Category Archives: Podcast

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 #193.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!13 March 2011 193.1 – To start the show the Panel wish Sportzfan Stan a Happy 90th Birthday. Stan says the secret of longevity for men is to have a healthy interest in the female sex. He may have done his dash with the ladies at the Tennis club. Stan leads off with a rant about another cyclist Franco Pellizotti being sanctioned for blood doping. Both he and the Gelding believe drug cheats should be banned for more than 2 years as the 2 year ban doesn’t seem to be deterring athletes from trying to illegally enhance their performance. The Panel then talk with Lynne Anderson from Repucom who released their 9th annual benchmarking report on valuing media exposure for sports sponsorship during the week.  AFL Clubs in front but NRL Clubs are closing the gap. The Gelding talks about his efforts at the track at Flemington having a successful day tipping 3 winners and a second from 5 selections. He talks about how good Black Caviar actually is and compares her with great horses of the past.  Undeniably broke the Gelding’s 23 race run with a placing or better. He almost awards an S-Hit ride for Michael Rodd’s effort on Undeniably. Mark Fiorenti talks soccer. He admits that although he has a twitter account he has yet to send a tweet. He discusses what he believes the reasons are behind Ernie Merrick’s sacking by the Melbourne Victory.

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.

Sportzfan Radio #192.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!3 March 2011 192.1 – Sportzfan Stan has a problem that the benefits the AFL players are going to get under a new collective bargaining agreement will be better than our military personnel who risk their lives on a daily basis. He is not happy with it. Paul Dalligan provides a bottom to top assessment of the 2011 NRL season….Cronulla Sharks to finish on the bottom – Melbourne Storm to be top of the table  and beat St George in the Grand Final.  The Professor takes an opportunity to talk with Glenn Day from the Great Western Hotel, the sponsor of the show. He thinks Hawthorn will finish in the top four and that Buddy Franklin will kick 100 goals for the season. The Gelding talks about his great day at Flemington, tipping four firsts and a third from five selections.  He tells us he finished ‘about even’. Ha! Although the Gelding is a big fan of jockey, Brett Prebble, he awards him an S-Hit ride for his performance on Playing God. The Gelding also reviews the Sydney Colt’s selections at Warwick Farm.  The Professor takes Mark Fiorenti to task about his prediction skills after saying last week that Adelaide would beat Gold Coast 2-0.  He also discusses the Central Coast’s dour win against Gold Coast to get into the A League Grand Final.

Sportzfan Radio #191.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!27 February 2011 191.2 – The Panel discusses cricket and Ricky Ponting’s thrown cricket protector that damages a television. They then have a discussion whether Shane Warne should have been selected as Australian captain. Mark Fiorenti talks soccer and Daniel wants to know whether teams actually train to score goals. Mark doesn’t believe Gold Coast can beat Adelaide. Given Melbourne Victory came fifth and is now out of the finals, Sportzfan Stan says coach Ernie Merrick has been there long enough and should go. There is also a discussion of the Asian Champions League matches involving Victory and Sydney this week. Daniel predicts a 2-0 win to Adelaide using his own tipster method. Mark tips Arsenal to beat Birmingham City 2-0 in the League Cup and agrees with Daniel on the Adelaide game. Paul Dalligan, on the golf course again, reports on the developments in NRL during the week. The redemption story of 2010, Todd Carney back in the headlines again for drink driving.  Ivan Henjak sacked as coach of Brisbane Broncos two weeks out from the start of the season. Paul also reviews the World Club Challenge between St George and Wigan.  He thinks the Dragons will be too strong. The Professor awards the second ‘Benny Hill’ award for 2011 to Nathan Tinkler – when is a deal not a deal? Paul says Newcastle and Tinkler are still working through a deal. Dan Butterly comes on the show to bat clean up with his US sport report.  He talks NBA and Carmelo Anthony’s trade to the Knicks and also the trade by the Clippers (supposedly building for the future) of their 2011 #1 pick and Baron Davis for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon.  At Detroit, there are discipline problems with players missing the shoot around.  Dan says at this time of the year all eyes are on College basketball with March madness on the horizon.  He thinks BYU will be seeded high by the NCAA tournament committee.  Finally Dan looks at baseball and he believes the Colorado Rockies will do well this season, the Mets won’t make the playoffs, the Kansas City will be Kansas City and the New York Yankees are getting old.

SportzfanRadio #191.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!27 February 2011 191.1 – Daniel thinks it was a stupid idea for the AFL to draw Greater Western Sydney in the NAB Cup as yesterday’s game was a farce. Sportzfan Stan notices he has been moved away from Daniel after last week’s show. The Gelding says Carlton would have had a better practice game with the ‘possibles’ playing the ‘probables’. Daniel doesn’t understand why the AFL is expanding, he thought 16 was the prefect number. Sportzfan Stan says the increase is so the AFL can get more revenue. The Panel then discuss whether Andrew Demetriou’s payrise is appropriate and if Friday night matches should be shown live. Sportzfan Stan says 1.8 million people want to watch Better Homes & Gardens so the football should be delayed. Sean Callanan comes on to talk social media and enters the fray saying the AFL should get innovative and look for a partner that delivers an ability to watch the game on line. The NFL and NFLPA discussions on a new collective bargaining agreement are headed to social media with a hashtag of #NFLlockout. The MLB have an all access for all season I-phone/I-pad app called Major League at Bat which is good value at $18. AFL clubs have begun to use You Tube with a channel to release news and magazine type shows. The Gelding talks horse racing and Caulfield’s meeting where there were three Group One races including the Blue Diamond Stakes. He was successful picking three winners from four selections and awards Craig Williams the S-Hit ride of the day for his ride on Response. There is a discussion about the horse that the Professor and the Gelding have an interest in, Danish Rock, it should run a race by August at the earliest.  The Panel discuss who was the best James Bond and the Gelding says he always thinks of Sean Connery as James Bond and this follows on to whether ranking movies stars is a sport.  Daniel thinks it is.  The Panel then move on to talk cricket and the One Day World Cup and who should replace Doug Bollinger.

Sportzfan Radio #190.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!20 February 2011 190.2 – Mark Fiorenti talks about the headlines during the week ‘Soccer crowds worst of any code in Australia’ and wonders why these headlines have appeared at the start of the A League finals – he queries whether it is a conspiracy. He then looks at the finals already played and previews the Gold Coast United/Melbourne Victory game. On Kevin Muscat’s retirement he feels that Kevin’s passion sometimes led to some unfortunate consequences on the pitch. He did not expect Arsenal to beat Barcelona in the Champions League tie. Sportzfan Stan thinks Chelsea’s coach should be sacked as they have only won 6 of 19 games recently.  The Panel discuss the NBA All Star game and the voting that sees Yao Ming in the starting five even though he is injured and won’t play in the game.  Daniel says that the voting in the celebrity game was suspect as Scottie Pippen was clearly the MVP but Justin Bieber, who did nothing, got the nod as all the teenage girls voted for him.  He says if he had been Justin Bieber he would have handed the award to Pippen.  Daniel believes Blake Griffin will try to dunk over a car in the NBA dunk contest.  He still thinks Carmelo Anthony will end up with the New York Knicks even though Nets have improved their offer.  Paul Dalligan calls in from the golf course and talks rugby league and says Nathan Tinkler couldn’t offer any more to the Newcastle Knights.  There are also whispers that Kade Snowden and Wayne Bennett could be heading to the Knights.  Daniel picks up on a tweet from an Adelaide 36ers player who alleges that the accommodation arranged by the Perth Wildcats for visiting teams is sub standard.  The Gelding talks World Cup cricket and the selection of the one day team.  The Panel then talk with Sean Callanan on sports social media in particular the ICC banning any social media use by players and officials.  Sean says it is the case of another large sporting organisation not understanding the benefits of social media.  He believes that as long as there is a policy and guidelines, that should take care of any problems.

Sportzfan Radio #190.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!20 February 2011 190.1 – Sportzfan Stan makes his presence felt calling for the coach of the Wollongong Hawks Gordie McLeod to be sacked for losing 10 games of eleven. Phil Cleary comes on the show to talk about the VFL & Coburg. The club would have difficulties if the alignment with Richmond ceases at the end of this season. He says with some AFL teams fielding reserves teams it will make things hard for the non AFL clubs. He says it has been a disgraceful history starting with the abolition of the VFA. He says the VFA teams were bullied into changing the name and sold a lie about their future.  He says that the majority of the non AFL clubs would not be able to survive by themselves and a long term strategy should be developed to align each club with the community in their area.  Phil says he would be eminently well qualified to be on a Board running VFL football but he wouldn’t be asked because he wouldn’t bow to what the AFL wanted (we agree with Phil!).  The Gelding comes on to talk racing and talks about the retirement of SportzfanRadio’s own Typhoon Tracy.  He says the trainer Peter Moody didn’t call him to discuss what should be done with the horse.  The Gelding picked two winners and three fourths, one of the winners being Black Caviar.  The discussion then moves to the production meeting held at the Great Western Hotel (our sponsors).  We get a tweet for the Gelding asking if he is ‘light on for balls’.  Mark Fiorenti comes on to talk soccer and says he also has trouble with twitter but he is going to try and get on it before the end of the year.

Sportzfan Radio #189.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!13 February 2011 189.2 – Daniel asks the Gelding why Richmond didn’t put a side in that had a chance of beating Carlton in the NAB Cup so that they could get at least try and get through to the next round. The Gelding didn’t like the alternate jumper and says the Tigers shouldn’t have taken away the yellow sash. The Professor says that the lid is definitely off with Melbourne winning the first two pre-season games. Daniel thinks the NAB Cup is a circus with teams having to wait to play a second game. It can’t be good for the game especially with the introduction of new rules – Daniel says whoever introduced them should be sacked.  Mark Fiorenti comes on to discuss soccer and he takes positives out of the defeat in the final of the Asian Cup.  He is definitely right behind Holger Osieck as coach of the team as he has emphasised team unity.  He discusses the A League which is coming to the crunch time of the season and also thinks it may be North Queensland Fury’s last game.  In Premier League, Mark looks at the Man Utd & Man City derby.  Paul Dalligan is looking forward to the Charity Shield later tonight between St George and South Sydney.  He says Wayne Bennett is on fire as a coach and he won’t tip against him in the game, the Newcastle Knights are all cashed up behind Nathan Tinkler and are chasing players and the new NRL Commission needs to be appointed by 30 April 2011 as that is when New Limited intends to step away from the NRL.  Paul then looks at the ABL championship games between Perth Heat and Adelaide Bite.  Daniel says Tom Walter the basketball coach of Wake Forest donated a kidney to save one of his players, Kevin Jordan but the College had to first check with the NCAA to make sure it didn’t break any rules. The Professor says that is taking rules too far.  Sean Callanan comments on Super Bowl XLV and the effect social media had on the event.  He also discusses Sportzfan Radio’s attempt to get Aaron Rodgers on the program.  Finally, the Panel differ as to whether Shane Warne and Liz Hurley are a worthy story or not.

Sportzfan Radio #189.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!13 February 2011 189.1 – The Panel start off without Sportzfan Stan again, who is still on injured reserve. The Gelding thinks it will be a long season for Richmond while Daniel thought we might have been talking about Collingwood for two hours. Daniel also complains about how bad the half time entertainment with the Black Eyed Peas at the Super Bowl. Dan Butterly comes on to talk US sport and in particular the Super Bowl between the Green Bay Packers & Pittsburgh Steelers. He is reminded of his pick of the Steelers last week. He says it was a great game from start to finish and believes Aaron Rodgers gave a flawless performance with the Packers win was all the better due to the injuries the Packers dealt with not only during the season but also during the Super Bowl itself. Dan also discusses the seat fiasco where it appears the Cowboys only applied for a permit for the seats three weeks before the game.  He looks at NCAAB and was right in saying Ohio State wouldn’t go through the season undefeated having lost to Wisconsin today.  Dan says he thinks Daniel may be the only international Clippers fan in existence.  The Panel talk about who their dream guest would be – the Professor says Aaron Rodgers, the Gelding would like Damian Oliver and Daniel wants Michael Jordan – we’ll work on them. The Gelding and the Sydney Colt were on fire with their selections at Caulfield and Randwick selecting 5 winners from 6 selections. The Panel look at the NAB Cup and the Gelding reiterates he believes it is going to be a long year for the Richmond Football Club.