The Gentlemen's Game

The Glorious Melbourne Cricket Grounds (MCG)

Just as the Cowboys and Lions face off on Thanksgiving Day every year, the Australians meet the Indians (the real Indians) every Boxing Day, for a 5-day Cricket test match. Now if you need a definition of any of the terms in that first sentence, I can't blaim you, but I also can't really help you. I'm not quite sure what Boxing Day is, all I know is that it takes place on the first weekday following Christmas, so as to ensure a day off of work. For that, I take my cap off to you Australia; way to squeeze another holiday out of the "Holiday Season." And as far as Cricket, and 5-day test matches, I'm pretty much in the dark.

As we set off to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds for the first day of this match in our newly acquired campervan, I was hopeful that our attendance would shed some light on the game. After three hours of watching in bewilderment and the "lunch break" was announced, I was still optomistic that something might happen and shed some light on this mysterious game. Alas, another hour proved virtually uneventful and we made our way back to our back-alley parking spot, crossing our fingers that our campervan would still be there, and scratching our heads as we had left even more confused then when we arrived.

Civilized Chaos is the best description I can offer for the game of Cricket. Men in the whitest uniforms, wide brimmed hats, cover their lips and noses in zinc like it's a 1980's windsurfing competition before taking the field. Then, two members of the opposing team, distinguishable only by the fact that they are adorned in more armor than a medieval night, step up to bat. Then nothing happens for a few hours, and there's a lunch break. Then, more nothingness and there's a pee break. Then they call it a day. Repeat 4 times. At the end, the scores for each team near the thousands, and it's pretty obvious that one team had pretty much won by day two. Even Australians will admit the ridiculous of these 5 day test matches, but of course, they still attend. Because this is more of a national event than a sporting event...and on Boxing Day 2008, Lauren and I shared a watered down beer with nearly 80,000 Australians, listened to chants of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie - Oye, Oye, Oye," and even partook in the "Mexican" Wave that swept through the massive stadium. No regrets there.