What a bummer match.125-87 is a painful scoreline, but the process was even worse. Watching it was terribly, terribly painful.
The Swans never really could find that top gear where they could dominate in the middle and control the Collingwood game-plan. It was a reasonably good season after a frustrating start, but you get the feeling this Swans side is on the decline. The results in the last 3 seasons certainly shows that they're going from Champions to Runners-Up to Semi-Final flame-outs.
I think it's pretty clear the club needs a bit of a re-build, but you don't get the feeling there's much coming up through the ranks in the next few years. That's bad.
Rugby World Cup: Australia Japan Match
In the last few years I seem to have watched a number of Australia-Japan internationals in baseball, and soccer. Turns out the Wallabies have not squared off against the Cherry Blossoms since the World Cup in 1987.Before the match, my girlfriend who is both Japanese and a total Rugby-viewing-novice asked me what kind of margin to expect. I replied "about an 80-10 result".
We dutifully watched it and of course quite predictably, the Japanese side was annihilated 91-3. It was a competitive first half but they speedy defense of the Japanese simply fell away in the second half.
That got me to thinking about the value of speed in top-level sport. John Kirwan says he assembled the fastest defensive side in the world, but clearly you have to score to win games and to score you need size and power as well as speed. Even in Tennis I'd take a powerful player over a speedy player in the current crop of players. I'd always back a Safin-type champion over a Hewitt type.
Then there's the old adage that speed is over-rated in baseball; I'd always take Hideki Matsui over Ichiro or Kaz Matsui going into a season. And even in cricket I daresay a quick player between the wicket is not as valuable as a batsman who can pound lots of boundaries.
Just a thought.
Justine Henin Wins US Open
She's very tenacious, and looks a little like Yukio Mishima. But she is the Belgian superstar that just doesn't quit. She got a litle chokey in her second set against Venus Williams but she managed to hang on and win. She even beat Serena along the way to taking out the title against Kutsnesova.I like watching Henin unfurl her backhand. It's a work of art, and she puts so much oomph into it through proper technique. It's a remarkable thing to watch. The Williams sisters look talentless next to her (which they most definitely are not - Serena is a great hitter of the ball as is Venus) which says plenty.
Roger Federer Wins Again
Isn't he just an awesome player? He looked a little nervy and the match result of 7-6. 7-6. 6-3 is actually not very indicative of how tentative and close the match was in most part. the only guy he's chasing down now is Pete Sampras. Greatness like this only comes around... once every decade it seems. LOL :)Yanks Sweep Royals
The obligatory Yankees news. Hey, they keep killing Kansas City. They've gone 9-1 against them for the season. A-Rod hammered 7 homers in the last 5 games. The Wild Card is looking pretty set. However, I can't quit on the notion of beating the Bosox. Call me incorrigible but the Yanks are still 5.5 games behind. I guess I'd be dreaming.Oh Man, how I watched a lot of telly this weekend. :)
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