Superstition in Sport

After reading Aussie Golfer's superstition in golf, it got me thinking about some of the other superstitions in sport & whether some are routine or actual superstition?

Superstition or Routine?

Steve Waugh (cricket) always batted with the same red hanky in his pocket
Tiger Woods (Golf) always wears red on sundays (probably not at home) although apparently red is a lucky colour in Thailand which is where his mother is from
Michael Jordan (basketball) alway wore his old blue college uniform underneath his Chicago Bulls uniform
Turk Wendell (baseball) a former baseball pitcher used to chew liquorice while he pitched, but in between innings he would brush his teeth
The curse of the bambino, (baseball) happened when the Boston Red Socks traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees back before the 1920's and as it happened didn't win a World Series for another 86 years
The All Blacks (Rugby) perform the Haka before every game?
Valentino Rossi (Motorsport) goes through the same adjustment of his leathers before each race finishing with a pick at his bum, maybe just for comfort!!
Rafael Nadal (tennis)has his bum picking thing, Lleyton Hewith adjust nearly every item of clothing he wears and Novak Djokovic has to bounce the ball a certain number of times, something to the tune of 14 times before each serve!
Brett Kenny (Rugby league) always walked out last onto the ground, never ran!

In cricket there are several numbers refered to as the Nelson 111, 222 and so on, when team believed wicket was more likely to fall, in Australia the number is 87 the devils number 13 short of 100!

I would hate to think of some of the superstition that must exist in some of the Asian countries sporting teams, as the Asian culture does have all sorts of lucky number combinations and the like!

Superstitions, yes but it won't change the outcome, practice/routine will achieve more, whilst a golfer who believes he sank his putt god willing (Aaron Baddeley) is all well and good, but what does he think when he misses a putt?!

There are countless stories about people not shaving during a winning streak or not washing their playing socks or wearing the same undies, or putting the left pad on first and one that I remember from my cricket days and did all the time was not to play with a new piece of equipment unless you had tried it at training!

If you know any good ones feel free to let me know

Not paid for their grey matter!

Some forgettable quotes from some well paid soccor players, what's really scary is that these people multiply & the last time I checked not one of these guys married anyone with an IQ higher then their shoe size! How dumb these guys are is evident, just imagine what you get when you cross it with a page three model or stick thin has been pop star!!!


My parents have always been there for me, ever since I was about 7. "David Beckham"
I would not be bothered if we lost every game as long as we won the league."Mark Viduka"
Alex Ferguson is the best manager I've ever had at this level. Well, he's the only manager I've actually had at this level. But he's the best manager I've ever had."David Beckham"
If you don't believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed at the end of the day."Neville Southall"I've had 14 bookings this season - 8 of which were my fault, but 7 of which were disputable." (Let me think, does 8 + 7 = 14) Paul Gascoigne"
I've never wanted to leave. I'm here for the rest of my life, and hopefully after that as well."Alan Shearer"
I'd like to play for an Italian club, like Barcelona "Mark Draper"You've got to believe that you're going to win, and I believe we'll win the World Cup until the final whistle blows and we're knocked out."Peter Shilton"
I faxed a transfer request to the club at the beginning of the week, but let me state that I don't want to leave Leicester "Stan Collymore"
I was watching the Blackburn game on TV on Sunday when it flashed on the screen that George (Ndah) had scored in the first minute at Birmingham . My first reaction was to ring him up. Then I remembered he was out there playing."Ade Akinbiyi"
Without being too harsh on David Beckham, he cost us the match."Ian Wright"
I'm as happy as I can be - but I have been happier."Ugo Ehiogu" Leeds is a great club and it's been my home for years, even though I live in Middlesborough."Jonathan Woodgate"
I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel."Stuart Pearce"
I took a whack on my left ankle, but something told me it was my right."Lee Hendrie"
I couldn't settle in Italy - it was like living in a foreign country."Ian Rush"
Germany are a very difficult team to play...they had 11 internationals out there today."Steve Lomas"
I always used to put my right boot on first, and then obviously my right sock."Barry Venison"
I definitely want Brooklyn to be christened, but I don't know into what religion yet."David Beckham"
The Brazilians were South American, and the Ukrainians will be more European."Phil Neville"
All that remains is for a few dots and commas to be crossed."Mitchell Thomas"
One accusation you can't throw at me is that I've always done my best."Alan Shearer"
I'd rather play in front of a full house than an empty crowd."Johnny Giles"
Sometimes in football you have to score goals."Thierry Henry

Racing NSW

It looks like Racing NSW, has in all their stupidity decided to set in stone changes to the Sydney racing calendar, big deal you may say, but what it could mean if it goes through, is that the traditional Randwick Easter Carnival, will be no longer!

Sportsmouth is a regular carnival goer and the Easter or Autumn carnival is always a fantastic racing event and has been an institution at Randwick for many years, the AJC must be pulling their collective hair out, they've submitted a master plan for extensive upgrades to the facilities at Randwick, whilst also being as co-operative as possible with all that Pope's big day out stuff where they had to hand the track over to the World Youth Day/Week people for 10 weeks!! And what do they get, another great idea from Racing NSW.

Great work Racing NSW......morons!

Summer of Cricket

Well its here, after a difficult tour of India, where the Aussies were outplayed just about every over of the tour, the home tests have begun.

The Entree: New Zealand Black Caps
The Brisbane test gave us absolutely nothing, except twenty wickets a day! What it really showed was Cricket Aust. lack of respect for their opponents and their own fans, by resting all the test team on arrival back from India, then expecting them to perform like champions on a wicket stickier then a 3 yr olds hands after a visit to the lolly shop! Lots of wickets a few runs and a man of the match who took nine for on a bowlers wicket, when it should have gone to a guy who carried his bat and scored a very good hundred, stupidity continues! Aust 1 up.

2nd Test in Adelaide which traditionally produces a run fest, its easier to get your brother out bowling a tennis ball on concrete! A run fest for Aust. but the Black Caps showed why they will now be ranked 8th above only Bangladesh!!! Aust 2-0

Main Course: S.Africa
Should be a great series, as the ever humble South Africans have already made enough stupid, head up their own arses comments to fill a book! But really they come with a pretty handy team, some fire in the fast bowling ranks and a couple of batsmen capable of scoring big runs (rarely against Aust though)it's one v two in the rankings, I guess we can't ask for anything more then that this summer, see you at the SCG.

ICC rankings

http://http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/current/page/211271.html

Think they've summed it up!!!!

Michael Phelps

Seems like some in an around the Olympic Games are having some trouble identifying the real Michael Phelps!

Olympics II

This does really do it for me, the Chinese showing their true colours (red), it's this sort of stuff that takes away from the Olympics!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/rowing/7485023.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7507461.stm

The old Project 119, now that is what embodies the Olympic spirit!!

Olympics

It was recently brought to my attention by one of Sportsmouth' avid readers, that they had been eagerly awaiting comments on the Olympic Games!

Ask and you shall receive, probably not what you were anticipating though!!

The main reason why Sportsmouth has been quite on the Olympic front is this, most of the sports are a total waste of time and shouldn't even be there, here is a list of sports that should be excluded from the Games!

Badminton - do I really need to give a reason
Baseball - as above, its certainly not what every young baseballer dreams of doing
Basketball - Olympic gold or NBA riches, not a hard decision
BMX - what the f#@k is this doing in the games
Beach Volleyball - great to watch, but Olympics me thinks not
Handball - they'd be better off with the school yard version
Hockey - nope, sorry
Judo - not karate not wrestling, not worthy of Olympic Games
Mountain Biking - BMX for big kiddies - see BMX
Rhythmic Gymnastics - balls, ribbons, hoops, its dancing with stuff
Sailing - Americas Cup anyone, no a 5 foot esky lid sounds better
Soccer - 90,000 quid a week or Olympic gold
Softball - baseball for chicks, you play this for school sport so all the not so sport oriented get to play as well
Synchronised Diving - diving + 1 doesn't make it any better
Synchronsied Swimming - I'm sure I don't need to go any further
Table Tennis - you play this under the house with your mates
Taekwondo - see Judo
Tennis - Wimbeldon fame and glory or the gold medal....
Trampoline - I'm not kidding
Walking - yeah it's part of atheletics but really, how fast can you walk or how slow can you run?!

We could go further, by breaking down some of the swimming events, do they really need to go forwards and backwards over so many distances, the modern pentathlon is also up for debate, if they actually made that event one big race for instance, competitor grabs sword (fencing) has to beat opponent, then runs (run leg) to the lake and swims across (swim leg) jumps on his horse (horse part)and gets to shoot something with his pistol (pistol part) in the shortest time possible then we've got something!!

Tell us what you really think coach!

Sometimes a coach just needs to vent & these guys let fly, enjoy!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/extramustard/07/28/like.itis/index.html

Cadel Evans

I know its been a while since the Tour De France, but I wanted to comment quickly on a headline by a British newspaper.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/cycling/article4412510.ece

Now it sounds like the typical whingeing pom routine to me, but there's no need to go into that, the biggest difference and what I guess alot of people and the times included don't realise is that although an individual is awarded the overall honour of winning the Tour, it really is a team event and it shows in the fact that it's custom for the individual winner splits his winnings evenly amongts his teammates!

Now if anyone from the Times chose to listen to some of the fantastic commentary, they would've realised that it wasn't until the final few stages that Carlos Sastre (eventual winner) came to the front of his team, for the preceeding 20 odd days he was allowed by his team to sit at the back of there group and do very little work, thus allowing him to conserve energy to attack at the appropriate time and to also be as fresh as possible to take on the time trial.

Unfortunatley Evans did not have this luxury and was many times left to defend himself in the mountains with no teammates to help, this I'm sure left him both physically and mentally drained for the time trial!

SBW

Pretty clear what is going on here, but as with most others the biggest issue comes from the fact that Sonny Bill Williams walked out on a contract!

Most organisations sporting or otherwise do not want employees contracted to their organisation if they don't really want to be there, as it would obviously affect perfomances. Maybe SBW just had to ask to leave, remember that old saying "all you can do is ask, and all they can do is say no"!

As stated Sportsmouth doesn't really have any problem except that he walked on the contract when it could've, should've been dealt with in a more professional manner. Now Sportsmouth does find it interesting that some of the most outspoken critics of SBW's movements are former players, who during the Super League war back in the 1990's did very similar things when deciding whether to sign with the rebel super league or stay with the ARL and lets just remind some of them that at that time they were contracted to their clubs who were licensed by the ARL and they broke ranks to sign massive contracts with the rebel league.

Some of these contracts with the bigger names in Rugby League were said to be around $800k per season(1996 money, work out how much that is today), now that's only about what SBW signed for today to play rugby in France!

NRL has problems

That could be the understatement of the year, the NRL has some big issues which it must deal with as soon as it can or the way forward is murky at best.

The biggest issue is the structure, from my limited knowledge the NRL is 50% Aust Rugby League (ARL) and 50% News Limited. This was brokered at the end of the super league war which at the time kept the piece and all stakeholders happy.

Times have changed and this structure no longer works, if you break down the structure it looks like this, with all the following parties having a say in what goes on. There is the NRL they just run the competition, ARL governing body (yeah right), News Limited, New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL), Queensland Rugby League (QRL), Country Rugby League (CRL-NSW), Queensland Country Rugby League (QCRL) all these parties have a say in the running of the game and they are run by people who are more interested in bettering their position in the heirachy then the betterment of the game.

News Limited have stakes in or own several clubs including the reiging premiers the Melb Storm, now they also have a part ownership in Fox Sports one of the major broadcasters, if that is not a conflict of interest then I don't know what is. Think about this, as a stake holder in the NRL they should be seeking the most money possible from broadcasting rights, as major stakeholder in Fox Sports they would be seeking to pay the least amount possible for the broadcast rights!!


There needs to be a completely independant body that is in charge of this game, that is responsible for tv rights and sponsorship that is to the benefit of the league and the clubs that provide the entertainment.

It would be a quite the over statement to say that this would be the start of dead man walking for rugby league, but if it's not seen to and in the right manner then it'll certainly create more harm then good.

As you can see there is more then one major issue, there are many, governing structure, running structure, salary cap, tv rights, private ownership of teams, superannuation, sponsorship, the list goes on and on.

Club Culture

Another week and another high profile sportsman has gone and gotten himself into a right mess and would you believe it, alcohol was involved!

What is the problem with these guys, young, healthy and plenty of cash and adored by many.

That is the problem, these guys come out of high school where they were molly coddled because they were good at sport, never made accountable for there actions on or off the field, then they sign big dollar contract and all of a sudden their high school fan club just got a whole lot bigger, with night club managers handing them drinks and women throwing themselves at them.

But the big problem lies with the teams and managers of said players who go about covering up all the mistakes they make out in the real world, make them accountable for their actions, if they go out and do something that society believes to be wrong them punish them accordingly and let them feel the pain of their mistakes. The clubs and managers by covering up all the indiscretions create a false environment and maybe they should be held as accountable as the stars they look after!

All Sportsmouth asks is for the punters not to treat them like stars but to let them have a drink with there mates or who ever they may be with. Sportsmouth has never and will never understand the mindset of those who star gaze at the site of a so called famous face, let them have some time out and get over the star gazing, really it's pathetic

4th ODI: England v New Zealand at The Oval, Jun 25, 2008

First of all let’s not bitch and moan, Elliot was out, NZ can cry and weep all they like, when two players collide the game is only stopped if one is seriously hurt. Elliot’s dying swan act would have made an Italian soccer player proud.

Somebody in the NZ dressing room knew the rules, sending out a physio, trying to get him to stay down and pretend to be hurt. I feel for Collingwood he is going to be lambasted in the press but I say Elliot should have walked.Collinwood asked the question, the Umpire saw right through the pantomime and gave Elliot his marching orders, good decision. I did like Vettori’s little boy sulking act at the end, I could just imagine his words; I’m not shaking that nasty mans hand, he was mean to my friend, next time I am not playing if I can’t play by NZ rules..

Here is his match end comment: Daniel Vettori.: "There was a little bit of raw emotion at the end, so I apologise to Paul and his team. Now he has admitted he was wrong hopefully we can move along and play the next game in the right spirit."If Collingwood was wrong then the umpire was wrong, since the umpire was not wrong Vittori is questioning an umpire’s decision in the press. A clear case of bringing the game into disrepute, the correct outcome: an Oscar for Elliot and a 75% match fee fine for Vettori.

The real crime was that last ball, what the hell was England thinking? Sure the run out was on but so was the draw, there was nobody backing up so the attempted run out was too risky. The series was drawn with one to play; a draw would have seriously pissed off the Kiwi’s and still given England a chance at winning. England must have discussed it before the ball was bowled; they spent enough time on that last over. I don’t know who the fielder was but it is his decision to have a wild chuck at the stumps that should be lambasted in the press.

Collingwood should be dropped as captain and from the side; it is his job to explain the larger picture to his team mates. He either did not outline the situation clearly or his authority was ignored and his batting is awful. His decision to call Elliot’s bluff has probably saved him, if the selectors dropped him now it would be seen to be pandering the Kiwi Nancy boys.

Thanks

John "Slainethehornegod" Tyson

Get in the hole!!

Get in the hole.......if Sportsmouth hears another loud mouth American utter these words again, it could lead to untold pain to that particular loud mouth!!!

Now being a golf fan & having already voiced my discontent with the coverage of U.S golf, now the next target is those brainless fuckwits who yell "get in the hole" everytime Tiger hits the ball, it could be a par 5, they just don't get it!! Just this morning watching the final round of the U.S Open, Tiger has played a tee shot into the right rough, he according to the commentary has two options to try & hit over the tree (not the best option apparently) or hit a lower fade into the green trying to run the ball onto the green. Well Tiger decides (against the commentators wishes) to try and hit the high shot, anyway he hits & clears the tree but finishes up well short of the green in heavy rough, now as always with Tiger they replay the shot 400 times, but one angle from his front left, left Sportsmouth wanting to reach through the t.v screen and belt the bloke right behind Tiger. The reason, Tiger plays his shot & this guy just starts hooting and hollaring "yeah yeah, get in the hole, alright whoa, yeah" fist pumping the whole works!!

My point is this, it was a bad option followed by a worse shot, yet he just had to make a fuckwit of himself, I hate this guy just for doing that.

The solution is this, if you ever go to watch a live round of golf and someone yells out "get in the hole" (putting is okay, because there's a real chance it could go in!) turn to the yokel who said it & ...........punch him in the face!

Moneyball

Sportsmouth has just finished reading a very interesting book, titled "Moneyball". I know what your thinking this is a sports blog, not a book club, but, "Moneyball" is all about baseball, but has some valuable lessons on investing amoung other things.

What this book really opened Sportsmouth' eyes to is the fact that, one baseball players are ridiculously over paid and two they are not people but, commodities!!

Lets start with the overpaid part, some guy who can hit a baseball and catch one (with a glove) could be worth up to $10 million a season, yet he still needs a batting coach, a first base coach to tell him when to run or not, a third base coach to tell him to go for home or not, plus a team manager to tell the other coach's what to tell the player!!! I guess the clubs way of thinking is "I'm not paying you $10 million a year to think"!

Now when a player is drafted by a club, they have his services locked in for the first 6 years of his playing career (unless they trade him, that's the commodities part) after that period he becomes a free agent, so although you hear of said player getting paid $10 million a year, he, especially if he's been playing for the Oakland A's one of the poorest teams in the league, with a budget of $40 odd million per year for their whole major league squad of 25 players, has probably been getting paid less then a $1 million a year, and in some cases alot less.

The commodities part, comes with the trading of players, for example in the book, a player is traded in a round trade with two other clubs, leaving him in the situation of having played against the Oakland A's one night, then playing for them the next night against the team he was just traded from and he has no idea it's taken place until the A's GM comes down and tells him!! Now this particular player was playing for Toronto, thought he was going to get traded but to San Diego, but ends up in Oakland!

It really is interesting to see how the A's with the miniscule budget of $40m (makes NRL salary cap look a bit ordinary!) continue to have success finding players that are undervalued and getting the best out of them, compared to the richest team in the league the New York Yankees who's budget is three to four times that of the A's who only buy the so called cream of the crop, yet their regular season record is very similar!

Sportsmouth doesn't proclaim to be a lover of baseball, but it certainly changes the way I view the sport!

The Sport of Kings

Sportsmouth received this interesting little trivia;


Regarded as the 'Sport of Kings', the first horse race took place in
England in 210 AD. Encouraged by Royal patronage over the last 300
years, the English thoroughbred has been the foundation stock of
racehorses world-wide.

In fact, all modern-day thoroughbreds can be traced to one of three
great English sires:

* Darley Arabian (1700): 90%
* The Byerly Turk (1689): 5%
* and The Godolphin Arabian or Barb (1724): 5%.

Thanks Greeny (aka aussiegolfer)

Cheers

Redneck, Nutbags get up!

Well there you go, obviously the bagging Sportsmouth gave Qld worked as they really put NSW right out of the game from the get go!

All credit to them, they played very well & NSW were terrible, it certainly shows the mistake they made picking Hunt at 6 for the first game and the presence Steve Price has on the rest of the forwards, he still is one of the best props in the game. Qld won by winning the dominance of the ruck by their forwards which allowed them some space to create opportunities out wide (especially on the right) it was an obvious place for them to attack, a new centre/wing combination in defence, which on more then one occasion was left high and dry by the players inside them! But the biggest difference in that right hand side defence was when Gasnier made the decision to go up and in his winger either wasn't aware or wasn't told, this is something that Cooper on the left hand side of the field is a master at, his defence is outstanding and probably is the best defensive centre Sportsmouth has ever seen, plus when he went in his winger instinctively or under instruction went with him, so in the second half when Qld did try to go down the left, they really ended up resorting to trying to kick in behind them, which worked once, well and good.

I won't go into a player ratings as it'll take up to much space, but I'm sure that before game 3 there'll be some changes to both sides, obviously if Darren Lockyer is fit he'll play for Qld, while I really think that either Jason Ryles or Brent Kite should be a starting prop for NSW!!

That's it, Wallabies to have their first Test under new coach Robbie Deans this weekend against Ireland, who last week served it up to the All Blacks, look forward to that!

QLD woes!!

Well the state of Origin II is nearly ready for kick off, but what Sportsmouth has had enough of is the bleating coming from the Qlders!!

After complaining about anything & everything after the first game, they had better find some new excuses after they lose tonight!!!

As soon as Qld lose a series (especially if it's 2 - o) we'll here the following from north of the border, "We don't need to play the third game, what's the point?" (I actually agree with that, but if they're up 2-0 you never hear them complain) & the one I really love "Origin is dead" (if they've gone down three nil).

Lets be honest, the only reason they've won the last two series is because of the following players Darren Lockyer (best in the world, the only current player voted in top 100 of all time) Jonathon Thursten (best halfback since Andrew Johns) Petero Civenociva & Steve Price, two great props who work overtime to cover their teammates mistakes, whilst continuing to shoulder the brunt of all the forwards work!

Why I think NSW will win tonight, well Qld selection is wrong again, and it's across nearly the whole squad, but I'll get into that post game. The backrow for Qld are anonymous on the field giving very little to their side in attack, proving more defensive then offensive!

Score, much the same as the first game, something like 20 to 10

there'll be a wrap tomorrow, where Sportsmouth will explain the selection problems for Qld whilst also comparing the ratings the journos give in the paper to what really happened!!

State of Origin v Teams

This question was raised to sportsmouth by a friend and subsequently the following week was all over the papers, "what to do about the affect the absence of a teams origin stars has on their club teams"?

There have been a few different approaches over the years, but the NRL continues to come back to playing the game mid week, with the selected players not allowed to be involved in the club games preceeding an Origin match. This obviously affects some teams more then others i.e Melb. Storm & the BrisVegas Broncos provide 15 players between them for the next match, thus severely harming their chances of winning the club games that preceed the Origin matches. But does it really effect their finals chances, probably not as if they manage to win one of those games, then it's a bonus, it also gives them a chance to throw some young fringe first grade players into action to see how close they are to making a step up, its actually a tribute to those teams and their coaches that they continue to produce representative players at the rate they do.

The real issue is for the fans, who really wants to pay the price of an over priced ticket to a game where there are none of the teams stars involved? I wouldn't & what they should do is slash the ticket price for games like this, anyway I'm getting away from the original point, sportsmouth is of the opinion that each origin team should be announced on the Sunday following the last game of the round (no monday night footy that weekend) and both teams should do it side by side making a big deal of it, similar to how the yanks show the draft for some of their sports on t.v, then both teams go straight into camp for the rest of the week & play on Friday night, making them available for their club games on the weekend & with some smart organising by the NRL makes sure that teams that are less affected play on the Saturday. Now one argument that'll come out is, it'll cannabalize the crowds for the weekend games, again this is where the fixtures need to be organised properly, make sure that if the Origin was played in Sydney, then the only games played in Sydney that weekend are local derby's held at the local venues, simple really!

A little fore thought from the NRL would solve this issue, although I'm the first to admit the NRL/ARL/NSWRL/QRL have bigger issues to resolve (that's right all those people have a say in the running of the game, its a joke!) its probably lucky at this stage that we don't have more teams privately owned, like English soccor they wouldn't want to let there highly paid stars risk injury in a game that is not for the club!!

That's it for now, if you''ve got a topic you'd like to vent about sport, please feel free to pass it on.

Sportsmouth.

Retirements!

Two very big stories out of golf and tennis, the retirements of Annika Sorenstam and Justine Henin.

Annika Sorenstam has achieved everything in golf and is the greatest female player in history and has sited the reasons for her retiring as wanting to start a family (fair enough) and other business interests, some of which are golf related, so it was not to do with a lack of motivation as she absolutly smacked the field only two weeks ago!

But I can assure you in a couple of years time when she has a two year old running riot and behaving as only two year olds do, that she'll be wishing that she was on the golf course!!

Justine Henin, now this is a more curious retirement, as she is clearly the best player in the world at the moment and still only 25 years old, but has yet to win Wimbledon, which would give her a career slam, so you would think that would provide some serious motivation!

Anyway good luck to them.

U.S golf coverage

This is something that has bugged me for a long time and it's something i just can't get over!

Coverage by whichever US TV station has the rights to the PGA Tour is well......shithouse!!! Its great if you want to see every shot that Tiger plays or which ever American player is in contention, but try and find some footage of an international player! Unless they're racing up the leaderboard or winning, its hard to find, but that's not the real problem for me....

The real problem is, Sportsmouth is not remotely interested in looking at coverage of the fauna and flora or the beautiful lake with a fountain in it, if I was I would be watching David Attenborough on BBC, but no the US networks just love a wide shot of all the crap that is surrounding the course, what's wrong with that you say, well how about the fact that I want to watch the golf and I don't care who, but surely someone, somewhere is playing a shot that is worthy of viewing, wether they're in contention or not!!

It really pains Sportsmouth to have to put up with this shit on top of the fact that the USPGA is seemingly the only place to play these days, I wish more players would play in Europe and I tip my hat to players like Els, Scott, and a few notable other who regularly interupt their US schedules to head to Europe. Not only are the courses many and varied but the commentary and coverage is superior in my view!

Come ESPN or whoever it is, be daring show us what we want to see or fuck off and hand the rights over to someone who will!!


cheerio

A long time!!!

Well, its been along time between posts & quite alot of stuff has gone down, rugby league players getting shot at in Kings Cross (of all the places!), Super 14 rugby is nearly done (yet winter is not yet upon us!), cricketers who can't make the Test or One-day squads sign on to play under 10's rules (twenty overs per team, wonder if they have to retire at 25?!) for squillions and the first golf major has been won, not by Tiger Woods!!

Our motorcycle world champion is not as hot as he was last year (but it's early in) and another motorcycle champ belies pain to race (http://www.smh.com.au/news/motorsport/reed-breaks-shoulder-vomits-blood-races/2008/04/14/1208025091334.html) The autumn racing carnival is nearly in full swing, with a big one this coming weekend!

More importantly, sportsmouth had to relinquish the coveted Plaid Jacket that is the reward for winning the Carl Spackler Invitational (http://spacklergolf.webng.com/index.html) and been forced to withdraw from the coming rounds of indoor cricket with dodgy knees!!!

So, I'll return soon with a spray worthy of a trophy!

Matt Henjak

Knob!

I could probably leave it there, what else needs to be said about this moron, a young man with considerable rugby talent who is more inclined to show his drinking prowess and the rank stupidity that follows!!

For the life of me I can't understand how he thinks "rugby has abandoned me" as I don't recall anyone from rugby HQ saying, "hey Matt, drink 10 schooners then runover there and do something totally fucking stupid or we'll drop you"!!

Heed this advice young Matt, take a good long look at the shit you've done and the person you are and if you're happy with what you see, then you've learnt nothing!

India v Aust

Another summer of test cricket has finished, although this one a little spicier then most with all the racism thing!

The Wash Up

Aust. just out of the blocks a little better, but isn't that always the case, touring teams to Aust. never seem to learn from either their own previuos mistakes or those of other touring teams, not picking Sehwag from the first test probably the biggest, only the most aggressive opening batsmen we'll probably ever see left out of a team for a guy who was lucky to move the score board and another who was lucky to make double figures!!

As i've said before, regardless of umpiring decisions, India should've been able to bat out the required time in Sydney. Perth proved me and every other Aust. wrong, although the pitch was hardly like the one played on in the T20 game vs. NZ. The Indian bowlers however bowled beautifully and deserved to take the game, this was probably helped a little by the Aust. selectors who opted for all out pace, with little consideration taken to the other conditions on offer i.e swing! One of the most succesfull Aust. bowlers at the WACA was Terry Alderman who was not express pace but used the Freo doctor better then any other bowler i've seen bowl at the WACA, Ben Hilfenhaus would have been handy i would've thought, especially since the pitch in use was not part of the same square used in the aforementioned T20 game!

Life Without Gilly

Obviously the best keeper/batsmen ever, but he was also the vice captain who know doubt had a bit to do with the decision making, so he'll be missed greatly although his likely replacement (Brad Haddin) is an exceptional keeper who has played one-dayers for Aust. as a batsman (as did Gilly) so he should do well, he's better keeper then Gilly, and has kept alot to Brett Lee, Stuart Clarke and Stuart MacGill, so he knows what he's in for.

Thanks for the entertainment Gilly. I saw him smash a hundred at the SCG a few years back, brilliant!!

The Great

I've had the pleasure to see Tendulkar bat a few times, he is the best batsman of his generation, not as flamboyant as Lara, but just fantastic to watch and always takes the bowling on especially the spinners.

Thanks Sachin, I saw him take us apart at the SCG last time they were here, masterful!

The rest of the Indian team played well, but they'll have possible their whole middle order of Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly & Laxman as well as captain Kumble gone from the game next time they tour, so they've got big shoes to fill, the highest runscorer ever (soon) two others who average about 50 and a bowler with 600+ wickets!! Goodluck, even a country with over 1 billion people will struggle to replace those guys!

I don't plan to cover anything that happens in T20 matches, because it's shit! The onedayers maybe if something dramatic happens!

Cheerio

Preparing for a feast!

Well, I said that Aust. would win in Perth because they knew how to bat and bowl on fast bouncy pitches, but so far (early on day 3) India have comprehensively outplayed the Aust in all departments and I am preparing to eat my words!!

Pass the salt and pepper....!!!

Summer Fun

Well it's been quite a while since the last post, and there is a bit to report on. So lets get cracking!

The first test (MCG)

A bit of a strange one really, the Aussies outplayed the Indians on a pitch that was closer to the conditions that they are used to, with the pitch being low and slow, with the only real positive for the Indians being that Tendulkar batted like the genius he is scoring 60 odd of only about 70 balls, he made batting look easy, while his team mates were left looking decidedly ordinary.

A few things stuck out for me, the first that the outfield was very slow with good grass coverage, which made the Indians have to run to score their runs, not being able to hit lots of boundaries like they do at home, makes a big difference when your used to getting free runs like that and coupled with the terrible running between wickets, probably cost them quite a few in the end. The second thing was when Aust. declared, I think part of the reason they declared when they did was not to give the Indians the belief that they could bowl the aussies out twice. A big mental edge I think.

Result: pretty firm win for the Aussies.

Second test (SCG)

Could've been considered a great test except for the bad umpiring and all the crap that followed. Fantastic batting by Hayden and Symonds and sublime performances by Laxman and Tendulkar.

The umpiring was not great, but this happens and I believe that it evens itself out, if you remember back to the 05 Ashes in England, Damien Martyn and Simon Katich were given out more then once to some very dubious decisions, with Martyn out LBW twice off inside edges, it nearly finished his career!!! But what is obvious is that the rub of the green tends to follow the more dominant side of the match, England were the better side during that series and got the best of the 50/50 decisions and I think that the same goes for the Aussies.

The Singh saga, well it's a beat up really, the word monkey may by derogatory, but it isn't racially offensive, the only thing that makes it so, is that both teams signed off on a bunch of words which were considered off limits before the series started and monkey was one of them!! Give him a suspended sentence and lets get on with the cricket.

Result: a lucky win for the Aussies, and yes lots of people will say the umpires this and that, but what it comes down to is they gave themselves a chance to win and kept up the intensity, while the Indians only had to bat out the best part of a full days cricket and couldn't, Aust. sporting teams don't generally go down without a fight, what's that saying..."it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog"!

Bring on the Perth test (starts today 16th Jan at 1.30pm Syd time) lets play four quicks and watch the boys duck and weave, Aust. to win this one based purely on knowing how to bat and bowl on a pitch that is quick and bouncy.

Cheers