Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture and faith from the Antipodes.
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Sermon today was on ‘keeping the Sabbath’ which made this article in the Guardian (Six Nations: ‘Rugby is not what fuels my happiness,’ says Euan Murray) more relevant than it might have been another day.
Hat tip to The GA Junkie - an interesting blog in the vagaries of Presbyterianism around the world.
An interesting recent podcast on faith and football can also be found here: BBC - BBC World Service Programmes - Heart And Soul, 06/01/2010 Faith and Football
I’m glad someone finally said this in a public forum. My observations from watching my own kids play sport and the different teams they play is that the comments here aren’t far from the mark for some teams. Sad but true, but the fun of playing is taken out of it. (And don’t get me started on seeing 7 year old kids playing sport in strip covered in so many sponsors’ logos it’s like watching a mob of billboards playing football).
See Junior rugby child’s play no more - Rugby - NZ Herald News.
Also, I caught a few episodes of “The Cup” on TV. A little close to the bone sometimes (just like satire should be).
The two best teams in the Air NZ Cup play in the final tonight - Wellington and Canterbury. History tends to favour Canterbury, though I think we’ve got a good chance tonight. As with all these things it will come done to mental preparation and doing the little things right. (Oh, and finding some kryptonite for Richie McCaw 
).
The Wellington Lions win the Ranfurly Shield!
And they beat Auckland to do it - even better.
And Auckland score no points - even better.
Well done to the whole team.
Go the Lions!
Of course, I’m in Christchurch and miss all coverage of the game, but first-born and second-born went to the game and had a great time.
The kids football (soccer) season ended yesterday with all four playing their final games for the winter season. It’s been a really long haul - practices for second-born started back in early February for a pre-season tournament, with the others close behind in March. And then with the rain delays we’ve only just finished. Good games yesterday too - one cup final (loss), a plate final (win) and two other good games (wins, with both third-born and fourth-born scoring goals). Now we wait to see how what final positions the two older kids’ teams finish with and how that will affect promotion etc. for next season.
It’s been good on the whole, though I’m looking forward to having Saturday mornings back for a few months (assuming other sporting commitments for the kids don’t come up).
A recent issue of ESPN The Magazine has an article on athletes with prosthetics and some commentary asking what really is the difference between various sorts of technological enhancement in sport. See ESPN - ESPN The Magazine - Let ‘Em Play and the photo gallery at ESPN - ESPN The Magazine - Photo Gallery.
Hat tip to Gregor Wolbring at ESPN Magazine focus on Athletes and Prosthetics « Nano, Bio, Info, Cogno, Synthetic bio, NBICS.
We went down to Hamilton today to watch day four of the NZ-England cricket test. Great day all round - though the excitement of the NZ second innings collapse could have been done without. Armed with deck chairs, rugs and our chilly bin the 6 of us, plus another 5 staked out an area on the bank and sat back to watch the game. A slow start, which picked up after lunch and then the excitement of the final session.
Is it unique to the Waikato to have people with drenching packs of sunblock walking through the crowd squirting out free sunblock to anyone who wants it?
Highlight of the day for the kids was playing on the field at lunch time. See photos below.
The squads for the 2008 Super 14 (which kicks off 15 Feb) have been announced, and I’m pleased to see that Hawkes Bay’s form in the Air NZ Cup has been rewarded with a number of players making the step up to Super 14. I’d assumed that the Hurricanes would pick up some because the Hawkes Bay union is part of the franchise, but I was surprised to see that Hayden Triggs from Manawatu didn’t make it in (though he was picked up by the Highlanders who really need some forwards this year with people leaving.)
The Hurricanes squad looks a little more dominated by Wellington players than I think the past few squads were (less Taranaki players, and some who’ve moved from Taranaki to Wellington in the past few years), and there are no draft players in there for the first time I can remember. I’m always optimistic about the ‘Canes and I like the look of the squad, though they need to improve on last seasons performance that promised much and delivered less.
Squad details at AllBlacks.com : 2008 Rebel Sport Super 14 squads announced and Rugby: 2008 Super 14 squads announced - 31 Oct 2007 - NZ Herald: New Zealand and International Sport News coverage.
I’d given up hope that the New Zealand sevens rugby team could win this year’s IRB Sevens title. The losses to Fiji in semi-finals and finals through the year were painful to watch. But they didn’t stop believing and didn’t give up trying to win, and today the opportunity presented itself to take the Edinburgh tournament and overall title. Well done for not giving up.
Pop culture reference: No Surrender, No Retreat.
We all went to see the NZ women’s soccer team play Canada at North Harbour Stadium this afternoon. A bit chilly by the end but an enjoyable time with the kids getting to see a good game played.
Final result: Canada 3 - 0 NZ which was a fair reflection of the difference between the teams.
Up in the dark yesterday to take Mark to a soccer tournament in Whangarei. Returned in the dark too. Mark’s team (U11 Waitakere) played 6 games - won 4, lost 1 and drew 1. The team were happy, as they’re a new squad made up of players from various West Auckland clubs who’ve only had a couple of practices together, and things will get better as they play together more.
Very windy (the Pentecost factor?) but the rain stayed away. See the 360 degree panorama taken from side of the park.
Quicktime VR of the same photo. No idea if this will work, and you’ll probably need to view it in Quicktime player rather than in the browser.
Should be tournaments in Cambridge and Tauranga in the next month or two, so lots more traveling coming up.
Got to go - three soccer practices to get kids to this afternoon. Fortunately all club practices so they are all at the same training ground. Will prepare hot and hearty food for when they return.
If you know of someone theologically qualified and with an interest in sport then this might be of interest:
Professor/Reader in Sport and Christian Outreach - University of Gloucestershire
From my daily web surfing of job sites.
Stayed up last night working on the thesis bibliography, which gave me an “excuse” to watch Jonny Reid win twice at the Gudang Garam A1GP Sentul. The first time in the sprint race, and the second in the feature event. The latter had all the things that make motorsport exciting - aggressive driving, variable weather conditions, leads eaten away by the safety car, pit stop dramas, the lead changing several times and the odd collision. Great stuff, and now the New Zealanders have put their first wins away it’ll be interesting to see if they can maintain the pressure. Might be worthwhile going down to Taupo in the new year to see them.
More at:
A1GP World Cup of Motorsport: NEW ZEALAND’S DOUBLE WIN AT SENTUL.
A1Team.NZL
Brilliant opening spell on Saturday by the Hurricanes before losing shape (and Smith) to get through in the end to a bonus point. I thought the Western Force played better than the score (29-5) indicated and expect them to knock off a couple of teams later on in the competition. Maybe even the Chiefs next week?
Big blow for the Hurricanes losing Conrad Smith to a broken leg for the season, plus not good news for the ABs either. Still with Tana, Ma’a and Tane in the mid-field the ‘Canes are better off than some teams in that area.
I’ve always liked Smith’s play - the perfect foil to Nonu’s style - and his intelligence and organization will be missed greatly.
Oh, and it was good to see the Highlanders come through well against the Blues.
Well, that was good. Nice to see we can play well in the rain once we woke up. See NZ Herald - Hurricanes hand out opening night Blues - 10 Feb 2006 - Sport.
David Zimmerman on why sports reporting is like witnessing. See Strangely Dim: Good News, Sports Fans.
Pentecost will find me on the sideline of a soccer field yelling encouragement as one of my sons takes part in his first soccer tournament outside of regular weekly games. Like any sporting event it’ll be marked by passion, atmosphere, noise, sweat, confusion, pain and emotion. And that’s just for the spectators. Maybe not to the same level as an All Black test or the F.A. Cup final but you get the picture. Go Ranui!
(Eden Park, May 2005. Yes, I know it’s not a soccer game)
So too Pentecost. Bob’s suggestions for the grid blog included using different languages, capturing the invitation of the Spirit to all as the church began to emerge and be formed. Sport too is a language. You may not be able to speak the language of a far off place, but produce a ball (particularly a soccer ball) and words become irrelevant. A Danish friend of ours was talking recently of his time in Peru. His Spanish wasn’t too hot but that didn’t matter when he kicked a ball around with the kids in his neighbourhood. By playing the game he became one of them - part of the community.
So I have this image of Pentecost being like a cup final. The teams are playing, the crowd’s immersed in the experience and suddenly a woman runs out onto the pitch. Not only that but she intercepts the ball and starts playing - drawing some of the players and the crowd into her game. And then the game spills out into the street (like in the “Keep the Ball Alive” ad) and before you know it there are all sorts of people kicking and passing balls (even some picking it up and running with it!). The same basic game but with local variations. Anyone can play - no need to learn the language - just “have a go.”
Now of course over time people try to write rule books, dictate styles of play, develop intense rivalries and generally stifle the spirit of the game. But in all sorts of places you’ll find the Spirit and a ball, playing “the beautiful game”, and everyone’s invited to play.
Extreme Anglicanism: A Liturgical Guide to the Sporting Year
In this book, Catherine Fox suggests a completely new liturgical year, starting with the Season of Football (colour: black and white stripes), then passing through Rugby (blood), Cricket (white with grass stains) and Wimbledon (clergy, white; laity, purple and bottle green). High days include the Feast of the Blessed Jonny Wilkinson, and, for our friends Down Under, Billabong Sunday with its unique liturgy (”yeah, with you too, awesome priest dude”). She also identifies several biblical sporting heroes, such as Jonah, who took swimming with dolphins a whole step further. As the author’s elder son observes, there are three kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can’t. ‘Extreme Anglicanism’ will help you score in the Great Game of Life.
I’ll add it to my list of books to have a look at when it’s published.
Last rugby post for a while - I promise.
New Zealand Sports News - super12 - Coach vs Coach
Daniel Carter and Andrew Mehrtens rejected offers to be the Hurricanes’ first five-eighths in next year’s Super 12.
In NZ we’ve often complained about European union or league clubs not releasing players for national teams and now maybe we’re starting to go down that path ourselves.
Yesterday was the last day of the soccer season for two of my boys. A couple of convincing victories and an end of season party to round it off. Boots put away, soccer strip washed and shin pads retired.
This afternoon the cricket gear came out. The pitch was a little moist (as in very wet and muddy) but for a while the afternoon was frequently interspersed with balls hitting the roof of the house. Bowling in gumboots slows the bowlers approach run apparently and the ball “sticks” to the pitch meaning bouncers are about knee high.
Still with the Black Caps to be playing soon (XTRAMSN: Sport: Cricket: Black Caps ICC Trophy Squad Named) it was only a matter of time before cricket was back on the menu. (Unless you live in the snow-bound south).
Hurricanes 37 bt. Crusaders 20
Still got that warm glow inside.
More of the glorious event at: tvnz.co.nz | SPORT | RUGBY | Hurricanes give Crusaders a fright
I’ve been quite stressed over the last few days waiting for the NZ-SA rugby quarter-final. Would “our boys” do it or would they falter in the quarters? Then just as the game is kicking off my daughter got sick and I spent much of the game looking after her far away from the rugby. It brought everything back into perspective - one sick daughter is far more important that whether the All Blacks win a rugby game. Sometimes you need these reminders.
Having recovered from watching the All Blacks play Wales at rugby on Sunday night I made the mistake of taping NZ playing Australia at cricket last night. Arrrggghhh! Two missed chances in the last over and then we lose by 1 run on the second to last ball. (All credit to the Australians…)
This is not good for the blood pressure.
I’m a big fan of Wellington sport - especially the Lions and Hurricanes rugby teams. Yesterday the Lions gave us a rollercoaster ride in their 38-38 draw in the Ranfurly Shield challenge with Canterbury.
(See Wellington come-from-behind effort not enough to lift shield.)
I’ve often thought the Wellington teams are just like the church - at times completely woeful and at other times reaching sublime heights - and often within the same game. Not enough listening to the coach?
Anyway, thanks to the boys for a great experience - now concentrate for the whole game!
For more information on the Wellington Lions and Hurricanes rugby team click on the lion below.
