Dave's random mumblings…

In order for grief to pass it must be acknowledged, emotions need to be heard and today they were listened too. I allow myself to experience the grief that comes with the three year illness and death of my mother, the ending of relationships and felt most acutely today the health of my father.

One of my previous rally cars has arrived back in the Northwest after six years in California. The RX-7 is the car Carey Wright and myself took to a couple of Northwest 2WD championships. It’s just been brought by a friend of Careys and is back in North Bend.

It took quite a number of class wins and even a couple of overall podiums, while never what you could call pretty it only had a couple of did-not-finish in three years. One broken fuel pump and a close encounter with a deep ditch while leading the class at the Oregon Trail rally, a national championship event.

Under the duct tape door numbers were our original car numbers from years ago.

It’s fun to see it back. It needs a little work done to it, but the plan is that it will be ready for the season opening Doo-Wop rally next year. Of course it does need a co-driver…

The people at the top of cricket have a tough choice to make in response to the alleged betting scam rolling around cricket right now. First is hand out life bans to anyone involved and talk about putting the house in order. Or they can work at the root cause of mess and try to stop the situation from happening again

The first way is easy; the right way is far tougher.

If you are not aware, the short version of events is that three or four members of the Pakistan team touring England are under investigation for taking money to do certain things during a game. No one is accused of throwing a game, but it’s not far off.

The England and Wales Cricket Board’s priority seems to be to ensure that the rest of the tour goes ahead, but minus the players at the center of the betting scandal. Initially this looked like the right thing to do, but after giving it a little more thought I’ve changed my mind. It puts money ahead of principal, which considering the allegations seems somewhat appropriate.

On the field it is clear after the test series that England are the stronger of the two teams, take away Pakistan’s two best bowlers, wicket keeper and captain and there seems little point in playing the ten planned 20/20 and 50-over games. England will take them apart and it’s not a competition anymore.

In the longer term there is the issue of corruption in cricket. History shows that it’s been a big, ongoing problem within the sport, even if spot-betting is seen by many as less insidious than Hansie Cronje’s match fixing

As it always is, the root cause of the current problem money, or lack of it. The infrastructure of Pakistani top level cricket has always been questionable. Over the last couple of years after the terrorist attack against Sri Lanka in Lahore, every game played on the road and this has weakened the already poor organization even further.

The touring party are paid far less then their English, Indian and Australian counterparts. In this series it’s been suggested that the Pakistan players will have been earning perhaps 10% the amount of their rivals. Now someone comes along and gives you thousands to bowl a no ball, this is something that which will have effect on the overall result, how difficult is it to say “yes”?

The long term challenge facing the International Cricket Council (ICC) is taking on the ongoing corruption in Pakistan cricket. This would be a long, tough road, but it’s either that or Pakistan stops playing at the highest level.

Then there is the question of what do you do with the players involved? A life ban seems extreme, especially in the case of the 18 year old Mohammad Amir who’s only been playing at this level for a year or so. His 6 wicket haul at Lords was deserved and he has the potential to be one of the superstars of this game. To see him banned for life would be a travesty.

I think the first step is take the players away from the problem, because the security situation does not allow Pakistan to play any games at home the team spends months at a time on the road.

The ICC has to reach into their coffers and put the game in Pakistan right. Have the top players play outside Pakistan, let them play the domestic game in England, India, Australia and so on. Give the players a chance to share in the money generated by the game in these countries.

Also the Pakistani team needs to be given a home for a few years untill they can start hosting series in Pakistan again. Dubai or the UAE seems the obvious candidates, they are states who have started using high profile sports to raise their profile in the world. Cricket may just fit into that.

The ICC will have to work to make this happen along with rebuilding the game inside Pakistan. It will take quite a leap of faith by the ICC, not to mention significant resources, but it’s only by tacking the problem at its source can it be put right. The source of this problem is the failure of the Pakistan domestic and international game.

The ICC can either keep Pakistan in the cricketing wilderness, or do the hard work to bring them back into the fold and give the players the stability to make living from the game.

I’ve spent time around professional sportsmen in the past, and the unfortunate truth is people who make living out of sport don’t take the “spirit of the game” view of sport. They tend to be far more mercenary and are generally more interested in making money during what may be a short and very tough career.

It is the journalists and the fans that add the narrative and romance that make great sport so special and meaningful. I’m as guilty of that as anyone; I do love sport and what it can mean to people, but at the same time for professionals it really is work.

I got into London late last night, still jetlagged as heck after a couple of days on the continent and not at my best, but very much looking forward to a busy couple of days to catch up with some friends and have some fun with my family. Today I got to do something I’ve not done in about 15 years and enjoy a full day of cricket at the storied Lord’s ground in London with dad. That it turned out to be a very compelling day of cricket really was a bonus.

It’s a long time since dad’s been to a cricket game, he taught me to appreciate the game and as much fun as the 20/20 and limited overs versions are there is nothing like a test match series. The way the game twists and turns over the five days makes it such a unique sporting experience.

I remember sitting down with dad in ’80 (I think) watching England from Australia over Christmas at the end of the year. I don’t recall the score, but England probably got absolutely hammered. He spent days explaining and sharing the game with me. Two years later when England was hosting Australia, a series that is now known as “Botham’s Ashes”, I sat and watched a significant part of the series with dad. I can’t claim to have watched the whole of the famous Edgebaston test, but I did understand the significance of what was going on when we were watching it.

The Ian Botham and Bob Willis England come back against the Australians at Edgebaston is well recorded, but looking back, sitting with dad and understanding the significance of that innings and the game makes it even more special. Up untill then England had been outclassed by what history has shown to be a very good Australian side, but somehow they came back and won the game that turned the series around.

This illustrates one of the things that makes sport so special for many. It brings people together in a shared cause. While we celebrate the individual and team performances, it’s who we share those special moments with that make it so important. That many years later these performances remind us of some very special shared memories.

Cricket is the one sport that dad is willing to give England his support in. Elsewhere it’s as it should be, support Scotland first and whoever England is playing second. When it comes to cricket it’s very much England, this might have something to do with Scotland hardly impressive recent cricket history, but none the less it’s notable enough to mention.

Dad talked about growing up in Greenock and regularly watching Greenock Cricket Club, one of Scotlands more successful and important club teams. It’s not a hugely popular game in Scotland, and Greenock CC has a beautiful little ground and attracted some high profile cricketers to take part in it’s games.

A little background on today, it was the final Test in a four-game series between England and Pakistan, England were leading the serried 2-1 but got absolutely spanked at the last game at the Oval.

England needed not to loose to secure the series win over Pakistan. Friday was the second day and England were in deep, deep trouble, which makes the events of the day so surprising and one of those moments one watches sports for.

England started the day on 13/1 with most of the first day having been lost to rain. We arrived about an hour into play, dad is not as sprightly as he was, but wanted to go and we took it rather slowly this morning getting to the St Johns Wood.

We stopped at the bar to grab a sandwich and first pint of the day before heading to our seats. The TV in the Long Bar said England were on 47/5, a mid order batting collapse that was impressive as it was quick, even by England’s lofty standards.

The last three batsmen, the heart of England’s order, had contributed the grand total of zero runs. Dad commented about this being a day we should see a lot of wickets fall, and that England were going to have to work themselves out of this one to have a chance of winning.

Jonathon Trott and Mark Prior were at the crease when we got to our seats, Trott was on 31 and Prior was on 10. It looked like a lively wicket as both batsmen had moments of living dangerously; Prior especially did not look comfortable and was out shortly after lunch for 22. Graham Swann continued the trend and added nothing to the scoreboard. This made the score 102/7 and it was looking good for Pakistan.

Trott slowly put together a half century and Stuart Broad now partnered him in the middle. Broad played some very questionable strokes, but got away with it.

The scoreboard slowly advanced and the England pair started to look a little more comfortable and certainly had a little luck on their side. The wicket seemed to calm down as the day warmed up and the frustration of not finishing England off clearly showed as the Pakistani bowlers sent down the occasional bouncer.

Trott looked comfortable out there, he played some good defensive cricket and punished the poor bowling and mistakes when they came his way.

Stuart Broad rode his luck and had his finest batting performance of his long test career, but as good as Broad was he was overshadowed by the determined and very controlled strokeplay of Jonathon Trott.

Today we saw some great cricket with both the bat and ball. The 18 year old Pakistani bowler Aamer took 6 of the seven England wickets that fell for 73 runs.

At 102/7 before the tea interval England looked out of it. It seemed only a matter of time before some very impressive bowling dispatched the rest tail end of the order. At the same time the England bowlers must have been looking forward to a chance to bowl on this wicket, they needed a decent run total to give them a chance, and they did not have that.

Trott made his century not long after tea, he had been at the crease for almost five hours at this point building what turned out to be a great innings. He ended the day with a magnificent 149 not out, it’s one of the best test innings I’ve certainly ever seen and showed exactly what makes test cricket so fascinating.

Stuart Broad ended the day on 112 not out, he survived some good bowling on what looked like an interesting wicket. He certainly had some luck on his side with a couple of calls that went his way and batting errors that he got away with, but it was once again a very impressive innings when it was most needed.

The seventh wicket stand put on 244 runs by the end of play giving England a total of 346/7. A total that should be enough to ensure the game is not lost and the series against Pakistan won. However this is England, and I’ve seen them snatch defeat from the jaws of victory from better positions than this in the past.

This was a great day of cricket that had everything that makes test cricket so special. There were two centuries scored, that together should be a series securing partnership from England. In the field there was an 18-year-old bowler in only his sixth game for his country taking six wickets with some very tight bowling.

All this shared with dad in the wonderful atmosphere of a series deciding test match, at the most storied and traditional home of the game. Sport, of any kind, really does not get much better than this.

Every now and again I need to be reminded about why I love the Pacific Northwest. This was the view from the main lounge in SeaTac on Tuesday afternoon, rather ironically as I was leaving…

Friday night out was easy, Black Happy were playing at The Crocodile (great music venue in Bell Town formally known as The Crocodile Café). I’ve heard of Black Happy, not sure I’ve ever seen them before; they were to be the next “big thing” band out of Seattle in the mid 90’s and just never made it.

They were playing the Croc over the weekend and friends were telling me this would be good. So Friday night I went with a couple of friends and saw one of the best shows I’ve seen at a local bar in a long time. Seattle and the Northwest has a very rich music scene and a modern history that stands with any city in the country and I understand Black Happy were something of a contemporary of Sound Garden, just with a bigger sound.

Last night they showed it, the Croc was sold out and they played a great set, really fun band that looked like they were having fun. Think heavy metal with horns, a unique sound and a great concert.

Had a little poke around iTunes and brought the Black Happy album Peghead. A little rough around the edges, not as heavy the more polished band I saw last night, but worth the purchase.

Saturday brought forth a huge number of options. Hempfest had a concert going on, Lady Gaga was playing the Tacoma Dome and Ida Glass was talking at Benaroya Hall.

Hempfest is not really my scene. I got offered a Lady Gaga ticket yesterday, but I really don’t want to be around screaming pre-teens right now and I’m not sure I can stand for two hours on my rough knee. As talented as she is, and despite the potential people watching being almost as good as Vegas, I decided to pass on a big night at the T-dome.

That left Ira Glass, and it turned out to be a good choice. For those not in the know Ida Glass is the host of the long running This American Life radio show. Each week the hour-long show is broadcast on NPR and explores a particular theme. The content varies from the provocative though to the rather humourous. Current events are occasionally explored and a lot of the time a very personal first person narrative is the format.

The content is always well done, interesting and thought provoking. Over the last couple of months I’ve got into the This American Life Podcast, very entertaining and the top download on iTunes for good reason. This had the potential to be a rather interesting evening and certainly quite the change of pace from the previous night.

Benaoya hall was sold out tonight, Ida e was introduced by Dan Savage. Dan’s three proudest moments – licking doorknobs, Santorium and being a regular contributor to This American Life. If you want to know more about the first two Google them, it’s worth it.

Ira Glass spoke for eloquently for almost two hours and took time to show his skill in making balloon animals…

He talked about how the stories come to their attention; the programs are structure and how the themes come about.

The highlight for me was the stories. He shared the background behind a few of his favorite stories. The common theme was that they were personal, involved very few people and had something of a resolution at the end.

He shared the breakdown of what he feels makes a story compelling. A religious service, the bible, my racing stores along with radio stories about vending machines on an aircraft carrier or software end user agreements are all structured in the same way. Action, action, action followed by a pause for thought or reflection. Then repeat until you close with a good line.

When put out there it’s remarkably simple and effective. I get this was probably understood by everyone that’s studied English in any depth. I’ve not formally studied English language since leaving school at 16 (I think my writing and certainly my limitations with language make that clear) and one of the reasons I started doing this was to improve my writing, lets see if this helps.

I got a call to let me know I missed out last night, apparently the Lady Gaga concert was rather good. I’m still happy with my decision.

Saturday morning I played tennis for the first time in many, many months. It was fun, I stopped hard and pushed off my right leg a couple of times. It hurt, but not too bad.

Sunday my right knee locked solid, could not bend it with out a lot of pain. Yesterday was a little better, I could drive (appreciated owning an automatic like never before) and hobble around at work. At the walk-in doctor they gave me some good pain killers and told me to make an appointment with my doctor.

At work this got me an inside-the-gate parking pass for a few days, so something good came out of it.

Went out last night and things were a little better. No shooting pain, but I could not put too much weight on it, getting up from a seat was painful and again driving an auto was appreciated.

Today was appointment day, they did an MRI this afternoon and found a bone fragment that’s made a small tear in my cartilage. Awesome, not a surprise as there was clearly something wrong. I’m happy we know what’s wrong, now it’s time to get it fixed.

Thirty minutes later my knee is propped up on a pile of towels and it’s been shaved in preparation for going in and getting the fragment before it does any more damage. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a hairless kneecap; it feels rather strange in the gentlest breeze.

A friend told me it needs a smiley face on my bald kneecap… Perhaps it will take my mind off the pain.

Growing up birthdays were never a particularly big deal in the Kean household, it’s just how it was. Anniversaries of pretty much any kind tended to be discrete affairs. A card, a couple of small presents and that was typically it. There would be a small birthday party as I was growing up, but I think my parents discretely stopped kids birthday parties altogether as early as was reasonable. Certainly before I hit my teens the idea of a birthday party after that was just never put out there, it’s just how it was.

I remember a birthday party at my uncles for Granddads 65th, but even that was sold as a retirement party rather than a birthday celebration.

The biggest get together and celebrations were always about family. The biggie was always Christmas, we’d all gather at Granddads, eat our fill, drink, open presents, make pass-the-parcel into a full-contact sport and give up watching the Bond film because there was too much going on.

Other big get togethers were New Year and every summer there would be a Sunday or two where we’d all get together, barbeque, mum and at least one of her sisters would get falling over drunk and dad would have to help her into the back of the car.

As I think about these times the one constant in them is that I picture my parents being about the same age I am now, in their 40’s. Dad was in his early 30’s when he became a father, older than many in his generation and almost 10 years older them mum when I was born.

A friend of mine thinks my father was rather dashing as a younger man, broad shouldered, fit and dark haired. She also said he sounds “like Sean Connery, only sexier”; his Scottish accent has been tempered by living south of the border for the last 50 years.

There were a few years when I was first living in the US where I could not afford to travel back to London and see my parents as often as I’d have liked. While I’d talk to them a couple of times a week on the phone, it was always startling to see them suddenly age a year or 18 months when they would come to meet me at Heathrow.

Dad’s hair would be a little thinner with more grey. Mum would be slightly shorter than I remember, less stable on her feet and get tired a little sooner. Why it was always a surprise I’m not sure, but it was.

As I said in my mind dad is about the same age I am now and I’d be met at Heathrow by this man who looked about 20 years older with grey hair and now a bit of a stoop. Even now I visit 3 or 4 times a year it takes me by surprise every time.

If he tried to lift me up onto his shoulders as he used to when I was 6 it would probably kill him now. Heck even at his fittest, joints would have been put out at the very least had he tried to shift today’s bulk.

It’s the same with mum, I always imagine her as she was 20 years ago. Which considering how she was last time I saw her is for the better.

Even though we are both middle aged one of the last conversations I had with mum was how I was the sensible one and gave them little worry as a teenager (I saved that for my 20’s and onwards), while Stephen was the younger one and always doing something that they were worried about (and he calmed down somewhat about the same time I started to push my personal envelope).

Part of it is that when I’d visit my parents (OK, it was Mum) treated both of us like we were still in our early teens, a little nagging about rather unimportant stuff, worried about where we were going that evening, not to go out with wet hair as we’d catch a cold and so on. I think in some respect this reverting back to type gave my brother and I permission and freedom to act the age we were being treated. Which would have been about 10 and 12.

Quite a few years ago mum gave me an album of photos of me growing up, my parents growing up, family outings, weddings and so on, with my grandparents featuring rather strongly in it. As cool as an X-box, bike or remote controlled dalek is, its’ the best present I’ve ever been given.

In this picture dad is about the same age as I am now. I’ll leave you to work out who the rather handsome young man sitting on his knee is.