Sports

The Melbourne Aces – The Heat Is On….

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Well here it is…crunch time. 

Your Melbourne Aces face their biggest challenge of the season starting this Thursday night  January 13 when they take on the second placed Perth Heat in a 4 game series to be played at Melbourne Showgrounds, Flemington.

The Aces and Heat will play 4 games on 13 -15 January, with 7pm starts on Thursday 13 January and Friday 14 January.  There will also be a massive double header starting at 4.30pm on Saturday 15 January 2010 with Game One at 4.30pm and Game 2 at 7.30pm.

And in a first for the Melbourne Aces, Southern FM is proud to announce that it will be broadcasting live from Flemington Showgrounds on 15 January 2011, going to air at 7pm for the crunch second game of the Aces v Heat double header.

The two teams will then head across the country to play 4 more games in Perth to finish the ABL season from 20 – 22 January.

Whilst making the finals is any club’s main goal at the start of the season, the main prize is being able to play those finals at home in order to benefit from that extra lift in intensity that only home supporters can provide.

The ABL table currently stands as follows:

 
  Club W  L  PCT  GB  *ELIM #       
  Adelaide 18 12 .600 – –        
  Perth 18 14 .563 1.0 –        
  Sydney 17 14 .548 1.5 –        
  Melbourne 16 15 .516 2.5 –        
  Brisbane 13 17 .433 5.0 7        
  Canberra 11 21 .344 8.0 3        

Only the top 4 teams will make the playoffs, and with fifth placed Brisbane recording some strong wins of late the Aces need to make sure they put up a strong home stand against the Heat before heading across to face Perth in their home cauldron to finish the ABL season.

In the ABL playoffs, the team finishing first will host the team finishing second in a best of 3 series from January 27 – 29.  The winner of that matchup will have the honour of hosting the Australian Baseball League Championship in a 3 game series on February 11 – 13.

Unlike our American baseballing compatriots, where the World Series goes back and forwards between the two cities involved, in the Australian Baseball League all 3 games will be on the home turf of the team that wins when first plays second.

The team that finishes third for the season will host the team who comes fourth for a 3 game series on each night of January 27 – 29, and the winner of that matchup will face the winner of the first v second series to determine the other team in the Championship Series.

The equation is simple – for your Melbourne Aces to play finals baseball at their fantastic home ground, the Melbourne Showgrounds, they need to finish the season no lower than third place.

The Aces will need to be at their best to catch the third placed Sydney. Given however that Sydney plays the struggling Canberra Cavalry in their last 4 games to end the season it is absolutely vital that the Aces come out firing against the Heat in Melbourne.

Dare we say, the Perth Heat have been in sizzling form, managing to win all 4 games at Sydney to surge into second spot and in contention to play for a place in the Championship Series in week one of the finals.

Perth Heat starting pitcher Matt Zachary was last week named Player of the Week for Round 8 after throwing down seven complete innings while conceding just four hits, no runs, and no walks while striking out four Blue Sox batters.

Perth’s Robbie Widlansky is also 6th in the ABL for batting average for the season with a very impressive average of 0.328.

The Aces have the second and third best batting averages for the ABL season in Melbourne’s very own Andrew Russell and Grant Karlsen who have averages of 0.363 and 0.354 respectively.  These local lads have no doubt caught the eye of many of the 28 of the 30 Major League teams who have sent scouts to Australia to scour new talent.  Andrew Russell has also belted an ABL high 7 home runs for the season, and will be looking to go deep against Perth at the Showgrounds.

 It will be a massive series against the Heat, and the Aces season may very well ride on whether it can head to Perth with a few victories under its belt as it attempts to secure that all important top 3 finish.  With the Aces dropping their last 3 games against league leaders Adelaide they are desperate for your support against the high flying Heat.

Get out to the game or join us live on 88.3 Southern FM from 7pm on Saturday 15 January 2011 with your host The Professor, Sean Callanan and Daniel Eade who are all very excited to bring Melbourne Aces baseball to the airwaves for the very first time.

Punting, Sports

Sydney Colt’s Mail For Randwick 8 January

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The mail is a little light on today as a couple of our sources continue to enjoy some R&R. Both our tips today are ridden by Corey Brown and so we have also had a few dollars on him to win the jockey’s challenge at $5.0

Race 2 n3 COMBAT KITTY On a tough day this neddy looks the banker. The experts really rated its win at Kembla. I expect it to lead here.

Race 4 n4 FLYING EMPRESS Should get a soft lead here, is trained by the in form Jo Pride and has Corey Brown to steer. Sounds like a winning formula.

Money lost, nothing lost. Confidence lost, everything lost.

News, Punting

Gelding’s tips for 8 January 2011

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The Gelding’s attention returns to his home track at Caulfield for the first race meeting of the year there.  Followers of the Gelding will have started 2011 with a win and a third last week and so should have a little bank to use towards today’s selections.

Punters should take some care with selections as a storm is predicted for today so that may have some affect on the runners.

Caufield

Race 1 Horse 2 – Covered in Class
Race 3 Horse 3 – Grail Jeurney
Race 6 Horse 1 – First Command (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 7 Horse 3 – Mid Summer Music (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 8 Horse 5 – At the Heads

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Punting, Sports

Sydney Colt’s Horses To Follow In 2011

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Happy New Year to the Sydney Colt’s groupies and Punt Drunks. I really hope you read my post for the meeting of 18 December and punted hard on my Xmas super special, Swift Alliance which was the only tip handed out that day as it looked a case of bookies giving money away. It paid $6.7 on the NSW TAB and better with corporate bookies.

Anyway, enough of the past. I have not posted for the past few meetings as 3 of the 4 people who are kind enough to pass on the good oil were taking a well deserved Xmas break. What I do have for you is 3 neddies who should be followed in January.

KARUTA QUEEN Being set for the Magic Millions at the Gold Coast. Beat Schifer at Wyong running lightning fast sectional times. Schifer then came out and led all the way at Randwick.

LIQUORICE LOVER Won over 900M at Newcastle on Boxing Day when it came from well back and trotted in after it looked like it may miss a place at the 300M mark, owing to it running about. The young jock had difficulty riding it and the win was super sensational. May still be a price next start.

SOMEDAY SOMEHOW Trained by Gai, so do I really need to say any more? This neddy is being set for a first up win. Don’t miss out!

Money lost, nothing lost. Confidence lost, everything lost.

News, Sports

Rose Bowl decides nothing

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For the record let it be known that the TCU Horned Frogs (from the Mountain West Conference and ranked #3 in the NCAAF rankings) defeated the Wisconsin Badgers (from the Big 10 Conference and ranked #4) 21-19 to take out the prestigious Rose Bowl.   Also for the record, TCU had a perfect season and finished with a 13-0 win loss record.

Only the vagaries of the NCAA/BCS (Bowl Championship Series) system could allow an undefeated team to not play for the #1 spot. Currently there are three undefeated teams in NCAAF play.  Auburn, Oregon and TCU.  Auburn and Oregon play off for number one spot on the 10 January 2011 in the ‘so called’ BCS Championship game.

My question to both the NCAA and the BCS is “How can the winner of that game possibly be crowned number one?”.  If nothing else, at least the game will eliminate one of those teams from contention as one will suffer defeat and that will leave only two teams with perfect records.  No amount of computer or human prediction will ever be able to tell us whether the TCU Horned Frogs could beat the other undefeated team.

Countless people, including President Obama have called for urgent change to the BCS system…and with good cause.  The BCS is the equivalent of an exclusive club – in this case six BCS conferences who are guaranteed automatic berths to the big money Bowl games.  These six BCS conferences are supposedly ‘stronger’ than the other conferences and therefore somehow have a greater entitlement. Let me say that in my years following NCAAF, that assessment can only possibly have been made on an historical basis.  Clearly, that is not the case today.

Let’s for a moment take a look at the BCS Conference Wisconsin hails from – the Big 10.  In Bowl games yesterday that Conference went 0-5 – a big duck egg!!  If we now take the time to also review the Mountain West Conference, they are 4-1 in Bowl games this year, the fourth consecutive year they  have sent five football teams to bowl games, posting the best win percentage among the eleven FBS conferences for the fourth time in seven years.  The MWC will also claim the 2010-11 Bowl Challenge Cup, becoming the only Conference to win the trophy four times since the award’s inception in 2002-03.

So you tell me…on those figures alone, are the Big 10 stronger than the MWC?  The answer is a resounding “No”!  Do the Big 10 deserve preferred treatment over the MWC?  The answer is also a resounding “No”!

As I see it there is only one solution to this impasse.  Change the system!  Bring in a playoff system between the top ten ranked teams.  This could be done within the current Bowl calendar.  It would also mean that many of those Bowl games would gain some relevance rather than be as they are now, a match between Colleges who managed to scrape together a .500 season.  Hardly riveting, prime time viewing! 

Fairness demands that parochial vested interests be set aside for a fairer system.  Will it happen?  Not unless the sporting public brings pressure to bear on the people controlling the system.  Aside from the vested interests of the BCS conferences maintaining the status quo and hanging on to the big money Bowl games, perhaps more worrying to those Conferences is the spectre of being required to regularly compete against MWC colleges in the big games!

I am certainly looking forward to discussing this topic with our US correspondent, Dan Butterly, when Sportzfan Radio resumes on 16 January 2011.  Our show won’t rest until the system is changed for the better!

Sports

Australian cricket needs a revamp and quickly!

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I often listen to Stan (@sportzfanstan) on Sportzfan Radio calling for underperforming sports administrators and coaches to be sacked. Recently, he has been critical of the Australian Test team’s performance in the Ashes series against England and I would say with good reason.

If I compare how the successful teams from other codes behave – Collingwood in the AFL and St George in the NRL, there are hallmarks that lead to that success. Discipline, elite training regimes centred around world class training facilities, an astute and experienced coach, forward planning for filling the gaps that regularly occur in the playing ranks over time, investment (money and time) in drafting replacements and succession planning.

These hallmarks are not apparent in the Australian cricket team. I am continually surprised at Australian players making comments in the media regarding team selection, injuries and batting order. At best this shows an amateurish approach by those in charge of Australian cricket. Can you imagine for one moment that Alan Didak would suggest that a fellow Collingwood team mate should be playing in place of another?…or that he should be playing on a half forward flank as opposed to the wing? It just would not happen. Please take note James Sutherland.

Australian cricket was once at the forefront of all cricketing nations in all forms of the game. Well out in front of the pack with the rest struggling to remain a respectable distance behind, let alone catch up. Instead of building and laying solid foundations for the future, leading Australian cricket administrators have taken their eye off the road ahead and it has been left to deteriorate to the shambles that it is today.

There is one thing for certain. In this crowded sporting marketplace, it takes little time to lose relevance with the sporting public….just ask the NBL. Professionalism of a high order needs to be injected into Australian cricket and quickly and this means more than changing captains, players, coaches or selectors. An attitude change is required and quickly to reverse the trend.

Punting

Gelding’s tips for 1 January 2011

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The Gelding is back bigger and better than ever after a lovely break for some fine Christmas pudding and is looking to start the new year off with plenty of winners.  What better place to do this than at headquarters tomorrow at Flemington.

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Flemington

Race 1 Horse 4 – Fashion Black (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 5 Horse 1 – Macedonian
Race 6 Horse 7 – Clear Mystic (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)

Good luck and good punting for this first race meeting for 2011!

The Gelding

Podcast

Sportzfan Radio #184.1

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@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!19 December 2010 184.1 – The show starts off with a festive intro and Daniel, Stan, the Gelding and the Professor talk about what they would like for Christmas. Daniel then discusses the blockbuster NBA trade sending Gilbert Arenas, Jason Richardson & Hedu Turkoglou to the Orlando Hornets for Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis and Mickael Pietrus. Stan is all over the poor form of the Melbourne Tigers and the Houston Rockets scouting Eric Devendorf and Luke Nevill. Daniel says the Tigers need a miracle to make the playoffs.

Nick Tedeschi comes on to talk rugby league and the retirement through the week of Eric Grothe Jnr from Parramatta Eels. Nick thinks Eric did not live up to his potential and was basically a waste of space, He believes the Eels may go after Greg Inglis as they have a very big war chest.   He sees Canterbury as being the big improvers next season.  The Wests Tigers can go one better and make the Grand Final and Melbourne Storm will bounce back.  Parramatta Eels and Cronulla will struggle in 2011.

The Gelding and the Sydney Colt talk winners and losers at Flemington and Randwick whilst Mark Fiorenti talks all things soccer with the A League and Premier League updates.