Nice video from the Gloryboys.net forums. As of this morning, Perth sits bottom of the A-League ladder (that could change today but since they're playing the first placed Marriners I doubt it), and really, the lack of game-day ability and crazy squad selection by Coach Ron Smith is starting to show. Defensive tactics, signing injured players, and recruiting no real strike force has really done if. He needs to get the boot now.
If you weren't an Aussie kid in the early 90's who went absolutely nuts for basketball and all things associated (Spalding replica jerseys, basketball cards, etc) then you probably don't know too much about the Michigan Fab 5, the college basketball team who made the NCAA tournament final with a starting 5 of freshmen. That had never happened before, and three of them went on to have pretty good NBA careers (Chris Webber, Jalen Role and Juwan Howard). They absolutely fantastic and were a big part of the revolution integrating hip-hop into basketball. They had the long shorts and wore black socks with black shoes. That doesn't sound to crazy now but back in the early 90's it was a big deal. Their legacy has been somewhat tainted by the usual "donations" to players and their records have been removed. Anyhow, this video will explain everything.
Is it just me, or does it feel as though the whole Andrew Johns drug-admission being down played a fair bit? He's admitted to some gruesome details and he was tested 17 times during his career and wasn't picked up. That's pretty huge. There seems, however, to be a fair bit of sympathy for him, and I don't think he is getting the grilling that Ben Cousins got. Cousins, after all, plays for West Coast, the AFL representation of evil, so naturally he copped a hiding from the media and public. As he should have, but that same type of scruitiny should be applied to Johns, and should be applied to the other AFL and League players who are rumoured to have breached various drugs policies. It won't happen though.
Most of these players can keep playing while their testing records remain private. They will go unnoticed and will noticed and will not be the subject of public scruitiny. Unfortunately however, others have not been so lucky. Looking at those who are accused of taking performance enhancing drugs or masking agents in recent times, such as Stan Lazauridis, Ian Thorpe and Michael Braun, they've copped even more crap, and there will always be doubts about them. Stan was the only one who copped a ban, even though he applied for and told the FFA that he was going to be taking the hair-loss medication he had taken in England. In their published decision, they said he wasn't a cheat, but they had to suspend him for the technical breach. Meanwhile, illicit drug users go under the radar.
I got the sudden urge to post (first time in a very long time) with 10 mins to go at lunch.
Anyway, David Tarka is gone for the season with a major hamstring injury. Perth Glory, after one match is already looking thin. Defence was supposed to be our strong point but with Hayden Foxe out (already, why sign him?) and Toppor-Stanley set to miss a big part of the season on Olympic qualifying duties, the Glory probably need to sign some replacements. Jamie Harnwell, again, will be the saviour. Ante Kovacevic is probably somewhere around Perth too. They should sign him if they can get him away from Hungy Jacks in Subiaco.
Here's the vid of Andrew Bogut on the Nation the other week. What a terrible interview. Mick Malloy and his fellow interviewer are just so disinterested. They had no idea what questions to ask to really get him to promote himself and basketball (which is usually the whole point of a tv interview on a show such as this).
On another point, Bogut repeated some comments in this interview that he made to the SMH a few weeks before that. Etan Thomas (Washington Wizards) has hit back at Bogut's claims regarding the lifestyle of NBA players (when it Thomas not hitting back at something, whether it be the injustices in the world or a teammate?) Anyway, it's on Slamonline, here's the link. I hope Bogut breaks out this season and justifies all this - afterall, he was just saying what Aussies wanted to hear, that we are more humble than Americans. I think Etan doesn't understand that this is just a way for Bogut to promote the game here.
We’ve officially made Kimberley our ‘Glorious Ambassador’ for the coming season and we’ll get her to as many games as we can, whether that’s in Perth or interstate, to cheer on the team.
Text book stuff here from a few years ago when Schumacher passed Senna's race win total. Schumi got a bit emotional, but the journo kept hammering him for answers to his questions. Even Schumi's rival Mika Hakkinen felt he had to step in to tell the guy off. That was the funny part.
