Do You Like To Talk About Cricket?

[aussie]

Yea CW is gangsta. I call it a bit of a shame in some ways for me, since as a black brit if certain people i lime with knew i be a cricketchat forum talking cricket they would laugh..

 

[thierry henry]

tbh, no. And that's why I love CW (and internet forums in general).

I actually have several friends with a strong interest in cricket (I have a group of 4 or 5 friends who are just very interested in sport in general, and so that's what we talk about) but I just don't think the face-to-face medium is actually a particularly useful way to discuss ANYTHING. The ability to research, take your time and provide links to evidence etc for your opinion on internet forums makes it a fantastic medium for "proper" discussion on pretty much anything you're interested in. Actually makes me wonder how people like me used to function, when they could only discuss things with other people via pithy in-person conversations that would've been inevitably unsatisfying.

Face to face conversations tend to encourage generalisations, pithy comments, and quick changes in topic. There's nothing wrong with that btw, I love shooting the sh*t with mates as much as the next guy, but if you actually want to genuinely express a well thought out opinion and then present your evidence for it etc, you'll often just come across as a bit of an uptight weirdo in person. You wouldn't just sit down with your mates over a few beers and say "right, now you're all going to listen to my theory on why Graeme Smith is a better test match batsman than Kevin Pietersen". It's usually more like "So how about that game yesterday?", followed up by "yeah, Smith is rubbish, but that Jones, what a player", and so forth.

Also, you'd probably come across as excessively confrontational if someone said to you in conversation "isn't *insert much maligned player who you actually rate here* absolute rubbish? They need to drop him", and you replied by launching in to an empassioned defence of his qualities, with liberal lashings of statsguru analysis to support your position. It tends to be easier just to go with the flow as it can be a bit of a buzzkill in a social occasion if you get overly argumentative.

 

[Cruxdude]

I love talking about cricket but it is like select guys. With some guys whenever we meet up we end up talking about cricket for a long time. Cricket Web has turned out to be a real good place and it also offers the chance to talk with guys from other countries and see people who actually like Ponting more than Sachin. One another experience in recent times was watching the India Pakistan match with Pakistani guys. It was so odd seeing people you are watching the game with celebrate that instead of being deadly silent.

 

[Richard]

tbh, no. And that's why I love CW (and internet forums in general).

I actually have several friends with a strong interest in cricket (I have a group of 4 or 5 friends who are just very interested in sport in general, and so that's what we talk about) but I just don't think the face-to-face medium is actually a particularly useful way to discuss ANYTHING. The ability to research, take your time and provide links to evidence etc for your opinion on internet forums makes it a fantastic medium for "proper" discussion on pretty much anything you're interested in. Actually makes me wonder how people like me used to function, when they could only discuss things with other people via pithy in-person conversations that would've been inevitably unsatisfying.

Face to face conversations tend to encourage generalisations, pithy comments, and quick changes in topic. There's nothing wrong with that btw, I love shooting the sh*t with mates as much as the next guy, but if you actually want to genuinely express a well thought out opinion and then present your evidence for it etc, you'll often just come across as a bit of an uptight weirdo in person. You wouldn't just sit down with your mates over a few beers and say "right, now you're all going to listen to my theory on why Graeme Smith is a better test match batsman than Kevin Pietersen". It's usually more like "So how about that game yesterday?", followed up by "yeah, Smith is rubbish, but that Jones, what a player", and so forth.

Also, you'd probably come across as excessively confrontational if someone said to you in conversation "isn't *insert much maligned player who you actually rate here* absolute rubbish? They need to drop him", and you replied by launching in to an empassioned defence of his qualities, with liberal lashings of statsguru analysis to support your position. It tends to be easier just to go with the flow as it can be a bit of a buzzkill in a social occasion if you get overly argumentative.

Ind33d.

The only person I ever talk much about cricket to is my Dad - there are others who have a passing interest in the international game (most of whom are team-mates at my club) who I go through the "yeah, England won today, wehay, what a player that KP is" routine with from time to time. But I never even bother talking about it to people who don't have much interest at all, and if I did know more people like Dad who have a real interest I don't think I'd talk about it as I do on CW for the reasons mentioned above.

Cricket by nature is a sport which lends itself best to discussion on internet forums.

 

[morgieb]

Yeah, pretty much the only person I've tried to speak about cricket IRL was my dad. Others try to bring it up, but don't know anywhere near enough.

 

[SJS]

Ind33d.

The only person I ever talk much about cricket to is my Dad - .

Yeah, pretty much the only person I've tried to speak about cricket IRL was my dad. Others try to bring it up, but don't know anywhere near enough.

That's interesting. I couldn't discuss cricket with my father since he had no interest in it whatsoever but both my `sons, inspite of living in the US for so many years, love to discuss cricket with me.

 

[zaremba]

I'm quite heartened that so many others here have the same experience as me. I had felt a bit weird about not wanting to talk cricket to the average Joe. Well done Goughy for launching this thread, you've put your finger on a really interesting point.

 

[zaremba]

both my `sons, inspite of living in the US for so many years, love to discuss cricket with me.

This does not surprise me in the slightest.

 

[Top_Cat]

Myself, I have very nerdy friends so we talk cricket all the bloody time, stats and all sometimes (not to the level of Statsguru). gets so annoying when at the cricket.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Love talking about cricket, basically with anyone to be honest.

Hate talking about my own cricket, seems to be the default question for anyone towards me; "How's the cricket going then?"

 

[Smudge]

I love talking about it with about 4-5 good mates and ex-cricket teammates, plus several workmates. Even my female flatmate has a passing interest, so she doesn't mind if I have Sky Sport on all weekend.

I'll happily talk about it with anyone though - I'd rather share ideas and knowledge, rather than sit haughtily on my know-all pedestal, refusing to explain the basics to newbies.

 

[GIMH]

Love talking about cricket, basically with anyone to be honest.

Hate talking about my own cricket, seems to be the default question for anyone towards me; "How's the cricket going then?"

Yeah, I love talking about it with anyone

Regarding the second line, I get the same except replace "the cricket" with "work". Feel like I just have a canned response now, "yeah, it's good"

 

[andyc]

Think I'm in the same boat with everyone else here. I absolutely love talking about the game with someone with a high level of knowledge and love for it. Likewise, if it's someone with absolutely next to no knowledge (eg. Americans) and they ask me about it, I love to try to give them a background of the rules or what's happening at the moment. It's the people in between that get to me, especially those who don't rate Shane Watson. In my day to day life, I've really only got the one mate at college who I can talk to for a prolonged length of time about the game without getting pissed off. Makes staying up late to watch the game a lot easier too. Good question btw.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

In the same boat as most here. I hate talking about it if people are going to try to have a semi-serious discussion, because I'd just feel patronising if I gave them proper arguments, but get very frustrated being unable to really put my views forward. I guess if I met people from CW in real life I could have a proper discussion over a pint though.

Don't mind general chat about it with friends though, conversations along the lines of, "Did you see the end of the cricket yesterday? That ball that got Pietersen was just unplayable... How fat is Jacques Kallis?" etc etc. But none of them have any in-depth interest in it.

I actually find discussion about football even worse though. I think it's because so many people think they know what's going on on a pitch, but most have no idea, especially those who have never played themselves and so have no idea what defending involves, and that double-stepovers are not a automatic precursor to success.

Interestingly I find some of the best talk I have about cricket is with my Dad, despite the fact he never really played properly. He played football to a pretty high standard though so has a screwed-on sporting mentality... sometimes he can offer a really good judgement on someone's technique or tactics, purely because he doesn't (can't) read too much into the game.

 

[nightprowler10]

I'll happily talk about it with anyone though - I'd rather share ideas and knowledge, rather than sit haughtily on my know-all pedestal, refusing to explain the basics to newbies.

This.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

I prefer discussing cricket face-to-face than over the internet. You get away from all the statistical bull**** that clouds many arguments here IMO, and mainly get views from what people have actually watched.

Even the people who are dismissive of the sport I enjoy talking to it about, but that's mostly because I like to argue.

 

[G.I.Joe]

I prefer discussing cricket face-to-face than over the internet. You get away from all the statistical bull**** that clouds many arguments here IMO, and mainly get views from what people have actually watched.

Even the people who are dismissive of the sport I enjoy talking to it about, but that's mostly because I like to argue.

Wait till you come up against the argumentative Indian IRL.

 

[Richard]

I prefer discussing cricket face-to-face than over the internet. You get away from all the statistical bull**** that clouds many arguments here IMO, and mainly get views from what people have actually watched.

You may get away from the statistical bull****, but by-and-large as pointed-out you also pretty much get away from stats full-stop, and without stats there's not a great deal of point having cricket-related discussions IMO.

 

[aussie]

You may get away from the statistical bull****, but by-and-large as pointed-out you also pretty much get away from stats full-stop, and without stats there's not a great deal of point having cricket-related discussions IMO.

Indeed, thats why in a face 2 face discussion you need to have your laptop with you..

 

[slowfinger]

You need to learn the stats, because it gives you more to talk about and more for your friends to get bored of.