Can anybody truly say they thrive as the target of social and physical hostility? In any of lifes myriad endeavours, competitive or otherwise, success is usually achieved in spite of hostility, not because of it.So the logic goes in much of Australian cricket. While the battle is officially between bat and ball, there is an unofficial social dimension to combat too. And while we only whispered it softly last week, our time-honoured tradition of creating cold, hostile atmospheres for batsmen is otherwise a matter of chest-thumping pride. A welcome batsman is a sleeping batsman, because that scenario is the stuff of dreams.In a week where public introspection threatened but never quite manifested, it wasnt just at home that our cricketing philosophy was under the microscope. Earlier in the week, Kepler Wessels, the former South Africa captain who also played for Australia, derided the embarrassing and totally ineffective sledging of the Australian players as they eventually slumped to a 5-0 whitewash against South Africa.Speaking on the same issue 24 hours later, in-vogue Australian batting coach Trent Woodhill said, We need to get away from this mentality of weve all played the game, youve got to be tougher, youve got to be harder, youve got be noisier, youve got to be louder, because its basically bullshit.In an increasingly saturated game, where contests feel automated and matches blend into one another, Woodhills point, sacrilegious as it is, has the ring of truth. But can Australians divorce themselves from their deep-seated cultural attachment to noise and hardness?Perhaps more important is whether wed even be willing to. Hostility is celebrated in our cricketing culture, and those who can demonstrate it best are revered for it, in the main. The views of Wessels and Woodhill swim against an Australian tide that protects the divine right to intimidate like fanatical Americans do their guns. Its who we are, weve always been this way, and were proud of it. Despite Woodhills argument that its not even advantageous to winning, one feels that any attempt to change those attitudes would be regarded as soft, and as a result, unthinkable.If we were willing to engage in some introspection, our view of bouncers may be a good place to start. Lets be honest about them: beyond the odd occasion where they are legitimately deployed as a defensive tactic against rampant batsmen, bouncers in cricket are like fights in footy. For most, there is a visceral pleasure in watching seasoned athletes put every part of their bodies at risk for sporting success. Or when it comes to fights, some kind of masculine honour. We know its wrong but it feels so right.Australians watched Mitchell Johnson against England in 2013 with an almost primal satisfaction. The blood-curdling fear of the English batsmen released a spiritual type of pleasure, because this was as Aussie as Aussie could get. But its worth asking: are there any other ball sports that legally permit opposition engagement with the head? Even in that sport notorious for attacking the head, rugby league, the laws at least attempt to prevent it.To ask questions of our relationship to hostile cricket isnt to call for radical change, if any. But our automatic dismissal of the mere possibility that there might be something to learn from this weeks conversations, both home and abroad, says more about us than the event itself.The cricket world watched as the NSW Coroners Court held an inquest into Phillip Hughes death. Concerned about unfair blame and the creation of witch hunts, the Australian public rallied behind the players involved, understandably so. While the court pondered the events of the day, the court of public opinion reached its decision quickly and emphatically: This was a freak accident. No one is to blame. Sledging and intimidation are part of the game. Only harm can come from this, we chorused.While there may be something darkly instructive about the certitude of our response, it is - more than anything - a raw expression of sympathy for the players involved. But there were some uncomfortable truths at play too, and the almost knee-jerk refusal to engage in collective reflection about what happened on the field that day is revealing.Because if ever there was an event significant enough to warrant simple introspection about the way we play cricket in Australia, then surely this was it.Of course, nobody wanted what happened at the SCG to happen, and blame is not the point; thats undisputed. But there is a sense that we have missed an opportunity to think with some depth about the impact of Hughes death on our cricketing philosophy.Because while the inquest was importantly about a young mans life and the moments before and after the incident, the examination may have initiated important contemplation about the game more broadly. The main questions may have become: How important is hostile cricket to us? How proud of our intimidatory approach should we really be?If, like most, your conclusion is very, then thats fine. 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Greg Biffle will drive in a throwback paint scheme Sept. 4 at Darlington, South Carolina, that will bring back memories of a former NASCAR champion.Biffle, of Roush Fenway Racing, will have a one-race sponsorship from Hooters for the annual race that celebrates NASCARs past. Hooters was the sponsor of 1992 Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki, who died the following year in a plane crash.Biffle never met Kulwicki but knows his connection to NASCAR fans as a driver who owned his own car and did it his way.Its an iconic part of NASCAR, Biffle said Tuesday. I look forward to getting this thing on the race track.Hooters will use the sponsorship to promote its lobbying efforts for a national first responders day. Andrew Collier, a machinist at Hendrick Motorsports, is working with the company as part of the effort to establish either a national holiday or a significant day of recognition.Colliers brother, Massachusetts Institute of Technnology police officer Sean Collier, was shot and killed by one of the two Boston Marathon bombers in 2013.ddddddddddddHe always wanted to be a police officer since we were little kids -- running around the house making siren noises, chasing us because we did something wrong, Andrew Collier said of his brother. He always had a very strong sense of right and wrong. He was very community-driven in his policing.He knew the students at MIT. He talked to everyone. He was friends with a lot of them. He was there to really help. That is what he really wanted to do -- make a difference in these peoples lives.Biffle said that if he wins, he will do the victory lap the way Kulwicki was known for -- by driving the opposite way around the track.You know I will -- absolutely, 100 percent, Biffle said. Count on that. ' ' '