Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Sunday, October 6, 2013
quicko: rugby grand final
At this moment, the rugby grand final is taking place between the Manly Sea Eagles and the Sydney Roosters. There's also been another grand final of ... another sport ... taking place recently as well. Lots of talk, lots of hype ... go Manly!!
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
quicko: political update
So, it is official: Kevin Rudd is again the Prime Minister of Australia. By last night it seems the decision had been made, and he was sworn in this morning.
In other news, Queensland won game two of the three game State of Origin series (it's one of the rugbies, but I forget which -- New South Wales is the competitor who won the first round), which up until quite recently I believed was a one game affair and was shocked to hear they were playing again so soon after the last one. Now they'll be playing one more ... sometime soon.
In other news, Queensland won game two of the three game State of Origin series (it's one of the rugbies, but I forget which -- New South Wales is the competitor who won the first round), which up until quite recently I believed was a one game affair and was shocked to hear they were playing again so soon after the last one. Now they'll be playing one more ... sometime soon.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
quicko: state of origin
I'm really not a sporty person, but today everybody seems to be talking about the State of Origin, which is on tonight. I think I've probably mentioned it before -- it's an annual rugby league one-off game (think like the baseball All-Stars game) where players play for either the state of Queensland or the state of New South Wales -- depending on which state is their state of origin (i.e., where they're from). I guess theoretically I'm cheering for NSW, though I won't actually be watching the game (die hard fan, hey?).
Friday, April 26, 2013
Thursday, February 28, 2013
quicko: lacrosse
From what I can tell, more popular in America than Australia. Not overly popular either place, but likely to have a team at schools in America.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Sunday, January 27, 2013
quicko: the tennis
The Australian Open is on right now and, wow, I had no idea so many Australians were so interested in tennis. Everybody seems to be watching it, talking about it and facebooking about it. Evidently it's because it's the Australian Open instead of something like, say, Wimbledon. But yeah. Tennis is definitely the word on the street.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
play ball!
So I've recently been to a cricket game and spent approximately three hours learning all the rules. After that my theoretical knowledge was complete and I was about to watch the game and see how well I did in the practical application section ... unfortunately, that was when it started raining. I am now also an expert in the field of in-park karaoke and beer snakes, but I shall endeavor to focus on explaining cricket to you instead. In three minutes.
In short, the main thing to remember is is that cricket is not baseball. An easy mistake, I know, but they are well and truly different sports. In cricket, the main idea is still to get as many runs as possible, but instead of one guy running around the bases, you have two guys from the batting team running back and forth between two stumps (see the vocabulary section, which, incidentally, should not be counted in your three minutes of reading time). Each time they trade places, they get one run.
To start things off, one team is on the field and one team is batting. The team that is batting has two guys out there, though (thankfully) only one attempts to hit the ball at any given time, though, when he does, they both run back and forth as many times as possible without getting out. There are several ways to get out --
--bowled (if the ball hits the stumps)
--caught (like a fly out)
--LBW (leg before wicket, though no one seems quite able to effectively explain this one)
--run out (like a ground out, more or less)
--stumped (the wicket keeper steals the ball before the batter can hit it)
-- and outs are not nearly as common as they are in baseball, because it's really more the sudden death method than the "three strikes and you're out" (er, "three outs and you're out") method. As in, once you get out, you're OUT. Period. For the rest of the game. You see, there are 11 guys on a team, and each gets one (ONE) turn to bat. You can keep going as long as you don't get out, but once you're out, that's it. There are ten outs (or, in the version I saw, 50 overs (I'll explain that later), whichever comes first) per team per game. (Not 11, because there always have to be two guys running back and forth -- after his buddy goes, the last one can't do it alone.) So, it's actually really quite a long time that one side plays for and then it really quite a long time (rain notwithstanding) that the other team plays for. None of this silly taking turns business. (A coin toss decides who gets to pick who goes first.)
I should back up. There are actually three different versions of cricket -- a 5-day test match (deemed to be the "purest" cricket), a 1-day match, or a 20/20 match. There's various differences in rules and strategy, but to the casual observer the most noticeable difference is that the first lasts five days, the second one and the third several hours. Before I explain the differences, though, we need a quick vocabulary lesson:
Over = six balls (balls being the noun, but bowls the verb, as if this weren't complicated enough already). Basically six times the ball is bowled (aka pitched).
So. In a 5-day match, there are unlimited overs and (I lied before) each team gets two turns for its players to all bat. (i.e., In this version, you've got to make outs because if you don't, well, it's going to go on for five days.) In a 1-day match (what I saw), the overs are capped at 50 per side (50x6=roughly 300 bowls for the day, depending). So, if you don't make your ten outs, at least there is an end to the misery in sight. In this version, the first team's turn is over when they either have ten outs or 50 overs and the second team's turn (and the game) is over when they have either ten outs or 50 overs or have beaten the first team's score. In a 20/20 match, each team is allowed a maximum of 20 overs (20x6=roughly 120 bowls for the day, depending).
And then, whichever team has most runs (in the vicinity of 200-300), wins. Easy, right?
There are a lot of other rules, some of which I have even written down in my handy pink notebook, but I think your three minutes have ticked away. I shall content myself with leaving you with a more complete vocabulary lesson:
Bowler*: pitcher
Wicket keeper: catcher
Stumps: long vertical set pieces that delineate where the runners run from and to. Kind of sort of roughly akin to bases
Bails: little horizontal piece that goes at the top of the stumps (I believe this is an extra credit sort of vocabulary word, stumps being the more common noun in the game)
Wicket: trick question! There are two definitions! 1, noun, set of stumps and bails; 2, noun, an out
Wide: a ball (as in, not a strike but a ball; one penalty run applies)
No ball: term for if the bowler steps over the line; one penalty run also applies
Deep: outfield
Short: infield
On the full/a 6: fly ball out of boundary; roughly equivalent to a home run; awarded 6 runs
a 4: a ground ball that goes past the boundary; also very good; awarded 4 runs
Boundary: the line that marks the edge of the field
On strike: the batsman facing the bowler
Off strike: the batsman not facing the bowler (incidentally, these two might not get equal turns, depending if odd or even numbers of runs are scored)
12th man: the sub, though really only brought in for emergencies. It's 11 guys and that's that, none of this subbing around willy-nilly business.
Fieldsmen/fielders: the players on the team not batting
Batsmen: the players on the team batting
Mid-on/mid-off/mid-wicket/square leg/fine** leg/slips/third man/point/cover: the positions on the field (in addition to the bowler and wicket keeper)
*Special rules/notes about the bowler: no one can bowl more than 10 overs. So, the bowler changes, but isn't benched -- he just goes to a different location in the field. Everyone kind of takes turns in different places; there's probably some "oh-he-usually-plays-deep" to it, but it's not so delineated as baseball players' positions.
**Not "fire" leg, as illegible handwriting (not mine!) first led me to believe.
A note on reading the exceptionally confusing supposedly helpful signs at the stadium. Ahem. If you see: 3/65, this means there are 3 outs and 65 total runs. (In this scenario, 3 is out of a maximum of 10 and 65 is, from this point onward, a minimum figure.) If you see 16.2, this means there are 16 overs completed and we're on the second ball of the current over. (In this scenario, 16 is out of a maximum of 50 and 2 is out of a maximum of 6, though I don't think it ever goes up to 50 or 6 on the scoreboard (49 or 5 it would be) since it would turn over to the next number at that point -- like you don't see "3 outs" in baseball, because it just starts the next inning if that happens.)
Pop quiz: what does 4/93 mean? 21.3?
Answer: 4 outs and 93 total runs ... and 21 overs and the 3rd ball of the current over. (And there are 6 balls in one over. Just in case you forgot.)
Oh, and the maximum number of runs per ball is six (that home run type scenario) unless there's something really complicated and tricky, but basically the max is six.
Oh, and there's no double plays. No fair making two outs at once, these guys are nice guys!
Okay, now that is really pretty much everything I know about cricket, aside from a few little notes that no longer make any sense to me.
Ah, wait, really well and truly my final note now: it's not cricket where you eat strawberries and cream, it seems. (Why else would I have gone?) Turns out that's Wimbledon.
In short, the main thing to remember is is that cricket is not baseball. An easy mistake, I know, but they are well and truly different sports. In cricket, the main idea is still to get as many runs as possible, but instead of one guy running around the bases, you have two guys from the batting team running back and forth between two stumps (see the vocabulary section, which, incidentally, should not be counted in your three minutes of reading time). Each time they trade places, they get one run.
To start things off, one team is on the field and one team is batting. The team that is batting has two guys out there, though (thankfully) only one attempts to hit the ball at any given time, though, when he does, they both run back and forth as many times as possible without getting out. There are several ways to get out --
--bowled (if the ball hits the stumps)
--caught (like a fly out)
--LBW (leg before wicket, though no one seems quite able to effectively explain this one)
--run out (like a ground out, more or less)
--stumped (the wicket keeper steals the ball before the batter can hit it)
-- and outs are not nearly as common as they are in baseball, because it's really more the sudden death method than the "three strikes and you're out" (er, "three outs and you're out") method. As in, once you get out, you're OUT. Period. For the rest of the game. You see, there are 11 guys on a team, and each gets one (ONE) turn to bat. You can keep going as long as you don't get out, but once you're out, that's it. There are ten outs (or, in the version I saw, 50 overs (I'll explain that later), whichever comes first) per team per game. (Not 11, because there always have to be two guys running back and forth -- after his buddy goes, the last one can't do it alone.) So, it's actually really quite a long time that one side plays for and then it really quite a long time (rain notwithstanding) that the other team plays for. None of this silly taking turns business. (A coin toss decides who gets to pick who goes first.)
I should back up. There are actually three different versions of cricket -- a 5-day test match (deemed to be the "purest" cricket), a 1-day match, or a 20/20 match. There's various differences in rules and strategy, but to the casual observer the most noticeable difference is that the first lasts five days, the second one and the third several hours. Before I explain the differences, though, we need a quick vocabulary lesson:
Over = six balls (balls being the noun, but bowls the verb, as if this weren't complicated enough already). Basically six times the ball is bowled (aka pitched).
So. In a 5-day match, there are unlimited overs and (I lied before) each team gets two turns for its players to all bat. (i.e., In this version, you've got to make outs because if you don't, well, it's going to go on for five days.) In a 1-day match (what I saw), the overs are capped at 50 per side (50x6=roughly 300 bowls for the day, depending). So, if you don't make your ten outs, at least there is an end to the misery in sight. In this version, the first team's turn is over when they either have ten outs or 50 overs and the second team's turn (and the game) is over when they have either ten outs or 50 overs or have beaten the first team's score. In a 20/20 match, each team is allowed a maximum of 20 overs (20x6=roughly 120 bowls for the day, depending).
And then, whichever team has most runs (in the vicinity of 200-300), wins. Easy, right?
There are a lot of other rules, some of which I have even written down in my handy pink notebook, but I think your three minutes have ticked away. I shall content myself with leaving you with a more complete vocabulary lesson:
Bowler*: pitcher
Wicket keeper: catcher
Stumps: long vertical set pieces that delineate where the runners run from and to. Kind of sort of roughly akin to bases
Bails: little horizontal piece that goes at the top of the stumps (I believe this is an extra credit sort of vocabulary word, stumps being the more common noun in the game)
Wicket: trick question! There are two definitions! 1, noun, set of stumps and bails; 2, noun, an out
Wide: a ball (as in, not a strike but a ball; one penalty run applies)
No ball: term for if the bowler steps over the line; one penalty run also applies
Deep: outfield
Short: infield
On the full/a 6: fly ball out of boundary; roughly equivalent to a home run; awarded 6 runs
a 4: a ground ball that goes past the boundary; also very good; awarded 4 runs
Boundary: the line that marks the edge of the field
On strike: the batsman facing the bowler
Off strike: the batsman not facing the bowler (incidentally, these two might not get equal turns, depending if odd or even numbers of runs are scored)
12th man: the sub, though really only brought in for emergencies. It's 11 guys and that's that, none of this subbing around willy-nilly business.
Fieldsmen/fielders: the players on the team not batting
Batsmen: the players on the team batting
Mid-on/mid-off/mid-wicket/square leg/fine** leg/slips/third man/point/cover: the positions on the field (in addition to the bowler and wicket keeper)
*Special rules/notes about the bowler: no one can bowl more than 10 overs. So, the bowler changes, but isn't benched -- he just goes to a different location in the field. Everyone kind of takes turns in different places; there's probably some "oh-he-usually-plays-deep" to it, but it's not so delineated as baseball players' positions.
**Not "fire" leg, as illegible handwriting (not mine!) first led me to believe.
A note on reading the exceptionally confusing supposedly helpful signs at the stadium. Ahem. If you see: 3/65, this means there are 3 outs and 65 total runs. (In this scenario, 3 is out of a maximum of 10 and 65 is, from this point onward, a minimum figure.) If you see 16.2, this means there are 16 overs completed and we're on the second ball of the current over. (In this scenario, 16 is out of a maximum of 50 and 2 is out of a maximum of 6, though I don't think it ever goes up to 50 or 6 on the scoreboard (49 or 5 it would be) since it would turn over to the next number at that point -- like you don't see "3 outs" in baseball, because it just starts the next inning if that happens.)
Pop quiz: what does 4/93 mean? 21.3?
Answer: 4 outs and 93 total runs ... and 21 overs and the 3rd ball of the current over. (And there are 6 balls in one over. Just in case you forgot.)
Oh, and the maximum number of runs per ball is six (that home run type scenario) unless there's something really complicated and tricky, but basically the max is six.
Oh, and there's no double plays. No fair making two outs at once, these guys are nice guys!
Okay, now that is really pretty much everything I know about cricket, aside from a few little notes that no longer make any sense to me.
Ah, wait, really well and truly my final note now: it's not cricket where you eat strawberries and cream, it seems. (Why else would I have gone?) Turns out that's Wimbledon.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
quicko: costumed cricket capers
Monday, January 21, 2013
quicko: the longest beer snake
A beer snake is what you get when you put all the plastic cups spectators have emptied together and form a line out of them. Because of the rain delay at our cricket game, it is believed that I actually got to witness the formation of the longest beer snake not just in the Southern Hemisphere, but in all of history. Wikipedia even says so!
As does The Sydney Morning Herald. There's another video of it here, too. And here Perth admits it has been defeated by Sydney.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Monday, October 8, 2012
quicko: baseball idioms
American English uses tons -- TONS -- of baseball idioms all the time. From general sorts of "on the ball," or "play ball" to the more specific "struck out," "out in left field" or "step up to the plate," there are about 20-30 that are just general idiomatic parts of the language that are used frequently in daily conversation, professional conversation, conventions, presentations, etc. Australians use/recognize many of them, but don't use quite as many quite as often. I taught a bunch to my students the other day, thinking they'd be thrilled (idioms are generally a huge hit, if you pardon the idiom), but they weren't. They didn't hear Australians using them and were convinced I'd made them up. Students of little faith!!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
quicko: the olympics
I was going to make some profound statement about Australian coverage of the Olympics, but in many ways I think it's very similar to the American -- biased in favor of itself, full of ridiculous commentators asking the most stupidly awkward questions and unlikely to show to the sports you actually want to watch when you want to watch them. But like I said -- it's what I'm used to. I've never encountered any other way of watching the Olympics and yet I still do! I'm happy to cheer for the Australians as long as they're not playing the Americans ... in which case ... go USA!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
quicko: further thoughts on rugby league
I watched the Manly game on Friday night. (It was a huge game! This guy who had been Manly's winning coach the last couple years (they won the premiership, which is like winning the Super Bowl) abandoned the team and went to another team that paid him more money. Friday's game was Manly against his new team. Very dramatic!) Now I know a few more things about rugby league, so I thought I'd update you:
--There are six tackles before the ball switches sides. A tackle is literally a tackle. This leads me to wonder if perhaps a "down" in American football is the same concept (someone literally being pushed down? it would make sense ...), but as I know nothing about football (except precise field measurements also used by marching bands), I'm really not sure.
--Players are only allowed to pass the ball backwards. This is interesting because if you want to throw the ball, it's a bit counterintuitive -- you've got to throw it the opposite way than you really want to go.
--They're very big on the offsides rule -- after each ... tackle, I think ... each team must be on its proper side of things. This means it's nothing like, say, ice hockey or broomball where you always keep some players on defense close to the goal and others on offense farther out. Rather, it's a whole lot more like Red Rover in terms of overall set-up.
--There's this thing called a scrum where all the guys stand in a circle and look entirely too close for comfort.
--The so-called "Gorgeous George" is really more of a "Big Lovely Teddy Bear George" than a precisely glamorous figure.
--Cherry-Evans is the new golden boy of the Manly Sea Eagles, though other players such as the brothers Brett and Glen and another guy named Jamie Lyon have been playing solidly with the team for much longer. However, Cherry-Evans has been offered a better contract (4 years instead of 2ish), which is a cause for dissension among the players and fans.
--The Manly Sea Eagles are a widely disliked team, partially because they are beating everybody else and, in a more long-term, deep-seated sort of way, because there's a bit of an attitude of the silver spoon about them.
However, Manly won the game Friday night by 12-10, and it was a very good game. Tense, nerve-wrackingly nail-biting! But they pulled through in the end and it was all very exciting!
--There are six tackles before the ball switches sides. A tackle is literally a tackle. This leads me to wonder if perhaps a "down" in American football is the same concept (someone literally being pushed down? it would make sense ...), but as I know nothing about football (except precise field measurements also used by marching bands), I'm really not sure.
--Players are only allowed to pass the ball backwards. This is interesting because if you want to throw the ball, it's a bit counterintuitive -- you've got to throw it the opposite way than you really want to go.
--They're very big on the offsides rule -- after each ... tackle, I think ... each team must be on its proper side of things. This means it's nothing like, say, ice hockey or broomball where you always keep some players on defense close to the goal and others on offense farther out. Rather, it's a whole lot more like Red Rover in terms of overall set-up.
--There's this thing called a scrum where all the guys stand in a circle and look entirely too close for comfort.
--The so-called "Gorgeous George" is really more of a "Big Lovely Teddy Bear George" than a precisely glamorous figure.
--Cherry-Evans is the new golden boy of the Manly Sea Eagles, though other players such as the brothers Brett and Glen and another guy named Jamie Lyon have been playing solidly with the team for much longer. However, Cherry-Evans has been offered a better contract (4 years instead of 2ish), which is a cause for dissension among the players and fans.
--The Manly Sea Eagles are a widely disliked team, partially because they are beating everybody else and, in a more long-term, deep-seated sort of way, because there's a bit of an attitude of the silver spoon about them.
However, Manly won the game Friday night by 12-10, and it was a very good game. Tense, nerve-wrackingly nail-biting! But they pulled through in the end and it was all very exciting!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
quicko: sports cities
Apparently it goes as follows:
Melbourne is crazy about AFL (Australian rules football, called football, or "the footy").
Sydney is crazy about rugby league (called football, or "the footy").
The whole country is crazy about rugby union (called rugby ... and possibly also football??).
Cricket is also a whole country sport, though the crowd I've been hanging with just isn't so crazy about it and has led me to believe no one else is either. I have a suspicion they might be slightly biased though.
Melbourne is crazy about AFL (Australian rules football, called football, or "the footy").
Sydney is crazy about rugby league (called football, or "the footy").
The whole country is crazy about rugby union (called rugby ... and possibly also football??).
Cricket is also a whole country sport, though the crowd I've been hanging with just isn't so crazy about it and has led me to believe no one else is either. I have a suspicion they might be slightly biased though.
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