus assault on their ancient city - their home. Just as with the second plane on September 11, 2001 - when it swerved into the Tower - when I heard that the 'designer' terrorists had hit on the Jewish centre called Hariman House in an apparently nondescript part of the city, I felt certain that no negotiation was possible with these individuals, no matter what was being said on the media.

I followed the ups and downs as best as I could. BBC News, Sky News, CNN IBN news on the web - not sleeping properly, grabbing whatever I could get my greedy little mitts on news-wise. Wanting in spirit to see off these crazed ƒ•¢%€®$ who have so cruelly violated a beautiful citadel that I am unlikely to ever see live and direct (so to speak), but am glad to know is there just the same. How glad that I am to be a KrstYan (albeit a very poor one).

Now in the early hours of the last of November, I can finally feel normal again. Or, more accurately, feed my addiction. I searched for cricket to listen to on the BlackCaps site, on some other site and then did a search for ‘Australia vs New Zealand’ amongst my old friends, the informal webcasting community. You can’t be watching cricket at a time like this, you heartless ßi+¢§!!! What are you made of? But then I struck gold.

And as soon as I heard Mark Nicholas’s voice, I felt a rush.

I am now once more a cricket anorak in shameless pursuit of the metaphysical game.

And I am - quite rightly - ashamed of myself.

This is great news...

Marcus Trescothick has been named as vice-captain of Somerset for the 2009 season.

That is great news.

here's the link.

Can't help thinking that it would have been so much better yet if he was v-C for England (to add a little class, maybe).

Not to be - but nonetheless he is well set on the road to complete recovery.

Good.

It's all over now

Don't care what happens.

I'm cricketed out.

The WIndies (sorry, Stanford Super Stars) took team England out for 99!! T'was as if they hardly tried.

Great to see Gayle and Fletcher win (and thanks to Ch•v*••r I saw it all - despite his forced relocation).

Hey Chris - can you stump up a few 'dólare$$$' for the cab fare home, 'mate' ?

England's hubris came back to haunt them. I don't think the match was thrown, the look of abject desolation shared by the entire team told me that. The E(W)CB hierarchy didn't protect or instruct the team, and they were basically hung out to dry in the sweltering heat at Coolidge. 

I feel real sympathy for James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom, in particular. Easier for them to share 'nothing', and no-one in the world can blame them for England being humiliated on what turned out to be a world stage on Saturday night. Also kudos to Alistair Cook, who truthfully stated that the money was indeed a factor - an offence for which he got slapped down in very short order by Peter Moores. I wonder if the coach can now 'take any positives' out of this débâcle for poor England...

Cricket is alive, but a little less pristine than before.

And life goes on.

Post Script: - get me Sir Vivian Master-Blaster as a motivational life-coach. Pleeeeeeeeaaase!!!

It all comes down to the money... ?

It a££ ¢ome$ down to the mon€¥

lyrics from the hip-hop track by Terminator X (and featuring Whodini)

It all comes down to the money
Whether it`s rainy or snowy or sunny
Funny, but it all comes down to the money
I`m in it
I`m in it for the cash
I`m in it for the cash

all rights (and apologies) to Terminator X

¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£

¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£¥$£

I wish that the players - the England XI (and the coach!) would man up and tell us straight that money was the deal with Stanford. The West Indies players (sorry, Stanford Superstars) are usually more honest about this sort of thing - perhaps because the region historically - and collectively - has lacked the English embarrassment regarding monetary matters.

In any case, it looks as though even the lucre-loving E(W)CB are having second thoughts about this 'tournament'...

...the ingrates

Now I know why I’m feeling queasy about Stanford...

" Now whoo wants tah git a hold of mah assits furst??? "

This explains why I felt uncomfortable about the Stanford deal.

He's actually gone and proved that what I said in an earlier blog about cricket selling out is kinda true.

Not even the most ambitious soccer WAG would allow herself to be photographed like this with a man like this (willingly)...

I am actually on the side of the ladies here.

I refuse to judge them - some things are more important than money...

...and I am not blaming Sir Allen either. Mr KP said that they didn't set up this situation, they play where they're told for England. I do not blame the players at all.

Nor their unfortunate wives and companions.

Turgid Twenty20 for 20

I’m falling asleep...

sorry Middlesex and T&T,

but this is terminally boring.

The ideal soporific.

Good night (yawn)...

I said I wouldn’t, but...

...here I am watching the Middlesex team vs England in Antigua (thanks to my favourite informal webcaster).

Tonight’s stream is great picture wise, but it keeps starting and stopping. Irritating.

But it’s nice to see a little ‘colour’ in the crowd for a change.

And many of the people look as I do.

But they’re not cold.

As I am.

Cricket on the iPlayer, anyone?

Today’s BBC iPlayer


Wow!!! The Beeb are now supping with a very long spoon.

According to The Guardian today, the BBC and the BSkyB Corporations have come to a deal regarding the iPlayer.

Those who subscribe to the Sky subscription service will now be able to access BBC programming through the proprietary Sky Player, rather than going through the BBC’s iPlayer site. Any room for the cricket next year, chaps (?)

A back-handed compliment if ever there was one.

All sold out in Antigua...

I’m losing track of the game that I love so much. ICL here, EPL there, - and never mind Mr Lalit Modi with his designs of global expansion for the IPL...

...and the dressing down of the WICB by the High Court in London only emphasises the continuing diminution of Caribean cricket, and its loss of independence. The days of pride, self-confidence and world-class teams (and attitude) are long gone. Reduced to a rich man’s plaything. I don’t resent the players for wanting to make a fast buck - the life of the cricketing pro is short indeed, most of the time. Make hay while the sun shines, strike whilst the iron is hot, all that gubbins. But whilst I am not as extreme in the condemnation department as a certain Mr S Hughes or a Mr J Agnew, I feel uneasy as to what this wager will mean for cricket generally in the future. It’s not the format, it’s the money that makes me feel queasy.

This ‘game’ simply feels like a sell-out.