Tinkerblue

BC Lions Home Game Win

I grew up watching Aussie Rules Football. 18 guys in short shorts. Full contact sport with no helmets, and no shoulder pads. Just shorts and a shirt, outside in the middle of winter.

Aussie Rules I understand. Kick the ball through the two tall centre posts, get a goal = 6 points. Kick the ball through the shorter end posts, get a behind = 1 point.

CFL (Canadian football league) or NFL ( National football league) in the US? Not a chance. And hubby is absolutely no help. If it doesn't fly he can't explain it.

Last Friday we had the opportunity to go to a BC Lions home game. Hubby knows a lady at CASARA who has a hubby who works for the Lions. Did you follow that? Lisa was able to finagle some tickets for us. The best part? The game was played at Empire Field.

Normally the Lions play at BC Place - an indoor arena. They are putting a new roof on BC Place and until thats's done, the Lions are playing at Empire Field. A temporary outdoor stadium at Hastings Park. (near the PNE, or near the Pacific Coliseum where the figure skating and short track skating were held).

I still don't understand the game but we had a good night. And the Lions won. Woohoo. It's the first home game they've won this season. Actually it's the first game they've won this season. They beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders 24 to 11.

Melbourne Highlight #1 - Twenty20 Cricket at the MCG



 

Hubby is confused by Cricket. He’s not a huge sport fan. He can tolerate a hockey game – it’s 3 twenty minute periods. But cricket? A game that lasts 5 days? And even then the match might end in a draw. It takes so long each day they actually stop for tea. And both teams wear white. How do you tell who is who?

Unfortunately for Hubby our trip home from Christmas coincided with not one but two test matches. So for almost 10 days there was nothing on TV but the Boxing Day test from Melbourne, followed not long after by the Sydney Test. Australia lost both. Which meant England retained the Ashes. Hubby almost peed himself laughing when he saw the presentation of the Ashes urn. It’s tiny. Nothing like the Stanley Cup.  He was beside himself. After 5 matches (each match 5 days long) they only get a pissy little urn!

 

The rules of cricket. Hubby just couldn’t fathom them. Caught? Bowled? LBW? Run out? Fours? Sixes? No balls? Wides? Overs? It was too much for him.  My family took great pleasure in his pain. To prolong the agony we even gave him Wii Cricket for Christmas and tickets to an actual match in Melbourne. He could hardly contain his joy and excitement. Lucky for him the Test Matches were all done.  So his tickets were for a Twenty20 Match.

 

 See the grass zamboni?

The Twenty20 Series is relatively new. Introduced in 2003 to create a livelier form of Cricket to attract more spectators both at the ground and on telly. Two teams each play a single innings, batting for 20 overs. A match lasts about 3.5 hours.  That’s about hubby’s limit.

 

 He sells hot meat pies from those black things on his front and back.

The match we went to was at the MCG, or The G as locals call it. The MCG is more than just a sportsground, it’s hallowed turf. Cricket, Aussie Rules, Rugby League, Rugby Union and Soccer are all played here. The Pope, Madonna, U2, The Three Tenors, The Rolling Stones, and Elton John have all packed the crowds into the MCG. In 1956 it was the venue for the Olympic Summer Games, and in 2006 the Commonwealth Games.

 

 The KFC Club - Colonel Sanders lives on.

So on Friday January 14^th, we made our way to The G, bought food and drinks, found our seats and settled in for an entertaining evening.  Hubby was most amused by the pieman, the KFC club seated below us (KFC were the sponsor), the cricketing version of a zamboni and the shooting flames.  He did actually manage follow the game too.  It was a close match and best of all – AUSTRALIA WON.  Woohoo.

 

 Australia batting. England is bowling.

 

 

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race has been one of the biggest sporting events in Australia for the last 65 years or so.  It starts in Sydney at 1:00pm on December 26th, Boxing Day of each year and finishes in Hobart.  It is 628 nautical miles of frustration, fear, exhilaration, excitement and more.

 

The first year hubby come home to Australia with me was 1998.  The worst year ever in the history of the race.  6 lives were lost in a storm that decimated the fleet.  When Sayonnara sailed in to Hobart as the line honours winner the celebration was muted.  There was no champagne etc to greet the crews. It was more relief that they had made it.  There was a minute of silence for those who did not.

 

2006 was the next time we were home over Christmas.  And the first few yachts came in around 3am. Dad and I tried to get hubby out of bed to watch the finish, but it was no go.

This year... We were down at the Taste of Tasmania having dinner.  According to the official website and the news reports the first boat, Wild Oats, was not expected until 1:00am. Hubby was not sure he could stay up that long.  After dinner we were walking back to the car, and there was an announcement over the loud speakers at the dock, that Wild Oats had entered the Derwent River and was expected to cross the finish line at 830pm. 

 

With only 30 mins until the expected finish we decided to wait it out.  We walked along to the CSIRO pier with about 50+ other people. The CSIRO pier is right at the finish line.  First we saw the news helicopters, then we saw the flotilla of boats start to move and then hubby saw the top of the mainsail and finally we could see Wild Oats. She was still a fair way away. But come up the river fairly quickly and in no time she was crossing the finish line to cheers from the crowd, the canon firing  and the horns of every single boat out on the river.

We then walked back round to Constitution dock where all the media were waiting and watched them do their lap of honour.  it was not as crowded as we expected. We guess that the earlier than expected arrived (830pm as opposed to 100am) caught quite a few people unaware.

 

Round and round and round in circles at 50km/hour

Last friday night Hubby and I had the chance to go to the World Cup Short Track Speed Skating with some work colleagues (it's considered a test event in the lead up the Vancouver 2010 Games). Neither of us have been before, and we weren't sure what to expect.

Alecia, Danielle, Brooke

 

It was fast, chaotic, and quite spectacular.

 

What do I know about short track speed skating?  As of Friday morning, not much.  Now?  A little more.  Throughout the competition they put up quick facts on the jumbotron:

• The track is 111metres
• The winner is not necessarily the fastest skater, but definately the smartest (or the last man standing).
• Men and women race in 500, 1000 and 1500metres.  The men have a 5000m relay, and the women a 3000m relay.
• Passing another skater often equals collision and spectacular falls.
• Skaters have been locked at up to 50km/hour

 

 

It's very fast and frantic.  Skaters colliding with each other, clipping blades, sliding across the ice and slamming into the side of the rink.  Good thing it's padded!

The last events of the evening were the relay heats.  There were falls in almost every race.  There were 4 teams on the ice and 4 skaters in each team plus the officials.  That's a lot of people on the ice.  I took some photos but they don't convey the explosiveness of the races.

 

 

One of the skaters we saw in the heats was Apolo Anton Ohno, arguably one of the most well known short track skaters.  Although he appears to be famous more for his stint on Dancing with the Stars than for his multiple medals and titles.

 

 

We quite enjoyed ourselves, and now short track speed skating is on Dave's list of must sees for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.