It’s hard when you’re in a different country to write about sports. My own blog has been faltering as it’s been weeks since I last watched my beloved hockey team play. I can barely keep up with the two BU teams I cover — men’s hockey and women’s lacrosse — so figuring out what to add here troubled me a lot.

Which makes minimal sense, considering I’m in Australia — the country known for sport. Granted their sports are slightly different than ours, as Australia is obsessed with cricket first and foremost and they’re very much into rugby and Australia Football Rules as well.

But it’s still cricket that matters the most. While my friends and I were camped out in the front seats of a very empty Sydney Football Stadium watching a rugby trail match between the HSBC Waratahs and Tonga, our neighbor, the Sydney Cricket Grounds, was entertaining at least 10 times the amount of fans.

And as we left the rugby match, we could hear a Shri Lankan band playing (as Shri Lanka had just won the match) and the cricket fans stretched the bus line all the way from the stop to the Sydney Cricket Grounds.

Speaking of cricket grounds, few, if any, are more sacred than the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. The stadium, which seats over 100,000, once played host to the 1956 Summer Olympics and continues to inspire awe.

When we went to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds it was empty, and the only occupants — other than my tour group — were the cricketers who were practicing on the pitch. It only leaves room to wonder what the MCG is like when it’s hosting an international cricket match.

Australia, Australian Sports, Melbourne, Melbourne Cricket Grounds Sports Corner