A Broken Record
The Breakers’ uncertain future, the GOAT in the boat and a Furyous reaction to Tuesday’s newsletter lead The Week That Was and the Weekend That Will Be.
The Breakers miserable season mercifully ended with a pitiful 33-point loss to Adelaide, a match that saw them score just eight points in the third quarter.
It was a fitting sign-off on a lost season made tremendously difficult by their homeless existence… but not so difficult to explain away losing 23 of 28 matches and finishing with a points differential of -244.
The danger for the Breakers is that out of sight really has meant out of mind, and an even greater danger is that they were beginning to lose credibility with the New Zealand public before their enforced exile.
The change in ownership in 2018 from the Blackwell family to the Breakers Basketball Ltd consortium led by CEO Matt Walsh has led to a change of emphasis.
Just a casual read of the club’s Wikipedia page demonstrates this.
The early years were all about building a club to win, the 2018-19 season includes this chunk of text.
Despite the [Glen Rice Jr] controversy surrounding the club, the Breakers were playing to record home crowds and the 24 October encounter against the Illawarra Hawks—which saw [RJ] Hampton matched-up with LaMelo Ball—was the most-watched game in NBL history with nearly two million views globally on Facebook. There were an estimated five million views on highlights from the game shared on social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Hampton might have been a click-generating machine but according to nearly everybody I spoke to who knows anything about the sport, his signing was a terrible basketball decision - a hyper-talented kid who at that stage of his physical development couldn’t compete let alone dominate in as tough a competition as the Australian NBL.
The world has changed a bit since the Breakers were last part of the local sporting furniture. In many households the discretionary dollar is more elusive than ever.
The first few home games will probably prove popular but people will need a reason to keep coming back beyond hype. Winning has still proven to be the most effective sports marketing tool.
Are the Breakers in any position to do that later this year?
Stuff’s basketball diarist, hoops junkie Marc Hinton, sounds sceptical at best in his season wrap.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
It’s a curious week when the most interesting story is a local K1 500m battle, but the best-of-three scrap between the GOAT Lisa Carrington and the ultimate outsider in Aimee Fisher was gripping theatre.
You won’t find many bigger admirers of Carrington but a big part of me wanted Fisher to prevail, if only for what it could mean for sport in this country: that you can chart your own path, that you can reject the prescribed high-performance system and you can be successful.
Whether a fair assessment or not, Carrington came into these events as the poster child for High Performance Sport New Zealand1; Fisher the beacon for those who believe that organisation has become a dehumanising bureaucracy.
Fisher felt Canoe Racing New Zealand's high-performance programme was unsafe so left, potentially costing New Zealand at least one medal at the Tokyo Olympics. She won a K1 500m world championship gold at Copenhagen later in 2021 but won’t get to defend it having lost to Carrington this week.
Fisher will no doubt come under some pressure to re-enter the system. Having arguably the two fastest K1 paddlers in the world opens up a range of possibilities for Olympic medals across multiple boats in Paris, but I hope Fisher, 27, sticks to her guns.
She’s an unlikely cause célèbre, but more power to athletes like her.
This story contains one of the most unintentionally hilarious lines you’ll read this year. The story is headlined “New Zealand Rugby back in the black after four years with $5.5m profit”. This is a good thing after four years of deficits and is in no way funny whether intentionally or not.
But this, in explaining why there wasn’t a vote on the $200m Silver Lake equity proposal was:
“We are simply taking our time as a collective group of 26 unions to determine exactly what that means,” Manawatū Rugby Union chairman Tim Myers said. “We don’t see it so much as a delay. It’s a huge decision for us and we feel spending a bit more time making that decision is entirely appropriate.”
Ha ha, yes Tim, it is! It’s a huge decision, a seminal moment in New Zealand’s rugby history even. Take your time, go through the fine print with forensic vigour.
My only question would be this: Where the bloody hell was this restraint, this self-auditing, this sense of corporate responsibility when you were previously presented with a proposal that, on the surface at least, was less rigorously overseen and more advantageous to private interests than this one?
To lose one Rugby World Cup qualifying place may be regarded as a misfortune, for Spain to lose two looks like carelessness!
A forged passport for a replacement prop - extraordinary stuff.
Have to confess that not a whole lot caught my eye on the local sports scene this week, whether it be the published word or on-screen action, which is one of the reasons I had more time than usual to ponder the world of sport and its charismatic figures.
The feedback to both the site and my inbox suggested it was just as much a referendum on the word charisma and what it means as to whether heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury was the most charismatic sporting figure of the 21st century.
There were some other suggestions, such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Again, this is a highly subjective topic but although as humans and players I prefer Federer and Nadal, of the Big Three, I’d argue Novak Djokovic is the most charismatic.
(There was a suggestion Daniil Medvedev might be more charismatic than any of the previous generation. Outside their homeland, however, now is a tough time for Russian athletes to inspire any sort of devotion, which is a dictionary prerequisite of charisma.)
A couple of people mentioned Lance Armstrong, which is interesting because his name was brought up when I first raised the Fury-charisma question among a few neighbourhood friends but quickly dismissed.
That was a mistake. He had a compelling story - the scrappy Texas kid who quit triathlon for cycling; the stage-three cancer - whose domination of the Tour de France turned cycling from a largely European pursuit to a global phenomenon.
He inspired one of the great biographies that is laughably (with hindsight) titled It’s Not About the Bike, and the Livestrong charity he founded has raised more than $500 million for cancer services.
He was for a time the undisputed best at what he did and inspired unusual devotion in his followers, including some high-profile journalists lacking a certain curiosity.
Charismatic? Yes.
A massive cheat and a fraud? Hell yes.
Which segues on to a piece of correspondence regarding Fury that caught my eye.
“Hugely disappointing that you see fit to lay any sort of praise on someone who is openly homophobic and sexist. It’s 2022. Not 1962.” - Mark
It’s an interesting and even understandable reaction, but not one I can let pass without pushback.
Praising one part of a person’s life doesn’t mean you embrace every aspect of it. Far from it. But in the same way it’s difficult to knock Diego Maradona for his football ability, or Tiger Woods for his short game, it’s impossible to be a fan of boxing and not recognise Fury’s ring craft.
To labour the point, Shane Warne didn’t get a stand named for him at the MCG for his services to fidelity.
All of them are flawed individuals, brilliant at their chosen games, who inspired massive, sometimes blind, followings.
Yes, Fury’s comments on homosexuality and the role of women in society are outlandish and damaging, as highlighted in this thorough takedown of Fury, which includes this pointed line:
Many sports can be misused as an arena for promoting a skewed brand of heterosexual masculinity which feeds sexism and homophobia into all sports – whether played by men or women. Fury’s brand of sexism and homophobia only serves to reinforce these findings. When these sorts of attitudes are evident and accepted in sport, it is hardly surprising that athletes have fears of “coming out” and sportswomen feel less valued.
The Gypsy King will never be mistaken for a paragon but he will go down as one of the great heavyweights and, to these eyes at least (and probably most of the 94,000 pairs that rocked up to Wembley last weekend), a charismatic presence.
One guy who has had his charisma surgically removed is supercoach Wayne Bennett. Seems like ex-NRL and NZR boss David Moffett wasn’t a big fan either.
I didn’t like him, he didn’t like me. That’s the way it goes. I never held any grudges against him, I just didn’t like the guy,” Moffett explained on his MoffCast show on YouTube. “Mainly because he believed, and I think he still does, that the entire rugby league world revolves around him.”
THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE
My most important port of call is tuning into Redcliffe, Bennett’s new permanent home and the Warriors’ temporary one, to watch a redemption tale. The Warriors were humiliated five days ago by the Storm. The coach has called the players out for giving up in the 10-70 loss, but at least one of them had a good excuse after nearly losing a ball. If this doesn’t all lead to a glorious response, the season will start to look like another busted flush.
Warriors v Raiders, Brisbane, tomorrow 5pm, Sky Sport 4
Watching the flawed Hurricanes play is quite enjoyable and it was impressive how they came back from a decent deficit against the misfiring Reds. On the other hand, the Brumbies were the only Australian side to beat New Zealand opposition last week and Sanzaar’s hopes for competition credibility surely now rest upon their shoulders. The Sunday arvo kickoff is a bonus.
Brumbies v Hurricanes, Canberra, Sunday 4pm, Sky Sport 1
Although it pains me to say it, it’s more likely Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool juggernaut ends up with one trophy this season rather than the mythical quadruple that occupies so much column space in the UK papers (apart from The Sun, which Liverpool hates with good reason). The reason is simple - Manchester City are ahead of them in the Premier League and have a comparatively soft run-in. Liverpool have to play matches like this one.
Newcastle v Liverpool, St James’ Park, tomorrow 11.30pm, Spark Sport
Ronnie O’Sullivan (pictured) is currently tied 4-4 with John Higgins in their first to 17-frame semifinal, but if he prevails he’ll be aiming for a record-equalling seventh world championship on Monday morning against, presumably, Judd Trump, who leads Mark Williams 7-1. I say this in all honesty - that will be some atmosphere if the complicated and, yes, charismatic O’Sullivan can do it.
World Snooker Championship final, Sheffield, Monday 9am, Sky Sport 8
NEXT WEEK
Back here on Monday and Friday but there will also be at least one midweek newsletter for paying subscribers only. There’s a bit happening in the cricket world ahead of New Zealand’s tour to England that warrants some attention.
This in no way suggests Carrington didn’t deserve to win. The process was transparent and she won fair and square - and she’s brilliant.
