Today In Sport

Last night, Pakistan ODI cricket captain Shahid Afridi decided to have a mid innings snack by taking a bite out of the ball.  the ball was changed soon after amid howls of ball tampering from all and sundry.  he has since been found guilty of misconduct and banned for the next two matches.

But are we not seeing the bigger picture here?  What if Afridi has a medical condition that has brought him to this point?  After an exhaustive few minutes of research I have discovered a rare eating disorder called Foodconfusionitis whereby the person sometimes confuses everyday items for food.

Does Afridi have this condition and did he mistake the ball for an apple in the heat of the moment?  It is highly likely that this man is in desperate need of medical attention before he tries to eat something a little more deadly than a cricket ball.

Danny Green defied all the critics and naysayers who believed he was not able to go with an aging Roy Jones Jr and recorded a TKO in the first round of their fight.  After an inordinate delay to the fight, Jones Jr was forced to wait even longer after his entrance to the ring as Green took his time before entering the ring after his music hit.

Whether or not this had an effect on Jones Jr we will never know but he seemed to be very tentative in the opening exchanges of the fight.  Nearing the midpoint of the first round Jones Jr was backed into a corner and was lightly swatting away some ineffective left hand jabs from Green who then launched a stinging blow to the temple of Jones Jr that sent him to the canvas.

Roy was able to regain his feet and answer the standing eight count but he was obviously still dazed and confused as Green immediately went back on the offensive after the resumption and was forced into duck and cover mode.  After a slight clinch the fight was stopped after another flurry of Green punches that Jones Jr was not fighting back against.

The referee officially stopped the fight at two minutes and two seconds of the first round.  An incredulous Green then went on a ten minute rant in the ring thanking everyone from his trainers to Jones Jr to the guy on the corner of his street that washes his car windscreen.  Green had a few choice words for his critics as well.

A fight between Jones Jr and Bernard Hopkins had been in the works had both of them won their fights this week.  With Green defeating Jones Jr he might be in line for that fight now.  Anyway, an excellent effort by the Green Machine and hopefully many more to come.

Here is the fight in full…

The Green Machine, Danny Green defends his IBO Cruiserweight title against arguably one of the greatest fighters in the history of boxing, Roy Jones Jr who is striving to become the first person in history to have held a title belt in five different weight divisions from Middleweight to Heavyweight.

On Wednesday night in Sydney the two fighters will meet for the first time in the ring after a lead up to the fight that has been full of mouthing off between the two camps and Danny Green’s apparent dislike for Jones Jr’s management and promoter, McGee Wright.  Hopefully Green is right when he says that this will not distract him during the fight.

The fight will be a battle between Jones Jr’s legendary hand speed and quickness, which is still evident despite his 40 years and Green’s hard chin and even harder fists.  If Green can be patient and wait for his opportunity he might have a chance to test out Jones Jr’s increasingly suspect chin.

Roy will have to keep Green at arms length and stay away from the big one.  He will have to stay out of the corners or risk being unable to use his quickness to elude the knockout blow Green will be looking for.  Danny will be looking to trap Jones in a corner, evade the flurry of punches coming his way and then go for the knockout.

Jones Jr can still deliver his own knockout blow so Green will have to be wary about rushing in too quickly.  Hopefully it will be a great fight and personally I hope Danny Green retains his title.

The race that stops a nation, The 2009 Melbourne Cup horse race has been run and won.  The Mark Kavanagh trained horse Shocking made his way to the front down the home straight and eventually held off all challengers to win.  Jockey Corey Brown, who was lucky to be on Shocking got him to the front with 200m to go and beat home Crime Scene and Mourilyan.

Brown was originally scheduled to ride Vigor who was scratched but then was given the ride on Shocking after jockey Michael Rodd couldn’t make  the weight.  Brown, who had finished the race in second aboard Bauer last year, got his chance to go one better and he took it.

Here is the race in full.

Last week I was lucky enough to win a competition that gave me two tickets to the Australian Socceroos versus Oman Asian Cup Qualifier in Melbourne at Etihad Stadium.  But not only that, it also gave me two passes to the final closed training sessionthe day before.  The media was kicked out ten minutes after the session started and it was all left to myself and the nine other winners and their lucky friend.

We arrived to be greeted by Melbourne Victory captain and former Socceroo, Kevin Muscat who gave us a tour of the lockerroom area and talked about what the players go through in their preparations before a match.  Some players like to joke around and have music playing and others just like to be left alone to focus.

We then wandered out onto the Etihad Stadium pitch and then took our seats on the sideline to await the players coming out for their warmup.  As the players ran out and were being put through their paces by the assistant coaches, Australian Head Coach Pim Verbeek came over to have a quick chat with us. (continue reading…)

Well the 2009 AFL season is now over and the Geelong Cats are the premiers for the second time in three years after fighting their way past a determined yet wasteful St Kilda team on Saturday.  The Saints led at every break except for the one that mattered right at the end.  Geelong struggled to break down the Saints pressure but were aided by some terrible finishing by the Saints small forwards.

Stephen Milne and Adam Schneider both missed chances to score goals from nice positions and their team was made to pay late in the game when Geelong put their chances away.  St Kilda was unable to get any attack going through captain Nick Riewoldt who was double and triple teamed by the Geelong defence at every opportunity. (continue reading…)

VERSUS

Well the match we have all been waiting for and in reality the matchup we have wanted since round 14 is finally just around the corner.  St Kilda and Geelong will face off for the biggest prize in Australian football, the AFL Premiership Cup.  Who will win and who will have wasted another 12 months?  I can only hope and pray that The Saints get up and win.

That’s right, I am a Saints fan and proud of it.  Not that I dislike Geelong and the run of good form they have had over the last three years or so but I just want my team to finally win the prize that has eluded them since 1966.  Geelong already has broken their premiership drought, let us break ours. (continue reading…)

One of the traditions of Grand Final week is the presentation night for the Brownlow Medal, given to the player adjudged the best player for the year by the umpires.  After every match the umpires for that game give votes on a 3-2-1 basis for the best 3 players on the ground that day.

The count itself is boring no matter what channel seven or whoever is broadcasting it tries to do, but at least we get to find out who wins the medal.  This year was supposed to be Geelong superstar Gary Ablett’s year, but then again so were the last two.

Third times a charm though as Ablett was able to hold on after racing to the top of the leaderboard after the first 10 rounds and then gaining enough votes along the rest of the way to hold off the fast finishing Chris Judd and the early contender, St Kilda’s Lenny Hayes.

Ablett finished on 30 votes, 8 votes ahead of his nearest rival, former winner Chris Judd.  Lenny Hayes finished on 20 votes.  This is the start to a great week that builds up to the last saturday in September that will decide the premiers of the AFL for 2009, St Kilda or Geelong.

The AFL is fast approaching its finale and to find out who will meet in the big one we have two matches that fittingly feature the top four teams at the end of the regular season.  Collingwood go up against Geelong on Saturday but first we have the table topping Saints up against the fighting Western Bulldogs.

St Kilda earned a weeks break by beating Collingwood in week one of the finals and have been able to get a few of their stars who are carrying niggling injuries, ready for the fight that awaits them.  The Bulldogs on the other hand having lost to Geelong in week one had to face a fired up Brisbane but managed to see them off with only a slight amount of trouble.

The big worry for them will be the two tough games they have had to endure whilst the Saints have had a nice rest for a week and have been busy preparing themselves for this match.  The Bulldogs are trying to get into a grand final for the first time in decades and have a good shot at causing an upset over the highly fancied Saints.

St Kilda believe this is their year after a stellar regular season and will not want to lose when they are so close to the ultimate prize.  With five of their stars named in the All-Australian team this week they will have a healthy amount of belief in their own ability to win this game.

I think that the Saints will have just a little too much firepower for the Doggies but it will be a very close match.

A team that was battered, bruised and beaten versus a team that unleashed a battering and bruising last week.  Adelaide completely demolished an understrength Essendon and sent a warning to the other teams in the finals that they should not be taken lightly.  Collingwood on the other hand took some chances against the Saints and most of them failed and they lost one of their most influential midfielders in Scott Pendlebury.

One of the chances that the Magpies took last week was playing Anthony Rocca for the first time since about round six.  He had been playing well in the VFL but he was seriously under done at AFL level, tried to again get inside the head of young Saints backman Zac “Cougar” Dawson who he monstered a few years ago but failed to and then ultimately left the field late with a reoccurance of his ankle injury.  All in all, not a good night for him. (continue reading…)