Entries Tagged 'sport' ↓

No doubt about it, I can’t see anything topping the Sonny Bill Williams story this year.

Olympics  . . . nah
Deans V Henry . . . nah
Drysdale v Waddell . . . nah (a great story tho)

No, I confidently pick that come the end of the year, this will be THE biggest story of 2008

Well, thanks to my other webmaster over at screengraffiti.com, I now have a favicon.

Brilliant.

Well the Indian Premier League (IPL) started over the weekend, and aside from seeing Brendan McCullum carving up big time, the highlight was discovering the names of the teams.

One in particular stood out - The Super Kings which I reckon is the best team name ever. They are not just Kings, they are Super Kings. And Super Kings are clearly better than plain old Kings.

There are a few other great team names in the IPL

• The Kings 11 (totally un super)
• The Royal Challengers (my 2nd favourite)
• The Delhi Daredevils
• The Deccan Chargers
• The Knight Riders (Does David Hasslehoff own this team?)
• The Mumbai Indians
• The Rajasthan Royals

Compare these names to the teams in the new Trans Tasman netball comp, and the netballers seem rather boring.

• The Firebirds
• The Swifts
• The Thunderbirds
• The Vixens
• The Mystics
• The Magic
• The Pulse
• The Tactix
• The Steel

I’m not yet convinced the IPL tournament has a long term future, but they are off to good start based on their team names.

From the ‘how to divert attention from that Tibet thing’ file comes news that New Zealand athetes will be wearing Crocs at the Bejing Olympics as part of their official uniform.

It’s weird and f**ked up. Just about everyone I know hates Crocs, yet there are actually people out there who are buying them. What gives?

I even saw a dude wearing socks and crocs a while back. At the same time!

It’s safe to say we will be the laughing stock of the atheletes village at the Olympic games. Can you imagine how it will look if a kiwi is collecting a medal and wearing Crocs???

Please god, let us wake from this nightmare.

There’s something inherently beautiful about a rookie before he’s taken the field at the top level for the first time. It’s a purity borne of hopes for the future and excitement about the present. These are players who still hold their senior teammates in awe, much like a fan might.

I first encountered this phenomenon during a Warriors open day in the build up to the 2005 season. My wife and I spotted a relatively unknown junior player who we caught completely off guard by requesting his autograph. This stunned teenager, Simon Mannering, has since become a regular fixture of both Warriors and Kiwis teams. For some inexplicable reason, something deep within me insists ours was his first autograph opportunity.

I saw a similar innocence in another rookie during the first round of 2008, when the Warriors played away to the Storm. The club had put on an away match function – a chance to mingle with non-playing team members and then watch the game at a movie theatre – and I found myself talking with Herman Retzlaff, our most recent signing. He asked me my name, and we conversed briefly before going our separate ways.

The half time break saw a stampede of bodies as people rushed to take personal pit stops before the second stanza. As I waited outside the toilets for my wife to accommodate nature’s requests, Herman came by, headed for the men’s.

“Dave!” he called to me. “What did you think of the first half?”

“Nail biting stuff, mate,” I grinned back, surprised that he’d even remembered my name.

“How do you think we’re going to go in the second half?” he asked as he passed by.

“It’s only going to get better,” I replied, revealing in a single sentence just how poor a tipster I am.

It was such a simple and brief exchange, and yet it provided powerful evidence of a positive club culture, something which hasn’t gone unnoticed by recent signing Brent Tate.

After spending seven seasons in first grade with the Brisbane Broncos, (regularly perceived as the benchmark club for off field professionalism), the representative centre recently referred to his new club as “a really professional outfit from the front office right down to the coaching staff”.

And when a player of Tate’s experience says something like that, it pays to listen.

This is a far cry from what the culture used to be like – big personalities getting in the way of the on field excitement, and players of the ilk of Nigel Vagana and Stacey Jones becoming uncertain as to whether or not they would actually get paid as the club spiralled towards bankruptcy.

Fortunately, those days are long gone.

The Warriors are now a club that is respected by fans and players alike. The mere fact that former players Jerry Seuseu and Stacey Jones – both of whom were involved in “that try” in the 2002 grand final – along with foundation captain Dean Bell have returned to work with the club after hanging up their boots, is further testament to the administerial turnaround. In fact, Bell was approached by the previous management but declined because he “didn’t get a good feeling about it”.

Another positive sign is the amount of fan involvement that is not only welcomed but actually sought after by the club. Fan forums have been held, as have away functions allowing for fans to meet players, win prizes, and watch away games live on the big screen. An open and approachable CEO has replaced his somewhat standoffish predecessor. And an away fan season membership is in the works for Australian-based fans of the Auckland club.

This turnaround from management has afforded a similar about turn from the spectators.

When new crowd favourite Wade McKinnon was ruled out for the entire 2008 season through injury following an anterior cruciate ligament tear which required a knee reconstruction, fans on an internet forum organised a large get well card, filled with messages of encouragement, to be delivered directly to the player.

This simple act of kindness – appreciated by McKinnon, who, through a club staff member, thanked those responsible – wouldn’t have been possible in years gone by. Most fans wouldn’t have even tried for fear of being turned away by an impersonal organisation.

If anything, this proves that the gradual process of regaining faith and earning trust from sponsors and fans has finally begun to pay dividends.

And long may it continue.

Herman Retzlaff (L) and David Taylor.

OK, so I read that in Australia the AFL has produced a DVD for their players to ‘improve athletes’ respect for, and attitudes towards, women

There are some multi choice questions for the player to answer. For example

a mate’s girlfriend calls a player into her room under the mistaken impression he is her boyfriend.
“Do you:
(a) Go and hop into bed and pretend to be him; or
(b) Walk away,”

Now that’s a good question to ask a player, but what about the women? She needs to show some responsibility for mistaking another player for her boyfriend, because that is a dumb thing to do.

Another question asks

Imagine being a leading footballer and finding yourself in a nightclub one evening with a girl who is intoxicated.
Should you fetch her a glass of water?
Call her a taxi?
Or take her back to your place and have sex with her?

Hang on, what about the girl??? Why is she not looking after herself better - where are her mates? What level of responsibility is she taking in this situation? Sounds like dumb behaviour to me.

I think this DVD is good idea, as there are regular instances of football players disrespecting women.

However, what about the dumb women that engage with football players in bars and functions and end up getting in trouble? This despite the fact that history shows football players have a propensity to disrespect women.

Who is making them a DVD?

2007 could have been the greatest year in our history as we may have ended it holding world championships in Rugby, Cricket (one day and twenty20) Netball and of course the America’s cup. Suffice to say we got none of those. Anyways, this is how I saw the best and worst of the 2007 sporting year.

Best Cricket Match
It was the Hamilton run chase by the Black Caps against the Aussies for the Chappell Haddlee series. Chasing a mammoth 347 to win, we were gone at 41/4. Enter Peter Fulton and Craig McMillan who carved up the Aussies and got us back in the game.

The innings from Mark Gillespe was surreal as he somehow managed 3 valuable boundaries. McCullum finished the game in style and we had the silverware. A true spine tingler.

Best Rugby League Match
Warriors v Roosters (a 31 all draw). The Warriors were down about 14 (maybe 16) nil, and were playing poorly. But in the space of 15 minutes they tore the Roosters to shreds thanks to Epalahame Lauaki. He started with a two handed off-load in the tackle to Wade McKinnon who sprinted away for the try. Two minutes later Hame threw a long ball which Jerome Ropati picked up on the bounce and (after a few passes) scored under the bar. Five minutes later Hame scored himself. Both coaches had to change their half time speeches such was the turn around.

The Roosters were great as well and when the teams scored two tries each in the second half, a draw was an accurate reflection on the days proceedings. Gary Freeman’s commentary during the game was a highlight for me as well.

Best Rugby Match
Damm, I can’t think of one to be honest. I know there were a few good ones during the rugby world cup, but I never saw them. So lets say it was the France V All Blacks match. Once again the French showed how passion and toughness can win you big games.

The ‘I told you so’ award
That would be me for my ‘why the All Blacks will lose the world cup‘ and my post about the All Blacks fitness. I told you so.

Team of the year
I can’t split two rugby teams. Argentina for their best ever world cup and the English for making the final of the world cup and proving in the process that boring rugby is winning rugby. They also get a pat on the back for peaking at the right time.

Best Houdini Act
Those disappearing All Blacks car flags - soon to be clogging up inorganic collections all over New Zealand

The ‘lets milk the brand for every last dollar’ award
The All Blacks album - soon to be clogging up bargain bins all over New Zealand.

Biggest Choker
Another tie here. First is the New Zealand Rugby League who managed to get rid of Brian Mclennan, the best Kiwi’s coach this generation has seen. They did this by not overturning their ‘Kiwis coach must live in New Zealand’ rule when Bluey took up a job at Leeds. Quite how they came to this decision is beyond me. The results speak for themselves - new coach Gary Kemble is out of his depth at international level. We suffered a record defeat against the Aussies and got beaten by the Poms 3-nil.

The other winner is the New Zealand rugby media, who clearly know very little about sport, especially Chris Rattue who wrote this aweful preview of the France - All Blacks quarter final match.

Best Losers
The Silver Ferns. Not good enough to win the championship but at the end of the game, they came across as gracious in defeat and proud of their own performance.

Highlight of 2007
Winning the Chappell Hadlee 3-nil - an achievement that cannot be underestimated. This was almost as good as winning the cricket world cup.

Low light 2007
The All Blacks at the world cup. Nuff said. Oh and this guy.

So there you have it. I know I’ve missed heaps of teams and players and events, but these are the ones that stuck out for me. Leave a comment if you think I’ve missed something.

So it seems that the Haka, the pre match ritual/challenge/dance performed primarily by the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team is spreading through the United States.

Check out this video of the Brigham Young University Cougers performing the haka before one of their games. It’s kinda surreal seeing Americans performing the haka. No doubt they are breaking many cultural rules, but I don’t really care. Good luck to them.

The Cougers Haka

A lesson in the Haka for American Football teams

I’ve heard of being loyal to your team, but this is down right perverse!

Austrian football/soccer ‘fans’ have set up a website and online petition to have Austria withdrawn from next years Euro 2008 football tournament because, according to one of the founders, Michael Kries “the way Austria is playing is an insult to our, to every fan’s aesthetic understanding of the game.”

They are doing this even though Austria are co-hostng the tournament.

You can get a t shirt to show your (lack of?) support.

OK, so either these guys are deadly serious (4000 people have signed the petition) or this is link bait designed to sell crappy t shirts.

Let me know if you are gonna sign!

OK, I’ve had a few emails from people saying that this site does not work on some browsers and is slow to download etc, so thanks to my webmaster at two seven it’s all fixed now. Cheers Dan.