NRL Season Just Moments Away!

Oddly enough I am really pumped for this up coming NRL season. As a Sharks fan I am letting the disappointments of 2008's late discharge from the season stay behind me and hoping that the Cronulla boys can finally get that monkey of their back. No premiership. It is embarrassing. But the Penrith Panthers proved in the late 80's you can turn things around. Although the league is a much different sport today then back then, the lessons are the same. With Trent Barrettat the helm I do believe he can add lots to the side in not only experience but a freaky revived form that is leaving people wondering just when will he cease to improve!

But this season will mark the fourth year of my tipping comp with Europcar. We are hoping to get at least 20 punters but I have found, for many various reasons, it is hard to get people motivated to join. It's really sad to see that some people just can't see how great a sport League is. Now I'm not going to draw direct comparisons to other codes and sports. But besides the speed, the historical background and the diversity of the teams involved in the sport my biggest drawcard to League is the courage and strength shown on field. No diving here thank you. None of this get taken off the field and come back on 2 minutes later after going down in a tackle. These guys, blood sweat and maybe tears, go to the sidelines after every game and thank their fans after most games. The media may beat them up on the sideline but it still doesn't ditract from the action on field.

I hope you wish to get involved and join in on the tipping comp. Just follow the link below and remember it's $25 to join for 2009. The comp ID is 162403 and the password is "green".

Europcar NRL Footy Tipping Comp 2009

Hooters Makes Rashid Happy

Long term rivals at our indoor cricket centre, "Grumpy Old Men", have gone and upstaged everyone by getting the ultimate in sponsorship deals. Grumpy Old Men have now grabbed an exclusive deal with Hooters Restaraunt (Parramatta), famous for their great looking staff and food!

 

Very hard to focus when two fine looking models are staring down the barrel. Not sure how the fulltime photographers do it!

Peeved Off at Cronulla Sharks

If it weren't for Cronulla Sharks (THAT'S MY THAT'S MY TEAM!) I would have had a perfect round in this week's footy tipping comp at work. Instead an upset in the form of a skeleton crew, Broncos, knocking over my team to ruin what would have been a nice way to end the weekend. Stupid stupid stupid Sharkies. I blame the Sharkettes. It's obvious they didn't cheer the boys on hard enough. Maybe they were too scared of the horse as it kept doing laps whenever the Broncos scored!

Ashes to Ashes

Sorry to bore those not interested in cricket but it is a historical moment. Think about 1989 for a moment. Mobile phones were only in Hollywood movies being used by the drug lords. Laptop computers were but a dream and Internet was something only hard core algarithm munching geeks delved into. But this is the last time England and the Barmy Army were able to lay claim to the Ashes. Allan Border and his men stole it from their shores and have held onto it till now. But an aging Australian side which has had little changes in those 15 years has seen the little urn lost to the dreaded enemy. Mind you the English fought hard to win it. Those Aussies were not going to simply hand it over.

 

So I'm just going to have a quiet drink... reflect on those 15 years and savour the victorious past the Aussies have given us. It shan't be long till we reclaim what was started by the Aussies in the very beginning!

You Play Like a Girl

Funny thing happened in Indoor Cricket last Tuesday. We got onto the court to field first and when the other team sent their 2nd batting pair in there was <<gasp>> A FEMALE PLAYER!  So who does the captain give the ball to first? Me of course. Now in 10 years of playing the sport I've only really played against maybe 4 or 5 female players in that whole time. So I figured if she wants to play in a mens competition then I'll bowl normal. After a couple of wides to her partner she finally had to face. First bowl comes out of my hand (a touch slower than the previous 2) and it ends up taking out middle stump! Do I celebrate like normal by punching the air? Do I cheer like normal? No... in fact it was kinda weird. No one said anything! LOL The whole team just kind of... stood there.

 

The last ball they had to face was a strange one too. The guy had to face and he just kind of walked up the pitch with only 1 hand on the bat and got bowled out. He apparently had the shits with us bowling "too fast" to the chick. We huddled around while waiting for the next batting pair to arrive and we asked "what was that about?" and when we found out he protested against our bowling I asked "is there a rule against that?" and the ring in player we had said "no stuff it... this is a Mens Division we bowl like men!" to that we all cheered and agreed!

 

The next day at work I gloated (jokingly) to a workmate "guess what I did the other night in cricket?" to which he normally rolls his eyes "I bowled a chick out!" which made his eyes light up instead. "EXCELLENT!" was the reply!

C'mon Aussie C'mon

Glad to see those Poms celebrating too early with the cricket. Because now they feel like real gooses. You never assume you've won the game till the umpire calls stumps! I haven't been able to watch the series with no pay TV. SBS have been televising it on some days but what's the point on a half telecast?

 

In other sports news... glad to see Ice Hockey will get a new season with the NHL and NHLPA finally waking up to their collective selves. Been too long since I watched a match but I might get to follow the NHL more closely this time round. Also hope that EA Sports don't produce a lame arse attempt like NHL 2005 was. Heard that they sacked the guy in charge of that disaster! Since 1991 this was the fisrt year I didn't complete the season in a EA Sports Hockey title. With the Hockey strike on at the moment the timing couldn't be worse for a dud game!

Another Game... Another Win!

I just got home tonight from a big win over long time rival team "Grumpy Old Men" in Indoor Cricket. I Played alright but geese my batting is suss right now. I got out 3 times but managed to to hit an unconvincing 6 to make up for it. I got to learn to stop trying to smash lolli pop bowling! I always stuff it up and get out in the process!

Head to www.blackouthouse.com for all the latest on Blackout - Indoor Cricket's Idols!

What's with AFL Rules?

Now let me get one thing straight here. I am not a big Aussie Rules supporter. I played the sport as a kid (several years with Bangor Tigers) but never had a fascination for the sport much beyond that. But watching the St Kilda vs Melbourne match today had me horrified at what has happened to the rules.

Here's the scenario; you have a ball high up in the air with two opposing team players under it to contest the mark. There's some grabbing, pushing and shoving as both players have their heads up anticipating the ball. Now one of the guys get the mark but thanks to some (quoting the commentator here) new AFL rules introduced this year, any contact between players contesting a mark shall be penalised. Why not just get it over and done with and give them all tutoo's? Make them perform Swan Lake or something. Seriously what is happening to our society? To top things off, if a player only touches an umpire, I mean simply to make contact not delibrately, then they'll be fined and have match bans placed on them.

A guy sues a local council because he dived into a natural sandbar and breaks his neck. He gets awarded millions too! It's a natural surrounding. It's not like the council built it. Life savers, warning flags and other such devices are only there help. But we BLAME them when something goes wrong. Is this kind of mentality slipping into the sporting world too? State of Origin football use to mean something when you knew there'll be a fight guaranteed. You knew that when players were that charged up there was nothing staged about it. But players get such a hard time from the press when involved in donny-brooks that they wouldn't even dare take on another player toe to toe in fear of fines and ridicule. We are living in such a sissy society now where we have non-contact contact sports. I pledge to you to help... toughen up our society. Lets weed out the wimps out and shut 'em down.