Category Archives: Written

02.03.14
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Why we need to give Ian Thorpe space

It has been widely reported over the last week, that Ian Thorpe isn’t in a good place. Naturally a select portion of the media in this country see an Olympian “falling from grace” as they describe it and pounce on the opportunity to report. Here’s why I feel for Thorpe and we need to let him take the required steps back to full health.

A lifetime ago I used to swim. Of course it wasn’t literally a lifetime ago, but it has just ticked over seven years since I last raced competitively and that’s what it feels like. I was fortunate in my swimming career (I still am fortunate, but for the purpose of this post I’ll keep the fortune focused on swimming). My parents made sure I could travel to meets anywhere, they drove me to the poolThorpekick and 5.30am and picked me up at 6pm the same night, often without going home from work beforehand. They had longer days than I did with a mortgage to pay and kids to feed and educate, while my two focuses in life were swimming and completing school- often in that order.

Swimming taught me a lot. It taught me what drive can do, it taught me how growing up around people who are now World Record holders can change you as a person and it taught me that anything is possible. But there is one thing that I learnt from swimming that people don’t tell you before you walk in for your first training session as a kid. Swimming is lonely. You don’t train by yourself, in fact you form a great bond with the group that you train with. You might race by yourself, but you are always going to be part of a team. The thing about spending 20-30 hours a week in a pool is that you have a lot of time to think. You focus on the mechanics, you focus on everything that you need to be doing in the pool, but there will come a point where your mind starts to wander. School, friends, sports teams you supported, social life – anything was good to think about because you needed to find a way to pass the time.

What we are seeing with Thorpe now is a result of that process. For the better part of a decade he was in the pool or gym for the majority of time when he wasn’t sleeping. Add to that the fact that the national spotlight shone on him whenever the time came for Australia to compete at home or overseas and you can see why he has fallen to the depths that he has. It’s easy enough to say that athletes need to adjust when they return to being a “normal” member of society, but I find it strange the amount of people commenting on that who have never been in that situation before.

Many who know me don’t know that I used to swim. That in itself is a fair sign that swimming is something you can only see elements of from me. I could have been a Paralympian had a made a few different decisions in my life, but I didn’t and on the days when I think about it for a few seconds too long, I regret how things turned out, even though that might mean that I wouldn’t have everything I have today.

At the end of the day the inside of the mind is a place we can never see, so let’s just all hope that Thorpe can get the help that he needs so we can see him return to being the vibrant person we saw on pool deck.

02.03.14
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Rich Hill a bright spot for Boston

Rich Hill signed a Minor League deal with the Red Sox over the weekend. At first I didn’t think it was a great move, but he could prove an asset to the Red Sox down the stretch in 2014.

Rich Hill’s career numbers in the Majors aren’t great. The guy is 24-22 in nine seasons with a 4.74 ERA.

But here’s what I do like. He’s spent time in Boston. During 2010 and 2011 he made 15 appearances with a 1-0 record in that time.indexrichhill One of the biggest offseason talking points (and rightfully so), has been with regards to where the pitching is going to come from down the stretch. There were all too many occasions last year where the likes of Workman and Tazawa were unable to get the job done, and if we are honest, we were lucky to come out World Champions after some of their efforts at the tail end of the season.

He didn’t post a winning record with the Indians last year, but he did have a strikeout to walk ratio of 1.75/1 across 63 games in the 2013 season. If he can replicate these numbers it will fall slightly below the team average from 2013, but as we saw on many occasions the breaking of a slump last series came from the success of another man on the roster.

The Minor League deal promises that we aren’t going to chew up a lot of money on the guy, and when rosters expand in September, he is the kind of guy we are going to want. The experience he has and the form that he hopefully gets back to in the second half of the season are something that may be vital as we push towards being the first team to repeat this century.

02.03.14
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The Great Escape – version 2014

A month ago I thought Sam Allardyce needed to be sacked because he was sending West Ham towards doom. Now I think Sam Allardyce needs to be sacked because he’s leading us to safety.

The last month has had a fair few low moments. The 6-0 drubbing at Man City which followed a 5-0 shamble at Notts Forest were the low points of the month. Since then we have won away at Cardiff and beaten Swansea at home, two crucial results given their respective standings.

I’m not 100% certain that we are going to get out of this, but there is a Tevez-like feeling marking the return of England SamAllardyceThinkinginternational Andy Carroll . He set up Noble for the second at Cardiff, as well as setting up both goals at home on Saturday. From watching the replays of the goals it is easy to seeing that he is quickly returning to the form that he was in this time last year when a full-time move was first being discussed. The return of Nolan from suspension (for now) has aided this process as the two seem to play the same style of daring football, providing they are on the field at the same time.

So why sack Allardyce? Last week after the draw against Chelsea I was full of praise for the attitude he showed towards his counterpart when the tactics he used to get us what could be a vital point, were questioned. The problem with Allardyce is that he has a history of doing very little in the Premier League besides surviving, with the exception of one UEFA Cup appearance with Bolton he has never achieved anything more than the occasional mid-table finish.

I remember the first time in my life that we went down (2002-03) and thinking that Bolton wouldn’t be far behind us because of the style they played. Unfortunately it is all too common for teams that he manages to scrape by, and to be completely honest I don’t want to see us turn into a club who are happy to finish 17th every year, which lets face it, I’ll be ecstatic with this season.

Remember growing up when you were told about “The West Ham way”, the style of football that had us pushing for Europe and producing the next wave of English internationals? That’s what I want to see again. Bobby Moore didn’t sit in Cassetari’s moving salt and pepper shakers for us to be a club who accepted mediocre. Moore than a football club, isn’t a gimmick, it’s what we are.

We are the emotions of the 2006 FA Cup Final, the disbelief when we were two goals to the good, the running around my house at 1am as Paul Konchesky’s “shot” gave us the lead going into the final third of the game, we are that feeling you got when Stevie G scored one of the greatest goals of all-time and mostly, we are the tears that flowed when Anton Ferdinand missed his penalty.

We have a history to uphold. Eight managers between 1902 and 2001 is something that we are all proud of. That pride comes from knowing that no other club did anything like that in the same 100 year span.

Football in the East End is about the West Ham way, so let’s return to our roots, something Sam Allardyce can NEVER help us do.

Come On You Irons!

02.03.14
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Why Australian sport can’t match the Superbowl

So the Superbowl is over for another year. For American Football fans that means 6 months while they look out the window and wait for preseason to start. In the meantime though, I believe it’s time for both Australian’s and the Australian media to think about why the Superbowl (and American sports in general) is something which will never be matched here.

Sport is great. Australian sport is great. North American sport is great. But they are different. From the way they are covered to the passions that you see coming from the fans. The similarities for mine start and finish with the fact that one team is trying to beat the other.petecarrolcelebrate

The biggest difference between sport in the two continents is the way that sport is covered, and how that coverage can bring a city together to support their team. The perfect example of this is Melbourne newspaper The Age. The Age have a great AFL coverage, but that coverage is split amongst the following teams – Western Bulldogs, Essendon, North Melbourne, Melbourne, Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond, St Kilda and Hawthorn. Regardless of how good the coverage is, the paper has nine teams to cover. How is that coverage meant to unite a city? Pure and simple, It can’t. I think that part of the problem the Australian media face in covering sport, the national competitions that we are running are far too condensed. Take the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as an example of one of many organisations in North America who have the job of covering one team. When the Pittsburgh Pirates run out at the start of April, one thing is for sure – the Post-Gazette will let people know that it’s time to raise the Jolly Roger as the Pirates hunt for their first World Championship since 1979.

When you have a media who are charged with the role of devoting everything that have towards one team in one sport, the results you get are a city who live and die by the performance of their team. You get a city who are united for a single cause, a city that when you are there you can’t help but be sucked into the vortex that is a one-team town in professional sport.

Yes, there are American cities with two teams, but often the lines in the sand are drawn from which side of the city you are born on (Chicago with the Cubs and White Sox is the best example of this).

This is something I had the opportunity to discuss with a good friend of mine, Myles Harris on the most recent episode of Chatter Up on Hewitt Sports Network.

Myles and I have very different sporting backgrounds, but as you can hear in our discussion, this is one of many points that we agree on, and I think it’s certainly something we’ll both discuss at length in the future.

Both Seattle and Denver were at a standstill today, but where is that in the AFL? Even when Fremantle were playing Hawthorn in the 2013 decider, neither Melbourne or Perth came to a standstill, why? Because there are other teams in that city, and fans of those teams would give anything to see their rivals lose.

So how does this relate to the Superbowl? I’m not going to use the halftime show from this year as my landmark, because even though Bruno Mars is a good artist, he isn’t my cup of tea. In 2009 the Superbowl entertainment was Bruce Springsteen. In 2011 the AFL managed to recruit an out of shape, out of date and well off-key Meatloaf. Meatloaf VS Springsteen? Hardly a battle for the ages. Sure, you can say that money is the reason that the AFL couldn’t get someone like Springsteen in their wildest dreams, but that isn’t it. Sure, you can say that the AFL is a sport played in one country, but so is the NFL.

It’s about how you sell your product. Despite what Eddie McGuire says, they’re aren’t legions of 18-year-old males in America who are dreaming of playing for Collingwood. There are however at last count 28 Australian’s playing NCAA Football in Division One. You know what comes after that if you’re talented enough? The NFL.

I’ve been an AFL fan since I could walk, but the AFL are deluded  the way they currently act in the public eye. The product is safe, and as a result of that, it’s getting stale.

When I say safe, I don’t mean that’s it’s in a position to be around in 10 years. Of course it is. Safe in the sense means that they aren’t willing to try anything to get new fans, to grow the game globally, and to market themselves into a position the NFL has managed to do.

Yes, I’m a Melbourne fan, and I in one way or another watch my team every week. I long for the day that we win a title, I have had nothing but pain as a Melbourne supporter, but even a Grand Final victory isn’t going to cloud what I can so clearly see.

The NFL have done such a solid job that there are countless people in Australia who only watch the Superbowl. I know Australian’s who don’t watch Grand Final day, some of whom can be added to that list when their own is playing.

Why is this? The NFL and their clubs make fans feel wanted. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, content that is driven from the organisation rather than the local media. Why is this model working? Because people aren’t willing to sit around and wait for content. Everyone want’s something yesterday, and that’s what isn’t happening in Australian sport.

North American finds a happy medium to ensure they cover all bases. Australia ensures that very few fans are left feeling like they belong.

Just do something AFL. Make the clubs the main source of media. Get the passion going. Make something happen, because at the current rate, they are going to get left behind, because everyday it’s getting easier to watch sport from somewhere else in the world. With our foreign loves making it easier than ever to connect with what they are doing, that is where the passion that many once had for you is going abroad.

01.30.14
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No way, Jose

Oh goodie, West Ham had an away midweek fixture to Chelsea. Those always end well </sarcasm>.

Thank you West Ham for finally proving me wrong. We came away from Stamford Bridge (which after this morning I’m convinced must be the most boring place for players to play, as there is no atmosphere) with a 0-0 despite having one shot on goal as opposed to Chelsea’s total of 9 on target from their 39 shots in the fixture.

_72612540_465777887I could write about the comings and goings from the fixture, but the biggest story comes after the whistle goes signalling scenes of ecstasy from West Ham fans, and confusion from Chelsea fans, who as they’ve only known about the club since 2003, still struggle to comprehend what happens when the final whistle goes.

I make no bones about the fact that Sam Allardyce is neither the right man to take West Ham into the future, or the man I want doing it, but for once Allardyce showed something that has been lacking for most of his time in the hot seat – passion.

After the game, Jose Mourinho wasn’t about to mince his words when discussing what he thought of the effort from the Hammers.

“This is not the best league in the world, this is football from the 19th century,” said Mourinho.

“The only [other] thing I could bring was a Black and Decker [tool] to destroy the wall.”

“A football match is about two teams playing and this match was only one team playing and another team not playing.”

Big Fat Sam, often short of useful words of wisdom, who usually likes to focus on downplaying the problems we face, was happy to fire straight back at the man who is in his second stint at Chelsea and WAS widely hated by those who now forgive and forget (Proof of their forget element can be seen if you ask them about anything prior 2003, as I’ve mentioned above).

“He can’t take it, can he? He can’t take it because we’ve outwitted him – he just can’t cope,” said the Hammers boss.

“He can tell me all he wants, I don’t care.

“I love to see Chelsea players moaning at the referee, trying to intimidate him, Jose jumping up and down saying we play rubbish football.

“It’s brilliant when you get a result against him. Hard luck, Jose.”

Thank you Sam for finally standing by your club and backing up the decisions you make.

As Sam so rightly said, Jose has the right to say whatever pleases him. Should that include being in the face of the fourth official for the last 15 minutes and making sure his players do the same with the referee, then sure, do that. You won’t make friends in that league or any other league by doing it, and it gives people who aren’t blinded by the blinkers of your club another opportunity to see what you are really about.

If you’re a Chelsea fan reading this, say and think what you want. Oh you’ve won trophies? Money will do that, but money will never by you the passion you’ll find in the East End, and newsflash, as boring as Chelsea are, watching them isn’t a funeral and you are allowed to sing, maybe something to consider now that some of West Ham’s finest have shown you the way to do it?

Jose hasn’t changed in the slightest, but that’s why he fits at Chelsea. The god complex is funny, and made much funnier by the fact that the fans buy into it. You don’t have a right to win the league, you don’t have a right to get every decision, and the Premier League doesn’t need you to survive.

The money will run out one day, and when it Chelsea fans are going to run quicker than Defoe did when we went down in 2002-03, when we hadn’t been relegated for five minutes before he announced on an international broadcast that he wanted nothing further to do with the club.

The facts are simple – Chelsea weren’t good today and we were. We played to our plan and the one that they tried to play to didn’t work. They were given seven minutes of stoppage time when there were four signaled – AND THEY STILL COULDN’T SCORE!

What’s that Jose? We parked the bus? When you did it against Arsenal, you said this.

“I think boring is a team that plays at home and cannot score a goal, that’s boring.”

There we have it, by his standards his own team are boring and after today, I have to agree.

01.20.14
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Richard Sherman and media honesty

We’ve all heard how Richard Sherman likes the sound of his own voice, but his post game interview after the Seahawks beat the Niners to make to Superbowl? That takes the entire proverbial bakery.

indexshermanIt’s not new information that Richard Sherman isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. He speaks his mind, often thinks he is bigger than the game, and is in no way going to let someone get the better of him. But you know what? He’s earned the right, so let us all enjoy what I’m thinking is going to be the best interview of 2014.

He was in the crucial spot with 22 seconds left and was able to tip a pass away from Crabtree leading to an interception that clinched the game for the Seahawks, leading to their first Superbowl appearance in eight years.

Sports fans are a horribly fickle bunch at the best of times, and are often torn between athletes who are going to toe the company line, and are willing to let it all out because they’ve done something that then backs up what they are about to say, and you know what? He did just that when he dominated Michael Crabtree, who had previously discussed his belief that Sherman wasn’t as good as he was cracked up to be.

Naturally, when Sherman was given the chance to discuss this after the game, he made sure he mentioned what he thought of what Crabtree had to say about him.

Say what you want about it, but Sherman did what I like. Told it as he saw it and at the end of the day he is playing in two weeks time while Crabtree and his buddies are playing golf. That win gives him bragging rights over an opponent who directly stated how much better he was than him but couldn’t come up with the goods when it mattered. More of the same thanks.

01.20.14
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Lakers beat the Celtics? Life could be worse

Long before I was a Celtics fan, I was anti Lakers.

kg-celtics-2008The reasoning was simple enough. My dad was a Celtics fan and I was taught that under no circumstances was it ok to align with the Lakers, so I didn’t.

This was the mid 1990’s in a small country town in Australia, so the access to the NBA isn’t what I could have if I was living in the same situation today. I had no reason to support a particular team, and to be honest, with the lack of coverage, my interest in the NBA never really spiked beyond video games, where I always found myself drifting towards the Warriors, Celtics or T-Wolves.

I can’t remember exactly when it happened, but the decision to become a Celtics fan was easy. The franchise have a great history, play in a wonderful city (which I already loved because of my love for the Red Sox) and the rivalry with the Lakers was something which captivated me.

The Friday night game against the Lakers was exciting for a number of reasons – Rondo was coming back, the team have shown positive signs despite not getting the results to go with it, and it’s the Lakers visiting the Garden, which is always special.

Simply put, we should have won on Friday – The game was ours for the taking and we blew it with some terrible decisions in the final quarter (not the first or the last time that will happen this year, that’s for sure). For once I don’t see a loss to the Lakers as the most frustrating thing we could suffer through.

Simply put the Lakers aren’t going to win a banner this year, which means the Celtics still have the most banners in the history of the NBA. Narrow-minded view? You know it. But having the most titles in the history of the league is something we should be proud of. While banner 18 might be a few years away we should celebrate the fact that the men from the West Coast won’t be raising their seventeenth any time soon.

11.20.13
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An open letter to future ABL imports

We've come a long way in three years

We’ve come a long way in three years

Dear future Australian Baseball League imports,

One day, someone is going to ask you if you’d like to play winter ball in Australia. If I was you, then I’d say yes, but of course it is more complicated than that.

The above picture shows where the league kicked off in 2010, a stadium, barely recognisable for baseball, with no shelter to protect fans on what was a very cold and wet Melbourne afternoon, where not a pitch was thrown.

Let’s flash forward to what it is at the moment, because after all that is what you are going to want to look at before deciding to come down here. Six great teams, with six great fan bases competing for one of the oldest trophies in Australian sport, with one of those teams potentially being 6-7 hours away from being crowned the champions of Asia.

The difference you see is that baseball isn’t going to get the media coverage that you would find in your own country, but we are moving in the right direction.

Media of some form are at every game, slugging it out to bring the loyal fan bases the latest news on the clubs that make summer more enjoyable, while on occasions the national media will see a story they like and run with it. So the chance is there.

The crowds might be smaller than what you are used to, but when push comes to shove we have the best elements of Minor League ball in the best country available to play your winter ball in.

The mid-inning games, the music blasting between pitches, the delicious yet at times questionable ballpark food, cramped hotels with guys that will go on to become lifelong friends.

You might need to look at a map to discover how big Australia is, or you might have to Google to make sure that we do in fact play baseball out here and that you aren’t being taken for a ride, but you know what?

If you give it your all then the fans are going to love you, and the front office may want you back next season too.

It might not be the Big League but we’ll do everything we can to make you feel like the next stop for you is Cooperstown.

See you soon.

XP

11.18.13
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The Good, The Bad and the Inbestream

Woo! Uni is over and the ABL is back. Summer is perfect. Or is it?

So, wait. Is this happening?

So, wait, is this happening?

The ABL is three weeks into their fourth season and things are getting interesting.

On one hand the table is skewed because teams haven’t played the same amount of games, and on the other hand fans are frustrated because they aren’t getting what has been promised of them (see tagline of the above image).

Naturally, I can see things from about four thousand different perspectives.

Positive

  • Baseball is back :: As usual there isn’t a lot better than sitting in the sun taking in a ballgame, Sure the sunburn on my knees suggests otherwise, but why would you want to spend your weekend any other way given how reasonable the price of admission is? The standard of the league is getting better every year, as is the standard of import that the league is bringing in. As a result the results are tougher to predict and we could easily see a similar situation to what was seen on the last day of the season in 201–12
  • The Aces have Chilli Dogs this season :: I tucked into two of these on opening night. Well worth it, but BYO hot sauce if you are looking for some heat. Also, to the person I saw eating one with a fork – You are doing it wrong.
  • There is more media coverage of the league than ever :: News Limited, Fairfax, ABL Website, ABC Grandstand, Independent Media organisations, live radio shows. This must be what heaven looks like
  • Regular Social Media updates :: Teams are on Facebook and Twitter not only throughout games, but throughout the week in an attempt to give the fans a look at everything happening inside the organisation.
  • Cavs getting the job done in Asia :: Semi-Finalists at the Asia Series. Enough said.

Negative

  • Aces lack the Home Run dog :: It’s a real shame I didn’t get a chance to take down one metre of hot dog. Probably not something anyone besides me is missing.
  • The way media coverage is being handled is putting some fans offside :: Hashtags DO NOT WORK WITH PUNCTUATION #C’monAces is in fact #C . Does not mean anything. Social Media 101, and fans took the opportunity to appropriately vent about it on Sunday afternoon.
  • Clubs non-responsive to fan questions :: Many fans have asked questions about streaming situations (more on that below), or roster moves, and for whatever reason those questions are being left unanswered.
  • Cake / Pie of a humble variety for ABL “star” :: Luke Hughes  took to twitter over the weekend to display his discontent with Canberra taking players from other clubs for the Asia Series, yet attempted to justify that when Perth did it last season it was fine. Well, like it or lump it Hughesy, the Cavs have had more success in two days at the Asia Series than the Heat had in two years, and regardless of how that success comes it is great for the sport in Australia.

Inbestream

  • A dot point just won’t do for this.

So, where do I start on this point. ABLTV, the great digital hope. Finally fans could watch every game, only that hasn’t really happened. The Aces decision to stream only one of their three games this weekend has fans in a spin, and has me concocting theories as to what lead to this. Given the deal they have with SEN, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are only going to stream games where the audio is provided by the SEN team. Do I think this is acceptable? By no means, especially given the directive which has coming from the league, which stipulates that teams are to stream every game live. Whatever happens I hope there is an answer soon, because if the league get ABLTV right, then they are one step closer to striking it rich in the gold mine they are currently sitting on.

10.01.13
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A Buddy good decision

In case you have somehow missed the news this morning. Buddy Franklin is going to Sydney. That’s no surprise, the surprise comes from the fact he is going to be wearing Red and White in 2014.

Buddy is Sydney bound in 2014

Buddy is Sydney bound in 2014

People are divided into two categories on this one. The Bitter Bus, which currently has a line as long as the list of zeros of Buddy’s paycheck, and the good for him, I can’t wait to see what he is going to do for them group. I am firmly in the second group, and if you’re not a Hawks fan (of which there are plenty after last weekend), or a Giants fan (literally, Giants FAN not FANS), then you should join me in celebrating an athlete doing what they do best.

Like it or lump it, sport is business. That means that they are doing a job, not playing for fun, and as a result they are going to go to an employer who can give them the best working conditions. I was having a conversation with S the other night when she asked me if I thought athletes were overpaid, to which I responded that they weren’t because of the market value for their industry.

The AFL is worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and as a result the league need to employ people who are going to keep that money coming in. Franklin has kicked 580 goals in 182 games, including a 102 goal season in 2008, so it is fair to argue that he is one of the biggest drawcards in the league.

So why, as one of the most crucial cogs in the AFL wagon, would he go to an employer, who will not be able to provide him with the opportunity to continue to deliver the high level of product he started delivering in 2005? This is why the Red and White make sense. For this generation they have been one of the most active teams in the league in all senses, and regardless of how they have done it, they have found a way to get things done, which have seen them stay at the top of the AFL tree.

This is why we should be excited to see why Buddy is going to do with the SCG as his new playground. He has access to resources as good as he had at Hawthorn, so it is natural for us to expect that he will perform at the same level, which if he does should be enough to bring the Swans their third premiership in a decade.

You could argue this is the second time in a year we have seen the Swans pull this off after Mr. Tippett signed in less than pleasing circumstances last year, but there is one major difference. Tippett proved himself to be a liar, something Franklin hasn’t done.

Tippett claimed he wanted to go home, and last time I checked, Sydney wasn’t in Queensland, which led to an understandable level of frustration from Lions, Suns and Crows supporters.

Let’s all stop for a minute and celebrate the fact that an athlete is going out and doing what’s best for them and their family.

Lastly, at the end of the day I doubt anyone (myself included) wouldn’t take more money and better working conditions to do the exact same job.

I tip my hat to you Mr. Franklin