flashman181

Two sporting stories have taken over most of the news in the last 24-36 hrs and of course the media added the icing as always

While most people of Greek Heritage were saying “No”, Nick Kyrgios preferred much more colorful language. It is one thing to swear at the umpire but then in some lame press conference mea culpa ,no doubt suggested by his “team” , he insisted the “dirty scum” comment was aimed at himself. Yeah sure. Still he is a Playa (not a Player like most) so no doubt some Aussie fans still swooned at his backhand or his drop shot. We love to chop down the tall poppies but he is hardly there yet so lets keep pumping him up. Aussies like their sporting heroes to have character afterall eh Warnie. But then he goes on to play the cheese-eating surrender monkey and does the one thing no true Aussie can accept – he tanked it. Little Ley Ley was an obnoxious brat with the best of them at first but he slowly matured and more importantly always showed ticker – and would never walk away from Davis Cup even to go to the toilet with his Sorbent. I tend to compare the behaviour of most sportspeople to golfers which may or may not be fair but it is interesting. There are many similarities, not the least being megarich at a young age and they are individual sports. Golf though is renowned for its honour, respect for tradition and sportsmanship and even your backyard hacker plays within these self imposed rules because that is the game you choose. It is afterall one of the easiest games in the world to cheat at and maybe there in lies the secret. The other interesting comparison is that in tennis it appears that most tournaments are won by one of the top 3-4 players in the event. Maybe seeding plays a part in this. In golf it is not unusual for the 50th ranked player in the world to win in a given event against the best in the world. In fact one day the 256th ranked player could win – if Tiger can improve his driving! So really, saying that Kyrgios is a top 30 ranked player doesnt mean that much to moi. Now as much as I loathe the actions of Kyrgios , Dawn Fraser should just shut up. What a stupid comment to make. Nick is not alone of course but I cant really call Tomic a top ranked player and keep a straight face. Only time will tell if these clowns can mature but sadly I doubt it will happen because there are simply to many yes men around them. And the money keeps rolling in

Then we get to 60 minutes and the Cam Smith story. Oh, you thought it was about Alex ? Come on, this is channel 9. Ok have not watched the show – simply refuse to watch anything on 9 that is not sport or the odd news report – but have seen some clips. No one would deny Alex the chance to make some money (a book is on the way) or to be an angry young man. So, have no real problem with him being pissed off at Cammy who it must be admitted does not look good arguing with the ref at the time. He has always had the squeaky clean image off the field but is less well regarded from other players for some on field niggle and cheap shots. The annoying aspects though are a)the timing 3 days before one of the more important SOOs in recent years and b) Channel 9 treating their own story as NEWS! Seriously, it was the 3rd story on the news at 6pm! The cynic in me, who to be fair has been getting a lot of time lately, would suggest the timing was deliberate even with the pending book release and it is my understanding that the Rise for Alex round is not until Round 19 later in the month. Showing it next Sunday would have been perfect lead in – but of course after SOO 3 when eyelash boy simply returns to being Storm skipper and occasional shaver. Media interest would have dropped by 50% and we all know the media is run by NSW 🙂 It would appear by all reports that Storm management/players (? Smith) regularly tried to contact Alex in the weeks after. For a complete story, Smith’s side of events should have been given air or at least acknowledged. But that is not how 60 minutes works of course. Their response? “This was Alex’s story so no need to contact Smith. The facts of the story are not in dispute” .Facts???? On Channel 9! Give me a break. It was a clear set up for maximum impact. Conspiracy theorists revel in these yarns but at the end of the day their underhanded dealing and presentation of the story has detracted from what is an amazing and inspirational tale. People should be caring about how Alex will fare in the future, not whether Smith did this or that after the event

Rarely does a week pass when the media doesnt not piss me off in some way so while on my fave subject why is that whenever a media “personality” takes a break it has to be described as a “well earnt break” ? Who gives a crap. Do we really think Ray Hadlee only works 3 hours a day? Nope. Do they ever report on the news that “the shark attack victim could not be saved because the Vascular Surgeon was having a well earnt break”. No, because another surgeon steps in and no one cares. Of course if the PM (of either persausion) is on a rare holiday when something important happens then they are very quick to suggest he should come back to work. Well, I will give you a leave pass Hadlee, Jones, Stefanovic et al. Stay on holidays. No one cares.

I hear Greece is very reasonable this time of year