3 April 2011 196.2 – The Panel discuss the final of the World Cup cricket agreeing that the Indian middle order played very well when the game was on the line. They then look at the selection of Michael Clarke as Australian cricket captain. Paul Dalligan thinks it is a ‘safe’ selection. Sportzfan Stan says that not only should the captain have been changed but also the selectors and coach. He also queries the qualifications of the selectors to do the job. The Panel look at the Socceroos win against Germany during the week playing a lot better style of football. Holger Osieck gets the thumbs up for positive, attacking football. Sean Callanan comes on to discuss social media and Carlton FC letting Daves Hughes tweet during last night’s game against the Gold Coast Suns. Sean doesn’t think it was a success as there is a fine line between comedy and respect. He believes some would have cringed at the tweets. There’s also a discussion about the Yankees being caught out giving hand signals from the stands in a post on twitter. Paul Dalligan talks rugby league and is critical of Matt Orford’s mistake that eventually cost the Canberra Raiders the match. He is happy that the Rabbitohs have won another game. Mark Fiorenti comes on to talk soccer and is congratulated for finally tweeting. He discusses the Socceroos and Premier League and thinks Manchester United may be over the line for the Championship with more interest in who will be relegated. The Panel talks NBL finals with Gold Coast Blaze’s Mark Worthington. He thinks the Townsville Crocodiles will win the Championship.
Tag Archives: mark-fiorenti
Sportzfan Radio #195.2
27 March 2011 195.2 – The Panel wants to know when Mark Fiorenti is going to send his first tweet. Daniel says he is probably waiting until a team scores a goal in soccer. Mark talks about the good, the bad and the ugly of the A League. The Professor gives Mark $46million and asks him to do two things to fix soccer in Australia. We don’t quite know what Sportzfan Stan was getting at but he talks about taking the heads off the Manchester United players and putting them on A League 
players. The Gelding asks the Professor about former Green Bay Packer player Johnny Jolly who is in trouble with drugs again. The Panel then discuss Australia’s exit from the cricket one day World Cup. Paul Dalligan talks rugby league and NRL. He’s happy with the Rabbitohs form and says Greg Inglis responds to criticism with more force than the Chinese government. He says Mark Fiorenti’s first tweet will be something. There is a discussion on who will win the Australian Grand Prix – the verdict is Vettel. Sean Callanan comes on the show to talk sports social media and says Fiorenti should get off the fence and start tweeting. He also talks about good and bad hashtags in tweeting. Daniel suggests that the Professor should change his twitter name from Packers4.
Sportzfan Radio #195.1
27 March 2011 195.1 – The Panel comprising the Professor, the Gelding, Daniel Eade, Mark Fiorenti and Sportzfan Stan talk March Madness. Sportzfan Stan poses the question whether future AFL finals should comprise 8, 9 or 10 teams. Dan Butterly is back on the show talking US sport specifically College hoops and assesses the chances of the last eight in the NCAA tournament. Dan also talks Knicks basketball and how they and 
the Denver Nuggets have fared since the Carmelo Anthony trade. Major League Baseball is just around the corner and Dan talks about how good Alex Rodriguez has been 1998. The Gelding talks Caulfield and Morphetville racing and has extended his streak of picking placed horses to 10. Paul Gamble calls in to discuss the fortunes of Danish Rock.
Germany vs Australia – A cause for concern to a cause célèbre
“…..the blame no doubt lies with Pim Verbeek and the fearful, naive and nonsensical tactics he employed in that match. Further, Verbeek’s tactics against Germany disarmed the players of their unique and natural cultural qualities, that being their attacking, fighting spirit. Put simply, he did not believe in the players…..(we need) to recruit a new custodian who, unlike Verbeek, understands and is able to harness the cultural qualities of Australia’s players and moreover, believes in them” – The F Word’s musings in a previous blog.
They say time heals all wounds.
I agree.
But so too does self belief, a willingness to change and a desire to right the wrongs of the past.
When Australia took to the field against Germany at last year’s World Cup the team appeared bereft of ideas, spirit and passion. The 4-0 drubbing always meant the Socceroos would need to play catch up football in their remaining two games to secure qualification to the knockout stages of the World Cup. Despite restoring some pride against Ghana and Serbia, the mountain was insurmountable and early elimination confirmed.
In recent months, the team, and new coach Holger Osieck, have appeared determined to make a point that they were better than their first-round exit at the World Cup. First, an appearance at the final of the AFC Asian Cup in January and now an astonishing come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Germany in their own backyard.
The world’s number three ranked side looked on course to replicate its 4-0 win in Durban as they dominated the first half with their speed, passing and movement on and off the ball and duly went ahead after 26 minutes. But Osieck’s spirited half time team talk sparked the turnaround. He later told Fox Sports, “…I said (to the players) ‘you can do it’….I told them we are Australia, we are somebody and we don’t have to be afraid of them”. The Australian players’ actions mirrored those words as they came out of the dressing-room for the second half with a changed approach and a determination to get back into the contest. Playing the ball on the ground and moving it about with short, crisp passing the Socceroos stunned the hosts with two goals in the 61st and 65th minute, first through David Carney and then a Luke Wilkshire penalty, to claim a first ever win over the European side.
Much will be made of the fact the game was a meaningless friendly and that Germany coach, Joachim Low made a host of changes to the side that beat Kazakhstan 4-0 in its Euro 2012 qualifier last weekend. But given their stature, playing depth and superior head-to-head record, the Germans should have still comfortably beaten the Socceroos. This was still a side that had Lukas Podolski, Thomas Muller, Miroslav Klose and Bastian Schweinsteiger, all of whom started on that fateful day in Durban. Finally, no country, regardless of the importance of the fixture would want to lose a game at home.
The surprising thing was that the overall performance of the Socceroos was not perfect. In truth, the Germans completely controlled the opening period and had the better of the contest until the Socceroos equalised. Further, Mile Jedinak was yet again inefficient and unimaginative in the engine room and gave the ball away too easily, whilst Lucas Neill consistently overlooked the midfield by persistently hoofing the ball forward.
But the fact Australia managed to beat the three-time World champions without playing at its best is a clear indication of how far the team has come as a football nation. The confidence sapped by Pim Verbeek’s complete lack of faith in the players has bounced back under Osieck and the players are beginning to rate themselves again. With the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign fast approaching, I have no doubt the national team is heading in the right direction.
Mark ‘The F Word’ Fiorenti
The Sportzfan Radio crew
From left to right Paul Dalligan, Daniel Eade, Sean Callanan, the Professor, Mark Fiorenti, John O’Callaghan, the Gelding, Sportzfan Radio fan – can be heard every Sunday from midday on 88.3 Southern FM.
Sportzfan Radio #193.2
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
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
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
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.
SportzfanRadio #191.1
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.