The Art of Fielding

The Art of Fielding

About baseball. Among other things. A good read for anyone without exposure to playing sport. A central character is dealing with the yips. There's a problem only players experience. Another pivotal character has dodgy knees. He does what almost every player not blessed with one of those superhuman bodies does. He pops painkillers like they're sweets and spends his down time either building things up in the gym or ice-packing them to reduce the swelling and the pain.

A common misconception is that every grass roots player jumps out of bed on matchdays feeling 100% up for it. For most of us, that was a handful of occasions. Most games involved differing amounts painkillers and bandages.

I was under fourteen years old when I had a massively swollen knee. Helpful as ever, my mother went straight to the blood poisoning and amputation diagnosis. Didn't sleep so well that night. The Dr was less of a drama queen and sent me off with some giant red pills and orders to rest. It was the football season. I played on the Saturday. I scoffed a week's worth of giant red pills on Sunday mornings. I lived with a tight bandage limiting the swelling between Sunday and Friday. Months later, during the cricket season and gentler exertion with less physical contact, it got better of its own accord. I didn't really think about it too much. Football was something I did. There wasn't a choice, no other option. You do whatever it takes to get out there and play.

The book describes sport as a special art. Unlike painting, writing, film making, where your mistakes end up on the cutting room floor, in the waste paper basket, or painted over, players mistakes are there for all to see. More like actors or musicians, it's more important to eradicate errors, become a machine, than to have the occasional burst of brilliance.

Euros v Olympics

I wonder how many of the great and good that are creaming themselves about a home Olympics, the same great and good that ignore what goes on year in year out while they sell off playing fields and tax grassroots sport out of existence, are secretly praying for England's failure at Euro 2012 in case that steals a bit of their thunder.

Past Olympics have featured solo synchronised swimming (WTF?), club swinging, Los Angeles 1932 (as opposed to swinging clubs, Los Angeles 1969), hot air ballooning and live pigeon shooting (both Paris 1900, not a combined event), croquet (also Paris 1900), and pistol duelling (1932, unfortunately discontinued, I have a long list of people making team UK for that one).