Field Theory: Long Weekend
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Only on a day where we win five Olympic medals can the All Blacks blanking the Springboks in South Africa (for the first time ever) be second page news. And that was a great game by the way, featuring Captain Tackles at his best.
I liked the Guardian's mach report headline: All Blacks manage crisis.
Oh, and Stephen Jones, still a cock:
The contrast between the sides was massive. New Zealand are nothing special. They hardly offered anything in attack and Dan Carter, who missed five kicks at goal, is these days nothing more than a serviceable player with the odd decent flash of brilliance, but New Zealand’s tactical aware-ness and basic skills were on a different planet, and their defence was outstanding. Furthermore, they took massive advantage of the fact that yet again, a referee in charge of a match involving New Zealand was utterly hoodwinked by their infringements at the breakdown. South Africa, staggeringly, were penalised off the park at the breakdown.
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I liked the Guardian's mach report headline: All Blacks manage crisis.
I'm printing T-shirts with the phrase: If only all our crises were like All Blacks crises.
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Mike at the Dropkicks managed to unearth the Michael Phelps frame by frame.
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How about that Usain Bolt? He smashes the 100m record, cruising with his arms out wide from about 80m, all with one of his shoes untied (supposedly).
Michael Phelps, bah.
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Oh, and Stephen Jones, still a cock:
Peter Bills for the Independent does much better.
A towering mountain overlooks the beautiful Newlands ground in the Cape, and a towering rugby player graced it yesterday. Richie McCaw gave one of the greatest displays in rugby history to shatter the new world champions in their own backyard. South Africa finished a fumbling, broken outfit, laid to waste by the genius of McCaw on the floor and his brilliant reading of the game, allied to coruscating tackling.
The Kiwi flanker and captain gave Schalk Burger a lesson in accuracy and precision. The Springbok lacks nothing in courage and commitment but when it came to detail, McCaw was in a class of his own. He won the loose ball constantly, cleverly slowed it down when the situation required it, and made tackle after tackle. No other player on the field was remotely in his class.I had to look ‘coruscating’ up in the dictionary.
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Mike at the Dropkicks managed to unearth the Michael Phelps frame by frame.
Cool! Picture, thousand words, etc. It plays out like I thought I saw it live -- all in the last reach of the arms.
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I had to look ‘coruscating’ up in the dictionary.
I had to buy one with laminated, wipe-clean pages. :)
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How about that Usain Bolt? He smashes the 100m record, cruising with his arms out wide from about 80m, all with one of his shoes untied (supposedly).
Michael Phelps, bah.
Yeah but when Phelps won his medals he wasn't even wearing shoes!
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But seriously -- does sports writing have to swing violently between the Grinch-y and the kind of prose an editor at Mills & Boon would find... well, ever so slightly over-wrought?
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I had to look ‘coruscating’ up in the dictionary.
I had to buy one with laminated, wipe-clean pages. :)
I think that's a fair point Craig. In all sports you have to buy into the importance of it to care about it. If you don't care it does look a bit silly. One thing about the Olympics is the level of skill on display. It's hard not to be impressed by a gymnast doing back flips on a beam, or two divers hitting the water simultaneously, even if the 'why' of it is remote. Same with the nationalism. If you care, Valerie's near tears on the dais brings a lump to your throat, if you don't care it all looks rather contrived.
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And ditto to the point about sports writing in general. Couldn't agree more.
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This piece from Omega, raises something I should've thought of (by putting 2 and 2 together).
With timing Olympic swimming comes the problem that it is impossible to create a pool where each lane is exactly the same length!
So was it the fact that Phelps' lane was .001seconds shorter?
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Sue,
really interesting to read the blog of mr silver medalhttp://www.miloradcavic.com/portal/
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the odd decent flash of brilliance
Stephen? How can something be brilliance and decent at the same time?
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can the All Blacks blanking the Springboks in South Africa
Does this mean the All Blacks quaxed the Springboks?
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With timing Olympic swimming comes the problem that it is impossible to create a pool where each lane is exactly the same length!
Of course, it will also be impossible to create a pool where each lane is the same length as itself. Perhaps Cavic should have aimed for the part of his lane that was closest :-)
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In all sports you have to buy into the importance of it to care about it. If you don't care it does look a bit silly.
Sure, but I think the baseline of all good writing is that it communicates enthusiasm and knowledge, especially when the subject in hand isn't necessarily something the reader knows or even cares about. I love good science writing, for example, precisely because I'm an utter tech-tard. But perhaps it's just me, but when the hyperbole gets cranked up to eleven I feel pushed out rather than engaged.
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Sue,
Well i think hadyn is a reall asset to the world of PA.
and the thing i love about his posts is that he is writing as a sports fan, not a critic not some educated scientist, but a fan.and it's brilliant and it's fun and you know what if it's not your cup of tea, why not say your peace and leave it at that.
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I'm printing T-shirts with the phrase: If only all our crises were like All Blacks crises.
I'll take one
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and it's brilliant and it's fun and you know what if it's not your cup of tea, why not say your peace and leave it at that.
I think the discussion was about hyperbole in sports writng in general and Craig's point about it in the Peter Bills quote. Not anything from this fine post.
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not a critic not some educated scientist, but a fan
And these are exclusive contingencies ?
I know a few that might take issue with that.........
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I think the discussion was about hyperbole in sports writng in general and Craig's point about it in the Peter Bills quote. Not anything from this fine post.
Um, yes... Sue, if there were a few more sports hacks in the MSM like Hadyn (who in my not at all humble opinion is an enthusiast in the very best sense) I'd be a very happy chap indeed. Well, happier.
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if there were a few more sports hacks in the MSM like Hadyn (who in my not at all humble opinion is an enthusiast in the very best sense) I'd be a very happy chap indeed.
Hadyn begins to rewrite his CV...
And thanks Sue! Flattery is always accepted.
Although I suppose I should point out that I am an educated scientist too.
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I think the discussion was about hyperbole in sports writng in general
When ever someone suggests that the All Blacks have played there finest performance ever (or that a particular All Black has) I always dispute this and ramble on about their great performance against Australia/The English/someone during some year in the 1930s or 1940s.
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michael phelps? meh.
who was the african distance runner who won gold for 4 olympics straight? in a field where you could probably only win two medals in a games?
*that's* a great athlete.
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