Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2016 i Inside Sport

THE BEST part about sitting in the editor’s chair at Inside Sport? You get to read everything first. Writers for this magazine sweat blood over their keyboards producing their feature articles for your entertainment. Our contributors and staffers are the best in the business, but I’ve noted that the best operators are often unsure if they’ve nailed a yarn, and are anxious for a second opinion to let them know that they’ve fulfilled their brief ... It’s not false modesty. The best writers are the ones who routinely challenge themselves to find something new to say, in new ways. And that means taking themselves off the safe, beaten track of convention and formula. The world of sport, sports broadcasting and (too often) sportswriting is often associated with the curse of…

This Major League Baseball season marks 20 years since the two leagues, the National and American, started playing each other during the regular schedule (they only used to meet during the World Series). Hard as it is to believe, this caused much consternation back in the day – kind of like playing Test cricket at night ... Anyhow, when the San Diego Padres visit the Toronto Blue Jays this July, every MLB team will have played each other home and away. That’s right: 162 games a year, and everybody doesn’t play everybody. But nobody ever said baseball was meant to be fair. BRUSH After a long period of haplessness, it’s been a great couple of years to be a Kansas City Royals fan. Having fallen painfully short of World Series…

“MUM AND I STILL TALK ABOUT IT. IF WE HAD STAYED, WHAT WOULD I HAVE BEEN DOING? AND IT WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN MUCH.” MOTHER NATURE has ever had indicators that some things are best left alone. There’s the big red mark on the redback spider. The swaying, blue tentacles of the box jellyfish. The great curved teeth of the African lion from which dangles the bloody meat of dead wildebeest. There is Pauline Hanson ... And then there is Sydney Roosters war-beast Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, a large and genuinely frightening enforcer in a game old boys reckon has gone soft. “JWH” has fear factor. He hits and hurts. He dominates. On occasion he’s barely legal. In defence and attack he’s a great thumping athletic big thing who hurls himself in as…

Before he set foot on a university campus late last year, Ben Simmons was being touted as the top pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. There were pro scouts who believed that had the Victorian teen been eligible for last year’s draft, he would have gone no.1 as well. The much-anticipated moment for Simmons arrives this June, when he finds out where he’ll begin his NBA career. What’s become less certain, though, is his sure-fire status at no.1. Simmons was good as expected for Louisiana State University, averaging almost 20 points, 12 rebounds and five assists per game, the first college freshman to put up that kind of across-the-board stat line in 20 years. But Simmons’ brilliance didn’t translate into team success – LSU instead was a notable disappointment, failing…

Who says an athlete’s career has to end at 30? At that age, things are just hotting up! There are plenty of opportunities for the more mature sports lovers among us to test themselves against similarly-aged players ... in the form of the various Masters Games featured in this special guide. Indeed, there’s never been a more exciting time to be a MASTER! WHAT’S INVOLVED? Featuring more athletes than the Olympics, the World Masters Games is the biggest multi-sport event in the world. Auckland, New Zealand is the next host, with 25,000 athletes from more than 100 countries expected to light up the city for ten days of sporting excitement. The World Masters Games is a global festival of sport for amateur athletes of all ages and capabilities. You don’t…

BRUMBIES’ NEW LOOK The Aquis Brumbies 2016 Home Jersey is unlike any other Super Rugby jersey worn before. This new-look fully sublimated home strip represents a new era for the Brumbies. While vastly different in design to previous versions, it still features elements which are a nod to tradition and to the Brumbies’ proud history. RRP $169.99. Visit www.classicsports.com.au or call 02 9550 2711 to find out more. GRAVEL GRINDER Is your daily route to work as smooth as a dancefloor? Didn’t think so ... Enter the Gravel Grinder, via Reid Cycles. These fast, tough, do-it-all rigs were born from the dirt road racing scene in the US. The characteristics that make them perfect for dirty distance races also make them ideal for the rigours of all-conditions commuting. Built for…

“A GOOD COACH JUST APPROACHES THINGS DIFFERENTLY DEPENDING ON THE PLAYER.” Nathan Reardon is a fine and respected batsman for Queensland, particularly in the shorter forms of the game when his powerful hitting becomes his trademark. Hailing from that state’s Central West, the 31-year-old has pushed for national selection at different times in his career, but his experience under an Australian cap remains a total of just two T20 matches against South Africa back in 2014, when he got to face a total of eight balls (for four runs – in the other match he recorded a DNB). But he is a dedicated fitness enthusiast, currently in training for an off-season triathlon ... which makes him an ideal subject for our First Class of cricket. This is one player who…

JANUARY 1992 Forget about the little stuff, like wings on keels. Why hadn’t anyone thought of this before? International yachting goes World Series. Make sailing better. Make the yachts go faster ... Some of us in the potential television audience of 700 million will miss the America’s Cup we knew and detested. Who needed the All Blacks when you had the New York Yacht Club? It was always Us against Them – and their rule book. How did the NYYC keep the mug for 132 years? They wrote the rules. It’s different now with this class – they’ve got real rules. Iain Murray should know because he wrote a lot of them. Besides the design specifications, we’ve now got on-the-water judges, sponsorships plastered over all that extra sail area, a…

KEEPING UP Your piece on Socceroo and Valencia goalkeeper Mat Ryan (“Keeper Of The Flame”, April issue) was a good read. It was inspiring to hear how a young lad overcame a tough childhood to establish himself as one of Australia’s best athletes. But I don’t think the writer quite captured what a difficult season Ryan has just had. While the article touched on the injury he sustained earlier on in the season, there was no mention of his battle for a starting spot against Brazilian keeper Diego Alves, a man Ryan was signed to cover for. The writer also stated that there is a “Neville Resurrection” at Valencia – but manager Gary Neville was recently sacked by the club after four months in the hot seat, as he struggled…

“He’s pretty fast, but I got more speed than Oxford Street.” – Pacey Brisbane Bronco centre James Roberts, taking an early lead for NRL metaphor of the year. “Nick’s sitting down in Canberra. Bullshit he’s sick. Two times he’s done it. Two times he’s faked it.” – Bernard Tomic, with some interesting sideline talk about Nick Kyrgios during Tomic’s Davis Cup loss to John Isner. “Let’s not forget who holds the quickest loss on the ATP tour lol #howmanyminutesagain” – Nick Kyrgios, via Twitter (and later deleted), in response to Tomic. “There’s a hard edge that has been missing for, basically, forever; a ruthless edge. And not just on the field. There’s a bro culture that is obvious and unacceptable. That culture is in place of that hard edge.” –…

JOSH WHO? Not since the 2004 Athens Olympics has Australia boasted such a strong athletics team. From Brooke Stratton in the sandpit, to Damien Birkenhead throwing shot put, and Ella Nelson in the 200m, there’s a suite of athletes about to become household names. Josh Clarke finds himself at the front of the Rio track and field charge, as the first Australian male to qualify for the 100m sprint since Athens. Clarke ran a shave under the qualifying time of 10.16 seconds – 10.15 – in Canberra in February. As one commentator described the understated sprinter: “He runs, he wins and then he goes home." Here’s hoping he’ll bring home some heavy metal for Australia ... WHAT’S HIS STORY? Clarke became well-known across the racing community after winning the national…

EVER SINCE some anonymous wiseass coined the motto “first impressions last”, the self-help/success world has been obsessed with the idea of the memorable introduction. But of course we’re wiser asses these days. We know that sometimes the first impression is the only thing that lasts. Not everyone who makes a dramatic entry has an impact thereafter. Sometimes their exit is just as dramatic. Not long after his storming debut, young, strapping Carl Ditterich, looking as though he’d just leapt out of some celluloid Riefenstahl creation, appeared at the door of a party featuring his feted team-mates, an Aryan supermodel on each arm. The show stopped. Actually, he stole it. It seemed such entries were his trademark. He arrived at football in the same manner: towering, eye-catching, so damned manifest. He…

Aussie tennis legend John Newcombe once described Maria Sharapova’s grunting as “legalised cheating”. Sharapova’s positive test at the Australian Open for the newly banned meldonium falls into the same category. At her announcement in Los Angeles on March 7, the world’s richest female athlete admitted to making “a huge mistake” in not clicking on a link from an email sent by WADA, listing the banned substances for 2016 – an oversight that fellow players found staggering, and one that all-time great Chris Evert labelled “incredulous”. Meldonium, which Sharapova knew as mildronate (but the alternative name is hardly an excuse, since she admitted not checking the list), was a monitored substance in 2015, as WADA suspected its widespread use by athletes had more to do with performance boosting (via increased blood…

NRL Rugby league has its signature Anzac Day contest in St George-Illawarra vs Roosters (Apr 25), while another team working the public holiday – the Sea Eagles – navigates a five-day turnaround to play Manly vs North Queensland (Apr 28) at Brookvale. The representative round gives (most of) the league a week off, with Mal Meninga’s first game as national coach in the Australia vs New Zealand Test (May 6) at Hunter Stadium. And with Origin so close that you can smell it (you’ll definitely be hearing about it), the NRL pulls out its most novel schedule ploy of the season: the Suncorp double-header of Melbourne vs North Queensland (May 14) and Brisbane vs Manly (May 14), an arrangement which saw Manly give the Broncos an extra home game. It…

RUGBY IS GETTING ITS ARSE KICKED BY THE OTHER THREE FOOTY CODES. BRETT PAPWORTH was 23 years old, had played 16 Tests for the Wallabies and was entering his salad years as a rugby player. He’d scored fine tries on Australia's tour of New Zealand in 1986 (the last time the Wallabies beat the All Blacks at Eden Park) and helped Australia to a World Cup semi-final against France. He had vision, soft hands and a step like a firecracker. It was one of the great steps ... Fittler-esque. And given the success of hot-stepping dual international Michael O’Connor, it surprised few that “Pappy” was courted by the pros. Bulldogs heavies Phil Gould and Peter “Bullfrog” Moore picked him up in a limousine, drove around the streets talking shop. Balmain…

“WE NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE DIFFICULTY OF DOING THE SIMPLE THINGS RIGHT.” SINCE claiming consecutive gold medals at the Sydney and Athens Games, Hockeyroos stuck in an Olympics medal mire for over a decade. However, with the team currently ranked number-three in the world, behind the Netherlands and Argentina, expectations for Rio 2016 are high for our mostly youthful Aussie women’s team, who will guided around the turf by veteran Olympians Madonna Blyth, Teneal Attard and Casey Sablowski. One of the young guns responsible for the Hockeyroos’ return to the top is Anna Flanagan, Australia’s sharp-shooting ... defender? That’s right: Flanagan is a defender but she still scores plenty of goals. Her expertise in converting short corners has been crucial in the Hockeyroos’ rise up the ranks. It’s an area she’s…

WHAT’S INVOLVED? Play it, live it, love it with more than 13,000 participants from around the world at the 10th Pan Pacific Masters Games on the beautiful Gold Coast. The world’s biggest and best biennial masters games will showcase competition in 43 team and individual sports for the over 30s, with no qualification required. A jam-packed entertainment program during the event gives participants the opportunity to celebrate their achievements, socialise with team-mates, friends and family, and enjoy the camaraderie for which the event is renowned. Some of Australia’s biggest artists have graced the Games Village stage over the years including Dragon, Ian Moss, Melbourne Ska Orchestra, 1927, Daryl Braithwaite and The Black Sorrows, with this year’s program set to host a stellar line-up. The Games Village will be located in…

PRAWNS ARRABIATA Serves 4. Cost per serve: $5.10 Time to make: 15 min 250g linguini 1 x 400g jar arrabiata pasta sauce (such as Barilla) 1 cup store-bought roasted red capsicum, drained, thinly sliced 1x 250g punnet cherry tomatoes, halved 400g frozen cooked prawns, with tails, thawed 4 cups baby spinach 1/4 cup shaved parmesan, to serve 4 cups mixed salad leaves, to serve 1 Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water according to packet instructions; drain well. 2 Meanwhile, place pasta sauce, roasted capsicum and cherry tomatoes in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring, for ten minutes, or until tomatoes are softened. Stir in prawns, heat through for one minute. Add baby spinach in final minute of cooking to wilt. 3 Toss linguini through…

GILBERT CONTEMPLATED THE IDEA OF THE ELASTIC POTENTIAL ENERGY OF A FLEXIBLE POLE AND ITS TRANSFER INTO KINETIC ENERGY. THE STORY of pole-vaulting is one about the rise of the flexible, of the idea of energy conversion and the interaction between athlete and apparatus; the impact of technology on technique. The man who introduced the idea of the flexible pole didn’t have the materials available to him that inventors and athletes (he was both) have today, but the very idea itself took the sport in an entirely different direction – upwards. Alfred Carlton Gilbert was, among many other things, an inspired toy-designer, a dog-breeder, a hunter, world record-holder for chin-ups and holder of two world high-jump records. History rarely seems to credit him for revolutionising the sport of pole-vaulting, choosing…

PETE NORMAN GETS MY VOTE FOR HIS SUPPORT OF HIS TWO PODIUM COLLEAGUES AT THE MEXICO OLYMPICS IN 1968. In case you missed it, we recently marked the 60th anniversary of the incident that has been voted the Greatest Moment in Australian Sport in the 20th Century. It was on March 11, 1956 that 22,000 people filed into the MCG to watch the National Athletics Championships in what was essentially a dress rehearsal for the Melbourne Olympics later that year. And the feature event would be the mile, in which Melbourne’s favourite son, John Landy, the then-world record-holder and our nation’s best Olympic hope on the track, was expected to produce the first sub-four-minute mile on Australian soil – if not a new world mark ... Most of us know…