All real fans get excited when their team reaches September and has genuine claims of raising that cup. (What is it actually?) I’d guess that, although Carlton, Essendon and Brisbane are given no chance of getting through, each would rate their season as a success. Adelaide, now contenders, also will emerge with ticks. But what [Read more]
Racing: Now’s the time to place your cups double bets
August 28, 2009 by 3 Comments
By Chris Riordan Doubles bookies always promote their dire liabilities, neglecting to mention the stream of lost bets that line their coffers. They, and we, queue up each year in the battle- them for a consistent earn and us, not just for the riches, but the bragging rights that accompany a long-range plonk.
Crio’s Question: Got any sports book recommendations? Maybe feature doubles ideas?
August 24, 2009 by 24 Comments
By Chris Riordan The success of England and Collingwood require some diversions to happier times. Father’s Day looms and it is time for Dads to be proactive and thus avoid the cursed socks and bad after-shave. When I was young Dad would get the new Miller’s Guide, but it comes out too late these days. [Read more]
Racing: Look, Mum, a Waterhouse!
August 21, 2009 by 1 Comment
By Chris Riordan Not just old-timers can amuse me in the betting ring. Last year my brother, his wife, their 8-year-old and I ventured to the Valley one night to watch his horse run. He gave it a rough show so we went into the betting ring to plan our attack.
Racing: As old Jack shows, you still meet some cracking characters in the betting ring
August 18, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Working at the races does give you access to some unusual characters, and I try to make sure that I don’t get bogged down in the greed of the betting ring and that I enjoy some of the identities. My Dad, a long-time bookie in Adelaide, always loved the wags and saw them as part [Read more]
Crio’s Question: Who of this year’s retirees are greats, goods or good-enoughs?
August 18, 2009 by 43 Comments
I’ll have to thank Budge for generating this topic in his disputation of Joel Bowden’s status upon retirement. I agree that Bowden, outstanding person, has been a serviceable player. Mickey O is probably in the top echelon of Swannies, rather than the broader footy Hall of Fame crap. Adam Simpson likewise.
Racing: Search resumes for ones to follow
August 14, 2009 by 6 Comments
By Chris Riordan Neighbours were chatting on the footpath this week. It was approaching 6pm and still light. Winter is fading and the joys of spring can be sensed. Saturday’s fields reinforce this. It’s by no means a feature card, but the Liston Stakes meeting, for a time a Sandown fixture but now “Classic Caulfield”, [Read more]
Crio’s Question: What is the Grand Final you dread?
August 11, 2009 by 11 Comments
This has been a terrific season for AFL fans in Victoria, with sensational games between Victorian opponents regularly packing the grounds. But there may be a price to pay if two Victorian teams make the Grand Final. As difficult as some find it to believe, for many of us it is less stressful if Brisbane, [Read more]
Crio’s Question: Novel premiership odds depend on how you define St Kilda strip
August 4, 2009 by 11 Comments
The Irish betting organisation Paddy Power is best known in Australia for its novel approach to gaming, such as when it called for punters in 2008 to bet on the name of Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman’s then unborn child. Their slogan is prominent on the sideboards at EPL matches. Having now bought out Sportsbet, [Read more]
General Footy Writing: A lament for great old footy jumpers
July 31, 2009 by 12 Comments
By Chris Riordan While the AFL clubs’ marketing departments are developing gross jumpers, originality is losing out to functionality in the bush and burns. Buy in bulk. Cheaper and ready by order. Our fantastic footy culture was clarified to me one afternoon about 20 years ago when I was handed a jumper by the barman [Read more]
General Sportswriting: It really is time I let Gurner’s Lane and the 1997 goal umpire off the hook
July 30, 2009 by 4 Comments
By Chris Riordan My son knows that the merest mention of Gurner’s Lane can throw me off. Never mind that it was hardly Gurner’s Lane’s fault when Mighty Mal took off (with my cash) at the roundabout on the King in the ’82 Cup. I never backed The Enforcer (Mick Dittman) again in his long [Read more]
Cricket: Why I deplore Victoria’s pursuit of Murali
July 29, 2009 by 16 Comments
By Chris Riordan “Fourteen years after suffering the trauma of being labelled a chucker by umpire Darrell Hair at the MCG, Muthiah Muralidaran is poised to return to the ground as a home-town hero.” (July 3, 2009, The Age) Are we that pathetic?
Crio’s question: should the Browlow remain in its current form?
July 25, 2009 by 5 Comments
I’ve decided to buy in early to the annual blowhard about the relative merit and process regarding the venerable Brownlow Medal. I can even make it vaguely pertinent on the grounds that this weekend is the first round in which NRL’s Dally M votes go “in camera”. Now voted by journos and with a rocky [Read more]
Crio’s Question: Help us build a team of players who should play for another club
July 20, 2009 by 19 Comments
By Chris Riordan When Richmond’s Jarrod Silvester grabbed the ball in the match against North Melbourne on Sunday, I said to Tom, “He should be a Cat!” Perhaps Silvester and Tweety-Bird was a bit obscure, but it led to a conversation on players whose names or nicknames would best have had them playing elsewhere. We’ll [Read more]
AFL Round 16: Tiger-Roo draw is not surprising considering neither side knows how to win
July 20, 2009 by Leave a Comment
By Chris Riordan There’s a gruesome joy in going to a draw when you barrack for neither side. And, I hasten to add, today’s result made no difference to the prospects of my team, the Doggies, for this year and beyond. I’d hoped to have a look at Cousins and Cotchin to gauge for myself [Read more]
General Footy Writing: It does get in
July 17, 2009 by 11 Comments
By Chris Riordan On my first visit to Scotland I was under instructions to purchase a Celtic top. Naively, I was amazed that a top with sponsors’ logos all over the front should cost more than the “pure shirt”. “Am I paying to be a billboard?” I objected (a Scottish response if you think about [Read more]
Crio’s Question: What should be the criteria for Goal of the Year?
July 14, 2009 by 9 Comments
It may not seem important, but don’t you get annoyed at some of the hyperbole surrounding selection for Goal of the Year? It’s been reignited by this week’s Fev-freak and some commentators’ retrospective criticism of Lloydy’s cute back-tap a couple of seasons ago. Should it be the run-and-carry, the flukey snap, the critical or long [Read more]
Cricket: Following the Test on the tele
July 10, 2009 by 3 Comments
Last time the Ashes were in England it was notable that the coverage was on SBS- not just for the non Nine Network commentary, but to watch without the ads. Cricket needs its rhythm which is why so many of us prefer the radio. So last night at 8pm I switched on to SBS. End [Read more]
Crio’s Question: What’s the big deal about Friday night?
June 29, 2009 by 10 Comments
By Chris Riordan Friday is a time for some week-ending cleansers. But what’s with the supposed pride in one’s team being on “The Big Stage of Friday Night Footy”? I’m baffled. As an attendee it doesn’t suit. Worn out at week’s end, it is too long to wait after work and too hard to come [Read more]
Crio’s Question: Chris Riordan looks askance at the Blues
June 28, 2009 by 4 Comments
Were Carlton over-rated? This was supposed to be a season-defining game. Clearly, Carlton’s season is gone. “We are coming!”… they might need some nasal spray to reload if they’re going to finish in the finals. Waite’s loss is significant and maybe it is time to get rid of Fev. Big Jack, as usual, made it [Read more]
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