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March 2008

NRL Round 3 tips

Round 3 tips, 28-31 March:

Friday:
Parramatta to beat Newcastle
North Queensland to beat Brisbane

Saturday:
Roosters to beat Melbourne
St George to beat Canberra
Gold Coast to beat Cronulla

Sunday:
Penrith to beat South Sydney
Wests Tigers to beat Canterbury

Monday:
Manly to beat the Warriors.

More on:: 

NRL Footy Tips Round 2

I submitted these tips before kickoff last night, and I am already 0 for 2 this weekend...

Friday:
Souths to beat Canterbury (they didn't)
Roosters to beat Broncos (they didn't)

Saturday:
Penrith to beat Canberra
Newcastle to beat Manly
Balmain to beat Townsville

Sunday:
Parramatta to beat Auckland
Melbourne to beat Cronulla

More on:: 

It's not me II

Sheraton Bowling Club secretary Rick Eyre said they were immensely appreciative to BP South West Pacific (Ltd), Sheraton, and Kundan Singh who all stepped in to assist the minor sport.

"The Fiji bowling squad to the recent world bowls championship received $5000 from the interim government," Eyre said.

(source: Fiji Times, 22.3.08)

Let me just say at this juncture that I have never been to Fiji, never played bowls, never run a sporting club, and never stayed at a Sheraton.

NRL Footy Tips Round 1

It's the centenary year of competitive rugby league in Australia in 2008, although it could be argued that the game is in a sorrier state these days since its Faustian encounter with News Limited began thirteen years ago. It's no coincidence that News Ltd owns 50 per cent of the NRL while also owning 100 per cent of the current premiers Melbourne Storm, who are also 5/2 favourites to win the premiership this year.

Hello, my name is Ashwell Prince. I'm a Mumbai Indian.

I wish I could understand the rules under which the buying of players by the Indian Premier League franchises operates. Meat Market II wrapped up at the Mumbai Hilton yesterday, and I just wonder how and if IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi is making things up as he goes along.

Consider the case of Ashwell Prince who, after being passed in at Meat Market I, was snapped up yesterday. Prince will not be a (Chennai) SuperKing, a (Rajasthan) Royal or a (Bangalore) Royal Challenger, he becomes a Mumbai Indian. But that's not the issue.

ICL rebels? Who needs 'em?

New Zealand flogged England in the First Test on Sunday. England were set 300 for victory, but just couldn't quite get there, all out for 110. Ryan Sidebottom's hat-trick was in vain, as was Aussie Tim Ambrose's debut first innings half-century.

But hang on a tic? Wasn't New Zealand cricket supposed to be on its way down the tubes having lost all its best talent to the Icicle?

The ODI Triseries, 1977-2008. RIP.

A thirty-year phase of cricketing history came to an end at the Gabba tonight. The triangular one-day international series had long past its use-by date, and was finally being put out of its misery. But instead of ending with a whimper, it went out with an unexpected bang. India completed a 2-0 clean-sweep of the best-of-three finals series against Australia to win the 2008 Commonwealth Bank Series.

Looking for hate in all the wrong places

OK class, repeat after me:
"Monkey is not a racist word in Australia."

It's not, in general. There is, however, a long history of "monkey" being used as a term of racial derision in Britain and continental Europe against people of African or Caribbean heritage, most prominently on the football field. Andrew Symonds, born in Birmingham of Jamaican parents, and an immigrant to Australia as a child, comes into this category.