Jeremy Yates Takes The Yellow Jersey

http://www.tourofsouthland.com/index.php?pageLoad=118&event=TOS&year=2010&stage=2
Jeremy Yates won the second stage of the Tour of Southland up Bluff Hill, beating quality riders like Jack Bauer, Hayden Roulston and Floyd Landis into the minor placings. The Share the Road team recovered well after their third place in the time trial. Well done Jack!

Earlier in the day Hayden Roulston wore the yellow jersey after the time trial on Day One of the Tour of Southland and it will be hard to get it off him and his star studded Calder Stewart- Bike NZ team. Check out live updates on the link above and the progress of Jack Bauer.

The Tour of Southland Starts Monday 1st November

Check out the video of the fans mixing with the tour cyclists.

The most prestigious cycling race in New Zealand, The Tour of Southland, starts tomorrow and the beauty of this race is not only the rugged terrain including Bluff Hill, but on cue, the Southland weather always packs a sad, with hail and gale force winds a common occurence. The race goes from 1st-6th November and the main interest lies in two brilliant teams containing several New Zealand representatives. Other big names include Tour de France drugs cheat Floyd Landis, local boy Tom Scully and young star in the making Michael Vink.

1 Hayden Roulston Ashburton Calder Stewart Bike NZ National(CSB)
2 Greg Henderson Dunedin Calder Stewart Bike NZ National(CSB)
3 Jeremy Vennell Hastings Calder Stewart Bike NZ National(CSB)
4 Paul Odlin Christchurch Calder Stewart Bike NZ National(CSB)
5 Brett Tivers Hamilton Calder Stewart Bike NZ National(CSB)
6 Jason Christie (U23) Ashburton Calder Stewart Bike NZ National(CSB)
7 Gordon McCauley Auckland Share the Road(STR)
8 Jeremy Yates Hastings Share the Road(STR)
9 Jack Bauer Nelson Share the Road(STR)
10 Karl Murray Auckland Share the Road(STR)
11 Justin Kerr Tokoroa Share the Road(STR)
12 Jason Allen Christchurch Share the Road(STR)

I am going for Share the Road and hoping my old flatmate Jack Bauer can go one place better and win the title with the help of a decent team. It is a great race and after watching the Commonwealth Games Road Race, I am very excited. So come on Bauer, get that title!

He has done well overseas in the past year and finished handily in the Commonwealth Games Road Race. He is the National Champion and loves dirty tuna brine.

http://www.tourofsouthland.com

The Long and Short Of It!

Since getting my lovely locks cut at Dave's Barber on Tuesday I have plenty of responses from the punters. The last time I saw my long hair, it was being swept up on the hard floor at the barber shop. My lovely blonde curls had their fans and there was a sense of identity with them. They differentiated me from the average joes. It has been interesting because heaps of people have commented on the difference. Some people suggest that it is an improvement, while others think it is a shame. I also have a few modeling photos being released in next month's issue of Consumer and so this is a good way of ensuring no one recognises me. It stems from Sports Camp where if you are having heaps of showers regularly my curls got the bouncy soft appearance. Who uses product on a camp? It is the ultimate sin really. Guys never shave or use product on a sports camp. It is not the done thing.
I still don't recognise myself in the mirror sometimes and I must admit that I get less Rhys Darby comments than I used to. The long and short of it is, long or short? Which is better?

Hayden Sanders -You're My Hero

Two great friends of mine have started dating and made their first day of dating extremely public. Is this impressive lunch in Marlborough Sounds, limosine ride and flash dinner the highest form of romantic chivalry, or do you think that this is a media beat up? Is this day of dating a publicity stunt and been cheapened by the media attention, or is this a great gesture by a great man Haydos in an attempt to woo his dame? I am all for Haydos making an effort for this day of dates and although some would say he has laid it on a bit heavy to start with, I think that because it was such an awesome day it is great to keep a record and get a good story out of it. Good on you Mr Sanders. I think all this is awesome but probably raises the bar for future dates and for any further dates by any other male around. Where to from here? Dinner under the Eiffel Tower? Is there anything this guy can't do? Check out the date on Hayden's profile for further details. There are photos and videos there. He is a great man and has done well!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=791033355#!/profile.php?id=791033355

New Zealand's Next Top Model and The Results Are In, Do You Agree With the Judges?

If you don't want to find out who wins the 2010 season of New Zealand's Next Top Model then look away.

Danielle has won not only the peoples vote, but the judges vote. Michela looks hotter to me, but doesn't have the X Factor of Danielle.


Elza got 3rd and will go back to Dunedin as a hero.

There were plenty of tears shed.

Do you agree with the judges? Who should've won?

Who Will Win New Zealand's Next Top Model?

As Danielle (left), Elza and Michaela face off this Friday, the judges will decide who wins the illustrious title. Photos / Supplied

The popular television show New Zealand's Next Top Model finishes tonight with the grand final. This means every female in New Zealand under 30 will be glued to their television sets at 7:30pm tonight to watch. Who will win tonight? Danielle Hayes seems to be the punters favourite, but does that mean anything? Are these shows rigged? Usually there is one really annoying one who almost wins and in New Zealand where contestants are usually more conservative I would've expected Dakota to make the final based on this. Mind you, I haven't watched an episode but I am intrigued at how engrossed in it my friends are.

The competition is now more fierce than ever and finalists cannot afford to put a foot wrong. They were reminded of this last week when Auckland's Courtenay Scott-Hill, who through the series has seemed to have a seat waiting for her in the final, was sent home after her map-reading skills saw her fail the go-see challenge. Now just three ladies are vying for the crown: Danielle Hayes from Kawerau, who entered the competition as a dare; Elza Jenkins, who was until a few episodes ago competing alongside her identical twin Nellie; and Michaela Steenkamp, the South African-born Christchurch resident with ambitions as high as her cheekbones.

At just 16, Steenkamp is the youngest remaining contestant. She has a hot bod, and photographers have given her high praise for her ability to "move" it - but she has been criticised for only having "one look".

Jenkins, on the other hand, brings her bold and quirky personality to photo shoots.

But it is Hayes who is leading the text-to-vote poll for people's favourite on the TV3 website.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/fashion-beauty/news/article.cfm?c_id=42&objectid=10683419

Venture Southland Stuff Up As The Remarkables Are In Invercargill?

Venture Southland has been left red faced after a goof up which saw them release a brochure promoting Invercargill as a Rugby World Cup host city, but featuring a picture of the Remarkables which are in Otago on the cover. What a mistake! Hopefully it isn't too late to change it, but it hardly leaves you feeling overly confident a year out from the tournament.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/4284282/Remarkable-slip-moves-Invercargill

Who Wants To See Maria Sharapova?

One of the richest and glamourous women in world sport is coming to Auckland in January and I am keen to go, who wants to join me? She will be playing in the ASB Classic in January 3rd-8th which coincides with my holiday in Northland. We will be staying within 90 minutes drive of this event and it would be cool to go and see her in a match. Sure she grunts loudly, but she brings an amazing power game and glamour rarely seen on these shores. She is better than Anna Kournikova ever was and she can actually back up her A Grade looks with A Grade play. She is still only 24 and wants to use this tournament to get some matchplay in before the Australian Open later in January.

Sharapova has won three Grand Slams, 2004 Wimbledon, the 2006 US Open and the 2008 Australian Open.

So, who is keen to see her in action? Tickets go on sale on Monday, although the corporate boxes have already sold out!

GROUNDS UPDATE FOR MACALISTER PARK:

Hi Touchies



Total Touch meet with council on yesterday to discuss and view the condition of Macalister Park.

The news is not good L Start dates will begin from Monday 8th November.

Macalister Park was closed over winter to lay field irrigation throughout the park. The winter rain has delayed progress with the topping up of areas that sunk in level due to rain and natural compacting. These areas where very dangerous and have now been filled but we know have to wait for the grass to take. If we start now the fields will lose a majority of the grass before the season hits xmas.



Plan from here:



Monday Macalister – Starts 8th November

Tuesday Macalister – Starts 9th November

Wednesday Macalister – Starts 10th November

Thursday Macalister – Starts 11th November



Catch up games will be played on the proposed ‘Catch Sunday’ 28th November (for all nights) so make sure you get your teams to pencil this date in please.



All Macalister Park draws will be up by next Wednesday (3rd Nov)



So please pass on….

MACALISTER PARK IS CLOSED UNTIL SATURDAY 6th NOVEMBER…. NO EXCEPTIONS.

THE COUNCIL HAS INFORMED US THAT IF ANYONE IS FOUND ON THE FIELDS PLAYING TOUCH, THE START DATE MAYBE DELAYED AGAIN.

TOTAL TOUCH WILL ALSO INFORCE PENALTIES TOWARDS ANY TEAMS FOUND USING THE FIELDS

Wimbledon Ticket System Archaic

Trying to get tickets for The Championships at Wimbledon's All England Tennis Club is so archaic, it is ridiculous. I am heading to Europe for a holiday, but thought I would try and confirm tickets before I went, rather than relying on queueing up over there at some ungodly hour only to be potentially turned away.

http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/about/tickets/index.html

So I went to their website and discovered that you have to send a self addressed envelope with an International Response Coupon to London via post and they will send an application for tickets. This continues to give an outdated view of tennis which I alluded to last week after reading what tennis players must wear. The application form has finally arrived about two weeks later and now there is a form to fill out and post back, but there seem to be a few hurdles.

You must fill in the form in black pen and make no mistakes using an address on the electoral role and you don't get to choose which match you get tickets for in the ballot. This makes it tough to book flights in advance. I want to see tennis near the end of the tournament and don't really want to be having to change flights and arriving too early in June.

This probably makes it preferable for locals to buy tickets, but it seems ridiculously outdated as a ticketing system in the year 2010. Most other events in the world, even ones with a ballot like 2011 Rugby World Cup are all done online. I have also been to the Australian Open final and got the tickets online. Surely that is what you do these days.

Red Nose Day November 19 2010

Red Nose Day returns on November 19th 2010 after 13 years away. Anika Moa has just released the same song "You Make The Whole World Smile". The new sponsors are Cure Kids, which is a great cause. I remember how those noses looked cool but were actually painful to wear, pinching the nostrils. So get in behind it. It brings back memories.

Here is an old video.

Riverbend 2010 Part Two

Photos courtesy of Penny Holman

Here are some more photos of Sports Camp at Riverbend 2010. We got 3rd and despite drawing this basketball match (above) given that our team had three NBL players, we got knocked out on points differential. The speaker, Mike Penberthy won an NBA title with the LA Lakers in 2001/2002 is in the photo above sinking a jump shot against us. I don't think he realised the magnitude of this pool match!

Xander from our team got Sports Camp MVP with his massive ability to jump in the basketball and volleyball. He also won the table tennis.

There was no swimming this year and so there was disappointment that no one would see Togs McGee in action and Guns, Nicolai and Mazie couldn't put all their hard training to good use. It is funny that swimming is usually a part of it given how specialist it is. The replacement was a night at the stadium allowing us to play basketball and volleyball on a good floor which helped our cause. We also only found out that there wasn't a specialist concert on the Saturday night. Instead we did a rewritten version of the Sesame Street theme song and sent the Walrus out in a one piece lycra suit first because it was a form of stag party weekend for him.

Although I am sore after camp, it is nothing more than usual for me and with the large injury/level of soreness amongst the overall team including those under 30, I am actually feeling quite satisfied with my weekend. The key is overcoming the tiredness of little hours of sleep, long hours of sunshine and running around. The best thing is to play more sport now to stretch those muscles, but it is hard to get motivation given the sleepiness. Tennis and touch will be in full swing from this weekend, so a break is ideal until then.

For the record, the Warriors from Hamilton won, over Cross Roads from Palmerston North and then us. There were also other churches from Heretaunga, Focus in Rotorua and the local teams Good News and Saints.

I must say that off the field everyone was so friendly and good to get along with. The standard of some sports (players and refs) was top notch, while others were more of a mixed bag. It is hard to know the allocation of points relating to overall points, but it pays not to be left rueing the one that got away too much, because at the end of the day you are there to have fun and it may not have cost you too many points towards the overall title. Not that I am referring to the soccer final or anything! Mike Penberthy for a former top level athlete who played 56 NBA games with Shaq and Kobe and won a championship was a genuinely likeable guy who gave some great messages to inspire all who attended.

Ugly Dance World Cup 2010 - Die Dezentiner Win

Above is the entry video of eventual winners Die Dezentiner.

Below is the final dance off between Die Dezentiner and Inferno Ragazzi.

The second annual Ugly Dance World Cup 2010 awards those people without style and flair, but love dancing awkwardly. The final was held in Hamburg recently in a situation where the winner is the entry that the crowd booed the most. It seems that dancing ugly is a style by itself. You have to love some of the costumes and the fact that it seems to be a bunch of average white guys doing what we do best and dancing ugly. We may need to pull out these moves at Red Square, Boogie Wonderland or Sports Camp next year. As a white middle class professional, this type of dancing is right up my alley. Like the Ugly World Cup I embrace the awkwardness of ugly dancing.


The crowd boo loudly for the Die Dezentiner.

Four young men in their early twenties are dancing on the stage - or just moving about strangely to tacky 90s party music, depending on how you see it. One of them is jumping around and flailing his arms, out of sync with the music. Another is holding his hands bashfully over his crotch, while yet another just stands there, pretending to play a recorder.

This is not something that most would describe as an artistic performance - but according to Florian Schueppel, the event's manager, it is.



"Ugly Dance is the art of unattractive dancing," said Schueppel. "We are not looking for bad dancers, but people who do ugly dancing artfully."



The winner is the one who gets booed the most



The four young men on the stage call themselves Dezentiner (decent ones) and have travelled here from a small town 150 kilometers away. They hope to win this competition and become world champions in ugly dancing. They put a lot of effort into their application entry, which involved uploading a video of their dance onto YouTube. It made the top ten entries.



Tonight, the performing act that receives the most boos from the audience wins. To increase their chances of coming first, Dezentiner have developed a special style that ranges from "dancing wildly to standing around shyly," according to group member Michael Beth, alias "Shy Guy."



The Ugly Dance World Cup is mostly about having fun, but Schueppel says it is also about creativity and art.


"The artistic part of it is doing what the audience doesn't expect," explained Schueppel. "Movements that are unknown, being out of rhythm, mixing styles - there is a lot of room for ugliness there."

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6152046,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

Paul The Octopus Passes Away Peacefully or Did Someone Get To Him First?

Paul "The Oracle" Octopus passed away at an aquarium in Germany today, He gained notoriety for successfully predicting World Cup football matches, making him the envy of millions of punters worldwide or the thorn in the side of bookmakers worldwide?

People often thought that his gift should be used in massive court cases including the David Bain vs Robin Bain murder trial in New Zealand. Some would suggest conspiracy theories of someone getting to Paul before he picked the Bain trial guilty party. What about those bookies who got to Hansie Cronje, they can be nasty, do you think they got to poor Paul first? Did all the media attention get to Paul the Oracle? Or did he like the people at the aquarium suggest die of natural causes peacefully overnight? Most octopuses only live for a few years.

Paul the octopus, which won unlikely worldwide fame correctly predicting a host of World Cup matches, has died, his owners said today.

Stefan Porwoll, manager of the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre in Germany, said: "His success made him almost a bigger story than the World Cup itself."

Paul predicted the winners of all Germany's World Cup clashes, and then of the final by selecting one of two boxes, each loaded with a mussel food treat and marked on the outside with one of the teams.

Staff at the centre said his death was not entirely unexpected, since common octopuses generally only live a couple of years.

"He appears to have passed away peacefully during the night, of natural causes, and we are consoled by the knowledge that he enjoyed a good life here," said Mr Porwoll.

"We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine."

Paul will live on meanwhile in the form of a range of commercial enterprises ranging from special clothing lines to mobile phone applications.

He will also feature in a documentary to be released early next year.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/football/world-cup-oracle-paul-the-octopus-dies-20101026-172hl.html

Riverbend Sports Camp 2010

I am back home now recovering after an epic weekend of sport at Riverbend Sports Camp 2010. I was happy to remain as injury free as expected and participate in soccer (football), touch, volleyball, petanque and long ball in warm conditions. The Street team finished third out of eight teams which was a creditable performance by our large team.

We won the mens volleyball, mens table tennis, womens basketball, womens hockey, cycling, cross country and indoor bowls.

There were several other sports that we had high hopes for, like our star studded mens basketball team, soccer team and mens hockey. Sport can be a tough pill to swallow sometimes. We came up short in these events for various reasons. The competition was tough and sometimes you just don't get the calls going your way.

It would be great to know next time before hand which events had semi finals after pool play and which events go straight to a final. There seemed to be no way of knowing this year. Some sports did have semi finals and others didn't. While in the basketball, the top two teams from last year met in pool play.

I think they got it right by having some matches at the Hastings Stadium on the hard court, which involved more people. This was better than swimming in my opinion. It would have been great to get advanced warning of this because we had some people train for months for the swimming and they required a shoulder to cry on when we found out that there was no swimming. Top Town also included more people which was really good.

My highlights were
1) Winning the mens volleyball title.
2) Having heaps of great people around me to enjoy camp with.
3) Playing my favourite sports, even though we didn't win them all and the touch fields were too small.
4) Seeing Jonny Walrus in his black lycra one piece suit. The whole crowd enjoyed the view too, before our chant item.
5) Sunshine!
6) Remaining injury free (free of serious injury)
7) Strengthening relationships both with the Street people and other teams like Togs McGee.
8) Hearing former NBA winning player Mike Penberthy share some amazing stories and sermons which were inspiring.
9) Watching Guns Sowerby challenge Togs McGee to a swimming race in the pool at camp and Togs tell Guns the pool isn't big enough for a race.
10) Watching The Street dominate sometimes and give it their best shot no matter what.

Now I am off to rest my tired body and legs. The washing is in the machine and I have sunburnt feet, but I am lucky to have been to Riverbend 2010. Forget about those early morning starts after 4 or 5 hours sleep, Riverbend is the place to be.

What was your highlight?

Spike The Oppositions' Drinks - How To Win At Sports Camp

I can't believe this has actually happened. I must admit that it would be a sneaky way of winning, but surely anyone with even an ounce of conscience wouldn't consider this. Mind you, is it any different than getting Susie to poison the All Blacks? At least this team was up front about it! I was just kidding by the way about doing this at Sports Camp. There was one team last year that was struggling enough as it was with the facilities let alone after getting their drinks spiked. It depends if you how important football success is for you.

The coach of a Peruvian football team has been left fuming after an energy drink believed to have been spiked by the opposition found four of his players in hospital.

Peruvian second division side Hijos de Ascovinchos saw four of their players rushed to hospital during a vital promotion-deciding clash after downing 'energy' drinks given to them by the oppositions' medical staff.

According to reports the Ascovinchos players were given the drinks during a break in play against rivals Sport Ancash.

The players in question then started dropping like flies after the restart and were rushed to hospital where it was revealed they had traces of tranquilliser in their blood.

Ancash beat their groggy rivals 3-0 to secure promotion to the Peruvian Premier League, but officials investigating the incident may overturn the result.

http://nz.sports.yahoo.com/football/news/article/-/8173151/football-players-fall-foul-spiked-drinks

Comparing Wellington's Weather With Invercargill - Who Really Has The Worst Weather?

I am confused by the difference in weather between Wellington and Invercargill and I am going to put this argument to bed. It is funny how Invercargill people are defensive about their weather as if the reputation of their city is being ridiculed, while Wellington people complain about how terrible their weather is. So I have decided to do some research and make conclusions based on the statistics and my experiences.

For starters, Invercargill is on average around three degrees colder than Wellington. This difference is noticeable with a puffer jacket compulsory in Invercargill yet sometimes not required as often in Wellington as I found out the hard way several times.

Invercargill gets less annual rainfall, but has more days where rain falls. So when it rains in Wellington it buckets down as with Invercargill gets smaller amounts of rain but on almost every second day of the year.

Wellington is one of the windiest cities in the world and Invers isn't far behind it. Invercargill is the third equal windiest city in New Zealand with Whanganui.

Invercargill actually gets some frosts, while Wellington doesn't, so it is usually not as cold at night in Wellington than it is in Invercargill. I haven't had to resort to sleeping with the electric blanket turned on in Wellington like I used to sometimes have to do in my younger days in either Invercargill or Dunedin.

Bring on summer, because "You can't beat Wellington on a good day!"

Conclusion: If you love the wind and heavy rain go to Wellington, if you love the cold, wind and rain on over 200 days a year, then go to Invercargill.



Wellington
* The average temperature in Wellington, New Zealand is 12.5 °C (55 °F).
* The average temperature range is 8.5 °C.
* The highest monthly average high temperature is 20 °C (68 °F) in January & February.
* The lowest monthly average low temperature is 5 °C (41 °F) in July.
* Wellington's climate receives an average of 1251 mm (49.3 in) of rainfall per year, or 104 mm (4.1 in) per month.
* On average there are 159 days per year with more than 0.1 mm (0.004 in) of rainfall (precipitation) or 13 days with a quantity of rain, sleet, snow etc. per month.
* The driest weather is in January when an average of 74 mm (2.9 in) of rainfall (precipitation) occurrs across 10 days.
* The wettest weather is in August when an average of 135 mm (5.3 in) of rainfall (precipitation) occurrs across 16 days.
* The average annual relative humidity is 72.9% and average monthly relative humidity ranges from 67% in January to 78% in June.
* Average sunlight hours in Wellington range between 3.5 hours per day in July and 7.5 hours per day in January.
* There are an average of 2012 hours of sunlight per year with an average of 5.5 hours of sunlight per day.
* There are an average of 0 days per year with frost in Wellington and in July there are an average of 0 days with frost.

http://www.climatetemp.info/new-zealand/wellington.html



* The average temperature in Invercargill, Southland, New Zealand is 9.7 °C (49 °F).
* The average temperature range is 8.5 °C.
* The highest monthly average high temperature is 19 °C (66 °F) in February.
* The lowest monthly average low temperature is 1 °C (34 °F) in July & August.
* Invercargill, Southland's climate receives an average of 1086 mm (42.8 in) of rainfall per year, or 91 mm (3.6 in) per month.
* On average there are 206 days per year with more than 0.1 mm (0.004 in) of rainfall (precipitation) or 17 days with a quantity of rain, sleet, snow etc. per month.
* The driest weather is in July when an average of 71 mm (2.8 in) of rainfall (precipitation) occurrs across 17 days.
* The wettest weather is in March when an average of 109 mm (4.3 in) of rainfall (precipitation) occurrs across 17 days.
* The average annual relative humidity is 79.8% and average monthly relative humidity ranges from 74% in October to 84% in April.
* Average sunlight hours in Invercargill, Southland range between 2.3 hours per day in June and 6.4 hours per day in January.
* There are an average of 1661 hours of sunlight per year with an average of 4.6 hours of sunlight per day.
* There are an average of 50 days per year with frost in Invercargill, Southland and in July there are an average of 13 days with frost.

http://www.climatetemp.info/new-zealand/invercargill-southland.html

Some Viral Classic Music Videos

Here are two interesting videos which have gone viral in the past on You Tube. What do you think of these two guys who sing/ lip sync these two catchy songs? Are they just a bit creepy or not?



http://www.numanuma.org/




http://trololololololololololo.com/

Tennis Rules Outdated

These two wouldn't be allowed in Wellington tennis with those outfits.

I wonder when the good folk at Wellington Tennis Club will move with the times? While it is good having a reference tool for when different situations arise, but I wonder if it is time to update it?

It is quite interesting reading the Slazenger Interclub Rule Handbook available at

http://www.wellingtontennis.org.nz/documents/MicrosoftWord-SlazengerBooklet201011.pdf

The reason I was doing some research was because someone showed up to our interclub match last night about 40 minutes late and was forced to default. I actually felt sorry for him, but the rules are there for a reason and everyone else had busted their balls to get to Renouf Tennis Centre by 6pm.

Section 10
(b) If any player is not available for play within 15 minutes of the starting time, matches in which he/she is
involved may be awarded to the opposition team unless an explanation acceptable to the opposing
team or Interclub Committee is received. If no player from a team is ready for play within 15 minutes
of the start time the contest will be awarded to the team present. If any player is not ready for play
within 15 minutes of the completion of the previous match, the match in which he/she is due to take
part may be claimed by the opposing team.

Although just how seriously can you take these rules? Checkout what they have to say about Dress and Behaviour. I thought in this day and age with the likes of Rafael Nadal, Del Potro and the Williams sisters wearing rather controversial attire by Wellington Tennis standards that surely this would be outdated. They can play in a Grand Slam but can't play in Wellington tennis. I remember getting a code violation for not wearing a polo shirt at a tournament in 1996. But come on, it is 2010. Surely they won't check the ridges of peoples' shoes.

17.0 DRESS AND BEHAVIOUR
17.1 All players shall dress and present themselves for play in approved tennis clothing. Where a club has an
“official” club top, players are encouraged to support their clubs and wear the top. None of the following
attire may be worn: t-shirts, singlets, dress shirts, gym shorts, bermuda shorts and lycra shorts or any
other inappropriate attire.
17.2 Appropriate tennis footwear must be worn at all times, this excludes plastic or rubber hard soled, ripple
soled or rigid soled shoes or any other shoe that could be damaging to the court surface.
17.3 A committee person from Tennis Central or club official has the authority to enforce Rule 17.1 and 17.2
and order players to comply with that rule.

Some Great Photos To Enjoy!

These photos are a collection I stole from Yahoo Xtra Sport! There are some classics here from the recent Commonwealth Games and other sporting events. Like a great joke some of these photos are hilarious because of their timing.

No Changes Likely, Some Questions Regarding the Blackcaps Recent Series Loss to Bangladesh

The recent embarrassing whitewash defeat 4-0 to Bangladesh shows that we have reached our lowest point in a long time and I am disappointed. Is this the darkest loss in the history of New Zealand cricket? I would suggest not, but it is down there.

From Stuff

FIVE DARK DAYS

March 1955: Twenty-six. New Zealand's lowest test score, and likely to stand for all time [second test versus England, Eden Park].

October 2010: New Zealand had lost just once from 17 previous ODIs against Bangladesh, suddenly it's five from 21 as the Tigers roar.

February 1995: New Zealand's heaviest test defeat at home, by an innings and 322 runs, against the West Indies at the Basin Reserve [not to mention 13 consecutive ODI defeats that summer].

January 2001: Heath Streak clobbers Craig McMillan into the Eden Park grandstand to seal Zimbabwe's shock 2-1 ODI series victory.

May 2002: A record New Zealand test defeat, by an innings and 324 runs against Pakistan at Lahore. A fatal bomb blast outside the team hotel saw the tour abandoned days later.

In this case, we did lose to a non test playing nation, but I hope this is the kick in the pants we need and I still think we can take a few positives out of it. We lost away from home, in the sub continent, narrowly in three of the four matches, the pitches were slow and their bowling attack tricky to handle. We also unearthed some talent in Hamish Bennett and Kane Williamson. This series is also in our off season and comes after a long break. There is only one way to go from here (hopefully)!

But the following questions remain unanswered.

1) When do we get a real coach? We need a hard nosed Aussie like Steve Rixon rather than Mark Greatbatch who it seems is just holding the title while the senior players get their own way.

2) With the World Cup just around the corner in February, why should the Blackcaps get $250,000 worth of Government SPARC funding? Surely our players get enough from Twenty 20 cricket anyway?

3) Who is Hamish Bennett and when did he come onto the scene? He has at least got pace, but what has happened to Tim Southee who was the next big thing?

4) Why is our batting especially so bad? We self destructed with only Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson not damaging their reputations. These guys still need coaching on mental application. Bring back Mark Richardson, he didn't have the natural ability but showed in the test arena that mental toughness can get you a long way.

5) Is Kane Williamson the next Matthew Sinclair? He scored a century and has done nothing else. At least he is young and hopefully he will develop.

Where to from here? A new coach? New players? With the World Cup almost here it is probably too late to do anything until after it. Then we need a major overhaul.

This is Hamish Bennett.


Full name Hamish Kyle Bennett

Born February 22, 1987, Timaru

Current age 23 years 239 days

Major teams Canterbury, Canterbury Under-19s, New Zealand A, New Zealand Academy, New Zealand Emerging Players, New Zealand Under-19s

Batting style Left-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm medium-fast

Hamish Bennett, a fast bowler for Canterbury, received his first New Zealand call-up for the tour of Bangladesh in 2010. He made his first-class debut in 2005 and was part of New Zealand's squad for the Under-19 World Cup in 2006. He has been a solid performer for Canterbury and New Zealand A and the highlight of his budding career was the 7 for 50 he took to help Canterbury win the State Championship final in 2008.

http://www.cricinfo.com/newzealand/content/player/226493.html



http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/4246318/Black-Caps-change-unlikely-despite-debacle

Man To Marry Two Women In 24 Hours

This guy has got it sorted. A Pakistani man will marry both the woman who has been engaged to him since childhood and the woman he actually loves within 24 hours of each other. This way he keeps his family onside and the love of his life happy. The women will live like sisters and he will no doubt have a strange but potentially very happy marriage. What do you think of this concept? Did he dodge a bullet or do you think this will backfire?

A 23-year-old Pakistani man plans to marry two women in 24 hours, gaining national attention for his novel solution to a dilemma over wedding the woman he loves or going ahead with the marriage his family arranged.

Pakistani law allows polygamy based on the concept that Islam, the main religion in the country, allows up to four wives.

But men who take multiple wives usually do so years apart and must get approval from their first wife prior to a second marriage.

Azhar Haidri initially refused to marry 28-year-old Humaira Qasim - the woman to whom he has been engaged since childhood - because he wanted to marry the woman with whom he had fallen in love, 21-year-old Rumana Aslam.

But the decision threatened to split his family apart since arranged marriages are often customary in Pakistan.

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/8149579/2-brides-2-days-1-mans-love-vs-custom/

Should Tony Veitch Return To Radio?

Tony Veitch is set to return to Radio Sport as a Breakfast Show host as Mark Richardson moves to part time and D'Arcy Waldegrave shifts to the Drive Show. There are rumours circulating that they have had to hire a new producer for him because no one wants to work with him. It seems that he won't have many friends at work to hang with during play lunch.
Here is an interesting article from the NZ Herald website.

http://msn.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10681133

Should Tony Veitch be back on air? I think that although what he did was bad, we didn't hear the whole story and I think he deserves to be able to work again. The only problem is, that unlike most other New Zealanders, his job is a highly public role where he is likely to be harassed by the public. I think that is why they need to get in a new producer.

I must say that Tony Veitch used to be brilliant on Radio Sport, second only to the great Martin Devlin. That is why he deserves another shot. He did the crime and the time. He has been away from there for a few years now.

Do you think Tony Veitch deserves another chance at Radio Sport? or should he be red carded for life for his past indiscretions?

Why Do People Not Check Their Lotto Tickets Themselves?

There is a Lotto prize of $28 million to be won in Papakura and people are queueing up to get their tickets checked at a Mobil service station. Can people not check their tickets themselves? The numbers are on television and the Internet. I almost missed a bus the other day as I was what waiting to top up my Snapper card at the local bookstore and Lotto shop on Courtenay Place, but was forced to wait for about 5 minutes while the woman in front of me got her Big Wednesday numbers checked. I thought part of the fun and entertainment of Lotto was to watch as the numbers get announced and check if you have them. She didn't win anything, so it was a bit of a waste of time by all accounts and I just made my bus after a mad dash from the store.

New Zealand's Next Top Model - Ridiculously Popular, But Why?

http://ondemand.tv3.co.nz/Cycle-2-Ep-11/tabid/59/articleID/1332/MCat/142/Default.aspx
Most of my female friends have been busy on Friday nights and it isn't because they are out partying hard or sitting at home doing cross stitch, no, it is because they are at home watching New Zealand's Next Top Model. It is amazing how popular this show has become, not only with the under 18 school girl market, but also with the female market in general. Most of the female fans I know are the other side of 20 and I think of as highly respectable people. They even gather together in groups of fans. It is like the female equivalent of watching the footy. Women gather to watch and make an evening of it. This provides them with a forum to vent their frustrations at the show. The fans that this show seem to be addicted and loyal viewers who can watch re-runs of the episode on demand even if they follow the link above. They are relying on the youth market to buy into the show through social media like Facebook or Twitter and watching clips of the shows on demand via the Internet. There is also voting via text.

Why do people watch this show?
This is the million dollar question. What gets people watching this show religiously?

1) The combination of characters where there is always one bitch who hates the others and causes controversy but always manages to stay on the show, gets the sense of injustice bubbling in spectators. New Zealand shows often lack a huge variety of characters because we are a small conservative nation, but there is usually the occasional controversial character. The producers keep these people on and fix the show so that they are on to keep things spiced up a bit. The fans get fired up, but that is why they keep watching.

2) Jealousy - although they never admit it, the female viewers actually want to be models in one shape or form and have people looking at them wearing amazing clothes. I remember whenever the beautiful Sonia Gray used to be the lovely assistant on Wheel of Fortune, my old flatmates used to constantly criticise her posture and outfits. She looked fine to me and I think they used the criticism to make themselves feel better.

3) To see who wins. It is a crazy concept. Everyone has their favourite contestant that they think should win. It is human nature to want to see if they do indeed win the contest. This is the main point of the show, but I think it isn't the only reason most girls watch it.

4) To mock or ridicule. Sometimes the mocking and ridiculing stems from jealousy like in point 2, and other times it stems from the random assortment of characters as in point 1, but sometimes people want to mock or ridicule for the general stupidity and disbelief at the intelligence and lack of thinking of some of the contestants. They are young wannabee models, they are hardly going to be rocket scientists.

5) Artistic viewpoint. Some more creative types could watch to see the outfits, shooting photo sessions with the random settings, hair, make up, different styles etc. This could actually be very helpful for the fashion students or connoisseurs among us.

I haven't watched an episode of this series, but I wonder how much of it is fixed to increase their ratings? I also wonder how much of the Australian one was staged? I love watching this video of when they announced the winner incorrectly, it is very funny. I did watch one episode of the last series.

Latest Doppelganger Sighting - Jack Bauer's Dead Ringer

I was watching a television advertisement for the Australian movie The Black Balloon which screens at 8:30pm on TV One on Sunday night and I forgot how much Rhys Wakefield who starred as Lucas Holden on Home and Away is a shorter, blonde version of Commonwealth Games cyclist and my old flatmate Jack Bauer.




Don't worry Bauer, I also have the dubious distinction of looking like another famous Rhys, Rhys Darby.

Who looks more alike? Me and Rhys or Bauer and Rhys?

It Is Time To Retune The Radio - This Is Why!

This is why so many radio stations across the country are moving frequencies sometimes ever so slightly. It just means retuning the radio.

Over the coming months approximately 250 FM radio station frequencies in New Zealand will be changing. This accounts for around a third of all FM frequencies that are used in New Zealand.

When FM transmissions first began in New Zealand in the 1980's the channel spacing (the gap between stations) and frequency allocations that were used were not optimal in some regions. This means that in some areas the ability to broadcast new stations was hampered, and interference in adjoining regions could also occur which resulted in some frequencies being unavailable for use.

In April 2011 the usage rights for all AM and FM radio stations in New Zealand come up for renewal. In 2003 the Government agreed on a policy for existing rightholders to enable them to purchase 20 year licences from the 2nd April 2011 and in set new pricing formulas for usage rights of these frequencies. Over the past couple of years planning work has been under way to change many of these frequencies to ensure they are reallocated in a way that best suits New Zealand and allows for additional radio stations, as well as allowing the ability to offer services as as HD radio in the future if radio stations see this as an option.

Starting in June 2010 and continuing into early 2011 a significant number of frequency changes will occur, publicity for these changes has just started to appear and full details of every change, including the new frequencies is available from www.frequencyfinder.co.nz
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/sbiddle/7249

Movie Club Hits Eat, Pray, Love

Reject Movie Club attended Eat, Pray, Love tonight. I thought I could handle most chick flicks, but I must admit that I struggled with this movie. Julia Roberts plays a women who is on a spirtual journey of self discovery after a divorce. I found the Italy leg of the journey the best. While it is definitely a female thing to indulge in the nuances of food to the extent that she did, but there was plenty of great scenery. The trip to India was pretty intense with heaps of meditation and spirituality, which grew old pretty quickly. Bali was more fun and included a relationship between Julia Roberts and the scary guy from No Country for Old Men. He had a much better haircut in this movie. This movie did drag and it wasn't just my imagination. It lasted about 150 minutes and I was ready to leave after the India trip. It is probably more aimed at females with a heart for different cultures, who don't mind the serenity of going to meet a guru and going on a spiritual journey. This wasn't for me, but it filled in a Friday night! It is actually quite a cool concept writing a book based on a trip, as a writer I can appreciate that.

I thought I would do some research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat,_Pray,_Love
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia is a 2006 memoir by American author Elizabeth Gilbert. The memoir chronicles the author's trip around the world after her divorce and what she discovered during her travels. The book remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 187 weeks.[2] According to Metacritic, it has received mostly favored critical reviews.[3]

The movie rights for the memoir were purchased by Columbia Pictures. The film version, which stars American actress Julia Roberts, was released in theaters on Friday, August 13, 2010.[4][5]

Gilbert followed-up this book with the sequel Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, released through Viking in January 2010. It covered her life after Eat, Pray, Love ends

At 32 years old, Elizabeth Gilbert was educated and had a home, a husband, and a successful career as a writer. However, she was unhappy in her marriage and often spent the night crying on her bathroom floor. She has an affair, during which she separated from her husband and initiated a divorce, which he contested. The affair continued for some time but did not work out, leaving her devastated and alone. While writing an article on yoga vacations in Bali, she met a ninth-generation medicine man who told her she would come back and study with him. After finalizing her difficult divorce, she spent the next year traveling. She spent four months in Italy, eating and enjoying life (Eat). She spent four months in India, finding her spirituality (Pray). She ended the year in Bali, Indonesia, looking for "balance" of the two and found love (Love) in the form of a dashing Brazilian factory owner.[7]

The trip was paid for in advance from the book deal for Eat Pray Love

Has anyone else seen this movie, what did you think? For the record, it wasn't just me at this movie, there were two females with me, so I wasn't there alone. There were obviously more guys in the theatre than girls.

Riverbend Sports Camp 2010

Riverbend Sports Camp is only one week away now. Time has flown by since the last one, but the memories live on. You forget about the early mornings and sleeping in tiny bunkrooms as the fun of playing sport and spending time with other Christians takes over. There is usually a great guest speaker and the locals put on some worship times. We are lucky enough to be attending the 30th Riverbend Sports Camp. For those lucky enough to be attending this year, here is information for you.

Ben and myself have had the difficult job of trying to fit in everyone who was keen to come. We had people express interest from such an early stage that we were pumped and ready for sports camp several months ago. I am hoping for an improvement in our longball efforts from last year.

With Sports Camp there is a fine line between watching heaps of sport and playing not enough and playing heaps and watching not enough. People have different abilities, fitness and expectations, so it is hard to cater for all needs.

Last year I took plenty of Powerade and food with me. The food is great there, but you usually end up playing at around 6:15 in the morning and you really need food and drinks on hand and ready to go first thing in the morning.

Here are some helpful hints from the Riverbend website.

Check List:

Teams of 25 minimum

Individual Consent forms signed

Team Manager has sent all information to Sports Camp Committee

Fundraising completed

Transport to and from Sports Camp is arranged

Inform team of any changes made as advised by Sports Camp Committee

Team fees paid

Team mascot

Team song or chant

Team banners



Things to pack:

Bible and pen

Suitable clothes for all weather conditions

Money for Gracebooks

Money for snacks at the Canteen

Necessary sports gear e.g. hockey sticks, mouth guards, swimming togs etc

Togs for swimming in camp pool, if weather is hot



Other:

Non-Christians to witness to

Team prayer time



MIKE PENBERTHY

Mike Penberthy will be our guest speaker in 2010.

Mike was an American professional basketball player. At 6'3" (1.90 m), the NAIA powerhouse guard played for The Master's College in California where he gained much attention. Mike broke numerous school records (including most career points), and was later inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2005. Penberthy played 56 games for the Los Angeles Lakers over two years and was part of the 2000-01 championship winning team. After the Lakers, Mike played basketball professionally in Italy for eight years.

Mike attends Placerita Baptist Church, California – the same church that sent us last year's Sports Camp speaker, John Richard.

For a list of sports rules click on the link below

http://www.riverbend.org.nz/site/cpage.asp?cpage_id=9927&sec_id=3048

Booze Cheaper Than Water

It is official, it is cheaper to buy alcohol than bottled water. With so many alcohol companies (especially wines) saturating the market, you can easily pick up cheap wine for slightly less than a standard drink of water. A standard glass of wine is obviously less than 250ml though. Milk remains the cheapest drink though, and how many people knock back a glass of milk these days? I would suggest soft drink like Coke is probably still the cheapest, but there is no mention of it here.

Public Health Associate Professor Nick Wilson and fellow researcher Fiona Gunasekara found cask wine readily for sale at 62 cents per standard drink, beer at 64c and bottled wine at 65c.

That was cheaper than bottled water – at 67 cents per 250ml – and not much more than a 250ml glass of milk, at 43 cents.

So, what does this mean? We drink more alcohol? or should the Government put a tax on it before we all turn into booze hags?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/4235314/Booze-now-cheaper-than-bottled-water

The Games Are Over - How Did We Go? The Analysis

Two members from our more highest SPARC funded sports. Jack Bauer and Gareth Kean are future stars who performed well in Delhi.

Thanks to a late surge New Zealand has surpassed their efforts in Melbourne in 2006 by claiming their sixth gold medal as part of a 36 medal haul. While we finished 11th on the medal table, we still achieved a similar number of golds to what we usually achieve at away games with the exception of Manchester in 2002 where we got 11.

What happened to our golds?
There was talk of Australia becoming a republic a few years back. This would help our cause given how successful our neighbours are especially at the same sports that we play. Plenty of our silvers could've become gold, bronzes become silvers and fourths which we are famous for becoming bronzes. The Aussies have over 70 gold medals and that is nearly twice what second place India have (38). They also usually get around 200 medals all up.

The conditions in Delhi have taken the edge off our athletes. A huge part of our successful campaign in Manchester in 2002 was our ability to handle the mild weather. New Zealanders often struggle in the intense heat because we aren't used to it. I think we have done well given conditions and could've done better if conditions were more like home. But that is the beauty of taking the games to different venues.

The reason we are 11th despite doing slightly better than Melbourne last time is the emergence of Malaysia, Kenya, Singapore and Nigeria. These countries have been improving their sporting prowess in recent times and probably found the conditions more similar to their home country than we did. It was interesting to see them doing well in their non tradtional sports with the Malaysian cyclists doing well. We secured a similar number of medals to these countries, but less golds.

India as the host nation has also performed better than usual and finished in second place with 38 gold medals. They are the sleeping giants of world sport with their massive population and hopefully for them they can use this great performance as a stepping stone to future success on the sports field. They have only really been a top Commonwealth Games nation in recent years, but hopefully they continue their rise to the top of the medal table next time.

Our placings in previous away Commonwealth Games since 1978

NZ's Commonwealth Games medal tally

1978, Edmonton, Canada

Fifth on medal table with 20 (5 golds, 6 silvers, 9 bronzes)

1982, Brisbane, Australia

Fifth on medal table with 26 (5 golds, 8 silvers, 13 bronzes)

1986, Edinburgh, Scotland

Fourth on medal table with 38 (8 golds, 16 silvers, 14 bronzes)

1994, Victoria, Canada

Eighth on medal table with 42 (5 golds, 16 silvers, 21 bronzes)

1998, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sixth on medal table with 34 (8 golds, 6 silvers, 20 bronzes)

2002, Manchester, England

Fifth on medal table with 45 (11 golds, 13 silvers, 21 bronzes)

2006, Melbourne, Australia

Ninth on medal table with 31 (6 golds, 12 silvers, 13 bronzes)

2010, Delhi, India

11th on medal table with 36 (6 golds, 22 silvers, 8 bronzes)

While Australia dominated proceedings in several of our sports, it is interesting to note which sports we were successful in. It is intriguing to see the SPARC funding given to our sports and how correlates to success.

The sports that got the most money were success stories for us. We had several medals in cycling, swimming and athletics. They also unearthed and blooded new talent like Eddie Dawkins, Nikki Hamblin and Gareth Kean.

The next sports on the list are netball, rugby and hockey. You can't fault the results of these sports. We got medals in all three and this included gold in the Sevens and netball.

The pick of the rest of these sports were the efforts of Joelle King with a gold and silver in the doubles and mixed doubles squash. We also got medals in the shooting and weightlifting.

Given the $350,000 funding lawn bowls received our one silver to Val Smith was disappointing. It seems that our players struggled with the greens in Delhi which were completely different to New Zealand, so there will be some questions asked there. There has been controversy between Gary Lawson and New Zealand Bowls in recent times, which leaves you wondering what will happen to funding for lawn bowls?

Archery, tennis and boxing were also disappointing as we usually pick up a boxing medal although some of the African countries are really improving at boxing, making it tough. I thought we may have an outside chance with Marina Erakovic in the tennis and in the archery.

How did we go? I think we did well getting 36 medals and unearthed plenty of young talent. It would've been nice to get more golds, but conditions were difficult and other countries including Australia, Malaysia, India, Kenya and Singapore have performed well.


COMMONWEALTH GAMES SPORTS

What the tax payer forks over

Cycling $3,235,000
Swimming $1,350,000
Athletics $1,300,000
Netball $750,000
Rugby $750,000
Hockey $765,000 (men) $650,000 (women)
Lawn Bowls $350,000
Squash $300,000
Archery $100,000
Wrestling $95,000
Shooting $45,000
Tennis $50,000
Boxing $12,500

Is There Something In The Water in Asia?

A Nepalese teenager whose tiny stature has made him a celebrity in his homeland entered the record books as the world's shortest man on Thursday as he celebrated his 18th birthday. Although the previous record holder was Colombian, there have been several either World's Tallest and Shortest men coming from around the Nepal and Mongolia regions. I am unsure what is in the water in those parts.

Khagendra Thapa Magar, who stands just 25.8 inches (65.5 centimetres) tall and weighs 5.5 kilos (12 pounds), takes over from 24-year-old Edward "Nino" Hernandez from Colombia, who is almost two inches taller.

He is now an adult supposedly although I thought you didn't stop growing until the early 20s.

http://nz.entertainment.yahoo.com/news/article/-/8130866/nepalese-teen-becomes-worlds-smallest-man/

Television Coverage of Commonwealth Games

Most of the nation who don't have SKY won't realise that New Zealand has won their third gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in the women's doubles squash. We also have a chance to win gold in the mixed doubles squash with Joelle King backing up in both. It is a shame that people with Prime only won't know it yet. It definitely pays to have SKY Television although even on SKY it was only noted as Delayed Coverage.

We also watched Malaysia playing England in the lawn bowls when Val Smith was winning her semi final in the singles, but where is the television coverage? She is into the final now and I am watching it live.

Go Val Smith.

The Other Guys - A Movie For Guys

I went and saw The Other Guys and thought that it was the funniest movie of the year. Will Ferrell and Marc Wahlberg are in this hilarious movie about two cops who become partners. There are heaps of big names in it and plenty of banter and I wonder if the girls I was with appreciated some of the banter and borderline jokes, but I loved them.
What did you think of this movie?

Commonwealth Games Statistics

After our lack of gold medals at the Commonwealth Games so far I decided to conduct research into our past performances to see how we are going with respect to the past.
Here are some statistical conclusions I came to using information from Commonwealth Games since we hosted in 1990 up until today.

1) It looks like we are destined to finish our lowest position since 1990 on the table. We are in 11th spot at the moment and three golds behind Scotland, so we will be lucky to reach the top 10. Our best spot was in 1990 when we hosted where we got 4th. Our best finish away from home was a 5th in Manchester 2002, while we got 9th in Melbourne in 2006.

2) Our highest number of golds was 17 in 1990, while we got 11 in Manchester and 6 in Melbourne. So our 3 golds so far is disappointing.

3) Our 28 medals so far is still competitive and we should achieve more than the 31 in Melbourne but not as many as the 58 we got in 1990 or the 45 in Manchester in 2002

4) The 18 silver medals we have so far is the most we have scored at the Commonwealth Games in this analysis. We got 16 in 1994.

5) India are sitting 2nd at the moment. The host nation hasn't finished below the 4th place that New Zealand and Malaysia achieved when hosting. India have been finishing in the half dozen countries in recent times. They are the sleeping giants given their massive population, but could hold on and knock England from their usual 2nd position. Australia always finish first.

The Commonwealth Games aren't over yet, and while we haven't got as many golds as other years, we are on track to get more medals than the last Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Who knows? We could get some more golds in the last full day to improve our position.

Below are the medal tables for the Commonwealth Games since 1990. Thanks to Wikipedia. I only included the top 10 apart from this year.

1990 Auckland
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Australia 52 54 58 164
2 England 47 40 43 130
3 Canada 35 43 38 116
4 New Zealand 17 14 27 58
5 India 13 8 11 32
6 Wales 10 3 12 25
7 Kenya 6 9 3 18
8 Nigeria 5 13 7 25
9 Scotland 5 7 10 22
10 Malaysia 2 2 0 4

1994 Victoria Canada

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Australia 88 53 43 184
2 Canada 41 43 49 133
3 England 31 45 51 127
4 Nigeria 11 13 13 37
5 Kenya 7 4 8 19
6 India 6 12 7 25
7 Scotland 6 3 11 20
8 New Zealand 5 16 21 42
9 Wales 5 8 6 19
10 Northern Ireland 5 2 3 10


1998 Kuala Lumpur

Medal table

Participating countries Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Australia 82 61 57 200
2 England 36 49 53 138
3 Canada 30 31 40 101
4 Malaysia 10 14 12 36
5 South Africa 9 11 14 34
6 New Zealand 8 6 20 34
7 India 7 10 8 25
8 Kenya 7 5 4 16
9 Jamaica 4 2 0 6
10 Wales 3 4 8 15

Medals tally for 2002 Commonwealth Games:

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Medals Tally
1 Australia 82 62 63 207
2 England 54 52 60 166
3 Canada 31 41 46 118
4 India 30 22 17 69
5 New Zealand 11 13 21 45
6 South africa 9 20 17 46
7 Cameroon 9 1 2 12
8 Malaysia 7 9 18 34
9 Wales 6 13 12 31
10 Scotland 6 8 16 30

Medals tally for 2006 Commonwealth Games:

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Medals Tally
1 Australia 84 69 68 221
2 England 36 40 34 110
3 Canada 26 29 31 86
4 India 22 17 11 50
5 South Africa 12 13 13 38
6 Scotland 11 7 11 29
7 Jamaica 10 4 8 22
8 Malaysia 7 12 10 29
9 New Zealand 6 12 13 31
10 Kenya 6 5 7 18

Country Standing Gold Silver Bronze Total
AUS - Australia 1 68 45 40 153
IND - India 2 32 25 32 89
ENG - England 3 30 50 41 121
CAN - Canada 4 25 16 32 73
RSA - South Africa 5 12 11 10 33
NGR - Nigeria 6 11 10 13 34
KEN - Kenya 7 10 9 8 27
MAS - Malaysia 8 7 8 9 24
SIN - Singapore 9 7 6 6 19
SCO - Scotland 10 6 8 7 21
NZL - New Zealand 11 3 18 7 28

This Is Why I Love The Commonwealth Games

Sure, it isn't the same standard as the Olympic Games, but this is why I love the Commonwealth Games in some ways. The kiwi rythmic gymnastics team finished 4th out of 5 teams. They got second last and almost got a medal. They lived up to New Zealand's policy of always getting 4th. The beauty of the the Commonwealth Games is that we are more often in the hunt than not. There is less depth entered in events so that even our competitors in events usually reserved for the strong American, Russian and Chinese athletes like gymnastics can actually get some kind of medal where usually they would even struggle to qualify.

Is the lack of depth and increase in opportunities a bad thing? Where do you draw the line between quality and entertainment? The events have lacked depth, but it has given us a chance and this is great from an entertainment perspective.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/commonwealth-games/other-events/4226247/Kiwi-rythmic-gymnastics-team-fourth-out-of-five-teams

The Week That Was, Ten Lingering Questions.

The last seven days have been busy, but there have been several lingering questions to come out of it.

1) Is there any other way to make grown Southland men cry than to take away their Ranfurly Shield?

2) What happened to The Street's Pala Molisa at the Commonwealth Games? Well he finished 7th in Group B of the 85kg section with a combined total of 237kg.

3) I went to the opera on Saturday night. MacBeth was where the rich socialites like me were but it pays to do your research on the story line. Can anyone tell me where the six babies who were thrown around as dolls on stage and one dropped accidentially, fit into the story of MacBeth? I thought my friend The Doctor would have more to sing. It is amazing how small the cast is for MacBeth, although there are heaps of people chorus.

4) Where did big Calum get to over the weekend? His absence from brunch was duly noted as the Kingston flat guys ended up with 20 pancakes each for afternoon tea followed by Kranskys on Saturday. He was being flogged on the basketball court for the NBL All Stars as a final warm up for the Breakers. Breakers won easily for the record.


5) With the continuation of the Commonwealth Games, can the male divers wear smaller budgie smugglers? I have to say given the height they dive from and the impact on entry, they must be made of strong fabric!

6) I have decided that if I want to do social activities with friends, then it is up to me to organise. The trouble is that people are keen to do social activities, but no one wants to organise and for some events it requires one person to purchase tickets or whatever when they go on sale in faith that closer to the time of the actual event, enough people will come forward with the money. Is there anyway of getting people to commit earlier in order to avoid financial hardship?


7) Is this the best way to get passengers to pay attention at the beginning of their flights? Does it beat the body painted Air New Zealand video?

8) Why did organisers of the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games put the Mens Cycling Road Race on during the hotest time of the day? The mercury hit 40 degrees and my old flatmate Jack Bauer who at one stage made a break for gold and ended up 10th, was one of only about 50 of the 130ish riders who finished the race. Why race in such heat?

9) Do people not realise that Paraguay vs All Whites football match tomorrow night is not a sellout? Sure it is only a friendly unlike the Bahrain qualifier, but it will still be a quality game and for only $40 you can join your friends who have already got tickets because there will be about 10,000 spare seats.

10) Does anyone else not care about the cricket at the moment? So it isn't just the Blackcaps that don't care that they are losing to minnows Bangladesh?