**not hugely sports-related, but I did ensure I could include it in the NHL, Football and NASCAR sections....apologies if you're hoping to find a sports story but I had to share this with everyone since I find this disgraceful**

---

For three days in July (25, 26 and 27), the small town of Pemberton in British Columbia, Canada, will host an outdoor concert including such names as Tom Petty, Coldplay, The Flaming Lips and My Morning Jacket...a rather impressive feat for a town that has less than 2000 people living in it.

In fact, the only times Pemberton tends to get busy is when the Vancouver Canucks or the BC Lions are playing at home in the NHL or CFL respectively. I am yet to find out if they get any overflow from the Canadian Tire Series when they race in Vernon but I would imagine not.

Now, the organisers were nice enough to give the locals some $90 off ticket prices ($200 verses $290 for the rest) but had a limited number of 300 for them. A nice gesture right?

Wrong.

For reasons only known to the organisers, they elected to sell off the tickets to people who live in nearby Whistler...seems like Canada has a different perspective of the term 'local resident' to the rest of the world. The only excuse I can think of is that maybe they thought Pemberton wouldn't buy the 300 tickets which is extremely poor reasoning and shows a remarkable lack of faith in the host town. I understand that Whistler is less than 50 miles away, but to not give Pemberton first choice on the cheaper tickets is absolutely disgraceful and an outrage since I know the town has been buzzing with the news since finding out about the concert a few weeks ago.

But it could go deeper than that for Vancouver hosts the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. I wonder if they'll do the same for that; set aside a limited number of tickets purely for BC residents then fobb them off to the rest of the country before bothering to tell the 'locals'.

Not impressed, guys (John, you really should throw these morons under the bus next week, mate)...a very ####-poor way to treat a wonderful country town and I hope you get nowhere near the 40 000 people you expect to turn up over the three days.

Say you're an Indian cricket player it would seem.

After the second test against Australia in Sydney, one of their players, Harbhajan Singh, was brought against the Board for, allegedly, calling Andrew Symonds 'a ####'. Now, I'm not going to get into the guts of this since most people on here don't really care about cricket so I'll just put up the findings in order of how they happened;

- Incident occurs during Sydney test (Singh and Tendulkar verses Ponting, Symonds and Clarke basically...3 say he said it, 2 denying it).
- Complaint made by Australian captain (Ponting) and Singh has to go to a hearing.
- Board find Singh is guilty and ban him for three tests.
- Indian team threaten boycott of tour.
- Board do a backflip and give Singh a suspended sentence and a new hearing to be carried out at a later date (January 29).
- Indian Cricket Board threaten to go home, even going so far as to have a plane on the runway.
- Indian TV broadcasters, ESPN, threaten to take the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) to court and sue them for A$60 million...which would take over ten years for the ACB to recover.
- Singh's case is downgraded from a racial slur to offensive language.
- Singh is now found guilty but since it had been downgraded he just gets fined instead (half his match fee...so about $3000).

Believe me, if that sounds a little hard to follow, you should try to follow it from my end. Ok, yes the Australians sledge, yes they have been accused of "being able to give it, but not take it", yes they can be arrogant at times...but for one team to have that much control over the sport to threaten to sue? No, the Australians certainly don't have that kind of power despite being comfortably the best team for the past decade.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) should have stepped in to put a stop to this before it escalated into the circus it is now. But they didn't, and we now have the situation where the global governing body is not in control of the game...that honour goes to the Indian Cricket Board. A dangerous precedent has now been set as players seem to be free to find out exactly where the boundary between sledging and offensive language is.

I don't care if Singh called him a #### or not (though considering that the word is bleeped out on this site does indicate to me that, in the wrong context, it can be offensive and/or racist so the argument from people on the radio about that can be chucked out right there), but the way the Indians acted went completely overboard and smacks of arrogance not even some players in the NBA or NFL could match.

Australia tour India later this year and at the first sign of abuse at a match, I'd have them on a plane the next day and sue the Indian Cricket Board for bringing the game into disrepute...after all, India have laid out the blueprint for any team to follow now so they have to expect the repercussions *shrugs*

I tell you, it's just not cricket *shakes head*

**apologies for putting this in the NASCAR section but since that's where most of my posts go, I figured it might be easier to find...hope no one minds**

---

Well, this could be interesting...an Australian writing about a New Zealander. I'm sure some people both sides of the Tasman would consider that to be bordering on sacrilege but since I am elligible for NZ citizenship (lived there long enough under the regulations) I suppose I am a reasonable candidate to write about this.

As people may know, Sir Edmund Hillary was most well known for being part of the first group to reach the top of Mount Everest. His climbing partner was Tenzing Nor####, or Sherpa Tenzing as he was referred to.

But that was 1953, so here's a bit of background on the Kiwi before then since that's who I'm writing about *laugh*

Born in Auckland (but most NZers don't hold that against him) in 1913, his love for mountaineering began with a field trip when he was in high school. By the time he was 20, he had completed his first 'major climb', getting to the top of Mount Oliver in the Southern Alps. In 1943 he joined the RNZAF as a navigator and was sent to Fiji and the Solomon Islands in 1945 but was sent back to New Zealand having been badly burned in a boating accident.

1951 saw his first try at conquering Everest when he was part of the British reconnaissance expedition that was led by Eric Shipton. Now, back then, Nepal only allowed one expedition to climb the mountain per year...and 1952 saw the closest anyone had come yet as the Swiss campaign came within 800 feet of reaching the summit. So the Brits tried again in 1953, this time going with a two-pronged effort (Bourdillon/Evans and Hillary/Tenzing). May 26 saw the Bourdillon/Evans pairing try to make the summit, only to have to turn back when the oxygen system on Evans failed.

This left Hillary and Tenzing as the remaining hope and the duo completed the accent on May 29 (some two months after they set up base camp). I guess you could say that both Edmund and Tenzing really were the first to be on top of the world. His first words to his friend, George Lowe, after returning from Everest were "Well George, we finally knocked the #### off."

May 29, 1953. Hillary took a photo of Tenzing placing the flag on the summit of Everest.

Since then, Hillary climbed several more peaks in the Himilayas, went to the South Pole, accompanied some bloke by the name of Neil Armstrong on a ski plane over the Arctic becoming the first person the reach both poles and the highest peak...not a bad effort considering that happened in 1985 making him over 60 years old at the time. January 2007 saw him head back to Antarctica, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of Scott Base. He also was the number one in the book that listed New Zealands top 50 sportspeople of all time (which I think was released in 2006). Hillary also devoted most of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan trust which he founded.

That's pretty much all I will put in here...don't really think there's much else I can add if I'm honest (thank you, wikipedia). Tenzing passed away in 1986 by the way so the two people who reached the top of Everest first have now both gone someplace even higher.

Ahh yes, December. First month of Summer and the last month of the year…and what a brilliant way to end it.

Davis Cup final kicks off in Portland this morning…right about now actually now that I check the Sky guide…with the NZ Golf Open having their final two rounds. There’s something a bit different about that this weekend…it’s being held, for the first time, on a private course…bet that wouldn’t happen with a National Golf Open anymore. Also, David Beckham and the LA Galaxy are playing a friendly match against the Wellington Phoenix in Wellington tonight…which I can’t watch since we’re having our end-of-year work function…so I’ll tape it instead. Then we move into the best part of December; cricket.

First up will be the Chappell-Hadlee series between Australia and NZ starting on the 14th. The Aussies lost all three games last year…granted they didn’t send their best team but a 3-0 win’s a 3-0 win all the same so they’ll be fired up to not let that happen again. After that will be the Boxing Day test match which will be the second test series for the Aussies.

November saw the official start of the cricket season and brought Sri Lanka to our shores for a two match series from the Gabba in Brisbane and Bellrieve Oval in Hobart. Unfortunately for the ‘lankans, their star player, Kumar Sangakara, was recovering from an injury and didn’t play in Brisbane…and they were never in the show as Australia waltzed to their thirteenth consecutive test match win.

Let’s just take stock here…the New England Patriots have had a storming start to the NFL season and sit at a similar record so really is 13 straight a big deal?

Yes…very much so.

See, a test match lasts for a maximum of five days, and there’s no ‘backup’ day if it rains. The only way you can make up time in cricket is by starting earlier and finishing later…the old fashioned way in other words.

And given the fact that matches these days tend to be more about the batsmen and less about the bowlers, you tend to wind up with draws. Australia recognised this last decade and started to play like they do in the one-day version of the game. Whereas most teams would be happy to have 200 runs at the close of day one, the Aussies raised the bar to 300; the idea was to score quickly which would give them more time to bowl at other team. The downside, obviously, is that it’s a little more high risk and has potential to backfire spectacularly.

Well, it would if the Aussies didn’t have such names as Hayden, Ponting, Hussey, Clarke, Symonds and Gilchrist…their entire batting order really. Once you get one out, another guy averaging around 50 runs per innings comes in and sets about smashing you all over the park…not a nice thought for the fielding team.

Anyway, back to Sri Lanka.

Test two was a much better affair, with Sangakara back and managing to throw a major scare into the Australian camp until he got a rather dodgy decision which cut him eight short of a double ton. That was pretty much the death knell for Sri Lanka as, up until that point, they had been looking half a shot at pulling off a huge final innings run chase (over 500 runs) but in the end they fell 100 odd short leaving Australia to claim their 14th straight win, just two behind the all-time record set by the West Indians a couple of decades ago.

So to Melbourne on Boxing Day…when India comes to town. The Indians have a really good look about them, but the majority of their star players are in the twilight of their careers; Dravid, Tendaulker, Kumble…this might be the last time these guys play in Australia so I’m expecting them to draw a big crowd.

The Boxing Day test in Melbourne is a special moment in Australian sport…always has been. Last year saw Shane Warne grab his 700th wicket against England as the Aussies regained the Ashes from the old foe. I know that many of you have no idea about cricket or think it’s boring to watch and that’s fine with me, I’m not here to convince you. But this isn’t just an American sports site…if it were, they’d have to get rid of golf, tennis, football (the proper one where they use a round ball and actually kick it) and a few other sports they have on here.

All you have to know is this; there are only really two moments during the year that Australia stands still…and this is one of them.

Coming hot on the heels of slshusker's post about game 1, the other semi between South Africa and Argentina is done and we now know who will be playing for the Cup next weekend.

Now, being at work today (20 hours ahead of West Coast time and all) I wasn't able to watch the game between those two but I did catch the England/France one. The commentators I had to endure were worse than the ones they use in NASCAR right now, something I didn't think was possible but they managed it, as hearing Grant Fox (former NZ flyhalf) and company bleat on about how dull the game was and how that NZ would have provided much more entertainment was a real letdown (they're still bitter that France won last week...I say get over it already, sheesh *rolls eyes*).

In the end, I muted the TV and watched the game in silence and must say it was a cracker. Both teams gave it their all and in the end, the difference was the bounce of the rugby ball as England poached the only try of the game inside 5 minutes when the ball sat up and the French flyer couldn't do anything but watch as the ball sat up and a white and red blur leapt above him to plant the pill across the line.

So England became the first team through (14-9) and will play for their second straight WC win...something that has not been done in any RWC before. Their opponents will be South Africa who, after their provincial performances in the Super 14 earlier this year were one of the hot picks to win this thing.

Not much to go on from the game so I'll just make it up...

Argentina put up an amazing run this tournament, beating France in the opening game to set up a legitimate tilt at the title but, at the end, it was the flair from South Africa that won through (37-13 by full-time). Both teams belted each other with thier monster forward pack but the Springboks had more firepower out wide and utilised that advantage to set up a classic North v South final.

                                            

Who will win? South Africa will be favourites after winning the group game...but this is the big one.

One thing's for sure; regardless of who wins, both teams have done their countries proud.

No, not the former Beatles member but the person on this site who comments on my Rugby posts.

Here's a joke for you actually; what's the difference between Australia, New Zealand and a teabag? A teabag stays in the cup longer.

As people will know...if you read my profile thing...I am an Australian (and quite proud of it) who lives in New Zealand. However, I do not share a common Aussie (and New Zealand...will get to that in a moment) trait of arrogance. The Australian cricket team is regarded as the best in the world since they've won the last three One Day International World Cups and sit on top of the test nations standings.

After the 2005 Ashes series in England, which I regard as the greatest series I've ever seen, a lot of Australians were angry at the way our team played...not really sure why since England stuck it to us and it was just what the test version needed to get some interest back in it. So as you can see, I guess I am not your typical Australian...heck I don't even have the 'traditional' accent (I detest it by the way. It's horrible to listen to. Give me Irish or Canadian anyday)...since I don't mind seeing our teams coming home with their tails tucked between their legs and I can admit and say the very simple phrase of "we got outplayed by a better team."

To New Zealand then where, for a country of only four million people, they have an extreme case of arrogance when it comes to Rugby Union. Now I don't care what any other Kiwis say, but the way many react when the All Blacks (or 'Oblix' as Will calls them) lose is atrocious; it's always the ref's fault, or the linesman, or the coach...it's never the fact that the other team played better.

Now we come to the point of this post; the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals.

The William Webb Ellis trophy will be given out on October 21 in Paris.

Australia played England yesterday morning (my time) while New Zealand battled France a few hours later. Going into both games I was nervous for Australia as the Poms have a handy forward pack while we didn't, and with a fit Jonny Wilkinson I felt that the English were a good chance of beating us...and that happened. 12-10 was the final score in a bruising affair, and while the Aussie press back home will probably rip them to shreds, it doesn't matter to me since that's the nature of a knockout competition; don't play well and you go home.

So congratulations to England, and to RINGO, for pulling out a blinder (as opposed to the South Africa game a couple weeks ago) and repeating the result of the 2003 Cup final.

New Zealand were expected to beat France...in fact, some media people here were boasting about how they'd win by as much as 50 points. Perhaps with good reason as the last few times both teams have played, the All Blacks have won handsomely...but this was the crunch game, this was the one that they had to win.

Yet they didn't.

As a result, the word 'chokers' will be associated with the New Zealand Rugby Union...for another four years at least anyway.

France tackled their hearts out all game (ending up with having to do an extra 100+ tackles than NZ) and scored two tries on the scrap of ball they had (NZ dominated with something like 72% possession and territory). The All Blacks tend to peak between World Cups...and they did again. By being knocked out in the quarterfinals yesterday, they achieved their worst World Cup showing...how the mighty have fallen.

So, another congratulations to the French for showing the world that the All Blacks aren't the invincible team many thought before this tournament started.

Yes the referee missed a couple of calls and the French were lucky not to be penalised for offside, but you won't find me blaming anyone. The French outplayed New Zealand and showed more desire to win; end of story.

Don't get me wrong, I'm disappointed that both 'my' teams are out but hey, the sun still rose this morning (I think anyway, it's overcast today) and we have the semi-finals next weekend before the final on October 21. South Africa will now be favourites I suppose but, as yesterday proved, that title means nothing...it all depends on how you play on that given day.

C'est la vie.

First things first; I'm only putting this in both NFL and NASCAR since I make reference to them...it's not a post about either so if you don't want to read it knowing that now, then you don't have to.

---

We had the AFL Grand Final on Saturday afternoon which led nicely into the NRL Grand Final on Sunday night. The only shame about both matches was that they were a bit one-sided in the end.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (or MCG as those in the know refer to it is) was the venue for the Aussie Rules matchup between the Geelong Cats and the Port Adelaide Power. Port won the premiership back in 2004, snapping the hopes of the Brisbane Lions winning four in a row, while Geelong haven't tasted success since, well, I can't remember...they usually lose the GF anyway.

                                                         

But this season was different, Geelong were the minor premiers by quite a way (something I believe NASCAR should do with the Chase and give the driver leading after 26 races a nice little trophy or whatever) and were the favourites to win. Port were second on the ladder after the round robin games and went in as the marginal underdog despite thumping North Melbourne the week before in their semi. Geelong were under a bit more pressure due to the fact that one of their players, Jimmy Bartel, had won the Brownlow medal earlier in the week. The Brownlow is given to the best player, that hasn't been given any suspension, as voted by the umpires for the season (not including playoff games).

However, the Cats played like they had all season and kicked away from Port by halftime. The lead was over 50 points and they extended that to over 100 by fulltime (final score ended by being 163 to 44). That would probably be the equivalent of the Superbowl being won by 50+ points, or a NASCAR race by 5 laps.

So congratulations Geelong on a well-earned victory and I'll bet those Crown Lagers sure tasted sweet on Saturday night.

To Sunday then, where again we had the two best teams playing each other; the Melbourne Storm and the Manly Sea Eagles.

                        

Stadium Australia in Sydney was the place to be as the game kicked off around 7:30pm local time. The first 20 minutes were a bruising affair as both teams seemed intent on smashing each other at every available opportunity. The Storm were the better team as they dominated territory, yet by halftime Manly had stayed in touch as they scored right on the buzzer to cut the lead to six points (10-4), just a converted try behind.

However, that was as close as they got as Melbourne, and Greg Inglis in particular, ran riot in the second half as they won the game by the scoreline of 34 to 8. This went some way to avenge their GF loss last year to the, very much underdogs, Brisbane Broncos and was just desserts for the team that has been the benchmark in the game for the past two seasons.

That was pretty much how I spent my weekend; watching two great showcases of Australian sport...I just wish both games had been a touch closer in the end.

All right so we've got the tedious part of the tournament over and get into the good stuff. We had a few upsets during the course of the last thee weeks; Tonga beating Samoa, Fiji beating Wales, and, though it wasn't really a huge upset, Argentina beating France in the very first game.

We also had some great performances from the 'minnows'; the USA, Canada, Japan and Georgia can all hold their heads up really high after showing some promise in their games.

But we also had some absolute shockers; England getting whipped by South Africa, Australia leading Canada by just 3 points to nil after around 25 minutes are the ones that immediately spring to mind...though the form of the Northern Hemisphere powerhouses have not been as flash as many people thought, me included, whch has been quite surprising.

However, that is all behind us and we move into the sudden death part of the competition. The matchups will see Argentina against Scotland, Australia up against England in a rematch of the 2003 final, New Zealand playing France (in Cardiff...strange I know but that's what it says) and South Africa play Fiji.

On paper, the best matches appears to be Australia v England and New Zealand v France...but as I said, the NH teams haven't been playing that great so you'd expect both the Aussies and Kiwis to go through.

But things aren't as easy as that. Australia have lost their flyhalf, Stephen Larkham, to yet another injury and will be relying on a rookie, Berrick Barnes, to steer them around. As good as Barnes may one day be, up against Johnny Wilkinson, he's not in the same class. I expect Australia to win, but it will be a lot tougher than some reckon.

Same with NZ and France. France were in the 'group of death' (with Ireland and Argentina) so they've had tough matches under their belt going into this...something New Zealand have not. The Kiwis have stuck with their rotation policy which leaves me asking if their 'first 15' combinations will be up to scratch. Certainly they have the better lineup, but there's a few players under scrutiny (including Dan Carter who didn't play their final match against Romania due to a calf injury) and others that don't have much game time in them this year. France are unpredictable at the best of times and one must wonder if playing away from home will be an advantage for them as the last few times they've played NZ in France they've been thumped. Still, NZ should win this...might be scary for a while though.

Argentina verses Scotland...not really expected to be a contest and Argentina should easily go through to the semis. Scotland played well to beat Italy, but that was their final, as against the Pumas, they'll get knocked out.

South Africa and Fiji...not who we were expecting to have playing. Well, SA were expected, but not Fiji. However, they've played might well to get here but I can't see them troubling the Springboks next weekend.

Ok, so if my predictions are right, we'll be having all Southern hemisphere semi-finals as South Africa face off against Argentina while we'll be treated to a final Bledisloe Cup match between Australia and New Zealand...and I reckon both those games can go either way.

I'll post again next week once the final four teams have been decided.

That's 500 km, not miles by the way.

Yes, 161 laps around Sandown...which more often than not chucks up some variable weather that only causes problems for the teams and fans at the track as for everyone else, the rain is welcome relief as it evens out the field and is bound to throw in a few surprises (see Lee Holdsworth's win at the last round in the wet). Anyway, the rain didn't really eventuate, we had some light drizzle towards the end of the race but not enough to force cars onto the wet tyres.

For those unfamiliar with the V8 Endurance races, our rules dictate a driver change (the minimum a driver can complete is a third of the distance, so 54 laps in this case) and a mandatory brake pad change. The V8's can go approximately 60 laps on a single load of fuel and, unlike in NASCAR, they don't throw the caution out every time a driver spears off into the gravel trap and drags a whole bunch of sand back onto the track.

Also, unlike NASCAR, we have grid girls...so stick that in your tailpipe.

To the race then where the Ford quartet (two drivers per car remember) of Mark Winterbottom/Matt Halliday (who drove the Team NZ A1GP car for half the season last year) and James Courtney/David Besnard started from the front row but it was the fast starting Todd Kelly (Holden) and Craig Lowndes (Ford) who got the jump on James and slotted in behind Mark. Now, the season so far has seen a domination of the sprint rounds by the Holden (GM to you North Americans...Vauxhalls to the Brits) cars while the Fords have been struggling to keep up.

However, this wasn't a sprint race and it was the Fords that looked the better car as those three pulled out a gap over James until the first round of stops began on lap 47. Mark blinked first with Todd and Craig not pitting for another 10 or so laps. After that, Nathan Pretty (who swapped with Todd) stayed behind Matt Halliday while Jamie Whincup (swapped with Craig) jumped both and went into a lead that the #888 car would not lose for the rest of the race.

Matt had a few issues and ended up flying off the road a couple times due to some minor brakes problems, though that was nothing compared to the #17 Ford of Steven Johnson/Will Davison. Their brake problem was that it stayed on...the brake fluid wasn't working as it should and when Steve hit the brakes they just stayed on which cost him about 20 positions before he managed to get into the pitlane.

The only other point of interest was the final safety car which came out with about 30 laps to go. For whatever reason, the officials decided that the leader was the guy in seventh and not Craig Lowndes (who jumped back in the car for the final stint) which caused great frustration as Craig was, effectively, a lap ahead of those guys but the blue flags (see Iowa's blog for details) were not being shown so Rick Kelly was able to start closing the gap to Craig. Finally, Craig got past and was able to keep the lead around six seconds to the end of the race.

The #888 car was nearly as dominant as the #07 was at Loudon

Overall, a dominant performance by Team Vodafone which bodes well as they attempt to defend their Bathurst 1000 title in three weeks time.

And, after that we have the Gold Coast Indy, where no driver has ever won the race more than once since the first time they roared around these streets back in 1991.

I'd hate to be a judge...such pressure *sigh*

It's also home to the meter maids and the Miss Indy competition...why do I get the feeling that some people have just booked flights?

I can only hope that this got covered in the prerace show of Loudon as the little bit at the end was an absolute joke and nothing more than an afterthought...but I figure that was the first they mentioned about it so I might as well do this; former World Rally Champion, Colin McRae (and three others; two family friends and his son, Johnny), was killed in a helicopter crash over the weekend.

It is my opinion that McRae caused the explosion of Subaru WRX sales in my part of the world and also increased the global awareness of rallying with his Playstation games.

Born in 1968, McRae made his WRC debut in 1987 driving a Vauxhall Nova before joining forces with Subaru in 1991. His first overall round win came in 1993 in Rally New Zealand before going on to win the title in 1995. Including Vauxhall and Subaru, he also raced with Ford and Citroen (and subbed for an injured Sebastian Loeb last year) while making one-off appearances for Skoda in 2005. He won a, then record, 25 rounds, his last being the 2002 Safari Rally in Kenya.

I may not follow rallying all that closely (I prefer tarmac racing to dirt), but those drivers are the best in the world...without question.

Yes, both F1 and NASCAR (the two series I follow the most) drivers have amazing reflexes and drive at stupidly high speeds...but only in the world of rally would you find the slightest mistake meaning you risk a 300 foot drop (and higher) off a cliff with only trees slowing the fall.

McRae may have only won the title once, but he was one heck o####reat driver

Colin (and his son) leaves behind his wife and daughter...to which I give my sincere condolances through this horrible time.

One little pill...that's all it took.

I woke up yesterday morning to the news that Andrew "Joey" Johns had been arrested in London for being in the possession of drugs. For those unfamiliar with Andrew Johns, allow me to enlighten you a bit; he is considered by many to be the greatest Rugby League player the world has ever seen.

His achievements include two NRL Premierships in Australia, captaining New South Wales in State Of Origin and also captaining his country...in other words, he was bloody good. If you want a gauge of exactly how good, let's have a look at some stats from Newcastle, his club team. When Johns played, they were winning something in the order of 70% of their games...without him, it was under 30%; he was that good.

Sadly, earlier this year an injury forced him into premature retirement. But don't think he's a wuss that can't play with an injury; 1997 saw him play the Grand Final with a punctured lung...and it was he who threw the final pass that set up the matchwinning try in that game.

Andrew Johns about to throw a pass for his Newcastle Knights

So that's who he is, on to the events in London. He was let off with a caution after he told the police what had happened; namely that he was at a club and someone slipped the pill (later found to be ecstacy) into his pocket. He forgot all about it and so the police found it and cuffed him.

No problem right? Since he didn't take the thing he had no case...until last night.

For in an interview on 'The Footy Show' he admitted he had a drinking problem...and used drugs during his 12 year playing career.

The drinking I can understand, lots of people sturggle with that...but there isn't an excuse for the drugs (despite the fact that lots of people are addicted to that too). The NRL drug test players and Johns said he sweated many times over the results of his...and it is pure luck that none ever returned positive.

I don't know where he goes from here...he said after being chucked in jail for a night woke him up and he vowed to never touch drugs again. He also spoke how difficult it was to tell his seven year old son what had happened. The NRL has a program designed to help players with things like this so my guess is he'll use that.

I hope it works Joey, for, despite your incredible achievements on the playing field, you've just thrown away a heck of a lot of your reputation in my eyes, mate.

Well here we are, just about three weeks out from the start of sixth Rugby World Cup. Expectations are high that the home team will win the thing, but that has only happened twice; 1987 (New Zealand) and 1995 (South Africa) so France will have to pull out something special...perhaps even more so depending on who they play and if they get there.

Let's have a look at the favourites going into the Cup and nut out some predictions.

Argentina - yes, I actually think they'll be a strong contender...if they can get through the group stage (they're with France and Ireland so one will miss out). I must say I don't know a heck of a lot about them, but I've heard that their flyhalf is very good and they beat Ireland (in Argentina) a month or so ago so they are in pretty decent form. Argentina generally have a good forward pack so they could be a great dark horse this time.

Australia - the only country to have won the RWC more than once, the Wallabies head into this one under a bit of a cloud. Their backline is very solid with Latham, Mortlock and Larkham spearheading the attack while the old stager, Gregan (and others), will want to bow out on a high note and they will have gained a fair bit of confidence after beating New Zealand in Melbourne...even though they did lose the return match in Wellington a few weeks later. However, the forward pack is still a big problem at scrum-time.

England - it's been a rather big fall from grace for the defending champs...but there are signs they are coming right in time (a strong showing in the six nations this year). The key will be the forwards and Wilkinson. If Jonny is fit and the forward pack can provide him enough time to get the ball onto his trusty left boot, I seriously think England could pull another Cup off...but if the forwards can't set up that platform (or if Jonny isn't playing well), they won't stand a chance in the latter stages of the tournament.

France - remember the Football WC in 1998? Yeah, that was held in France so I expect the hosts to be very strong. They played a couple warmup games against New Zealand (in NZ) and, for a third-string team (they didn't send their best team over...club matches were still being played), they didn't disgrace themselves and showed that you could actually break through the NZ defence. Now, with their top team back, I think most people have automatically put them into the semis...but they still have to get past both Argentina and Ireland in the group stage.

Ireland - a favourite of many people simply because of the funky Irish accent, but this time they go in as a favourite in their own right. Strong performances in the six nations over the last few years have put them on the radar as a real threat to take home the Cup. However, the players and fans alike will be waiting with baited breath for the news on Brian O'Driscoll and whether his jaw is broken or not after last weeks game. If he's out, I think Ireland can kiss their chances goodbye.

New Zealand - well, where do I start? They go into every match as favourites and more often than not come home with the result. But when WC time rolls around, the wheels tend to come off. The way the All Blacks have been playing the last three years have them as the clear favourite...but that was before 2007. Their form against the weakened French and the plucky Canadians was rusty, and it didn't get a whole lot better against South Africa and Australia in the Tri-nations either. A big question mark hangs over the midfield since the departure of Umaga and a lot of the players have had little game time this season so they are rather underdone. No one doubts the team has the talent...but so do Brazil in football and they don't always win the big games either.

South Africa - after the Super 14 was done and dusted, the Springboks were on top of their game. They monopolised the final (having two teams contest it) and all was well...until the squad for the Tri-nations got named. An extra player was called into the squad because the board felt that the selectors got it wrong by not picking this guy. Further grumbles have seen the coach be on the verge of being given the boot but, of course, to do so this close to the Cup would be stupid so they'll stick with him. I get the feeling that even if South Africa win it, the coach won't be there when the next season kicks off.

Wales - won the six nations a couple years ago...and that was about it really. When New Zealand toured at the end of 2005, many people talked up how the Welsh game would possibly be their biggest challenge. That wasn't the case as the All Blacks turned out a second-string team and still thumped them...but if you play with fire, you'll get burned eventually and Wales nearly pulled off a huge upset last WC by running England mighty close. I'd bracket them the same as Argentina; a good outside bet.

So there we go, the winner will come from one of those eight teams. My heart says Australia, my head says New Zealand...so go put your money on a France/South Africa final.

Now I'm sure everyone has been eagerly awaiting this...well those who knew I was doing this (which isn't many but anyway). I've been keeping track of who gets BotD and MIB since July 8 so I've got a full month of data that you lot can all pick apart. There were a few anomalies in the results; July 11, July 12 and August 7 all changed names during the day so I'm going with who I first saw and wrote down.

Some quick housekeeping first though. Since there are three names picked each day, that means the absolute maximum number chosen over the last 31 days is 93 while the minimum is, well, three.

BotD - SoCalSports ruled the roost this past month with an incredible 14 days of being the BotD (including a run of six from nine). Lisa and Curt Menefee were next best with four days, Ramblings had two and the remaining seven days were shared around.

MIB - Lisa got the nod with 11 times mentioned. Ramblings got it five times, SoCal four, with Josh Q, Dark Knight, Kenrick and Dayn Perry getting three each while the rest ended up with two or less (23 names there so I won't put them all up).

All up, 35 different people were used, or, in other words, that's nearly the same as swapping all three people every fourth day...not a startling figure when you say it like that really. Nor is it when you consider there are a lot more than 35 people who blog on here either.

Since I focus mainly on NASCAR, I can tell you that "we" got featured a grand total of four times...a number which got doubled in the last three days courtesy of, ironically, me getting two MIB's (Falcons and ccr were the other two...and neither got BotD). So three NASCAR guys (sorry to those who have written motorsport related articles but these are just the Nazzie "regulars" I'm talking about, hope you understand) out of those 35...a tick over 8.5%.

That's not really high when you consider that NASCAR is, apparently, the second most popular sport in the USA (and probably the second least popular here in New Zealand)...but oh well, doesn't matter I suppose.

I don't have any real point to this blog, I just thought I'd share my findings with everyone.

Rico Gear...a name that many on this site will be scratching their heads over since he doesn't play sports over there. To those who do know who he is, forgive me as I take the time to give a little background information on him.

Rico Gear is a Rugby Union player who plays the game in New Zealand. He is 29 years old so he has another 5 years or so in the sport before he would seriously consider retirement. He's played 17 matches for the All Blacks and was considered by many to be the best winger in the world a couple years ago.

At that stage Rico was playing for Canterbury in the Super 12 having switched from Auckland as he wasn't getting much game time. To do this without creating controversy, he first had to transfer provinces (which Rico duly did by leaving North Harbour for Nelson Bay a couple years ago). Since that time, the provincial competition expanded and Nelson Bay merged with another team and became Tasman.

As an All Black, he doesn't tend to get much game time with his province since he's generally on international duty. In fact, in the last two years Rico has only played six games for Nelson Bay/Tasman. However, his form has dipped a bit and he missed out on selection for the New Zealand World Cup squad which was announced a couple weeks ago...but even allowing for the slight drop off in performance, many thought that choice was rather harsh.

Rico's contract with New Zealand Rugby runs out after the World Cup this year and he has decided to pack up his family and head to Europe (about 20 000 miles away) to play for the Worcester Warriors on a three-year deal.

Now you're probably sitting there going "yeah, so?"

Here's the thing. Rico has kicked up a fuss about having to play for Tasman this year in the provincial championship, so much so that the club has just let him go and play for Canterbury instead as Tasman don't want someone who doesn't want to play for them in their team. He has said that it was too hard on his personal life to travel to and from Nelson to see his family.

Ok, I can respect that.

But it's less than a two hour flight between Nelson and Christchurch...and you only play three games a year for Tasman...and you're making a far bigger move by going overseas in a few months anyway...you're a hypocrite, Rico.

More than that, you have lost my respect and from what I've heard on the radio today, a heck of a lot of other fans' respect too. People have come out and said they hope you never play for the All Blacks again and that they're very glad you're leaving in a few months.

The sadist in me is hoping he plays for Canterbury in the game against Tasman...and he better wear earplugs and protective equipment because it ain't going to be pretty.

Rico Gear, you get my vote for #### of the year.

Well, seven rounds have gone by in the Australian V8 Supercar series and it isn't really much of a surprise to see the two Toll HSV cars leading the way.

Showing the way...just like he did last year

Rick Kelly, the defending series Champion (who won the title without actually winning a round...go figure) was always going to be the one to beat this year and, up until last week, no one could match him. However, his teammate, Garth Tander, managed a series sweep last week at Queensland raceway while Rick missed out on a top three finish after having a shocker of a weekend by his own extraordinarily high standards. This meant that Garth was able to turn a points deficit to a slender lead going into round 8 in Sydney (which starts on August 17).

As the season kicks off its second half, here are the top ten in points;

1 - Garth Tander, 369 points (Holden)
2 - Rick Kelly, 359 points (Holden)
3 - Jamie Whincup, 285 points (Ford)
4 - Craig Lowndes, 263 points (Ford)
5 - Todd Kelly, 261 points (Holden)
6 - Mark Skaife, 249 points (Holden)
=7 - Will Davison, 172 points (Ford)
=7 - Mark Winterbottom, 172 points (Ford)
9 - James Courtney, 157 points (Ford)
10 - Russell Ingall, 155 points (Ford)

In that list there are 4 former Champions; Rick, Craig, Skaife and Russell and only three not to have won the prestigious Bathurst 1000; Will, Winterbottom and Courtney (who now drives the car vacated by NASCAR Busch driver Marcos Ambrose).

Is Whincup the best hope for Ford to wrestle the title back from Holden?

Rather interesting to note that, despite the dominance this year in terms of round wins by the Holden boys, there are six Fords in the top ten. Perhaps just as interesting is that the top six drivers are all in team order; the two Toll HSV cars, the two Team Vodafone boys and the two HRT cars.

But, naturally, that isn't the closest fought title race...no, that honour belongs to see who will win Miss V8 Supercar for 2007. Maybe I should change the title of this to 'Midriff-season review' instead.

Will Miss V8 2006 repeat this year?

 

They'll have a hard time trying to figure out a winner

Now, if only I could find where I sign up to be a judge...*sigh*