04/19/24
April 26, 2015
SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
If you're a fan of watching teams fold like lawn chairs, the Raptors are in the midst of ensuring Dwayne Casey's going to be updating his resume tonight. They're a team with zero pride in their play right now.
posted by dfleming at 08:41 PM on April 26, 2015
The New Statesman yesterday ran a quick summary of the life of Albert Moss, cricketer:
A different ball game
What I enjoy most in the Wisden cricket annual is the obituaries of the game's minor figures who were never quite good enough or whose promise, through misfortune, was never fulfilled. This year's (my review of which will appear in next week's New Statesman) contains a gem.
Albert Moss was born in Leicestershire but emigrated to New Zealand where in 1889 he became the only bowler in first-class cricket history to take all ten wickets in an innings on debut. He played only three more matches. His English fiance, Mary, followed him to New Zealand and married him in 1891. As a wedding present, he gave her the "ten-for" ball, mounted and inscribed. A month later, he attacked her with an axe and a razor. Certified insane, he was released from confinement in 1896 on condition that he sail to South America without contacting his wife.
The couple divorced in 1905. But ten years later, having learned that he was working for the Salvation Army in Pretoria, South Africa, Mary sent him the ball. They remarried in 1919 and later returned to England, living in Essex. Moss died there in 1945, although his death went unrecorded in Wisden at the time.
Apart from the cricket context, that story could be the outline for a Hollywood film, complete with swelling violins.
posted by owlhouse at 05:46 AM on April 27, 2015
That is quite the story. And what a wonderfully forgiving woman. I mean...I'm not so sure she should have, but what the hell, maybe he got it all out of his system in that one axe/razor attack.
posted by NoMich at 06:51 AM on April 27, 2015
Moss was quite the clever Englishman, committing a criminal act after arriving in the South Pacific.
He was fortunate in numerous ways. He received the ball from his ex-wife in S.A. just as he probably should have been shipping out to Gallipoli from N.Z. Didn't return to England until after the war. And apparently rode out the influenza pandemic of 1918 in good order. Was too old to see combat in WWII, but lived long enough to see V-E Day. He dodged a number of bullets, literally and figuratively.
His spouse was also fortunate to have remarried him before returning to post-war England where there were few eligible men to be found, with so many having never come home from the continent.
Given the way Albert's movements amounted to a rather charmed path that allowed him to avoid the reaper at various turns, his obituary might have read "A Rolling Moss Gathers No Stone".
posted by beaverboard at 08:06 AM on April 27, 2015
Congrats to grum who is (I think) the only person so far to get the ejection bonus point in the SpoFi NBA Playoff pool.
Also, everyone picked Golden St. Five picked them to sweep (tron7, grum, ic23b, bender & HowardT) earning three points for that series.