Sporting events which I could not possibly have cared less about…actively avoided… Cathy Freeman’s gold NZ World Cup Union tournament Your thoughts? crio

Kevin Na, previously courting infamy for an extraordinary 16 on a Par4 at the PGA Texas Open earlier this year, may now be shadowed by a darker load after his uncounted “airy” en route to his first PGA tour victory at his 211th try! http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf Whole careers can be remembered for a moment’s madness. Floyd [Read more]

“List management” We all know what it means. And most of us understand that you have to give to get. Who do you want for your side and what are you prepared to pay? crio

Way to go! It seems Darren Lockyer has been blessed with a fairytale farewell up in Broncoland. Others, however, have not left with such grace and glory. How to call time? Fortune has not always looked fairly upon those making a “last stand”. Who’s had the luck or judgement to finish “on song” – or [Read more]

Without belittling the significance of 9/11 – “when the world changed” – its commemoration has stirred reminiscences…. “I remember where I was when…”   We do link notable news with moments in our life. Sports nuts will know what I mean. My clearest recollection of walking in to Vatican Square in 1986 is seeing an [Read more]

NicNat passed the 50 game milestone and then prepared for his first finals appearance with a customarily flamboyant performance – some question his four quarter contribution, but no one contests that each week he provides at least one memorable grab for the highlights reel. It puts him in a “special” realm. Who else could match the big Eagle’s [Read more]

The Swannies must have ached this week. There’s no way that the death of a mate’s child can be fuel to win a game of footy. But they “dug deep”, knowing there was nothing else that they could do. I thought they’d be emotionally spent. Grieving and, to be honest, probably outclassed. But they won. [Read more]

Andrew Hilditch’s flick has been widely predicted and applauded. Tim Neilson, too, had to fall on his sword. But, amidst the avalanche of approval, there seems to be a question largely ignored. Why did this apparently inevitable call take so long to be made? And….who should cop the blame for their appointments and failures? Who [Read more]

…or at least not barracking for “your team”. A lifelong Doggies fan, ex-player, sauntered in to our group last Sunday morning. “Watch the game?”, I tentatively inquired (WB v WC) “Yeah”, he began, surprisingly upbeat, “and I had Cox as my Supercoach captain!”. This bugged me. Soon after some swimming was on the TV screens. [Read more]

Tiger’s split from long time caddy Steve Williams ends a long and incredibly successful partnership. Most of our images of Woods have his bagman somewhere in the frame – he became NZ’s most successful sportsman! Great partnerships live long in the memory… Barry Price to Peter McKenna. Angelo Dundee and Muhammad Ali. Graeme Wood and [Read more]

I need some hope. This AFL Round, whilst interesting, has really just reinforced the fear that it is Collingwood first, daylight second. The gap looks unbreachable.   But there are precedents. Ajax, for example. The USSR ice-hockey team!   Let’s clutch at straws and give ourselves some hope by remembering some “good things beat”.   [Read more]

“Callan Ward…He’s our Joel Selwood!” screamed the headline. Google Ian Craig (not the race caller!) to get a lesson from cricket history.   I came across an old Shane Templeton article in which he declared Zeditave the best sprinter since Vain. Don’t rate Manikato, Shane?   I know what they say about opinions. We all [Read more]

“Woosha” Worsfold was the bookies’ favourite to be the first coach sacked in AFL 2011 but it would seem that markets would need to have been revised! Even “Dead Man” Bailey might yet walk. But it’s that time of the footy season where the deckchairs start to get shuffled. crio

With a wave of the (titleist) wand, Tiger is forgotten….golf has its wunderkind…a golden boy. Though followers have seen it coming for some time, his U.S. Open exhibition ordains Rory McIlroy as “hottest property”. Can you remember the official baptism of a new hero? Who and when?   crio

Phantom has provided me with this week’s crio’s Q?… “There have been three ex students from Marist College (Burnie) named in AFL sides this week. Tom Hislop (Richmond) Maverick Weller and Luke Russell (Suns) What do the Knackers think is the most from any school in Australia named to play senior footy on any one [Read more]