Well if Her Majesty had taken GHWB to a cricket game, it would have been the same.
Son who has lived in Nova Scotia for four years says he is just beginning to get a sense of what is happening in cricket, but he will never stop watching baseball and is still a Rays fan. (This has not been their year, but that’s a separate issue.)
I mean, when you invite someone to attend a game that they are not familiar with and have no stated interest in, you should expect to leave early.
Cricket games, the sport of English (and South Asian) elites, can take days to play-out.
I'm sure she's attended those in the UK, and by comparison, baseball is absolutely "fast-paced."
Truth be known, I have always found baseball, and most spectator sports to be rather dull. I don’t put anyone down who feels differently about it. To each his own diversion.
I went to many ball games as a kid, mostly, just to spend time with my Dad, who worked several jobs.
The more time passes from Bush’s presidency, the more I realize what a shitty president he really was. Architect of the modern domestic surveillance state.
The queen must have considered it her duty to put up with a lot of boring stuff. Good for GHWB to catch on fairly soon that she was bored.
Baseball is boring.
Cricket is boring.
Most boring sport is soccer, even as it is the most played game in the world. People running up and down, back and forth, trying to score 1 goal higher than the opposition, and most games ending in very low scores and sometimes no score. The most excitement is when somebody trips another player and we get an acting job from the supposedly hurt player. That’s a lot f fun. ;)
In order to make anything exciting, people need to choose sides and then, you root for your side, otherwise, it’s all very boring. Even chess and checkers can become exciting when you choose a side. ;)
She sounds kind of rude. Not exactly clear why everyone falls all over their self to placate the vanity of a queen, when she is somewhat below the level of any elected American president. But even as a guest, she should’ve been polite. And then we can discuss three and four day long cricket games and the next installment…
In Bush’s defense (which feels odd to write) we should remember than he wasn’t just a fan of baseball, but a pretty good player of it back in his college days. He likely had enough enthusiasm for both of them. And Camden Yards, back then, was deemed a model ballpark. At least he didn’t keep her beyond two innings.
Usually, such visits are planned and approved in detail by representatives of both the host and the visitor. My guess is that the Queen may have been led to believe that baseball would have more interest for her than it did.
stones/glass houses
how many zillion soccer games 0-0 after 90 minutes?
Is this book being published now to show how polished Bush was relative to Trump?
Much ado about nothing. Exactly how many cricket matches did QEII sit through in their entirety?
not as awkward as telling President-Elect Reagan that the RNC had already made the choice on who his running mate was gong to be.
As I recall the Chicago Bears had a game in England. Walter Payton wanted to have tea with the Queen. I want to say he got his wish but I don’t recall for certain.
It also occurs to me that after the first two innings, she might have thought the game was over.
Seriously.
You see, a cricket match only lasts two innings. And no extra innings. Ever.
In the first innings,* the entire first team bats around. There are 11 players on each team but the batting team must have two batsmen on the pitch in order to play. So once the 10th batsman has been put out, they no longer have two men eligible to participate and the innings is over.
Then the second team comes to bat and the process repeats, either until they’ve scored more runs than the other team (in which case they’ve won) of they’ve had 10 batsmen put out (in which case they’ve lost).
Of course that’s classic test cricket, not the “one afternoon” versions like T50 and T20.
* In cricket, the term is “innings,” with an “S,” regardless whether it’s singular or plural.
Long story short, if QEII wasn’t briefed on the intricacies of the game (which I’d count highly likely) she might not have had a clue there were seven innings remaining.