State of the Faith Nation

With ten games to go in the season, the Warriors once again have it all to do to play Finals football.  Along with the Eels, we are the perennial bum boys of the NRL - we come from behind.  The NRL stats man has concluded that the magic points number to make the eighth spot will be 28.  Being on 18 points, we need to win five of our remaining ten - not a big ask for the second half chargers that are the Warriors.  But there are a couple of things making this task harder.

A Chronology of Draft Day Trades

There's something about draft day that compels NBA General Managers to drop their usual frugal, conservative approach to player movement, and instead go with their hunches.  Some are good, like Donnie Walsh's decision to take Reggie Miller instead of hometown favourite Steve Alford, and some are terrible, like Stu Inman taking Sam Bowie ahead of the greatest player of all time.  Kiwi Sports Blog has scoured the draft archives for existence of the phenomenon of draft day trades - when a GM feels that he has to do anything possible to get his hands on another player.  As can be seen in the most significant examples, one team is left with nothing but regret in exchange.  No doubt we will see the trigger pulled on a few trades today.  Will one of them be for the next Bill Russell, the next Scottie Pippen?

All Whites vs Italy Running Diary

0:00 - It's go time! Let's relive last game (make sure sound is on): click here.

4:03 - Mini dive by Zambrotta there. He gets up just before the 30 second rule would have kicked in, making a mandatory substitution. None of his teammates helped him up, the ref had to do it.  You stay classy, Zambrotta.

7:01 - GOOOOAAAAALLL!!! Fantastic cross, Reid with a good flick on (he can get under crosses well for a defender), Smeltz the man on the spot where there are free balls as always.  Cannavaro did a useless job there - did four years really change that much for him? Italy hasn't been this shocked since Mussolini said he was BFFs with Hitler.

The Greatest Show on Earth, Part 2

 
The Greatest Show on Earth was missing a bit of the 'Greatest Show' aspect last night.  It was a beatdown of historic proportions - was on track to the be the highest winning margin ever until NSW got a consolation try (Kiwi Sports Blog went to bed in the 77th minute and missed it).  The game ended 34-6, and the series is won by Queensland for the fifth year in a row.

I suppose as a Queensland supporter, I should be happy, especially since there were even a few good fights, but as a New Zealander I have no loyalty to the team beyond the fact I've followed them for years.  For that reason, most of the time I want to see a good contest in Origin, not five straight years of dominance and dead-rubber third games (only in 06 and 08 have the third games decided the series in this Queensland dynasty).  A friend of mine texted saying "Origin is dead, the Anzac test is a better contest now" - and during the game Sterlo and Gus were constantly saying they don't see any way NSW is going to turn it around and challenge the Maroons.  Maybe it's true, maybe international league is on the up (like this great deal - double header at Eden Park), but, somewhere, deep down in my heart, I still want Origin to be the biggest stage, the closest contest in league.

Anyway:

All Whites vs Slovakia Captions

Click to ENLARGE

Why Does Love Do This To Me?

Love it. Love everything about it. From the fact that it was in the 93rd minute, a time reserved for legend, to the fact that it earned a yellow card for over celebration, to Ricki Herbert's reaction. Love that Reid played his heart out after he slipped up on defence to let the goal in.  His second half was poetry after that. Love that all the faithful's bets came through. Love the huge effort put in when all looked lost, when we couldn't get a ball to our front line and our defenders were barely hanging on. Loved Ryan Nelsen's world class performance.

Love that we are now (equally) on top of the Group with our first ever World Cup point. Love Winston Reid, love the All Whites.

The First Day of the Rest of Your Season

 
This was an important one.  We needed to go into Newcastle and come out with 2 points.  It was typical Warriors football, and we got away with it 32-24.  The Raiders, Broncos, and Roosters are between us and that number 8 spot - Raiders had a 'mare on Saturday, Broncos hopped into the time machine again and smashed the powerful Rabbitohs, and hopefully Melbourne can take care of the Roosters on Monday night.  With the bye coming up next for the Warriors, followed by a possible sell-out crowd in Christchurch on June 27 to inspire them against the Roosters, the season is suddenly back in good shape.

Eyes on the Greatest Prize of All

So the World Cup is almost upon us.  Here at Kiwi Sports Blog, it is generating quite a bit of excitement, leading to the creation of two fantasy teams, picking the results of all first round games, and filling out a bracket for the whole tournament.  Not to mention multiple trips to the TAB and Centrebet websites.  But it seems KSB has fallen victim to the hype machine for the Cup with a number of choices and bets.

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears...

...apart from forgotten extra seasoning, failure to box out, and Jerome Ropati?  The following things: