Sport Today

Hi,

If any of you happens to find an obituary of the the Don that you
particularly like, that you happen to find particularly glorious, kindly
post a link to it on RSC. I am, specifically, interested in obituaries
penned by reputed current and ex-cricketers and reputed cricket
journalists. I would've loved to have heard Richie Benaud's comments, for
example. Would also love to hear the comments of others like Steve Waugh,
Ian Chappell, Sir Gary Sobers, etc.

Thanks.

-Samarth.

Try the complete coverage at the Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au

or the Melbourne Age
http://www.theage.com.au

Both have comments from other cricketers.

For UK comment see:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,60-90708,00.html
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,4-90781,00.html

Colin Wilson

Samarth,

I have spoken to the Web people at 3LO ABC Radio and I am execting them to
call me back soon.   3LO often put up Real Audio of certain interviews and I
am hoping this will be on their web site.

I will post a link as soon as it becomes available

Colin Kynoch

It is interesting to note that dozens of obits will be posted on this
newsgroup over the next few days.  RR was archiving some rsc material
and I was wondering if he would like to preserve these messages for
posterity?

--

Cheers,

John

"Is he really mad?  Or has he merely put his
underpants on his head and stuck a couple of
pencils up his nose?"

The point has been made on another forum recently. But it bears repeating.
It is shameful that a post in an obituary thread is signed off with the word
"cheers". What exactly are you cheering on this very sad day for Cricket ?

- Dhananjay Naniwadekar

It is a general note of farewell.  Read into it what you will, but for
me it is the way I sign-off *every* post I make in any newsgroup.

Thanks, BTW, for failing to notice that I snipped my humorous quote from
the *actual* tribute that I posted earlier.  It is back now, but only
because this post is not a tribute, merely a normal post.

--

Cheers,

John

"Is he really mad?  Or has he merely put his
underpants on his head and stuck a couple of
pencils up his nose?"

Headline in the Hamilton NZ Waikato Times tonight ... Bradman out .... first
of all I thought it was crass then it dawned on me ... That headline is the
ultimate accolade ... brilliant stuff for an absolute genius .... Muz

John Woodcock, the greatest Cricket writer alive, is sure to post
his tribute to The Don this week. Keep an eye on www.the-times.co.uk ;
Almost everything that Woodcock has written about Bradman over last
few years has been worth a read. When he chose Bradman among the
top 3 cricketers ever (alongwith W G Grace and Sobers), Woodcock
wrote a brilliant brief sketch on DGB. (I do wish that he had chosen him
at # 1, and not at # 2, behind WG.) I believe Wisden's sketch on DGB,
when he was chosen among the greatest 5 cricketers of the last century,
was also done by Woodcock.

Bradman's brilliant mind was behind the superb essay "Whither
Cricket?", which he wrote for Wisden about 10-12 years ago.
He astutely observed : "It seems to me a travesty that a team
scoring 202 for 8 can beat a team scoring 198 for 1 in a
one-day cricket match."

H S Altham wrote that he (DGB) set out not to be one of the stars,
but The Sun itself. And Neville Cardus summoned some of his best
efforts to eulogise the preternatural genius of Bradman.  You would do
well to buy "The Essential Neville Cardus" or "Cricket with Cardus"
from Amazon or bn.com. Just make sure that it contains the immortal
essay : "Bradman, 1930", written on the eve of The Old Trafford Ashes
Test that year for The Manchester Guardian. Some British Council
Libraries in India stock these books. Both books cover more or less
the same essays. "Bradman and Hammond" from the same books
is another Cardus gem to treasure. When Bradman gave his famous
interviews to ABC about a decade ago, he quoted Cardus while
remembering McCabe's Trent Bridge heroics in 1938 and the
3 H's of England : Hobbs, Hammond and Hutton.

I quote (from memory) two vignettes from "Bradman, 1930".

"This boy (Bradman) has lit great bonfires of batsmanship, but not once
has he burnt his own fingers while doing it." Vintage Cardus !!!!

And have you heard of the trapeze artist who had so thoroughly
mastered his art that when he wanted to commit suicide, he still
could not manage the tiniest amount of error that would have
served his purpose? Bradman, in 1930, conjured this vision
for Neville Cardus.

The only cricketer with a comparable genius and weight of
achievement is Gary Sobers.
We are unlikely to see Bradman's achievements matched or surpassed.
When small boys stumble upon his record for the first time, they are
liable to treat his average of 99.94 as a misprint.
Indeed, his statistics do beggar belief.

Donald George Bradman. 27 August 1908 - 25 February 2001.
RIP.

- Dhananjay Naniwadekar

I daresay this was not the accepted mode for an obituary. Not until very
recently, at any rate. If things have changed on that front, we would be
so much the worse for it.

If somebody is a part of Bradman's funeral march, but begs leave for about
15 minutes because he eats ice-cream *every* day at 2 PM, and then rejoins
the funeral proceedings with a suitably stricken face.... Would that be
acceptable ? I don't mean to suggest that you don't share the prevailing
sense
of sadness. But posts over an obituary thread are different from other
normal
posts, I think.

- Dhananjay Naniwadekar

says...

Perhaps it's an Australian colloquialism, I always sign my posts off with
Cheers. I guess it's a more personal and friendly way of saying Regards
which sounds infinitely more sterile.

It's not a sign of disrespect, and it's not meant to signify that we are
cheering about what was in the text above it. I use it on a daily basis
as a sign of thankyou, it's quite a universal and positive word. ;)

Cheers,
Rod.

It   *is*   a crass headline.
Some idiot posted the following tribute in a similar vein on rediff.com :
"Death dealt a cruel blow to cricket and all its fans on Sunday when the
Don of the 22-yard strip, a batsman who had rarely, if ever, been
dismissed in the so-called nervous 90s, was declared out at 92."

http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2001/feb/26don.htm

- Dhananjay Naniwadekar

Nope ... it is not crass ..... it sums up the end of a great mans life in
two words. And it is hard to be sad when he lived out his life to the
fullest. His batting average got very close to his real age .... There
wouldn't be too many cricketers that could say that .... Muz

I heard tributes from Arthur Morris, Bill Brown, Sam Loxton,
Richie Benaud, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh, Shane Warne, Allan
Border, Mark Taylor, Max Walker, Sachin Tendulkar and of course
Neil Harvey through either TV or radio today but don't have the
facilities to tape them onto computer.

Richie's comments were pretty funny he said he had spoken to
Keith Miller and said he really regretted that he came into first
class cricket the year after Bradman left, and he never got to
bowl to him. Miller told Benaud "everyone get's one big break in
their career, and
Bradman retiring is yours".

I was going to have a sizable bet on India winning the first Test
but now I am going to bet on the Waugh's putting on a big
partnership and for the second time in their Test career score
centuries in the same Test match. After hearing both of them
today, Steve on TV and Mark on Radio 2UE, I know Australia will
win and win well.

I did a tribute to Bradman on the website I help run, even though
it has nothing to do with Cricket. I had the full support of one
of my webmasters when I told him of my intentions.

He enjoyed a full and great life. His loss is a great loss to his
family and the game of Cricket. He was the only player who was
bigger than the game. He will be missed but his legacy will never
be lost.

The special shows that have been on all our TV stations I feel
have the tone as a celebration to his life and Cricketing career
and that's how I have treated it.

Cheers,
Matt.
ICQ 1444514

What's the point of being so doleful?  Let's celebrate instead the
popularity of cricket today, in which he played such a great part, and the
skill of players such as Tendulkar, the Waughs and others, who will forever
be compared to him.  So instead of mourning his death, we should be
celebrating his ascension to immortality.

Cheers (NB), ymt.

        I suspect Yuk is being tongue-in-cheek as usual, but there is a grain of
truth in what he says. Azzie on irc mentioned to me last night that Bradman was
the principal romantic figure in the cricket of the 20th century. Which, I
think, is true.
        Bradman was to that century what Grace was to the 19th. Grace
popularized the game in England, and Bradman popularized it (with his
achievements) all over the globe. Two anecdotes in particular, from his book
"Farewell to Cricket", stick out in my mind. The first relates to a letter he
received from the Netherlands during the 1948 tour of England. The envelope had
a photograph of his face, with the words "Somewhere Playing in England" below
that. And that was enough of an address for the British postal service to find
him and deliver it. The other relates to a letter he received from a boy in
Assam, soon after he retired. Assam, back then, was a remote corner of India; it
would be some 30 years or so before an international match would be played
there. And yet, in an age with no television or internet, a little boy in Assam
had already adopted Bradman as his hero.
        It is fitting, then, that Bradman outlived the 20th century, though he
did not reach his own. Despite the many individual records he set during his
lifetime, many of which will never be erased, I think he'd be quite pleased: his
team won the match, though he failed to reach his own hundred. Cricket today is
stronger because of him.
        Alas, Bradman had retired well before I was born, so I have no
first-hand memories of him. Though it's been over 50 years since he retired,
cricket fans the world over know him as a player who elevated his art well
beyond what is reasonable for a mere mortal. His batting feats will adorn the
record books for ever, so need not be repeated here.
        Instead, I'd like to mention one anecdote that reveals his uncanny
shrewdness as a captain. In 1936-37, England had taken a 2-0 lead in the Ashes
series, with the help of some wet wickets. In the 3rd Test, Australia began
their 2nd innings late in the day, again on a wet pitch. Bradman told nos. 10
and 11, O' Reilly and Fleetwood-Smith, to pad up. When Fleetwood-Smith looked
stunned at this, Bradman told him, "The only way you can be out on this pitch is
if you hit the ball. You can't hit it on a good pitch, so you have no chance on
this one". Indeed, not only did Fleetwood-Smith survive until close of play, but
he was out to the first ball he touched the next morning. By then, the wicket
began drying out, Bradman himself scored 270, and Australia went on to win the
match and the series.