Today I was chastised by John PD who sprung a trap on me:

'Fill in the blank. Two teams come together to play in a baseball -- what?'

So of course, I walk right into it and say, 'er, match?', instantly exposing all my British English roots. How did someone who'd lived for almost 8 years in the US of A (including a stint in the city of the Red Sox) make that mistake, you may well ask.

But it is also true that, even had he not set the question up in that way (for I was bound to say 'match' instinctively if I thought of two teams pit against each other), apart from baseball and possibly golf there is almost no context in which I would use the word 'game' instead of 'match' in speaking of a sport, even if said sport were basketball or American football.

My knowledge of American sports is abysmal anyway. I was once asked if I could name any American baseball teams, to which my answer:

"Red Sox White Sox Yankees and um I think there is one called the Brooklyn Dodgers."

The only thing I can say in my defence about the Dodgers is that everything I know about baseball I learnt from reading Herman Wouk's City Boy -- in which his team was the Brooklyn Dodgers, and that how on earth was I to know your blasted sports teams moved about? I am informed reliably that this Westward migration of sports teams is why the absence of lakes in LA brings no derision to the famed basketball team, the Lakers being originally from Minnesota.Which is exactly how I will henceforth explain to American visitors why Katong Laksa or Hill Street Char Kway Teow are not where one supposes they are.

AND THEN. I also learnt that Will Shortz (WILL SHORTZ!) whom I'd hitherto only thought of as being Julian Lim's editor, was so good at pingpong that in the 60s he was actually a ranked player. Thus the evening was not all wasted.