Saturday November 22, 2008
All batsmen love going in on a road
Gotta love this city. Late last Saturday afternoon - a beautifully warm late spring day, just like mother used to make - a group of 14-year-old boys gathered at a mate's place at Cronulla to celebrate his birthday were playing cricket on his quiet suburban street.
Saturday November 15, 2008
Overrated? Nah, he just blew it
RICKY PONTING! Did he do the right thing or the wrong thing by making the decision that he did after tea on the fourth day of the Fourth Cricket Test against India, writes Peter FitzSimons.
Saturday November 8, 2008
Bledisbore a bit of a grey area
FIVE years ago at a time when the Iraq war was breaking loose, the gag ran like this: "These are strange times. The best golfer is a black guy, the best rapper is a white guy, Switzerland has won the America's Cup ... and Germany doesn't want to fight this war!" To that, this week, of course we can add, wonderfully, that there is now a black man in the White House.
Saturday November 1, 2008
Laughter really is the best medicine
With thanks to The Age's Martin Flanagan, you gotta love that town of Benalla, Victoria. It's about this bloke called Mick Rodger, see, who, after a big-time corporate career in Melbourne, returned to his home town in 1995 with his wife to raise his family. An accomplished Australian footballer and cricketer, he joined the local cricket club as player, committee member and junior coach.
Saturday October 25, 2008
Baggy green mojo goes walkabout
THIS will be remembered as the week Australian cricket lost its mojo, the week our much vaunted Baggy Greens succumbed to India while barely being seen to fire a shot in anger to stop it, writes Peter FitzSimons.
Saturday October 18, 2008
The gorilla in Symonds' midst
You will recall the extremes of Andrew Symonds's reaction at allegedly being called a "monkey" by Harbhajan Singh last year. You will remember that just a few weeks back, it was the lack of appropriate punishment for Singh that was still supposedly eating away at Symonds. It is all the more surprising, then, to read Indian batsman Robin Uthappa describe the worst sledge he'd ever heard.
Saturday October 11, 2008
Go north, young men of Melbourne
THE greatest grand final ever? Please. For starters, there'll never be a better grand final than the 1989 one at the SFS won by Canberra - Steve Jackson breaks one tackle … swivels … breaks another … smashes through … twists … can he … he CAN! Over! So that position is already filled.
Saturday October 4, 2008
Bald fatties losing their niche
I LOVE this. While Australians have generally loved rugby's Experimental Law Variations for making the game faster and more spectacular, the Brits, with their natural preference for things to be slower and more dull (see Geoffrey Boycott), have been far less sure.
Saturday September 27, 2008
Zen and the art of jibber-jabber
WE BEGIN today's column with a small reading by Jonny Wilkinson, from his fourth autobiographical tome, Tackling Life. (Geddit? geddit?) Take it away, Jonny. "How we physically influence the outcome and mentally perceive what happens in front of our eyes determines the kind of picture of life that we will paint. Without our perceptions there is no real world out there ... " Thank you, Jonny. A short break and we'll come back to you.
Saturday September 20, 2008
Did you hear the one about the …
NO JOKE; this is a true story. Last Sunday evening, down Caringbah way, a man entered a bar and ordered a drink. Now, this particular bar has a robot barman. The robot serves him a perfectly prepared cocktail, and then asks him: "What's your IQ?" The man replies, "150", and the robot proceeds to make conversation about Quantum physics, environmental interconnectedness, string theory and nanotechnology.
Saturday September 13, 2008
Bird grounded - and that's final
BRAVO the NRL and Cronulla for holding the line against allowing Greg Bird back into the Sharks side for the finals series.
Saturday September 6, 2008
Gold medallists, share the silver
BRAVO to the Olympians and a double bravo in the pike position to the gold medallists. You did us all proud, welcome home and good luck to the lot of yers.
Saturday August 23, 2008
Faith restored in sport's fairytales
AND that, in the end, is the magic of the Olympics. Somehow, through all the oft-overblown cynical nonsense, you get stories like those of Sally McLellan and Anna Meares.
Saturday August 16, 2008
Man in a million has pride of place
THE best and most memorable moment of the Olympics so far? I thought it came during the stupendous opening ceremony, right at the end of the section in which seemingly 10,000 Chinese were in those pop-up boxes - though none of us was sure if they were computer driven or had humans inside.
Saturday August 9, 2008
Used messiahs don't come cheap
THE Sonny Bill Interview on The Footy Show on Thursday night? It's odd, because some people whose views I respect - read Mike Carlton - thought Williams came across as a self-serving git. For what it's worth, I thought quite the reverse.
