HEY! This is coming out so close to the US election that I might as well give up, but I can’t because I’m a sucker for punishment, and the election gives me an excuse when some-one emails me to say: your readership is non-existent! So, with that in mind, here’s another view from down here!
Basketball
NBL – Round 7
Wollongong 101 def Cairns 93
New Zealand 103 def Perth 99
South 96 def Sydney 87
Melbourne 123 def Gold Coast 111
Cairns 87 lost to Wollongong 89
Townsville 97 lost to New Zealand 106
Adelaide 108 def Sydney 76
WNBL – Round 5
Logan 58 lost to Townsville 70
Canberra 99 def Bulleen 80
AIS 64 def by Bulleen 78
Perth 73 edged out by Dandenong 76
Adelaide 82 def Bendigo 65
Soccer
A-League Round 10
Newcastle Jets FC 1 lost to Queensland Roar FC 2
Perth Glory FC 2 def Wellington Phoenix FC 0
Sydney FC 3 drew Central Coast Mariners FC 3
Adelaide United FC 2 lost to Melbourne Victory FC 3
The Adelaide coach said this loss would be good to get the team refocused for the ACL grand final, and for once I agree that a loss is a good thing in this case. It might make the team work that little harder to actually win the games against Japan, make them realise they are not invincible.
Cricket
Australia v India – Third Test
The test series between Australia and India always tend to get nasty. India, more by money than anything else, has become the power-holder in world cricket, and are bending the rules to suit their every whim, including allowing their rule-breaking players to get away with it. (Example in this match – an Australian was fined for a mid-wicket confrontation, while an Indian player was suspended; the Indians are fighting the very conclusive video evidence saying it is somehow flawed and that their player is being picked on…) Illegal bookmaking in India runs rampant and how many players and officials are touched by the scandal will never be known because they don’t want to implicate themselves in this. Australia, on the other hand, for the past two decades has been the power player in world cricket. They may not have won everything, but their unique playing style has changed the way test cricket is played, making it more accessible to crowds, and the way one-day cricket is manned. And a part of this is their arrogant, take no prisoners attitude which rubs many up the wrong way, being seen as not the way cricket should be played. But with this has come a genuine arrogance that they are above the law themselves, and can do whatever they feel like because they are the pace-setters. And so when two egos who think they know it all and can do whatever they like clash, we get fireworks, bad blood and recriminations. All in all, what it boils down to, is that some good cricket is being overshadowed by pathetic petty politics. I’m growing to dislike cricket at the moment…
India 7/613 dec & 5/208 dec; Australia 577 & 0/31 – match drawn
Australian Domestic
Sheffield Shield:
Western Australia 206 & 196; Queensland 208 & 8/321 dec – Queensland won by 127 runs
One day:
Tasmania 8/286 dec (47 overs) def South Australia 182 (46.4 overs)
NSW 6/275 (50.0 overs); Victoria 5/277 (45.5 overs); Victoria won by 5 wickets
Australian Rules Football
International Rules II
Ireland 4.8.9 (57) def Australia 3.8.11 (53)
I think I said all I needed to say about this sport last week, but, again, it was a good, fast-paced, hard-hitting game. I enjoyed watching it, I enjoyed the spectacle, and I enjoyed the uniqueness. But I still say this is not the way to promote Australian Rules football to a wider international audience.
Rugby League
World Cup
Australia 52 HUMILIATED England 4
Fiji 42 def France 6
New Zealand 48 slaughtered Papua New Guinea 6
Samoa 20 def Tonga 12
Rugby Union
Australia 14 lost to New Zealand 19
While a loss is never a good thing, to take New Zealand so close is. They are still the team to beat in world rugby, and Australia, with a bit more experience, might actually be able to match them sooner rather than later.
Boxing
Australian Vic Darchinyan surprised many, including the US press who had written him off, by knocking out Mexican Cristian Mijares in Los Angeles during the ninth round, in the super flyweight world title unification bout. Darchinyan was the International Boxing Federation champion and Mijares was the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association title holder. Now the Australian holds all three titles. This is good for the sport in Australia, giving us a title holder who is known more for his boxing than his mouth. And again, I still recommend Robert Drane’s ‘Fighters By Trade’ as a damn fine read on Australian boxing history (http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?productid=165525).
Professional Wrestling
RCW – Powertrip (November 1, 2008)
Again I shall indulge my love for things wrasslin’.
Match 1: Damon Matthews def Voodoo. Good, fast-paced opener, which Matthews won with a pair of superkicks and his feet on the ropes. But it felt short and slightly rushed.
Match 2: “Giant” Dregan Grimm def Marvel.
Match 3: Brad Smyth & Luke Santamaria vs Furious Fuzion and a partner of his choice. He chose himself, making this a handicap match. And Smyth attacked from the start and Fuzion beat two shades of shite out of him. But every hot tag to Luke resulted in Smyth tagging himself back in, making him look quite selfish. They got onto the same page for a while and then Smyth cost them the match. Yes, Fuzion beat both rookies. And seeds of discontent were thus sown between said youngsters.
Match 4: Dienamic def TJ Rush. This match was not what I expected, being a lot more technical and mat based than I would have thought. But they did it well. Dienamic worked Rush’s leg and TJ sold it like an absolute hero. He went up for the shootinbg star press, the leg gave way and he couldn’t do it. And Dienamic got the submission with a leg bar. YES! Finally some Australian wrestlers working on a body part, and that leads directly to the win! No stupid comebacks! And TJ sold the leg injury all the way to the back… Match of the night for me.
Match 5: Savannah Summers vs Miami. Miami’s debut… but not for long as Grimm came out and caused a no-contest. And so Savannah, after months of abuse at his hands… challenged him!? WTF?!
Ah-hem, let’s try again.
Match 5: Savannah Summers slaughtered by GD Grimm. Some hope spots were good, but the result was never in any doubt, especially after a flap-jack a good 2 1/2 metres UP! I am in two minds about this one, because they told a good story, did a good, safe match, and made it look real… but man on woman violence does nothing for me. Sorry.
Match 6: Mimic retained the RCW title against Adrenaline. Mimic was off his game having just watched his brother decimate his girlfriend, but still a good, long match between these two. The ending came when Matthews tried to salt Mimic, but got Adrenaline (seriously, apart from Wrestlemania IX has that ever worked?), and Adrenaline spiked Matthews in return before being caught by the 450 from Mimic.
And then the fun started. Fuzion, Grimm and Dienamic came out to help Adrenaline and Matthews lay the boots into Mimic. So out came Voodoo, Smyth, Santamaria and TJ Rush to even things up. They were separated, and then they went at it, all 10 men spilling to the outside, and then all 10 went into the crowd at various points. No matter where you were, you had two men pummelling each other nearby. Just awesome. Finally some order was restored as Matthews challenged Mimic, one-on-one for the title at the next show.
Not a blow-away show, but a good one just the same. And special mention ref Dave Morgan, flying solo for the night… and suffering a painful wrist injury before half-time but continuing on to do the rest of the show.
Motor Racing
Mark Skaife has announced his retirement from the closed wheel version of the sport, at least as a fulltime competitor. Citing a lack of enjoyment in the sport at the moment, there is still a chance he will make occasional appearances at Bathurst (where he is a five time winner), but the sport will be poorer for losing him. Good luck in the future, Mr Skaife.
Something Else (Sports Related and Vaguely Personal)
I have to say that I have received the odd bit of e-mail from these postings here at The Pulse. Not a huge amount, but enough to make me think some-one reads this. And a question I received the other day I think needs an answer. I’ve made veiled mentions of training, and even mentioned that I used to box, maybe even that I used to do professional wrestling. But in answer to the questions about training and what-not, I have to confess: nowadays I am a performance gymnast. And how do I perform? Well, I’m the fat one with the knee braces, beard and balding. Have a look. Go on… And feedback is appreciated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCf23qrrrb0 (I tried embedding it, but it didn’t work… sorry…)
Yes, I know I posted this over on the Pulse forums, and yes I know it’s over a year old now… I don’t care. This is about as personal as I’m going to get, so I hope y’all enjoy!
And that’s the view from down here and on YouTube!
