20060922 :::
 

Back home briefly, ere heading out again tomorrow. On my trip, read a fascinating book: The Creation of American TEam Sports: Baseball and Cricket 1832-1878, by George Kirsch. It examined the role of baseball & cricket in American sports...how they had started out on fairly equal terms, & how baseball pulled ahead towards the end of the 19th Century & became the national game in America. He found several reasons for this. One, it was a younger sport (cricket emerging somewhere during the mists of the middle ages), & therefore more adaptable to American tastes. There was also an indifference by the Marylebone Cricket Club--which guided the fortunes of the sport--to the United States, & many who played the sport in the US didn't seem eager to share it with native-born Americans. Curiously, One Dayers, or Limited Overs, Cricket (the most popular form of cricket in the world today), was actually proposed shortly before the Civil War as more expedient & more attuned to American rhythms, but the idea was dismissed, back then. And as America became more a nation of spectators, baseball was thought to be more spectator-friendly. One of the revelations in this book is that the center, & hotbed , of American cricket was Philadelphia, & cricket remained popular there into the heart of the 20th Century.

I get to sleep in my own bed tonight. Then, off again.

::: at 03:38

20060920 :::
 

This has been quite a busy week: was in the "auld" country last weekend for my uncle's 80th birthday (Scotland was unusually nice...at least where we were), then had to zoom into NYC for the opening on the UN's General Assembly (just a quick job). Heard POTUS's speech this morning, which had mixed results to say the least. Heard the Irani prez's "reponse," if you will, & there was hardly anyone there at all. Maybe it helps to be the leader of the free world--you get a better time, rather than a dinner time speech (with so many great restaurants in NYC, who wants to listen to another boring speech?)

It has been so interesting, as I have friends in the various delegations, to overhear their concerns. With the whole world seeming to go mad, all the Americans can talk about are their parochial partisan political placements in the upcoming mid-term elections. As if to further this idea that things are falling apart, after POTUS's speech, was chatting with Irish friends of mine from both the UK & South African delegations when we heard the news that the Thai government had been "dissolved" (that sounds sort of ominous, don't you think?) Hopefully, the masters of the universe are paying attention.

I miss my own bed. One of the nice things about traveling though is exposure to new things. Such as blueberry coffee. I know...it sounds positively hideous. But it's actually quite yummy. I've ordered a bunch to be sent back to the ranch, so I'm definitely hooked.

Was hoping to catch a Yankees game whilst in NYC, but it's been far too busy for that (didn't even have the time to check & see if they were playing this week). Had planned a vacation to Malta a few weeks ago, but work washed those plans out, too. Hope to get back to my summer house at least once more before winter comes.

Will be heading back home tomorrow, as I teach Catechesis tomorrow night. Then Friday, it's off to South Africa for a "gathering of the clan," so to speak, or a working weekend.

Ciao!

::: at 03:38