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NARR:
Bartender Andrew Jordan got to work early today. At 9 in the morning. That's when his bar, Eight Mile Creek, opened for business. At 9:30, in Guyana, Ireland's cricket team faced England. At 10:30, the bar was still empty.
He says that the bar has shown every game so far. And it plans to continue opening early to through April, when the World Cup ends. On the weekends, business has been good. But it took a dip when two formidable teams, India and Pakistan, were eliminated. In early rounds, Indian and Pakistani-Americans came to the bar in droves.
ACT:
And now that India and Pakistan have been knocked out, they're coming, they're still coming back, but only on the weekends. Just depends on which country's playing. A bit quiet now. I'm expecting we'll get a few more people in for lunch later on. It's a Friday afternoon.
NARR:
Around 11, a British cricket fan walks in and sits at the bar.
He says he tries to watch cricket when he can. But it's tough in New York. And in America generally. The Dish Network shows the games, but the service is expensive. And in Manhattan, it's hard to set up a satellite dish anywhere.
Although cricket is the second most popular sport in the world, its audience has dwindled in many countries, including the West Indies. The International Cricket ASSOCIATION picked the island nations to try to resurrect the sport's popularity there.
But T-V commentators say the tournament has been plagued by problems.
AMBI, in the clear:
We know the water levels are high, they're has been a lot of rain.... This, as you say, used to be a paddy field not long ago, eighteen months ago.
NARR:
It is hard for fans to travel to the West Indies, and there has been a shortage of hotel rooms. During today's game, the stands are half empty.
Bartender Andrew Jordan and the Australian waiters he works with, try to explain the game to American customers.
ACT:
You know, there are a few people that have never watched cricket before. And they sort of stumble in and they're like, what the hell's going on here, and we sort of explain it to them the best we can.
NARR:
Cricket has a reputation for being a complicated game. Alex, the lone British fan, didn't want to give his last name. He's skipping work to watch the match.
He tries to explain a four-point play.
ACT:
So the guy he hit a four, which means that he got, sort of similar to a home-run, except that it it went out of the ground, but it hit the turf before it went out of the ground. If it went out in the full, it would be six runs.
NARR:
Andrew Jordan, the bartender, chimes in. England isn't doing as well as he'd hoped.
ACT:
They're in trouble, but they've got Kevin Peterson in the inbell, fighting back. Peterson's just been rated the best batsman in the world for one-day cricket. So he's doing a hell of a job. I hope I didn't just put the death curse on him.
NARR:
Apparently he did put the "death curse" on Peterson. The batsman got out minutes later.
Alex has a theory about why cricket hasn't caught on in the United States.
ACT:
Similar to soccer, America sort of rejected I think English or British sports in its foundation and built its own sports and therefore there was very little interest in old provincial british sports.
NARR:
Business at the bar does pick up around lunch time. Eight British-born businessmen filter in, order pints of Stella Artois, and cheer for an English victory.