(Get) A Sporting Life

As in Missing Interesting Action. I can live with the fact that I will not be able to see Notts County (losers 2-1 to Walsall on Saturday) as they are languishing in the lower leagues, but I really want to see my Aussie rules. I especially want to see games like the flogging of Freemantle . WEST Coast broke their run of defeats by Fremantle and extended the Dockers' miserable start to the season with a 14.17 (101) to 11.4 (70) victory at Subiaco. Leading at every change, West Coast was always the better team without having a huge advantage on the scoreboard, leading by just 13 points at the final change. But with the game on the line, West Coast delivered with Steven Armstrong capping an impressive game with his third goal and Michael Braun's industry earning him the Ross Glendinning medal for best-on-ground. I'm gonna have to see if I can make nice at a sports bar in town, but I'm not sure if I can get the college kids here to go along with my peculiar sporting habits....

From PerthNow: West Coast name is 'dumb' FOOTBALL commentator Dennis Cometti says the name of the 2006 AFL football champions, the West Coast Eagles, is "American crapola". Cometti says that West Coast Eagles is a "dumb name'' and that the side should have been called the Perth Eagles. I couldn't agree more. I've always hated regional appellations. I can't stand the "Texas" Rangers, or the "Golden State" Warriors. Teams should be named after the areas they are actually representing...like the Dallas Rangers, or the Minneapolis Twins, or the stinking, rat infested swamps of Jersey Devils. Of course, the guy makes a good point and then has to flush said point right down the old toilet: He said it was a travesty that no AFL side was named Perth, robbing the state of international exposure. He said that at a time when WA's reputation was suffering nationally and internationally because of image and corruption problems, the ...

In case you were wondering, there are indeed rules to Aussie Rules Football. And just as in American Football folks do like to change the rules up a bit . THE AFL will trial a 20m kick rule during the 2007 pre-season competition in a bid to encourage longer kicking and more contested play. Players will now have to kick a ball at least 20m for it to be marked, instead of 15, under a law to be introduced during the NAB Cup, which starts on February 23. In a further modification to be used during the pre-season competition, players will only be prohibited from kicking backwards in their defensive half of the ground. Players will now be able to kick backwards to a teammate in the forward half of the ground without fear of umpires calling play-on. Previously players were only allowed to pass backwards in their team's forward 50-metre arc. ... The AFL hopes extending the distance a kick has to travel before it can be marked will encourage players to boot it longer instead of chipping it...