Tag Archives: mwc

Sportzfan Radio show #229.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!4 December 2011 229.1 – The Panel start with a look at the first test against New Zealand. Daniel also reviews the Melbourne Tigers recent performances and says with the game on the line in the last four matches, they couldn’t get it done. The Gelding queries whether they are missing Patty Mills already. Dan Butterly comes on to discuss US sport talking College football including who will qualify for the National championship and the other BCS bowls. Once again Dan argues that there should be a playoff in College football. He also looks at the coaching carousel with a number of Colleges firing their football coaches and says it’s not good to be a coach at this time of year. Dan says Tim Tebow is a winner and Tebowmania has overtaken Denver. He thinks the Packers can run the table and sees the Colts going 0-16. The Professor and Dan discuss the bid by Jerry Kramer’s daughter to have him admitted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Professor learned about it on Twitter. Dan says it is an amazing story and he encourages the fans to learn more about the cause and Kramer’s career. Dan thinks Bobby Valentine’s hiring to coach the Red Sox is a great one. The Gelding talks racing and reviews both his selections and the Sydney Colts. Unfortunately for the Gelding his tips were just off the mark with four seconds. He awards an s-hit ride to Danny Nikolic for his ride on Starchine. Sportzfan Stan is upset that the Gelding has been invited to the Ladies at the Tennis club’s Christmas party but he hasn’t. Mark Fiorenti talks A-League soccer and says the Melbourne Victory are a ‘little bit’ back in crisis. The Professor reviews Mark’s pre-season ladder predictions, especially Adelaide on top and the Newcastle Jets on the bottom.

Sportzfan Radio show #223.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!16 October 2011 223.1 The Professor and the Gelding talk about their respective days at the Caulfield and Traralgon races yesterday. The Professor believes that Danish Rock would have beaten the horses in the first five races at Traralgon. Sportzfan Stan and Daniel eventually get introduced and make up for lost time. There is a discussion regarding the televising of NBL games and how they select the games as Daniel thought it would be Perth v Melbourne on Friday night but it turned out to be Townsville v Cairns. Sportzfan Stan asks why people aren’t watching the games on TV and the overall feeling is that the games are on too late. Dan Butterly comes on to talk US sport and looks at the situation in Boston after the Red Sox meltdown with both their coach Terry Francona and GM Theo Epstein leaving. He also looks at the revelations that three pitchers were in the clubhouse during games eating fried chicken, drinking beer and playing video games while their teamates were out on the field. Dan looks at the ALCS and NLCS and believes the Texas Rangers and St Louis Cardinals will play off in the World Series. He comments that hitting is dominating at present. Dan discusses Pete Carroll’s attempt to get LeBron James to play wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks via twitter and the shock teams so far this season in the NFL. He also looks at the ‘almost’ play of the year in College football by Brad Wing, LSU’s Aussie punter and finishes with a review of MWC basketball media day. The Gelding talks racing and reviews yesterday’s races at Caulfield. He got two selections up for the Ladies at the Tennis Club and also awarded an s-hit ride. The Gelding has also put together a Sportzfan Radio stable of horses for the listeners to follow for the Spring carnival.

Sportzfan Radio show #216.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!28 August 2011 216.1 – The Professor is back behind the microphone with Daniel Eade and Brett. Dan Butterly comes on to talk US sport with the College football season about to start next week. He is keen to see how the Mountain West Conference teams go. He also talks NBA, NFL and MLB. The Gelding is away on holidays in Hawaii so the Gambler calls in to talk horse racing and defend his selections for yesterday’s race meeting at Caulfield. Mark Fiorenti talks soccer and previews the Socceroos World Cup tie against Thailand on Friday.

Sportzfan Radio 7 August 2011 #213.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!7 August 2011 213.1 – Once again Daniel Eade is unable to join the Panel, this time through illness. The Panel start the show with a discussion on the Melbourne Football Club. Dan Butterly comes on to talk US sport highlighting the imminent start of the College football season. He thinks it is no surprise that Oklahoma is ranked number 1 in the polls. It could be a great year for people who are against the BCS system. Dan is surprised that the Air Force Academy and San Diego State are not in the top 25. He believes that if TCU were a member of one of the BCS conferences they would have been ranked higher. Dan says it is a perception thing. He thinks it is out of Luke Fickell (OSU), Mark Richt (Georgia) and Rick Neuheisel (UCLA) who will be the first College football coach sacked. Dan then looks at the NBA lockout. He thinks it is going to be a very long dispute and realistically they could lose the whole season with the owners playing hardball. Plenty of players have signed overseas agreements meaning they think it won’t be sorted out soon. The NFL has solved their problems and their lockout is over with the teams now in training camp. Dan says it will be interesting to see how the pre-season will go with only a few weeks to the first game. He finishes with a chat about injured Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez being investigated for participating in an underground poker tournament. The Gelding comes on to talk horse racing from Flemington and Randwick yesterday. The Gelding picked three winners and a placing. He also indicates Danish Rock is due for a jumpout at Caulfield on Tuesday.

Sportzfan Radio #206.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!12 June 2011 206.1 – The Panel start off the show with a discussion on the cost of going to an AFL match. Daniel says it is not cheap to go to the footy. The Professor says local footy is a far better (and cheaper) alternative. Sportzfan Stan has the AFLPA in his sights with their claim for an increase in payments. Dan Butterly comes on to talk US sport and gives his opinion on the NBA & NHL finals. Dan still thinks the Heat will beat the Mavericks and the Canucks will overcome the Bruins. He believes Michael Jordan in the best basketballer of all time. Dan gets technical talking hockey with his assessment of fast & slow ice and which leads to more goals. He discusses the re-branding of the Mountain West Conference and Mordiboy poses a few questions to him regarding Tiger Woods and Tiger’s association with a doctor whose background is questionable. The Gelding talks racing and looks at the results from Flemington, Randwick and the Belmont Stakes. He also gives an update on the progress of Queen Asa and Danish Rock.

The Professor in the USA #1

First stop on the Professor’s USA tour sees me touching down in Denver to visit with Dan Butterly from the Mountain West Conference (our regular Sportzfan Radio contributor) and also take a look at baseball and the New York Mets at Colorado Rockies series played at Coors Field.

The weather has been simply stunning with the sun shining in a cloudless sky and temperatures being in the mid to high 20’s (that’s centigrade) during the day but down to a cool around 5C at night.

After watching game 1 of the series last night (from the Club seats), the Mets were truly unlucky not to have come away with the ‘w’.  On two occasions they left bases loaded, managed to strand a total of 10 base runners for the night and were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.  You won’t win too many games of baseball with those figures, no matter how good the pitching is.

Mets pitcher Chris Capuano did admirably after escaping from a bases loaded jam in the first to make only one further mistake in the 7th inning allowing a line drive home run to left field by the Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta. In pitching 6 2/3 innings, he allowed only 5 hits and in my opinion did enough for a win if the Mets bats had come through for him.

Unfortunately for the Mets, the usually hitter friendly confines of Coors Field were affected by a swirling cross breeze which reduced two sure home run hits from Jason Bay and David Wright to catches made on the warning track.  The Mets certainly lack a quality hitter to take the game by the scruff of the neck.  I can only hope that in the final two games of the series, the Mets hitters find some pop and can hit a winning score.

Sportzfan Radio #199.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!24 April 2011 199.1 – Sportzfan Stan leads off the show with suggesting the Port Adelaide FC coach, Matthew Primus should be sacked after yesterday’s loss to the Gold Coast Suns. Daniel says the club should look outside for a replacement. This leads to a discussion on whether the Melbourne Tigers should also look outside the club and not go with Darryl McDonald as coach. Stan suggests they should appoint Andrew Gaze. The Panel talk to former NBL player John Rillie who is now with Boise State’s basketball program. He discusses College basketball, NBA and the NBL playoffs.  The Gelding comes on the show to talk racing and the weird behaviour of jockey Shane Scriven during the week when he ‘borrowed’ the whip of another jockey during the race. He has been suspended for 5 months over the incident. The Gelding also reviews both his and the Sydney Colts selections. His two tips for the Ladies at the Tennis Club got up. The Panel then discuss the Anzac Day game and whether it should be limited to just Collingwood v Essendon or should other teams also get a chance to play on the day. Mark Fiorenti has finally tweeted again…about the Copa Del Rey between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Sportzfan Radio #193.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!13 March 2011 193.2 – Sportzfan Stan reminds Mark that he had called for Merrick’s sacking weeks ago. Mark then goes on to discuss the A League Grand Final between Brisbane Roar and Central Coast Mariners. He thinks the Roar will win 2-0. The Professor and Mark discuss how tough it is being an Arsenal supporter. Mark says they promise so much but don’t deliver. Paul Dalligan talks NRL and the start of the season. Even though the Rabbitohs lost to the Roosters, Paul took a lot of positives out of it. Melbourne Storm won their first game for points in a long time. After the Broncos first loss, Sportzfan Stan is already calling for Anthony Griffin’s axing as coach. Paul thinks that is a bit harsh after only one game. He says the NRL will need to look at the rule where a defender runs into a referee with the controversy in the Titans/Dragons game. The Panel discuss the Brendan Fevola saga and whether Casey Scorpions should have offered him a contract. They then talk with Australian baseball centre fielder Amy McCann. She started her career with the interestingly named Kissing Point Angels in Sydney as the only girl on the team and in the league. She now plays for Doncaster Dragons with a change to starting pitcher this season. She says her best pitch is a strike. Sean Callanan comes on to talk social media and the battle between the AFL & NRL for the social media fan. In MWC the Utah basketball coach bans live tweets or texts at a shootaround which seems rather pointless in this day and age.

Sportzfan Radio #192.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!6 March 2011 192.2 – Mark Fiorenti talks with the Panel about the poor crowd attending the A League preliminary final.  The Professor asks if marquee matches should be played in population centres to draw a crowd and says it is incumbant on the organising body to look at this. Mark then looks at the Asian Champions League matches involving Melbourne Victory and Sydney.  He asks the Professor how frustrating it must be to be an Arsenal supporter. The Panel then talk with Australia’s first professional women’s world boxing champion Susie Ramadan.  She recently won the world IBF bantamweight title. Susie says she is a “Girly, Girl” but wanted something mentally challenging that got her fit so took up boxing. She fought 79 amateur fights and 20 times as a pro winning all of them and eight by KO. With women’s boxing starting to gain acceptance, she believes it won’t be long before we see a TV show like the Contender about women boxers. The Panel come back and examine the Ricky Nixon saga and ask why he hasn’t been suspended pending the outcome of the AFLPA investigation. This leads to a greater examination of the role of the player agent. There is also a discussion of Bernie Ecclestone’s suggestion to use artificial rain to liven up Grand Prix racing. All agree the sport is in trouble if it needs to resort to tricks. John suggests that the doctrine of ‘volenti non fit injuria‘ applies…we liked that! There is a further discussion of the AFL, AFLPA and player agents. Sean Callanan, batting clean up again, talks about the Mountain West Conference rating their twitter followers with a new program called Sports Digital Passion. It ranks the ‘fandom’ of the MWC twitterers. It is not true that Charlie Sheen is a member of the MWC. Sean also talks about ‘Social Media Executioners’. He has also made a bit of progress on getting Aaron Rodgers on Sportzfan Radio talking with some Packers officials, clearly a work in progress.

Mountain West Conference rating twitter followers

To celebrate two years on twitter the Mountain West Conference has started ranking their fans on twitter….what a great idea! I have made the “first team”…now time to try and improve my ranking.

We’ll talk with our US reporter Dan Butterly about this when he is back on air after the MWC Basketball tournament and NCAA Basketball finals.

Meantime, why not see where you are rated as an MWC twitter fan!

packers4

Score: 1260

Ranking: 9

Level: 1st Team

Get your @SportsDP score for MWC here