Yes, I am in the process of watching the warm up game, viz., ‘Ind v Ban’. The Indian batting, following up from the just finished ‘IPL‘, was superb. Not so for poor, outclassed ‘Bangladesh‘.
Though I have known about it for years, I still can’t get my head around a CRICKET World Cup happening in the U.S. WOW. Amazing. Cricket, thanks to all the Asian ex-pats, is taking off in the U.S.
A lot taking place. Too much even for I to follow — though I will confess I am kind of busy & distracted. A portable stadium in New York! Some very serious security risks! Yikes.
Yes, I did THINK about going to a match in New York — but the logistics were a tad to overwhelming. IF I had been 20-year younger.
I just wanted to make sure YOU knew that a bona fide, ICC World Cup is happening, even as we speak, in the U.S. of A. WOW.
The Argentinian Pope Francis could not have asked for a better 86th birthday present (his birthday having been yesterday).
As I had already pointed out France, when it came to this World Cup Final, was playing against BOTH the Pope & Argentina. They really never had a chance — especially IF it is true that the Pope has some connection with God.
Well, with this win Francis can continue to keep up the belief that he in someway as the inside track with God. If Argentina had lost Francis, at some stage, would have to have explained why ‘his friend’, God, had not intervened. But, now Francis is golden.
He has claimed that he did not watch the match on TV — that he hasn’t watched TV since 1990. Maybe he watched it on his phone.
Well, the Pope WON! Wow. Poor France (a good Catholic country at that).
Pope Francis readily admits that he is a HUGE soccer fan & that he does, quite naturally, support HIS National Team (i.e., Argentina) & some Argentinian Soccer Clubs.
He has also admitted, openly, that he follows the progress of matches involving Argentina. He has aides that keep him apprised of the score & progress. He has even hinted that maybe the ONLY time he now watches TV is to watch Argentina play.
So, there is NO QUESTION, whatsoever, that the Pope, Francis, is fervently rooting for HIS Argentinian Team.
To be fair Francis has renounced his ‘Vicar of Christ‘ title — thus indicating that he is no longer Christ’s representative on Earth.
But, he is still Pope. That has to mean that he MUST have a better relationship with God than anyone else on earth.
So, IF Argentina loses on Sunday …
That would be a blow to Francis’ credibility.
It sure has to mean that God does HIM no favors.
God, omnipotent, cannot but help knowing what is going on. He must know what the score is.
So, IF Argentina does NOT WIN on Sunday I will be demanding that the Pope abdicate. He will no longer have even a shred of credibility.
So, bet on Argentina WINNING.
France, a Catholic country (to be fair), has NO change — IN THEORY — against the clout of the Pope.
I haven’t watched ‘Willow TV‘ in weeks (though I have a fully paid up annual subscription) because, alas, they don’t have the streaming rights to the T20 World Cup. Instead, I have been watching all the World Cup games on ‘ESPN+‘. Though the cricket watching experience with them is nowhere near even close to that of Willow, they, to their credit, have done a fairly decent job with the World Cup. Much to my delight & relief we do have 15- to 16-minute highlights of all the matches. Those are what I watch. I don’t have the time to watch 3- to 4-hour long match.
But, with the World Cup ending on Sunday, i.e., November 13, 2022, Willow will be back in the streaming business. Hence, why I wanted to share the upcoming schedule with you. They sent it to me in the form of an e-mail. Enjoy.
Failure to do HIGHLIGHTS was the biggest drawback of cricket coverage on ESPN+.
Then, no doubt under commercial pressure from India, they started — grudgingly & stutteringly — doing 12-minute highlights for ‘IPL 2022’. That must have been well received. Then they started doing highlights of ALL games involving India. Yep, just for India & Indians.
I was real worried that they wouldn’t do highlights for the T20 World Cup. But, they have. I can’t be 100% sure but I think they have done all the games. At some point I will have to go back & check.
Their highlights aren’t bad either. They must have hired Indians to do it. I think 15 minutes highlights are a tad on the short side. 20 minutes would be Goldilocks. But, for now I am happy. Lets wait & see if they end up doing all the games. With the IPL, earlier this year, they didn’t do highlights on the matches that took place on the first weekend. I wrote & complained.
Click to ENLARGE. Just a SAMPLING from ‘Google News‘.
As an ardent follower of the ‘South African’ cricket team I was aware of Quinton de Kock’s earlier refusals (during the ‘West Indies‘ tour) to ‘take the knee’. I was surprised & disappointed. But, if I am not mistaken, I recall reading that he claimed that he had cleared it with ‘Kagiso Rabada‘ — who was supposedly coordinating the team’s solidarity gesture to ‘BLM’. I was way cool with that. If it was OK with Rabada who was I to complain — Rabada being another cricketer I like & admire (though I wish he would learn how to bowl a vicious bouncer).
Now, things have gone too far.
I am as passionate as Quinton could ever be that we each have our values, beliefs, opinions, preferences & that we each have the ABSOLUTE RIGHT to stick to them. No problem there.
I just wish Quinton would offer us all a hint of an explanation.
Is it religious? Does he only bow to God? IF so, I would like to know a bit about if this is indeed true. Is ‘Quinny’ really religious? If so, I am FINE. I respect him.
ONE of the reasons why I so like the South African team is that they appear to TRULY reflect (my hero) “Nelson Mandela’s” dream of a true ‘Rainbow Nation‘. When I watch them play, & I rarely miss a SA game (on TV), they all seem SO UNITED irrespective of color or religion. I loved that.
I can’t believe that Quinny is a racist. I have seen him embrace & be embraced by his non-white mates. But, is he? I also know, that he, per his own admission is not an intellectual. OK. But, can he be that bigoted. I hope not.
The above said, I also feel passionately, as a non-white, that the cricketing world must stand united for BLM. Cricket is played by players of ALL COLORS & religions. We need to stand united on this.
WE BOYCOTTED apartheid South Africa!
We will stand united about taking the knee.
The SA cricket board should have the right to demand it. If that is a problem for Quinny, & it breaks my heart to say this, then he should not be selected.
They, i.e., the mercenary ‘West Indies’ bunch of clowns, threw this match away. It had to have been RIGGED. Match Fixing. No other explanation. Gamblers, i.e., those that bet on these games, would have made BILLIONS.
I have said it before (above) & I will say it again. The ‘West Indies’ should NOT be allowed to participate in International events.
There is NO country called the ‘West Indies’.
It is just another commercial franchise.
There is NO NATIONAL PRIDE.
Namibia, Oman, Afghanistan etc. etc. are ALL genuine countries. Their players are playing for their COUNTRY. Not so with the West Indies. They are ONLY playing for money.
Throwing this match was a way to earn BIG BUCKS.
Throw the buggers out of International cricket. Please. No place for them. Just a bunch of shameless con artists.
I knew the name ‘Namibia‘ — but had not heard it in years, if not a decade. I knew it was near ‘South Africa‘, BUT if you had asked me to point to it on a map I would have been 800 miles off — horizontally (i.e., roughly the right latitude, but I would have been way off to the east). Wow. That is bad. I am dreadfully embarrassed & kind of sad. I was good at geography at school — but in the 1950s/1960s the world, quite literally, was a simpler place. There wasn’t as many countries. It appears that we had 104 countries in the world in 1950. Today’s we have 195!
That means the number of countries in the world have nearly doubled in my adult lifetime! That is sobering.
Something now bothers me about Namibia’s T20 cricket squad. How come it is nearly all white? Only 7% of the population is white. Initially, when I watched them bat (all under helmets), I did NOT notice any non-whites. But, when I saw them field I saw one. Appears that maybe they have two non-whites on the team. I won’t even mention the composition of the South Africa team — because there is the touchy issue of quotas, i.e., they have to select some non-whites. Hhhhmmm.
Click to ENLARGE. I ‘borrowed’ this from the ‘t20worldcup.com‘.
I would also have had trouble getting ‘Oman’ right on a map. This is bad — & it is a BIG country. I really need to spend some time staring at a NEW world map.
I did know where ‘Papua New Guinea’ was. That at least was good.
The truly global reach of cricket is becoming humbling. There are at least 106 countries that are now registered as cricket playing nations — that wish to be recognized as such. That is 54% of all the countries in the world. Not bad for what used to a sport restricted to countries with a British heritage.
