Blogging politics, culture, sociology and life from Brisvegas
Here it is - by popular request.
Being a Quincelander of a certain age, I know stuff all about AFL but I gather it has something to do with Leda and the Swan. Greek mythology is always a good topic! But discuss away to your hearts’ content.
On the other sporting news, why does Hayden still have his spot (proving I’m not a parochial banana-bender!)…?
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Go West Coast.
OK - you can close the thread now.
why does Hayden still have his spot?
So Justin Langer doesn’t cry.
I’m from the ‘we’re fucked’ school of support for the Sydney Swans. Not because I don’t think they’ll perform, but because supporting Sydney is always an exercise in self-denial and auto-inflicted hardship. St Paul would have been a Swans supporter. Oh, and then there are the umpires…
I’m with Liam. Supporting the Swans has always been hard work. Anyone who followed them through the early 90s knows this.
Forget the umpires, though, Liam. Sydney had half the free kicks of the Saints and still won.
When next we paly for the Ashes and are thrashed only Ponting & Clarke will have played in England this year!
Hurrah for the slectors! Now drop Katich and Im happy.
Tony, the early 1990s were an amazing time to be a Sydney supporter. You could get a seat anywhere you wanted, you could put your feet up and have a whole row to yourself, the buses to the SCG were empty, there was never any problem getting tickets, it was sweet.
Oh! The pain of success!
I’m with Mark. Hayden better score a ton each innings against the Rest of the World. He deserved the chop as much as Martyn.
The elevation of Watson suggest that the Aussies are trying to find a Flintoff. Watson so far has shown too much to recommend him. Flintoff is one of a kind and we are better off finding a top order that can dig in. Come back Tugger!
As for the AFL, I jump on and off the Swans bandwagon so I won’t say much more than the seats have been redone since last time.
Go Swannies!
It’s good pain, Liam!
I’ve thrown out the averages, but Hayden’s ended up being one of about 6 Australian batsmen who bettered 30. Martin, OTOH, was on 19 I think. Katich was incorrectly given out three times.
The main difference in the averages was the scoring rate, where the Poms were noticeably faster. Plus the fact that we only had two bowlers who performed. Lee took wickets, but at 42 a piece, which was more than any of our batsmen averaged.
Tony wrote: “Supporting the Swans has always been hard work. Anyone who followed them through the early 90s knows this.”
I supported them when them when they first came to Sydney in the days of Capper and Edelstein (?sp). THEY were lonely days but at least myself and the other 10 or so supporters certainly had our choice of seats and there was no line at the refreshment counters. The big problem was the seemingly constant after-game depression … it’s good to see those early days have been largely buried by the successes. Now that I live in the Blue Mountains, it’s time for a second team based in Penrith - getting to Sydney games can be a logistic nightmare.
PS to Mark (or is it Robert who is the tech person for redrag?) - it seems this site somehow does not recognise changed gravatars. I have never seen this happen anywhere else.
the average age of the cricket team in the Ashes tour was HIGHER than the lawn bowls team!!
Didn’t one of the Chappelles play lawn bowls?
As for the Aus cricket team. Hayden is very lucky to still be there. Needs at least a century to hold his spot.
I’m worried that they want Watson to be a Flintoff. There’s nothing worse than playing a second rate player in your team because you think a winning team needs a particular class of player. Sure they’re great but we got by for the last 10 years as world champions without one so I don’t see why we need one now if there is no top class one around. It’s a bit like everyone trying to find a Warne you, you don’t put a second rate leggie in your team because the best team has a world class one.
Disappointing to see no Tendulkar for the series.
Watson is a good batsman with a great technique given his back I susoect he wil only ever be a useful bowler.
Allrounders rarely work.
Miller had a poor batting record, Sobers a poor bowling record.
Even Botham, the greatest of all time had moderate batting and bowling averages.
this is because it is VERY hard to maintain concentration.
If your team bats first well and god and you should bat well but if you bowl and ddo 20 odd overs you are tired by the time you are batting.
It makes botham’s effort of 10 wickets and a century simply breath-taking
What about a discussion of selection in the football? The horse-trading begins not long after everybody sobers up from Grand Final day.
Jason Ball is retiring, Sydney will need another new ruck—Everett! Don’t tell my why it can’t happen. Failure is not an option.
Oh, and who wants Byron Pickett and Yze? They’re packing their bags.
Miller had a poor batting record? Turn it up. The man averaged a skerrick under 40, which is well ahead of Healy, Rod Marsh, Geoff Marsh, Kim Hughes….and I think he actually had a higher average than Victor Trumper. His figures compare favourably with Mark Waugh, too.
Benaud’s batting was not quite so spectacular - from memory I think he averaged about 27 - but then he was batting much lower than Miller.
Typo in an earlier post. If should have been “Watson so far has not shown much to recommend him.”
And it seems that Watson himself wants to be the new Flintoff.
And Homer I a good all rounder can turn a game. I’d say Miller, Sobers and Imran Kahn (Not to forget Botham) were all very handy in their day.
All rounders are fantastic if you can find one. However, if an all rounder can’t hold his spot as either just a bowler or a batsmen then they aren’t worth having. Essentially he must be either one of your best six batsmen or best four bowlers, or you are better off finding someone else. The great all rounders could hold their spot as either. I’m not sure Watson would qualify as either at batsman or a bowler.
When Geoffrey Edelsten was running the Swans, I made up the following riddle:
Q. What has 36 legs and a loud quack?
A. The Sydney Swans.
Also, there is apparently some controversy over who’s going to sing the national anthem at the Grand Final, with Delta Goodrem being shoehorned in at the expense of the less well-known but very talented Silvie Paladino, under questionable circumstances. See http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/in-joyful-strains-then-let-her-sing/2005/09/21/1126982123395.html
What amazes me is that either singer would have any enthusiasm for singing such a musically mediocre song. Now if it was the European Union anthem or the Russian national anthem, I could understand.
Ron - your gravatar has duly changed!
Miller’s average was aroud 36.
He never won a test match with the bat. neither did Khan.Sobers never won a match with the ball.
Like most non-WC fans I’ll be barracking for the Swans, although WC probably have more talent. Not much between them though with WC percentage of 124% and Sydney 116% for the season.
Rocca and Cloke(but not Jonathon Brown)must be feeling a bit miffed at Hall and Gaspar playing a GF tomorrow. 176 players from 8 teams have played finals footy so far, some in 3 finals, facing the same pressure to win as Hall and Gaspar, yet none engaged in flouting the rules of the game like those 2 players. To receive no game penalty was an insult to at least 174 finals players. Noone wanted to see Hall miss a GF, but under the current tribunal system he should have. There was another system of punishment for Hall and Gaspar though. A third umpire panel of say 3, could have viewed the incidents on tape and come to a swift decision on the day. In Hall’s case, he could have paid say a 15 min penalty off the field, without replacement, at the next available stoppage of play. That would have seen the Saints benefit from his midemeanour and Hall playing in the GF, if the Swans were still good enough to win. It’ll be very interesting now if Barry decks a WC player/s in the GF and the Swans get over the line in a close one, as a result.
Homer, please mate, put your opinions away when they’ve got no basis in fact. Never won a Test with the bat? Geez, have another look. How about the Victory Test where cracked 155 in even time?
And his average of 36 is better than a lot of the folks I named, and is in the ballpark of some players regarded as great. That’s averagin 36 on unsovered pitches, in differing light conditions to what we now play under, with new balls more often, having bowled for 20-30 overs. I think he can hold his own in the batting stakes, mate.
One of the best 5 cricketers this country has ever produced….up there with Lillee, Warne, Bradman and probably Benaud, although the 5th spot is a matter for dsipute…
Luke, victory tets were not tests.
He never won a test with the bat.
mot hard to understand given the bowling he did. He hit few tons and they were not matchwinning.
If he had batted at no.6 instead of 4 it may have made a difference.When he had a lot of bowling to do it took it out of him.In 48 Lindwall and Tallon had a better average.
Have a great time, Naomi!
Kim’s on hols too - at Mt Tambourine.
I’m jealous!
homer, you are doing the cricket equivalent of moving the goal posts (and what is that exactly? Moving the stumps? Changing the sight screen?)
Phew! Back home just in time to make a comment - never thought I’d have to drive 500km to get onto LP. Thanks to Mark for opening the thread (I just thought he’d tell me to sod off!), but no amount of trying could make any one of three public internet access facilities in Townsville work properly! So my temporary technical love affair with public access is now officially over.
I’ll say only this:
1. They’ve figured out Hayden, so he’s stuffed now on anything but flat-top belters. It’s why he could never hold a spot in the team in the 90’s. Be one of the only batsmen not retiring to be dropped while averaging better than 50, but that’s why they call it a precedent - gone
2. Marto’s never been solid in the team no matter how well he went, and I think he’s out of luck - gone
3. Katich is a low talent grafter, which is sometimes OK (see “Justin Langer”), but he doesn’t make the cut on ability. And I can’t see us ever taking on the English habit of appointing captains who can’t play (see “Mike Brearley”) - gone
4. Dizzy & Kasper are finished with as well - gone
5. Gilly will survive, & I think is good enough to work the problems out of his technique. Ponting will survive as captain.
6. We’re in real trouble in the bowling department
I’ll be cheering for the Eagles, being an old Perth boy, but I think the Swans will pip them in the last quarter - they just don’t ever chuck it in and go away, and being thereabouts at 3/4 time will be enough.
shaun, that’s over
Two words, Tony - laptop, WiFi.
You heard it first on LP - and what a game!
Right, now that little diversion is out of the way. Let’s talk real footy.
Go Tigers!
Spot on Tony. And what a great game. Best GF since ‘89.
Oh dear. My condolences Shaun.
Um, rugby league was the winner on the day.
(Go Tigers!)
Sorry I couldn’t meet up with you Shaun, I arrived late and couldn’t get past the wall of North Queensland supporters where I was sitting to get out at half time.
But then, had I been able to come and say hello, would I have been able to get past the flood of your tears?
Thanks Amanda. I may recover by Christmas.
The worse thing was walking past the mass of Cowboys supporters leaving the ground. Good on ‘em but it is a bitter hollow feeling.
Try for the beer next time Liam. I think I’m going to mope around some more.
No tears Liam. It is like 2001 but worse for some reason. Yes I know it is just a game and there are more important, sadder things in the world but I’m going to be irrational dammit.
Did anyone notice that in the AFL Grand Final after-game presentations and speeches, the Swans were called South Melbourne? Only once did I hear Sydney mentioned. How long will it be, if ever, before the Swans are really considered a Sydney team? Perhaps it’s a good argument for a brand new team, second Sydney team (preferably based in Penrith
).
And how long have the Swans’ jumpers had SMFC on the back of them? I’ve never noticed it before.
(PS Thanks, Mark, for the gravatar fix.)
Ron: they’ll be considered a Sydney team the very next time they’re playing a Melbourne team. Simple.
Oh, and the SMFC has been there for two years, a lot of the clubs have them. Brisbane have BBFFC (Brisbane Bears/Fitzroy Football Club).