Public Address - Field Theory (Home)

Chuck some chlorine in it | Dec 07, 2009 14:56

So not the best weekend then. New Zealand lost to a rag-tag bunch of misfits who banded together under a common goal and wore mismatched socks. In a different sport we lost to a team that hasn't been home for a while now. And our pool has the current World Champ in it!

My pool prediction didn't come to pass, and I owe Graeme Edgeler a beer, but I still think we did alright. We ran Italy close earlier this year and Slovakia and Paraguay could possibly stoop to our level. You know I think we might have a chance.

And as we've noted here before, football's low scores are what makes it the sport that has the highest percentage of "upsets" (defined as a team beating another with a significantly higher win/loss ratio). Though I can't help but feel sorry for North Korea (Brazil, Cote de Ivoire, Portugal). I'm sure their newspapers will blame the draw on the US or something.

Australia's pool will be pretty close (Germany, Ghana, Serbia) but they've got to like their chances of progressing.

Now this post is intentionally on popular sports so that no one will complain when I write about Roller Derby next…

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I was the only person wearing a tie | Dec 04, 2009 17:45

I wasn't quite sure what was supposed to happen. But the players did, they all took a knee, so did the referees, so did all the players on the bench and the bench managers. Someone was injured, and it was something I hadn't seen before because it doesn't happen in Wellington. But this was Pirate City, and they roll tough.

The venue demanded a harder skating style. Set into the base of a hill was Skateland. The rain started as we pulled into the carpark and wandered inside. I was the only person wearing a tie.

Skateland's floor is concrete and its roof is low. The MCs are difficult to hear over the referees' whistles and crowd's shouting. The beers, brought around by "wenches" are in cans, and slightly warm.

MC Mic Riot tells me that it used to be an outdoor venue that they just built a roof over. And it does have a feel like that. If this was a rugby field there would be cars parked on the sideline.

The whole feel is tougher and grittier. Like the difference between a sports car and a hotrod or the difference between being punched and being punched with knuckle dusters.

After a tight first half Dead Wreckoning pulled away from Mascara Massacre and ended the three bout series with a clean sweep. Afterwards Wreckoning's manager, Pieces of Hate, was unimpressed with the result. It should never have been that close, Wreckoning should've wiped the floor with them.

Even with the game over and the shield in hand the aggression was still there. Then again after being stuck on the side line maybe Hate was just itching to pop someone. So it wasn't a good time for me to start an argument with her. It was about uniforms and I won't go into it, but just to say that neither of us backed down and in the end we just made the skater in the middle (Schiesse Minelli) feel awkward.

So now this marauding band of no-goodniks are heading to Wellington for the country's first intercity bout: Skate Highway One (puns are as much of a staple of this sport as they are of any other, derby girls are just more blatant).

I've seen the team lists and I'm worried that Auckland are going in with a clear size advantage. I don't know if Wellington is going to have the blockers to cope with the hitting power that Pirate City is bringing down. Richter City's saving grace might just be their speed and agility. It's definitely going to be a good bout and hopefully no one gets seriously hurt.

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And congrats to LegBreak who will be tweeting on behalf of our nation on the Guardian website (@Sportzfreak) during the drawing of the FIFA World Cup groups.

I did some "analysis" over at the Dropkicks on this:

Based strictly on current world rankings [the best group for NZ would be] would be in Group A with South Africa (86), Ghana (37), and Slovakia (34).

The worst would be Spain (1), Cameroon (11), and Portugal (5).

I also predicted that one pool would be: Argentina, Japan, Nigeria, and Serbia, if anyone would care to wager a beer on that.

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Everything you hoped for | Dec 01, 2009 14:38

Damn kids and their short attention spans. "Fantastic game" was the cry about the All Blacks win over France on the weekend.

"Finally!" cried the pundits, "tries, and lots of them! And running ones too, none of that forward muck". And I don't deny that it was nice to see some great tries against a very good team… but… I don't know if this was a good team.

Yes the French had beaten South Africa but we've seen the French just give up on matches before, when they should've played better. And when they've got a good plan and the confidence they are unstoppable. Personally I knew they were going to lose when they attempted the drop-goal.

It showed the French had no plan and no confidence in their attack.

So it was a bubble gum game. A really fantastic game is one where the opposition shows up. One where there is real tension right up until the final whistle, not just us being happy to have scored some tries.

Yes, yes, I know "bah humbug" and all that. But having seen it I was underwhelmed by the descriptions of "stunning" and "fantastic". Though I will admit certain players had star turns.

It seems now that all we want is tries. The All Blacks weren't losing and so we had to complain that they weren't winning in the correct manner. If only the All Blacks could play games like they were highlight reels.

Is it possible that we don't actually like rugby? Probably not. I think we're just annoyed that the game plan we'd like our team to employ is also easily thwarted. And this weekend it wasn't.

Both teams played open expansive running rugby and one of them got thumped. This means that teams who play the winner (ie. the All Blacks) in the future will try to stop that happening again.

And it's not just rugby. Every sport, with has two competitors, is a battle to score points while stopping the opposition from doing the same. And unless the rules are changed don't expect us to score more tries. And if they do change the rules, expect us to complain about that too.

*****

By the way, both teams had excellent uniforms

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Happy Now? | Nov 16, 2009 20:38

It's Monday, so that means I would usually be talking American football and uniforms. But I've been really busy today so I'm only going to be able to give you a quick run down of the rugby… yes, I'm kidding.

I said on Friday that I didn't get to go to the game, but that Mike did. Well here's Mike's take on the game:

But my favourite might just be these two guys grappling with the flag.

Some interesting side notes about the game.

SKY has been incredibly smart about the YouTube footage of the game. A banner at the start of any infringing video says: "All footage remains the property of SKY Television New Zealand. This video is here to share the news of the All Whites victory over Bahrain." Unbelievably smart!

The All Whites have become an internet sensation. Especially after a number of Americans woke to find #allwhites as the number one trending topic on Twitter. This raised questions there and in the forums here about, what happens when we go to South Africa?

Well what happened when we went there this year? Nothing. So it'll probably be fine.

And of course there have been those calling this the beginning of the end for rugby in New Zealand. Yes, now that we have qualified for the World Cup for the second time we should stop playing the sport that we've been really rather good at for quite a long time now. This is like Brazil getting to the Rugby World Cup and a bunch of burly young gents declaring: "finally!"

So this is the nice come down. I've been told by many friends who were at the game (including one who did take his shirt off and wave it over his head), that the crowd had a great "vibe" and how after the goal everyone spirits lifted until the final three minutes, when Bahrain was cold and tired and we were fresh and wanting goals.

And now we start saving money to go to South Africa.

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