Category Archives: Podcast

Sportzfan Radio show #238.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!11 March 2012 238.1 – The Panel congratulate Sportzfan Stan on his 91st birthday and his finishing his lengthy radio apprenticeship. Daniel wonders how many people Stan has sacked over the last three years and Stan says he has plenty more sackings lined up. His rant this week is on problem gambling amongst professional sports people and the comment by Brad Scott that it is a bigger problem than alcohol and drugs. The Panel discuss the topic in detail. The Professor thinks Victoria are most unlucky to miss out on the Sheffield Shield final on the ‘quotient’ rule. The Panel agree that the Sheffield Shield is the best cricket competition in the world. The Gelding (aka Horsey Man) reviews his selections from Saturday’s races at Flemington. Daniel raises the Lingerie football matches to be played in Australia shortly and says The Gambler will be available for dressing room interviews. He also observes that Stan has re-named the Gelding, Horsey Man and Daniel thinks the segment should be called Horsey Talk. The Gelding concludes with an update on how Danish Rock’s preparations are going.

Sportzfan Radio show #237.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!4 March 2012 237.2 – In the  second hour of the show, the Professor asked Daniel what had happened to the NBL season as it seemed to have disappeared with the playoffs beginning soon and the AFL and NRL overshadowing basketball in the news.  Sportzfan Stan’s view was that the league’s management needed professional help to increase interest in teams, awareness of games and boost revenues. His feelings were shared by the rest of the panel with discussions centering on the NBL’s lack of promotion of the game and a remedy involving a shared venue with other sports such as netball leading to increased awareness.  Daniel reviewed the NBA giving his opinion on the teams, their standings and whether Clipper Darrell had been harshly treated . He also looked at the Twitter tag #BlameLebron. The NRL report from Paul Dalligan included highlights of St. George’s win over the Tinkler Knights. The win surprised Dalligan as the favoured Knights played well. The Professor thought the Raiders v Storm match was the game of the round so far with Billy Slater’s brilliant late try winner being a feature. Dalligan congratulated The Professor on his Bulldogs pulling out a win after overcoming a 14 point deficit. The Panel also discussed Essendon’s no-show for their match on Saturday with St. Kilda in Wangaratta and the AFL originally splitting the game points between the two teams with all in agreement that St. Kilda should receive all four points. Last moment thoughts from the Professor had the Panel discussing the Grand Prix and Bernie Ecclestone’s annual threat of axing the race.

Sportzfan Radio show #237.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!4 March 2012 237.1 – After weeks of calling in his report, the Gelding was back behind the microphone and the Panel enjoyed some light hearted banter, introducing music and movie trivia on top of sport this week.  Mark Fiorenti led off the show responding to Sportzfan Stan’s rant which  pointed at news this week in soccer that Frank Lowy’s assessment was Clive Palmer & Gold Coast United were a failure in the A League.  Fiorenti also awarded the FFA and A League an “F” for trying to expand the league at any cost and allowing a non-lover of the sport to purchase a licence. The Professor discussed the judge’s decision for not granting an injunction to Palmer and thought Palmer’s allegations against the FFA should give the FFA cause for concern. Daniel voiced the confusion of many over whether Palmer’s Football Australia was being formed as a rival to the A League or only as a watchdog to the league. The Gelding looked at racing and his big tip of the week was on how to make a small fortune in racing….start with a large fortune. He also gave an update on Danish Rock’s progress or lack thereof.  He said the races at Flemington on Saturday were a soggy affair with “wet track form” and awarded an s-hit ride awarded to Jake Noonan.

Sportzfan Radio show #236.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!26 February 2012 236.2 -Wayne Holdsworth , CEO of the Southern Football League explained the reasons behind the expulsion of the Doveton Eagles from the League stemming from racial slurs and intimidation of umpires in a 2011 elimination final. This was not the first time the Club had been expelled as in 2010, their coach had been found guilty of coaching whilst his accreditation had been suspended. Wayne also discussed that due to lack of resources, community leagues don’t conduct drug testing. On a positive note, Wayne firmly believed that within three years there will be a professional Australian Rules national competition for women. The Panel discussed the Sydney Kings choice of Shane Heal as their head coach position for the remainder of this NBL season. Daniel believes that in order to increase interest and attendance at NBL games, something needs to be done to boost scoring to make it more entertaining for spectators who want to watch a more fast-paced game. Paul Dalligan provided his NRL 2012 season preview and weighed in with his picks for the first game of the NRL season picking Newcastle to win the first game of the season at home against the Dragons. He also thought the Bulldogs would beat the Panthers and the Rabbitohs would get over the Roosters.  Paul gave his final 2012 ladder predictions including his top eight. He said it was difficult as the competition is one of the best in years.  Surprisingly, not in the top eight were the reigning premiers, Manly, after losing their coach to the Bulldogs and the Brisbane Bronco’s who he saw finishing in the basement due to the loss of several top players.

Sportzfan Radio show #236.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!26 February 2012 236.1 – Daniel emulated Sportzfan Stan’s usual start to the show by launching his own rants, starting with Stan himself. Daniel suggested to the Professor that Stan needed to be sent to Florida if he continues to wear cardigans on 36C days. He quickly moved on to Ricky Ponting and whether he retired or was sacked by Cricket Australia. He discussed NFL and Troy Aikman’s comment that American football will not be the most popular sport in America in 10-15 years due to parents’ perceptions towards contact sports and Daniel posed the same question about the AFL.  Dan Butterly returned to the show to deliver his U.S. report and rehashed the lack lustre 2012 Super Bowl. He thought the commercials were the highlight rather than the game itself and that the Peyton Manning saga overshadowed the Giants/Patriots matchup. Dan also considered questions posed by Daniel regarding Eli Manning versus Peyton Manning. With March Madness due to start, Dan’s pick for the NCAA Final Four was, Kentucky, Michigan State, Kansas and North Carolina. He also predicted some upsets caused during the tournament.  Finally he looked at ‘Linsanity’ that has taken over not only New York but also the NBA. The Gelding reported on the Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield and the Sydney Colt’s results. Sportzfan Stan’s rant du jour was the usage of drugs in sports and the bad image caused by abusers.  The panel expressed their confusion on the penalties outlined by the AFL and the lack of criminal charges for those found offending.

Sportzfan Radio show #235.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!19 February 2012 235.1 – Sportzfan Stan kick started the show with his weekly rant, this time on the AFL’s first financial loss in a decade amounting to $23.6 millon. The AFL’s blame-game included the start up costs of the Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney teams.  John O’Callaghan observed that it’s bad economics and can’t be blamed on expansion costs that should have been factored into the budget.  Tackling the issue of lack of media coverage for women in sport, Janice Crosswhite, President of Australian Women’s Sport and Recreation Association & current VP for the International Association for Physical Education and Sport for Girls and Women spoke with the Sportzfan Radio panel. The Professor indicated that the Herald Sun’s only sports article on women this week was on Olympian, Sally Pearson but was buried towards the back pages. Janice shed some light on the Sports Commission’s research in 2010 showing some progress for equality for women in sport. She also commented on Olympic historian, Harry Gordon’s claim that since 1956, women have outperformed men in teams proportionate to medals won. Janice observed there was a lack of full time sports writers devoted to covering women’s sport or other “B” sports like basketball, swimming, track and field, squash, and gymnastics. Social media may be part of the solution as traditional means have failed to date. Daniel Eade came on to talk hoops and discussed the NBA and the NY Knicks surprising the league with their “Linsanity” Jeremy Lin. Daniel thought that after losing Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire for games the Knicks would be gone but they have rebounded with Lin at point guard. Injuries were a topic of discussion too, due to the condensed season with the big name’s not being able to handle so many minutes per night.  There was also comment that the NBL had yet to release any further news about the new franchise bids for Melbourne and Brisbane.

Sportzfan Radio show #235.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!19 February 2012 235.2 – Sportzfan Radio continued the coverage of women in sport featuring Australian baseballer, Simone Wearne who will be admitted to the Australian Baseball Hall of Fame next week being the first woman admitted as well as the youngest person inducted. She won silver at the World Cup two years ago and has strong hopes of usurping Japan from the #1 spot in August 2012 in Canada.  She has high hopes that  the future will hold a woman’s professional league in Australia.  Nicole provided thought provoking ideas on how women can increase interest in their sports and promote themselves in the media. Mark Fiorenti comes on the show to talk soccer and discussed the repercussions of the financial woes of the Scottish soccer champions, Rangers who went into administration this past week resulting in a deduction of 10 points by the League putting them well behind rival Glasgow Celtic. Will this be the end of Rangers he asks? The A League didn’t provide any surprises this week except for the owner of Gold Coast United saying some bizarre things in the press. Sportzfan Stan has a go at cricket in his second rant for the day with the umpires inability to count to six leading to a five ball over in a recent International One Day series match betwenn India and Sri Lanka.  Paul Dalligan can’t be accused of riding the fence making his frustration clear with NRL’s turncoat and one of AFL’s highest paid players, Israel Folau, never touching the ball observing “I’m doing a better job than Israel Folau, and I’m at a BBQ in Geelong”. Paul will present his NRL season preview next Sunday.