Great result for RL. Loved the way the poms got in behind the kiwis.

Then after all that we lost the cricket. This weekend totally sucks

I saw the league replay in the afternoon and thought I'd visit the Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age websites for a bit of schadenfreude ("The PAS word of the month(TM)"). Both featured the Aussie cricket win?

just how quickly do the Aussies move on?

Yes, it was also completely ignored on the morning edition of the Australian ESPN Sportscentre. Bitter much?

Forget NZ sports fans singing, it's just not in the genes. One of the?

What is not a good?

Thought as much, but let's not dwell on rubbing it in but celebrating the historic win.

Any League historians out there?

Q – back in the 1920s or 1930s (I think) the Mickey-Doos all went to League. Marist-Papanui was formed in Christchurch?

just how quickly do the Aussies move on?

The Aussies moved on as quickly as they did when they left Suncorp stadium. My neighbours were speechless yesterday, when I decided to approach them by knocking on the door; I was welcomed inside for a coffee and the last hour of?

How did Darren Lockyer win the man of the match?

They Aussies got player of the match and player of the tournament. During the ceremony I was fully expecting them to be given a team of the tournament award in the form of a cup larger than the winner's trophy.

It was the Women's Rugby League World Cup, which we?

The Australian reaction to their loss is a reminder that their cocky sporting arrogance has a flip side of?

(it was the only one featuring 'black' I could think of that people might have heard before. I know it's not a homegrown (aka 'homegrowen') number.)

Then we did what we always do in the second half: play well and don't give up points. That's been the game plan since the All Blacks left on this tour.

It kinda makes you wonder why that isn't the game plan in the first half actually.

How did Darren?

I don't suppose there's any way we could all learn to sing Paint It Black for sporting events...

Yes, let's sing a song about paranoid depression at sporting events, that ought to help our already fragile psyche :-)

New Zealand has created hundreds of perfectly singable songs that would be perfect during sports matches

I spent a boring afternoon at work assigning country's new national anthems rather arbitrarirly and I thought it would be f*cking awesome if we sung "Why does love do this to me" as ours.?

Alternatively, we could change our theme colour to pink and have 'Pink Frost'. Or blue and have 'Blue Beat'. I'd love to hear thousands of people singing 'a-chick-ee-chick-ee-chang-chang' in a stadium...

I'd completely forgotten about them holding the trophy forever before that.

I did laugh on Sunday afternoon in?

There is no depression in New Zealand;
there are no sheep on our farms,
There is no depression in New Zealand;
we can all keep perfectly calm,

We don't really 'do' singing at sports events, do we? Bloody repressed overly-macho spectators. Quite apart from the fact that I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

Quite apart from the fact that I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

That's the great thing about sports crowd singing. You don't need to be good, just LOUD!! It's really bizarre how the dynamics of large numbers can overcome the lack of tunefullness of any individual (or sub-group).?

I would really like Slice of Heaven to be our test-match song. Imagine 50,000 voices belting out the "Dah, dah, dah.. boom boom, dah, dah, dah" bit.

That's wat the Kiwi were singing on the "celebration stage" the other night, wasn't it? (I kept thinking that the celebration stage was?

We don't really 'do' singing at sports events, do we? Bloody repressed overly-macho spectators. Quite apart from the fact that I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

It's got be in the blood I reckon. Two of the best footie ones (although it helps if you know the players?

36-nil! That should have been on the TV news.

You'd think, wouldn't you?

I don't know what it is about the cricket. I let the smallest glimmers of good play get my hopes?

Now that's classy.

I haven't been to any Phoenix games this year, could somebody tell me if the songsheet has moved on from "Same Old Aussies/Always Cheating" (good for all opponents!) and "Who Are Ya?" (answer: we're the team that's putting you away two-zip). If so I might be persuaded?

We don't really 'do' singing at sports events, do we? Bloody repressed overly-macho spectators. Quite apart from the fact that I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

The one time I've really seen it come off was the Wellington test on the last Lions tour.

Whoever ran the PA?

It's got be in the blood I reckon. Two of the best footie ones (although it helps if you know the players names):

When I would go and see Wimbledon play in their brief era of glory, the crowd would sing:

__One Laurie Sanchez,
There's only Laurie Sanchez
One Laurie?

I let the smallest glimmers of good play get my hopes up for a test win and then get horribly depressed after we lose. Sigh.

That's what I love about test cricket. While somebody from your team is at the crease, even the most awful tailender, in theory he could?

One Laurie Saaaaanchez!
To the tune of 'Guantamera'.

The Aussies have been using that one for a while...Paul Kelly even has a 'One David Gower, there's only one David Gower...' as a fade-out song on one of his albums.

Here's a suggestion for a highly adaptable NZ song: The Clean's?

One Laurie Saaaaanchez!
To the tune of 'Guantamera'.

In Italy the lyrics to that one are "Tutto lo stadio", meaning the whole crowd ought to make some noise. A guy I knew who was a very occasional stadium-goer thought they were praising somebody called "Ugo Rosario" and heartily joined in.?

I would really like Slice of Heaven to be our test-match song. Imagine 50,000 voices belting out the "Dah, dah, dah.. boom boom, dah, dah, dah" bit.

That's wat?

The first half really was just awful.
Depends upon who you were barracking for I s'pose :-)

Actually I don't think the Welsh were looking too flash either.

I loved how they were penalised in the scrum for falling down when it was the fault of a rather large piece?

Whoever ran the PA music went for almost 100% Kiwi gold, and bawling 'Why Does Love Do This To Me?' has never felt as good as it did that night.

As a somewhat fogiefied NZ'er, I have a question. What do the kids today use as their raucous party participation?

I missed the haka but I figured that it wouldn't be that interesting. Boy was I wrong. Following the showdown in Australia, the Welsh decided they weren't going to be stared down in their own stadium and in front of their fans. I fucking loved it!

That was brilliant. At?

Cheers Steve, I knever heard about the Kiwi Ferns.
So in Rugby terms we are Womens Union & League Chanmps and Mens League Champs, nice.

Ah the Kiwi Ferns. Another product of the New Zealand team-naming formula.

Though the RLWC final was a battle of the national icons: Kangaroos and Kiwis

Astle's batting explosion 3-4 years ago against England in Chch when we were hopelessly behind their total is probably the greatest forlorn chase I've ever seen.

I just wished he had been dismissed by a good delivery as opposed to that awful, would-have-been-called-a-wide piece of garbage that Hoggard dished up.?

The one time I've really seen it come off was the Wellington test on the last Lions tour...

Best night out evar.

Actually that was a bloody good night. At the end of the game one of our friends "ran" the length of Courtenay Pl and got a table in?

They weren't the only crowd to adapt the tune thus, but I thought it worked particularly well given Sanchez' Latinate surname.

Liverpool fans making fun of their own scallie reputations used to sing at West Ham games;

"You've got Di Canio
We've got your car stereos"

To the tune of?

That's what I love about test cricket

What I love about it is that it's a totatlly lazy sport to watch. If they'd let me bring a BBQ into the ground it'd be perfect.

Yay we won the Rugby League World Cup!

Yay Geoff Sewell delivered possibly the best and simultaneously most hilarious performance of the NZ national anthem ever!

Yay All Blacks!

Yay Jamie Whincup is gonna win the V8 Supercars!

Yay Earl Bamber is kicking A1GP ass!

Yay?

Astle's batting explosion 3-4 years ago against England in Chch when we were hopelessly behind their total is probably the greatest forlorn chase I've ever seen.

Or Southee's nine sixes earlier this year.

"You've got Di Canio
We've got your car stereos"

To the tune of a famous opera that I should know the name of.

Just doing the scan thing in my head... this could fit with "La Donna è Mobile" from Verdi's Rigoletto.

Astle's batting explosion 3-4 years ago against England in Chch when we were hopelessly behind their total is probably the greatest forlorn chase I've ever seen.

Sadly it wasn't quite that recent. Early in 2002.

Or Southee's nine sixes earlier this year.

See that one I know is going to?

Which I guess fits in with NZ batting efforts, so welcome to your national team Southee.

The word backstage is that he has the makings of a very fine batsman. Time will tell, but I wouldn't discount it.

I look at the sunrise (Tana with his kids on a Gisborne beach)
I look at it burn (First sun coming up)
I look into your eyes (Tuigamala doing the Haka in full voice)
Got nowhere to turn (Campese?

One Laurie Sanchez,
There's only Laurie Sanchez
One Laurie Saaaaanchez!

To the tune of 'Guantamera'

The fans ditties can also be quite ruthless. Shortly after the then-Rangers keeper Andy Goram was diagnosed with mild schizophrenia, the opposing fans at his very next game sang ...

Two Andy Gorams,
There's only?

The word backstage is that he has the makings of a very fine batsman. Time will tell, but I wouldn't discount it.

He?ll have to learn how to play the short stuff first though.

The word backstage is that he has the makings of a very fine batsman. Time will tell, but I wouldn't discount it.

Didn't they say the same thing about those twins a few years back, what were their names?
Oh and Jamie How?

He?ll have to learn how to play the short stuff first though.

Didn't they say the same thing about those twins a few years back, what were their names?
Oh and Jamie How?

God I hate New Zealand cricket fans...

God I hate New Zealand cricket fans...

I lump the BLACKCAPS and Phoenix in the same category. Overhyped, overexposed, underperforming.

Us Breakers fans on the other hand...

I?d like to see him scoring some runs in something other than multiples of 6 at some stage too.

It's mostly Rugby fans that bag?

The NZ cricket fan has suffered a few scars over the years; surely a hint of weary scepticism is warranted?

A hint? All I see is guys reversing with dump trucks-full of scepticism and tilting the contents all over the field. And it begins at home, my partner is a?

They must get bored in the summer, I guess.

Why do you think we've got the S14 starting in February next year? Heh...

it's having had a statistically improbably good team in the eighties that has ruined the psyche of the NZ cricket fan

Yeah, that (you should hear my mother on the Howarth years), but also: it's the inconsistency. You just can't count on the buggers for anything! Except heartbreak.

I call?

And, for the purists, the fact that test results are so much worse than the other forms of the game rubs it in.

Yeah, that (you should hear my mother on the Howarth years), but also: it's the inconsistency. You just can't count on the buggers for anything! Except heartbreak.

Oh, it's not the losing. I could handle the losing, especially to teams that are clearly better than we. It's the not bloody?

I call the mentality 'Cricket Goth'.

Love it.

And, for the purists, the fact that test results are so much worse than the other forms of the game rubs it in.

The purists ought to know that it's easier to produce good one day players than good test players, surely.?

Hadyn doesn't even like cricket!

I'm like Richard's bored rugby fans. Hey there's sport on, sure I'll watch it if I'm allowed to drink, make loud opinionated comments, and yell at the TV.

But this year I started watching baseball. If I can enjoy baseball, I can (start to) enjoy?

If I can enjoy baseball, I can (start to) enjoy cricket.

Come over to the flannelled side, Hadyn. Resistance is futile.

Come over to the flannelled side, Hadyn. Resistance is futile.Come over to the flannelled side, Hadyn. Resistance is futile.

We have cookies. And magic underwear.

Also included is the micro-slide version for fielders, and the IonX BaseLayer performance underwear which is claimed to improve performance by 2.7%.

One is really compelled to ask: what kind of performance, exactly? There aren't very many things in that general area that could be measured with that degree of?

We have cookies. And magic underwear.

Cookies? I thought it was cucumber sandwiches? (and I hate cucumber). But I could be swayed by the underwear. A 2.7% increase in my underwear performance would be a plus in any situation.

Come over to the flannelled side, Hadyn. Resistance is futile.

Tell ya what I'll watch cricket with you guys if you watch the Superbowl with me.

The Beige Brigade's work makes NZ Cricket fans one of the best sets of fans in the world at anything. They know we're not very good, but go about supporting the team positively and with wry humour. I'm very proud they're on our side.

A very timely comment.

The Beige?

it's the inconsistency. You just can't count on the buggers for anything! Except heartbreak.

You can count on them for the inconsistency. You can avoid the heartache just by steadfastly maintaining low expections, like when watching the NZ league team play Ausie; you never expect them to win, but it's?

Come over to the flannelled side, Hadyn. Resistance is futile.

He'll be white with us.

'E Ipo'

It also has a spoken word interlude, which I believe qualifies it for 'O for Awesome' status. (In our household, songs are considered to be officially awesome if they have spoken word interludes, handclaps, or the lyrics mention days of the week.)

What happens if you're a fan?

Tell ya what I'll watch cricket with you guys if you watch the Superbowl with me.

Am I allowed to remain sitting during the anthem?

When watching NZ play cricket, go in with low expectations and you just might be pleasently surprised. Like watching a Steven Spielberg film.

You mean?

It also has a spoken word interlude, which I believe qualifies it for 'O for Awesome' status. (In our household, songs are considered to be officially awesome if they have spoken word interludes...

Word.

I?d like to see him scoring some runs in something other than multiples of 6 at some stage too.

No see. Both yesterday, and earlier in the year when he got 77 against England by smashing it everywhere, he was not out.

The problem wasn't that he was scoring sixes,?

What happens if you're a fan of both baseball and cricket? Do you carry a white flannel... catcher's mitt or something?

Catchers mitts/fielders gloves tend to be made from leather and/or vinyl. One made of white flannel would certainly give the glovee an extra something to concentrate the mind on?

What happens if you're a fan of both baseball and cricket? Do you carry a white flannel... catcher's mitt or something?

Nah the baggy trousers are fairly similar to cricket whites.

Although why were the Blackcaps wearing what looked like white tshirts?

Although why were the Blackcaps wearing what looked like white tshirts?

Canterbury strikes again! I don't like the shirts – they're not cricket.

It's also weird having a shirt sponsor (DEC) who doesn't appear to have a presence in NZ.

Ricky Stuart apparently shockingly bad at losing, having abused the referee at a chance meeting at a hotel on Saturday night.

Little brother doesn't know his place apparently.

Stuart often chucks a wobbly – he was the a Union half-back before he went to League, so it's kind of expected?

Astle's batting explosion 3-4 years ago against England in Chch when we were hopelessly behind their total is probably the greatest forlorn chase I've ever seen.

It was quite simply, breathtaking. And yes, I have the video saved on my youtube account. But what's often forgotten that it was Astle?

I call the mentality 'Cricket Goth'. You float about full of woe, all emo-like, and every now and then something wonderful happens when you aren't expecting it.

'Cricket Goth' is a great description of tragic cricket tragics.

I found myself strangely elated after the weekend's game. Like I had come?

I was impressed with Johnson. He was getting just enough swing for a left arm quick to be dangerous. He was pretty acurate when I was watching, and he was fast. His bowling speed was regularly in the 140s. He was about as fast as Lee. Not saying he's as?

It was quite simply, breathtaking. And yes, I have the video saved on my youtube account.

I bought the DVD. Two hours of it (plus three ODI innings from that same tour).

we could change our theme colour to pink and have 'Pink Frost'. Or blue and have 'Blue Beat'. I'd love to hear thousands of people singing 'a-chick-ee-chick-ee-chang-chang' in a stadium

There should be some kind of knockout-tournament Battle Of The Kiwi Songs With Catchy Nonsense-Syllable Bits.

Slice of Heaven vs.?