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Things that please me - Part 5

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It's pomp and ceremony most of the time. There are 216 games of AFL footy each year. People aren't interested in seeing 216 welcome to country ceremonies. Just like they don't want to hear the national anthem sung 216 times or 216 renditions of The Last Post. There are fans that have been to the MCG hundreds of times. It still sits on the same land that was home to the same people before Batman turned up. And whatever pre-game ceremonies are on, 2 seconds after they conclude you will be inundated with ads from Sportsbet anyway.

NZ do the haka before rugby tests but do we need one before every Super Rugby game involving a NZ side? What about when the Tall Blacks (lol) or All Whites (lol) or Black Caps play? It would lose its impact.

I'm just a privileged white male but I think the AFL do indigenous round reasonably well then put in a pretty token effort the rest of the time. But they did have Sir Doug Nichols round(s) in rounds 10 and 11 this year and scheduled a game in Darwin in round 9 (and 10) and a game in Alice in round 12. I don't think Traeger Park has lights but it would be good to have games in each of those places as the centrepiece of indigenous round. Most fans know of the Riolis but how many really know what footy is like in Darwin and the Tiwi Islands?
When I was in Darwin I was taken to two Southern Disticts games, tell you what it's bloody different and quite entertaining.
 
Nintendo Switch Summer Sale.

Octopath Traveller is over 65-70 % off, been wanting to play this gem for a while.

I bought a few games during their Black Friday sale, guessing I need to take another look
 
When I was in Darwin I was taken to two Southern Disticts games, tell you what it's bloody different and quite entertaining.

Australia outside the cap cities is a different world. I think indigenous representation in the AFL is about 5-10% and Freo once had 8 indigenous players (from all over the country, not just SW WA) in their side which is the record. I remember watching some footy in Broome and it was basically 22 vs 22 Yawuru people. Pretty cool.
 
I just had lunch with a friend and her husband who I mentioned in the Deathlist thread. She is a survivor of oesophageal cancer - over 14 years. When she told me about it during lunch on a visit to Melbourne in May 2010, I thought I'd never see her again, since I was living in the states at the time. It pleases me to no end that she is one of the lucky ones who has survived so long. She was told at the time that she had a 30% chance of living five years. She still plays tennis at 74 and travels overseas with her husband.

She also is such a good friend that for the last two seasons, she has accompanied me to the footy, something she has absolutely no interest in. In fact, when we went to the Bulldogs game last year at Marvel, she hadn't been to a footy match in 60 years. She and her husband drove out to Melton from Kensington, picked me up and drove me back after the game. They never forget my birthday and come out to visit and have lunch a few times during the year. Having friends like that in a country where I have no family pleases me.

On SM-A135F using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
When I was in Darwin I was taken to two Southern Disticts games, tell you what it's bloody different and quite entertaining.

I umpired the Qantas Kickstart game at the G one year. Qantas flies Indigenous kids in for a week long camp with Essendon and they got to play a curtainraiser. The standard of footy from those kids was incredible, 9 straight goals before the first behind was scored. Most of those kids would have dominated the U19s competition down here and been stars in suburban footy and at a higher level, its a sad reflection of opportunity being denied due to circumstances.
 

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WC used to have curtain raisers with teams that came down from northern and inland WA. Some of the players had body types that resembled Cyanide and Happiness characters (skinny little legs and portly torso) and were taking hangers that Jeremy Howe would be proud of, kicking bananas from the boundary, doing running backflips to celebrate goals. Incredible talent. Jeremy McGovern (who is one of the least athletic star footballers going around) spent a large chunk of his childhood in Warburton which is about as far as you can get from all cap cities. Really interesting listening to a 5 time All Australian talk about playing footy and being the only white kid (until his brother came along) and not getting a kick.
 
Australia outside the cap cities is a different world. I think indigenous representation in the AFL is about 5-10% and Freo once had 8 indigenous players (from all over the country, not just SW WA) in their side which is the record. I remember watching some footy in Broome and it was basically 22 vs 22 Yawuru people. Pretty cool.

Honestly Darwin feels like its in a different country to Melbourne. Not knocking it either, just such a different environment.
 
Honestly Darwin feels like its in a different country to Melbourne. Not knocking it either, just such a different environment.

I've never been there or NT.

From the outside looking in seems expensive.

But Shirley some beautiful places to visit .
 

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Finding out surprising things about probability.
  • How many people would need to be in a room before there's a greater than 50% chance of two them having the same birthday?
Answer.
23
  • You're in a game show where there are three doors. Two of them have a goat behind them, the other has a car which you can win. You pick one door. The host, who knows where the car is, opens one of the other two doors to reveal a goat. The host gives you the option to either stick with your original choice or switch to the remaining unopened door.
Answer.
Always swap.
 
Finding out surprising things about probability.
  • How many people would need to be in a room before there's a greater than 50% chance of two them having the same birthday?
Answer.
23
  • You're in a game show where there are three doors. Two of them have a goat behind them, the other has a car which you can win. You pick one door. The host, who knows where the car is, opens one of the other two doors to reveal a goat. The host gives you the option to either stick with your original choice or switch to the remaining unopened door.
Answer.
Always swap.

On the first one, one of my friends in primary school was the middle child in as family of 5 - mum, dad, older sister & younger brother

She was the only one with her own birthday

Mum & older sister shared a birthday, which happened to also be my birthday
Dad & younger brother shared a birthday
 

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Things that please me - Part 5


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