"Yes, I overheard you talking to me"
- anon
Thursday 30 June 2011
Monday 27 June 2011
Quote of the Day
"My back's about as stable as the Egyptian government at the moment, it's time for me to part ways with cricket" - Brett Geeves, retiring cricketer
Wednesday 22 June 2011
Thought of the Day: Luke is a hard, hard bastard
In Star Wars Episode VI (or 6, for normal people), Luke Skywalker sends R2D2 and C3PO to Jabba's as gifts, to pre-empt his arrival and subsequent capture. Luke uses his opportunity at being captured to then free himself and his friends and get away safely (yay!).
The thing is, this entire escape effort is based on Jabba (and all his minions) standing on sailbarge's that explode once shot with a deck gun, which would kill them all and make a get away easier.
To do this, Luke needed to have C3PO ready on the sail-barge to shoot his light-saber at him, so that he could then start slicing people up, free his friends, kill all others and fly off to safety.
"Piece of piss"
(Photo courtesy of corruptcitizen.com)
To get his light saber to C3PO though, it meant getting C3PO installed as staff on Jabba's barge, which meant that he would somehow have to get the incumbent drink-serving droid fired (aka. disintegrated).
While I may have watched Episode V (or 5) more than twice, I don't remember the part in which Yoda teaches Luke to be a cunning and malicious bastard who makes plans that begin with innocent hard-working droids that serve drinks getting fired and tortured, before moving onto killing several flying ships worth of living beings.
Oh yeah, it also means that he intentionally gives his twin sister (who he did kiss) up to be Jabba's personal stripper too.
He is a hard, hard bastard.
Also, considering that Luke wanted to get captured the whole time, why did he try and shoot Jabba when they first meet? Did he also intend on falling into the pit, just so he could kill the Rancor?
If so, it means that Luke essentially went to Jabba's to kill not only Jabba, but all those close to him, including his pets.
Remind you of anyone?
Photo courtesy of adssuck.blogspot.com
The thing is, this entire escape effort is based on Jabba (and all his minions) standing on sailbarge's that explode once shot with a deck gun, which would kill them all and make a get away easier.
To do this, Luke needed to have C3PO ready on the sail-barge to shoot his light-saber at him, so that he could then start slicing people up, free his friends, kill all others and fly off to safety.
"Piece of piss"(Photo courtesy of corruptcitizen.com)
To get his light saber to C3PO though, it meant getting C3PO installed as staff on Jabba's barge, which meant that he would somehow have to get the incumbent drink-serving droid fired (aka. disintegrated).
While I may have watched Episode V (or 5) more than twice, I don't remember the part in which Yoda teaches Luke to be a cunning and malicious bastard who makes plans that begin with innocent hard-working droids that serve drinks getting fired and tortured, before moving onto killing several flying ships worth of living beings.
Oh yeah, it also means that he intentionally gives his twin sister (who he did kiss) up to be Jabba's personal stripper too.
He is a hard, hard bastard.
Also, considering that Luke wanted to get captured the whole time, why did he try and shoot Jabba when they first meet? Did he also intend on falling into the pit, just so he could kill the Rancor?
If so, it means that Luke essentially went to Jabba's to kill not only Jabba, but all those close to him, including his pets.
Remind you of anyone?
Photo courtesy of adssuck.blogspot.com Saturday 18 June 2011
Thought of the Day: People care who wins
Growing up in Melbourne in the 1980's was a fairly bleak time to be a follower of the Melbourne Football Club and/or Cricket.
The Melbourne Football Club (Go Dees) spent the early part of the decade getting thrashed regularly and sacked their prodigal son, Ron Barassi, after he returned to the club and tried to coach them into something resembling athletes. Things got a bit better later in the decade, with the side managing to make it to the Grand Final in 1988, only to get beaten by the then-record margin (96 points).
Similarly, Cricket gave little in the way of enjoyment as the Australian team strove through its rebuilding period like a turtle walks through cement. Further, there was little to celebrate about the Victorian side, with our state-team regularly taking out the attendance award and doing little else.
Still, sports were (and are) a major part of the culture and you couldn't do much to avoid it, you simply learned who your teams were and you stuck with them.
Which brings us to today. Cricket Australia has recently announced a re-structure of the Twenty20 league, the Big Bash League (or BBL), with new teams to be established that aren't aligned with the State system.
This seems fundamentally flawed, even for Cricket Australia.
Firstly, the premier domestic league should serve to best support the national team, specifically the Test team. Establishing a series of franchises whose goal is to sell broadcasting seems to be directly opposed to this and will surely hurt Cricket in Australia in the long-term, much in the same way that dropping your best batsman will.
Secondly, the way the league has been established seems to be out of synch with the International Schedule. This means players won't be available for either national games (impacting those teams) or BBL games (impacting those teams).
Thirdly, the establishment of the BBL is reported to have come at the cost of investment in Cricket development. While it is all very well to have people tuning in to watch the BBL and KFC product-placement, there wont be much to watch if people stop playing the game well. Or at all.
Lastly, the Australian sports-market is vastly different to that of the front-runner of all Twenty20 leagues; the Indian Premier League (IPL). Local fans won't necessarily support the East Melbourne Hoodanini's just because the Victorian team doesn't exist. Australian's are incredibly parochial and traditional in this way.
C'arn the Mazda's!
If Cricket Australia was serious about revamping the Twenty20 league, while also developing the domestic league, investing in the sport at local levels and making a profit; it would surely make sense to use the resources they have that work, rather than re-invent the wheel?
The IPL may or may not be a corrupt league, but it seems to be working pretty well. Further, attendance at the existing Big Bash league games has been exceeding expectations, so there is plenty of support for the State-based teams that have been going around since the 19th century.
The obvious solution, for mine, would be to expand the IPL to make it the International Premier League and use the solid foundation that has been built for the benefit of all.
While I have no interest in the IPL or the BBL, I do like to know that the Victorian side I have supported through the grave times will continue on. After all, the only thing worse than having a poor team is not having a team at all.
The Melbourne Football Club (Go Dees) spent the early part of the decade getting thrashed regularly and sacked their prodigal son, Ron Barassi, after he returned to the club and tried to coach them into something resembling athletes. Things got a bit better later in the decade, with the side managing to make it to the Grand Final in 1988, only to get beaten by the then-record margin (96 points).
Similarly, Cricket gave little in the way of enjoyment as the Australian team strove through its rebuilding period like a turtle walks through cement. Further, there was little to celebrate about the Victorian side, with our state-team regularly taking out the attendance award and doing little else.
Still, sports were (and are) a major part of the culture and you couldn't do much to avoid it, you simply learned who your teams were and you stuck with them.
Which brings us to today. Cricket Australia has recently announced a re-structure of the Twenty20 league, the Big Bash League (or BBL), with new teams to be established that aren't aligned with the State system.
This seems fundamentally flawed, even for Cricket Australia.
Firstly, the premier domestic league should serve to best support the national team, specifically the Test team. Establishing a series of franchises whose goal is to sell broadcasting seems to be directly opposed to this and will surely hurt Cricket in Australia in the long-term, much in the same way that dropping your best batsman will.
Secondly, the way the league has been established seems to be out of synch with the International Schedule. This means players won't be available for either national games (impacting those teams) or BBL games (impacting those teams).
Thirdly, the establishment of the BBL is reported to have come at the cost of investment in Cricket development. While it is all very well to have people tuning in to watch the BBL and KFC product-placement, there wont be much to watch if people stop playing the game well. Or at all.
Lastly, the Australian sports-market is vastly different to that of the front-runner of all Twenty20 leagues; the Indian Premier League (IPL). Local fans won't necessarily support the East Melbourne Hoodanini's just because the Victorian team doesn't exist. Australian's are incredibly parochial and traditional in this way.
C'arn the Mazda's!If Cricket Australia was serious about revamping the Twenty20 league, while also developing the domestic league, investing in the sport at local levels and making a profit; it would surely make sense to use the resources they have that work, rather than re-invent the wheel?
The IPL may or may not be a corrupt league, but it seems to be working pretty well. Further, attendance at the existing Big Bash league games has been exceeding expectations, so there is plenty of support for the State-based teams that have been going around since the 19th century.
The obvious solution, for mine, would be to expand the IPL to make it the International Premier League and use the solid foundation that has been built for the benefit of all.
While I have no interest in the IPL or the BBL, I do like to know that the Victorian side I have supported through the grave times will continue on. After all, the only thing worse than having a poor team is not having a team at all.
Tuesday 14 June 2011
Saturday 11 June 2011
Cricket Australia dumps Katich for phone salesman
Moving ever-towards the requirements of a 21st century sporting powerhouse, Cricket Australia (CA) dropped Simon Katich, its most successful batsman of the last three years.
While there is no obvious replacement for Katich, who famously redesigned his batting action to make him an indispensable accumulator of runs in a team full of flash and inconsistency, CA are excited with the prospect of having someone with genuine advertising appeal at the top of the order.
Not a mobile phone in sight
A spokesman from Spitball ltd, an international Cricket Marketing company, was quoted as being very excited about this announcement. “I’m very excited” he said.
“This is a great leap forward for Cricket Australia, they have taken the first step in moving away from pretending to be a sports administration body to a reactive group of part-timers who would sell their grandmothers to ensure the coffers of their organization are full”
"Cricket has been too slow to react to Marketing opportunities in the past, they keep clinging on to this sense of History that the game has. Who needs that? How can you sell roaming mobile charges? No, really, how?"
He was quick to add; “I’m only talking about the short term here, this income stream will totally dry up when the fans start turning off”.
Witnesses on the scene are still trying to explain how he spoke in Italics.
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