Hemel en Aarde

Ahoy, most of my weekend was spent on the banks of this pristine piece of Africa. I was lucky enough to be schooled in the arts of estuary fishing by non other than Sticky Steenbras as he known in those parts.

Other than lying in the sometimes sunny days. I rode back and forth from here to Arniston a few times to keep the legs ticking over. Later on Saturday I received more lessons from some of the surfers we were staying with. The sea was the colour in this picture and two whales came out to see my display. They were far more graceful than I was. I ended up standing on a reef with a wave coming towards me and cutting my feet up. Not too serious as I escaped with only a few minor cuts.

Watching the rugby on Saturday proved to be the worst part of my day, why we bother ? Province once again showed their clear lack of depth and composure is not one of Schalk Burgers strengths, although he clearly has others. As it turned out the Lions helped us out and my good mate Earl Roses hopefully played his way out of tour contention. Lets hope he delivers another performance like that this weekend. Anyway on a positive, how good is Ryan Kankers. In a performance worth mentioning alongside Kankers was the ever improving Jean Deysel. I have a sneaky feeling the Sharks are getting organised again, the Currie Cup may yet be theirs but I think Coach Plumtree is a master and will be looking ahead as usual. Look out Super14.

Anyway I drove the Hemel en Aarde valley on Sunday and a more perfect day it could not have been. We rode it on this years Epic but it was not as much fun taking in the surrounds. Passing thru HermanusPeitersFontien on the way home to watch the Youth pick up another win in the Tornadoes CC Whale Match. Congrats to Thomas Vaughn. I finished off my sensory overload taking the coastal route home past Heuningklip and away.

Hemel en Aarde indeed...

Some wont understand

If I know I've mentioned this bloke before but sometimes you need to knock down the door before someone inside answers. I hope mt old teammate has a little listen to this guy and purchases some of his music. He has alot of goodness to give much like the bloke I am talking about. Some people just wont understand.

After a very heavy week which culminated in my beloved Tornadoes being pipped in the final. There were no fairytale endings or comebacks this year but knowing the strength of character which flows through not only this generation of players but the family as a whole we will be back to fight the good fight again.

How many vibes are going from Presidents Cup golf to the League Cup Final then onto Hermanus where 2 teams of youth and experience will compete for the Whale Trophy. Coming up later in the month is our well known and much sought after Tornadoes Formal Dinner. Its amazing what these guys continually seek and attain. Ucha cha...

Otherwise enjoy the weekend, hopefully the weather clears and we can get out there. I will be riding and fishing in Arniston with Stix. The old fisherman himself is probably baited up alongside the river already. Tight lines old boy...

Make the most of your times here, you never know when your fragile world may have to adapt to change. Make hay whilst the sun shines...

Faldo Falls Flat

Oh well the Euro's lost the Ryder Cup...

I suppose we can go on about how badly behaved the American fans were and how emboerissing Boo Weekly is. No seriously, the oke is going to cringe in a few years time at some of the stuff he was saying and doing.

But I want ot have a little harp at my old mate Mister " I did it my way " Faldo.
The oke is still one of sports beauts, never have we seen one so self involved off the course.
Take the Ryder Cup for instance, it was little more than Faldo's parade. Massive pity but how is an oke who never bothered to acknowledge any player in his own era supposed to rub shoulders with younger players he has criticised in the media. The bloke did his best and thankfully for the rest of us we wont have to hear any more from him about it. Hopefully.

It was all over bar the shouting pretty early on, from what I saw it never looked like the Euro's were together in it whereas the usually self important Yanks appeared to play for the team. Perhaps it was the fear of not letting each other down which provided the spark. Not having Tiger around would have helped guys chill and just get along. Greatness in certain players can bring about a feeling of inferiority in the rest of the team before they play.

But whatever it boils down to the team in red had it and the blues well, they are singing them.
Sport is special for a few days it turned these usually guarded nerds of the golfing world into Gladiators willing each other on in front of a crowd just as simple as some of those in Romans times...

Are you not entertained

Tornadoes

A subject very dear to my heart is The Tornadoes, most of you know them. You should.

Well its that time of the year again. The time of year the Tornadoes roll into the finals of the UCT Internal league. This will be our fifth appearance in the finals in a row and having won the last four titles they will be gunning for 5 titles in a row.

The opposition (The Cobra's) deserve credit as they reach their second finals after being soundly thrashed last in last years final. They are indeed playing good rugby and this final promises to be an enthralling affair. The Cobra's are the only team to have beaten The Tornadoes this year pipping us 10-7 in a tough one.

However mentally I'm not sure teams can rise up to such heights and beat the Tornadoes twice in a year. Especially in finals, as we know how the old saying goes, " Tornadoes dont lose finals. "

So make sure you pencil in this wednesday afternoon for Finals day up at the Green Mile, kick off is at 4:30pm so dont miss it.

Some history for you:

Tornadoes Est 1999, This is the tenth season, aiming for their 7th Title having won the Cup in 1999-2001-2004-2005-2006-2007.

No team comes near to this record.

Ucha cha

The Weekender

Well as another cold front lashes us here in the Cape of Storms, things appear gloomy. People are over the wind and the rain. We need some sunshine, some long summer days in board shorts to turn what has been a fairly tough winter into a distant memory.

Don't expect any favours from the gods this weekend, the forecast is not looking great. But such is life and if we sit inside watching TV come Monday its not going to be pretty.

So here are my suggestions, firstly have a few coolies on Friday. Take the edge off the week. Don't overdo it cause then you more useless than ever. Sunday is the big one, I know of some blokes who are planning on doing the Karoo2Coast. Its a 100km mountain bike race which is pretty good fun if you fit. Nothing is fun if you are unfit, so don't even bother trying, it will just set you back further. I cant get up there so I will be trying to avoid the showers and get in a ride or two, not looking too likely but hope springs eternal. Now for those of you have a surfboard Sunday at the Berg is set to be a classic. Now if you a big swell watcher like myself its looking more and more likely that Mother Nature will provide us with a great day out, look you wet anyway so whats a bit of rain. But there is a sweet 3 to 4 ft swell pushing through with a gentle off shore pushing it back.

So gather up your lips and get out there, the ELEMENTS are a part of life.

Enjoy them all

Currie Cup

Its about this time most years that local rugby fans switch back to the Currie Cup, mostly due to the fact that the Boks are finished with the Tri Nations but its also nearing Semi Final time.

I always reckon the Currie Cup brings false hopes to alot of players and commentators alike. Sure your rough diamonds seem to crop up time and time again but its when they start throwing names around for Springbok selection that my blood boils. Talk about the same players mauling he took in the Super14 not six months ago and they have the memory of Aunty Marge in frail care. Absolutely non existent. I have a certain pain the neck of a player, named Earl. Now this young chap probably doesn't deserve my full roasting quite yet so I will try take it easy in him and present my argument as calmly as possible.

He is a decent Currie Cup player, granted, at Vodacom level where he belongs he is at best a play maker. Now lets all cast our selective memories back to the Super14. Ok, we there. Young Earl who resembles a Mummy running around the field is being completely mauled by the Aussie commentators while playing for the Lions. Sure the rest of the Lions team aren't having the best day out there but Earl is having what we term a shocker. It's emboerrising.

The Lions stumbled through the tour losing every game. We cant blame it on one player, yes and I never would but lets slow the f#%^k down about talking this guy into the Springbok team. God, he's half Dollie's size and yes Matt Giteau isn't much bigger but they ain't Matt Giteau...full stop !

So here is my point, don't rush to put players into the green and gold, let them play another Super14 and we will be able to judge their ability against quality players week in and week out. Not the early rounds of the Currie Cup the Super14 please...

So now that the Boks are back in the Currie Cup we get a better reflection on the ability of certain players. Suddenly the Free State who have looked amazing are stumbling and aren't so amazing. The Lions are now back to square one too, they have yet to play decent a decent Currie Cup team with their Boks in it. Sure they may surprise someone because they are not useless but lets wait and see. I reckon they will not beat either the Bulls, WP or the Sharks.

If Province fail to win with a bonus against them in the final week of the competition it will be fair enough. The squad is not yet big enough to carry the Springbok load whilst constantly losing players to the Pound and Euro so our early form could cost us.

But, if we do make the semi's watch out, we may just have the team to go all the way. I am not certain of a few of the forwards when the going gets tough but hey at least we are moving in the right direction after a poor start and years in the wilderness.

The future looks bright...

Whats the Hurry ?

For those of you not in the Mountain Biking loop the guy pictured here is our very own SA born and Natal North coast raised Burry Stander.

Burry, yes that's his name, has just won the U23 Mountain Bike World Title and placed 5th overall in the open category. That is massive folks especially as Burry is only 20. How it works is a bunch of the world's elite mountain bikers travel around the world riding in races competing for points similar to the F1.

Burry is one hell of a prospect and huge things are expected of this guy. So keep an eye or ear out for his name. Talk is he has just signed up with Specialized for next season and this would be a massive boost for him. Currently Specialized have another World Champ, Christoph Sauser in their team so you realise the potential being invested in this kid. Funnily enough these two raced in this years Cape Epic under the Team Songo banner and were leading going into Day 3 when Burry suffered knee problems and had to withdraw from the race. I'm sure we will see them next year as Team Specialized, Sauser loves the Epic which he hasn't won since 2005. Being a summer resident of Stellenbosch look out for these two training out there together come summer.

Well done Burry.

I am proud to say I stood on the start line alongside these guys at the SA Champs at the begining of the year, it was the last time I saw them but I'm sure they remember it as fondly as I do.

Red Sox Nation

This one is for the fans:

The Boston Red Sox faithful known at the Red Sox Nation has just set a record for the most consecutive sell outs. The streak, as the Yanks love to call it, has lasted 5 years and a total of 456 consecutive games. That is powerful.

During the streak a total of 16,336,192 fans rolled through the gates of their beloved Fenway Park. One of the oldest and most treasured grounds in all of baseball. That's not a bad taking at the gate for the owners either.

Wonder what is amounts to ?

The Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004, a year I was living in the States, after 86 long and painful years. The failure to win the World series was blamed on the management for selling baseballs greatest ever, Babe Ruth, to the arch enemy of any Red Sox fan the NY Yankees. The Nation called it the " The Curse of the Great Bambino ". This is all deadly serious stuff, so if you ever in Boston mention some of this shit and it would be like telling a Bok die hard about the " Lions tour of 74 ".

One final note to remind us what real fans are, the first pitch at the 456th sell out game was thrown by one Dora Giglio who at 86 holds the oldest season ticket account dating back to 1935.

Sweet Jesus I have a few years yet in The Craven Stand.

Province...

What am I on ? I'm on my bike, busting my ass 6 hours a day. Thats what I'm on !

Lance's Comeback to Cycling in 2009. To join the fight and support the Lance Armstrong Foundation in their efforts to raise awareness and reduce the global cancer burden, please visit www.livestrong.org to donate....

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Check it out, it doesn't get clearer than this.

Le Tour is going to be massive, considering he will be going for Tour win No.8 and trust me the competition has only become stiffer in the two years he has been away.

What am I on ?

Livestrong

The Livestrong Man is back or is he ?

Talk of Lance Armstrong on the comeback are doing the rounds. Its seems all very speculative at the moment and in what form would he race. Not fitness, but where in the team would he slot in ? A domestique seems strange for him, maybe his experience is worth that much to a team.

Read the link below to understand more about it.

http://www.velonews.com/article/82892/sources-lance-armstrong-coming-back

Article from Velonews.com

IRON MIKE

For some reason I have been thinking about sportsman and woman who through some fault be it their own or managers, family etc etc have blown up on our screens.

There are alot of them, Herschelle may be falling into that category but he is almost past it. Anyway. No one sportsman story is more tragic than another perhaps due to the nature of life not everyone is cut out to handle the pressure's being in the limelight brings. Gazza clearly loved football and drink but perhaps if he had been better managed would still be contributing. Is life's plan set out for some to fail in order to allow others to see their failures as examples. Ryan Giggs was on a fast track to nowhere at one stage and thanks to his manager he was able to turn it all around.

But for me the King of Sporting Tragedies has to go to my Iron Mike Tyson, now I can hear woman all over the world clamouring on to soap boxes and shouting billy, but I am not talking about his record with woman rather his record in the ring.

Mike Tyson was frightening, watch the video, granted its ten minutes but trust me it brings back all the horrors he inflicted on his opponents. He was brutal bordering on psychotic at times. I truly believe the man was carrying some demons from a hectic past. No one is that angry. At stages in his career and perhaps I am no boxing guru but their were times people feared getting into the ring with him. Imagine the mentality of having to confront someone like that in a small ring. You are walking wounded. Good luck mate.

Well I could go on all day about the man, rather watch the clip and remember how much he entertained you.

I will be looking into Gazza soon...

A Thief in the Night

Oh my Pieter De Villiers !!!

If you thought you were having a tough Monday, spare a thought for this poor fellow who in the process of trying to escape from the East London Museum jumped from a tree and came a wee bit of a cropper on the fence.

Yes that spike has gone a long way up his crack and I can hear alot of us saying, serves you right !

But imagine being alone up there with the cold hard steel inside you, your farthest thoughts are a cold jail cell. Help and help quick.

Apparently a passing trucker heard his cries and stopped to help him. I don't see him getting much help in this shot and as usual there are alot of folks standing around " doing their jobs "

If anyone comes across the video of Sweet Little Peet caught in his sex capade please tell me. Seeing that funny little man dressed up as Spiderman would be enough make the thief smile and forget his predicament for a moment.

Thanks to Sarratoga for this beauty.

They all want to win the title, they all want to be in the Champions League and if they don't get it they'll be changing managers like we change socks

The European summer transfer window has finally closed and what season it has proved to be. Not sure how long it's going to be before they start producing a WWF style package such has this sideshow to the game become.


I take the idea for this post from a recent article which quoted my old mate and Master Gaffer Harry Redknapp. Harry was bemoaning the fact that these mega rich twats with sheets on their head and money in their hands had no idea how to run a football team. Take the Ronaldinho transfer with Man City, Harry reckons Marc Hughes the Manager of Man City had no idea he was getting the little Brazilian. Fair enough he is a smart footballer but what Harry was trying to say was, " who running this team mate, this isn't fuckin fantasy football " or something like that.

I have to agree wholeheartedly with Harry, these big wig oli-gars aren't healthy for the fact that all they want to do is make a very successful team made up of bought at their prime footballers. Sure it may bring you immediate success but where does that leave you in two years time. Buying another team, sure go ahead. But what of the teams that cant keep bankrolling teams every few years. Only the strong will survive ? But my point doesn't lie here, what I am saying and I have to take another quote from Harry in that there can only be one winner of the Premier League and one Champions league winner. That's two teams with two managers who have achieved what these mega owners are looking for. What of the rest ? Its a tough world out there I know, but what has happened to the old style vibe, where your manager created his team out of players he chose, players he knew were willing and able to play and execute his playing style for the sake of the team, club and fans not the whims of some selfish twit sitting in his private box thinking he's playing PlayStation or Xbox.

I so have a massive soft spot for Sir Alex Ferguson, sure Man United are just as easy to ping on high profile signings but over his dead body would they sign someone the Glazers wanted to create a marketing buzz or because their grandson wanted to see someone playing in the famous red strip. Ol' Sir Alex has continuously and smartly been allowed to build teams, whilst contributing players-yes often expensive and world class players, from what he wants out of a player.

Job security for managers in football these days is at an all time low, in one day out the next. I take my hat off to Allan Curbishley from West Ham who just the other day quit over the fact that the club was selling players from under his nose whilst battling with injuries and the fact he wasn't signing players to replace those being sold. Fresh off the press: Kevin Keegan has now also quit as Manager of Newcastle citing the very same reason as stated above.

Who's next on the roundabout...

Storms bring Waves

The recent storm which lashed our coast has brought in some serious waves.

Here is the Kalk Bay harbour wall, yes that's a lighthouse which is about 3m tall.

Thanks to http://www.wavescape.co.za/ for the photos:

Check it out they have more.

Morreys Corner No 2

It seems Saturdays result in the rugby has sparked off some hot debates around the world. We get the next installment fresh from the great mans mind.

Enjoy Morreys Corner No: 2

Before you can play “wide” or “expansive” rugby, you must play direct rugby. Before you can go around a team, you must go through them.

At school boy level you can go around a side or create on overlap from first phase on a consistent basis without having to break tackles. At test level you need to beat a defence, get in behind them and then exploit the space. I feel bad for last week – now, retrospectively of course. I am never a negative person. In fact usually optimistic to a fault when it comes to the Boks… Before I had criticised the coach last week, I might have asked the question: How does PDV define “expansive” rugby. It is in his definition that the answer to the next and all important question lies. If he meant hit rucks at 100 miles an hour, produce quick ball on a platter, bust through defences with wave after wave of assault, including deft little off loads. And only then play to space, execute with incredible accuracy and finish almost every half chance presented. Perhaps had we understood that to be his doctrine of expansive rugby, we would have been less critical?

What happened on the weekend? How did we go from a confused bunch that couldn’t clear a ruck to save ourselves, to this clinical machine that thrashed the Wallabies into oblivion? Did we revert back to direct Bok rugby of old? Or is this the expansive game that PDV spoke of? Did the penny drop or did we go back to what we know?

Securing possession, kicking the corners, forcing line outs, chasing effectively, off loading to supporters in depth to create continuity, making very few errors (that the ref saw anyway), counter attacking with confidence, showing patience, out enthusing the opposition… That was all it took. Easy. So, is Pieter De Villiers a visionary? Did the senior players say bugger this new way, let’s do what we are good at? Does anyone know, I would love someone’s opinion? I’m at a loss. I heard a story via someone via Phil Kearns via via, that a senior Bok had told Kearns that the Boks had decided to take it into their own hands and ignore the coach. I don’t know what to think. What I do know is that after the RWC07 I remember thinking that this Bok side will peak in 2 years. That we hadn’t yet seen the best of this group of players. This year we beat NZ in NZ, thrashed Argentina and Australia by 60 and 50 respectively. We have also played 2 awful test matches and 2 average games. Where are we really? What is the prognosis for the next 2 seasons?

Were the Wallabies as woeful as they appeared to be or were we just so good that we blew them off the park?

Are you Crazy

For anyone out there who has been battling with the a mundane existence, a ground hog day sort of feeling to your days. Stop yourself, look at your life and be bold enough to challenge yourself into changing it.

A friend of mine always used this quote when confronted with a tough decision or a challenge : " I only regret the things I haven't done". I'm sure we've all heard similar lines but hey its what you take out of it. Take the storm the last few days. Sure it was comfy and warm at home watching DVDs, but had you earnt those DVDs ?

I did the first two legs of the Tale Mountain Challenge yesterday. Yes it was hailing at times but awesome, powerful, as one of the other blokes commented. It was way too much for me, I was hurting and I still am, but being out there again made me feel truly alive. I take my hat off to the lads who are doing the full marathon. I limped into Constantia Neck and was truly grateful to see the car waiting for me, but I will be back fitter an stronger next time. I aim to support those running this event in two weeks time. Check it out. There's another challenge waiting.

Are you crazy ?