Eagles Fly Again

July 27, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
1 Comment

I can’t remember the last time I was able to go to an AFL game, so when I was invited to head to Subiaco yesterday I jumped at the chance.

With the way the West Coast Eagles have been playing this year I didn’t really expect a win but was happy to support my team during the tough times. I figured that they’d at least put up a fight.

As the first quarter started it looked like we were in for a miserable day with St Kilda kicking several goals and building quite a lead. The Eagles were putting in the work but it sure wasn’t reflected on the scoreboard.

Thankfully, as the game progressed there were signs of better things to come and the match turned into a real arm wrestle with the lead swapping and both teams putting everything into trying to grab the win.

The Saints had a one point lead at half time which had turned into a two point lead for the Eagles at three quarter time. The tight game continued before the Eagles started to kick away to build a handy lead. The St Kilda cheer fans who had been singing loudly earlier in the day, seemed strangely quiet. They had been belting out a rousing chorus of “When the Saint Go Marching In” after each of their teams goals earlier in the day, now their rare goals were met with silence.

The West Coast Eagles finished the game with a comfortable 17 point lead, 15.13 (103) to 12.14 (86).

We’ll still finish the year towards the bottom of the ladder but it was great to see a little pride restored in the team and even better to be at the game to witness it first hand.



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The Dream is over

May 22, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
6 Comments

royhg.jpgI’m now even less interested in the upcoming Olympics.

I really haven’t felt much excitement about the Beijing Olympics but now News.com.au tells me that The Dream is over for Roy and HG.

The Dream has been a great show, helping to inject some humour into the endless hours of sporting action.

The show is being replaced by a morning programme titled Yum Cha, hosted by Kylie Gillies and Andrew Daddo. I really enjoy watching Andrew Daddo but it just won’t be the same.

The satirical late-night program that helped Seven rebrand itself as a cheeky yet competent network is a victim of time zones and Beijing security.

Beijing will be two hours behind the east coast of Australia, with many event finals stretching into late night, which is when Rampaging Roy Slaven and HG Nelson won fans during the 2000 Sydney, 2002 Salt Lake City and 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

I’m sure I’ll still keep an eye on some of the results, specially the cycling, but without Roy and HG to spice things up a little there seems even less reason to get excited about the games.

What about you? Are looking forward to spending hours in front of the box to watch all your favourite events?



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Footy Tipping Returns

March 19, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
10 Comments

afl_logo.jpgAs each year passes I prove more and more that I’m hopeless at footy tipping. This year I’m at it again and I’m inviting you to give me a kicking with your tipping prowess.

If you follow AFL can I encourage you to try to beat me at tipping for the coming season?

I’ve signed up again at footytips.com.au and so I’ll be able to pit my skills against thousands of other footy fans. The best part is that you can try your skills against mine by signing up to The RodneyOlsen.net Footy Tipping Competition. Just follow the link and join up. It’s free.

Some people spend ages checking the form of each side and thinking through the match ups, the ground, the ladder and a whole range of variables before tipping. I tend to just go ahead and choose then hope for the best.

Go on. Join up. It’ll be fun.

The great thing with footytips.com.au is that you can be part of more than one competition at a time so if you’re already part of a competition with them you can still add your name to mine.



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One Two Three

October 7, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
6 Comments

Growing up in a family that thought that General Motors Holden was the only company that knew how to make a decent car meant that I was destined to be wearing T-Shirts extolling the virtues of the General’s merchandise well before I ever had a license to sit behind the wheel of such vehicles.

I had a wonderful shirt with an old FX Holden on the front and one with a terrific Torana.

In those days I would happily parrot slogans about F.O.R.D. standing for Fix Or Repair Daily or even Found On Rubbish Dump.

Of course this was all before getting my first car …. a 1972 Ford Cortina. Life suddenly changed. I realised that Fords were far superior and since that first Ford I’ve also owned a couple of Ford Falcons, a Ford Fairmont, a Ford Escort and a couple of Ford Transit Vans. In fact, I’ve never owned anything but Fords.

I’ve held a motor car license for over 27 years now and the desire to own any kind of car has diminished greatly. Pauline has a car, A Toyota in fact, which I drive if we’re going somewhere as a family. I’ll even drive alone on those rare occasions that I need a car but I’m increasingly bored by the whole four wheels thing. These days I’d much rather be pedalling my bicycle.

Talking about cars does nothing for me. Looking at cars does nothing for me.

I used to look forward to the Bathurst 1000 each year. It’s a one thousand kilometre race which pits V8 Fords against V8 Holdens. I knew that the race was being run today but things were busy and so I didn’t even bother checking the results.

During the news tonight I heard the details of the winners.

Yes, I’m an avid cyclist. No, I don’t get excited by cars anymore. However, it would be a lie if I tried to tell you that I wasn’t just a little bit thrilled about hearing that Ford came home one, two three today.

So it seems that I was wrong all those years ago. It seems that F.O.R.D. really stands for First On Race Day.

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Can you tip a winner?

August 27, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
6 Comments

So it has come to this.

The AFL season has been pretty exciting this year and with one round still left to play there are only five of the sixteen clubs who can’t play finals football. The final make up of the top eight won’t be completely decided until the end of next weekend’s final round of games.

In the same way, The Journey Football Tipping Competition is a long way from being over with the final winner set to be decided after the final round.

I reckon the winner could be any of six people out of the seventeen who participated in the competition.

With one round to go Mark Edwards and Shawna are on top of the tipping ladder with 103 correct tips each. I’m amazed to be tied with Andrew on 102 correct tips. In the middle of the season I was so far down the ladder I thought there was no way of coming back. There are also two people tied together on 101 correct tips. Scott Sladen and Geoff are two tips away from the lead but with some good tipping this week either of them could leap from the rest of us to snatch the lead.

I wonder who will grab the inaugural The Journey Football Tipping Competition.

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