h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ummm... having just presented my sons - 7 & 9 yrs old with their eagerly awaited MU playing strips- and we live in New Zealand- have to say I'm guilty of being an away MU fan.
We have had a similar situation in rugby with Auckland having had the dominance for years and all things north of the Bombay Hills-aka Auckland-considered flashy,commercial, and over the top - but the tide has turned and other provinces are catching up so MU will have it's day.Do other countries feel the same about their top teams I wonder?

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRBOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRR

ahem

sorry about that

quite under control now

not _all_ of us north of the bombays are auckland-lovers (and i now live three mins walk from eden park sigh) - the way i see it they spend too much time playing with their hair and not enough time concentrating on their game - and one day we will actually beat them twice in a season

span

Hi Span,
Actually I'm a closet Harbour fan but it never was the same without Buck...in fact nothing's been the same without Buck !!! BRING BACK BUCK ! ahem...
ACK downed the Hurricanes...boo hoo and the Crusaders are on top so many happy chappies in my neck of the wood.That was the trouble - had to support the Blues so I could win much $$ off other half and in-laws... but the tide has turned and the Blue and Whites are unmeantionable here. JAFA has a whole other meaning south of the Bombays !!!!

well buck's been coaching you know, and coming along nicely

went to the blues vs stormers match last night - went with one guy who'd never been to the rugby before, and a blues fan (i was backing the stormers slightly just cos i can't stand the blues, even though half the players are from harbour) - i think the newbie was highly bored, it was a shockingly boring game - last 20 mins were ok, but still i expected much better

what stunned me was all the advertising gimmicks - walking cellphones, a whole lot of guys in elvis costumes for no apparent reason, that tee deliverer car thing (which is just a billboard with wheels) etc - sad sad sad - and we paid NZ$35 to sit on the TERRACES for three ppl (and that was a discount) (no student discount either, just a quantity discount)

grrrrrrrr - ahem

i have a staunch, currently unshakeable, belief that rugby under lights is never as good, oh well *shrugs*

span

Absolutely agree....rugby just ain't the same!! The only good thing was the Crusaders getting beaten by the Hurricanes....go HURRICANES!
Really would have liked to go to the soccer...Kingz played a boomer and the chance to stay in the top 8 for a rookie club is great...kinda wish they would base in Wellington cos then we could go see them.Everything is so based north of the Bombays....grrr...

'fraid i don't really follow soccer, sorry, i might have if we could watch it on telly, specially as harbour stadium is my home ground

i have a soft spot for the hurricanes too - went to a great semi a few years back at eden park, where half thecrowd was backing the hurricanes and they only lost narrowly in one of the best matchesi have ever seen outside test rugby (live) - even thoght the hurricanes lost the game was so good, so sparkling, that everyone left with a smile on their faces

I've only just started a interest in soccer due to my kids playing it and the Kingz are on Tv... but only on Sky...shame. At least we are holding our own in the Aussie soccer league which in cricket and esp Rugby League....ohhh...cringe over the Rugby League!!
Use to watch lots of rugby - am married to a certified addict of the game ...Crusaders supporter of course...but lately it's lost something in entertainment value...but that might just be me.Everyone gets so excited and I think - my gosh ..there's so much else wrong in the world - aka this terrible conspiracy to approve whaling again and the ivory trade...and people are getting super heated over a game???

i know exactly what you mean - which is probably why rugby is not usually that popular in activist circles (well not in auckland anyway) i'm an aberration apparently (outside the labour party anyway) - i don't devote a lot oftime to it nowadays and i have to also agree that this season is not setting me aflame at all - i think part of the problem is too many games under lights - different crowd who are more there to be seen (well in auckland anyway) and poorer play i fear

Husband's current theory is that the teams are more even - no one is truely dominating - except for the Brumbies..and therefore with the games being tighter and the stakes and conclusion not foregone - there is more stoic rugby being played.....of course prehaps match fixing may be coming in here too...the only game I can honestly say couldn't be match-fixed would be the League - no one could be truely that awful all the time on purpose...or can they.
I certainly will never be able to watch cricket again without wondering if I checked the bookies in India I might have a better idea what the final score is likely to be....
Money=corruption=sport the loser?????

i suppose it could be the closeness of the race (super 12) because they do seem to playing much more defensive games, which is rarely as exciting i guess - actually the blues and the highlanders are playing as i type, a scant 500m away - there's no parking any more

hard to believe fleming is one of our best captains ever

span

what on EARTH are you talking about. I would start arguing with you about cricket, but I can't be bothered.

Well in NZ we are obsessed with sport - sometimes the playing of it ....I'm off to watch my boys play their first soccer game...but mostly the armchair/grandstand criticism commentating on it - so what started as soccer has moved to the NZ religion of rugby, and with the scandal in cricket the general comment that sport isn't quite what we believe...or are lead to believe..
Go on - be bothered ...nothing like a good arguement

i think obsession is the word - although in auckland the all black perfume didn't sell at all, i saw it in the bargain bins at the warehouse not too long ago

anyway - our nation is no different from any other really - we obsess over rugby and the america's cup and cricket, and whatever we are actually good at at the time, and neglect other areas of our lives as a result - if we channelled all the enrgy and money we put into rugby etc into solving our social problems...

can you imagine murray deaker running a social issues programme where we all discussed ways to increase emplooyment, and who would be the best person to be running WINZ, instead of whether the new jerseys are actually better and whether carlos should get no. 10 (i sincerely hope not)?

Ahh but sport to us is like the Circus Maximus to Rome...as in give the plebs something simple they can comment on to distract them from something far too complicated or sensitive.
Bit of a worry when some reporting of WINZ management focuses more on Christine Rankin's dress sense - or lack of it - than her actual performance indicators ...or is it just because she is...a she type person ???? - after all - never seen any of the other CEO's quite so lambasted.
Did you see the documentary on JAFA's ??? Now that was rather clever and being born of JAFA country but living South of the Divide....had a foot in both camps !!!

true - just like for quite a few years ppl would only comment on clark's hairstyle etc - i've come across the same thing myself - i was once interviewed for breakfast and i missed seeing it actually play (it was pre-recorded) i was very keen to get some feedback on how what i SAID came across, but being breakfast not many ppl had seen it - when i finally found someone who had, a friend of mine, she said oh i can't remember what you said but you looked really good etc - very frustrating

i think you are right about rankin - she gets an extra serving because she's a woman - the problem is she has done something wrong, and she has failed to apologise (which is pretty much the most galling part) to the students whose lives she has made hell (and i live with one of them although i am ineligible for an allowance and luckily don't need a loan myself)

this whole trend though to attack the CEO's and not the Govt whose policy they are carrying out is worrying in itself - it lets the policitians off the hook for their policy - at the same time this has been doen structurally, so a lot of the fault is actually with the CEO's - it's this whole movement of power from those elected to the unelected bureaucrats, which personally i find very concerning

enough! i shall stop ranting now - see what happens when you encourage me?

i didn't see the doco unfortunately - whenever i'm out of town i usually introduce myself as being from auckland-but-don't-hold-it-against-me and point out as quickly as possible that i support harbour

span

Ahhh... but the unfortunate thing is that as soon as the word Auckland are out of the mouth - everyone down here has got you pegged and the prejudice is unbelieveable....well - only if auckland is winning at rugby
Being a government servant I guess i have a bit of a foot in both camps....don't like what they are doing but know how frustrating we can be to deal with !!! I do not think student loans are any good at all.... when i qualified i could just survive on my student allowence - since then I've probably repaid it many times over in taxes and worked to maintain the export meat industry as well. A good investment and i think that any education of our people is a very positive step and far more important than some of the other rubbish spent in this country. All the loans are doing is encouraging the brain drain....very bad
Hmm...I've got a few soapboxes too