Cricket gives me - has given me for as long as I can remember - a sense of time: a certain feeling or event in my life is referenced with the memory of a particular game. It also gives me a sense of place. This may be an extraordinarily blinkered way to look at the world (and you have to be extraordinarily blinkered to have Queens Park Oval flash across your mind the moment someone says Trinidad), but I think of cities in terms of their cricket grounds. It is the most enduring geography lesson I have ever had, and it brings closer and makes familiar places with which I have little acquaintance. It is, I have found, something that gives my life a coordinate, a kind of centre amid the changing clutter of daily life with which it is tough to keep up.But most of all, perhaps, cricket gives me a sense of myself. They say you only get a sense of yourself when you see yourself in relation to another. Cricket is that great other.Its like a relationship, this thing between the fan and his sport, some say. Well, only those who are not fans say that. Because it is not like any relationship that Ive ever known.On the average day, it is a relationship that is too full of shame and humiliation, too unrequited and too committed at the same time, too like a one-way street. If my wife had let me down half as many times as India have on the pitch, I would have walked out on her. But when it comes to the game, I can never, however great the disappointment in the last match and however certain I am of impending doom in this one, bring myself to turn away.Can you? If you can, you are not one of us. Which, come to think of it, is not such a bad thing. Because you are spared the painful pleasure of being a masochist. All fans - the ones like me who need sport to give a sort of shape to life - are masochists. What else can you be when you switch on the TV at three oclock in the morning knowing that your team is going to get a pasting - again?For those of us who are too far gone, gone far enough in fact to embrace torment (We lost 0-3 against Zimbabwe? No matter, throw us a defeat against Bangladesh. Well still watch), its not a choice. Its a compulsion. Addiction does not have rationality at its heart.The pact between a fan and his team is sacrosanct. It cannot be broken. It is not like the colas or the cars or the credit cards or the car tyres the players endorse. Dont like it? Flush it down the toilet. Sell it off. Exchange it for something better. Buy a new one.When things go wrong on the pitch, some of us go on mock funeral processions. Some of us threaten players families. (The first gesture is banal, the second despicable. But morality or ethics is not the issue here; it seldom is when you are talking about addiction.) Still few of us can stay away when our players walk out on to the field. Were we able to do that, TV ratings would slip and channels would not pay millions for satellite rights, companies would hesitate before pumping in billions to sponsor the team, and soft-drink majors would worry about putting their money where the nations heart isnt. The fact that they have not suggests that there are millions out there like me. Sometimes it feels like a brotherhood of misery.Every fan realises this: feeling miserable is part of the deal. But riding the misery and sticking with it is the deal. You cant support another team (Namibia?), or suddenly be passionate about another sport (ice hockey?). Its this or nothing. And nothing is so much worse. Taylor Rapp Youth Jersey . The team also announced Tuesday that the Braves will wear a commemorative patch on the right sleeve during the season. The patch, shaped like home plate, carries the number 715, Aarons autograph and a "40th Anniversary" banner. Deacon Jones Womens Jersey . - Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie never doubted he would bring back coach Dennis Allen for a third year despite back-to-back 4-12 records. http://www.footballramsshop.us/authentic-marshall-faulk-rams-jersey/ . Rob Manfred, baseballs chief operating officer, testified last week during the grievance filed by the players union to overturn Rodriguezs 211-game suspension. A person familiar with the hearing, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Manfred testified the sport wasnt concerned whether Bosch distributed performance-enhancing drugs to minors because MLBs interest was his relationship with players under investigation. Orlando Pace Jersey .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have recalled forward Kevin Porter and defenceman Chad Ruhwedel from the minors as part of a five-player roster shuffle made by the NHLs worst team. Joe Namath Youth Jersey . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race.Henrik Tallinder is heading back to the Buffalo Sabres for a second tour of duty. The Sabres acquired the defenceman from the New Jersey Devils on Sunday in exchange for forward Riley Boychuk. "We are excited to have Henrik back in the mix on our blue line," said Sabres general manager Darcy Regier in a statement. "His experience will be invaluable not only in adding more stability to our back end, but also in the development of some of our younger defencemen." Tallinder, 34, began his career with the Sabres after being selected by Buffalo in the second round of the 1997 Draft. He plaayed seven seasons there before signing as an unrestricted free agent with New Jersey in July, 2010.dddddddddddd The veteran of 11 NHL seasons has 26 goals and 134 points in 614 games. Last season he had four points in 25 games and missed the last 11 games of the regular season with a lower-body injury. Boychuk, 22, was a seventh-round pick of the Sabres in 2010 and has yet to play an NHL game. Last season he had eight goals and nine assists for the Fort Worth Brahmas of the Central Hockey League. In 2011-12 the Abbotsford, B.C. native skated in 26 games for the AHLs Rochester Americans. ' ' '