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It’s astonishing from both Cleveland’s and Phoenix’s perspective that this trade actually happened;
The Suns since they were able to so swiftly successfully get rid of Shaq, and
The Cavs because they actually wanted him.
It’s a little game I play whenever sporting teams are lined up for the National Anthem – as the camera smoothly pans past each player, I try to name each of them before their face disappears from screen. It’s harder than it looks.
Last night, I got 17 out of 17 Queenslanders. But only 15 of the New South Welshmen.
I got confused between Peter Wallace and Joel Monaghan (that happened for most of the game, actually) and hesitated between Robbie Farah and Luke O’Donnell.
This demonstrates the superiority in playing talent and reputation between the 2 sides. The Maroons have a settled team of superstars and workhorses, whilst the Blues a hodge-podge of fill-ins, replacements and unknowns.
It’s no wonder Queensland won their 4th straight series.
Following the remarkable success of turvey.com’s foray into the esoteric world of Movie Reviews a few weeks back, we continue with this artistic theme by featuring 3 recently released, and even more recently read, books.
Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell
This man is one of my favourite authors, and if you haven’t ever read any of his work - either in book form or via his superb magazine features in the New Yorker, you’re missing out.
Go discover him for yourself. You can thank me later.
Despite the NSW Selectors vowing not to over-react to the team that was unlucky to lose Origin I in Melbourne 10 days ago, the Blues last night announced 5 changes to the team for Origin II.
In - Paul Gallen, Glenn Stewart, Anthony Watmough, David Williams and Trent Barrett.
Out - Anthony Laffranchi, Terry Campese, James McManus, Luke Lewis and Luke Bailey.
There are only 4 accepted reasons for any team to make such changes in the midst of an Origin campaign; Injury (Bailey, Lewis), Suspension (N/A), Form (Laffranchi, McManus) and We-Made-A-Mistake-Picking-This-Guy-In-The-First Place (Campese).
Because we had a long weekend in the Eastern States, I stayed up til 3am on Saturday night, and then get up at 2:30 on Tuesday morning, to watch the Twenty20 World Cup.
What a bloody waste of time.
The only advantage of all these cold, frustrating hours spent alone with only a cup of coffee and a blanket to share my annoyance is that I feel qualified to report on precisely how Australia were so swiftly and abjectly eliminated from the tournament.
Mindset.
On Saturday, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals by 13 points. Despite being played on the road in Orlando where they’d lost 4 games already this season, the Cavs still went into the contest as strong favourites. It defied logic that the best team throughout 2008/09, who went 66-16 and cruised through the previous 2 rounds of the playoffs without dropping a game, could be beaten. Cleveland has the league’s MVP and the Coach of the Year. They should win. Easily.
But at what point during this extraordinary series did the media, the fans, the oddsmakers, and the Cavaliers team itself acknowledge that Cleveland were not in fact the better team? The answer? They didn’t.
Over the next month we have the first State of Origin, the NBA Finals, the climax of the World Cup Qualifiers and the start of the 2009 Ashes Tour. So as a prelude to this overdose of sport, the team here at turvey.com has decided upon a temporary change of pace.
Movie reviews.
Well, why not?
Despite my advancements in age, experience and (presumably) maturity, one of the main attractions of international travel to this day remains the opportunity to watch movies.
The team that will lose the 2009 State of Origin series was announced last night;
1 – Fullback Kurt Gidley (c)
2 – Wing Jarryd Hayne
3 – Center Jamie Lyon
4 – Center Michael Jennings
5 – Wing James McManus
6 – Five Eighth Terry Campese
7 – Halfback Peter Wallace
8 – Prop Luke Bailey
9 – Hooker Robbie Farah
10 – Prop Brent Kite
11 – 2nd Row Luke O’Donnell
12 – 2nd Row Ben Creagh
13 – Lock Paul Gallen
Interchange Craig Wing, Justin Poore, Glenn Stewart, Michael Weyman
18th Man – Luke Lewis
First reaction? Ouch.
Before Kevin Maurice Garnett damaged his knee at Utah on 19th February, the defending champion Boston Celtics were 44-11. Without him, they won 18 of their last 27 (.667) games and won the second seed in the East before going 7-7 in the playoffs, being eliminated on Monday by the Orlando Magic.
As much as this defeat – coming after a 3-2 series lead and a 10-point 3rd quarter advantage in game 6 – is a sad and mournful day for Celtics fans the world over, it’s actually a terrific sign for the post-KG era.
Which, like it or not, is coming to Boston some day soon.
So, did you watch it? It was the biggest scandal of the week – and possibly the year – broadcast on free-to-air television for us all to see.
It was the sordid, depressing story that’s dominated the news cycle for not only the one full day that was expected but every day for the past week. Thanks to all the leaked media reports leading up to the telecast itself, we knew what to expect, but that hasn’t made it any less painful to witness all the relentless poring over and sorting through the lurid, distasteful details ever since.
No, I’m not referring to the Matthew Johns group sex scandal. I’m talking about the 58 billion dollar defecit in the Federal Budget.