Holiday retread - Most cursed objects in NZ sport

Sport Review #297

Apologies - I’m on hols so you get this post from February 2021.

The sun - generally it’s hard to make an argument against the giver of all life, as it provides photosynthesis, vitamin D and enables a wide range of recreational activities. But when it runs rampant around dinner time at Napier’s McLean Park and the cricket is paused for being too sunny, that’s cursed.

The Abstain pink fist car - this Telecom campaign calling on New Zealanders to suppress their natural urges (like we haven’t been doing that for years! Joke’s on you!) to support the All Blacks was cursed. Cursed aspects included black abstinence rings, a pink fist car for some reason and Sean Fitzpatrick. Luckily it never actually made it to air, and we avoided becoming an international laughing stock instead of just a national one.

KZ1 - bankers x lawyers + yachting = cursed. In 1988 Michael Fay found a loophole in the America’s Cup fine print, and rocked up to San Diego with a 39 ton monster yacht. Unfortunately Dennis Connor’s lawyers let him sail a rilly fast catamaran against it and poor old KZ1 joins Matthew Ridge’s BMX and Zinzan’s Irish donkey in the annals of cursed transportation.

Israel Dagg’s Men in Black memory eraser - our national carrier’s safety videos are obviously a whole category of cursed in themselves. But Israel Dagg’s performance as a rapping All Black was so authentic that coach Graham Henry’s forgot Dagg played rugby and left him out of the squad for the 2015 World Cup.

Various Richard Loe body parts - as a key Waikato player, Loey was obviously The Man, but when you unlawfully stick your fingers in a defenceless full back’s eyes, or break a very small Australian winger’s nose, that’s arguably crossing the line.

The b**k of B*n S****s’ b*t - still Too Soon to discuss. But I can assure you this is extremely cursed.

Fog - the 2006 Super Rugby final was a frustrating watch. A fantastic advert for day time rugby, the game went ahead despite Christchurch’s cursed weather - the only redeeming feature was Hurricanes’ fans’ belief they would have won.

Thanks for reading - Richard

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The Bounce celebrates three years and 500 editions - it’s breaking big stories, thoroughly and in depth, the kind you only get hold of through deep connections with the organisations and individuals, it’s tips on the best opinion and long reads and a great way to keep up with the weekend’s sport that’s occurred or about to. I’m sure you already subscribe if you read Sport Review, but sign up for a paid sub, it’s fully worth it [The Bounce]

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