In and Out list for 2023
Sport Review #223
After initially limiting opportunities for people who enjoy summer, being dry and not humid behold the limits of humid capacity, now there are actual floods in Auckland. After not leaving our house, which has suddenly become a lot smaller, for a few days, driving around the East Coast Bays is a weird mix of BAU and damage. And this area is relatively unscathed compared to many. I hope it went OK at your place.
The Mayoral comedy show was great for a little while, but this year really feels like a lot already.
I’ve certainly taken a break from sport, tennis aside. While the ASB Classic got thoroughly shat on by aforementioned weather, the Australian Open really is a wonderful event for post-Christmas sitting on your arse. Coming on mid-afternoon and continuing until the early hours, the combination of sexy people in a sexy city in sexy sports wear and the hypnotic poc-poc-poc of tennis balls being hit hard can send you into a dreamlike and deeply relaxed state. I thoroughly recommend it.
Anyway - Sport Review is back after an extended summer-adjacent break. To set expectations up front for 2023, here is a list of everything in and out for the year. Carry on.
In
Declaration and follow on chat - fingers crossed
Long and frequent coverage of the All Black coach, the next All Black coach and the appointment process (just jokes, this is very out!)
Whenever shit is hitting the fan, going immediately to your desk and staying there
Refusing to buy a sausage at Bunnings because of petty thoughts about that day’s community group
Table tennis
Sun
Walking the dog
Reviewing fanny pack acceptability now you own a dog
Rugby in general before roughly July
Out
Being online in general
Rain warning of any colour
People sitting in your camping chair
Idly wondering about changing your broadband provider and then finding yourself making a spreadsheet half an hour later
Bounty Bars, now and forever
Perplexing Sky Sport Now menus
Waiting for the new Pro Staffs to come out
The tennis drive to survive - not as good as I was hoping
Some schools being open and others not
Thanks for reading - Richard
This week's best NZ sport content
On Monday evening a whole lot of New Zealanders sat in front of their TV and had their image of what a gay man looks like, and what a gay man can be, disrupted. A gay man can be an All Black. An All Black can be gay. A gay man can be part of the country’s most famous sporting institution and, for better or worse, its most prominent symbol of masculinity.
Yes, a gay All Black is a big deal [The Spinoff]
Dana Johannsen is over the (men’s) rugby world cup already [Stuff]
Steve and Seamus have started 2022 with a fantastic run of pods (unlike this newsletter, cough), my pick is the Luke Kemeys ep [Between Two Beers]
“Because you’re unfamiliar with cricket’s history, you’re probably wondering why anybody would bother with the comparatively low-paid grind of test and one-day cricket when there is so much lucrative T20 cricket to be played?
“It’s a bloody good question, and one that will have to be addressed on another day because, I think you can gather, cricket in its current guises DOES NOT WORK.”
Dylan Cleaver sums up 2023 (thanks for the shout out!) [The Bounce]
Sportsfreak on spending an hour with NZ cricketer and legend BAGS Murray, who we lost recently [Sportsreak]
Nicholas Friedlander crunched the numbers on Rachin Ravindra, who was selected for the Test team at 22, and what the future holds for his career after struggling to survive at that level [Friedls On Sport]
Big interview with Ian Kirkpatrick on his part in Keith Murdoch’s downfall, and his life in rugby [NZ Herald]
Video nasty
Danny MacAskill goes to San Francisco.
Long read
The inside story of Twitter’s takeover by Elon, his henchmen and a pretty shit culture [The Verge]
Recommendation
The fantastic Tagline podcast on how Ted Lasso began as an ad for NBC’s football coverage in America, before becoming the GOAT TV show [Tagline]
Bring back the gif
When you have actual floods, then the only sunshine all summer a couple of hours later.
