I had no idea...

[Blackstar the Chakat]

LOL! Blackstar, you are thinking of CROQUET, not cricket!

Then what's cricket?

[Mikey]

It's a hugely popular sport in much of the world that was once part of the British Empire:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket

I don't get it myself, but then I've never been English.

[mwhittington]

Cricket is somewhat like baseball, but instead of a pitcher, they have a bowler, instead of home plate, they have a stick in the ground, and the cricket bat is mostly flattened like a boat oar. But seriously, why on earth would someone want to display their shortcomings to thousands of people?

[Blackstar the Chakat]

Cricket is somewhat like baseball, but instead of a pitcher, they have a bowler, instead of home plate, they have a stick in the ground, and the cricket bat is mostly flattened like a boat oar. But seriously, why on earth would someone want to display their shortcomings to thousands of people?

So basically they stole baseball, couldn't read the plans right, and did a piss poor job of setting it up.

[Mikey]

"Rounders," which is the nearest ancestor of baseball, was based loosely on cricket. You got it the wrong way 'round.

[Tsukiyumi]

So basically they stole baseball, couldn't read the plans right, and did a **** poor job of setting it up.

Nah, they've been playing cricket for hundreds of years; I'd say it's more like baseball is Americanized cricket instead.

[Foxbat]

Americans found a way to change cricket so as to make it more dull and lifeless that before...

[Tsukiyumi]

Americans found a way to change cricket so as to make it more dull and lifeless that before...

Kind of like American cheese?

[Blackstar the Chakat]

Americans found a way to change cricket so as to make it more dull and lifeless that before...

Clearly someone who has never been to a game of baseball. Or spends his all time in the boxes. Trust me, you haven't lived until you sneak down from the nosebleed section to ground level seats. Which is also closer to the good popcorn. It is harder if your team is doing well and actually bringing in a full house.

[Mikey]

Americans found a way to change cricket so as to make it more dull and lifeless that before...

Clearly someone who has never been to a game of baseball. Or spends his all time in the boxes. Trust me, you haven't lived until you sneak down from the nosebleed section to ground level seats. Which is also closer to the good popcorn. It is harder if your team is doing well and actually bringing in a full house.

So it should be pretty easy to do at a Brewers game, huh?

[Enkidu]

Americans found a way to change cricket so as to make it more dull and lifeless that before...

Really? Wow. I hope I never see a baseball match then..... I'm not much of a sports fan, outside been a lightweight rugby, and recently reborn Formula 1 fan. (Sci-fi fan not liking sport; I realize I'm not exactly fighting the cliche here) But there are few things in life I find as boring as cricket. And the matches last for days.

[Mikey]

Don't let one opinion sway you. I personally don't find baseball nearly as boring as cricket - the games last for a few hours - although there are strategies in common: how to pitch to/bowl to a particular batter/batsman; can a runner make it to the next base/wicket against the throwing arm of a particular fielder; etc.

Auto racing, on the other hand, strikes me as nothing more than a four-hour-long left-hand turn.

[Aaron]

Kind of like American beer?

That's better.

[Blackstar the Chakat]

Americans found a way to change cricket so as to make it more dull and lifeless that before...

Clearly someone who has never been to a game of baseball. Or spends his all time in the boxes. Trust me, you haven't lived until you sneak down from the nosebleed section to ground level seats. Which is also closer to the good popcorn. It is harder if your team is doing well and actually bringing in a full house.

So it should be pretty easy to do at a Brewers game, huh?

Hey, last year they were only a few games short of making it into the playoffs last year. But, ya, when it's not too packed down there it's easy. But only because there isn't a lot of room, because the ushers don't really care. One game I was sitting down at ground level, and one of the ushers was sitting a few rows back and was pointing out to her co-workers where people who had snuck in down there were sitting. And neither of them did anything.

[Blackstar the Chakat]

Auto racing, on the other hand, strikes me as nothing more than a four-hour-long left-hand turn.

Hey, it's the last pure sport left. First guy to the finish wins. NASCAR is a full contact sport that pushes drivers, cars, and pit crews to the limits. And it's the only sport I like watching on TV. And what other sport has 43 players on the field at once?