The Ashes

I'm one of those odd Americans who not only enjoys cricket but understands it as well. When Jeff started playing a couple years ago I went to every game and learned a ton about the sport. I still "watch" regularly. I put the watch in quotes because there are simply no television channels that broadcast cricket. So instead, I fire up the computer, head to Cricinfo and listen to the play by play. I can't see the game but I can imagine it. Cricinfo has some of my favorite commentators with Will Luke being my hands-down favorite. He has been covering this week's event since it's in England, and I'm in heaven.

And there is no greater time for me to watch cricket then now, during the Ashes. The Ashes is one of the greatest rivalries in the sport, between England and Australia. The national teams from both countries play a full test cricket series (5 matches, 2 innings per match) for the right to hold the Ashes. The event will last all week. The competition has been held every other year since 1882. Australia won two years ago but I have my hopes up that England can pull it off this time. I make it no big secret that I'm a huge Anglophile. So as much as I loved Australia when I was there, I'm an England fan.

The name is in reference to a comment made back in 1882 after a particularly brutal match between the two countries. At the end of the matches one of the commentators said that English cricket was dead, would be cremated, and the ashes taken to Australia. Supposedly one of the fans decided to create an urn, burned a set of bails, (the pieces of wood placed on top of the wickets) and presented them as a trophy. After that year, the competition has been for the right to hold the ashes.

Imagine if the US battled against Canada every two years in hockey. Imagine that these are the best players in the sport playing for a national title. Now imagine that it had happened every other year for 120 years. You can imagine the rivalry that would build up. The excitement and the patriotism. This is what the Ashes represent. So today, as I go about my work, I'll keep a close eye on the innings and wickets taken. And I'll cheer my team on. Here's to great rivalries and an English victory.

Wonderous Wildlife

I both love and dread animal news. So much of the news tends to be terrible. We do some awful things to animals. And so many of these stories make me angry. But these past two days have been great for animal stories. Particularly water-based animals.

In Thailand a 770 pound stingray was caught. This amazing animal was brought up using a fishing pole and required the strength of 13 men. I would have stopped reading there, thinking this was a commercial fisherman and that the animal had been killed but I kept going. This angler was part of a tagging program. This huge (7ft by 7ft) female was tagged and returned to the wild which is a wonderful thing since she was pregnant. Imagine a whole family of these beautiful creatures gliding soundlessly over the bottom of the ocean. I've been diving with rays and they are unbelievable beautiful in their element. As one gliding below me I held my breath and watched it for as long as I could. I could have reached down and easily touched it. It was a magical moment. And to see an animal like this brought in and then returned is wonderful.

The octopus was not nearly as nice but still an interesting story. An octopus at the Santa Monica Aquarium decided that it was tired of the water pipe that fed water into its tank. It used one of its powerful tenticles to push the tube out of the cage, slowly flooding the aquarium floor with water. Unfortunately it was a brand new floor and it might not be salvagable. But think of how incredible this story is. This tiny little creature (only a pound or two) was smart enough to figure out how to solve its own problem. In high school I helped out in a marine biology lab here in town and there was an ongoing mystery. Fish kept disappearing from the tanks. At night they would count the fish and the next morning some would be gone. We had no idea what was happening. So one night they finally caught the culpret. The octopus in one of the rows was sneaking out of its tank, into nearby ones, and eating the fish. Then returning to its own tank. Yeah they are that smart!!

And of course my favorite animal story of the last two weeks has to be Sam the koala. This image above completely reaffirmed my faith in humanity. The video does it even more as firefighter David Tree scrambles to find water for the koala. This random act of kindness fills me with joy and hope that we sometimes remember that these creatures are our neighbors. I hope to see more stories like these three. Although perhaps with a little less flooding.