Collingwood Defeats Carlton - UPDATED With Photos from the Game

Shaun Hampson scores a rare goal for Carlton.

The Magpies take the field.

I had the pleasure of watching a very enjoyable watchable sport yesterday, at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, where the Collingwood Magpies defeated the Carlton Blues 105-57. For Americans who have never seen the sport, it has elements of rugby and basketball and has quite a quick pace. The 105 scored by Collingwood was typical of a winning score. I'm not going to try to summarize the game, there are decent explanations here and here.

I adopted the Magpies because one of our hosts here in Australia, Mrs. Daddy's cousin is a big fan. Collingwood has the biggest fan base in the country, but has only won one championship since the league was changed from the Victoria Football League to the Australian Football League. This year, they are in first place, but the bookies still have the second place team, and last year's champions, the Geelong Cats as the favorites to win it all.

I liked the game, because it really took a minimum of explanation to understand the basics of play. Also, like basketball, your team can shift from offense to defense in a blink, as the ball is always in play. Because scoring often depends on getting a free kick close to the goal, tall strong players have an advantage, but the size of the field, about 150m by 135m, along with the need to run the length of the field, means there are no fat players on the field. In fact, there are a mix of players of varying speeds and sizes. The game puts a premium on overall athleticism. I saw some amazing catches (marks) with players going high in the air to grab the ball. The other amazing feature was the ability of some players to quickly launch an accurate kick towards the goal regardless of body position.

Given the relative size of the population, AFL is wildly popular. The cricket grounds weren't filled, but there were close to 78,000 in the stands. Like stadiums around the world there was overpriced beer and food for sale, some of it a little different. We all tried a meat pie; it was alright. The fans were overall well behaved. I was a little nervous because the fans are mixed in the crowd, there wasn't a particular side on sat on. (Also complicating the picture is that fans of both teams might be members of the Melbourne Cricket Club, as is our host. As a consequence, both Blue and Magpies supporters were mixed in the members section.)

The other interesting item was that we felt compelled to stay to the end of a blow out and not leave until we had sung the club song.

Good old Collingwood forever,
we know how to play the game.
Side by side we stick together,
to uphold The Magpies name.
Hear the barrackers a shouting,
as all barrackers should,
Oh, the premiership's a cakewalk
For the good old Collingwood.

Waynok and BDaddy enjoying the game.

Lakers

To put tonight's win by the Lakers in perspective, I have to tell you that the first time I was old enough to really appreciate basketball, watching the NBA finals with Pop, I watched this:



The outcome was another Laker loss to the hated Celtics, and in the last seconds of a game 7, no less.

1972's championship run, including a record 33 game winning streak, went some ways in the healing process, it was great to see Jerry West finally get a championship ring. But as satisfying as it was to beat the Knicks, they weren't the Celtics.

Then in 1984, I thought the Lakers would have a great chance to avenge all those losses against the Celtics, but again, somehow the Bostonian prevailed, in a heartbreaking 7 games, again.

In 1985, led by a 38 year old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, the Lakers finally beat the Celtics in the finals, making me very happy. Finally, we had beat the Celtics. Winning again in 1987 against Boston was sweet as well. Put to bed the meme that LA couldn't beat the Celtics.

Fast forward to 2007-2008. The Lakers had struggled following the loss of Shaq, half of the threepeat tandem along with Kobe Bryant. Lacking the right big man in the middle, the Lakers had suffered for a few seasons. Pau Gasol came to the team in March and immediately had an impact. I hadn't really expected the Lakers to win the Western Conference at the start of the season, I really thought the Spurs would take it again, but Pau Gasol gave them a fighting chance. Meanwhile, the Celtics were dominating the East with their big three. As the Lakers proceeded through the finals, I was worried, because I didn't think that the Lakers had enough time together as a unit to beat the Celtics and I was right, they lost in six games. I watched the whole brutal final loss of 39 points.

Given all that history, I had a lot invested in this series. As it came down to a seventh game, I was also keenly aware that the Lakers had never won a seventh game against Boston. When they got behind by 13 points, I admit that I was so upset I turned the game off for a few minutes. But they came charging back, despite shooting horribly the whole game, both from the floor and from the free throw line. They had played clutch defense the whole game, and that had kept it close. In the fourth quarter, Kobe willed the whole team forward as the chiseled out a small lead, clamped down and won the game. This really exorcises the demons, a seventh game victory against the hated Celtics, with the Lakers being the tougher, more defensive minded, willful team, reversing roles long assumed. Team sports don't get any better than this.

Why We Love Sports - Part 2

In an earlier post, I discussed how the competition of sports can become sublime. Today, two things reminded me of ways that sports teach us other lessons. First, Peggy Noonan discusses the blown call that cost Tiger pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game. Not the blown call, but the classy manner that Galarraga and umpire Jim Joyce handled the outcome show us how to handle disappointment with grace. From her column:

What was sweet and surprising was that all the principals in the story comported themselves as fully formed adults, with patience, grace and dignity. And in doing so, Galarraga and Joyce showed kids How to Do It.

A lot of adults don't teach kids this now, because the adults themselves don't know how to do it. There's a mentoring gap, an instruction gap in our country. We don't put forward a template because we don't know the template. So everyone imitates TV, where victors dance in the end zone, where winners shoot their arms in the air and distort their face and yell "Whoooaahhh," and where victims of an injustice scream, cry, say bitter things, and beat the ground with their fists. Everyone has come to believe this is authentic. It is authentically babyish. Everyone thinks it's honest. It's honestly undignified, self-indulgent, weak and embarrassing.

We see the opposite of this grace too often, even in Little League, kid's soccer, etc. where the parents are often an embarrassment to the kids.

Coach Wooden's passing, whose giant character dominated the sport of college basketball while he coached, passed yesterday. Dean captures a truth about some of the most inspiring Los Angeles sports figures of the 20th century:

One of the enduring ironies if you are familiar with the Los Angeles sports scene is this: for a culture that is so temporal and is entirely about "the next big thing", trendiness and glamour and which lacks substance of any kind, the three most iconic sports figures, Vin Scully, Chick Hearn and John Wooden were men of faith and family and who plied their respective trades for decades and who did it in a gracious and humble fashion in a land around them where grace and humility are considered completely foreign terms.

Indeed, we notice that character counts, it matters for the long term and the success of those men and their enduring legacy rests not just on their talent but their character.

Norv Turner - Genius?

I admit to being a big critic of Norv Turner over the last two years. I have found his offenses unimaginative and predictable, not taking advantage of the amazing talent he has available. The current win streak has caused me to tone down my rhetoric a bit, as the results have been speaking for themselves. As Coach Parcells said, "You are what your record says you are." One of my theories about the NFL is that you need to go into the playoffs with momentum. I first formulated this theory in the mid-90s when I saw a San Diego team needing a final regular season victory over Pittsburgh, beating Pittsburgh, who had already clinched. Later in the playoffs, Pittsburgh, heavily favored lost to that same Charger team.

When Turner pull the starters with the lead only 10-0, I was apoplectic. Sure enough the hapless Redskins were ahead by halftime. But lo and behold, a Billy Volek led Charger offense was able to pull of the comeback and beat the Redskins 23-20. Amazing. Not only does San Diego get the win, but some quality playing time for reserves, who show the real depth of this San Diego roster by pulling out the win.

So I am compelled to ponder the unponderable, is Norv Turner a genius?

Maybe the playoffs will tell.

This Won't Get It Done

Explain the following sequence:
102, 103, 118, 118, 108.

If you guessed, the Laker's pathetic defensive performance as evidenced by opponents points scored in the last five games, congratulations. I don't care that they managed to squeak out a 3-2 record over that span, this is not getting it done. They might not make it to the finals, heck out of the second round with this kind of defensive effort. I had to shut oFf the Kings game last night, even though I thought they might pull it out, because this lack of effort just offends me.

BTW, Ron Artest's "injury" doesn't explain the beat down put on by the Cavaliers, in case Matty or Dean care to comment.

One of Navy Football's Best Seasons Ever

Congratulations are in order for Coach Ken Niumatalolo and the Navy football team for the impressive 35-13 win over Missouri in the Texas Bowl. The midshipmen played an impressive game from start to finish. I was most impressed with Navy's second fourth quarter drive that effectively won the game. They had just stopped the Tigrers on downs, but had a 15 point, two score lead. Ricky Dobbs piloted the midshipment down the field in a demoralizing, almost 6 minute drive that ended with Dobbs literally pushing the ball over the goal line himself to seal the deal. That's the kind of drive that champions execute. These midshipmen also played well on defense, holding Missouri, a pretty potent offensive force to 13 points and picking off Gabbert twice.

This certainly ranks as one of Navy's best seasons. Seldom do they get to 10 wins, but beating Army, Air Force and Notre Dame, all in one season is especially sweet. I know that coming close doesn't count, but their play against Ohio State was especially admirable. I thought the departure of Paul Johnson to Georgia Tech would end Navy's dominant possession of the Commander in Chief's trophy, but coach Niumatolo has proved a worthy, even better successor.

I root for three different college football teams, because I can and it's fun. USC was my boyhood team, I went to Navy, and I sort of adopted the Cornhuskers during a stint at STRATCOM in the 90's. (Nebraska had great people who really love the game of football.) I never thought I would see the day when Navy arguably had the more successful season of those three teams.

Finally, do you think we can get some love and get a final ranking for Navy in the top 25? I doubt it, even if I think they deserve it; but at least it helps them sneak up on opponents.

UPDATE: This was Navy's first 10 win season since 1905.