6 November 2011 225.2 – Mark Fiorenti discusses his pre-season predictions against how the placings are on the current A-League ladder. He says he’ll do a mid season review to compare placings at that time with his earlier predictions. Mark reviews the Melbourne Victory draw with Brisbane Roar and says it is the best live game he has seen this season. He also looks at the Premier League results and says Arsenal has turned its season around in the last few weeks. The Panel then talk about boxing and in particular the world bantam weight title fight being screened on free to air television on 7 mate between Darchinyan and Moreno. Sportzfan Stan says it is a brutal sport and nothing is gained by watching two men try to knock each others brains out. They then discuss Ricky Nixon’s attempted venture back into player management. Paul Dalligan comes on to talk rugby league and the four nations tournament. He is also worried that Russell Crowe may not continue his support of the Rabbitohs. Daniel Eade talks basketball with the Panel and the Melbourne Tigers getting back on the winners list in the NBL. He also talks about ONE HD showing matches at 1.30am in the morning and says it must be programming for security guards. Daniel then looks at the NBA negotiations and says it is quite possible the entire season could be lost. The Professor and the Gelding talk about their love of the Great Western Hotel as a place to have a production meeting. The Panel finally look at the International Series and believe that to survive the games need to be more than just an after thought and they wonder why the best players aren’t playing.
Tag Archives: melbourne-tigers
Would 11 Championships save a coach from the axe?
We all joke on Sportzfan Radio about resident panelist Sportzfan Stan being quick to suggest sports
coaches, administrators, teams & players being sacked. Most recently he called for the sacking of Melbourne Football Club coach Dean Bailey (podcast #200.1). This despite the Demons being in the top eight and with the best start to a season for many seasons. By the way the Demons have since beaten Adelaide by more than 90 points!
My feeling is that we are too quick to pull the trigger in today’s sporting world. Even having excellent records in the recent past is not enough to save a coach or player. One only needs to look at the way the Melbourne Tigers behaved after their season didn’t 
turn out the way they thought it should. Two NBL Championships and four trips to the playoffs in as many seasons couldn’t save long time servant and coach of the club, Al Westover. On our show, Daniel Eade urged restraint and argued a case for Westover’s retention. History tells us that Al was sacked mid season. If one compares Westover’s coaching record to that of Lindsay Gaze, Westover had more success in a much shorter time but even that comparison couldn’t save him.
It seems that today’s ‘must have now’ phenomenon pervades all areas of sport. Being in the USA now and with the NBA finals series in full flight, I am amazed at the reaction of the media to the LA Lakers whitewash at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks. Let’s remember that the Lakers were the two time defending champion and have been one of the most successful franchises of all time with 11 championships (5 since 2000 and runners-up twice). Yet today, we are greeted with the media saying the Lakers are a ‘train wreck’…’the locker room needs massive repair’…’fractured franchise’. There have been calls to trade anyone but Kobe…meaning one of last season’s best players, Pau Gasol is on the block because the Lakers failed to win for a third time in a row. Reality check – the NBA is one of the most competitive competitions in all of sport and the Lakers have been to the big dance in each of the last three seasons. Is there really a need for ‘massive’ change?
Memo to the sports media of the world….have some patience. I find support for this proposition in the
example provided by my fellow Sportzfan Radio panelist, Mark Fiorenti when he spoke recently of Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United fame. Early on in his tenure and with not much success, the media and fans were calling for his sacking (a la Sportzfan Stan). The club, to their credit, and eternal satisfaction, stayed the executioner’s hand and one only needs to look at the stellar record since, that has put United at the forefront of soccer in not only Europe, but the world. They are in line this season for the Premier League/Champions League double.
One lucky person is the former coach of the Lakers, Phil Jackson. His retirement after the Lakers last loss at least means we won’t have calls for him to be sacked by all and sundry including Sportzfan Stan. Goodness knows his 11 NBA championships may not have saved him in this ‘need it now’ world.
Restraint is what I will be preaching on Sportzfan Radio from now on!
Sportzfan Radio #200.2
1 May 2011 200.2 – Daniel talks NBL finals and says it has been one of the worst Grand Final series he has seen between New Zealand Breakers and Cairns Taipans. He says game 2 had absolutely nothing and Cairns only scored 52 in game 3. He also talks about the recent coaching appointment by Melbourne Tigers, Trevor Gleeson. Mark Fiorenti comes on to discuss soccer with Champions League and predicts a ‘mouth watering’ Manchester United Barcelona final. He also looks at Premier League and confirms he still feels the three W’s will be relegated. There is also a brief look at the Championship with Sportzfan Radio’s own Hull City finishing middle of the table. Paul Dalligan talks NRL and reviews the weekend’s matches and the coming Australia v New Zealand test match. He is disappointed that coaches are not given time to build a squad and feels there is no loyalty in sport. Paul Gamble wants to get Sportzfan Stan in to sack Bowls Australia. The Panel also talk with Sean Callanan about Telstra retaining the rights to the digital side of the AFL with games being able to be watched from mobile phones. Daniel gives his sports highlights over the last four years.
Sportzfan Radio #199.1
24 April 2011 199.1 – Sportzfan Stan leads off the show with suggesting the Port Adelaide FC coach, Matthew Primus should be sacked after yesterday’s loss to the Gold Coast Suns. Daniel says the club should look outside for a replacement. This leads to a discussion on whether the Melbourne Tigers should also look outside the club and not go with Darryl McDonald as coach. Stan suggests they should appoint Andrew Gaze. The Panel talk to former NBL player John Rillie who is now with Boise State’s basketball program. He discusses College basketball, NBA and the NBL playoffs. The Gelding comes on the show to talk racing and the weird behaviour of jockey Shane Scriven during the week when he ‘borrowed’ the whip of another jockey during the race. He has been suspended for 5 months over the incident. The Gelding also reviews both his and the Sydney Colts selections. His two tips for the Ladies at the Tennis Club got up. The Panel then discuss the Anzac Day game and whether it should be limited to just Collingwood v Essendon or should other teams also get a chance to play on the day. Mark Fiorenti has finally tweeted again…about the Copa Del Rey between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Sportzfan Radio #197.2
10 April 2011 197.2 – Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney is in the press again for all the wrong reasons. Daniel is on Rooney’s side in that he is under so much pressure whereas the Gelding says he is the tosser of Premier League football. Daniel also says Mark’s tweets are as far apart as goals in soccer. Sportzfan Stan talks about the AFL’s plans to increase the number of teams and the necessity for good transport to be provided to the new team’s grounds. He recalls AFL Park where there were promises to build a rail link and that did not eventuate leading to the ground’s demise. Paul Dalligan talks rugby league and NRL and says the Storm were fantastic on Monday night who scored before Paul and the Professor had sat down. Paul says he would walk naked to Redfern if Wayne Bennett takes the Rabbitohs coaching job. He also talks about the hospitality at the Great Western Hotel. The Panel talk basketball and Daniel says common sense dictates D-Mac should coach the Melbourne Tigers next season. The Professor suggests Brian Goorjian should be approached. Sean Callanan talks sports social media and suggests we should alter the way we look at the AFL ladder. Percentage should be scrapped and be replaced with a head to head record between teams tied on points.
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.
Sportzfan Radio #184.1
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.
Sportzfan Radio #183.1
12 December 2010 183.1 – Sean makes a rare appearance in studio and Daniel starts with an apology as it took him five days to read Mark Fiorenti’s blog so he knows nothing about what happened in the sports world for the week. He also adds his favourite Qatar player after some research is Eric Clapton and Sean adds that FIFA’s new game Qatar hero. Stan gets into Daniel again about basketball asking him how he thinks the Melbourne Tigers will go against Perth. Sean thinks as it is Al Westover’s 200th game it may get the Tigers across the line. Their is also a discussion about the the test cricket side and Stan is for sacking all the player sand the selectors. Dan Butterly talks US sport and commences with his view on the Heisman trophy and who will win it. He thinks Cam Newton from Auburn will win it, even with all the cloud of suspicion over him regarding the behaviour of his father. Dan also talks about the Bowl matches coming up with 35 being played over three weeks. He likes Oregon to beat Auburn in the Championship game and TCU 
to beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. There are moves afoot within the Conferences and Hawaii has now decided to leave the WAC and join the MWC in 2012. The Professor asks whether the MWC will play a game in Australia given Hawaii is halfway here. Dan agrees that it would raise the MWC profile. Sean says AAMI stadium would be perfect to host such a game. Dan feels Brett Favre’s streak will end at 297 as he will not recover in time to play in tomorrow’s game.
The Professor thinks there may have been a first last week when the Gelding was not on the show at all. The Gelding talks cricket first discussing the problems with Victorians trying to get into the Test
side. He then moves on to racing and reviews his selections for the Flemington meeting. Although he got off to a great start tipping Aloha to win, it was all downhill from there with his other three selections failing to even be placed. The Gelding’s favourite Qatar player is Jimmy Page from Led Zepplin.
The Panel discusses Gary Ablett’s revelations during the week where he hadn’t spoken to his coach, Bomber Thompson since March this year. Sean talks about a rumor that James Hird and Thompson had been talking about getting together for 2012 but because Essendon’s coterie groups wanted Matthew Knights out, everything got moved forward 
twelve months. Daniel starts talking about Bob Costas (NBC sportscaster) but he really means the Geelong president, Frank Costa. Stan is swinging the axe again and Sean observes he is going to put Centrelink out of business as everyone is getting the knife.
Mark Fiorenti talks up the local Melbourne derby between the Heart and the Victory with over 23,000 at AAMi stadium. Sean went to his first game during the week to see Heart play but they went down in front of around 2,000 people. Mark says it was the lowest ever at an A League game in Melbourne. He says the FFA must address this as mid week games don’t work.
Sportzfan Radio #182.2
5 December 2010 182.2 – Daniel and the Professor talk ABL and in particular the ‘rivalry’ round and ask how you can have a rivalry after three weeks of a new league. The Panel talk about whether the ABL will be a success. Stan is not so sure as there have been six or so attempts at starting a league over the years. The Professor believes with the MLB putting money and young talent in, it has its best chance. Some of the up and coming players include Quincey Latimore.
The Panel also discuss emails including the Gabba’s entry restrictions for bags. Daniel wants to know how Wayne Bennett won the coach of the year award over Mick Malthouse. Paul Dalligan weighs in with his opinion and believes Wayne Bennett is not only head and shoulders above all other coaches in the NRL, but he also gives his team an ‘x’ factor, so much so that he would love Wayne to coach the Rabbitohs. Paul believes that Benji Marshall deserved his Golden Boot award and whilst the Professor queries whether the NRL are serious about arranging a World Club challenge in Las Vegas Paul thinks it is a good idea. Although Paul yet to get to a Melbourne Aces game due to wash outs, he thinks it is a bit early for a rivalry round in ABL.
Dr Leslie follows Paul’s segment this week and leads into a discussion of the NBA by the Professor and Daniel. The Professor is amazed that the Knicks are 11-9 and struggles to remember the last time they started a season so well. Axel is a huge fan of David Robinson…the General….no make that the Admiral. Daniel believes the Knicks may make the playoffs but it depends on whether they go after Carmelo Anthony. Daniel finds a way of bringing his team the Clippers into the discussion even though they are on the bottom of their division.
Sean Callanan looks at how social media was used in the World Cup bid and whether Australia used it effectively. He believes it worked engaging fans but not in getting votes. Sean reveals he did the ‘shimmy’ at the U2 concert and was rcognised as ‘the shimmy guy’. The twitter handle ‘the Ashes’, is
owned by a US woman who doesn’t know anything about cricket and she is getting cross about people tweeting her about cricket. Sean will pluck the best three or four tweets he sees over the coming weeks to talk about on Sportzfan Radio. He is considering bringing out a ‘how to’ shimmy dvd for Christmas.
Sportzfan Radio #182.1
5 December 2010 182.1 – ‘Hostilities’ start early with Daniel noting that Stan is growing a beard and is dressing like a metrosexual. Guest panelist Axel Dench is welcomed by the Panel and the Professor comments that he thought the Melbourne Tigers, given their recruiting of seven footers, may have called on Axel to fill out the roster. Daniel is on NBL “import” watch and indicates he thinks Eric Devendorf will survive but Craig Winder from the 36ers was wound up. He also confirms LeBron James did the ‘powder clap’ and that the game between the Cavaliers and the Heat was like an NBA finals game.
Mark Fiorenti comes on to talk about the failed Australian bid for the 2022 World Cup. He is shocked that Qatar won and that the Aussies only received one vote in the first round and therefore was eliminated. Mark believes we may have been too honest and not cunning enought to get the required votes. Axel wants to know how Australia could have been so blind sided by how countries would vote. Mark believes we could have been naive and other countries thought getting Australia out early inproved their chamces in latter rounds. The Professor asks just what we could have gotten for our $45 million spent on the failed bid. Australia’s bid video gets unanimously panned by the Panel and Mark says it looked more like a tourism advertisement whilst Daniel says the sports stars we used may be big here but not to the rest of the world. Mark thinks our next bid won’t be until the 2040 World Cup.
The Panel look at a tweet from Lisa Hayes regarding Tom Brady becoming a spokesperson for UGG clothing. We find out that Daniel is a New England Patriots fan. The Professor has Daniel speechless twice in a few minutes saying Tom is the elder brother the Brady Bunch never spoke about. Daniel says the only thing he likes better than basketball is Star Wars and Axel says he gave out more Star Wars autographs than for basketball.
A tweet from Craig Eyles is also discussed regarding the Australian cricket team and the Ashes. Stan says there aren’t enough players playing cricket and not enough care about whether we win the Ashes or not. He says we should sack the selectors and Daniel actually agrees. Axel believes the Aussie fans are front runners and tend to fall off when Australia is not doing well.