Month: December 2008

Lazy days of summer

It’s summer hols, and for sportreview.net.nz that means very little time spent on sportreview.net.nz. No, this time is better spent on SR junior, sleep, the xmas ham, beer and bashing out Eagles numbers on the axe. Not literally. You know what I mean.

Sport doesn’t sleep though – here’s what you’ve missed:

NZ played the West Indies at 20/20. Yawn. Gayle got out in Hamilton, the WIs lost, no co-incidence there. Ryder and McCullum got an opening partnership together, a great sign for the one day series.

Australia were down trou-ed across the Tasman. This one got more time on the SR remote than the Napier test, put it that way. After we softened them up *hollow laugh*, South Africa have thoroughly defeated the once great Aussies, hanging on to their mantle as the world’s best like a groom after a three day stag do trying to play pinball. Despite the stand out performances of Smith, De Villiers, Steyn and Duminy, South Africa look like a team, with several blokes firing at once, and everyone stepping up to do their job, exactly the opposite of the Australians. They know the axe is about to swing in their dressing room, and look like they’re waiting to see who will be hit. Chris Rattue pointed out it’s tough on the Aussies they have to deal with a Shane Warne-adorned sightscreen throughout this series. The first thing Brian Clough did when he took over Leeds in the 70s was take down the pictures of Bremner, Hunter, etc from the walls – that’s what the Aussies need, to start again and create a new empire. Ricky Ponting produced a couple of great innings to show he’s not about to pull a Kim Hughes just yet. If he can bring the new look side up to speed, he will have done something far harder than Taylor or Waugh.

I got back on the bike. Was fun – but flat. I need to fnd some hills. @lancearmstrong has nothing to worry about at this stage.

Actually, not a lot else has happened. More importantly, I haven’t gone for a fish yet. Laptop down. See you in 2009.

Catching up

Sorry for the ‘review being quiet lately – it seems one of the pre-requisites of a sports blog is *blogging*. I know. Here’s what’s been happening while real life has got in the way:

When me and a mate were trying to name the 1987 WC winning XV, John Drake was the last name we came up with – I only knew him much better as a commentator and columnist. I rate him alongside Tony Johnson as NZ’s best. Almost everyone paying tribute said he ‘had interests outside Rugby’, which is a sign of sanity.  We’ll miss his thoughtful, forthright style in our house when Stu Wilson starts levering foot into mouth again next season.

Iain O’Brien’s blogging on Cricinfo now, and while JRod bemoans him jumping ship, it seems that Cricinfo are re-blogging Iain’s blogspot site, not the other way around. As Emma Hart said on Hadyn Green’s PA discussion, ‘I was listening to O’Brien getting the hell bounced out of him that day and thinking, wow, can’t wait to read his blog about this’. Too right.

Cockfighting aside, there’s no crueler game than golf – it was excruciating to watch Hamilton’s David Smail mess up the Australian Open yesterday evening. Brother of sportreview has played with David, and even with a hugely successful career in Asia, he’d have wanted to nail the Australian Open to go with his NZ Open. Still, Smail handled himself with dignity throughout, in that situation I would have definitely vomited.

Ben from Mike on Cricket now has his own pad @ Crucket. Get in there.

Sorry I missed Links on Friday this week. If I’d got around to it, the Wunder Boner would have probably made the cut.

ARC surprised as 1996 Olympic mascot fails to pull crowds

SRPA: The Auckland Regional Council was left red-faced when star attraction Izzy, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games mascot, delivered dismal crowd numbers at Mt Smart stadium on Saturday.

The ARC bought Izzy, a computer animated character with the ability to morph into different forms, to Auckland to play an exhibition football match between the ‘MonstaBurga Izzy All Stars’ and the ‘Boobs on Bikes ARC Stars’. The match finished 0-0.

Headcount was estimated at between nine and ten people, pushing out to thirteen if quadrupeds are included.

ARC spokesperson Simon Flashpen said “Sure, you can nitpick that the players outnumbered the crowd, but Izzy’s zany antics really delighted the dozen or so mammals there.” Flashpen denied the match was a shoddy third rate copy of Mr Blobby’s successful Invercargill visit.

Links on Friday (on Saturday)

sportreview.net.nz fully endorses and approves of swearing. So does this guy. Here he is golfing. I think I’ve found a new hero.

Bond girls exposed.

These Beez guys have either discovered a new paradigm shift in the skateboard arena with their blue sky thinking – or they’re just really really high.

Can someone clean that shit away, please?