>Cricket is an acquired taste but once you "get" it, it offers a lot. Because it is a game of skill and patience rather than brawn, tiny players from India can be devastating batsmen, bowlers or fielders. It is a truly international sport so that a "world cup" means that teams from more than one country will participate. Imagine your own favorite sport except that fearsome teams from Sri Lanka, South Africa and the Caribbean visit regularly to beat your local team one year and be thrashed in turn the next. That's just one of the novelties offered by cricket!

Baseball is spreading to be more of an international sport. This year, in the US major leagues, a significant number of players come from other countries. There are nearly 100 players from one of them, either Venezuela or the Dominican Republic, can't remember which it was. Other countries represented include most of central America, Japan, and South Korea.

Tamar