At a recent press conference in London the coach of the US Women’s Basketball team, Geno Auriemma, said: “Real pressure is when you lose your job and have to pay the mortgage, or if you are a single mum wondering if you can afford to pay your kid’s education”. That is the most sensible comment [Read more]
Olympic sadness
July 31, 2012 by 69 Comments
I woke this morning (a small victory in itself) to a couple of the sadder images I have seen in sport. Initially the sound was down on the TV so I don’t know what happened to the fencer. I don’t know her name. I think she was Korean. I just saw her sitting on her [Read more]
5.30am and 4.40pm starts – on the same day
July 31, 2012 by 2 Comments
Alarm rings at 5.30 AM. Just in time for Olympic opening ceremony. Not a problem as was asleep early on Friday night, couldn’t stand to sit up and watch the Hawks again after their demolition of the Pies last week. Text Uncle Deano, he’s up early for the opening ceremony too. Could have stayed in [Read more]
The View from Shepparton: Round 18 and other things, or was it other things and Round 18?
July 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
John Harms and Jon Faine on ABC 774 this morning stole my thunder but I too wanted to make a point about life and that is this, when does confidence become cockiness? You could apply this as much to those who thought that Black Caviar only had to stand on the track to win that [Read more]
Steve Hooker the Olympic highlight for Harms
July 30, 2012 by 109 Comments
Harms set tongues wagging with his comment on Offsiders that Steve Hooker was his Olympics highlight, saying instead of withdrawing with “injury”, Hooker faced his demons in the glare of the world spotlight, showing a “magnificent nobility”. Some words from Harms: I knew this choice of moment was FWD (fraught with danger). And the two [Read more]
Crio’s Q: Olympic armchair experts
July 30, 2012 by 5 Comments
Every four years armchair experts adopt a sport, its rules, its champions and its scoring nuances. Outside of the Olympics there is very little general interest in beach volleyball or diving or table tennis or women’s 400m running….. But, from under a rock we emerge to absorb and then challenge Drew Morphett, or Sandy, or [Read more]
Greetings from the XXX Olympiad
July 29, 2012 by 2 Comments
Greetings from the XXX Olympiad in London! It’s been an absolutely incredible day. For the past few weeks I will be honest I have been slightly confused. I knew that the Olympics were coming, but I just wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it. The anticipation was there, but it felt different to a [Read more]
Building up to Bradbury*
July 26, 2012 by 2 Comments
Building up to Bradbury * Not all good sports stories end with glory. Keiran Deck, an International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) 2nd Dan Black belt, ventured for his first time into the Olympic style taekwondo (WTF) at the NSW/ACT State Selections to see how the two collide. Not very well, apparently … It’s Saturday night. The mood [Read more]
Open fall out – summing up
July 25, 2012 by 7 Comments
By Nick Innes Scott’s short game let him down in the last round. Think he might have had 1 up and down for the day. Sure the greens were a bit slower than day 3 but he left that many putts short it was ridiculous. Also all of the shorter putts he missed were pulled [Read more]
Moe and Me: Encounters with Moe Norman, Golf’s Mysterious Genius
July 20, 2012 by 6 Comments
A couple of years ago I was playing golf with Robert O’Callaghan for a small wager, a box of Footy Almanacs to three bottles of Rockford wines (a bounty that was incentive enough). We’d had huge overnight rain in Canberra and Robert was out of the blocks quickly to go two up. Golf can be [Read more]
A Tiger in a nest of Magpies
July 17, 2012 by 3 Comments
By Phil Dimitriadis Alexander John Eastham is a different cat. In fact, he is a tiger. Yes, my grandnephew barracks for Richmond. The noteworthy feature of this highly unexpected phenomenon is that 99% of his immediate family are Pies fans. His paternal grandfather Jock is the president of the Gippsland Magpies and has [Read more]
Gold Coast footy alive and well
July 12, 2012 by 4 Comments
By Cheryl Critchley “Gee-long, Gee-long, Gee-long!” Some things never change, even 1800km from Sleepy Hollow. We’re at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast and the Cats’ Cheer Squad sounds as hick as ever. “Gee-long, Gee-long!” The small but dedicated band of “Southerners” is surrounded by Suns supporters decked out in their still [Read more]
News from Greymouth
July 7, 2012 by 3 Comments
We’re still over in Te Waipounamu, where the only sport of note is Rugby Union, with the primary, if not sole emphasis being on all things All Black. But not for much longer, will their shirts be simply All Black. The local corporate media have run stories of a new sponsorship deal with American international [Read more]
Back to basics: Local sport in 3 parts
July 4, 2012 by 5 Comments
BACK TO BASICS Local sport in 3 parts There’s nothing like local sport to help you connect with the community. Corporate demands, overly structured game plans and totally rip-off prices go by the way to be replaced with a cheery welcome, lots of space, family friendly prices and much good humour. It’s good just to [Read more]
The Almanacker’s Lament (apologies to John O’Brien)
July 3, 2012 by 4 Comments
“We’ll all be rooned,” said Litza, In accents most forlorn, “This bloody Ratten shits ya, I wish he’d not been born.”
So where should I go this week?
June 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
by Joey Agerholm As a kid I expected to grow up and play sport for a living, now I’d be happy enough just being able to watch it full time. This morning I lay on the couch and imagined myself as a fairly successful sportswriter who gets to pick and choose events to visit and [Read more]
The noble art of booing
June 25, 2012 by 17 Comments
“We wuz robbed. Collingwood couldn’t buy a goal in the last quarter, so that bloody maggot gives Beams a charity 20 metres out. And that home ground free kick bias is ruining the game.” Sorry, I’m just channeling my inner Bluebagger. That sense of entitlement that makes them so obnoxious. I actually couldn’t get that [Read more]
US Open
June 18, 2012 by 28 Comments
This has been a pretty good tournament although not the best by a long way. The Olympic Course is superb: a sandy linksy course with trees – even though that doesn’t make sense. But I say that because it is windy and the ball sometimes runs on the quick fairways and greens and you have [Read more]
David Graham – A Life Redeemed
June 16, 2012 by 7 Comments
Its US Golf Open time, and I felt inspired by Matt Riordan’s wonderful list of his 5 favorite golfers and the typically eclectic Almanacker response, to add my recollection of a forgotten hero of Australian golf. Before the Shark there was Peter Thomson, Kel Nagle, Bruce Crampton (second best golfer in the world for many [Read more]
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