second set began with both teams holding their fir

Im an American baseball and football fan, and I love cricket.There are those around the world who believe that I dont exist, and I may be the only one - based on my attempts at outreach on social media sites - but I do in fact exist.At the moment, I am bingeing on the Caribbean Premier League. I can stream the entire league for a few bucks, and I have taken full advantage of the offer.A little background. I grew up in upstate New York, and my introduction to sports was the New York Mets of Tom Seaver, Jon Matlack, Jerry Koosman and Buddy Harrelson. My earliest sports memory was Buddy getting into a fight with Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds at second base during the 1973 National League Championship Series, which the Mets won in five games. My mom, dad and grandmother had all followed the Brooklyn Dodgers until the Dodgers unceremoniously decamped to California, and the excitement in my house around the Mets improbable run to the pennant in 73 hooked me onto baseball. I went on to play Little League, Babe Ruth League, high school baseball and American Legion baseball until I stopped being able to make contact with the increasingly blurry fastballs thrown at me, and stopped being able to track the hard-hit line drives in the outfield. I am still a Mets fan 40-something years later. I thrilled to the great 1986 World Series championship team when I was in college, and suffered through all the missed opportunities since, including last season.I am also a huge NFL fan, and the New England Patriots have always been my team. I sign up for NFL Sunday Ticket every season, so I can watch all 16 of the Patriots regular season games. The Patriots have rewarded my fan investment handsomely these days with four Super Bowl titles and two other appearances in the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era, albeit with plenty of controversy.My insatiable appetite for sports has taken my in many other directions. Tiger Woods run in the PGA was an obsession, and Im a big fan of Michelle Wie in the LPGA. I check in with the English Premier League on weekend mornings, and I follow the USAs mens and womens national teams in international soccer tournaments. Ive tried and failed to follow the NHL and the NBA, but Ill still watch a hockey or basketball game if theres nothing else on.I had never considered cricket as a sport to follow until I started watching The Thick Of It online, where the shenanigans in the British government often took a back seat to whatever Test match was on the radio; and then, especially, the podcast The Bugle with ESPNcricinfos own Andy Zaltzman. On one episode, Andy was paying more attention to the Ashes than he was to whatever John Oliver was saying. After I heard that, I needed to see what was so engrossing.My first Ashes was the 2010-11 edition in Australia. It took about three matches to understand the rules and generally what was happening, but somewhere during the Perth match I became enthralled. Australia had dropped the second match badly, after a first-match draw, but battled back and destroyed England out west using local knowledge of the surface. I was intrigued that the results could be so drastically different in different locations, and felt compelled to tune in to see if England would rebound to win the series or if Australia could find a way to sweep the final two matches. I spent the Christmas holiday watching the fourth and fifth tests. I was now a full-on cricket fan.Since 2010, Ive watched two World Cups, two World T20s, three more Ashes series, and countless other matches that were available on WatchESPN. Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkars Cricket All-Stars came to Houston - where I live - last November and, of course, I was travelling that week and had to miss it. Finally, though, Im going to see a professional game live.I bought tickets to the Trinbago Knight Riders v St Kitts & Nevis Patriots game in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and I will be attending right before my wife and I go on a cruise. Ive been watching every game I can of the CPL T20 season to familiarise myself with the teams and players. I am looking forward to the constant drumming, costumes, dancing, Caribbean food and drink, and hard hits that I am seeing in the games so far. About the only regret I will have is that I didnt get tickets to the Jamaica Tallawahs game to watch #UniverseBoss himself, Chris Gayle. I watched his methodical destruction of Trinbago this week, and my respect for his batting ability is right up there with my respect for Tom Bradys quarterbacking and Yoenis Céspedes all-around play.I hope to keep watching the tournament and then write about my experience at the Florida match. Stay tuned.Want to be featured on Inbox? Send your articles to us here, with Inbox in the subject line. Cheap 76ers Jerseys . The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Lions have not announced the hiring, which was first reported by ESPN. Lombardi, the grandson of former Green Bay Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi, has been an offensive assistant on Sean Paytons New Orleans staff since 2007. Timothe Luwawu Jersey . Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. http://www.cheap76ersjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-furkan-korkmaz-jersey . Inter president Erick Thohir says in a club statement on Wednesday that Vidic is "one of the worlds best defenders and his qualities, international pedigree, and charisma will be an asset. Charles Barkley Jersey . Andreas Johnson had a goal and two assists while Jacob de la Rose also scored for Sweden (2-0-0). Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen replied for Finland (1-1-0) Lindell opened the scoring for Finland just 41 seconds into the game, but the hosts quickly regained their composure and tied the score less than four minutes later on Wennbergs first of the game. Julius Erving Jersey . LOUIS -- Theres no telling how these wacky World Series games will end. Indias Sania Mirza and her new partner Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic rallied from being 5-1 down in the first set against Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Coco Vandeweghe of USA, to win 7-5, 6-4 and clinch the Cincinnati Open title in Cincinnati, Ohio on Sunday. This win also means Sania retains the world number 1 title, while her former partner Hingis will slip down to number 2 when the latest rankings are released on Monday.Strycova was the first to be broken, in the second game of the first set, before she and Sania broke Hingis on her first service game. The Swiss-American pair then won three games on the trot, breaking Strycova for the second time in the process, to race away to a 5-1 lead. Serving for the set, Hingis saw her first set point saved before having her service broken to bring Sania and Strycova back to 5-2. After a comfortable hold by Sania, Vandeweghe had her service broken for the first time, and then a Strycova hold saw the scores level for the first time in the match at 5-5. Hingis was broken in her subsequent service game, and Mirza would thenn close out the first set 7-5 in 46 minutes.ddddddddddddIn front of a packed house (and playing together for 1st time), Mirza/Strycova win the doubles title.#CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/9oPKL3aqlU- W&S Open (@CincyTennis) 21 August 2016The second set began with both teams holding their first service games, before Hingis was broken to give Sania and Strycova a 2-1 lead on a deciding point. After Sania held her subsequent service game, Vandeweghe was broken for the first time in the second time to give Sania and Strycova a 4-1 advantage. After Strycova held to go 5-1 up, Hingis and Vandeweghe put in a sequence of three successive games, breaking Sania in the process. With a chance to serve for the championship, Strycova dropped only one point on her way to closing out the second set 6-4.This was Sanias first title win with Strycova and her second title in Cincinnati. She had earlier won the doubles title with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in 2007. ' ' '