Anti-Americanism in cricket?

[JeffStar]

read the story here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/4624495.stm

and my feedback to them-
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"We do not want an Americanisation of international cricket"- wow, what a total piece of crappy writing. how long did it take you to think of a way to bash the USA, when your assignment was to write about cricket?

how is adding subs 'amercanizing' cricket? hmmm, let's see, which american board member on the ICC suggested it? none, b/c none sit on the board.

perhaps the ICC were thinking of soccer, the worlds game- not america's, when thinking of incorporating subs.

nowhere in your article explains how subs are 'American'. the title is just a cheesy attempt to capture the readers attention and feed on anti-Americanism. i go to bbc.com for cricket news, not tabloid/ unsubstantiated titles and hate.

cheers
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agree, disagree?

 

[Scaly piscine]

I think the 'americanization' could refer to baseball, where in one of the two leagues you get a 'designated hitter' that bats in place of the pitcher (usually).

 

[archie mac]

I think the 'americanization' could refer to baseball, where in one of the two leagues you get a 'designated hitter' that bats in place of the pitcher (usually).

I agree, Agnew is right I don't want one batting team and one bowling team, I think he is just speculating that is the road we seem to be going down, which is very American.

A good article imho

 

[JeffStar]

right- i agree that he is refering to baseball, but why not say "baseball" not "americanization". it just seems like the person, either him or someone else, was trying to sensationalize the story. plenty of countries, and people of many nationalities play baseball. i just feel he removes himself of a level of credibilty when resorting to such name calling.

 

[Scaly piscine]

I do think the article's comment about the game being Americanized was a little unnecessary although I suppose Agnew has to pad the article out to fit a certain length, but I do share most of Agnew's concerns.

 

[archie mac]

right- i agree that he is refering to baseball, but why not say "baseball" not "americanization". it just seems like the person, either him or someone else, was trying to sensationalize the story. plenty of countries, and people of many nationalities play baseball. i just feel he removes himself of a level of credibilty when resorting to such name calling.

Maybe with his comments on the change to the whole batting and bowling line ups, he was also refering to American Football, so the Americanization was covering both sports?

 

[Sanz]

Btw, how many americans were on that ICC Panel. Agnew is a Fool.

 

[archie mac]

Btw, how many americans were on that ICC Panel. Agnew is a Fool.

"However, I really do not believe that we want to see a situation in which you have an Americanisation of international cricket with a "bowling team" and a "batting team".

I don't see where he is saying anything anti -american here?
Just that there are some common things with the rule changes and some American sports. And he is right I don't want to see Cricket changed to much. (at all in fact)

 

[PY]

Agnew is a Fool.

Yeah, he's a fool who's been reporting on cricket for who knows how long and regarded by almost all nations' fans as one of the most knowledgable cricket commentators around.

Just because he refers to it as American doesn't mean it's an insult, as someone mentioned it could just mean that two of the three main sports (baseball, American football and basketball) in the US have similar kinds of tactics to use.

 

[PY]

PS Welcome JeffStar, haven't seen you kicking about in a fair while! Good to see you might have returned for the near future.

 

[Top_Cat]

It is a bit of an anachronism to refer to it as 'Americanisation' really especially when the DH rule in baseball is not universally well-liked in the US. It's a product of administrative thinking to try to make the game more exciting and the advent of 20/20 cricket shows it's obviously not unique to America.

I dunno, I've got no problem with the substitutes thing. It undermines the purity of the game, does it? How pure is an already *******ised version of Test cricket anyway?

 

[PY]

Fair point. I'm not that fussed against it myself for a trial period. The only thing that worries me is keeping the crowd informed and involved must be a crucial part of this new legislation.

Do you reckon Agnew is a fool for referring to it as Americanisation when our media portrays a lot (rightly or wrongly) of things as the American way of doing things because the US manages to do things before us? I'm not sure it's an insult to be honest but if people are incensed by it then I guess it is an insult.

 

[archie mac]

It is a bit of an anachronism to refer to it as 'Americanisation' really especially when the DH rule in baseball is not universally well-liked in the US. It's a product of administrative thinking to try to make the game more exciting and the advent of 20/20 cricket shows it's obviously not unique to America.

I dunno, I've got no problem with the substitutes thing. It undermines the purity of the game, does it? How pure is an already *******ised version of Test cricket anyway?

I think the fact we all understand what he is saying suggests the expression still carries some meaning.

I think One Day Cricket has been around now since 1963 so it has built up some traditions and history. These new rules seem to be the real *******isation of a close relation to FCC.

 

[JeffStar]

well, you have to look at the title of the article on the bbc sports homepage- it only says ""We do not want an Americanisation of international cricket". when you read the article, it only mentions this really only in one small part- so the conclusion i get is someone at bbc sport, either agnew or his boss, see using the term americanization (which i clearly see it used in a negative way here) as a way to grab a readers attention.

i hope you guys don't think i am getting into a full blown fit over this, its just that i find the bbc's sports section a good place for cricket news, and coming across something like that was surprising and made me annoyed.

is it good journalism? sure it grabs a readers eye, but as i said earlier, its seems to be done in a tabloid-ish manner.

oh and PY, thanks, its good to be back. i was gone for a bit, but with the aussies in the midst of their tour, i hope to post more often. hopefully we will be able to get some USA cricket topics going (looking foward to the ICC tourny next month).

 

[vic_orthdox]

Journalists, most of the time, are not responsible for the Headings that adorn their articles. The title did misrepresent the point that Agnew was trying to present.

 

[Sanz]

Yeah, he's a fool who's been reporting on cricket for who knows how long and regarded by almost all nations' fans as one of the most knowledgable cricket commentators around.

Anyone who endorses Twenty20 especially when most players coaches hate it must be a fool. These changes aren't even tried, let ICC try it and see how it works. I am not saying these changes are going to be good, but I am not going to dismiss without even trying it.

Just because he has been reporting for years doesn't make him a genius. There are numerous reporters who are better than him. Try to come out of the shell and try reading newspapers from around the world, there are many sports writers/reporters better than Agnew.

And yes, Not only his article, but this thread was opened on an Insulting note.

 

[JASON]

Jeff Star has a very valid point. What the hell is wrong with these guys? why the hell do they have to take an Anti-american angle to sell their story ?

We like the Americans when they protect the free world but we want to show our bitterness to them because that way we can appease our little petty prejudices and hatred !!

They could have easily said, we don't want cricket to follow the path of Baseball without having to put a damn anti-american phobia to it !!

And as SANZ pointed out there are no Americans in the ICC panel !! So why this stupidity ?

 

[Adamc]

Jeff Star has a very valid point. What the hell is wrong with these guys? why the hell do they have to take an Anti-american angle to sell their story ?

We like the Americans when they protect the free world but we want to show our bitterness to them because that way we can appease our little petty prejudices and hatred !!

They could have easily said, we don't want cricket to follow the path of Baseball without having to put a damn anti-american phobia to it !!

And as SANZ pointed out there are no Americans in the ICC panel !! So why this stupidity ?

The simple fact is that American sport and culture in general is associated with short attention-spans and cheap gimmicks. This is obviously a generalisation, but not entirely without reason; clearly Mr. Agnew feels that cricket is heading down this path with the recent proposed changes.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Jeff Star has a very valid point. What the hell is wrong with these guys? why the hell do they have to take an Anti-american angle to sell their story ?

We like the Americans when they protect the free world but we want to show our bitterness to them because that way we can appease our little petty prejudices and hatred !!

They could have easily said, we don't want cricket to follow the path of Baseball without having to put a damn anti-american phobia to it !!

And as SANZ pointed out there are no Americans in the ICC panel !! So why this stupidity ?

 

[luckyeddie]

Nothing to see here, move along.

An (on the face of it) unfortunate choice of words but one where a moment's thought allows the clarity of the intention to shine through.

I'm sure that the 'Americanisation' (the use of a 'zed' in that word would be an Americanisation in itself), especially with the reference to specific 'teams' purely and simply refers not to Baseball or Basketball or other sports our transatlantic cousins find so palatable, but to the fifteen thousand a side nonsense that is 'Gridiron', known the world over as 'American Football'.

It's not anti-Americanism - it's anti-American-Footballism, and for that, my friends, Aggers ought to be given a medal.

<quack> A great big one made out of burgers fastened on to a ribbon of hot-dogs, then another one five minutes later, then one made out of popcorn, then......

Balance redressed, all better.