The 2007 Cricket World Cup started today in Kingston, Jamaica, where the West Indies beat Pakistan by 54 runs in a nervy opening match. During the next six weeks, there will be 51 games played in 8 different venues across the Caribbean. I suppose this is as good a time as any to officially launch this little cricket blog of ours, Outside The Line.
Four years ago, while working minimum-wage seasonal jobs in a ski town in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, J-Paul and I made a pact that we’d meet in the West Indies for the World Cup, no matter what. At the time, we just wanted an excuse to party in an exotic, tropical locale, with a little of the game we both loved serving as a backdrop. The idea of blogging about the experience only came quite recently, after once-tentative plans started becoming concrete and the fervour and excitement of the anticipation began consuming us.
If anyone is in search of in-depth game coverage, insider scoops full of locker-room chat, or an unbiased, objective analysis of all the action of the World Cup… we suggest you look elsewhere. That is not what we’re about. (May we recommend cricinfo, perhaps?)
As the title suggests, here at Outside The Line we will focus on the peripherals –- whether that involves making the case that Australia are one of the most loathsome (and ideal to cheer against) all-time-great sports teams, compiling an All-Dumb World Eleven, or lauding the benefits of judicious drug use in the appreciation of the game, we will try to wrestle with the questions and topics that are generally ignored, overlooked, and avoided by those in the cricket establishment with an editor to answer to and a reputation to protect.
And as Bill Hicks would say… don’t worry, there will also be dick jokes along the way.
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