"Cricket makes no sense to me. I find it beautiful to watch and I like that they break for tea. That is very cool, but I don't understand. My friends from The Clash tried to explain it years and years ago, but I didn't understand what they were talking about"
About this Quote
The throwaway detail about The Clash is doing real work. It's not just name-dropping; it's a small cultural map of late-70s/80s cosmopolitanism, where punk icons could double as amateur anthropologists, trying to decode an inherited British pastime for an American art-world friend. The humor is in the mismatch: the most urgent, anti-establishment band of its era earnestly explaining a sport associated with empire, etiquette, and slow time. Jarmusch's refusal to "get it" reads like a gentle resistance to that inheritance - not hostile, just uninterested in joining the club.
Subtextually, he's arguing for a kind of appreciative illiteracy: the right to be moved without being credentialed. In an age that treats fandom as mastery and mastery as status, his stance is quietly radical: let the mystery stay mysterious, and keep the tea.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sports |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Jarmusch, Jim. (2026, January 17). Cricket makes no sense to me. I find it beautiful to watch and I like that they break for tea. That is very cool, but I don't understand. My friends from The Clash tried to explain it years and years ago, but I didn't understand what they were talking about. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/cricket-makes-no-sense-to-me-i-find-it-beautiful-50225/
Chicago Style
Jarmusch, Jim. "Cricket makes no sense to me. I find it beautiful to watch and I like that they break for tea. That is very cool, but I don't understand. My friends from The Clash tried to explain it years and years ago, but I didn't understand what they were talking about." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/cricket-makes-no-sense-to-me-i-find-it-beautiful-50225/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Cricket makes no sense to me. I find it beautiful to watch and I like that they break for tea. That is very cool, but I don't understand. My friends from The Clash tried to explain it years and years ago, but I didn't understand what they were talking about." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/cricket-makes-no-sense-to-me-i-find-it-beautiful-50225/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.



