It has been a rubbish week which has impacted on Operation 100 as I outline here: http://operation100.com/2013/09/14/operation-100-a-false-start-and-a-new-beginning/
Bring on next week!
Category Archives: Shumpty Speaks
Mowen Factor: in search of a better performance and a win
Much has been made during the week in rugby circles of the dropping of Will Genia and the elevation of Ben Mowan to the captaincy of the Australian team.
First things first: Genia had to be dropped. He has been in ordinary form since (indeed during) the Lions tour and only the frailty of Australia's fly halfs and forwards has saved him from scrutiny he otherwise would have faced. Nic White has earned his chance.
Onto Mowen: it has been obvious to all keen watchers of Super Rugby that Ben Mowen was a captain of the Wallabies of the future. I just don't think anyone expected his elevation to come so soon. Having seen his exemplary work at the helm of the Brumbies and noting that he is leading a team replete with his Brumbies team mates, I have no doubt he will do a fine job.
As a Wallabies fan I want to see a win tonight. It is that simple. Equally, I remember the sour feeling left with me having watched the Wallabies scrape to a win against the Pumas on the Gold Coast last year so the other thing I want to see from the Wallabies is a vastly improved performance as well. It is not good enough, in my unlearned opinion, for the Wallabies to scrape over the line here because that will still be considered a loss in some quarters. So, for me, the win is important but equally as important is the performance.
A final word: I wrote earlier in the week about giving Ewen McKenzie a break from the rhetoric and my view in that has not changed. Indeed, I have probably moved even further along the spectrum to the view that I am comfortable with Australia coming third in the Rugby Championship because this is an obvious rebuilding phase in the post Deans era. South Africa and New Zealand are ahead of us at the moment and that, as hard as it is to say, is ok because I have faith that McKenzie can turn us around given time.
With one eye on tonight and one on the future: I can not wait for kick off and seeing Ben Mowen lead Australia into battle.
Posted with BlogsyGolf: in awe of 59
I awoke this morning and, as is my usual practice, spent the first 5 minutes of my waking moments scrolling through the overnight sport news. That alerted me to the fact that as I awoke American golfer, Jim Furyk, was on the precipice of a historic round in the BMW Championships at Conway Farms. The score of 59 in a round on the PGA Tour had only been done 5 times before Furyk's round and with a tap in round he become the sixth, joining Al Geiberger, Chip Beck, David Duval, Paul Goydos and Stuart Appleby in the 59 club.
For the uninitiated this is a round of golf that there are not enough superlatives to describe. On a course where the par (or average) score has been deigned to be 71, Furyk defeated that score by 12 shots. For comparison, scoring 59 in golf akin to the following sport feats (in my unlearned opinion):
- Scoring over 400 runs in one innings of cricket.
- Taking the fabled “double hatrick” also in the cricket.
- Scoring 5 tries in a game of rugby league / union.
- Hitting 4 home runs in a game of baseball.
- The perfect break in a game of snooker.
- The 9 darter in a game of darts.
It is a brilliant performance. One which the ordinary hacker like me, who is happy if he shoots in the 80s and the one day he shot 79 had one of the happiest days of his life, can not even countenance it is so far ahead of anything we could ever shoot. The added bonus of a player with Furyk's swing (which is akin to a frog in a blender) doing it is that golfers everywhere will be thinking “if he can do it, why not me”.
Performances like these are one of the things that I love about sport and watching sport. Every so often, even professionals break new ground in their chosen sports as they strive to get better or they get so close to breaking new ground that one can only think that it is only a matter of time before the next record is broken. For professional golfers that number is 58 and one suspects that sooner rather than later we will be awaking in Australia to the news that that number has been scored.
Performances like this also have the flow on effect of inspiring the amateur to play more which can only be a positive! I only need to hark back to when Tiger Woods first came to Australia and played in the Masters: the week after I could not get a bay at my local driving range at 8pm on a Wednesday night for all of the hackers inspired by Woods and his performance out having a hit!
On that note: kudos to Jim Furyk on a wonderful golf round and hand my 3 wood … It is time to go for a hit!
Shumpty’s Punt: Horse Racing and the Weekend Multi
It is another ripping weekend of sport this weekend and I have come up with a few racing bets and a multi that I think will lead to good results for followers out there.
Weekend Multi
Leg 1: Washington Nations to cover the line (-1.5 points) against Philadelphia Phillies in the MLB ($1.85)
Leg 2: New Zealand to cover the line (-8.5 points) against South Africa in the Rugby Championship. ($1.92)
Leg 3: Sydney Roosters to cover the line (-1.5 points) against the Manly Sea Eagles in the NRL. ($1.92)
Leg 4: Green Bay Packers to cover the line (-9.5 points) against the Washington Redskins in the NFL. ($2.02)
This multi will pay $13.77 for every dollar invested.
Horse Racing
Mooney Valley:
Race 1 Number 3 Za Moulin Rouge (win) ($5.00 FP)
Race 6 Number 2 Happy Trails (win) ($5.50 FP)
Rosehill:
Race 6 Number 5 Driefontein (each way) ($10 / $3.40 FP)
Race 7 Number 13 Prince Harada (win) ($5.00 FP)
Doomben:
Race 1 Number 4 Raeburn (each way) ($6.50 / $2.30 FP)
Race 6 Number 2 Bribie (win) ($5.00 FP)
Good luck and good punting.
Football Finals Month … Frankly I could not care less!
I have been asked a lot this week who I am following in the finals of the NRL and AFL and whether I was enjoying the finals so far. I will answer here as I have answered each enquiry:
The AFL season finished 3 weeks ago when the Bombers were punished by the AFL and the NRL season finished 2 weeks ago when the Raiders were knocked out so I really don’t care who wins the finals!
It has be claimed to me that that is a narrow minded view. Why is that so? Do people think that having supported a club all season (and in the case of both the Raiders and Bombers over 20 years) that all of sudden it is expected that I will pick another team to follow for the next 4 weeks?
I can not think of a more ridiculous suggestion frankly. To me it is simple: I support a team, it is not in the finals therefore I have no interest in the finals.
To everyone with teams in the finals: good luck to your respective teams and rest assured that I will not be jumping on your team’s bandwagon because to do so would be disrespectful, even if I was interested which I am not.
It is going to be a quiet September for me: a bit of rugby to watch and much expectation for the cricket season to come because the other football seasons are over. Here’s hoping that this time next year I have something to cheer about!
Cricket: The 2014/15 Schedule … Biggest winner = BCCI
Cricket Australia yesterday announced the schedule for the test matches to be played between Australia and India in the 2014/15 season.
This announcement had been much anticipated given that there are only to be four test matches played in Australia in summer 2014/15 in the lead up to the World Cup which takes place in February / March 2015. That meant that one of the traditional venues (if you don’t count Bellerive Oval) would be missing out and it was announced yesterday that that venue is Perth.
This is a somewhat unexpected result given the obvious preference of Channel 9 to have a test match held in prime time to allow for maximum viewing coverage in the Eastern states. At least, I had thought it was unexpected till I thought about how this sets up the series now for the combatants. Simply: after playing the first test at the Gabba, widely regarded as the best wicket in the land, the final three tests will take place on our most benign of surfaces in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. That scheduling plays right into the hands of the Indians doesn’t it?
Of course it does: with their phalanx of flat track bully batters combined with the best spin bowlers in the world (outside of G Swann) they will now play Australia in three of four test matches at venues that will suit their style of play rather than the hosts.
This is yet another example of Cricket Australia not scheduling to give Australia the best chance to win and, rather, chase the dollars that comes from the BCCI touring and being happy. If India are losing then the TVs in India will be turned off which will leave the BCCI unhappy which is not a situation, seemingly, that Cricket Australia could countenance.
It is utterly ridiculous for Cricket Australia to have not scheduled a test match in Perth where, aside from fixtures where South Africa’s pacemen have dominated, Australia has been largely undefeatable. I, for one, would have looked at ditching the Sydney Test match from the schedule and retaining the test match in Perth. Now before Sydney fans eviscerate me consider this: the SCG plays host to a Quarter and a Semi final of the World Cup and thus, arguably, will have enough “big” cricket to replace the test match.
Of course, the removal of the Adelaide test match was also an option however that option was always going to be unlikely given that the Adelaide Oval seems to be the metaphorical darling of Cricket Australia at present with it having received a World Cup Quarter final over competing claims from Perth and Brisbane.
I know this is sacrilege to suggest but if winning was the goal Cricket Australia needed to bite the bullet and schedule a test match in Perth and ditch either of the Adelaide or Sydney tests. Actually, come to think of it, if winning was the goal then a test match on the minefield that is the Bellerive Oval pitch would also have been preferable that playing on the benign wickets that will be thrown at the Indians when they tour.
Unfortunately, based on current evidence, the goal of winning remains secondary to that of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for those at Cricket Australia Towers. When will they learn?
Shumpty Speaks 