I'm quite grumpy writing this. I watched my Jets lose in the worst way to the Dolphins (their hated enemy). I was watching with a friend who was just interested to watch American football game despite his team not being involved. So he started cheering for the Dolphins.
This caused me to ask: "what the fuck?"
It's different if you're supporting them as underdogs or if it means your team will benefit in some fashion. But if you're watching with a friend it's not clever or "cool" (as the kids say) to support the opposition solely for the reason of annoying your friend. That's what a troll is. And nobody likes a troll.
I mean imagine watching the football on the weekend with an English supporter who started cheering for Bahrain. Bahrain, who didn't beat us by the way. Bahrain, who'll be coming to Wellington for the biggest sports event here since… the first Rugby World Cup? The Auckland Commonwealth Games? The America's Cup?
If you were ever going to see the Caketin sold out, it'll be for this game. I'll be there and I hope it's a real "Wellington day".
But this weekend four wheels beat two legs for the best sport.
First of all Bathurst lived up to the "great race" tag, as opposed to it's usual role of deciding which car company would see a bump in sales. Greg Murphy called his finish the best fourth place ever, and his final lap battle was awesome to watch.
And what's better than four wheels AND two legs? Both together!
Brutal Pageant were looking to go 2-0 in the Richter City season on Saturday, but Smash Malice had other ideas. Malice had yet to record a win, having lost the initial exhibition bout (The Grudgemaker) and the first bout of the season (Skate of Emergency).
The final score was 166-117 to Smash Malice and they were relishing every moment. Even in the penalty box.
We had our commentary table right beside the teams' benches. In the first half Brutal Pageant had the lead, and after I read out the score Tuff Bikkies (captain of Malice) leaned over and said, "the scoreboard's broken". I looked up worried before I realised she was kidding. Any team that can be that cool under pressure is going to do well.
And while Pageant was putting up a spirited fight it wasn't going to be their night. For every jam where they had the lead, Malice were right on their tail.
And the crowd were baying for blood the whole time. I was being threatened at halftime, as I rarked-up the Brutal Pageant fans, by someone's mother. It was really loud with 800+ people and the hits were some of the hardest I've seen.
But really derby is about love not violence. The skaters are all good friends, even when they are blocked out they come up grinning ready to go. And even when I asked the Pageant girls if they were a little low after the loss they said they didn't mind because it meant the final bout would be massive. And anyway they all had to go drink together.
And if you think you're missing out in Auckland, you just have to hold tight. The first bout was won by Dead Wreckoning and while the next official bout isn't until the 14th of November there is another special event coming up that I will tell you about when I'm allowed to.
Check out Mike Roseingrave's website and Jed Soane's Flickr set for all the hard-hitting and hula-hooping pics.