Sport stalk
Sport Review #215
One of the great fails in my life occurred in Elliott St Rebel Sport. I was wandering about aimlessly when I encountered Ricky Ponting, Australian cricket great.
Ricky was staying in the hotel nearby and was looking for a can of tennis balls to play a couple of quick sets with the lads.
I asked him for a photo. This was pre-smart phones and I was an infrequent and inexperienced user of the camera of whatever Nokia I had at the time.
Ricky waited patiently. I fumbled with the technology. I couldn’t get it right. He was polite, if slightly dead-bat, but the opportunity for a selfie with the hairiest forearms in the game was gone forever.
I did get right a couple of times though.
Meeting Glen Osbourne in Huddersfield in 1999, after thrashing Italy in the World Cup. Accommodated our photo request even through we were mid-big afternoon on the way to a massive night.
The Evers-Swindells. Lovely. Photo op was a massive corporate stitch up though.
Dan helping me flog phones. Didn't chat much and massive corporate stitch up.
Richie helping me tell the story of New Zealand’s leading dairy co-operative. Didn’t chat much and massive corporate stitch up.
Joseph Parker, who was having a huge night in a central Auckland watering hole with his entourage. Very nice guy and later that evening he sang and played piano and guitar for the bar, he was really really good. Lucky I was wearing the same shirt as the Richie encounter, consistency is crucial.
You must have better Sport Stalk photos than these
Now it’s your turn. It’s crucial we capture every day folks’ encounters with sporting greats - email your Sport Stalk submissions to richard@sportreview.net.nz, and I’ll share them in the newsletter, and possibly even fish out a suitable prize. Let’s see them!
Thanks for reading - Richard
This week's best NZ sport content
Alice Seddon investigates toxic masculinity and rugby and asks what’s being done about it [The Spinoff]
“I think it's quite important for people to see how real life is. It's not all gold medals and amazing things, there are very, very tough times to get through to be able to get back up on the other end.”
Dana Johannsen speaks to Dame Valerie Adams ahead of the big documentary coming out [Stuff]
What would it take for Christchurch to host the Commonweath Games again? Tina Law scoped the venues and crunched the numbers and asks if Games style infrastructure is something that needs to be built when there are a lot of other things need building in Christchurch (That sick logo needs to come back though) [Stuff]
The big draw for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 happens Saturday night, and Football Ferns legend Maia Jackman will be pulling teams out of the hat - she spoke to Suzanne McFadden [Locker Room]
As someone who chose their team as a youth ‘cos they had a cool name, I enjoyed Jamie Bell’s thoughts on what goes into choosing a football team to support [Sportsfreak]
Aaron Goile goes deep on why Pita Gus Sowakula was binned by the All Blacks after doing not much wrong [Stuff]
Video nasty
Mr Jolly Lives Next Door is from the legendary Comic Strip team and is the GOAT.
Long read
If you have enjoyed top class trash The Watcher on Netflix, this is the story of the real estate / stalking affair that started it all [The Cut]
Recommendation
Project Unabom is the detailed story of the Unabomber and the people who caught him, and is highly recommended [Apple Podcasts]
Bring back the gif
When you are trying to make a right turn through two lanes of stationary traffic.
