The Rewatchables

Sport Review #362

Which sporting moments do you go back to again and again, just to appreciate the athleticism, or re-experience the emotions?

These are mine - email me yours, and I’ll do a reader’s selection next week.

Let’s start at the top. I was at the ground for this, still my all time greatest experience in sport live. The tension, the under-rated contribution from Dan Vettori, the pay off, it’s all here.

Conversely, I love this one. The hero’s journey, endeavour, tribulation, revenge. Kyle Mills - love him in these situations. Just look at Dan, Brendon and the boys giving it to Mother England at the end.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched this.

And this. Still the most incredible thing I’ve seen in football. When I’m trying to make points about sport being like Shakespeare, with all the highs and lows and emotions you can possibly imagine, these two extra time goals are up there. Look at how happy they are. Look how devastated they are.

And it’s all summed up perfectly in one line. Football, bloody hell is the greatest quote.

‘Well done he’s thirteen’ - this is all kinds of levels of petty satisfaction, but I don’t care.

Speaking of petty - Michael Fay and Dennis Conner going head to head in a kind of global superbowl of white guy attempted zinger unpleasantness is amazing content. Stick around for the all-time ‘you’re a loser, get off the stage’ line:

In the ‘some humans are just different’ section, this is the shit:

And so is this:

Speaking of which. I could watch this man all day.

One of the great things about YouTube is being able to dial up clips you’d only seen once, taped on VHS if you were very lucky, and had taken on mythical dimensions in your mind, Indeed, now you can watch them to your heart’s content on the bus. Stick around for the Richie Benaud take down, it softens the blow to know he was on our side.

Just an extremely satisfying video:

I have saved the best for last. I watched roughly 95% of these live (on the telly at least) and could watch this man run all day.

Thanks for reading - Richard

This week's best NZ sport content

Genuinely one of the highlights of my life, contributing to a world-tier GOATed podcast with a footballing irritation at 44’38“ [Football Cliches]

Tottenham are coming! Tottenham are coming! [Sports Nation]

Jamie Wall has started a newsletter, with good detailed reviews of Super Rugby rounds, along with thoughtful analysis on the All Black coaching changeover [Substack]

“…The Crusaders rested Will Jordan (having initially said he was banged-up from the previous game against the Chiefs) from the Blues fixture in Auckland on March 7. Jordan, it turned out, had attended his brother’s wedding. Opinions on this issue may vary but you can’t blame Jordan for wanting to attend such an important event. But it came at a cost for the Crusaders, and it has to be said, the credibility of the competition.

Richard Knowler on getting more people along to Super Rugby [Stuff]

Whitney Hansen started her Black Ferns coaching career by asking all 267 former players to share what it meant to be part of the team [Locker Room]

So this NZT20 v Big Bash situation may be heading for a decision, maybe, at the end of the month - interestingly, Suzie Bates says both might be an option on the women’s side - while evidently ‘do nothing’ is an option still on the table. The divisions still run deep though, with well-informed takes battling it out [NZ Herald, Sportsfreak]

I was briefly on the radio, chatting Arsenal (!) and Crusaders fisticuffs on Nights [RNZ]

This is amazing:

@therewatchablespod

The Rewatchables on Instagram: "The least athletic movie moment…

Video nasty

They is wicked no?

Long read

Mormon journalist gets a pass from his Bishop to sports gamble for a year. All about how having a betting app on your phone sucks the joy out of sport, normalises gambling and wrecks lives much more efficiently now, you betcha [The Atlantic]

Recommendation 

Vigil is amazing. It’s hard to describe how George Saunders writes, it’s extremely free form but really works - if you liked Lincoln in the Bardo, you know what to expect.