Bloggers in physical space

I've now met two "local" bloggers in physical space (as opposed to cyberspace). David Mutton, of Silly Mid-Off, for the last day of the Ashes, and on Sunday, Homer, to catch the end of the second one-day international (afterwards, we ate some very good South Indian food in Manhattan, washed down with an excellent Pinot Grigio!). These sorts of meetings are a time-honoured tradition on the net; no matter how rich the online interaction, the hankering for a face-to-face, sit-down-and-shoot-the-breeze meeting never quite goes away. As a veteran of the chatterspace that is the net, I've had these sorts of encounters before: in the net.gatherings of the old Grateful Dead fans group rec.music.gdead, and with folks from the rec.sport.cricket group.

The putting-faces-to-names aspect of these meetings is interesting of course, but in the case of cricket, one of the distinct pleasures is being able to watch a cricket game in company, and to able to talk about it in real-time. The cricket conversation becomes quite free-flowing, moving easily from topic to topic, and often evokes digressions and asides that don't happen so easily online. And of course, one finds out that there is more to life than cricket: rarely does a conversation remain confined to the game!

In the context of cricket, these meetings are good reminders of the community that cricket can create (one put into particularly sharp focus recently because of the sad news of Amy S' passing away). And its worth remembering that in the context of a conversation space (the net) than can too often degenerate into a flame-fest (re: the comments spaces of many blogs, including mine on Cricinfo where I've been startled by some of the hostility on display - but more on that later).

PS: The venue when I met David was Eight Mile Creek, an Australian bar in Nolita that, while quite small, features a nice space for watching cricket; when I met Homer, we met at The Australian, a bar in mid-town that is definitely geared toward the sports-watching experience. I'm particularly glad to have discovered the Australian, as its location works for me in several regards and as it looks like they show a lot of Aussie Rules and rugby as well.

The 1000th post

According to the Blogger dashboard, this is my 1000th post on Eye on Cricket. It has taken me a bloody long time. I started Eye on Cricket in December 2004 (inspired by Amit Varma's 23 Yards over at Cricinfo). I posted twice in December 2004: the first post was a discussion of the India-Australia series (including the reproduction of an email to my friend Joe in Sydney), and the second was a quirky complaint about Indian batsmen. Then I didn't post for a whole year. I think that is a record in bloggin absences that will take some beating.

I started blogging again in December 2005 (with a tongue in cheek post wondering how long it would take before Danish Kaneria would convert to Islam.) Returning to blogging was helped by my purchasing a subscription to watch the Australia-RSA series on broadband video. Having live cricket at hand helped writing, as did the Ganguly furore. Since then, I have blogged on and off, sometimes with gaps as long as a couple of weeks induced by laziness and disorganization, sometimes longer because of vacations. I've thought of packing up the blog at times as I feel like it has taken on a life of its own, but instead, I've started blogging more. First at Cricinfo's Different Strokes and now at the Faster Times Cricket page. I write longer pieces for those blogs and shorter ones here. When I'm watching a match I tend to write more here; little short expostulations if you will. I'm sometimes intemperate in what I say. I'm pretty positive that those displays of intemperateness will happen here.

I've enjoyed all the discussions I've had here with all of the folks that have read and commented. I haven't been a good blogger in responding to comments speedily enough, and I deeply regret that. Thanks very much for reading and for commenting. I've also had a great time interacting with other bloggers (who show up in my blogroll to the right). I've learned a great deal from these folks. The standard of cricket writing available on blogs is very high; it says something about how the world of cricketing journalism has changed that I run to read blogs, not newspapers, after a game is over.

I'm not sure, after all these years, what I think of blogging. Perhaps its all just sound bites. But that can't be, because some bloggers I know produce very thoughtful, sensible, well-constructed pieces (like Homer over at Two Cents, who can become quasi-academic as he rushes off to establish a particularly keenly felt point, or David Mutton at Silly Mid-off, who is also amazingly prolific). I'd like to produce those kinds of posts all the time. But sometimes, like I said, all I can do is expostulate. Perhaps this is a distraction from the 'real work' I should be doing. But sometimes this helps me deal with day to day responsibilities.

In the end, blogging on cricket has let me stay in touch with the game I love the most, and with others who love the game. That is all it was supposed to do, I think. And for that I'm truly grateful.

Please keep reading and commenting.