Tag Archives: the-ashes

Friday musing – Melbourne Heart, the Ashes, Jarrod Lyle…….

November 15, 2013 sportzfan Leave a comment

I was watching the Melbourne Heart on SBS2 last Friday night and looking at the crowd, there was more noise coming from the West Sydney Wanderers crowd than the Heart supporters. It occurred to me that the Wanderers have established a profile because they are linked to an area of Sydney, whereas the Melbourne Heart supporters are probably made up of soccer fans who do not follow the Melbourne Victory. The Heart really needs a profile that people can relate to, otherwise I can see them disappearing before too much longer. This is compounded by their inability to win games. They really deserved a draw against the Wanderers, but didn’t have the class to capitalise on their opportunities. It doesn’t help that Harry Kewell can’t get on the park. Whoever owns the rights to the Heart should consider relocating to Geelong or establishing a base in an area of Melbourne which has a strong soccer culture.

I was also interested to see that George Bailey and Mitchell Johnson have been named for the 1st Test starting next week in Brisbane. I think naming George Bailey has some risk based on his performances in India where batting records were established with big run chases, so clearly the pitches were batting friendly strips. His 1st class average is below 40, but then again so is that of Alex Doolan who was the other batsman in contention. My guess is that the selectors opted for Bailey because he can assume the captaincy should Michael Clarke’s back let him down again. I think if Cameron White can turn a few of his 50s into 100s then he could come back into contention as well.

Turning to Mitchell Johnson, we all know that at his best he is a redoubtable cricketer and a fine
fast-bowler, but at his worst he is a liability. He has probably got another chance because of the injuries to the young incumbents and while I remain sceptical, I certainly hope he strikes form and punches a few holes in the England batting order.

Great to see Jarrod Lyle make a good comeback yesterday and let us hope he makes the cut for the Australian Masters.

Have a good weekend all!

Podcast

Sportzfan Radio #185.1

January 18, 2011 @packers4 Leave a comment

16 January 2011 185.1 – The Professor, Daniel, the Gambler and Sportzfan Stan are back for 2011, bigger and better than ever. There is some discussion to start the show about Sportzfan Radio’s Christmas party and the Gelding now being a greyhound expert as well. They also discuss the first radio broadcast of an ABL game in Victoria from the previous evening by Southern FM. The Panel then discuss Stan’s call for the sacking of the AFL’s Andrew Demetriou over the decision of choosing Virgin Blue over Qantas as the airline transporting the teams. Dan Butterly talks US sport including the NFL playoffs and selects New England to beat the New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons over the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears over the Seattle Seahawks. Dan also talks about some of the coaching changes at NFL teams who haven’t made the playoffs. He wraps up the College football season and says it will be interesting to see what the NCAA do about the Cam Newton situation and possible rule infractions as it could be that Auburn may not hold the national championship they won. He is still all for a BCS playoff series whether it be an 8 or 12 team series and would like to see that in place sooner rather than later. The Gelding talks racing from Flemington and discusses the winners and losers in racing from the weekend’s meetings. The Panel then look at the Australian cricket team, the chairman of selectors, the CEO and the coach. Stan calls for an inquiry to be headed by Ric Charlesworth. Daniel says it’s good that Stan is finally giving someone a job given that he has sacked so many over the last few months. Stan says Tim Nielsen’s record as a coach on a win/loss basis is terrible and he should be sacked.

Sports

Australian cricket needs a revamp and quickly!

December 31, 2010 @packers4 Leave a comment

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.

Podcast

Sportzfan Radio #183.1

December 12, 2010 @packers4 Leave a comment

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.

Podcast

Sportzfan Radio #182.2

December 5, 2010 @packers4 Leave a comment

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.

Podcast

Sportzfan Radio #182.1

December 5, 2010 @packers4 Leave a comment

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.

Podcast

Sportzfan Radio #181.2

December 1, 2010 @packers4 Leave a comment

28 November 2010 181.2 – Daniel wants the Tigers to get rid of their white alternate strip. Stan adds that the Tigers are hopeless at 1-7. Mark Fiorenti talks up Australia’s chances for the 2022 World Cup and thinks the bid looks a lot better than it did three or four months ago. He also thinks the USA are favourites. Daniel believes if Julia Gillard writes a letter of support that will sink the bid. The Professor thinks Bob Hawke should have been asked to write a letter. Mark also wraps up A League and Premier League matches of interest. He thinks it is Chelsea’s title to lose. Dr Leslie’s CSA returns to the show after a few weeks off. Daniel is not happy that the Professor signed off with “We all hope we get the 2022 World Cup”…this then promotes a discussion as to who actually wants the World Cup. Stan and Daniel don’t want it. The Gelding hopes we do get it. Suitably chastened, the Professor re-announces “The Gelding and I both hope we get it, Daniel and Stan definitely don’t”. The Panel then discuss emails about the Australian Test selections. The Gelding thinks the role of wicketkeeper has changed over the years as we now pick a wicketkeeper that is an allrounder. Stan believes it is no good trying to make a batsman into a wicketkeeper. Paul Dalligan is back to talk rugby league….didn’t the season finish eight weeks ago? He talks about Russell Crowe leaking details of Greg Inglis’ contract on a US talk show. The NRL are now looking more closely at the deal. The Professor asks why this deal is different to the Mark Gasnier deal. Daniel thinks it would be good for Crow to team up with Inglis at the Rabbitohs. Paul then goes on to talk baseball and the ABL. Unfortunately, the Melbourne Aces first three home games have been rained out. We give a shout out to a new listener…Lisa Haye’s husband. The Panel talk about Mark “Choco” Williams appointment as Kevin Sheedy’s assistant at Greater Western Sydney. This leads into a discussion of whether Sheedy will actually coach the team in 2012. Stan decides to swing the axe and believes Mick Malthouse and Kevin Sheedy have reached their use by date and should retire as the old guys are keeping the younger coaches out of jobs. Sean Callanan comes on to talk social media and discusses the Dallas Cowboys forgetting to renew their domain name so they were left without a website and thinks the IT man at the Cowboys may be out of a job. The Denver Broncos have been fined $100,000 for filming the 49ers at practice. Sean talks about Vince Young apologising to his coach Jeff Fisher by text and says it is probably not the most effective means of doing that. A listener queries why Young didn’t call Fisher as he had the phone in his hand sending the text.

Podcast

Sportzfan Radio #181.1

November 28, 2010 @packers4 Leave a comment

28 November 2010 181.1 – Daniel is suffering with a toothache and gets plenty of sympathy, especially from Stan who says if you don’t clean your teeth you pay the penalty. The Gelding is late but hopefully he has a note from home. Stan has his weekly question to Daniel on the Melbourne Tigers. Daniel says he doesn’t think Tigers coach Al Westover should be sacked because he likes him. The Gelding talks about the First Ashes Test and the form of Michael Hussey. Daniel wants to know why Brad Hodge isn’t in the team and Stan observes that it is probably due to Victorian batsmen having fallen foul of the selectors in the past. Dan Butterly delivers his US report and starts with a discussion of Vince Young hurling his pads into the stands and then texting an apology to the coach, Jeff Fisher. He thinks that it was easier to get rid of Brad Childress than Brett Favre in Minnesota. He doesn’t think Favre will quit until the end of the season. In the NBA he feels that the Miami Heat don’t have a leader on the team as Wade, LeBron and Chris Bosh are all playing ‘nice’ to each other. Daniel talks to Dan about LeBron’s return to Cleveland and says it should be an exciting game. He would go if he had a ticket. Daniel would like to see LeBron not voted into the starting five in the NBA All Star game and wants the Professor (and Sportzfan listeners) to vote for Amare Stoudemire to try and achieve this. Dan thinks LeBron will do the ‘powder clap’ in Cleveland. He has nothing new to report on Carmelo Anthony and says he will be staying with the Nuggets at this stage. In College football he is amazed that Boise State missed a field goal against Nevada that would have won the game. They went on to lose it and therefore won’t play for the national championship. Dan also talks on the BCS comments from Ohio State President Gordon Gee – he disagrees with him naturally. In MLB, the Yankees playing hardball with Derek Jeter but Dan believes he’ll eventually resign for what the Yankees have offered. Daniel explains the ‘powder clap’ for the listeners. The Gelding talks about the winners and losers from Sandown and Randwick and says the rain played havoc with the fields due to so many scratchings. The Panel discusses the heavy penalty handed out to rider Danny Nikolic over his behaviour to stewards after he was found wearing a modified racing vest.

Podcast

Sportzfan Radio #179.1

November 14, 2010 @packers4 Leave a comment

14 November 2010 179.1 – The Professor starts by asking Daniel whether there should be a “mercy rule’ in basketball like there is in baseball, which then starts a discussion on the Melbourne Aces and whether their double header games are only 7 innings in length. The Gambler gives an update on Danish Rock who has been put out in the paddock for a six week spell. Stan has more basketball questions for Daniel about the Melbourne Tigers including whether an import (or two) will be sacked. Daniel says if the Tigers are 0-6 after the next two games they will both be sacked. Daniel doesn’t think Al Westover will be sacked though. The Gambler complains about the traffic created by the Australian Masters golf. Mordiboy sends a text predicting Tiger Woods not being able to win the tournament and thinks Daniel Gaunt will win by a shot. The Gelding discusses yesterday’s racing at Sandown and Rosehill. He says with the track being a ‘heavy 9’, runners needed some wet weather form to be in with a show. He says that like Danish Rock, Queen Asa is also going out for a spell.

Podcast

Sportzfan Radio #178.2

November 8, 2010 @packers4 Leave a comment

7 November 2010 178.2 – The Panel welcome the return of John O’Callaghan and reveals he is a Green Bay Packer fan. The Panel talk about athletes who keep on getting into the news for all the wrong reasons – Favre, Fevola, Warne, Newman. Nicole thinks it is “younger man approaching middle age trying to hold on to youth”. John discusses the AFL Grand Final and thinks it now should be an extra time game and not a replay. The Panel again take Mark Fiorenti to task again about the FFA bidding for the 2022 World Cup and the money that looks like it is wasted on a probable failed bid. Nicole thinks Ricky Ponting needs to get some emotion back into his captaincy of the Australian cricket side as he is too full of management speak. The Panel aren’t excited about the coming Ashes series. The Panel ask Paul Dalligan what Joel Monaghan’s scene is… Paul is enraged about the response and believes people shouldn’t be blaming social media. Paul breaks that Greg Inglis may be going to the Rabbitohs instead of the Broncos. Sean Callanan comes on to talk social media who thinks it was apt that his lead in was the theme from Minder as some pro athletes need minders. He says social media is ubiquitous.