Great Britain's Not Great At All.

So the Olympics kicked off with a huge bang on Friday night.  It actually wasn’t too bad as far as Opening Ceremonies go.  I wasn’t bored out of my mind at all, which was a nice change.  Let’s hope London can keep it up and continue to put on a damn good show.  Shame about the ticketing balls up that has seen loads of empty seats at so-called ‘sold out’ events, but if they react quick enough hopefully they can solve this by giving tickets away to teachers, children, doctors, nurses and military folk etc.  Empty seats and a lack of atmosphere at each event looks shocking and must be disappointing for the athletes who have sacrificed their entire lives to get to the pinnacle of world sport.

The Chiefs and Crusaders were the first to play in the semi finals over the weekend of Super Rugby, you would have thought every player in each team had slept with their oppositions wives/girlfriends etc such was the anger and intensity of the match.  Forget that in two weeks time most of these lads will be sharing an All Blacks changing room with each other.  For that 80 minutes they hated the sight of their opposition jumper, and the man wearing it to boot.  The Crusaders were awful, yes the Chiefs deserve some credit for that, their defence was up quickly and their forwards made the Crusaders work for every bit of possession they could muster.  But a vintage Crusaders performance this was not.  Their game was littered with uncharacteristic errors that handed the ball over to the Chiefs at important times and more often than not with important territory also.  I got the feeling the Crusaders will feel they beat themselves in this game more than the Chiefs beat them.  They played horribly but were still in it right up until the final whistle and could have gone to extra time with a droppie in the dying seconds.  But alas it wasn’t to be and the Chiefs now find themselves with a home final.  A lift in their efficiency and performing their individual roles will be required to beat a classy looking Sharks side.  One thing they seem to have in spades is the aggression and intensity for a home Grand Final victory.

The Sharks v Stormers game was equally intense.  Both sides tore into each other again and even Bismarck went flying after being bumped off by the impressive Eben Etzebeth.  The Sharks are definitely playing the most complete rugby at the moment and beat the Stormers up.  When the time was right either went wide or that dirty little Frenchman Freddie would drop back to the pocket and attempt a droppie.  Fair enough, it’s playiff time after all.  With their loosies on fire at the moment, Freddie Michalak in the form of his career and JP Pietersen almost unstoppable, the Sharks look like a formidable challenge for the Chiefs.  Unfortunately for them I feel the travel will get the better of them.  Durban – Brisbane – Durban – Cape Town – Durban – Auckland – Hamilton is not what you would consider an ideal preparation for the biggest game of the season.  But hey, it’s why they get paid so much isn’t it? 

My pick is the Chiefs to win over a tiring and slow finishing Sharks who will not go down without a fight and land a few big punches in doing so.

I was going to talk about the Black Caps but they are too shit for words.  Pumped again, and no one to blame but themselves.  All batsmen got a start and then threw it away, the bowling was inconsistent and the fielding wasn’t even at it’s normal standard.  Back to the drawing board boys, you’re rubbish.

How come England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland compete in the Olympics as Great Britain?  Is this not a sporting event designed for countries from all over the world to compete in?  Since when was Great Britain a country?  I find it awfully funny how the Scots and Welsh claim they can’t stand the Poms, just like the rest of us, but when it comes to the Olympics they’re all buddy buddy and having a great time together.  Is this simply a way of England pretending they are more successful and better at sport than they really are?  By using two other countries talent and claiming it as their own?  Wales and Scotland should have a bit more respect for themselves and tell England to piss off.  Why if you were Scottish would you let the English claim Andy Murray as their own under the guise of being ‘British’?  Ok bad example if I was Scottish I let any country that wanted to claim Andy Murray do so, he’s a twat, but you get my point yeah?  I suspect all three of these countries are too afraid to fend for themselves in the Olympics as their individual results would be terrible for nations of their size and wealth.  I however have had enough and am calling for an end to this ridiculous notion of competing as Great Britain.  The Olympics are for countries to compete in, if you’re not a country you don’t compete, it’s as simple as that.  Split them up so the rest of the world can laugh and see how rubbish these countries are when they are called upon to fight for themselves and watch them fall well down the medal tally in doing so.

Rebecca Adlington has been copping it, even though she won a bronze.

You’ve gotta love Frankie Boyle.  He is a fantastic Scottish (see earlier paragraph on Great Britain) comedian, albeit a little crude at times.  You have to youtube him, or have a look on the video sidebar if you don’t know who he is, it will be worth it, I promise.  During the week he singled out one of the British swimmers (who last night happened to claim a bronze medal) as having an unfair advantage in her swimming races.  Now how is that possible I hear you ask, well I’ll let the quote speak for itself. "I worry that Rebecca Adlington will have an unfair advantage in the swimming by possessing a dolphin's face”.  Boyle has come under heavy criticism for the comment he made on Twitter, soon after he posted a reaction to comments suggesting he should apologise.  That went as follows: "I have an apology for the people of Britain. Sadly, it’s written on the end of my c**k in a braille you can only read with your tonsils''.  How’s that Britain thing working out for you guys again? 

Anyway I have been loving the Olympics, with the coverage on tv and 12 channels available online for free, I am wall to walling the Olympics.  Fingers crossed the Kiwis and Saffas can win a few more medals in the near future to make it a bit more exciting.

Over and out team, and remember;

Keep you eye on the ball, be it a handball, football, hockey ball, you get he picture.

Dollar Mixture.

What a week!

We’ve had guys peddling around some hills in France wearing clothing that should never be allowed out in public, the last few pre Olympic warm up games in just about every sport as people apply their finishing touches, F1 in Germany.  The Open, the New Zealand Cricket team continue to get thumped in the West Indies, while the Saffas continue to rodger the Poms, and we’ve just had the first round of playoffs in Super Rugby.  And that’s just the stuff that I care about.  Oh and plus the Magic wont the trans-tasman Netball comp, well done ladies.

It's what came up when I googled Olympic village parties,.  Honest!

The athletes are pouring into their private village now in London.  No cameras or reporters are allowed in and it seems to be a pretty special place.  The athletes have been comparing it to Sydney, which is widely recognised as the best all round Olympics thus far.  That is apart from the beds are too short for the sprinters, 4 bedroom apartments seem to generally only have one toilet and the food is pretty average, that’s despite there being about 1500 different dishes available.   And I’m sure that most beds are a bit small when you’re pushing 6ft 6inches tall, but life could be worse.  But I get the toilet thing, that must be a bit of a killer.  15000 odd athletes and 200000 odd condoms, sounds like it will be a pretty good two weeks for all involved.  You can understand these guys and girls letting their hair down after their events.  Chances are they have dedicated their entire life up until this point for the chance to compete in one event, and in some cases it doesn’t even last 10 seconds!  They deserve every bit of partying they can manage; I don’t think anyone can hold that against them.

I have to talk about the rugby in the weekend.  The first playoff games of Super Rugby got underway and they were two intriguing games.  The Bulls Crusaders game had promised so much but never really got going.  Firstly the Crusdaers didn’t really allow the Bulls into the game and secondly the Bulls never turned up.  They didn’t exhibit any of the traits that have made them such a formidable force over the last 4 or 5 years.  They were limp, lifeless and inaccurate in basically everything they did!  Their senior players Morne Steyn and Pierre Spies etc who have always led from the front were nowhere to be seen.    The Crusaders to their credit though refused to sink down to the Bulls level and played with a great deal of composure.  Their muted reaction to their victory surely points to the fact that these lads know what is in front of them and they must now be considered the favourite for the title.  Especially given the fact that the three other teams that are in the semi’s have never gone on and won the trophy before.

The Sharks Reds game was eerily similar in a lot of ways.  It was the Reds though, with the home advantage also, who didn’t turn up to play.  The Sharks completely outplayed and dominated the Reds, particularly in the first half.  The Reds were blown away in every facet of play.  Everything the Sharks threw stuck, every tackle forced the Reds backwards, the scrum buckled them back over their heels and the lineout was towering.  Such was their dominance they must be backing themselves to head back to the Republic, put their feet up for the week and crush the Stormers in Cape Town who don’t possess the all round game that the Sharks can produce.  The problem for the Sharks (aside from the travel) has been the ability to maintain these types of performances week in and week out.  They have definitely improved that in the second half of this season but the question remains whether or not they will be able to deliver when it really counts, at playoff time.

Serious questions have to be asked of Ewen McKenzie, who is normally so tactically sound and probably the best coach in Australia.  Why on earth he shifted Will Genia out to 1^st 5 when Ben Lucas became injured instead of playing Mike Harris (a flyhalf).  In playoff rugby you need your best players playing in their best positions, especially when he happens to be the best in the world in that position.  Genia’s control and influence on the game was severely reduced once he had been shifted out one place and the back up halfback was so slow in his decision-making and delivery it was atrocious.   McKenzie must surely be ruing his decision as the Reds were never really in the contest once this change was made and they only dug themselves deeper and deeper as the game progressed.

So we are guaranteed a SA vs NZ final.  Which is fitting if we are honest.  The Aussie Conference has been a joke all season, and whilst their administrators and anybody connected with the game can’t publicly say so, deep down they must have concerns about the success and state of the game in Australia.  Realistically NZ and South Africa deserved to have three teams in the finals each and not one team from Australia should have made it.  But hey, they only lasted 80 minutes anyway I guess.  Sharks vs Crusaders for the final and Crusaders to win it overall?

The F1 in Germany today, and how good is it to see Ferrari at the top of the charts and old mate Schumacher there or thereabouts again as well, even if it is in a Mercedes.  In his third season back at the top he has yet to record a win, but this season he looks as though he is getting back into his groove.  It would be a big call to rule out the 41 year old getting back on top of the podium this season, especially given the roating door policy of race winners this year.  My fingers are definitely crossed.  As for this afternoon Alonso held off spirited challenges from both Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel but in the end he and his prancing horse proved to good for the rest of the field.  Button was controversially overtaken by Vettel in the closing laps, with Vettel having his car completely off the track as he passed Button.  Post race; and Button was clearly upset and an appeal had been lodged with the FIA.  The rules clearly state that you cannot pass a car with all four wheels off the track so hopefully Vettel is punished harshly.  Drivers using more of the tarmac than they are supposed to have become a blight on the sport and measures need to be taken to discourage such antics.  Perhaps a return to corner markers that do damage to the cars when struck are called for.  Let the pace continue to be set by Alonso and his Ferrari team, please can it continue.

It’s been a cracker weekend for the Saffas given their complete dominance over England in the cricket and it has been topped off just moments ago by ‘The Big Easy’ closing out The Open, the British Golf major for those of you who weren’t sure.  Ernie Els held his nerve with a birdie on the 18^th while the Aussie Adam Scott capitulated with four consecutive bogeys in his final round.  Well done Sir, it’s been a long time since Ernie was in the winners circle and it’ s nice to see one of the elder statesmen get another shot in the limelight at the oldest event in Golf.

That’s all from me team, keep your eye on the ball. 

Congratulations, Consternation and Commiseration's.

It’s been an interesting week in sport that has just passed.  There are/were to be congratulations, commiserations and consternation at what has happened.

Dave Taylor (background) flicking the bird to the NSW players.

Firstly to the congratulations.  What a series this years State of Origin was. All three matches were as tight as ever and all three seemed to have an added sense of physicality compared to passed years as well.  Perhaps due to the New South Welshman actually believing they had a shot this year.  Again the Queenslanders got it done when it counted and won with a dropped goal with only a few minutes left in the final match, thanks to Cooper Cronk.  Nate Myles was a questionable Man of the Series, an award that probably should have gone to Jonathan Thurston, but there’s some of that consternation creeping in.  Pleasing to see also, was the passion that the players in the extended squad had for the game as well.  Big Dave Taylor was caught on camera flicking the bird to the Cockroaches after the final hooter.  He has since been sanctioned for doing so, even though he was in the crowd.  It seems a bit sad that a player can be sited and punished for doing something that perhaps more than half the crowd had done at some stage during the game.  How is the crowd to be punished for their behavior?  It’s all a bit harmless isn’t it?  Was anyone really offended by it?

A massive congrats has to go out to The Fed Express.  He was back and playing at his most glorious best.  What a site he was in the midst of breaking down that filthy ginger, whinging, Scots Man.  How desperate are England for a hero?  He's the great British hope when he's winning, then, as soon as he loses he's back to being a Scot.  FYI he’s not from your country and weather you like it or not the term Great Britain is so outdated it’s not funny.  He is the epitome of a sore loser, shows little to no modesty in victory and is like a spoiled child when he loses. Grow up you wanker!  Sorry about the rant.  I did find it a bit funny how the roof wasn’t closed before the match started.  This is the biggest game of the year on grass in the world, the whether looks unsurprisingly average in London, but hold on, “No no no, let’s leave the roof open, it might help the sour kid that we are all cheering on”.  How’d that work out for you noble Wimbledon folk? But congratulations Roger, my fingers are crossed you can win an unbelievable 20 Majors before your time is up.

I must have another whinge about the Aussies here while I’m on the job as well.  Kurtley Beale has been officially charged with assault and is still allowed to continue to be available to play.  How many times must the ‘3 Musketeers’ of he, Quade Cooper and James O’Connor set a bad example for every other professional sportsman and child before they are taken aside and given a damn good slapping.  As mentioned earlier, Dave Taylor got sanctioned for pulling the fingers from the crowd, Kurtley Beale is in trouble with the law for not the first time and nothing happens.  You’re a disgrace ARU and the sooner you grow some balls the better.  I know you’ve got bigger concerns than your current players behavior, but maybe if you sort your players out know, kids growing up might actually strive to be in the Wallabies, rather than have their parents looking at them with disgust and convincing their children to play one of the many other sports that Rugby competes with in a crowded sporting market.  The only people who are going to lose out are yourselves as everybody switches allegiance to another code once and for all.

How bad does this year get for the Blues?  Even with a convincing 32-9 win over the Force, who were robbed of their two best players in Nathan Sharpe and David Pocock just before kick off, every player and the coaches must be praying for the final whistle of the year next weekend.  They are so desperate they even bought back Orene Ai’i for the last couple of games.  Ai’i, I’m unreliably told is turning 63 next month and is still going to be turning out for the Blues.  New Zealand’s largest player base in Auckland must be cringing at the fact that they can’t find anybody better to draft into the Blues for a couple of games.   Is there seriously that little talent available? At least they are playing hardball with Rudi Wulf, who wants to break a contract for a third time in almost as many years.  Grow up Mr Wulf, you have made a commitment to two years in NZ, you have only served one of those.  At 28 there is still plenty of time for you to head away to France again and cash in after next season.  The Blues and Auckland Rugby in general need a total revamp of the Office and Boardroom staff and to review all structures involved from grassroots rugby for 5 year olds through to Super Rugby.  The question is; Will the Aussie Rugby Union or Auckland Rugby Union be first to realize they have massive problems than run right through every orifice of their organisations.

Sonny Bill you coward.  Why are you so scared of making a real commitment to one sport and building your legacy to ensure that you will go down as a legend?  Instead you have turned yourself into a mercenary of the truest sense.  Leave NZ Rugby, take a brief contract in Japan for one season, throw in a couple of Boxing Bouts and then back to Rugby League, all in the space of 6 months!  Presumably only for a couple of years though, perhaps include playing in the League World Cup for the Kiwis and then try and comeback for the All Blacks 2015 defence in England.  Part of me thinks, fair enough he does only have a limited time in top-level sport and I’m not sure I wouldn’t chase the money as he does.  But the other half can’t help but think about what talent is being wasted by a player manager who is driving one year contracts, leaving a trail of destruction most places they go all the while building the bank balance as much as possible.  Sonny Bill you are dangerously close to out-marketing yourself.  You could be a super star in any sport, but you have to stay in one for long enough to do so.  The more you chop and change the more you risk that never happening, as people will begin to resent you for doing so. 

Finally, congratulations to Jimmy Cowan on playing your last game for the Highlanders.  You endured many tough years in the deep south but always stuck it out and dug in.  The last couple of seasons have been more befitting of a player who has given so much and has always possessed a never say die attitude.  Enjoy your time playing overseas, you have deserved it after completing 10 seasons back home.

That’s all this week team.

As always; Keep your eye on the ball.

Spain, Pain and Usain.

Spain, you dirty little b%^((£ds!  Italy was supposed to win that competition.  Euro 2012 came to a close last night with Spain absolutely smashing Italy 4-0 in a game where at times it looked like Spain had twice as many players on the pitch as Italy did.  Italy were chasing shadows while Spain poured through with numbers in both attack and defence.  It was embarrassing, and you got the feeling that Italy had played their final 3 days earlier in a brilliant performance against Germany.  Mario Balotelli was nowhere, and clearly not in the mood to hang around.  After the match he pushed and shoved his way past officials to pack a paddy by himself in the changing rooms, it did look more than a little Tigeresque, the way he threw his toys.  But hats off to Spain, they thoroughly deserved the win and maintained their stranglehold on world football which they have had over the last 4 or so years.  They were so good last night I think they would have even beaten Brazil 4-0 and that’s saying something.  Perhaps it was a good example for the rest of the world.  See how good your national team can be when all of your best players are playing alongside each other week in and week out instead of having your club sides filled with foreign players.

I know it’s a bit random to begin with football, but hey, I’m stuck in Turkey and watching anything else is tough!

Old mate Rog, hopefully cruising to another title at Wimbledon.

Apparently Wimbledon is on again and is starting to warm up.  Does anyone really watch the early rounds of Grand Slams?  Although I must admit I did take a large amount of pleasure in seeing Rafa Nadal being kicked out nice and early in the 3^rd Round.  Let’s hope Roger can get up and finally win another major or two.  I would love to see him take this one out, although it is not going to be easy having to get passed both Murray and Djockovic in order to get to the top.  Fingers crossed.  I was reading the other night about Marin Cillic played out the 2^nd longest game ever two nights ago and managed to crawl over the line after a 5 and a half hour marathon game of tennis.  Unbelievably the longest ever match at Wimbledon was in 2010 and went for an incredible 11 hours and 5 mins.  Bugger that.

Good to see the NZ Cricket team has picked up where it left off by getting pumped by the West Indies.  The ‘Windies’ are ranked 5 places below the Kiwi’s in T20, and let’s be honest 5 places is a lot in Cricket.  That pretty much leaves powerhouse cricket nations such as The Netherlands, Bermuda and Canada below them, yet they cruised passed the BlackCaps with a 50 run win!  There’s hardly even enough time in 20/20 to win by 50.  It looks like it might be a long tour of the Caribbean for the Kiwi’s with their Captain and arguably best player Ross Taylor likely to be heading home after injuring his shoulder in the field in the first match.  Not an ideal beginning when you are coming off three months holiday boys.

Super Rugby kicked back into gear this weekend and there were some games that were as close to Test Match intensity as you will ever see.  The Chiefs and Highlanders game, the Crusaders – Hurricanes and the Bulls and Cheetahs played out a cracker as well.  The Chiefs, Stormers and Brumbies look to have the top 3 spots all sewn up, but with only two more rounds of round robin left it will be interesting to see who can manage to pull it together and claim the last 3 wild card spots which are basically all still up for grabs.  There are 5 maybe 6 teams at a push looking to claim those last three places.  If the Sharks can get up over the Bulls things will become even more cramped, although I don’t see this happening as the Bulls have been putting better performances in as the season has progressed and the Sharks have run so hot and cold all year they could be taking too much advice from their resident Frenchman in Freddie Michalak. 

The hard luck story of the week has to go to Andre Pistorious who has missed out on qualifying for the Olympics by the slimmest of margins.  ‘The Blade Runner’ as he is known was .22 of a second away from qualifying for the 400m at the able bodied Olympics.  Not a bad effort for someone who is missing both his legs from above the knee.  Usain Bolt just lost to the man who claimed his World Champion title last year as well.  Bolt was disqualified from the 100m at the World Champs for too many false starts on that occasion.  However this time round he didn’t blow the start but the race.  Yohan Blake beat Usain again in the 200m at the Jamaica Nationals.  So fast was the 100m that even third placed Asafa Powell qualified for the Olympics as well.  It definitely makes for an interesting 100m final, could it be a Jamaica 1,2,3?  I wouldn’t be betting against it, that’s for sure.

P.S. C’mon Queensland!

Keep your eye on the ball team.