White line fever.

This is a completely new entry to replace the whiny,self pitying piece of crap that was previously here.

I suffer from white line fever. Actually, if I indulge in any sort of competition, I am prepared to do anything short of kill someone (well, depending on whom it is) to win. I have almost no control over my temper when I think (and here is the vital piece of information) that someone is ENJOYING BEATING ME. For me, this is a completely unacceptable frame of mind for any of my opponents to have. I don't mind being beaten by people who don't enjoy it or I don't see as a threat, but god forbid they show any pleasure or even any desire to win when competing against me. A classic example from the weekend. I was playing cricket, bowling in fact, and the batsmen tapped the ball to short mid wicket and took off for a single. I took off after the ball and even though I knew there was no hope of running him I threw the ball. The ball went wide of the keeper and the batsmen ran three overthrows. The reason the ball went wide was because somewhere in my brain, one of the remaining sane synapses saw clearly my atavistic desire to hurl it in to the back of the scurrying batsman and decided to tell my right arm that it didn't want any part of it.

To make matters worse, shortly afterwards at Tea, all the batsman kept talking about was the additional 3 runs they'd scored and how they would contribute to their run chase.

Happy ending after all, within 2 overs of the resumption of play, the same guy spooned a little leading edge off my bowling. Normally I would have jogged on or two steps forward and watched with a wry smile as the ball bounced short of me. Not today. Not THIS batsman. I sprinted down the pitch and hurled my less than athletic frame lengthways down the carpet and concrete strip with no other thought than "Get this bastard out!" I managed to keep the ball from hitting the deck with two fingers and the thumb of my right hand, at the cost of some bruised and scraped ribs, but at the time it was worth it!!

Now I'm not so sure.

I really think this summer's Ashes tour is going to be a test for my tolerance and patience.

Update: This made me feel better though

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity: George Bernard Shaw