GOOD
Dane Lett’s selection for the Black Sticks and his second Olympic Games tops this week’s list, and deservedly so. The 128-test veteran would’ve been one of the first names jotted down, and his selection is a further testament that a sportsperson can make it to the highest level while living and competing in little old Wairarapa.
Staying with hockey, Lett’s Dalefield were impressive 8–5 winners over Hutt United to make the Intercity final against Indians and a good chance of winning back-to-back titles. The downside is that Lett and NZ Indoor Hockey international Ben van Woerkom will miss Saturday’s decider.
I cannot go past Marist in this week’s hall of fame after their 79–14 demolition of East Coast, who didn’t play badly but were no match for the stampeding “green and whites” who were too big and too fast in running in 13 tries.
The Pulse-Tactix premiership netball clash didn’t go the way of the Pulse, losing 58–53 in extra time, but what a pulsating contest. Don’t bet against these two going toe to toe in the final.
The Boston Celtics slam dunked a record 18th NBA Championship, beating the Dallas Mavericks 106–88 for a 4–1 series victory. The “green machine” were clearly the best team over the season and are worthy champions, and Larry Bird will be happy.
Euro 24 kicked off in a flurry with 34 goals scored over the 12 first-round games and generally good-natured crowds, even the English, who gave a good rendition of the Na Na Na Na Na-Na-Na’s when, hey, their favourite son Jude Bellingham tuned up for the only goal against Slovakia.
I’m buggered just thinking about it, but the winning times in the Cairns Ironman warrant inclusion. Aussie Matt Burton crossed the line in a scintillating 7:45:24. Kiwis Braden Currie and Mike Phillips were three to four minutes behind in second and third in a race where the top eight bettered eight hours. Not to be outdone, Kiwi Hannah Berry was the first woman home in a time of 8:44:31.
Remarkable as those times seem, they fall well short of the world’s best. Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt’s scorching me’s best of 7:12:12 was on debut, while Swiss triathlete Daniela Ryf boasts a woman’s best of 8:08:21.
BAD
Greytown’s struggles in Capital Division Two continued with a 4–1 drubbing to Seatoun, a loss coach Phil Keinzley put down to a bad injury list and bad fitness.
Rory McIlroy’s meltdown, missing a couple of close putts, when leading the US Open, but Bryson DeChambeau held his nerve and lifted the trophy for the second time in five years.
I was tempted to include this in the final section because it borders on the ‘ugly’: the incessant cheering and applauding by our club rugby players on the field and on the bench when an opposition player makes a simple error, such as knocking the ball on, a forward pass, or kicking out on the full when under little or no pressure.
Then there is the fool on the bench yahooing a missed conversion despite his team on the way to conceding a cricket score.
Call me old-fashioned, but where did the sportsmanship and the philosophy of playing hard but fair go? It’s certainly not apparent on some of our rugby fields and sidelines.
UGLY
Three bads – the Black Caps plus the Hurricanes plus the Warriors add up to one big old fat UGLY!
Starting with the Black Caps conceding 37 runs in the last two overs with the West Indies nine wickets down, but why would you throw Darryl Mitchell to the lions getting him to bowl his first over in the 19th when he was carted by Afghanistan in a similar role? Poor captaincy or coaching, or as Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”?
Then the Hurricanes added to the misery with their ugliest performance of the Super Rugby season, and despite a hint of a comeback, were never in the hunt against a red-hot Chiefs, who dined out on the Canes’ errors. The positive, not many expected the Canes to get this far, but they saved their worst til last.
The Warriors completed a miserable trifecta, throwing away a 14-point lead in a 16th straight loss to a finely tuned Melbourne Storm, who, once they got inside the Warriors’ heads, there was no stopping them.
On that ugly note, I’m off to look for the stepsisters. they fall well short of the world’s best. Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt’s scorching me’s best of 7:12:12 was on debut, while Swiss triathlete Daniela Ryf boasts a woman’s best of 8:08:21.
BAD
Greytown’s struggles in Capital Division Two continued with a 4–1 drubbing to Seatoun, a loss coach Phil Keinzley put down to a bad injury list and bad fitness.
Rory McIlroy’s meltdown, missing a couple of close putts, when leading the US Open, but Bryson DeChambeau held his nerve and lifted the trophy for the second time in five years.
I was tempted to include this in the final section because it borders on the ‘ugly’: the incessant cheering and applauding by our club rugby players on the field and on the bench when an opposition player makes a simple error, such as knocking the ball on, a forward pass, or kicking out on the full when under little or no pressure.
Then there is the fool on the bench yahooing a missed conversion despite his team on the way to conceding a cricket score.
Call me old-fashioned, but where did the sportsmanship and the philosophy of playing hard but fair go? It’s certainly not apparent on some of our rugby fields and sidelines.
UGLY
Three bads – the Black Caps plus the Hurricanes plus the Warriors add up to one big old fat UGLY!
Starting with the Black Caps conceding 37 runs in the last two overs with the West Indies nine wickets down, but why would you throw Darryl Mitchell to the lions getting him to bowl his first over in the 19th when he was carted by Afghanistan in a similar role? Poor captaincy or coaching, or as Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”?
Then the Hurricanes added to the misery with their ugliest performance of the Super Rugby season, and despite a hint of a comeback, were never in the hunt against a red-hot Chiefs, who dined out on the Canes’ errors. The positive, not many expected the Canes to get this far, but they saved their worst til last.
The Warriors completed a miserable trifecta, throwing away a 14-point lead in a 16th straight loss to a finely tuned Melbourne Storm, who, once they got inside the Warriors’ heads, there was no stopping them.
On that ugly note, I’m off to look for the stepsisters. they fall well short of the world’s best. Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt’s scorching me’s best of 7:12:12 was on debut, while Swiss triathlete Daniela Ryf boasts a woman’s best of 8:08:21.
BAD
Greytown’s struggles in Capital Division Two continued with a 4–1 drubbing to Seatoun, a loss coach Phil Keinzley put down to a bad injury list and bad fitness.
Rory McIlroy’s meltdown, missing a couple of close putts, when leading the US Open, but Bryson DeChambeau held his nerve and lifted the trophy for the second time in five years.
I was tempted to include this in the final section because it borders on the ‘ugly’: the incessant cheering and applauding by our club rugby players on the field and on the bench when an opposition player makes a simple error, such as knocking the ball on, a forward pass, or kicking out on the full when under little or no pressure.
Then there is the fool on the bench yahooing a missed conversion despite his team on the way to conceding a cricket score.
Call me old-fashioned, but where did the sportsmanship and the philosophy of playing hard but fair go? It’s certainly not apparent on some of our rugby fields and sidelines.
UGLY
Three bads – the Black Caps plus the Hurricanes plus the Warriors add up to one big old fat UGLY!
Starting with the Black Caps conceding 37 runs in the last two overs with the West Indies nine wickets down, but why would you throw Darryl Mitchell to the lions getting him to bowl his first over in the 19th when he was carted by Afghanistan in a similar role? Poor captaincy or coaching, or as Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”?
Then the Hurricanes added to the misery with their ugliest performance of the Super Rugby season, and despite a hint of a comeback, were never in the hunt against a red-hot Chiefs, who dined out on the Canes’ errors. The positive, not many expected the Canes to get this far, but they saved their worst til last.
The Warriors completed a miserable trifecta, throwing away a 14-point lead in a 16th straight loss to a finely tuned Melbourne Storm, who, once they got inside the Warriors’ heads, there was no stopping them.
On that ugly note, I’m off to look for the stepsisters.
