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No place in sports for cry babies
published: Saturday | November 18, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
Tym Glaser
IT'S SIMPLY not the right thing to mock human frailties such as injury, deformities and sickness in our society. Sure, as kids, we probably all did it, but past the age of puberty it's a no-go zone - unless you are on a sporting field - then it's every man for himself.
For some reason, once you cross that white boundary line in football, cricket or whatever athletic pursuit you endeavour in, it seems to be mind games forever and the meek will never inherit that earth.
Even though I'm an Aussie, I feel sorry that England opener Marcus Trescothick bailed out of the Ashes series in the Antipodes two weeks before the first Test in Brisbane due to 'stress-related' problems.
I want to see their best against my side's best, but Trescothick, one of the few English bats over the past decade and a half who can play leggie legend Shane Warne with some degree of competency, had a breakdown in Sydney and was sent home.
He also could not handle the pressure in India earlier this year and was likewise sent back to the Old Dart to recuperate.
too much cricket
Commentators like dour Geoffrey Boycott say his mental collapse is due to too much cricket nowadays and Trescothick is the first of many players that will crack emotionally under the strain, but I just can't buy into that argument. Yeah, professional cricketers probably spend twice as many days on the field today as they did when Boycott wielded the willow for England in the '60s, '70s and '80s. But they are also treated, accommodated and paid far better than those days of yore.
I think Trescothick is perhaps just a man with troubles and staying in Australia in the greatest pressure Test contest - the Ashes -- would only exacerbate the problem/illness.
Can you just imagine Trescothick coming out to bat on the opening day of the series and the amount of sledging he would hear from the Aussies?
"Wassup, crybaby?"
"Wait a sec, do you need runner or a psychiatrist, Marc?"
"Hey, I tried to call your wife, but some guy answered the phone."
laws of restraint
Cruel, but there are few laws of restraint when that field-of-play line is crossed.
England did the right thing in sending him home, but whether they should have carried him to Australia to start with will be debated for a long time to come.
Having a guy being consoled for two hours in the dressing room after locking himself in a bathroom cannot have a positive effect on any side, and particularly one trying to defend the sport's Holy Grail on enemy soil.
When Andrew Strauss walks out to open the England innings when the series starts next Thursday, you don't think someone like Warne will say: "So where's your psycho opening buddy?"
Or when likely fill-in opener Alistair Cook takes guard he won't be told that he's replacing a head case.
sledging can be humorous
It's not at all nice, but it's simply part of the game, and it has put England at an even greater disadvantage now.
Of course, sledging can be humorous as well.
When Aussie 'keeper Rodney Marsh asked great England all-rounder Ian Botham "How's your wife and my kids?"
'Beefy' responded: "The wife's fine, the kids are retarded."
However, there's nothing funny about Trescothick's travails. He's been a great servant of English cricket and I hope he can resume a career which has reaped 5,825 runs in 76 Tests at a more than respectable average of 43.79, but I just can't see it happening.
He's an open target now between the lines. I don't really care if he ever plays for England again, but I do hope he gets bett
published: Saturday | November 18, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
Tym Glaser
IT'S SIMPLY not the right thing to mock human frailties such as injury, deformities and sickness in our society. Sure, as kids, we probably all did it, but past the age of puberty it's a no-go zone - unless you are on a sporting field - then it's every man for himself.
For some reason, once you cross that white boundary line in football, cricket or whatever athletic pursuit you endeavour in, it seems to be mind games forever and the meek will never inherit that earth.
Even though I'm an Aussie, I feel sorry that England opener Marcus Trescothick bailed out of the Ashes series in the Antipodes two weeks before the first Test in Brisbane due to 'stress-related' problems.
I want to see their best against my side's best, but Trescothick, one of the few English bats over the past decade and a half who can play leggie legend Shane Warne with some degree of competency, had a breakdown in Sydney and was sent home.
He also could not handle the pressure in India earlier this year and was likewise sent back to the Old Dart to recuperate.
too much cricket
Commentators like dour Geoffrey Boycott say his mental collapse is due to too much cricket nowadays and Trescothick is the first of many players that will crack emotionally under the strain, but I just can't buy into that argument. Yeah, professional cricketers probably spend twice as many days on the field today as they did when Boycott wielded the willow for England in the '60s, '70s and '80s. But they are also treated, accommodated and paid far better than those days of yore.
I think Trescothick is perhaps just a man with troubles and staying in Australia in the greatest pressure Test contest - the Ashes -- would only exacerbate the problem/illness.
Can you just imagine Trescothick coming out to bat on the opening day of the series and the amount of sledging he would hear from the Aussies?
"Wassup, crybaby?"
"Wait a sec, do you need runner or a psychiatrist, Marc?"
"Hey, I tried to call your wife, but some guy answered the phone."
laws of restraint
Cruel, but there are few laws of restraint when that field-of-play line is crossed.
England did the right thing in sending him home, but whether they should have carried him to Australia to start with will be debated for a long time to come.
Having a guy being consoled for two hours in the dressing room after locking himself in a bathroom cannot have a positive effect on any side, and particularly one trying to defend the sport's Holy Grail on enemy soil.
When Andrew Strauss walks out to open the England innings when the series starts next Thursday, you don't think someone like Warne will say: "So where's your psycho opening buddy?"
Or when likely fill-in opener Alistair Cook takes guard he won't be told that he's replacing a head case.
sledging can be humorous
It's not at all nice, but it's simply part of the game, and it has put England at an even greater disadvantage now.
Of course, sledging can be humorous as well.
When Aussie 'keeper Rodney Marsh asked great England all-rounder Ian Botham "How's your wife and my kids?"
'Beefy' responded: "The wife's fine, the kids are retarded."
However, there's nothing funny about Trescothick's travails. He's been a great servant of English cricket and I hope he can resume a career which has reaped 5,825 runs in 76 Tests at a more than respectable average of 43.79, but I just can't see it happening.
He's an open target now between the lines. I don't really care if he ever plays for England again, but I do hope he gets bett