15 April 2012 242.2 – Featuring the Professor, Daniel Eade, Sportzfan Stan, Mark Fiorenti & Paul Dalligan talking basketball, NBL, NBA, soccer, A League, Premier League, The Championship, Nathan Tinkler, Newcastle Jets, rugby league, NRL, baseball and MLB.
Tag Archives: baseball
Sportzfan Radio show #235.2
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.
Sportzfan Radio show #233.2
22 January 2012 233.2 – Daniel believes that signing Patty Mills was detrimental and had they not, the Tigers would have had more wins for the season and retained Darryl Corletto. James Upfill, a local baseball player for the Cheltenham Rustlers, joins the Panel to talk baseball and believes the future of the ABL mainly rests with the media coverage of baseball in Australia. Sportzfan Stan feels baseball in Australia is doomed because of the lack of grounds, players and supporters (a position he has maintiend since Day 1 of the ABL). Mark Fiorenti comes on to talk soccer and says his soccer predictions remain unfulfilled with the Melbourne Heart losing to Perth 2-1. Questions were raised about Besart Berisha being allowed to play after receiving a one game suspension against SydneyFC for challenging a player to a post game fight during last week’s game. Berisha scored the equaliser against Heart. Mark and the Professor have differing opinions regarding the Heart’s ability to survive with low attendance at games this year. The Panel look at the week’s Australian Open results and believe they were disappointing as only two men and no women remain in the tournament. With no Panel member predicting accurately the outcome of the past week, Daniel’s knowledge of the remaining players was tested while Stan decided to barrack for the home stars. The Professor predicts Tomic to win the men’s singles with Kim Clijsters ultimately beating Serena Williams for the women’s title. Paul Dalligan begins by endorsing the local baseball as the best sporting entertainment for the dollar before taking a whack at the Luxbet practices regarding a forfeited tennis match. He was pleased that the NRL’s Independent Commission is likely to start on the 10th of February.
Sportzfan Radio show #230.2
11 December 2011 230.2 – Mark continues talking soccer and Melbourne Heart’s recent good form. He doesn’t think Brisbane Roar are in crisis after two losses in a row but they may have peaked too early. In the Premier League he has had to re-evaluate Arsenal’s form and thinks he’ll have to eat humble pie about his early season prediction. He doesn’t think they’ll beat Manchester City this week though. Mark was up early to watch the Real Madrid/Barcelona match and says it sets the stage for an interesting finish to the La Liga season. Dr Leslie’s CSA on before the Gelding this week. The Gelding talks horse racing and before he looks at how his selections and the Sydney Colt’s fared, Sportzfan Stan wants to discuss the arsenic doping case with him. Sportzfan Stan is pleased when the Professor advises the Ladies from the Tennis Club have also invited him to their Christmas function. The Gelding tells the Panel that Danish Rock is in pre-training for a February 2012 campaign. Daniel talks MLB and the Milwaukee Brewers’ Ryan Braun testing positive for a performance enhancing drug and facing a 50 game suspension. Paul Dalligan has a brief look at tennis and says Aussie youth tennis stocks seem to be improving. The Professor and Paul discuss what is happening in rugby league and Manly have their first five games away from home. They also talk about Will Hopoate leaving on a two year mission for the Mormons and Paul Gallen winning back to back Harry Sunderland medals. Daniel finishes with a look at the NBL and the Age publishing the Melbourne Tigers beat the Cairns Taipans but in fact, the Taipans won. He thinks the Tigers may struggle to make the playoffs now with five teams fighting for two spots.
Sportzfan Radio show #230.1
11 December 2011 230.1 – The Panel comprising the Professor, Daniel Eade, Paul Dalligan, the Gambler and Sportzfan Stan lead off the show talking US sport with Dan Butterly including the NBA nixing the Chris Paul deal. He also looks at Major League Baseball talking about the recent free agent moves with the Miami Marlins leading the pack. Paul Dalligan talks NFL with Dan and Paul says he likes the New Orleans Saints. Dan says any team can win on any given day. Tim Tebow, Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders also discussed. Dan revisits the College Football championship game and says every game can’t count in the regular season if Alabama is playing in that game. He likes Robert Griffin III from Baylor for the Heisman trophy. The Panel look at Barry Hall’s announcement that he intends to enter the boxing world and the Professor says he is already 4-0 following his AFL career. There is a discussion about the second test and another poor batting display by Australia. Sportzfan Stan says there are some players in the baggy green who are not good enough and they should be sacked. Mark Fiorenti comes on to talk soccer and he starts with a review of the Melbourne Victory/LA Galaxy game featuring David Beckham. He also looks at how the Victory are travelling at the moment and says they are not getting enough from Harry Kewell.
Sportzfan Radio show #223.1
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
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.
The Professor in the USA #2
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday (and for that matter every day since I have been in Denver),
was sunny and warm leaving my Melbourne friends full of envy with their temperatures in single digits. Contrast that with overnight and this morning…..rain, hail, snow and everything that Colorado is known for. If the temperature gets past 5C today we’ll all be very happy!
The ball game between the New York Mets and Colorado Rockies that Dan Butterly and I are slated to attend today is in jeopardy at this stage. Hoping for the weather to clear but it would appear to be a forlorn hope at this stage. Fingers crossed.
Yesterday, I caught up with Dan and another friend, Russ Laney for lunch. A great time with plenty of stories being exchanged especially about the first time Russ and I met at the US Air Force Academy when I was a member of the visiting Western Bulldogs study tour led by the incomparable Murray Herron. Needless to say that led to stories of Murray and the visit to the Indianapolis Colts (& Peyton Manning’s car), Murray and the visit to Colorado State, Murray and the visit to the Colorado Rockies, Murray and the first class seats on Air Canada, Murray and the Quality Hotel…..the list goes on with each one a gem. I really should complete that TV sports/comedy series script!
Purchase of the day – the Miller Lite baseball cap with the bottle opener under the brim for just $3.00 at Wal-Mart.
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 #188.2
6 February 2011 188.2 – The Professor looks at the coaching records of Al Westover and Lindsay Gaze and says if the current Melbourne Tigers management had been in when Gaze was coaching, he may not have lasted as long. Daniel also discusses the sacking of Eric Devendorf. The Professor feels that the Tigers went for the cheaper alternative with their imports and found that cheaper doesn’t get the job done. Luke Nevill has also gone to Russia and the Panel decide whether he quit or was ‘released’. Daniel believes everything the Tigers have done has been bad. The Panel then talk about Darryl McDonald taking over the team for the last ten rounds and whether that will hurt him or not. Dr Leslie’s CSA is back after a two week spell. Daniel asks why people listen to Sportzfan Radio – he says they do so to listen to sports except Lisa Hayes who 
uses it so she can get some work done! Daniel has also picked the Tennessee Titans not to win the Super Bowl next season. The Panel look at St Kilda’s players and the problems from the New Zealand trip being created for the club. The Gelding says that most AFL footballers are excellent role models but when something goes wrong, the papers jump all over it. Paul Dalligan comes on to discuss NRL and ABL with the Panel. The Melbourne Storm sending a message ‘Playing for Everything’ with Crown Casino taking a punt and sponsoring the club. Paul makes the observation there’s not much point having a Ferrari in the garage if you don’t have a driver’s licence. He also talks ABL with the preliminary final evenly poised between the Bite and Blue Sox, the winner to play the Heat in Perth. It will be on Fox Sports live. The Panel then discuss cricket and the cloud that hangs over the game with three Pakistani players being
suspended for 5 years for spot bet fixing. They have also been charged by English police. Daniel says the team should be suspended as well. Daniel also talks about his story on basketball being used by the Herald Sun. Sean Callanan joins the boys to talk social media, Super Bowl & Packers. He says one of the big attractions are the TV ads during the game and that you’ll be able to check in to Four Square at the Super Bowl even though you may not be at the game. Sean offered the ‘shimmy’ to Green Bay but they didn’t take up the offer. He finally talks about the Mississippi State coach who has banned Twitter.