Tag: Ed Smith

Middlesex v Worcestershire Days 1 and 3 at Lord’s, Co-starring Ed Smith & Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 22 and 24 July 2008

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, photo by Sarah Josephine Taleb, via Wikimedia Commons

Tuesday

I’m not certain when I was first approached by Ed Smith at Lord’s, but I am pretty sure it was on the first day of this match, 22 July, “The Longest Groundhog Day”, which I reported (mainly through MTWD) – click here for the Ogblog links.

Ed had been injured early in the T20 campaign – see my Ogblog about the day it happened here. As it turned out, the injury was a career ending injury, but at the time Ed was simply at a loose end around Lord’s hoping to recover quickly.

As I understand it, Richard Goatley suggested that Ed have a chat with me about stuff, possibly in part to clear the office at a crazy time (SGM day), possibly in part because he thought that Ed and I might not only find stuff to talk about, but even be able to tolerate each other while doing so.

First I knew of it was an SMS, which seemed to come from Ed Smith, suggesting we meet for a chat. At first I thought it was a joke/hoax (I was editing MTWD back then) but anyway it wasn’t a hoax. I did wonder whether Ed knew that I was MTWD’s Ged, but we never discussed the matter and (strangely) I have never asked Richard Goatley whether Ed was told/knew. I might ask Richard one day.

In any case, that Tuesday I was reporting for MTWD, but there was so much else going on I was able to fill my report with stuff and not feel that I was giving the readers short change by omitting the Ed Smith bits.

I recall a conversation about Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Ed had been asked to write a review of and/or comment upon The Black Swan. Ed said he was finding it impenetrable and asked if I had read it. I told him I had read it and recommended, as a way in to Taleb, Fooled By Randomness and the essay The Fourth Quadrant; the latter (in my opinion) being much shorter and much more to the point than The Black Swan.

A few months later, Ed wrote a piece (I think for The Times) about Lord’s being the only place on earth where you can strike up a random conversation about Nassim Nicholas Taleb and end up chatting with someone who knows as much, if not more, about Taleb than you do!

Thursday

Originally there would have been no hope of getting to any more of the Worcestershire match, but in the event both of my Thursday business meetings were moved; in the case of the Z/Yen Board meeting brought forward to the Wednesday.

That enabled me to pick up a copy of Fooled By Randomness (we had a few) and take it to Lord’s with me for Ed on the Thursday. So as it turned out, I got to see two days of that match and spend a bit more time chatting with Ed Smith.

The only problem with that was the cricket, which was mostly seeing Middlesex getting beaten up by relatively lowly Worcestershire.

Here’s a link to the scorecard.

The MTWD reporter that third day, Southgate Emerald, is prone to call a spade a bleeding shovel; this day was no exception – click here.

I remember that I did watch the denouement of the Worcestershire match with Ed and I remember that we discussed whether the player’s minds were on topic or whether thoughts of Finals Day at the Rose Bowl were more to the fore. We also wondered whether the extra day’s rest would help Middlesex ahead of Saturday’s massive event. As I recall it, our combined wisdom concluded that we didn’t have a clue.

Sound judgement, that.

In And Off Me Own ‘Ed, Middlesex Till We Die (MTWD) Book Review of On and Off The Field by Ed Smith, 13 January 2005

My second commission from MTWD was to review each of Ed Smith’s first two books.  Ed had been signed by Middlesex in the autumn of 2004.

The first of those two reviews, Hard Balled Egg Ed, a review of Playing Hard Ball, together with a bit more of the back story and forward story, was blogged about here, published on 1 January 2005.

The second review, In And Off Me Own Ed, which is a review of On And Off The Field, is linked here.

If anything were ever to go awry with the MTWD website, you can find that piece here.

The key takeaway (for those unwilling to click) is that I did not think anything like as highly of this book.  I did enjoy Ed’s third book, What Sport Tells Us About Life, but that is another story.

Hard Balled Egg Ed, Middlesex Till We Die (MTWD) Book Review of Playing Hard Ball by Ed Smith, 1 January 2005

My second commission from MTWD was to review each of Ed Smith’s first two books.  Ed had been signed by Middlesex in the autumn of 2004.

I had been meaning to read Playing Hard Ball for some time anyway, so the commission was a good excuse to read that one.

I got to know Ed quite well that summer of 2008, when he was injured and sitting around the pavilion a lot second half of the season.  Coincidentally, he and his then girlfriend (now his wife) Becky lived just around the corner from me in W2.  I would run into him/them occasionally in the neighbourhood for a few years after that injury forced his early retirement from the game.

Here is my MTWD review of Playing Hard Ball, naturally published under my nom-de-plume Ged Ladd.  

Just in case anything ever happens to MTWD, I have scraped the piece to here on Ogblog.

The key takeaway (for those unwilling to click) is that I would recommend the book highly.