The old Year in Review time
23/12/2009 8:36:00 a.m.
THE TIGER WOODS NAUGHTY BOY AWARD: Has to go to the NRL. Take your pick: Danny Wicks (Newcastle), drug dealing; Greg Inglis (Melbourne), beating up his girlfriend; Setaimata Sa (Roosters) assaulting a copper; Jake Friend (Roosters) range of booze-fuelled incidents; Nate Myles (Roosters), doing poos on the floor in a hotel; Anthony Cherrington (Roosters), convicted of smashing his ex-girlfriend; Brad Fittler (Roosters coach) running round hotels in his undies; Anthony Watmough (Manly), punching a sponsor in the face; Reni Maitua (Sharks), drug ban; Brett Seymour (Sharks) too fond of the booze; Tony Zappia (Sharks CEO), gave a female employee a black eye… and we haven’t even included the group sex scandal in Christchurch a few years back, Sandor Earl, Paul Gallen and others. It was a year when the major headlines on a weekly basis involved NRL players, coaches or management doing something suspect.
THE MILLWARD SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED AWARD: Murray Deaker. If there is a bigger drongo paid to talk about sport anywhere in the world, I’m yet to read or hear him. He is an embarrassment, as is the constant Radio Sport exhortation that he’s sports broadcaster of the year (did no one else apply for the award?)
WORST PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR: Once again, stand up Radio Sport. When there’s no other sport on, but the Black Sticks are playing an international in New Zealand, why do they persist in running talkback? Pathetic excuse for airtime that has Sports Roundup spinning in its grave.
THE WTF? AWARD: Shane Cameron v David Tua. Still, someone made money out of it…
THE ALICE IN WONDERLAND Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon nonsense AWARD: The Air New Zealand Cup. 14 teams, then 10 teams, then 14 teams, then two lots of seven teams, then who knows? The Mad Hatters at NZRU HQ don’t know either.
THE ‘EXACTLY’ AWARD: “If you are planning a meltdown in your personal and professional life, make sure it doesn’t clash with the annual charity golf event you are supposed to be hosting on the other side of the country” – Lawrence Donegan gives Tiger some advice.
IT’S STARTED AWARD: All Whites in the World Cup, Auckland fifth in the World Club Championship… all the Phoenix needed was to win five of the 10 matches they’ve drawn and they’d be second in the A-league… nevertheless football is on a roll…
TEAM(S) OF THE YEAR: I’m sure there will be those who say “what about the All Whites?” but the two teams chosen for the Capital Times team(s) of the year award have come back from brink of sliding into obscurity to be firmly in the top 10 in the world.
The men’s and women’s Black Sticks teams came from being last at the Beijing Olympics, unable to win a prize in a one-ticket raffle to qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, Champions Trophy tournaments and the Commonwealth Games. And they had to do it the hard way – playing in Invercargill! Good work those blokes and blokettes.
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Regular readers will know I have little respect left for the NZRFU and the pollyana-ish current crop of glamour boys playing rugby, but the award has to go to someone who seems to be made of rubber. Redefines the word hard. Congrats Richie McCaw, the toughest bastard to play for the All Blacks since Mark Shaw.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and remember, in festive backyard cricket games, if the ball bounces and then goes over the fence, you’re still out.
THE MILLWARD SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED AWARD: Murray Deaker. If there is a bigger drongo paid to talk about sport anywhere in the world, I’m yet to read or hear him. He is an embarrassment, as is the constant Radio Sport exhortation that he’s sports broadcaster of the year (did no one else apply for the award?)
WORST PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR: Once again, stand up Radio Sport. When there’s no other sport on, but the Black Sticks are playing an international in New Zealand, why do they persist in running talkback? Pathetic excuse for airtime that has Sports Roundup spinning in its grave.
THE WTF? AWARD: Shane Cameron v David Tua. Still, someone made money out of it…
THE ALICE IN WONDERLAND Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon nonsense AWARD: The Air New Zealand Cup. 14 teams, then 10 teams, then 14 teams, then two lots of seven teams, then who knows? The Mad Hatters at NZRU HQ don’t know either.
THE ‘EXACTLY’ AWARD: “If you are planning a meltdown in your personal and professional life, make sure it doesn’t clash with the annual charity golf event you are supposed to be hosting on the other side of the country” – Lawrence Donegan gives Tiger some advice.
IT’S STARTED AWARD: All Whites in the World Cup, Auckland fifth in the World Club Championship… all the Phoenix needed was to win five of the 10 matches they’ve drawn and they’d be second in the A-league… nevertheless football is on a roll…
TEAM(S) OF THE YEAR: I’m sure there will be those who say “what about the All Whites?” but the two teams chosen for the Capital Times team(s) of the year award have come back from brink of sliding into obscurity to be firmly in the top 10 in the world.
The men’s and women’s Black Sticks teams came from being last at the Beijing Olympics, unable to win a prize in a one-ticket raffle to qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, Champions Trophy tournaments and the Commonwealth Games. And they had to do it the hard way – playing in Invercargill! Good work those blokes and blokettes.
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Regular readers will know I have little respect left for the NZRFU and the pollyana-ish current crop of glamour boys playing rugby, but the award has to go to someone who seems to be made of rubber. Redefines the word hard. Congrats Richie McCaw, the toughest bastard to play for the All Blacks since Mark Shaw.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and remember, in festive backyard cricket games, if the ball bounces and then goes over the fence, you’re still out.
