Other Great Reality Shows > Other Reality TV Shows & News

Dhani Tackles the Globe 2

<< < (4/5) > >>

apskip:
DTTG2 ep. 4 Jamaica - Cricket

Dhani arrived in Jamaica to learn how to play the obscure sport of cricket. It would take him many years to be able to compete on a world-class level and there are no opportunities to play a world-class match in Jamaica when he is there, so he had to settle for just learning the sport, which is the most complex sport that I have ever heard of.

Cricket, played in most British Commonwealth countries for centuries, starts with a bowler and batter, 3 wooden stakes (known as wickets) and a hard rubber ball. The bowler has to throw the ball and knock out the 3 wickets before the batsman finishes his turn at bat. Classic cricket test matches can go on for days. There are fielders and the fielders can catch any hit ball in the air to get the batter immediately out. The batter gets the following scores:
Hit over the boundary - 6 runs
Ball hit to touch the boundary – 4 runs
Scores from shuttling the batsman and his partner back and forth between the ground behind the pitch and the wickets - 1 to 3 runs

A cricket match is played on a cricket field at the center of which is a pitch. The match is contested between two teams of eleven players each. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible without being dismissed ("out") while the other team bowls legally (meeting certain restrictions and fields, trying to dismiss the other team’s batsmen and limit the runs being scored. When the batting team has used all its available overs (set of 6 bowls by each bowler on the field) or has no remaining batsmen, the roles become reversed and it is now the fielding team’s turn to bat and try to outscore the opposition. Getting an out requires bowled, caught, leg before wicket (obstructing the ball reaching the wicket with one’s leg), stumped and run out while rarer are hit wicket, hit the ball twice, handled the ball, obstructing the field and timed out. There are a variety of penalties that can be assessed but that goes beyond what is appropriate here. Whew! These rules are complicated.

So Dhani must first learn the terminology, then observe actual cricket being played, and then learn how to bowl, bat and field. Fielding is pretty easy as it is similar to U.S. baseball. Bowling is not like U.S. baseball or bowling motions. It typically required putting a wicked spin on the ball so that it does strange things when reaching the batsman. Cricket batting is more analogous to playing tennis than it is to hitting a baseball. So Dhani has a lot to master.

He goes to watch cricket being played at Sabina Park, the site of the 2007 Cricket World Cup tournament. As always, he has a world-class coach to assist him in training at the Kingston Cricket Club. This time it’s Jimmy Adams, who In his opening twelve matches of the 1991/1992 season scored 1,132 runs at a batting average of near 87, a record bettered only once in the history of Test cricket.

Adams provides all the tips and pointers Dhani can absorb, but cricket is a strange sport and is not easy to learn.

While in Jamaica Dhani was interested in exploring the roots of the Rastafarian movement. I did not feel that it increased my knowledge of Rastafarians much, but Dhani is entitled to fizzle on those rare times when he is not sizzling.

Dhani visited the Bob Marley Museum to talk to Marley’s wife about his reggae music and legacy. He visited Nine Mile in the cockpit Mountains where Marley grew up and met several of Marley’s relatives there. They offered him a smoke of ganja weed, but Dhani on camera refused (probably off camera too). He visited the pirate capital of the world in the 17th century, Port Royal. He walked up the famous gentle waterfall (I’ve been there as have most visitors to Jamaica) at Dunn’s River Falls in Ocho Rios.

When Dhani was as much ready as could happen in one week, Adams got him into a game at the Uprising Cricket club in Bull Savannah on the southwest coast of Jamaica against another local team. Dhani proved that he knew the basics, but did not exactly leave the field with glorious achievement. He left the field with a comment that he respects and appreciates cricket (but not that he likes it) now that he can play it.

apskip:
DTTG2, ep. 6 Croatia - Water Polo

Dhani went to see Dubrovnik’s Old Town. He came to Croatia with an affinity for bowties and has a large collection of them which he wears on camera frequently. Little did he know that Croatia is the birthplace of the necktie. He visited the Croata necktie shop and learned this. He also did some sightseeing in Dubrovnik visiting this Market at Gundulic Square, where farmers and merchants sell their produce and goods daily. Dhani wanted to go up Mount Srd, but its cablecar was destroyed during the war with Serbia. His best alternative is to rid on a donkey up the mountain. The Dubrovnik Summer Festival, 47 days featuring open-air music, opera, dance and drama performances is starting as Dhani is in Dubrovnik, so he attended its opening ceremonies.

Dhani’s sport for Croatia is water polo, which requires unbelievable lower body strength to be able to tread water for long periods of time and to accelerate in swimming from one end of the pool to the other. It also requires some shot-making ability that is somewhat analogous to threading the needle of a target by passing a football. Dhani trains with water polo expert Maro Jokovic, a Croatia National Water Polo team member.

Dhani always enjoys the local cuisine. Seafood is growing in Ston Bay near Dubrovnik, so Dhani made time for harvesting mussels and oysters crystal clear Ston Bay. Then he sampled the shellfish at the legendary Vila Koruna restaurant. Dhani also went to the "hidden" Buza Cafe, located on the cliff and encouraged by teammate Vinko, did the giant cliff dive into the sea.

Dhani usually attempts to visit a religious site on the day of competition to pray for good luck. In Dubrovnik this is St. Blaise church, named for Dubrovnik's patron saint and protector.

The water polo match was played in the Adriatic Ocean where local team Gusar Mlini has a designated water polo facility with stands for 5,000 spectators. Water polo is obviously an important sport locally. They play against another local team. Dhani did not get in the game for long, but near the end he was sent in again and was able to score one point for his team.

apskip:
DTTG2 ep. 7 Brazil Beach – Volleyball

This episode is about Rio de Janeiro. Dhani will play beach volleyball with a partner against 2 first-class Brazilian teammates. It involves 2 person teams that compete on beaches all over the world, but the most famous place where beach volleyball happens is Ipanema Beach which inspired the equally famous “Girl From Ipanema” song. Dhani may have played regular volleyball at some time in his career, but unless he has spent major time in southern California or the gulf coast it is not likely that he has plays much beach volleyball previously. His teach, as always a true professional is Brazilian Olympian Jackie Silva. She teaches him to serve, to recover shots, to set and to spike. Now he has to learn to mesh with a partner Jackie has provided to be able to compete.

In the interim, there is much beauty in and around Rio. Corcovado, the hunchback mountain within Rio city limits beckons and on top is the Christ the Redeemer statue. It competed against several better known wonders of the world to be named the 7th wonder of the world in a competition a few years ago (I suspect that the Brazilians learned ballot box stuffing techniques from we Americans to pull that off). Dhani received his divine inspiration from the statue to bring him luck in beach volleyball.

Dhani was introduced to the martial arts dancing techniques of capoeira in this episode. It takes years to master these moves at a high level, but at least Dhani looked good doing them with a young boy.

Dhani tries to sample the cuisine of any region he is visiting and Brazil is no exception. Its national dish is feijoada, a bean stew with lots of meat and spices in it. He got a cooking lesson in how to make feijoada and then got to eat it at the Aprazivel Restaurant.

Dhani sought out the famous Selaron Stairs, which have been installed by the artist Jorge Selaron over 2 decades as a tribute to Brazil. They actually look like mosaics, with a unique design for each of the steps. There are 250 stairs measuring 125 meters long which are covered in over 2000 tiles collected from over 60 countries around the world.

Dhani has his beach volleyball match, which was somewhat anticlimactic compared to the other things he was doing in Rio. His team lost 22 to 20, but I suspect that the other side was trying to keep the match close.

Next he got ready for Carnaval, which is the same as Mardi Gras in New Orleans or Carnival in Europe. He first checked out Samba City, home of the costume workshops and float production centers for the Carnival Samba Parades. There are 3 elements that he has to combine to have a successful Carnaval experience: costume, mask, skill in samba dancing. Dhani decides on a bare chest, pantaloons, a belt and a simple straw hat and a straw basket for his costume. For the mask he went to the Sunday Hippie Market to get something unique. To learn samba, he signed on with a samba school to teach him the basics and them walked as part of the official Samba Parade into the Sambadrome. Dhani got his Carnaval experience.

apskip:
DTTG2 ep. 8 South Africa - Soccer

Dhani arrived in CapeTown, one of South Africa’s 3 capitals, to place soccer. Since it is 2010 and the World Cup is hosted in south Africa this year, soccer hysteria is rampant all over the country.  Why shouldn’t Dhani be part of that? Anyone that knows anything about soccer knows that he cannot possibly go from nothing to a world-class level in one week, so this is set up to have him compete on a lower level at which he might be able to hold his own once he learns. His soccer coach is Martin Secklenberg and Dhani considers him a genius at devising drills for improving soccer skills. Dhani knew from prior interaction on U.S. soccer fields that soccer requires quick and versatile feet (to be used like hands), a strong head (to be used like a bat) and bodies like butterfly nets. Their first practice is on bouncing the ball from top-of-head over to top-of-hear; the losers (including Dhani) have to do pushups. He was training at the youth academy of Ajax  CapeTown, a Premier Soccer League team. 

Dhani goes with t teammate to visit Nyanga, one of South Africa’s poorest neighborhoods in the Cape Flats area of CapeTown, a violent and high crime rate area suffering from high unemployment and AIDS. There is a lot of interest in soccer among the young, so Dhani brings 24 soccer balls as presents. 8 local men show up to dance and sing for the unexpected visitor. Dhani observed both kites and wind surfers at Bloubergstrand, a popular beach with some of the best views of Cape Town and renowned as one of the world's top 3 beaches for kite-surfing. Then he decided to do a cage dive in an area around Great White sharks off False Bay’s Seal Island, where the high concentration of great whites feast on the high concentration of seals. Bait is prepared and spread to attract the sharks. Dhani went down in a cage with the joke that “if he were a lawyer, he would not even need a cage.” That’s a good one! Nicholas, a kid selected somehow from the pack in Nyanga, got to make the trip with Dhani but he did not want to go into the water with scuba gear and in the cage.

Dhani’s second practice is about dribbling the ball around cones, teaching which part of the foot to use when. Dhani has heard that “sometimes teams hide their weakest link as goal keeper and depend on a sturdy defense to prevent their goalie from facing many good shots. There are more cones to move laterally and beyond and Dhani does the same drills that the kids do.

Dhani wants like any tourist to see some of the best sights the area has to offer. He retraced ground covered by the Amazing Race season 2 and Amazing Race Asia season 2. In Amazing Race 2, teams had to visit the former cell in the Robben Island prison where Nelson Mandela spent more than 2 decades. In amazing Race Asia 2, the penultimate leg in the CapeTown area ended at the Aquila Game Reserve, which is famous for being the home of all 5 of the top “Big Game” animals: water buffalo, rhinoceros, lion, elephant, leopard. Dhani had a brief safari experience there with Nicholas from Nyanga. Its 11,000 acres are almost 20 square miles

Other area attractions visited by Dhani include Cable Mountain, which has a cablecar that takes people to its top for the spectacular views of CapeTown. He got to hike to Lion’s head, one of two major subsidiary peaks at 2100 feet overlooking Cape Town more directly. Dhani also visited Bloubergstrand, a popular beach with some of the best views of Cape Town and renowned as one of the world's top 3 beaches for kite-surfing. To “pay his dues” Dhani visited Nyanga, among South Africa's poorest neighborhoods, suffering from high rates of unemployment, crime and HIV/AIDS. Its residents were especially politically active during apartheid. Dhani worked hard on the filming of each episode, so his producer tries to give him some special events to increase his knowledge of various topics that might interest Dhani. Kanonkop is a fourth-generation wine estate known for its excellent red wine. This was developed by a South African chemist who combined pinot noir and cinsault grapes to make this fine wine. Dhani pretends to be an estate worker sorting grapes, but it just doesn’t wash.

Dhani gets to be an assistant coach applying American football drills designed to teach “going through the man to get to the ball” on his youth. Payback for the kids is to have a rugby scrum against Dhani. Dhani rates his own offensive skills as meager, but his defensive skills are natural.

The game is on. Dhani  wants to make a credible showing to satisfy his own pride. Its Ajax CapeTown youth vs. Vasca da Gama for bragging rights. It’s clear from the beginning that Dhani as large loses to “small and quick.” He summarize that it’s like running wind sprints for 90 minutes. The first half ended in a scoreless tie. Dhani was shifted to goalie. It was 1 to 1 when Dhani’s team earned a penalty kick  Dhani was asked to take it and he scored to win for his side.


DTTG2, ep. 9 Mexico – Lucha Libre

Lucha Libre, free fighting, is the “sport” of the usually masked Mexican professional wrestlers who delight crowds of enthusiastic supporters with their strategy and tactics. Dhani went to Mexico City to perform lucha libre. My first exposure to lucha libre was on the Travel Channel Samantha Brown Mexico City episode (which coincidentally reprised today) in which Corleone, a handsome 300 pound American giant lucha libre who fights without a mask so everyone can appreciate his looks, took Samantha (who appears to be about 125 pounds) to a restaurant named “the Ring” in Spanish for a Gladiator sandwich composed of 14 eggs, 3 pounds of beef, bacon, ham and chicken, plus a huge bread covering and topped with 3 sliced hot dogs. In one of the most hilarious skits I have ever seen on film, Samantha supposedly outeats Corleone by a wide margin, then has the audacity to ask “what’s for dessert?” She really knows how to hurt a guy.

Dhani opens this episode with brief footage of him as a matador in “the ring” followed by him as a lucha libre in that version of “the ring.” He stated “it’s not about how I play the game; it’s about whether I win or lose.” Of course that is rubbish. Professional wrestling is scripted entertainment and no NCAA title or Olympic berth is being contested. So it really is all about “how you play the game” and the ways in which the outlandish personas of the lucha libre wrestlers can be expressed to delight their fans. It depends on communicating roles of heroes versus villains and good versus evil. It is ridiculous, thrilling and unexpected, all at once. Fans scream, cheer, curse and laugh. Naucalpan Arena, where Dhani was viewing lucha libre, seats 2000 and stages fights every Sunday night. Much of the action takes place outside the confines of the ring. There do not appear to be many rules to restrict what the wrestlers can do to their opponents. Dhani was introduced to the crowd with the statement that he will be back one week later to compete. The woman who was teaching him about lucha libre was assaulted by a wrestler in a staged action, so Dhani takes on the hero role in defending her honor against Mascara, the embodiment of evil. There is a press conference to publicize their upcoming match. It will be a grudge match.

Dhani indicated that Mexico City is an urban area of 22 million people. Na   cho, who makes fine silver lucha libre jewelry, became his tour guide and translator for a week. Dhani stated that he came to Mexico City to learn about the culture. His definition of culture includes drinking the “Lucha Libre” brand of mezcal, a distilled alcoholic drink made from the maguey plant with the worm in the bottom of the bottle. Dhani calls it a “pretty strong cricket” and only eats it to show that he is macho.

Dhani needed a coach and Black Terry was the ticket. He had won 500 of 700 bouts in a decades-long career. It takes 3 to 4 years to learn how to become a really good wrestler. Dhani must learn the basic of tumbling, jumping and falling down without injury in one week! As Nacho says, “It’s for your own safety.” He later added bouncing off the ropes and barrel rolling, some nasty holds and flying dropkicks to his training routine.

Dhani visited Teotihuacan, 2 huge steep pyramids known as the temple of the Sun and Temple of the Moon 25 miles northeast of Mexico City. Climbing its 245 steps of the temple of the Sun provided a good cardiovascular workout.

Dhani also visited the Plaza del Toros, the bull ring that is the world’s largest. It is ritual animal sacrifice. This started with the picadors and banderilleros preceding the matador with his cape and intricate footwork and moves. The matadors demonstrate their bravery by bringing the red cape in closer to their body, thus minimizing the clearance the bull has as it goes by and increasing the risks for the matador. A tiny bull is brought out so that Dhani can pretend to be a matador. Using the muleta (red cape) with only one hand is a moxie move which Dhani demonstrated.

Food in Mexico City is very special.  Dhani is introduced to the delicacy of bull balls. It is not very tasty, but he eats it in hope that it will make him “strong like a bull.”

Dhani went to the Sonora Market to get the requisite mask. Every mask is different. Dhani tries on several really weird ones before settling on a gold with red trim mask and a gold cape. Dhani is looking for an edge, so he visited a tarot card reader to learn his fortune. She told a story that is quite plausible. He also visited a witch doctor and went to hear the Plaza Garibaldi Mariachi.

As always, Dhani’s actual athletic competitions are somewhat anticlimactic. He is still a novice at most of the national sports in which he competes, so he cannot expect to appear as a superstar. Dhani took off his mask to show off his pretty face. He is an NFL linebacker, so the violence of basic wrestling moves in competition is not foreign to him. Dhani and Mascara do the requisite time outside of the ring to please and incite the crowd. He did a flying leap to knock his opponent to the mat, then got the pin but was disqualified. Those are the breaks!

apskip:
DTTG2, ep. 9 Mexico – Lucha Libre

Lucha Libre, free fighting, is the “sport” of the usually masked Mexican professional wrestlers who delight crowds of enthusiastic supporters with their strategy and tactics. Dhani went to Mexico City to perform lucha libre. My first exposure to lucha libre was on the Travel Channel Samantha Brown Mexico City episode (which coincidentally reprised today) in which Corleone, a handsome 300 pound American giant lucha libre who fights without a mask so everyone can appreciate his looks, took Samantha (who appears to be about 125 pounds) to a restaurant named “the Ring” in Spanish for a Gladiator sandwich composed of 14 eggs, 3 pounds of beef, bacon, ham and chicken, plus a huge bread covering and topped with 3 sliced hot dogs. In one of the most hilarious skits I have ever seen on film, Samantha supposedly outeats Corleone by a wide margin, then has the audacity to ask “what’s for dessert?” She really knows how to hurt a guy.

Dhani opens this episode with brief footage of him as a matador in “the ring” followed by him as a lucha libre in that version of “the ring.” He stated “it’s not about how I play the game; it’s about whether I win or lose.” Of course that is rubbish. Professional wrestling is scripted entertainment and no NCAA title or Olympic berth is being contested. So it really is all about “how you play the game” and the ways in which the outlandish personas of the lucha libre wrestlers can be expressed to delight their fans. It depends on communicating roles of heroes versus villains and good versus evil. It is ridiculous, thrilling and unexpected, all at once. Fans scream, cheer, curse and laugh. Naucalpan Arena, where Dhani was viewing lucha libre, seats 2000 and stages fights every Sunday night. Much of the action takes place outside the confines of the ring. There do not appear to be many rules to restrict what the wrestlers can do to their opponents. Dhani was introduced to the crowd with the statement that he will be back one week later to compete. The woman who was teaching him about lucha libre was assaulted by a wrestler in a staged action, so Dhani takes on the hero role in defending her honor against Mascara, the embodiment of evil. There is a press conference to publicize their upcoming match. It will be a grudge match.

Dhani indicated that Mexico City is an urban area of 22 million people. Nacho, who makes fine silver lucha libre jewelry, became his tour guide and translator for a week. Dhani stated that he came to Mexico City to learn about the culture. His definition of culture includes drinking the “Lucha Libre” brand of mezcal, a distilled alcoholic drink made from the maguey plant with the worm in the bottom of the bottle. Dhani calls it a “pretty strong cricket” and only eats it to show that he is macho.

Dhani needed a coach and Black Terry was the ticket. He had won 500 of 700 bouts in a decades-long career. It takes 3 to 4 years to learn how to become a really good wrestler. Dhani must learn the basic of tumbling, jumping and falling down without injury in one week! As Nacho says, “It’s for your own safety.” He later added bouncing off the ropes and barrel rolling, some nasty holds and flying dropkicks to his training routine.

Dhani visited Teotihuacan, 2 huge steep pyramids known as the temple of the Sun and Temple of the Moon 25 miles northeast of Mexico City. Climbing its 245 steps of the temple of the Sun provided a good cardiovascular workout.

Dhani also visited the Plaza del Toros, the bull ring that is the world’s largest. It is ritual animal sacrifice. This started with the picadors and banderilleros preceding the matador with his cape and intricate footwork and moves. The matadors demonstrate their bravery by bringing the red cape in closer to their body, thus minimizing the clearance the bull has as it goes by and increasing the risks for the matador. A tiny bull is brought out so that Dhani can pretend to be a matador. Using the muleta (red cape) with only one hand is a moxie move which Dhani demonstrated.

Food in Mexico City is very special.  Dhani is introduced to the delicacy of bull balls. It is not very tasty, but he eats it in hope that it will make him “strong like a bull.”

Dhani went to the Sonora Market to get the requisite mask. Every mask is different. Dhani tries on several really weird ones before settling on a gold with red trim mask and a gold cape. Dhani is looking for an edge, so he visited a tarot card reader to learn his fortune. She told a story that is quite plausible. He also visited a witch doctor and went to hear the Plaza Garibaldi Mariachi.

As always, Dhani’s actual athletic competitions are somewhat anticlimactic. He is still a novice at most of the national sports in which he competes, so he cannot expect to appear as a superstar. Dhani took off his mask to show off his pretty face. He is an NFL linebacker, so the violence of basic wrestling moves in competition is not foreign to him. Dhani and Mascara do the requisite time outside of the ring to please and incite the crowd. He did a flying leap to knock his opponent to the mat, then got the pin but was disqualified. Those are the breaks!

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page