The Orange

Just to prove I’m over the RWC (did you see that the ref WAS told it was a forward pass!!!???), here’s a little gem.

The North Melbourne Kangaroos are being pressured to relocate to the Gold Coast to boost the presence of AFL in Queensland.

Queensland already has a relocated team – the Brisbane Lions – who won a couple of flags in a row.

Quite frankly the little I know about AFL is too much already.

However, there is some relevance to sports that do interest me.

There has already been some talk of “relocating” a Pacific Island team either in Auckland or on the East Coast of Oz – Brisbane has been suggested as one suitable local. It solves the travel and facilities problem and gets the Islanders into the comp.

The NRL is another comp that could look at relocation to spread the word. No team has yet relocated although a couple of teams did merge – the Tigers with Wests and the Steelers & Dragons.

The Bulldogs did try and develop a relationship with Wellington and likewise the Eels with Hamilton.

The relative success of the Phoenix – in terms of crowds – makes you wonder what would happen if Wellington got its own NRL team.

Given that there’s three teams outside of Queensland and NSW and a further 3 teams in Queensland, it leaves 10 teams in NSW with most of those in Sydney.

Logic would suggest that the teams in Sydney are competing for the similar amounts of sponsorship money as the one team in NZ.

I wouldn’t be the first to wonder how big a crowd you’d get to a Warriors v Wellington NRL game.

The Granny Herald (ok, fair suck of the sav, their web site is more grand than granny) has reported that one story has clocked up over 1000 of pages of comments.

I’m happy with one.  That’s one comment, not one page.

So, if you’re one of the three people who hasn’t worked out why the AB’s lost, have your say here.

Yes, the Red Sox have smashed the Rockies sweeping the World Series 4-zip.

Wild celebrations are reported at Fenway in Boston and the emerging baseball powerbase of Dubai (just in case Rick’s reading this).

Perhaps the AB’s could learn a trick or two from the Sox about breaking hoodoos.

Let’s just hope that the AB’s hoodoo doesn’t like as long as the curse of the Bambino!

This post is not about a bunch of fatties who transcend the odds and the fats to become Adonis-es.

The Brits – who are even better losers than NZ – have come up with a list of their top 50 greatest losers.

We shouldn’t sneer given we tend to celebrate coming fourth!  What would the AB’s give to have come fourth?

(And from the salacious media reports, it’s quite clear a number of them are trying their best to multiple too!)

Which brings me on to the topic on NZ’s biggest sporting losers.

Right now, the 2007 AB’s would be odds on to take this out.  Having said that, a NZ soccer – oops sorry – football team losing to Vanuata must rate pretty highly.

I bet you the Aussies wouldn’t waste a minute thinking up their list of biggest losers.

Yet again, my sub-editing skills are wasted on an audience of less than one.

Nevermind (as Nirvana once said), it’s World Series time of the year and the Boston Red Sox are taking on the Colorado Rockies.

The Sox took on history a few seasons ago and broke the curse of the Bambino.  Makes you wonder if the AB’s have picked up the curse.

As for the Colorado Rockies (yes, John Denver territory), the pre-series training has been interrupted by show.  Yup. Snow.

In case you’ve forgotten, that’s the white stuff that comes down in winter.

And talking of stuffing, game one wasn’t a thriller unless you’re from Boston.  (Does that make you a bun??).

Boston blasted the Rockies 13-1.

At least this time, the New Zealand team won’t choke.

I’m sure somewhere there is an addon that would allow me to count down to the end of 2007.

The year that promised so much (dreams count) has delivered absolutely nothing.

Cricketers – yet another semi (mind you, the AB’s didn’t even manage that).

America’s cup.  Another second (or first loser as my daughter bluntly puts it).

The rugby.  Say no more.

The netball.  It’s got to be doomed from the start – playing at home as holders.  Expectations couldn’t possibly be greater so we know what’s going to happen.

And finally the Kiwis.  At least after losing 58 million to nil against the Aussies, there’s no expectations.

Unless you’re expecting a three nil white wash by the Poms.

I make it 68 days to go.

Thank the Heavenly Pasta that’s over.

Now we can get back to bagging the ref!

I really should let go.

Really.

But this little snippet in the Guardian made my eyebrows hit the ceiling.

Not only did the referee gets his butt kicked into touch, but so did the touchies.

Yes, the All Blacks have to take responsibility for losing but so too do the officials and the IRB for appointing a referee who was clearly not up to the challenge.

All of this is odd – very odd.  There’s something quite surreal about all of this.

Blamestorming is a great corporate activity.

In short, you sit round the table and work out who to blame when things go pear shaped.

Which is just the ticket for the AB’s world cup campaign.

The initial reaction after THAT game was to blame the ref – THAT forward pass, THAT sin bin, the lack of penalties in the second half in the AB’s favour, particularly the last crucial 20 minutes.

The mature reaction to that was to say grow up, you can’t keep on blaming the ref.

Sure there are many contributing factors but this article is not the first to claim we wuz robbed.

Having said that, I’m officially over it.  Time to move on to other debacles like the 2011 RWC.

PS. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.  Thanks Craig for this one!