Roar Guru
Joined February 2013
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My goal is to be the first middle aged stagiare in pro cycling, either that or win a C grade club race. Probably the club race.
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To most fans watching Australia's Olympic athletes on the telly, it's all about the sport. Elite athletes doing what they're very good at. Unfortunately…
On Friday evening Rio time, Great Britain’s track pursuit team beat Australia to take the gold medal. Both teams broke the world record, with…
On Thursday, it was revealed that rising British road cycling star, Olympic prospect and Orica-GreenEDGE professional team member Simon Yates had tested positive for…
As a footy and cycling fan, I'm genuinely sympathetic to how devastating the CAS verdict must be to the Essendon players. However, like many…
This year's Tour de France - taken out by Sky Racing's Chris Froome - was defined by a number of key stages, attacks and…
Having read a number of articles of late on Essendon's alleged use of proscribed substances – specifically Thymosin Beta 4 – I thought it…
I have two confessions: the first is that I'm fascinated with the psychology of doping in sport - both that of the athletes who…
Largely missed by the mainstream media, last night saw what is arguably the climax to the ongoing drama that has been Operacion Puerto, the…
As a cycling tragic, I want the sport to be cleaned up. And I am very dubious about claims that, having dispatched of Lance,…
I disagree. I think it’s easy to read between the lines and suspect he did say it. Intimidating batsmen is a part of cricket at that level.
Regardless of threats made, obviously no one intended to kill Phil Hughes. But the matter of interest for the coroner is over whether the bowling strategy was to deliberately shake Hughes up. It’s hardly a secret that this is a tactic used in cricket.
As a cyclist on the road, I experience some motorists passing close to me at speed. If they hit me, I’d be dead. Obviously that’s not their intent, because if it was – I’d be dead. But does that mean they can argue “I never meant to kill him?” Not really. It’s kind of true, but not the whole truth.
The coroner’s interest is in investigating factors that contributed to Hughes’ death, and what may be changed to prevent future occurrences. A threat to kill is clearly relevant. It’s not about blaming Bollinger or anyone else, it’s about understanding what can be done to prevent recurrences of Hughes’ death.
The fact it happened on a sporting field doesn’t provide any special protection to anyone.
Bollinger can't recall 'kill' sledge to Phil Hughes
Not that we’re likely to see that matchup for a while!
What is wrong with our national teams?
Cricket and rugby are clever as we like to think of them as important, so we get great value for money out of winning them. No one else who doesn’t play these sports gives a thought to them or our winning them, but we do and that’s what counts for making people feel good about themselves 🙂
What is wrong with our national teams?
The key factor in improving our national team’s performance is getting talent in. AFL particularly sucks up the real talent. There are a number of AFL players who could have been elite basketballers, but played AFL instead. But it’s improving – guys like Matty Dellavadova obviously have the talent to be AFL players, if not stars. But he chose to play basketball. We could do so much better if more people made that decision. One example is Scott Pendlebury of Collingwood.
What is wrong with our national teams?
I’m biased maybe but like some others here on The Roar, I believe we really got the bronze against Spain. I am pretty proud of how we took it up to both the US in the qualifying round and Spain in the bronze play-off. Those are arguably the 2 best teams in the world. I don’t think we wilted against Spain – we did enough to win but the chips didn’t fall our way (i.e. we were robbed by filthy refereeing).
What is wrong with our national teams?
I have to disagree on the Boomers. They had a shocker against Serbia. But it’s unfair to judge their Olympic performance on that game alone. Overall, they played out of their skin.
I think part of the problem is that as fans, we have unrealistic expectations of our national teams. We are used to winning. International basketball isn’t played domestically, or against a few ex-colonial nations. It’s a tough level of competition. I’m thrilled with how well the Boomers did.
What is wrong with our national teams?
That’s what I was saying, a bit of sarcasm in my post.
We are not shareholders in our athletes
As a player, if an opponent was flopping, I’d point it out to the ref. Depending on the stakes – and they were high last night, so I’d do it. The ref really has to respond to that and keep a sharp look-out for it after being told. Most refs will respond positively to a quiet word about the other team’s tactics. I am almost sure Bogut and his teammates would have been vocal about Spain’s tactics last night. Why did the refs keep making soft calls?
Boomers fall short by one point as Spain claim bronze
The problem is that there are 2 Australias. In 1 version of Australia, the one dominated by reputable media organisations and the chattering classes, this sort of racism is unacceptable. But in another version of Australia, this type of racism is just part of the rough-and-tumble of everyday life. It’s not that these people necessarily bear acrimony towards indigenous people, but they resent standards of behaviour being dictated to them. And some of them are racist.
Why do people do this sort of thing? Well, firstly, they’re racist acts. That is an objective truth – unless you accept the excuse that she just happened to be holding a banana, etc. Which is BS. But arguably more importantly, they move in social circles where this behaviour is accepted and normalised. In that context, you can further break people down into 2 categories – 1 where they are still aware that doing it at the footy is dangerous – they know that not everyone holds their values and beliefs. And the other where they are blissfully ignorant and genuinely think it’s OK. I wonder if that describes this incident.
The banana-throwing woman deserves a second chance
I didn’t watch the match due its awkward time but of the specific 2 incidents where Patty Mills was fouled, I’d struggle to call the Spanish players unsportsmanlike. They just went hard at the basket, which is a good tactic at that point of the game and if your opponents are in foul trouble. I’m not saying you’re referring to those incidents either. But for those incidents, the onus is on the refs to call it properly. And yeah, they seem to have caved.
Boomers fall short by one point as Spain claim bronze
Having played 100s of club basketball matches over 20 years (very averagely, but anyway) it’s difficult not to bang on about the refs. One reason is the sense that some teams manage to lord it over certain refs. Some refs are really good about resisting player pressure but others seem to submit a bit. As a player certainly, if I sensed a ref was taking the conflict-minimisation route by appeasing the complaining opposition, I’d introduce a bit of conflict of my own. I think that’s warranted here, too. Although it’s too late now.
Boomers fall short by one point as Spain claim bronze
We can’t replicate the US sports college system here. They have a population of 300 million and a big enough market that college sports is a big deal on its own. A lot of US cities don’t have major (professional) league teams of their own, leaving fans out in the cold. The marketability of US college sports is what brings the money in that sustains their elite level. We can hardly sustain elite professional sports leagues in Australia, let alone 2nd tier university-based ones. It wouldn’t work.
Has corporatising Australia’s Olympic effort blunted our athletes’ performances?
How do you dope in sailing?
Has corporatising Australia’s Olympic effort blunted our athletes’ performances?
I think it was soft. If you watch Mills he was retreating with his hands in the air. He didn’t really have a clear set, but he didn’t initiate the contact either. I wouldn’t have called it. As JVGO said above, the Spaniard went for the contact and got the soft call. It’s not in the official rules, but I especially wouldn’t call that in the last seconds of the game.
Boomers fall short by one point as Spain claim bronze
The thing is that a decent proportion of our medals come from over-achieving athletes who weren’t favorites. Kyle Chalmers, Chloe Esposito, Tom Burton in the sailing. In one way it would be a cost-saver to leave home the athletes who weren’t over-achievers, but the problem is it’s hard to predict ahead of time.
We are not shareholders in our athletes
Yes, agreed. Kim Brennan penned a good article on how impoverished most Olympic athletes are. The notion of a HECS scheme to compel them to repay the riches they inevitably accumulate as elite athletes representing their country seems to reflect a deep misconception about the financial plight of most athletes.
There are exceptions, like Ian Thorpe. But they are very much exceptions. I know of one junior athlete who won an event at a junior world champs and received a non-cash prize of sports equipment. The prize was whisked away by the Australian sports body. Sure, the sports body invests funds and has a claim on prizes won by its athletes. But there is no pot of gold for the athlete. Quite the opposite.
Great article Ben.
We are not shareholders in our athletes
I vote Mack Horton. Didn’t take a backward step to Sun Yang and followed up with gold. What a savage.
Maybe also Mel Hoskins. Huge fall on the velodrome, hospital trip and came back to race when the team needed her.
Which Aussie Olympians do you want on your side for the apocalypse?
I believe Britain actually copied the Australian AIS model, from when Australia was doing very well and they were stinking. I think they’ve since ‘perfected’ it and spent even more money than we did.
I don’t believe the Brits have an organised doping program. Those are very difficult to keep a secret – someone always talks. Russia were doing it, but even there people talked (and live in fear for their lives). Russia and maybe a couple of other totalitarian nations aside, doping these days is mostly done under the counter by individual athletes. It’s the only way to have a decent chance of keeping it secret.
Has corporatising Australia’s Olympic effort blunted our athletes’ performances?
I agree Sam and I didn’t mean to suggest there should be no oversight of our publicly-funded sports programs. In fact, that remains a critical factor in our sporting success. What I meant was more that there seems to have been some over-reach beyond setting the right conditions, funding and other resources needed by sports to succeed. If you keep reforming these arrangements and turning over the people, you are interfering with their ability to get on with the job. There’s more interesting info available on how the AIS has changed, that I didn’t have room to discuss in detail here. I’m not the expert either. I agree that there needs to be proper governance, but if you keep twisting the knobs in an effort to get it right, you end up undermining the people you’ve charged with delivering the results.
Has corporatising Australia’s Olympic effort blunted our athletes’ performances?
That’s really interesting HarryT, thanks for sharing.
Has corporatising Australia’s Olympic effort blunted our athletes’ performances?
This Waugh bloke is obviously not a team player, doesn’t respect rules and won’t amount to much.
Australian athletes detained in Rio
The Boomers have played brilliantly up until today and set up high expectations. It’s unfair to say they’ve choked – they’ve performed above themselves if anything. Serbia played outstanding basketball.
Highlights: Boomers denied in semi-final by Serbia's dominant defense
I’m not a cricketer but I struggle to accept bowlers are unaware of the possibility of death or serious injury from bowling bouncers. These are 150 km/h balls aimed at batsmen’s heads. There are precedents for that type of incident in cricket. While they are rare, that’s partly because the risk is highest with first class bowlers who can create that type of deadly speed.
I’m not arguing against any of the cricketers here. I get that in elite sport, the risk is accepted as part of the game. No one is guilty of anything here. But I can see the coroner handing down findings that might call for changes to how the game is played.
Bollinger can't recall 'kill' sledge to Phil Hughes