Aussie Rules in full swing!

Yeh baby! The season begins again! No more pre-season crap. No more off-season trade talk and garbage! Now we get to see them PLAY! Now we get to actually scream and cheer and lose Friday nights, Saturday all day and Sunday afternoon and hear our wives tell us off for ignoring them all weekend. (That's not all good, but hey, it's footy, right?)

Lets go DOGGIES! Not sure how my boys will do this year - losing 3 guys over 6ft 5in for the whole season is not a good sign, but hey we'll see how we go anyway. As a proud member of the Western Bulldogs footy club I shall be there cheering them on regardless.

Oh yeh, and I have Foxtel coming on Tuesday, so this year I won't miss ANY games I want to see! Ahh the joy! The excitement!

On another note, Brad moves out on Saturday. Bye Brad. He was a good boarder. He has a messy room, but hey, if you close the door nobody notices! It was fun Brad, for what we saw of each other. I'm helping him and Millsy and Annie move on Saturday because I am a nice guy (NOT because I want to ensure he really does leave, contrary to popular opinion!!!)

So it's back to 'Naked Tuesdays' again for me... I mean... Ummm... You didn't read that ok?

Games are over and some are staying... or trying to anyway.

Well, sad as it is the games are behind us. It was a fantastic time to be in Melbourne. I know, I know, it was only the Commonwealth Games, not the Olympics or anything.

And yet, it was amazing! Melbourne embraced this spectacle and we all got into party mode. Athletes poured everything they had into competing for their countries, and all around we were treated to this incredible... well, this incredible 'thing'. I can't do it any better than that. I have no other words. But it was stunning. Sitting at the G when Kerryn ran in to take first place in the marathon and being amongst the most almighty roar was simply staggering. It brought a tear to my eye - just being taken away by the whole emotion of the moment as all 85,000 of us willed her to the finish line.

There were many other moments, but that one will remain with me - it was inspiring and moving.

Anyone keeping up with the news will be aware of all the athletes that are currently missing since the games - a whole host from Sierra Leone (75% of the team - after 70% went missing at Manchester... as Matty Parker put it 'at least they are improving'). Also, one athlete from each of Tanzania and Bangladesh are gone, and now 9 from Cameroon.


Here are the 6 from Sierra Leone who were found in Sydney yesterday.

It's a fascinating topic - I certainly have read and spoken to a lot of people who are really annoyed that these athletes would do that. I don't share that view - I really don't.

You and I will NEVER (hopefully) understand ANY of what it is like to live in a country ravaged by war, conflict and poverty. It's easy to say things like 'there are lots of people in those situations who are seeking refuge here, why should these people jump the queue'. I'll tell you why, and no, it's not about the fact they are athletes and therefore could bolster our 'stocks'. It's called compassion. They are here, and are pleading for help. That's why.

One thing about Jesus was he never took his eye off the individual simply because of the 'greater good'. He healed a man who was a leper because he was in need, not necessarily because he was the 'most' deserving, or the one who had been affected the longest. The man was present, so Jesus showed compassion - that was enough. The simple question I ask is 'can you blame them for staying?' Of course not. Keep in mind all the things we will never understand about a land of war and strife, and can you blame them for attempting to stay here once they make it over here?

Is there a risk of 'opening up the floodgates'? Of course there is. But if we start saying we would rather keep them out, and leave them to those situations rather than have this place overrun and our quality of life drop then we are truly nationalistic, but also lacking any human compassion. And for me, as a Christian, compassion MUST come before nationalism and national pride, even with this country I hold so dear. Compassion for humans is a duty. Personally, if they are found to be at risk and truly in danger then they should be allowed to stay, regardless of if someone still over in the other country may be 'more deserving' (however you actualy can define that). They are here, they need help, that should be enough.

Happy birthday

Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday dear me,
Happy birthday to me!

Awesome!

Well, it's been an awesome few days. Saw cycling heats on Saturday, then went to the G on Sunday and saw, amongst other things and awesome gold medal for Australia in the womens marathon. You should have heard the 80,000 people errupt when Kerryn hit the stadium. It was phenomonal! Fee rang me and I knew it was because she would be watching outside. Couldn't hear her, but yelled down the phone that she was going to win - it was still touch and go with the Kenyan, so Fee wasn't sure from outside.

The best thing was in the 100m for visually impaired. They are allowed a guide if they want, who is meant to run along side them to help them know where they are, when to stop etc. One poor bloke had a guide that was SO slow, the athlete had crossed the finish line and his guide was ONLY HALFWAY DOWN THE TRACK! The sad, but also awesome thing was, because of this, the poor guy kept running! He ended up doing a full 400m before the officials stopped him. What was great though was not his misfortune, but the AWESOME cheering and clapping he was getting from the crowd. People realised what had happened, and felt perhaps a little embarassed, but also recognised the awesome achievement of an athlete like this guy. It was touching. It was moving. Now he just needs a better guide...

Then Monday night it was dinner with Fee and Darren (Darren was meant to join us afterwards as well at the G, but he scammed a coaches pass to the swimming!!!! pool-side with the athletes! to see Leisel smash her world record). Anyway, off the G again, this time to see Asafa romp in the 100m, and Craig Mottram, and Brooke Krueger-Billett who won the hammer throw.

GO JAMAICA!

Just had to put that in - they won both the men's and women's 100m, and now have 4 golds! My adopt-a-team is thumping Brad's. Not that I'm gloating or anything... Not at all...

Sweaty velodrome and Ricardo!

Sharon and I made it to our first Commonwealth Games event today. It was cycling heats at the velodrome. Great venue, but to keep temperature optimal for the athletes, there is a sign saying that the place is kept at 25 degrees. Now, that is pretty warm anyway, but when your seats are in the back row (in other words, near the roof) i think it was closer to 55! So it was a sweaty, slightly smelly experience. But great fun cheering on our Aussie boys and girls, and also Ricardo Lynch from Jamaica (Sharon and I were pretty much on our own with cheering for Ricardo).

Good on him though - he ended up getting 5th in the Mens Sprints, so awesome effort, and close to the first medal for a Jamaican these games.

On the Aussie note, seeing the Meares girls in action was awesome, as was watching Ryan Bayley (who as I write this just got through to the semis).

Go Aussie, Go Jamaica. Aussies you rock! Jamaica, you are frankly the coolest of all Commonwealth nations.

Tomorrow we go to the 'G' to see the heats of the 100m and the marathon finishes, followed by the 'G' again on Monday night to see the 100m finals (go Asafa). Finally, next Saturday we are back at the 'G' - it's a sell out so will be awesome - to watch the relays and Mottram. Gonna be a HUGE week! :)

The ref!

I know, I know. By posting this I can be accused of sour grapes and all that... But geez! Did anyone see the English jumper that rugby 7's ref had on under his top? Seriously. We aren't meant to win games against better opposition like England (in the 7's that's sad but true) but to lose to a continual stream of dubious decisions and send offs was a bit hard to stomach. Dean and I were out for a few at Balsamic, watching the game, and it was a bit of a bummer.

Still, as always is the case we had our chances and they were dropped. Oh well. We still made the next round so all is not lost!

Please forgive me if most of my posts are of a sporting nature over the next week or so. I'm such a sucker for sport, and with the first test on (good one Clarkey!), the games, and the footy season about to start I'm a little inundated with things to watch. I'm on the lookout for odd little stories on the games though, so if I see something cool I'll post it.

And don't foget - GO JAMAICA!!!

And Jimmy Cliff did a free concert last night at the Myer Music Bowl. How cool is that? (I may well be showing my age with that last comment...)

The duck and the fish

The Duck

For those of you who watched the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony and were thinking 'what the hell was that duck thing all about' well, now is your chance to get an explanation (sort of, anyway).

http://www.theage.com.au/news/commonwealth-games/a-little-duck/2006/03/15/1142098537586.html

That link is a link to an article by the author of the poem himself, Michael Leunig, where he (kind of) explains the duck metaphor.

If you can't be bothered reading it here is a quick run down. A Russian dude ran in Melbourne at the '56 Olympics and won the 10,000m. He represented the duck given the cold war was on and he was in enemy territory.

There you have it... go figure!

The Fish

And finally, those fish on the Yarra are apparently looking for a home. The proposed idea by Johnny So is to give one to different municipalities, and keep one on the Yarra near the aquarium. Not a bad idea Johnny! But I also think I deserve one in my back yard.... or we could put one in Steve's pool!