Spectator Sport

The Shit Storm

2010-04-23T16:46:00.005+10:00

The Storm has pretty much done a “fuck you” to the entire rugby league code. The full extent of the salary cap scandal only hit me at 11pm when I got home from work. Last thing I knew betting on the wooden spoon had been suspended in the morning. I get home and its pandemonium. At first I thought give the Eels and Manly the premierships that were stripped from the Storm but then I thought, hang on... the Broncos were knocked out of the competition by the Storm in the semis. It could have been a Broncos v Eels Grand Final. The Storm didn’t just cheat the Eels and Manly out of a premiership but they cheated the entire code, players, fans and staff. It does, however, make the Broncos premiership in 06 and the Manly premiership in 08 more special. Not only did they beat out 14 other clubs, they beat a illegally star-studded Storm team.

Like many league fans I am confused. How was this allowed to go for 5 years? How is it the players, coach, board, didn’t know it was going on? Doesn't it state how much they are getting paid in their contracts? If they're getting paid a different amount than what is stated on the contract shouldn’t they know? What happens to the players pay now? Do they still get paid over the salary cap because the contract dictates it or does they're pay get cut? Do they throw all the contracts? The legal ramifications of this scandal are massive (and I’m not just saying that because I’m a law student). If the player don’t get paid what the contracts says then the club is in breach of contract. They have operated immorally corporation under Commercial law, not to mention the mention criminal charges for white collar crime and fraud.And what of the rest of the 2010 season?

I think its unfair that teams still have to beat the storm to get the points. What if it comes down to the last few games of the season and, say the Raiders, need the point to be in the top eight. They will still be playing an unfairly advantaged Storm team and if they loose they won make the eight. I think they should do what they did with Juventus, after the match fixing scandal. Let all the players out of their contracts. Start new contracts. If players want to leave that should be their right because they were betrayed. I know I wouldn't want to play for a club after that. If they want to stay, write up a new contract and pay them under the salary cap. Teams playing the Storm should get a bye. The Storm players can chose to go to another team and be paid less, so they can be accommodated under that teams salary cap or stay at the Storm for what they are worth but not be able to play first grade till next year.

As for the Storm fans, I do feeling for them. That’s not an easy thing for me to say. On every other day I hate the Storm and their fans. I feel shocked and cheated. I can’t imagine what the fans are feeling. If that were Broncos I would cry, be angry and start looking for a new team. I dunno that I could support a team that has been disgraced in such a fashion. I have no doubt the NRL will recover from this catastrophe. It has loyal fans and 15 other teams that play to the rules. The same cannot be said about the Storm. The Melbourne Storm finally established a platform for themselves after years of struggling as the only league team in an AFL dominated state. Now all that hangs in the balance. Only time will tell if the club can continue to survive.

-Alps

Super 14, 2010 or 'My Ode to the New South Wales Waratahs'

2010-02-10T12:15:00.011+11:00

So, 2010 is a month and a half in and we've had little to celebrate on the sporting front (it's mainly just been dull cricket but that's an entirely different kettle of fish). However, we're beginning to find solace in the fact that the Super 14 is about to start. 3 of the greatest rugby nations will be playing off against each other in what shall be a spectacular end to the Super 14 competition as we make way for the Super 15 with the introduction of the 5th Australian team - the Melbourne Rebels.

As we wait 2 more days for the first few matches, we (being the 3 countries aforemention [actually probably just myself and a few others...]) are eagerly anticipating some fantastic rugby. Now I can't be sure on my facts, i've become lazier in my researching skills so this is mainly just guesswork, but I think we're in for a big year. I don't want to peak to early and have to eat my words but I definitely will say this, the Waratahs will win the competition, with the Stormers as runners-up. There have been whispers that it will be the ACT Brumbies who will be the most successful Australia team but to that I say "You make a fair and researched point based on statistics and player quality, but i'm a lot more biased than you so shove off, this is my blog".

Now let's not waste people's time and talk about games that no one cares about (although methinks the Blues vs Hurricanes game on Friday will be a good one). The Queensland Reds vs the NSW Waratahs. Round one will be the local derby round, or the Festival of Hate, with the Brumbies also playing the Force. New Waratahs coach, Chris Hickey, has made some surprising selections for his first round team, most notably Dean Mumm at 6 rather than in second row (not all that surprising as he's good at both but he and Will Caldwell are such a good pairing it seems silly to separate them). We see the debut game for six players - Berrick Barnes (10), Cam "Kiwi Jam" Jowitt (who? 5), Drew Mitchell (11), Sosene "I'm actually from New Zealand" Anesi (15), with Rory Sidey and Kane Douglas warming the bench. We also see the return of some familiar faces. Our fearless leader, Phil Waugh, is back with a vengeance hoping to lead his troops to glory. Kurtley Beale has been safely cleared to play after a nasty assault charge which will be heard in court in June. Our darling props, Al Baxter and Bennnnnnnn Robinson, return to hopefully be the pillars of our scrum and add some much appreciated team spirit. Will Caldwell will also be back after being diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and having the best part of last year away from the game.

No matter what line up takes the field, I'd like to think that the Waratahs will win against the Reds anyway. However, let's not get complacent. Sure, the Reds former best player, Barnes, is now playing for us, but that doesn't mean they won't have a little bit of fight left in them. Yet it all just seems too hard to believe. Quade "effing" Cooper would never upstage or outclass Barnes and the youth that Queensland are putting us up against seem like no match to the depth that the NSW selectors are introducing to the team. Whatever is said before the game will be answered on Saturday evening in Suncorp Stadium.

Oh, and about the other Australian game. It's only the Force and the Brumbies so who cares?

The team that's taking on QLD is:

Benn Robinson
Tatafu Palota-Nau
Al Baxter
Will Caldwell
Cam Jowitt
Dean Mumm
Phil Waugh
Wycliff Palu
Luke Burgess
Berrick Barnes
Drew Mitchell
Kurtley Beale
Tom Carter
Lachlan Turner
Sosene Anesi
Damien Fitzpatrick
Sekope Kepu
Kane Douglas
Ben Mowen
Josh Holmes
Daniel Halangahu
Rory Sidey

- Splex

PS: If you like the Waratahs even half as much as I do then you should head to: GoTheTahs...DOT COM!

NB: Apologies for the somewhat ranting and biased nature of that. It's been a long time since I've had to string together some decent writing that is over 140 characters.

The SuperHotBowl

2010-02-10T00:21:00.004+11:00

In the wake of the Saints winning the Superbowl i thought i would share with everyone some of the hotties from the NFL. Included is the Superbowl winning Reggie Bush. Reggie Bush like Brad Pitt and George Clooney is the subject of many man-crushes (hetro men adore them).
Then there is Tom Brady and Wes Welker, who play for the Patriots. Tom Brady is considered to be one of the best quarterbacks of the decade. He has a long standing rivalry with Payton Manning, whom he is always compared to, but Brady wins in my books cause Manning is ugly and Brady is hot. Then there's Miles Austin, a Dallas Cowboy wide reciever, who was selected for the 2010 probowl.

On the other side of spectrum there is Brady Quinn, arguably the shitest Quaterback playing for the shitest team, the Cleveland Browns. It's a good thing he's blessed with good looks cause he doesn't have much going for him. It's also a good thing that the poeple of Cleveland have a successful basketball team to follow, in the Cavilier,s because they're not going to be winning Superbowls anytime soon. In a similar vain, Matt Leinart although hot, is the back up quaterback for the Arizona Cardinals. They're the team that features Australian punter Ben Graham. Shit now, he does have potential. Leinart won the Heisman Trophy in 2004, awarded to the best college player, and is tipped to replace Kurt Warner as starting Quarterback for the 2010 season.

So people lets have a perve.

The State of Aussie Cricket

2010-02-08T22:44:00.013+11:00

With much of the cricket season behind us it's time to reflect on the year that was...or in my case launch a scathing attack on Cricket Australia. As a cricketing nation we have fallen from invincibility to mediocrity. We lost to all the nations that matter; losing to India, South Africa at home and losing the Ashes AGAIN. Then we complain about the lack of competitiveness playing the West Indies and Pakistan. Maybe we should stop complaining and just be glad we're winning for a change. The truth is Australia is not as great a cricketing nation as we once were. That is to be expected after the exodus of legendary players, Mathew Hayden, Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Glen McGrath who contributed to Australia to wining 16 consecutive test matches.

Since their departure cricket Australia has adopted a 'building for the future' policy. In theory, selecting skilled youngsters to fill the void left by cricketing greats. It is not exactly a policy i agree with. Cricket Australia should select players who are best suited in their roles, regardless of age. Instead older more experienced players like Jacques, Clark and McGill were overlooked for selection because they were 'too old'. McGill would have been the logical replacement for Warne but was often selected reluctantly or overlooked all together until he retired. Clark who served Australia so well after being groomed as the next McGrath was over looked this summer and likely never to play for Australia in another test. Phil Jacques who scored 171 for NSW last week should have been recalled instead of Watson for the Ashes (not that Watson hasn't been doing a good job) or replaced Katich at the SCG this summer when he was injured. Just imagine the bowling attack with Lee and Clark with the new ball. Clark is always consistent with line and length and Lee scary has hell with his speed then Johnson as the first change bowler. Then Hauritz and Lee with the old ball for spin and reverse swing.

The building for the future policy, however is not without its merit. In England Ben Hilfenhaus really established himself as Australia's premier swing bowler. In Australia we saw the emergence of Doug Bollinger and Hauritz cement his position as Australia's Spinner. But Cricket Australia has been inconsistent with it selection. Graham Manou who played during the Ashes is 30, two years younger than Haddin whom he is suppose step in for when Haddin retired or Ryan Harris who despite being very skilled is 30 and only just starting his international career. If your going to over look great players such has Nathan Bracken in the one dayers and cite 'building for the future' atleast choose players who are in their 20's, like Henriques or Steve smith.

We have also come to expect nothing less than perfection, a very high expectation for inexperienced youngster. As soon as a player doesn't get a high score or a bunch of wicket in consecutive games we're calling for them to be dropped. Hughes, North, Ferguson, Siddle, Hauritz and Hussey have all faced such criticism this summer. Can you imagine the calling for Shane Warne or McGrath to be dropped because they've had a few dry spells. This sink or swim approach is not conducive to developing young players. Experienced players like Hussey can put it behind them but younger players don't have the same mental toughness. For example Phillip Hughes has the technique and ability to make it as an international opening batsmen but mentally he can't deal with the pressure of having to perform every time he steps on to the pitch. Hughes and North didn't make it much easier for themselves with blistering debuts, only increasing the weight of expectation. If Cricket Australia is adamant on this building for the future then they should give these kids a go and take the axe away from above their heads. As with all professional athletes they respond better when they are confident. We should trust in their ability and let them find themselves on the pitch without expecting them to be Mathew Hayden or Glen McGrath.

So Cricket Australia, either select the player that is performing the best or be consistent in selecting young blood for the future and staying with them. Since i have alot of free time i have compiled two squads for you. The first squad including a test and one day team is selected on who i believe should be playing for Australia because they are the best suited for the job regardless of age (and injury), selecting experience over youth. All those selected have represented Australia at some point. The second squad i have selected is based on the 'building for the future' policy. Most of these players will be in their 20's and full of potential. If they haven't played for Australia already they probably will in a few years.

Click the table to actually read the names.

- Alpii

10 Outstanding Individuals

2009-12-07T10:36:00.027+11:00

Here at Spec Sports we have been guilty of team sport bias. Most our posts and all of our dream teams have been about about team sports (more specifically football and cricket). Since we can't exactly do a dream team on individual sports, we've altered our team selection criteria, and have selected, in no particular order, ten good looking, talented and current individual athletes.

Surfing

Kelly Slater
Kelly Slater, at 37, is getting on abit but our designated sugar daddy and FILF (male version of a MILF). He is the youngest and oldest Surfing World Champion, winning the title a record nine times. He is the most successful athlete in the history of the sport.

Golf

Adam Scott
Adam Scott, preached by many Australians as the successor to Greg Norman. He was ranked as high as 3rd in the world in 2007. He is the one shining light in a really boring sport, played by rich, old, fat blokes.

Athletics

John Steffensen
John Steffensen is a cutie, with curly long hair and cheeky smile. Steffensen is a 27 year old, 200m and 400m sprinter. He has Commonwealth gold medals for the 400m and 4 x 400m Relay. He also has an Olympic silver medal for the 4 x 400m.

Daniel Batman
Steffensen's 4 x 400m team mate Daniel Batman is also a hottie. While, not the tallest athlete at 173cm, his name more than makes up for it.

Skiing

Jeremy Bloom
With the Winter Olympics coming up, keep an eye for American Jeremy Bloom. Now if your wondering why he is posing with a football, well Bloom also played NFL for the Eagles and Steelers. After a few years in the NFL with limited success, he now devotes all his time to skiing.

Motor Racing

Jenson Button
In Formula One you can't look past 2009 World Champion, Jenson Button. The the 29 year old has a smile to die for and eyes you can drown in. He's not been the luckiest driver in F1, since debuting in 2000, he has changed teams seven times. At the end of last year, Button seemed out of the job when his team Honda pulled out of F1, but got a late call back to drive for the new entry to F1 Brawn GP. He went from unemployed to World Champion in the space of a year. In 2010 he will be driving a McLaren.

Kimi Raikkonen
If your into Scandinavian hotties and lots of money then, Kimi Raikkonen is the man the for you. He is 30 years old. Nickname: Iceman, for his ice cool composure on the race track. His hobbies include snowboarding and ice hockey. This year he was named the second richest sportsperson, behind the cheating Tiger Woods, by Forbes Magazine bring in $51 million a year. In 2007 he won his first Formula One Championship with Ferrari after finishing a close second twice with McLaren in 2003 and 2005. In 2010 Kimi will be will driving a rally car for Citroen in the World Rally Championship.

Swimming

Eamon Sullivan
Olympic silver and bronze Medalist, Celebrity Master Chef and underwear model, Eamon Sullivan. Whats not to like. Did I mention he's single. He is 24 years old and nicknamed Nemo. I use to think he was a bit of a tool, mostly for dating Stephanie Rice, but he really won me over on Celebrity Master chef.

Ryan Lochte
Its not easy constantly being in the shadow of Michael Phelps but American Swimmer Ryan Lochte does it with grace. He is 25, nicknamed 'the lochtenator'. He competes in Backstroke, the individual Medley and relay teams. How can u go wrong with that body, I don't know about his choice of swimwear though.

Diving

Alex Despatie
Divers have some of the best washboard abs of any athlete. All that twisting and turning in mid air must be a great mid-section work out. At 24, Alex Despatie is a veteran Canadian diver. When Alex was 13 he won a Commonwealth gold medal for the 10m platform. He is also the only diver to have been World Champions of all three categories, the 1m and 3m spring board and 10m platform.

For the Fellas
Since most our readers are actually male, ironic considering the content of our blogs, here are some women who have gained an honourable mention. Researching good looking female athletes is not particular fun when there are so many sluts out there willing to take their tops (and bottoms) off for a few bucks.

Amanda Beard is one of them. Even though she is a swimmer, photos of her actually competing is scarce. Finding photos of her fully clothed are almost non-existent.

There are, however, some more wholesome female athletes out there such as, drag racer Ashley Force. Ashley Force is the daughter of 14 time national champion John Force. In 2008 she beat her father in the finals to be the first woman to win in her class. Even though she is married, Splex and I are conspiring to have her marry Australian Indy car driver, Will Power. What can go wrong with last names like Power and Force.

There probably are others worth mentioning such as Maria Sharapova or Stephanie Rice, but i hate them. Plus i was sick of looking through half or fully naked photos on Google images to find some more female athletes. You boys can just do that in your own time.

-Alps

P.S You can get a closer look by clicking on the images.

The Story of Puggly

2009-12-06T17:52:00.010+11:00

Domestic Test cricket is for the die-hards, or those with nothing better to do. On a sunny spring day, we found ourselves at a deserted SCG - with nothing better to do - watching Tassie beat the NSW Blues. The Blues struggled, with Tasmanian captain George Bailey going on to get a century. The NSW bowlers battled all day with little luck. But on that otherwise less than ordinary day, we fell in love with larrikin bowler Doug Bollinger.

Some may say he is ugly, we wouldn't disagree. While watching Tasmania score run after run, we suddenly hear a lone supporter, yelling and cheering on the Blues in a solitary slow clap. To our surprise it wasn't a supporter at all but one of the NSW players, Doug Erwin Bollinger. When it came time for Puggly to bowl we decided to start our own slow clap to spur him on. Puggly responded, producing dot balls every time. After providing us with hours of entertainment from the outfield we nicknamed him Puggly. You can probably see why (but we don't mean it in a bad way, he's extremely endearing).

Luckily for us, our Summer of cricket with Doug the Rug has not yet come to an end. With the unfortunate injury to Brett Lee, Bollinger gained a spot in the Australian Test team. Starting with a 12th man appearance in the first test against the West Indies, he now sees himself as one of the leading fast bowlers in Australian cricket. When the opportunity did knock on his door for this Test at the Adelaide Oval, the West Indies captain Chris Gayle dismissed him as a nobody … and our Doug got him out. He's had some impressive stats in the current test being played out, which gives all a lot of hope for the future. Could he be longterm replacement for Lee?

Our love for young Doug may be irrational and somewhat inexplicable, yet there is just something so lovable about this cheeky fellow. We hope for the best for the rest of his career and would love to see him excel to the highest feats! Fingers crossed he plays a massive part in the demise of the England Cricket team in the 2010 Ashes series.

Long live Dougie Bollinger!

- Alpii & Splex (That's right...this was a joint post!)

Australia's Sporting Decline: An English Perspective

2009-12-02T15:12:00.014+11:00

A Guest post from Marc Fearns, who appears courtesy of 7Reasons.org

For a country with such a small population, Australia has always punched above its weight in the sporting arena. You can be justly proud of your numerous sporting achievements, achievements that we Brits have historically only been able to regard with envy. In recent years, however, Australian sport seems to have been in decline. There have been poor results and poor performances. This seems to have been the cause of something of a national identity crisis, prompting you to do a lot of soul-searching.

Sometimes though, you can be too close to the situation to view it objectively. If you’re ten centimetres from a Van Gogh painting, a Where’s Wally drawing or a cinema screen they make no sense to you. You need to be further away to gain perspective. Who better then, to look into the cause of Australia’s sporting malaise than a man on the other side of the world? Well, other than a man in space, but spacemen have other things to occupy them, usually something to do with trajectory or re-entry or something.

We all know when Australia’s decline as a sporting nation began, it was the 2005 Ashes. Now that probably doesn’t come as a revelation to you. It’s pretty obvious to all of us, but there’s more.

I can pinpoint the exact moment of the 2005 Ashes that it all began to unravel for Australia. It was on day two of the first test. On that day Surrey and England batsman Graham Thorpe announced his retirement from international cricket.

Graham Thorpe was a terrific batsman who, for much of his career, can consider himself unlucky to have been born English and to have been stuck in some very poor England teams. His England career was marked by defeat after defeat inflicted by Australia. As time marched on, and he came closer to the end of his career, Thorpe put in some mighty performances for an improving England side, but the emergence of Kevin Pietersen meant that he lost his test place.

In 2005, having learned that he had not been picked for the first Ashes test, Graham Thorpe retired from international cricket. With Thorpe no longer representing them, the England team went on to record a hard-fought, and improbable, victory against an Australian team containing such greats as Gilchrist, Ponting, Warne, Lee and McGrath, and these guys (with the exception of McGrath and his unfortunate injury) were all playing at the top of their games. I know. I saw them.

So there’s a pattern here. When Graham Thorpe represented England, we lost, a lot, usually horribly. Not because he was a poor player, he was magnificent, but because he is a jinx.

In August 2005 Thorpe retired from the English domestic game and moved to Australia, where he coached for New South Wales. It was that moment that the curse of Thorpe was wholly transferred to Australia.

In 2006, Ian Thorpe – one of the greatest (of many) Australian sporting heroes – announced his premature retirement from swimming. Obviously, the introduction of a second Thorpe into the country had unsettled and affected him. The Thorpedo had been Grahampered.

Obviously, the 2006/2007 Ashes would seem to contradict my fundamental argument but fortunately, as an Englishman, I’m not aware of them.

Like the Ancient Mariner’s dead albatross Graham Thorpe continued to excerpt his malign influence upon Australian sport. In the 2007 Rugby World Cup, an Australian team that had performed solidly in the group stages were knocked out by an England team that had played woefully in the run-up to, and during the early stages of the tournament. There was no logical reason for this. It can only have been the Thorpe effect.

Look at Australian tennis pre and post-Thorpe. Before the blight of Thorpe you had Mark Philippoussis and Lleyton Hewitt – two absolutely first-rate exponents of men’s tennis. While Philippoussis is obviously an idiot and we can’t really blame Thorpe for his self-destruction, Hewitt was in excellent form. In 2005 he made the final of the Australian Open and the semi-finals of Wimbledon (getting knocked out by the then-invincible Roger Federer). In the same year Hewitt was named in Tennis Magazine’s all-time top 40 tennis players. In 2008, after three years of the Graham Thorpe hex, Hewitt didn’t even win a title – the first year in which he had failed to do so. Hewitt is still ranked number one in Australia, but this is thanks mostly to competition from Chris Guccione.

In 2008, with the abominable Thorpe now having developed a full-blown Australian accent, it was time for all-conquering sporting giants Australia to show their might in the Bejing Olympics. It didn’t go well. Australia was even beaten in the medal table by Great Britain, and that never happened when Thorpey lived here.

Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of the Olympic performance was in the pool. While Great Britain achieved its best medal haul for many years, Australia was poor. Australia! Poor at swimming! It must have been the malign influence of Thorpe, because there’s no logical reason that Australia should ever be anything other than the world’s number one swimming nation. Let’s consider it.

Australia has a climate that’s conducive to swimming. Australia has a vast quantity of swimming pools. Australia is an island, surrounded by the sea. These factors alone should ensure that Australia is great at swimming, but there’s more. Australia also has most of the world’s terrifying water-dwelling creatures; from tiny poisonous jellyfish that kill you, to gigantic poisonous jellyfish that kill you; from enormous evil-eyed, sharp-toothed fish that eat you, to enormous evil-eyed, sharp-toothed reptiles that eat you, Australia has them all. If Australians don’t learn to swim fast, they die. Australians should be unbeatable at swimming.

In the 2008 Olympics, the nation of Australia came second in the swimming…to Michael Phelps. An entire nation that should be, by all logic, the best in the world were beaten by one man. It could only have been the Graham Thorpe hoodoo.

In 2008, having wreaked havoc on Australian sport for three long years, Thorpe returned home to take up a coaching position with Surrey. Sadly for Australia, however, his accent was so strong that he seemed more Australian than British. In an interview previewing the 2009 Ashes series Graham Thorpe was asked if the England team were ready for Australia. “Aw look”, he replied, “our blokes have put in the half-yards, they’ll be full-on.” Australia didn’t stand a chance (and we had Ian Bell).

Since Thorpe moved to Australia and put the hex on you, Australian sport has declined so severely that Australia has now been beaten by Scotland at rugby, which is surely the ultimate sporting humiliation. Do you know why Scotland never play the Scotland ladies team? That’s right, it’s for the same reason that my school rugby team should never have played the girls team.

So there it is, Australia. You can look at coaching methods, player performance, sports funding, governing body efficacy, and you can analyze tables, statistics and multiple-plot waveform graph data until you’re blue in the face (or asleep at the desk). The fact is that since Graham Thorpe stopped representing England, British sport has been in the ascendant and since Graham Thorpe moved to Australia and started speaking with an Aussie accent, Australian sport has been in sharp decline. The reason for Australia’s sporting malaise is obvious. Graham Thorpe.

Winning Means Everything: Honourable Mention

2009-11-29T15:42:00.014+11:00

While these cheaters did not make the Top 10 Cheaters List, their desire to win and lack of moral backbone has earned them an honourable mention. Federick Lorz, while considered a very good runner, is best known for hitching a ride in his manager's car during the 1904 Olympic marathon. Althougth he 'won', the gold medal was eventually given to Thomas Hicks. The following year Lorz actually won the Boston Marathon.

Rosie Ruiz, also won the Boston Marathon in record time, in 1980, after joining the race by jumping in from the crowd and sprinting to the finnish line.

Then there is Dora Ratjen. Unlike Casta Semenya and Stella Walsh, who didn't know they possessed both male and female genitalia, Ratjen dressed up as a woman and competed in the 1936 Olympic high jump. The worst part is he didn't even win, he came fourth. If you're going to cheat atleast make sure you win the damn thing.

Back at home, while Australia was playing New Zealand in the 1981 World Series Cup, Greg Chappell, the Australian cricket captain, ordered his brother to roll the ball along the ground to prevent New Zealand from hitting six and winning the game off the last ball. There is some ambiguity as to whether the move constituted cheating, since it was technically legal. It does, however go against the concept of fair play and sportsmanship, thus deserving an honourable mention.

There is no such ambiguity in our next cheater, Marcus Trescothick, who revealed in his autobiography that in the 2005 Ashes series, that he used lollies to help the ball swing. It was the opening batsman's job to polish the ball. After experimenting he discovered that the sugary saliva from Murray's Mints created the most swing. So that, ladies and gentlemen is why we lost the ashes in 2005...I don't, however have an excuse as to how we lost it again.

-Alpii

The Northern Hemisphere has rugby too?

2009-11-28T21:16:00.007+11:00

Before the Australian rugby season actually comes to an end, I thought I would lift my rugby ban and put together a little Northern Hemisphere ‘dream’ team. Now, dear readers, we must remember that being a citizen in the Southern Hemisphere, it makes it difficult for me to access/view many NH teams, so, I’ve spoken to a few sources who are in the know on these sort of issues.

Let’s not forget our criteria for these matters. 1) They have to be in the current, 2009 squad for their respective teams, 2) have to have reasonable skill (and take this with a pinch of salt, I’ve mainly based these on…), 3) have to be somewhat attractive to the female followers (i.e. mostly myself and Alpii), and 4) cannot play out of position.

One other thing before the big revelation – there is a reason as to why there is only one player from England, and that reason is Jonny Wilkinson. He can’t be forgiven for that goal in 2003 and the entire England squad shall be punished for this. Well, that and the other countries are way better. It’s not really racist, is it?

Drumroll, please. The final lineup of the Northern Hemisphere Rugby Union Team:

1. Cian Healy (Ireland)
2. Jerry Flannery (Ireland)
3. Sylvain Marconnet (France)
4. Sebastian Chabal (France)
5. Alastair Kellock (Scotland)
6. Tom Croft (England) – Captain
7. Mauro Bergamasco (Italy)
8. Sergio Parisse (Italy) - Vice Captain
9. Dwayne Peel (Wales)
10. Stephen Jones (Wales)
11. Sean Lamont (Scotland)
12. Jamie Roberts (Wales)
13. Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland)
14. Mirco Bergamasco (Italy)
15. Rob Kearney (Ireland)

16. Dimitri Szarzewski (France)
17. Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy)
18. Nathan Hines (Scotland)
19. Simon Taylor (Scotland)
20. Rory Lawson (Scotland)
21. Leigh Halfpenny (Wales)
22. Alexis Palisson (France)

- Splex

Where are they now

2009-11-25T15:13:00.006+11:00

With six more games left in the regular NFL season people are starting to talk about the Super bowl. For the NFL newbs here is a low down of the playoffs and contenders for Super Bowl XLIV. The NFL is divided into two conferences the NFC and the AFC, which is then divided into four divisions. The leading team in each division and two wild cards battle it out to be Conference champions The AFC and NFC Champions then battle it out for NFL supremacy in the Super bowl.

AFC East

With a record of 7(wins)-3(losses) the New England are looking good, with Brady hitting some form after coming back from an injury. The Patriots have the personnel to win the big one, with Lawrence Maroney at Running back the Pats have a solid running game to compliment Tom Brady’s throwing and with Randy Moss on the field with him you can expect long receptions and some exciting football. They could be as good as 9-1, loosing a close game to Denver in round five and should have put away the Colts week before last. Despite loosing to the Colts the Pats showed they could mix it with the best team in the AFC. Next weeks game against the undefeated Saints will be a really good indicator to the Pats Super bowl chances.

AFC West

After starting 6-0 the Denver Broncos have lost their last four games to be 6-4. They are seemingly out of the hunt, overtaken in the division by the San Diego Chargers at 7-4. The Broncos can still make the playoffs but are going to have to overcome their form slump. The Chargers while starting off a bit scratchy have won their last five, putting them in good stead for the Play offs, but may be not have what it takes to over come the other division leaders.

AFC North

Despite loosing this week the Cincinnati Bengals are going strong with 7-3. They are one of the less glamorous teams in the NFL and it’s a shame they’re games aren’t shown on T.V more often. The Bengals can ill afford to loose another game with their much glitzier rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers hot on their tail.

AFC South

The Indianapolis Colts undefeated at 10-0, basically have the AFC South division championshipp wrapped, that is of course barring a disaster, like a season ending knee injury to star quarterback Payton Manning. Not all their wins have been pretty, but they are a team who has heart. In the Pats game they were 13 points down and scored twice in 7 minutes to win. The Colts, however rely to heavily on Quarter back Payton Manning and the lack of running game may hurt their Super bowl chances. Not all is lost for the Jacksonville Jaguars, with 6-4 they are still in the running for a wild card spot, along with the Denver Broncos from AFC West and the Steelers from AFC North.

NFC East

The NFC East is the toughest Division in the NFL. The Dallas Cowboys are just ahead at 7-3, while the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants have 6 wins each. Anyone of the three teams can take out the division championship. The Redskins the remaining team in the NFC East has no chance, having won only 3 games.

NFC North

The Minnesota Vikings, having lost only one game is a real Super Bowl contender. The Green Bay Packers are also gaining some momentum with two straight wins and are still in the chase for a wild card.

NFC South

The New Orleans Saints are the team to beat. They have scored the most touchdowns in the NFL so far, with 48, eleven more then the Vikings who have scored second most touchdowns. If they beat the Patriots next week, chances are they are going to head into the play offs with a perfect season. After Katrina the people of New Orleans would love the Saints to bring home the Super Bowl.

NFC West

The Arizona Cardinals were the only NFC West team to win this week and have a commanding three game lead in their division. They will probably make the playoff but may be looking at an early exit with close competition from the Cowboys, Eagles, Giants and Packers. The real question here is do they have the attacking capabilities to match the Vikings, Saints, Colts or Patriots.

My tip for the Super bowl: Saints v. Patriots.

-Alpiii

P.s in a previous post i said Roethlisberger was the oldest quarterback, it has been pointed out that Brett Favre is in fact the oldest.

Winning means everything

2009-11-23T23:00:00.014+11:00

The whole of Ireland is crying foul after French striker Thierry Henry's hand ball lead to the match winning goal last Wednesday. The score was 1-1 and likely to head into penalties, until 'the hand of the frog' intervened, sending France through to the soccer World Cup and Ireland into an uproar. Ireland, along with much of the world have labeled Henry as a cheat, a title he is likely to carry with him for the rest of his career, but how does Henry compare to some of the greatest cheats in Sport? Some people will do what ever it takes to win. Deception, ingenuity and violence, this count down has it all.

Technical Error

To kick start our count down is the crafty, Boris Onschenko. Noone really cared about Fencing or the Modern Pentathlon in the 1976 Olympics until Onschenko put it on the front pages of every newspaper.

Onschenko was a Soviet Pentathlete, whose strongest event was believed to be Fencing. In fencing a touch is registered on the scoring box when the tip of the weapon is depressed with a force of 750 grams. In the 1976 Olympics, Onschenko wired his sword so that he could trigger the electronic scoring system with his hand and register a hit at will.

Dirty Sox

Hate your boss? Take leaf out of the book of cheater number nine, the 1919 White Sox.

In the 1919 World Series, the heavy favourites the White Sox thre the series 5-3 against the Cincinnati Reds. It was one of the earliest cases of athletes throwing a contest. The motives, besides money, was the apparent hatred towards the owner. A year later the players admitted their parts and were banned for life.

Bloody Oath

Tom Williams from the Harlequins, took one for the team at number eight.

In a Rugby game against the Harlequins and Lienster in the Heineken Cup, Williams took a fake-blood capsule on to the field in his sock when he joined the game in the 69th minute. Then bursting it in his mouth after 75 minutes with the score 6-5 to Leinster. With blood pouring from his Mouth the Harlequins were able to substitute goal kicker, Nick Evans in a bid to win the game. Suspicion was raised when Williams winked at the Harlequins bench. A scalpel was then used to cut the inside of Williams mouth when officials demanded to see the injury. The Harlequins were fined £215,000 and Williams received a 12 month ban.

Accidentally on Purpose

Number seven on the count down is, Formula One team Renault and Nelson Pique Jnr, who crashed two laps after teammate Fernando Alonso had made a Pitt stop. The Crash brought out the Safety car and put Alonso in a position to win the race, which he did.

Spot the Difference

Number six, Fine Cotton, comes straight from a gangster movie.

In one of Australia's biggest horse racing scandals, Fine Cotton (an average racehorse) was substituted by Bold Personality (a really good horse) before a 1500m race at Eagle Farm, Brisbane in 1984. After winning the race, suspicion was raised by the vast improvement and large sums of money put on the horse, not the mention the white paint on Bold Personalities leg that had started to run.

Basket Case

The fifth Cheater in our list, the Spanish Paralympics Basketball team, who dared to do what most of us weekend athletes have only thought about.

In 2000 Paralympics, the Gold medal winning Spanish team only had 3 players with a mental disability; the remaining 9 team members did not have a disability at all. They were forced to hand back their medals.

Okay so maybe I’m the only one who’s thought about faking a disability to compete at the Paralympics, but still thinking about it is one thing actually cheating the disabled is taking it too far.

Bloody Swan Dive

If you think soccer players dive too much bear in mind Cheater number four Chilean goalkeeper Roberta Rojas .

In 1989 world cup qualifier between Chile and Brazil, Chile was trailing by 1 goal when a spectator threw a firecracker into the penalty area Roberta Rojas dives into the smoke takes a hidden scalpel and cuts his own head, to make it look like the firecracker hit him in the head. The match was abandoned because conditions were deemed too dangerous. His rouse was later discovered by Video evidence, Brazil was given a 2-0 victory and Roberta Rojas was banned for life.

Taking out your opponent

Cheater Number Three, ice skater Tonya Harding, took the words ‘take out your opponents’ too literally.

In a practice session in 1994, in the lead up to the American Olympic trials Nancy Kerrigan was assaulted by a man hired by Hardings ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and friend Shawn Eckardt. As Kerrigan was leaving the Rink a man in a corridor used a baton to take out both of Kerrigan’s Knee, leading to the very famous Video of Kerrigan yelling “Why? Why? Why?”.

A Sailor went to sea

Living with the guilt was too much for cheater number two, Donald Crowhurst to bear.

Donald Crowhurst a businessman and amateur sailor entered the 1968 Golden Globe race, an around the world yacht race. Crowhurt was ill prepared and abandoned the race shortly after. He hung around the South Atlantic while making false radio reports on his location. According to Crowhursts reports, Nigel Tetly believed he was coming second and pushed his failing yacht to breaking point. Tetly was then forced to abandon ship even though he was leading the race by a very long margin. While floating around in the South Atlantic Crowhurst mental state started to deteriorate, over come by guilt Crowhurst committed suicide.

Deadly blow

Lewis Resto and Panama Lewis the most ruthless cheaters and that’s saying something when up against some of the cheaters in this countdown, but none of the others involve violence, gambling, and death quite like our number one.

In a fight between Lewis Resto and Billy Collins Jnr (pictured) in 1983, Resto’s trainer Panama Lewis removed most of the padding from Resto’s boxing gloves. There was a lot of money in it for Resto who was the underdog. In the bout, Collins suffered a torn iris and permanently blurred vision, ending his boxing career. Collins became depressed and nine months later drove off a cliff. In October 1986, Lewis and Resto were both put on trial and found guilty of assault, criminal possession of a weapon (Resto's hands) and conspiracy. Lewis was sentenced to six years in prison, Resto to three years. Many years later it was revealed that Lewis had dipped Resto’s hand wraps in Plaster. (See the documentary Assault in the Ring)

Not-Rugby

2009-11-08T01:12:00.002+11:00

This is not a blog about rugby. I've been told by many sources that I blog too much about rugby, so this isn't a blog about rugby. If I were to be writing a blog about rugby (which I would never do), I might mention that Australia is playing England right now, but I can't, so I won't. Maybe i'd throw in some great thoughts about the team - the backline will miss Berrick Barnes but this new pairing of Ioane and Cooper could prove to be interesting, however, I would love to see Giteau back at 12.

If this was a blog about rugby, there would be a possibility that I would mention that Rocky Elsom has had a rocky (amazing pun, i'm brilliant) start to his captaincy, but if he can muster the troops to at least a couple of wins, if not, the grand slam, he would be doing well. But this isn't a blog about rugby so i'm not mentioning that at all.

If this was a blog about rugby, I would mention that England are claiming to be playing a second string team, and to that I would say poppycock, you won the Ashes so shut up and let us win something.

If this was a blog about rugby, Jonny Wilkinson's return to the field would be addressed. This shouldn't be too worrying seeing as the man is held together by a mixture of Elastoplast and black magic.

BUT this isn't a blog about rugby. The weather has been lovely lately.

- Splex

The Melbourne Cup 2009

2009-11-03T12:34:00.005+11:00

The first Tuesday in November is upon us again and we shall all be awaiting the race that stops the nation. At 3pm, eyes all over our fine land will be glued to screens in pubs, at work, at home just to watch this $5.6 million race. There is hype surrounding it every year, it grabs the front pages of all the newspapers. Needless to say, to any non-Australians out there, it's a big deal on the Australian Calendar.

This year Bart Cummings, legendary trainer, is chasing his 13th Cup with three of his horses entered in the race, while the youthful trainer of Alcopop, Jake Stephens is set to put his country horse into the history books. However, in New South Wales, our main focus is on the gambling side of the Cup. According to TAB Sportsbet, the people in NSW bet more than anywhere in the country, and why shouldn't be. This year is proving to have so many horses that have the ability to take the big prize.

After scouring the Form Guide for hours this week, I've settled on a few tips for those who like to make their bets close to the 3pm mark (I myself got mine in yesterday afternoon). As the weather is a lovely 20 degrees Celsius in Melbourne today, it's safe to say that Ista Kareem and Fiumicino may find some difficulty reaching their potential. The favourites for the race today are Cummings' Viewed and Alcopop. However, my money is on another of Cummings' entries, Roman Emperor*, and Shocking, regardless of its poor barrier number. Other notable mentions are Leica Ding and Daffodil. My roughie for this race is Warringah, he will definitely have a strong race today. Cummings' third entry, Allez Wonder, cannot go unnoticed though, being ridden by the only female jockey in the race today.

Unfortunately, Changingoftheguard was scratched this morning much to the disdain of his trainer, David Hayes. His jockey Glen Boss, rode Makybe Diva to the history making 3 consecutive victories of the Melbourne Cup.

Hope everyone is enjoying the wonderful atmosphere of excitement and anticipation that this historical and wonderous race brings to our lovely nation. Good luck to all today! Enjoy!

- Splex

*Just heard that Roman Emperor has taken over from Alcopop as the second favourite. See, told you I can pick 'em.

Hollywood vs. NFL

2009-10-23T12:54:00.006+11:00

Everyone loves a good sports movie. They combine comedy, drama and passion with the sporting endeavours of hot young athletic men (well 99% of the time its men). The most popular of these sports moves come across the Pacific from the U.S of A.
Sports movies make American sports seem so much more interesting, especially Gridiron. The running back breaks 50 tackles to score a championship winning touchdown or an interception with 2 sec left and 3 down on scoreboard. Then I watch the Superbowl and nothing happens for 2 hours, because that’s how long it takes them to get through the first half and I think to myself, why aren’t these sports this interesting in real life.

Well, Thank you One HD for proving me wrong.

The NFL is actually very exciting, especially since our footy season has finished, the boys of summer are in India and there is absolutely nothing else to watch. It’s a complicated sport and you need to watch a few games to get all the intricacies. You know the fat bastards who smash in to each other, well they actually do stuff. They push people aside so the short guy can run through the holes. The kickers and punters are the most attractive but do the least and letting the quarterback be tackled is a bad bad thing.

I’ve really gotten into it. So here’s a low down of what I’ve observed so far:

Patriots are back with Tom Brady’s knee back in business. Not to mention they played in snow this week.

The Wildcat is by far the most exciting play. Utilised by the Maimi Dolphins there is three running backs and no quarterback. The ball is snapped and one of the three running backs catches it. The three running backs kind of run into each other then spread out and run to all corners of the field and you don’t know which one has the ball until they’ve been tackled 40metres down the field. It's very exciting.

Peyton Manning is severely overrated. His brother Eli is a much better quarterback.

Ben Roethlisberger with the Pittsburgh Steelers is a battler. He is the oldest quarterback and gets sacked (tackled behind the line of scrimmage) more than any other quarterback but will continuously throw long.

The Cowboy stadium is the bests Stadium with its TV screen, which is as wide as the field. Yes, a massive TV screen in the middle of the stadium.

Titans and Chargers have the best jerseys and the Saints have the worst.

So next time you’ve slept in and it’s a weekday flick over to ONE HD and see if the NFL is on. It should tie you over til the cricketers arrive.

-Alpii

P.s I’ve thrown in this video for good measure. Some freaky tricks

BASKETBALL!!!

2009-10-18T22:27:00.013+11:00

The 2009-10 NBA season will start on the 27th October marking the commencement of another season of one of the best games on earth. The 1,230-game regular season which consists of 82 games per the 30 teams BEFORE they even get to the ridiculously long post-season playoffs will hopefully again showcase why the basketball can year on year attract such wide ranging interest and support.

Admittedly the 2009 offseason has been one of the dullest ever. There have been almost no major signings or trades to talk of at all. The major roster changes have come from the veterans of the sport. For the third time in as many seasons Shaquille O’Neal will be moving again – this time to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Shaq in his 18th season will hopefully be able to further foster the talents of LeBron James (who has almost singlehandedly taken Cleveland to the heights they see now) like he did with Dwayne Wade at Miami. Shaq, who is 37 years old now and starting to get on a bit will easily complement Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cleveland’s main center, taking a bit of pressure off him to perform with James.

Other trades have included Vince Carter to Orlando, which will create a star-studded lineup next to the amazing Dwight Howard. Although Carter is getting on a bit as well, Orlando will most likely dominate the Southeast Division again this year, with a serious challenge coming from Atlanta who with Josh Smith and old-timer Mike Bibby will put most teams through their paces.

Allen Iverson is another veteran to move teams this season. Iverson, moving to his third team in three years, was picked up by the Memphis Grizzlies on September 10 becoming the star player on a dull and lifeless roster. With Rudy Gay’s disappointed 08-09 season it is hard to see where any invigoration can be created within the team. With San Antonio, Houston, the Dallas Mavs and New Orleans all in the Southwest Division it is almost impossible for the Grizzlies to ever make it into the playoffs.

For some reason the Los Angeles Lakers have picked up Ron Artest as a free agent. For those who do not know, he started an amazing brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills, against Detroit in 2004 which involved him completely decking a (fat) fan who had jumped onto the court while holding a litre cup of soft drink. Hopefully that won’t happen in LA where Kobe Bryant is still running the show in his 12th year at the franchise. With a team including Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and everyone’s favourite game-breaker Derek Fisher, Los Angeles will put up another good fight this year, but there is potential that the age and arguable lack of depth could haunt the team. Bryant is an MVP man who scored 84 points in a match though so anything is possible.

Finally finishing in the East, the Boston Celtics will this year look to make amends for their third-round 08-09 playoff defeat. The roster has changed a little bit, this year featuring Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rasheed Wallace as the big names. It’s a formidable force to be reckoned with and with the speedy development of junior players around these big names it will be a sure thing that the Celtics will sit on top of the East this season; they’ll just be too good. And hence will be my prediction to take out the championship this year.

Hopefully with the NBA back on free to air this year courtesy of One HD the NBA will get back a few of those Australian fans that it lost due to its move to ESPN and Fox in the early 2000s, as well as the fans who like watching quality basketball, not like complete and utter atrocious humiliated embarrassment the Australian NBL has become.

I’ll try to cut it down if I ever do another one of these,

Darcy5d.

(There are way too many words in this....-Splex)

October...

2009-10-15T17:08:00.005+11:00

It's coming to that point in the year where there is absolutely not much going on in the world of sport. The Rugby League and AFL seasons are over, the Rugby Union season is in limbo whilst waiting for the Spring Tour, and the Summer of cricket is yet to begin. We've had little to keep us going.

3 days were filled with the Netball World Series in which NZ took out the top prize, Malawi finishing an acceptable 5th out of 6 (at least they beat Samoa, right?). Australia just missed out on the Grand Final, which saw New Zealand playing Jamaica, coming third in the playoff against England.

There is some sort of T20 cricket going on. I am informed that it is the Champions League tournament or something similar. NSW seem to be going quite well, competing with teams such as Sussex, Trinidad & Tobago, Otago, various IPL teams, and the Victoria Bushrangers. However, the free to air viewing schedule is on at such an awkward time that it is difficult to get excited about any of this.

As aforementioned (i'm in essay mode, can't you tell?), the Wallabies are about to head off on a Grand Slam tour of the UK, with a stopover in Japan for the last remaining Bledisloe game. Supporters still have a small glimmer of hope that the Wallabies will hold it all together and pull off a few wins, but it will be a tough few weeks for the team, especially with Deans' inclusion of many rookie players, the likes of which include Dave Dennis, Rob Horne and Mitchell Chapman. There has also been a change in the captaincy lineup, Stirling Mortlock and George Smith being replaced by Rocky Elsom and the vice captaincy being taken over by future Waratah, Berrick Barnes. Only time will tell if these new changes will have an effect on the tour.

Until that time, Alpii and myself will continue to dwell in this space between sport sufficiency and sport nothingness. Until next time, my friends.

- Splex

Twenty20 Netball?

2009-10-01T20:05:00.009+10:00

So I said I wasn't going to say anything about it before, but one just cannot help themself when it sounds so bizarre.

Between the dates of the 9th and 11th of October, Manchester (in England, for those playing at home) will be holding the World Netball Series. With this comes a whole new set of rules to try to adapt the game to be more exciting for the spectator. Whether or not this will work is yet to be seen.

These rule changes will see the introduction multi-point goals, shorter quarters (6 minutes as opposed to 15), substitution limitations and a promise of fewer stoppages. There will even be the possibility to score outside of the goal circle. Bizarre. The most intriguing addition to this form of the sport will be the double-point powerplays. I'm not entirely sure how these will work out but i'm keen to see them in action.

Personally, i'm unsure as to whether there really needed to be a change to the rules. Sure there are penalties given a lot but at the pace the game is played at the elite level, these are hardly noticed. The other problem I am having with this is the more than one point per goal! Ridiculous. Why not just play basketball?

Anyway, can't wait for this World Netball Series to start. The top 6 countries that compete in the sport will all be showcasing their skills with this new derivation of the fine sport. These being England, New Zealand, Australia, Jamaica, Malawi and Samoa. Hopefully Australia will achieve some good wins, especially with Mo'onia Gerrard coming back into the team after an injury (you've gotta love a great defender).

Further Reading:

- Splex

Ah September!

2009-09-25T15:13:00.007+10:00

What a month it's been.
We loose the Ashes only to belt the motherland 6-1 in the ODIs, the Swans have not made the eight, the Minor Premiers St George have choked again, the Wallabies are stuck in loserville and Casta Semenya is neither male or female.

But never fear, Spring has a arrived and that means... Finals Football.

Tomorrow afternoon in an all Victorian grandfinal Nick Riewoldt's Saints are up against wathisface's Cats. If you haven't guessed Splex and i aren't big on AFL. If we were we'd have a dream team up already. Who can resist the short shorts and the biceps of an AFL player.

Those who follow the other code will have to wait one more week to crown the Premiers. Tonight, the 09 stand outs the Dogs play the late blooming Eels. In the other semi-final my beloved Broncos play the goddamn Storm.

Come Monday two teams will go on a drinking binge and the other two will be Grand Finalist for 2009. If the captains call is anything to go by, it will be a Eels-Broncos Grand Final. First team eliminated (from the left) was Newcastle, followed by Manly, Titans and then the Dragons.

In two weeks, when its all said done, some of us will celebrate and others will lament the season past. Nonetheless we will have to say goodbye to football for another year and get our next footy fix from the Americans.

-Alpii

2009-09-17T16:13:00.005+10:00

So considering neither of us have really blogged for a while I thought I may as well just put something up.

What's been going on? Well it's been discovered the England aren't actually that good at cricket. Who would have thought! They've been playing absymally in the current ODI series against Australia. Methinks they've entirely lost the skill to field. It was almost farcical in the last match at Trent Bridge.

In other cricket news, Ricky Ponting has decided to retire from T20 cricket. Great move! I'm in absolute denial that one day Ricky may have to retire. NEVER! He had an electric innings with the bat in the last ODI. Seems like a bit of rest did him the world of good. He earned Man-of-the-Match status for that little jaunt.

In the rugby world, the Wallabies finally won a game, beating South Africa in a very impressive show from the boys. A sign of things to come! I'm hoping that Will Genia is more than just a one hit wonder. However, I'm yet to be persuaded as to how good James O'Connor is. This weekend we take on the All Blacks and if my logic is correct, we can beat them (although I've never been known for my logic or intelligence)!

If either of these sports are interesting to you, why not check out these wonderful websites!

http://www.cricketwithballs.com/
http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/

- Splex

NRL dream team

2009-09-01T00:03:00.004+10:00

The 2009 NRL season is the closest in a long time. Here at Spec Sport we thought we would lead into the business end of the season with another of our dream teams. Now you guys know the drill. Players must be chosen in position and judged on skill, character and of course looks. While they do not have to be current players, they must all have played at least one game in the 2009 NRL season.

Aided by plenty of naked calendars, this was definitely the hardest team to pick. The best looking players are wingers and second rowers and there were plenty to chose from. To our disappointment many good players were cut, an honorable mention goes to Splex's favourites, the Morris twins.

Here are the players that made it

1. Karmichael Hunt (22 . Fullback . Brisbane Broncos)
2. David Williams (23 . Wing . Manly Sea Eagles)
3. Josh Graham (25 . Centre/second row . Gold Coast Titans)
4.Matt Cooper (30 . Centre . St George Dragons)
5. William Zillman* (23 . Fullback/wing . Gold Coast Titans)
6. Daniel Mortimer (20 . five-eighth/halfback . Parramatta Eels)
7. Michael Witt (25 . five-eighth/halfback . New Zealand Warriors)
8. Ben Hannant (24 . Prop . Canterbury Bulldogs)
9. Michael Ennis (25 . Hooker . Canterbury Bulldogs)
10.Ben Ross (29 . Prop . Cronulla Sharks)
11.Luke O'Donnell (28 . Lock/ 2nd row . North Queensland Cowboys)
12.David Fa’alogo (28 . 2nd row . South Sydney Rabitohs)
13. Ashley Harrison (28. Lock . Gold Coast Titans)

Interchange
14. Dane Tilse (24 . Prop . Canberra Raiders)
15. Mathew Scott (24 . Prop . North Queensland Cowboys)
16. Daniel Conn (23 . 2nd row . Gold Coast Titans)
17. Matt Ballin (25 . Hooker . Manly Sea Eagles)

*Since the of selection William Zillman, he has been suspended for biting. We have deemed this to be not of good character and he has thus been stood down. The older Williams brother, John Williams has been called into replace him.

Is there anything hotter than two brothers stalking the sidelines.

- Alpii

Netballer? I just met her!

2009-08-29T17:43:00.005+10:00

Today was the Inner Western Suburbs grand final day, and boy, what a day! Greenlees Netball Club (my club) won 7 out of 8 of the grand finals that they were in, spectacular results and truly well deserved.

My lovely 12 yrs 4th division girls played a killer game, certainly got the supporters' emotions on a rollercoaster ride. Final score was 22-18, beating the Balmain Tigers club. They had a fantastic year, taking minor premiers and then the major premiers! Unfortunately this is my last year with them but what a way to go! Hopefully all this luck they have accrued will follow on to the Wallabies game tonight.

Thanks to everyone who supported the team - most notably Adrian, Abby, Darcy, Lucy, Pat and my lovely sister, Lindsay. Hope we put on an entertaining show for you!

PS Robbie Deans, if you need some coaching tips, just give me a buzz!

- Splex

This weekend in sport - 24/08/09

2009-08-24T07:56:00.002+10:00

Honestly, I don't want to talk about it. Bledisloe = gone. Ashes = gone. What went right is the real question.

That's about as far as I want to go today.

- Splex

A Celebration of Graeme Swann.

2009-08-21T20:17:00.006+10:00

Well, here I am. I find myself writing about another English cricketer. I admire the Australian cricketers but they're always around and we can blog about them all Summer long, but for now, I'll continue to play tribute to the Englishmen (well just him and Broad).

Test debuting in 2008 against India, Swann has somewhat cemented his place in the English side for his solid bowling figures and as a handy tailend batsman, after having 8 years in the ODI side. In more recent events, he and his Nottinghamshire teammate, Stuart Broad, shared a 100+ partnership in the 4th Ashes test.

Although he may not seem the type to have a massive following of female support, his avid twittering has brought him into the public sphere for his insights into the nuts and bolts of the English team preparation and also his hidden talent at golf (don't ask Jimmy Anderson about this though).

Hopefully we shall see more of this unsung hero of England cricket more in this 5th Ashes test as the pitch at the Oval is set to be spinny (not a real cricket term, so sue me!).

What we learnt from this blog:
Graeme Swann is a 30 year old spin bowler. Fact. Graeme Swann is a witch. Notfact.

Karmichael Hunt: Mistake or revelation?

2009-08-21T13:18:00.011+10:00

Karmichael Hunt has amassed achievements many in the NRL can only dream of. At 17 he was the youngest player ever to play for the Brisbane Broncos. He was also the youngest to play for Australia (that is until another freak of nature Israel Folau came into the picture). Along with his 10 state of origin games and 11 test caps, K has won a premiership, Dally M for rookie of the year and is the youngest player to play 100 first grade games. Now at 22, the heir apparent to the great Darren Lockyer has traded it all in for multi-million dollar AFL contract.

Why, K? Why?

AFL is a completely different sport. They don’t even kick or pass the
same way. The only thing they have in common is the ball. Even then, one is red and smooth the other is hard and fat. He may as well switch to netball or cricket. When I first heard, I thought surely this is just another one from the rumour mill.

At the end of 2009 I was prepared to see my favourite player leave my beloved Broncos, but I was excepting to see him in the super 14, France or Japan. His hard running, ball playing ability and kicking would see him likely succeed in Rugby, especially having received a rugby scholarship in high school.

But AFL. Seriously?

The new AFL venture to begin 2011, hasn’t even decided on a jersey and the first player they sign, their marquee player is a NRL player, who besides a few games in school has never played AFL before. I played a few games of lacrosse in school; maybe I should fly to America and become a professional lacrosse player.

I hope for K’s sake and the Gold Coast this gamble will pay off. I look forward to seeing Karmichael in a short shorts and a singlet. In the meantime he has a few short weeks to win us another premiership and I better start looking for a new favourite player.

- Alpii

Caster Semenya puts the 'man' in 'woman'

2009-08-21T00:21:00.012+10:00

Facial hair. Deep voice. Bulging muscle.

You’d think I was talking about a guy, but no, I’m talking about Caster Semenya, who recently won a gold medal at the World championships in Berlin for the women’s 800m.

Is she a woman or is she a man? That seems to be the question a lot of people are asking.
She’s young and new to international athletics but her sex has caused a stir even in her native South Africa, where rumours began that she is in fact a man. Upon arriving in Berlin for the Championships rumours again began circling. There has been such an uproar that International Association of Athletics Federation has asked Athletics South Africa to carry out gender test.

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said, "this type of thing will take months to complete, there are a battery of tests to do. It's very complicated, you need a panel of scientists to debate the result of the test. It's a serious issue.”

Months to complete?

A battery of tests?

A PANEL OF SCIENTISTS?

Just ask her to take her clothes off and take a look. Surely it’s not that hard. A man has a penis and a woman has a vagina. I’ll break it down even further for Mr Davies. Look down at yours. Now look at hers. If it looks the same, she’s a man. If it doesn’t look like yours, then she’s a woman.

Maybe it's just an unfortunate mistake of hormones gone wild, we do need to bear in mind she is only 18, or maybe it is a case of mistaken gender identity. Whatever the result, this is an example of a fine athlete. In the meantime let the poor girl have the benefit of the doubt here.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-13730.html

- Alpii

David Williams

2009-08-16T17:28:00.008+10:00

Now, I'm not normally a rugby league fan. In fact, I actually see it as rugby union's poorer cousin, that annoying one who always picks his nose and plays in the dirt by himself, but as of last night, after watching Manly vs Roosters, I'm a fan (and by fan I mean a borderline pervert). And this newfound exception of the game probably not played in heaven can be brought down to one factor: The Wolfman.

Actually he's not really a wolfman anymore as he shaved the beard off, but boy, didn't that one simple task reveal something beautiful.

However, it seems that the Williams family can produce more than one gorgeous son. Enter John Williams, brother senior. There are some definite good genes floating around in that DNA recipe.

At risk of making myself sound like a fool, i'll avoid the real rugby league talk and shall leave it to the professionals. But really, who cares about rugby league statistics anyway? That being said, depending on the Wallabies result for this weekend's Bledisloe, I may need to switch codes.

- Splex

This is merely for my sister, she better believe it!

Tri-Nations Dream Team

2009-08-13T22:30:00.011+10:00

Following along with the theme of dream teams, Alpii and I decided that to celebrate the current Tri-Nations series that is going on at this current time, we should obviously create a suitable team.

As with our cricket dream team, there were a few requirements that needed to be dealt with before selecting the final line up. They were as follows: 1) Had to have at least 5 players from the three countries, 2) Had to be in the current, 2009 Tri-Nations squad for their country, 3) Had to have reasonable skill, 4) Could not play out of position, and, last but not least, 5) Had to be somewhat attractive to the female followers.

The final team line-up is as follows:

1. Benn Robinson
2. Stephen Moore
3. Al Baxter
4. Jason Eaton
5. Isaac Ross
6. Schalk Burger
7. Richie McCaw
8. Rodney So'oialo
9. Luke Burgess
10. Daniel Carter
11. Cory Jane
12. Berrick Barnes
13. Jean de Villiers
14. Lachlan Turner
15. Francois Steyn

BENCH
16. Tatafu Polota-Nau
17. John Smit
18. Dean Mumm
19. Rocky Elsom
20. Fourie du Preez
21. Matt Giteau
22. Mils Muliaina

View the Tri-Nations Dream Team slideshow! (Please excuse the 3 minor mistakes I found in it, I have no idea how to fix it)

- Splex

The Life and Lies of Stuart Broad*

2009-08-13T16:18:00.009+10:00

For the duration of the first three Ashes tests of 2009, Stuart Broad frustratingly failed to live up to his potential on the cricket field. However, fortunes changed for the young pace bowler as he took 6 wickets for 91 runs and hitting 61 runs off a mere 48 balls in a stunning partnership with Graeme Swann. For a mere moment, Broad could have been the saviour of the test, however a quick Australian attack and some keen batting (most notably from Marcus North) quashed any hope that lingered.

Son of former English cricketer, Chris Broad, Stuart Broad has finally begun to make his mark on his national team. At only 23 years of age, Broad is the youngest player in England's battling line-up. With the pressure on the England selectors to return the Ashes back to their rightful home, Broad's position is somewhat under threat. Many critics believe that Ryan Sidebottom should be the obvious replacement, but with improvement evident in every ball, it may be wise to leave as is and have faith, especially with one who has potential of totting up numbers as mentioned.

From another point of view, it would be a breath of fresh air for the female viewers of the fine sport if Broad remained in the team, as there is only so much one can take of oddly hairy, gum-chewing, nose-picking sportsmen (not to name any names). With that blonde hair and those piercingly blue eyes, it's often hard to resist the charms of Stuart Broad.

So, conclusively, is it not obvious why Stuart Broad should remain in the English team? Without him, what would women look at when Australia are putting their opponents in their place? Surely we aren't all expected to share Lily Allen's tastes**. This all being said, Australia will win the Ashes, no questions asked, and I do (half) hope Broad gets out for a duck off a hugely spinning ball from Nathan Hauritz.

*Not that I know any lies, I was merely paying homage to Harry Potter and trying to create some sense of drama. How embarrassing for me.

**http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/cricket/graham-onions-has-sex-appeal-says-lily-allen/2009/08/06/1249350622619.html

- Splex

Hilarious cricket videos

2009-08-13T15:51:00.006+10:00

These are two very funny videos I shared with Splex. The first video is a pigeon being killed by cricket ball. Kind of dark and disgusting but funny.

The second video is Freddie Flintoff's ball busting an ad for Puma cricket boxes.

Enjoy.

; ) Alpii

Antipodean Sixbombs

2009-08-12T23:44:00.001+10:00

Fueled by many late nights witnessing the events of the Ashes 2009 unfold before us, we were inspired to create a cricketing dream team. However, the players we have chosen had to undertake many rigorous requirements. They must be current international players, of good character, good looks and plenty of skill. Players must also be chosen in positions they are capable of playing in their respective teams. Splex and I had the power to veto any player that does not meet these requirements. When consensus could not be achieved we threw it out to you.

And this is the resulting team

1. Simon Katich
(age 33)
Australia
Left-Hand batsman

2. Alastair Cook
(age 24)
England
Left-Hand batsman

3. AB de Villiers
(age 25)
South Africa
Right-hand batsman, Wicket keeper

4. Michael Clarke
(age 28)
Australia
Right-hand batsman, Vice Captain

5. JP Duminy
(age 25)
South Africa
Left-hand batsman

6. Daniel Vettori (C)
(age 30)
New Zealand
All-rounder, Left-hand batsman, Captain

7. Stuart Broad
(age 23)
England
All-rounder, Right-arm Fast-medium (Bats left-handed)

8. Brett Lee
(age 32)
Australia
Right-arm Fast

9. Tim Southee
(age 20)
New Zealand
Right-arm Fast-Medium

10. James Anderson
(age 27)
England
Right-arm Fast-medium (Bats left-handed)

11. Stuart Clark
(age 33)
Australia
Right-arm Fast-medium

12. Chris Gayle
(age 29)
West Indies
All-rounder, Left-handed batsman, Right-arm off break

While selecting the team was hard enough, coming up with a name was even harder. After taking suggestions from others we decided on Antipodean Sixbombs. Antipodean, a term people from the Northern Hemisphere use to describe people from Australia and New Zealand and Sixbomb, a cricketing twist to the Tom Jones' song.

This team is going to bowl a few maidens over.

-Alpii

Vilkommen! Benvenuti!

2009-08-12T23:35:00.000+10:00

If you are wondering whether this is another sports blog, then you'd probably be right. It is, and we have no shame in hiding that fact. Alpii and I are two university students residing in Sydney, Australia and well, we like sport.

We would like to think that this is going to give others a taste of the sporting world from late-teenaged eyes, our views on many highly contentious issues surrounding the sports we so admire (and by contentious we mean who is worthy enough to be chosen for our "good-looking" dream teams). One major reason to start blogging was to satisfy our voyeuristic tendencies but hey, you never know, we may have something of substance to say once in a while!

Please, enjoy! And any constructive criticism is welcome!

- Splex