GO Doggies.

Watching a great game of footy by the Western Bulldogs, the Lions are little flat but they are just getting over run by a good quick, young team. It's great to watch. The difference is about 40 points and it's not even half time.

Go Doggies.

Conversely, I've just flicked over to the Crows v Swans game and at half time the score was 20 to 28. What excitement!

one nil, one nil, one nil, one nil.

I wen to sleep for 1 hour and it was all over. I stayed up until god knows when to watch the cricket and finally it started, I saw the first wicket of the night fall, Jones tried to pull McGrath, and then I fell asleep. 1 Hour later it was all over. Story of our cricketing lives, things going bad, just wait an hour it will right itself.
Good Night Lads.

Next post soon.

Well it looks like Englands 12th man has taken to the field and is trying to save the match for them. How many other teams list Rain as the 12th man. It's your only hope guys.

I was hoping to write about how we one this match, but it looks like it might not happen until much later tonight. Therefore, I'll hold back and post later.

It's about to start...

This Thursday the Ashes finally start. It’s been a couple of years of promise, built up by a team that has actually shown that it can win away from home, but I fear there will be more of the same punishment meted out to the Poms*. The Aussies have had a slow start and really is just the one day game (just for you weasel), but we are better at the long form of the game so let’s see what happens. My prediction – 3-0 to the visitors. There will be 2 games washed out, where the Poms will be in a winning position on the second day, but due to thee rain, they run out of time, giving the nation false hope and a trouncing in the next match.

Been up most nights watching “Le Tour” and I have been drawn in to the magic of it and the tactics and the commentary. It’s been riveting. I think it’s the countryside views, the people on the side of the course, the narrow corridors the spectators create for the riders, how they don’t smack into a spectator or a flag or a bag, I don’t know. It would seem that Lance Armstrong is going to win this, barring any sort of mishap. It will be his last race and 7th win in a row, magnificent effort. I remember Miguel Indurain being hailed as the best ever, well Lance is just that little bit better. A friend has a plan to go to France and follow the tour from start to finish, in a Winabago. Sounds cool.

I found out today that the only team that can’t make the AFL finals this year is Carlton. Collingwood can mathematically make it as high as 3rd, so fire up boys. 6 wins will do it. Losing a bit of interest in the footy, I thought my pies would have a good season, but we a re looking to next year now. Finish 14th and try and get a good draft choice for next year.

That’s all for now, going to watch some pedal pushing.

Game over.



* Believe it or not, a Perth - WA man was charged with some sort of racial slur offence when he called an Englishman “a pommy git”. What the? Next they’ll whine about being called “soap dodgers”. Been looking for the article online but can’t find it.

The British Open.

Just had to come here and let everyone know - Greg Norman made the cut!
I can't believe it. I don't recall when he last made the cut in a tournament of any sigfinicance, yet here he is, made it through to the last day of the Open. Funnily enough he's tied with Nick Faldo for 30th place. Would have been good to see the play together but there are 10 players tied at 3 under. This group also includes Phil Mickelson, Mark Hensby and Nick O'Hern.

My favourite moment from the Open so far was the farewell photos of Jack Nichlaus, being taken on the Swilken Bridge on the 18th hole on Friday. He was there for about 4 or 5 minutes, posing with his son and the rest of his playing group and caddies. Although Peter Alliss the commentator was wishing they'd hurry along like good little chaps, no sense of theatre Pete.



Tiger Woods has a 2 stroke lead over José Maria Olazábal and will probably hold him at bay, with the Goose one stroke behind sure to pour on the pressure, or he'll choke like at the US Open a few weeks ago. By the looks of the early going, scoring is mixed but people like Ernie Els and a couple of others are 5 and 4 under for the day, so it should be interesting.

The open live board is at this site.

What car race?

I can't believe I missed this. There was a Grand Prix on the weekend. The British Grand Prix was run and won by Jaun Pablo Montoya. I can't remember the last time he won a race. HE seemed to always pick up pole position, but then inevitabley crash to get out raced. Congrats to him.
Mark Webber finished 11th, another disappointing race, when is that car going to deliver. Maybe next year.
I guess this was overshadowed by other events in England at the weekend so it's no wonder it slipped past my attention.
The next race is in Germany on the 24th, just about when the aussies will be playing golf as they've wrapped up the first test on the Saturday :-)

Tuesday sports talk.

Well, I’ve had a little break and things happen. Not going to talk about the bombing, there is enough out there to inform and misinform people about it. I’m not going to add to it here.

Let’s start with what is currently in play, the Cricket! The woefuls are currently batting and sitting on 5 for, oh actually, that’s just changed to 6 for 93. The poms have just called for the “super-sub”. What the hell is that? The ICC has introduced some new rules to one day cricket. I’m not sure if it is across the board or just for this series of matches. I don’t recall them being used in the last set of matches that included Bangladesh, maybe someone out there knows. They also have power plays, where I think the fielding team can choose which 10 and 2x5 blocks of overs they would like to have the “2 fielders out of the circle rule” apply. So it looks like you now have to have 2 fielders out for 20 overs, not the original 15 which were always the first 15. Now they can mix it up and have the power play overs at the end of an innings. I don’t think that is a wise strategy but it does allow for an extra 5 overs of slogging. The game was becoming stale and uninteresting, especially with 20/20 games on the rise. Here is the full explanation from the ICC.

Well the Aussie rules seems to have settled down a bit, some big scores in the footy tipping suggests that expectations are starting to be met and that top teams are playing bottom teams. Soon though, there will be a flurry of activity on the ladder, there are 9 teams within 10 points of 2nd place. The West Coast Eagles are miles above the rest with a 4 game buffer and certainty to be playing home finals. The others are all in precarious positions, 2 bad games and you could be out of the 8, it is very tight. There are a couple of classic matches this weekend, most of which will reshape the 8 as well as West Coast v Brisbane which will be a great game. The Pies gave me no joy as the Lions mauled them to an inglorious death, damn their eyes!

Watched a bit of the Tour de France the other night, one of the mountain stages and the guy at the front was the Polka dot shirt owner, Rasmussen which was to be expected. Couldn’t watch all of it though as it was going to be a long stage and there is not much excitement in watching 2 guys race up a hill. But, Stuart O’Grady did finish 4th across the line which is pretty good for a non climber. This sport is so complex. The teams, the jerseys, the sprints, the mountain climbs, it’s just one huge tactical race. I noticed that the guy who had the Yellow jersey, David Zabriske, after the first day pulled out. He is strictly a flat track racer and that’s it for him. Lance is looking good and despite giving up the yellow jersey for now, he expects to get it back later in the race. I like the confidence.

The British Open starts this week at St Andrews, the home of golf. Not much more one can say until the hit off on Thursday.

By the way, Kev Pietersen has gone made and smacked the ball everywhere while I was writing this, but alas he is out - 7 for 186.

Mondays experts..

Round 14 of the AFL has gone by and we have more evidence that the season is either completely over or this is the most even season since probably 1993. With the Eagles so far ahead of the pack, it would be an automatic assumption that they will win the premiership, but in true parochial style, we in the eastern states, including South Australia, believe that they will crumble under the finals pressure as they have in the past couple of seasons. The truth is, no one knows. My two cents are still on the Eagles to make the Grand Final, but the rest will be based on who get to the end of the year with the least injuries. I’m thinking the 4 teams in equal 2nd place are so evenly matched that they’d all be able to beat one another. Then you have Brisbane hovering and the rest are making up the numbers. I will declare it here and now – Port are gone! Let’s spend a minute here in silence and remember the once mighty power.

I should also mention here that the Pies are back! Only 2 games out of the eight and a walkover match against the hapless Brisbane Bears this week. Ooops, sorry, I time warped back to the early 90’s. Anyway, it was another great effort by the Black and Whites. Showing up the flaws in the 2004 premiership winning team, they were disjointed and actually openly fought amongst themselves, it was great to see. It reminds me of soccer teams after they let in a goal, everyone screams at the guy in front of him, waving their arms about. What the hell is all that about?

Roger Federer wins his 3rd Wimbledon title in a row. What a magnificent performance. I didn’t see any of the match but Roger tells anyone who’ll listen that he played the best game he could and Andy didn’t stand a chance. Very modest of you Roger.

Venus Williams won her 3rd title as well, beating Lindsay Davenport in a game described as the best women’s tennis match ever. Again, I didn’t see it as it was on way too late for this little black and white duck magpie.

No cricket news to report, just that the first Ashes test starts soon, should be entertaining. Not going to have any digs just yet.

Dwight Yorke has turned out for his new club in Sydney today. I was going to link you to an interesting story about his first hit out, but couldn’t find one. As he is playing for Sydney FC, I don’t really give a fat rat’s clacker. He’s a big name, but I wonder if he isn’t past it.

I was just ready ninemsn article on the French Grand Prix, and rather than the headline being “Alonso wins, stretches lead in the championship”, the headline is “Pain without gain for Webber”. Now I know this is an Australian news channel, but really. Tell me who won and how they did it, not who’s arse was on fire during the race.

What the hell is happening to Ferrari? Bernie’s new rules has killed them. This is really shitting me off, I just want to see total Ferrari domination, but all we are getting is total domination of Ferrari. This is not the natural order of things, fix them up Bernie! Fix them up!

OK, i've calmed down a little now. Time torest up for a big day tomorrow. I'll be going to work and just sitting there watching emails come in and out of my mailbox, oh the excitement.

See you's.

Game Over.

Short update.

As predicted, the young Hewitt kiddie couldn't make it past Roger the Ferderer. He is just way too good. We clinged to the hope that maybe, just maybe he'd falter or Hewitt would play harder and get past the swiss mis(ter), but alas, he played his "A" game, but Roger was at "A+" level. Good luck Roger. At least Hewitt got further than Henman, that's all I can say. I heard there is a Scotsman on his way up too. That'll give the Brits something to cheer about.

Went to see the Pies last night strangle and then beat up on the Power. It was "Lights out" for the wannabes as they just crumbled like the house of cards that they are. As soon as any pressure was applied, like someone saying boo, they just capitulated. It was a great night and but for a couple of 1 point losses this year, we'd be "in the mix". I don't like dwelling on coulda, woulda, shoulda situations, BUT I do think we have been a little unlucky this year. Ya never know, we might just sneak a few more wins and make it hard for those teams above us wanting to make an impact in the finals. Starting with Brisbane next week.

The final of the one day tournament at Lords is be played at the moment. The Aussies started well, 50 off about 6 overs, can't complain about that, but then they just collapsed and made a pathetic 196 all out. In true English style though, I've just checked the scores and I see they are 19 for 3 wickets... Hold on, the TV has gone quiet, let me check.... make that 19 for 4. PATHETIC. The next man in is Collingwood, at least you poms can experience the pleasure of supporting a well named individual. Although, I still hope he makes a duck.... dammit, he just scored a 4.

Thats it for now, need some sleep.

make that 32 for 5. How many tests are you going to win?

Good night.

Ok Go - A Million Ways.

This video clip is just fantastic. Who needs millions spent on directors, make up, choreographers etc when all you need is a handy cam, a backyard and a few beers.

You'll need Apple Quicktime and high speed broadband for this, it's about 16mb.

Enjoy.

The random doubts of Walter Mondale

The random doubts of Walter Mondale

I'm excited!

The Pies have a tought task this week, Port Adelaide are starting to make some moves towards the 8 and have finally started to get that winning feeleing. Well, it all stops here. They'll leave Telstra Dome with their lightning bolts between their legs. Going to see the game with my Bro and a neighbour of his, we'll be the ones in the black and white gear, I'll make sure I wave to the cameras. Good news is that Eddie (channel 9) had to call Eddie (Collingwood Prez) to ask Eddie (Prez) if they could show the game live. There were hats flying all over the place at Eddie's mansion today. Why Live? So they can show the Tennis live and not miss a c'mon!!!
Round 14 Teams

Little Lleyton is through to the semis and as predicted, will play Roger Fedora. This will be either a classic grass court slam fest over 5 gruelling sets, or just another Roger whitewash. He's had the wood on Hewitt and I'm sure they both know it. Good luck anyway, Aussie Lleyton.

The cricketers are just creeping along, getting better with every game. The are playing the Bangers tonight and last I saw they had them at 5 for 80. Not too interested in that tonight, going to watch the amazing race soon. There may be a break in transmission.
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Still watching the Amazing Race, they are in India, oh boy the Kaos.
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Oh well, the old couple have made it through to the final 4 and the boyfriends have been booted.

So anyway.....

The Aussie girls lost in the netball last night. What the hell happened there? Irene Van Dyk is what happened there. She equalled the world record for test appearances, I'm sure she was a South African at one stage. Anyway, the Silver Ferns won 50-43, the Aussie were inaccurate and basically, stuffed it up.

That Andrew Bogut made Australian basketball history by becoming the first ever number 1 draft pick in the NBA. Great for him, but when he starts playing, the word on the street is that the rest of the players are gonna give him one hell of an introduction to the big leagues. He apparently shot his mouth off and slagged off some great Australian players as well as some yanks. Not the best move in the world, be interested to see how he goes though. He does have game.


Now, this guy is apparently coming to Melbourne Storm. Michael Crocker is his name and he's supposed to be good.
I'll need some Sydney siders input here. League is not my game.








And finally, what the hell is happening at Football Australia? Why sack the coach 5 months before we play some south american team (unknown as yet) for a place in the World Cup finals? Whoever takes on the job is on a hiding to nothing. Get Frank back, sack him if we don't make the finals. Typical of why this game will never get to where the other football codes are at in this country.

Game Over.

Buckley. My Hero.

Well, the great man made his return and short of kicking the winning goal, he played a brilliant captain's game. The scary thing is, that he thinks he can improve. It was another nail biter, with only 30 seconds to go, Didak had the chance to soccer through an unlikely goal, but the bastard of a ball skided away from him and slid through for a point. Let's not dwell on the timekeeping issue, that's been done to death and the offenders have been sacked.

This week we take on the premiers of last year, Port Adelaide. I think we are going to win this and I'm gonna get along and barrack as loudly as I can. GO PIES!!!!

Cricket.

And over in England, the Aussies are finally showing the poms how to play cricket. The press over there will soon have to change their tune as Ponting's boys show them the reason why they are world champions at both forms of the game.

Basketball.

The NBA final was eventually won by the Spurs, in a very entertaining final game, they pretty much seemed to fall over the line by a handful of points. They were behind mid way through the game, but fought back to regain the title.

Soccer.

Brazil v Argentina in the final of the confederations cup.

Tennis.

The Hewitt kiddy looks like he's going to make the semi-final at Wimbledon, where he is expected to play against Federer. I think LH has a mental block when he plays Roger, he just can't seem to get past him. C'mon Lleyton!!!

Buckley is back. Yeah!!!!!

Finally, the captain is back. It's been a wretched year for the skipper and finally he gets his chance to lead the team out since round 1. I for one am glad to see him back and would have loved to have been in the habour city to watch it, but things being things, we couldn't go this year. Maybe next year.

Round 13 team selections


Jim Clement has been in outstanding form this year, he is my favourite player. Leands by example and never gives up. He even thinks we can make the finals. I guess it is still mathematically possible (as the coodabeens would say).

James Clement speaks

The Tennis went as expected last night. When I heard Philapousis say that he was in good form (after round 1) and that he knew what he had to do to win and his attitude was right and blah and bling and so on, I just knew he was going to lose, especially after I found out he was playing the World no 2, Marat Safin. Well he lost, but not real badly, 7/6, 7/6, 6/4 is a pretty good score line. Not as the papers made out, that he was thrashed. It would seem to me that he only lost one service game in the third, how is that a trashing? Anyway, the Hewitt kiddy is still there and the only realistic chance of making the quarter finals.

For the benefit of my little one, here is the current ladder.
West Coast Eagles
Melbourne
Adelaide
Geelong
Kangaroos
Sydney Swans
Richmond
Port Adelaide
St Kilda
Brisbane Lions
Western Bulldogs
Fremantle
Collingwood
Essendon
Hawthorn
Carlton

Well, that's about it for tonight. Keeping an eye on the cricket, see if the Aussies can win a game.

See ya's.

Clokeeeey appears. 1977 style scanlans footy card.