Bullets for Monday

I've been staring into this monitor all day and my head's a little hurty in the way hard work will do to you. So I'm going to delay my essay on the Death of Ideological Self-interest and shoot some bullets.

First, random: Didn't that video footage of bar-room shoot-out in the US look just like the Wild West? Talk about consequences... I predict copy-cat crimes, just to get on air.

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Sport:
Congrats to the Silver Ferns for their victory in the first Fastnet World Series. You girls are starting to look the goods.
Also big ups to the All Whites for the 0-0 vs Bahrain. Sadly I won't be in Wellington for the return match, so you'll have to win it without me, get us into the Football World Cup for the first time in 27 years.
I am struggling to imagine the beast Rugby Sevens will become over the next 7 years before the 2016 Olympics, but if it's anything like what has happened to the 15s game under professionalism, we NZers better get more used to losing. Losing games, our top players, money, and viewing rights.

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Saw Knocked Up on DVD. Much funnier and smarter and with more heart than I gave it credit for, having been put off the half-toasted turd that was Seth Rogan's "Miri makes a porno".

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Something serious:
I value civil disobedience, dissidence and activism. However, I would like to see more strategy and thought go into the efforts than Greenpeace's latest, grafitti-ing a shipload of palm kernels in Taranaki harbour.

Such actions are a natural consequence of decades of extreme negligence towards the environment, where successive governments have been derelict in their democratic duty to providing justice and allowing an even hearing of all interests in our society. To the point where, sadly, palm kernels are not the front line in our environmental issues. Not while we're talking a token Emissions trading scheme and mining conservation land.

Politically, it can be handy to have extreme acts on fringe issues, since radical groups put into context the policies of less radical advocates, but only with coordination. Maybe Palm Kernels is a soft fight Greenpeace can win, but I'd have thought there were more important targets with less potential blowback.

It just seems a waste of effort.

Capitulations and Commiserations

The All Blacks' 33-6 victory over the Wallabies was an interesting affair; but not as interesting as all the hot air that escaped afterwards.

Spiro Zavos notes on the Roar that the crowd leaving the stadium were surprisingly muted, and actually that's how I felt watching it. I saw a lot of toil and endeavour from the All Blacks - and an improvement, with the error count down, a good loose trio and, at last, CORY JANE on the field. But Nonu's try was a relief, and Rokocoko's just a little mouthwash after swallowing an awful home season where we'd have much rather seen this performance in the first game than the last.

It was only once I read my first NZ-based news item that I realised that I had apparently been watching a game of majesty and excellence from the All Blacks.

Indeed, it was a story repeated throughout the press here, and I was reminded yet again that many of these papers and writers RELY on our love of rugby to cash their paychecks. The after match reports are always so uncritical of obvious game-turning decision by referees these days, of the blindness to offside, forward passes, and the reporting of penalty counts are a thing of the past... It's not in the media's interest to get too down on their cash-cow.

And so, this win has been blown out of all proportions. You want to see a real NZ-AUS thrashing? Try 43-6 in the wet at Athletic Park in 1996. Saturday's All Blacks were strong, but the Wallabies limp - as they have always been when they are favoured in the professional era. Other than the "John Eales" era of influence, 1998-2002, the Wallabies struggle after posting a big win because it places expectations on them. They then kick and fight like underdogs, occasionally dragging the bigger dog down - South Africa this year. That was the damage they caused at the 2003 World Cup, and it will be their biggest threat at the next.

In the performances of Cory Jane and Adam Thomson, the All Black coaches have, I hope, learned a small lesson in picking the best players. But I doubt it, because Rokocoko was still there for no good reason, and their every comment and decision smacks of pride and "we know best". This earned them a serve this week in the media, which sold papers at Steve Hansen's expense, but now the press are leading the up-tick in our rugby zeitgeist.

There's money to be made from our rugby smiles. There should be some research into how many homes buy Sky just so they can watch our national game.

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In other sport:
A tear for the Wellington Phoenix having to settle for a draw after a late goal by the North Queensland Fury in the A-League.

Sighs for the Silver Ferns, who again let the Australian netballers run out leads before hauling them back in - to lose by 1.

Shake of the head for the Wellington Lions, who lost to Waikato, and can barely score a try this year. It seems they were just way ahead of the pack in 08; all the other teams have caught up.

A yawn for the Black Cap Cricketers who are still overpaid, over-exposed and under-perform, despite a warm-up win against India.