diffusions

We’re on holidays for the week. Its been cold, but very, very relaxing.

Pictures from Sunday

Pictures from Monday

We went to Byron Bay on Monday to Hang Glide. ‘Twas very good.

Matt Mckay (Captain) and Ange Postecoglou (Coach) with the 2011 A League Premiership Plate

Last night was a historic night. My team, Brisbane Roar, played their last game of the 2010/11 season’s regular fixtures. They completely dominated the season and with a 25 game unbeaten streak, a new domestic record, they earned praise from Mark Bosnich: “The Roar are the best team I have seen in the A-League since my return”.

The finale was a local derby against the league’s so-called glamour team, Gold Coast United. While a strong team that can never be written off, and one that the Roar had never beaten before, GCU was dispatched emphatically with a 4-0 margin. Each of the goals was superb and suggests that Roar really have stepped up a gear just in time for the finals.

The boys and girls in the supporter’s bay have become known for their antics and often attempt to make a point through the use of banners. The last game against GCU saw them unfurl a banner that read “The Beach – Qld’s Shame“. The Beach is the nickname of the Gold Coast United Supporters Club. Strange that they can even have a group of supporters as they have 3 of the 5 lowest attendence levels in A League history. [As an aside: the  smallest ever crowd was the relocated North Queensland Fury vs Brisbane Roar match played last tuesday night at Skilled. Yes there is a pattern - Skilled is a terrible stadium]. The other week, the banner read “Australia, Queensland thanks you” – a missive about the outstanding community support from all over the country during the significant flooding in SEQ.

Last night’s antics included no less than two flares and a “Courier Fail” banner, which brings me to my point. With the biggest home attendance for the season, a local derby, a massive winning margin in the game (4 goals), a goal difference over the season of 14 goals greater than the next closest, a nine point margin over second place and only 1 loss from 30 games [official statistics] in the entire season what do you think the local paper, The Curious Snail The Courier Fail The Courier Mail have on the front page?

The Courier Mail - Sunday Feb 13, 2011

Yep. A man fighting a crocodile beats a historic win for a local sporting team.

I understand that Football, even A League, gets better coverage than many other sports. W League, the top tier of Australian Woman’s football, has even poorer coverage. I can’t even remember hearing about a Softball or Baseball game – at which we are supposedly quite good. However, my point is that 20,831 people turned up to a match at Suncorp Stadium last night, countless more watched it on Foxtel – where we won the second highest honour in domestic football and the local paper has a MAN FIGHTING A CROCODILE as the lead story!

Awesome. Is The Courier Mail anti-sport? No, the Brisbane Broncos feature in some form in just about every issue, on or off season. In today’s online edition, there are five stories about Rugby League or its current or previous players. There is one about Rugby Union, which is out of season and also not getting much love. Football does get two stories, but only because Rooney scored a sensational goal in the EPL.

There are also stories floating around that Murdoc Murdoch’s New’s Limited owns the Broncos. Well, they certainly have a close relationship which goes back beyond the Super League Wars. Being sceptical, I decided to investigate. Fortunately, the Bronco’s are a publicly listed sporting club and as such are required to publish their annual reports. Lo and be hold: New’s Limited’s Nationwide News Pty Ltd owned 69% of the Broncos in 2009 (page 60).

So, there you have it. Vested interests trying to control professional sport as a revenue channel. And the FFA supports this by selling the TV rights to Foxtel. Hmm. There is a consolation, though – they can keep Frank Farina.

PS: we had one of the best ever goal celebrations this seasons too. May I present to you The Kayak.

After feeling like crap for the last few weeks, I was finally feeling well enough to go the zoo. I know what you are thinking, I’m just trying to compete with Jody for attention, but please trust that I was really sick. Happens every time I come to Sydney.

Well, I braved the great unwashed masses and managed to take some pictures before my camera started telling me that my SD card needed formatting. Lucky for you, this reduced the number of photos I was able to take. Luckily for Jody, it meant less time waiting for me to get the picture I wanted. I never realised how much time I spent dicking around when taking photos. Incidentially, if you ever have a memory card issue, and you fear that you have lost your pictures – don’t worry and try the free and excellent Photorec software.

I managed to get some nice pictures of the baby elephants, chimpanzee and gorillas.

We are staying just a few minutes walk from Coogee. It is a pretty beachside suburb with a strong sense of community. It is also quite old and is blessed with some outstanding buildings from a variety of different architectural styles. I aim to get some more photos in the days ahead.

While it is a photogenic village, it has had it’s fair share of crazy. Building an English-style entertainment pier that only lasts 6 years before it is ruined by rough surf might sound mad, but that’s nothing. In 1935, a severed arm was regurgitated by a tiger shark kept by the local aquarium. The arm belonged to one James Smith. The rest of him was never found.

Some people might also remember what the media called Our Lady of the Holy Post. Apparently, a local noticed that a fence post on Dolphin Point looked like The Blessed Virgin. It was damaged by vandals days later, but it is still revered as a shrine even though Council has replaced the fence post. I’m pretty sure that if it happened today, that post would be on eBay in about 4 hours.

The weather changed for the better on the weekend. We decided to make the most of it and take a stroll from Coogee to Bondi. Its a nice walk, no where near as hard as everyone told us it would be. It is a 6km long walk, however, and you need a moderate fitness level to make it there and back in around 3 or 4 or so hours, including lunch. I’m at my least fit ever and certainly didn’t need to push myself. My feet and legs were tired when I got home.

The walk is a very scenic one and I managed to snap a few shots. You can see them here, if you are interested:

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A couple of other observations:

• I saw at least 7 ‘I ♥ NYC’ shirts on just on Saturday – WTF?
• I saw Todd Sampson and his family at Bondi – It appears his persona on The Gruen Transfer is genuine as he was wearing a navy blue T with Fuck ‘Em screen printed on it. Awesome.

Days 2 and 3 are done and dusted. We’ve settled into our little apartment and things are good. We’ve got everything we need for an extended stay, but it must be said that the bathroom is comedically small. I have to sit at about 45° when using the toilet otherwise I’ll knock the sink off of the wall! It’s interesting being able to rest my chin on the sink when taking care of the morning ablutions.

Locationwise, we are very well situated. We are just 3 mins slow walk to the hospital, directly across the road from a NightOwl and a brisk walk to the beach.

We are right in the corner of an interesting 5 way intersection. It must be very confusing as horns are always going day and night. I’ve never heard anything like it except in Vietnam. There are plenty of Asians in the area, but they can’t be the ones causing all of the horn work.

We strolled down to Coogee beach today. Very choppy. I was keen to take some photos, but I must have left my tripod at home. I’ll get properly motivated later and try and get some nice shots. I have been motivationally challenged due to having a Cold. Sore throat, ticklely ears and headaches, oh boy!

While down at the beach, two “gentlemen” were having a lively debate about money. Apparently one of them spent all of their combined money on prostitutes. Judging by their demeanor, a not so small chunk was also spent on beer. The aggrieved party wanted his mate to call the police and have them visit every prostitute in Coogee(!) to get his money back. Must have been one hell of a bender. Charlie Sheen would be proud.

Randwick is blessed with many, many restaurants. While not planning to eat out that often, I’ll post some mini reviews. I’ll knock one up for Arthur’s Pizza later.

Here is a summary of the monthly recurring data options for iPad 3G in Australia.  At this stage, it appears that only Three and Optus are offering recurring charge options.

Here is a summary of the pre paid data options for iPad 3G in Australia.

The draw for the 2010/2011 Hyundai A League has been announced. Here are some files that might be of interest to you.

• 2010/2011 A League Fixtures (csv)
• 2010/2011 A League Fixtures (ics)

A PDF version of the draw (where I got this info) is available on The World Game website.

Go the Roar.