You can't go to Australia and NOT see a baseball game!

Just kidding. Baseball has nothing to do with Australia. But, this year they're holding the MLB opening series in Sydney, at the nearby Sydney Cricket Ground. Before they play the opening series, each of the two teams involved (the Arizona Diamondbacks and the L.A. Dodgers) spend a night playing the Australia national baseball team. So tonight I saw the Arizona Dbacks take on the Australia national team! I expected to see an all-American blowout, in classic we-know-baseball style!

Australia won. 5-0.

Going to the game was a lot of fun. It was about a forty minute walk from Fig Tree, and the trek to the stadium traveled through a beautiful park. Once we arrived, we could see what looked like a little piece of America plucked out of somewhere in the south and dropped into Sydney. The Sydney Cricket Ground, a circular arena staged for cricket matches, had been converted (quite professionally) into a genuine baseball stadium, with the diagonally-mowed outfield lawn, the soft red dirt trim around the field, the tall foul ball poles and everything - was a neat sight!

Throughout the game, it was surprising to hear how much of America they were attempting to force into this "tradition." Things like the seventh inning stretch, cheers by way of recorded audio track, "GET YOUR ICE COLD BEER HERE!" voiced softly (and with an Australian accent) as "Peanuts, and for only $5 per bag" (as if to put a smile on your face!) - everything, even though ripped right from the annals of American history, had its Australian twang. It was pretty cool.

The crowd was remarkably good, to the point that I noticed it throughout the night. I mean they cheered when the Australian national team did well, they clapped along with tracks played on the loudspeakers, they started and continued the wave, they clapped for each other whenever anyone caught a foul ball - it was such a pleasant and enthusiastic sportsgoing audience. Not as crazy as you'd get in the U.S.

So that marks off baseball. There's still rugby, super rugby, AFL (Australian Rules Football, abbreviated AFL for Australian Football League), and soccer to see, and I look forward to all of it. Tomorrow is the Biennale Art Festival, a bi-annual festival held on Cockatoo Island. I'll be taking a ferry over tomorrow morning and spending the afternoon there - I'm quite looking forward to it!

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