A mostly Merry Xmas
A timely reminder that it is the season to be thankful.
It just hits you a little bit harder when it’s Christmas.
I was taking a rare stroll through Facebook today when I came across this post.
I can’t claim to know Shane well, but I spent a few unforgettable hours with him around about this time of year in 2019.
I wrote a story about it for the NZ Herald. I still remember the matter-of-fact way he talked about his acute medical adventures, which started in 1984 when he was given six months to live, that have followed him throughout his life.
Shane was the fifth New Zealand recipient of a heart and kidney transplant but he’d much rather be known as a lawn bowler.
I’d love you to read the story, because his fight has been extraordinary.
Below is how that story ended.
Shane Gibson is not your average sportsman.
Life and a bad hand got in the way of that.
But he’s a lawn bowler. Not a great one – “I’m no Peter Belliss” – but a bloody good one.
He got so close but never quite won a national championship, though he pulled off one of the greatest grassroots sports achievements you’ve never heard about. One weekend, in the midst of his dialysis hell, he won the Birkenhead singles champs. Eight matches across two days, all on less than two litres of fluid intake.
Shane is 42. He might not have been given the tools for an equal sporting life, but he’s found comfort where others may not.
“I’ve been through so much and seen so much,” he says, “and one of the things I have come to realise is that there are so many things worse than death.”
I hope beyond hope there’s a little more of his tale to tell yet. Give the ones you love a hug this Christmas.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
Is it wrong of me to fear another Steven Adams scenario, where every sports reporter in the country will be asked to follow the socials of both Eddie Osei-Nketia and the University of Hawaii to report on every burp and fart that happens between now and his inevitable Heisman Trophy win?
If, like me, you’re nonplussed about the extraordinary coverage given to his interesting career move, you can’t deny the fact Athletics NZ butchered a gilt-edged chance to promote a sprint programme with their ludicrously short-sighted selection policies. Something I have written about before.
I’m super glad I invested a few minutes reading about paraplegic athlete Eve Rimmer, a woman I knew a little but, as the headline guilt-trippily suggests, not nearly enough about.
From Jules Older in The Spinoff:
My all-time favourite Eve quote is one she told us at the dinner table: “Back then, at the movies, the whole audience rose to their feet and sang God Save the Queen. Well, I obviously couldn’t. But some yahoo shouted, ‘Why aren’t-cha’ standin’?’ I answered him just as loud: ‘I’m a Communist!’”
I now need to get my hands on a copy of “No Grass Between My Toes: The Eve Rimmer Story.” It was written by prolific athletics author Garth Gilmour, who died two years ago and was most famous for the outstanding “No Bugle No Drums” with Peter Snell in 1965.
Much of the goodwill generated for football by the Socceroos’ excellent World Cup campaign dissipated after a disgraceful pitch invasion during the A-League’s Melbourne derby.
Writes Greg Baum in the Sydney Morning Herald:
The A-League’s muddle-headed (or is that money-headed?) decision to sell off its grand finals for three years has been set against the Socceroos’ bold World Cup showing and a rousing finish to that tournament early on Monday morning to create a picture of the betrayal of fans in this country in what should have been a turning point for the sport here.
Implicit in that was that a reaction might have been expected.
It’s a feeble alibi. In fact, it’s a cop-out. Look at the images of the goons on the pitch on Saturday. They’re not taking a stance about the mismanagement of the game in this country. They’re not upholding a principle about where A-League grand finals should be played. They’re not even imitating European style hardcore fan groups with cartoonish names, though some might delude themselves that they are.
They’re reacting to the fact that their team is a goal down, and the flare they threw at the opposition goalkeeper came back at them. They’re making trouble for the sake of it. They’re thugs. They’re vandals. And they’ve ruined it for the vast majority of A-League supporters who have disappointed in recent seasons only in their number, not their disposition. They’ve trashed their own joint.
It was a highly anticipated series after Australia demolished a West Indies side that was so woeful they could have bowled to Australia for 10 days and might have had them 3000-6. Instead the first test at the Gabba was over in less than two days.
Geoff Lemon argues that we should all relax and that it’s not the duration of the test but the entertainment of the test that counts. I’d be fully on board with his argument were it not for one thing: as a neutral, I didn’t find it very entertaining at all. Aside from Travis Head’s anomalous 92, batting was pointless, best demonstrated by Mitchell Starc’s delivery to Rassie van der Dussen to go to 300 test wickets.
Allan Border summed up the ball that deviated like a 145km/h offbreak best when he said: “You can’t hit that; the best you can hope for is to be lbw.” On its own, yes, wildly entertaining. As part of a pattern of misbehaving deliveries that turns batting into a crapshoot, far less so.
Ben Stokes’ England continued their near-incomprehensible turnaround with a 3-0 clean sweep in Pakistan, winning the third test in Karachi without the need for the pyrotechnics and drawn out tension of Rawalpindi and Multan.
It was a stunning performance that coach Brendon McCullum put down to the brilliance of the captaincy, saying he himself did “bugger all”.
In a bit of a shame for cricket fans here, England will travel to New Zealand for two tests in February without the world’s fastest bowler in Mark Wood and teenage legspinning phenom Rehan Ahmed.
Good grief. Just a reminder it’s 2022, everybody.
There isn’t a lot of good news in global finance these days, except when it comes to buying sports franchises. Mat Ishbia, a billionaire mortgage lender, is finalising the purchase of the Phoenix Suns and the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury for US$4 billion, a record for an NBA team, sources told ESPN yesterday.
Here, ESPN runs down some of the most valuable franchise sales in recent times. What they don’t acknowledge is that Manchester United and Liverpool are also being prepped for sale, with the clubs being valued by Forbes (US$) at $4.6 billion and $4.45b respectively, the third and fourth most valuable football clubs globally behind La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.
THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE
Wall-to-wall Christmas movies, beers, roasted nut mix and lollies, an attempt to guilt-jog off the beers, roasted nut mix and lollies, catching up with friends and family, and a bit of backyard cricket. That’s it for the weekend. Sport on TV won’t really come into it… sorry.
NEXT WEEK
I’m heading down to the Costa del Naki for Christmas and intend to put my laptop away for a good few days, but the intention is to push out a “classic” year-ender newsletter next Friday. If something occurs between now and then that I feel is vital to highlight, comment upon or expand on I might fire up the mouse on the wheel, but no promises.
Have to agree with Sehwag's comments: if that test had have taken place in India, people would be outraged.
That Shane Gibson story.....I'm well into my 70's and they come more easily now but you had a few tears prickling my eyeballs. What a great guy and what great courage and stoicism. A super piece of writing Mr Cleaver, one he deserved. Thanks.