Archive for the 'Sports' Category

So before I get to the amazing events of Saturday night that are completely impossibly to recall, I think it is best to preface with what I had been doing before hand.

Since the previous Friday I had drunk 6/8 nights, this was all coming to a head this weekend with the aforementioned Saturday night intending to be the summit of drunken greatness (greatness?).

Last Thursday night was a post-Uni-Games party. Being the clever sods we are, we also arranged a pre-post-Uni-Games party; honestly, are you surprised?

I was unfortunately at work in the afternoon, but after a message at 3pm informing me drinking had begun I decided I would no longer stay till 5.

Before 4 had rolled around I had rolled out.

Planning ahead I had a change of clothes with me, which once applied (you can apply clothes right?) I wandered [read: went as fast as not running would allow] to the liquor store. Thinking I had around 3 hours of drinking before arriving at the bar for the real party I purchased 8 cruiser (and cruiser like) beverages and headed to the pre-post-party.

Upon arrival I took party in the mandatory funnel on entry; pineapple cruisers go through a funnel like, um, a really good simile!! (Oh yeah, I went there). I reall should have filed the funnel event under “Obvious Foreshadowing” (thanks Tucker), but my excitement and anticipation for the night ahead meant I was not quite thinking properly.

About 30 minutes after my arrival I realised I had underestimated my drinking ability [read: urge] and borrowed a bicycle to head to a store and get some more drinks. An additional 4 should hold me over; we are going to a place with $2 drinks after all.

Exact events of the rest of the pre-party escape me, but I finished my dozen, and had done at least 4 as funnels. It is safe to say I probably shouldn’t have driven anywhere. At about 7 we started the walk to town, yet halfway down the first road a friend pulled over in his ute and started yelling at us. With very little to no provocation many of us piled into and onto the ute and were magically transported to town.

From this point on the story all becomes hearsay and bank account details. I do; however, remember at least four things:

- As soon as we arrived I brought the maximum allowed amount of drinks (who wouldn’t?)

- I played pool with a friend from my team. I don’t know why they picked me, as other people wanted to play and everyone (including myself) mentioned that I was in no state to play. We beat these other people (twice?)

- A friend of mine was flying out of the country the next morning (at like 4am, the guy who picked us up). He was outside at one point telling me (or others?) that the people he was going with were not impressed he was out and wasted. I decided to be a good friend and fix everything for him. Using a trick I had learnt/ed from SDC the Saturday before I took his phone and rang one of the people.

After the initial answer thinking I was him and saying I had to go home, I explained that I had not seen him in about 40 minutes. I went on to use the excuse that he had given me his phone and vanished. She was not fully impressed. I don’t know if I just hung up or gave the phone back. Probably not important.

- And the final thing I know is that I brought a kebab before walking home.

Apparently there are more things that happened than that:

-According to my bank account I spent around $100 on alcohol for the night (it was $2 and $3 drinks!!! Unless I was buying other things?)

- I am told I did some sweet dancing. Well, some dancing. Well, I kept trying to spin a girl and things like that but possibly was failing miserably.

- I was given a bar tab meant for our hockey team. Freaking out that I was going to spend it all without telling anyone else I started yelling for the host of the pre-post-party (guy in my team, and probably as drunk as me) as I figured he would be responsible with it. He was, drinks were brought.

- With the many drinks I brought, several were given away, or potentially stolen by team members (I am speaking about you Mr Thumb-Smasher). The aforementioned is a reference to someone being told “Green Griffin just brought me this drink. He doesn’t know it though”.

Another friend told me I gave him multiple half drinks as I was too drunk to be finishing them. I would then go and buy myself fresh ones as I wouldn’t know where my drink had gone.

- Finally, according to photographic evidence I was intoxicated to the point that making an even moderately photogenic face was beyond me.

Oh well, it happens.

Now for the ubiquitous (really that isn’t quite the right word for this, but it’s OK) plug.

The bar we were in is Bar101, the new greatest bar in Hamilton. There is nothing bad about this bar at all, especially as (as I discovered the next night) you can get $3 drinks all the time with a student ID.

Go there, go there now.

[Another aside about Bar101, on Thursday I must have made friends with one of the bouncers, as when I walked in on Friday he started chatting away with me and talking about events of the previous night. I thought it was nice, but had no idea at all who he was or how he knew me. Yes, Thursday was a very, very good evening (so was Friday and Saturday actually, maybe I will write about them now)]

-GG

I have not done the whole blog thing for a while, so after great weekend it seemed like a good thing to write about.

Friday night was large. It began with after-work drinking, and eventually ending up in a the Northern Steamship where drinking continued. At one point I lost Rock Paper Scissors and ended up having to walk to the next closest bar (200m or so) to by a couple of packets of cigarettes. The confusing this about this is that I don’t smoke, and I am not sure why I was involved in the RPS in the beginning. Upon the purchase of these cigarettes, I decided for revenge I would open both packets, move a bunch of the cigarettes around, so that the package appeared to be tampered with, which technical I guess they were. When I returned to the group I handed them the packets and told the smokers that I had removed one cigarette from each packet, put it down my pants and did a little dance. Both of the smokers believed me, and tried to pick which cigarette looked like it had been removed… and then decided to smoke the packets anyway. It occurred to me that they were actually not too concerned about smoking my nether-regions, so I told them I didn’t actually put anything in my pants. In hindsight I kind of wish that I had, who knows sweaty ball-sacks may even taste good when mixed with tar and carbon monoxide and all of the other ingredients, maybe that is one of the things that Russel Crowe’s character tried in The Insider, maybe that is why he had an ethical problem in the first place.

The next step of the night was the Casino, this was great, I ended up sitting down at a hot table, and winning a lot of money, as did the American guy who was on the table at the same time. They couldn’t calm down the winnings, even when the automatic shuffler mysteriously jammed and they needed to hold us up and change out the ten of diamonds, this did not interrupt the table karma. It got to the point where we were openly mocking pit bosses with comments like “exactly how much do I need to win before I get some free drinks” (you do not actually automatically get free drinks just for gambling in New Zealand casinos), and when cashing out “if only I could get a free drink I would probably sit here for another hour and keep playing”, still no free drinks. We then had celebratory drinks with the American guy, and reminisced about how much greater Vegas is, he went to college about 3 hours away from Las Vegas so had plenty to share.

Friday night wrapped up about 3am, with a return to our place where Green Griffin, Cream Crusader and I stayed up to 5am watching Skin and Bones, good times.

Saturday morning, surprisingly not feeling too bad. Not a lot planned for the day aside from watching the Rookie v Sophomore game for the NBA’s all star Weekend. This has to be my least favourite event from the All Star weekend, however I was optimistic, given the level of talent from the past two drafts. Yet again this game turned out to be disappointment. The problem is that this game has no intensity, and there is no defence played at any stage, it is like watching 18 Vince Carters. The highlight of the game is usually when the game is over and everyone clears out and it turns into a dunk contest, and even this didn’t happen this year. Also Yi looked so out of place in the game he has no place in this game (I agree he is one of the top rookies, but he looks so out of place), almost like Yao has no place in the All Star game, the Chinese players just look like they have no idea what is going on in this game, they do realise that the game is an exhibition right? while we are on the topic of players who didn’t belong Daniel Gibson shot 11 threes and won the MVP, what is the point of this? the game is about dunks and layups, how do you have 20 three point attempts, this is not the Euro league, sure in the regular season when Lebron clears the defense and leaves you with open shots you can take the threes, but in a game with no defence to start with, why are you shooting these threes?

How does this get fixed? I have always been against the idea of a International vs USA game, only because almost 80% of the players in the league are from the states, so it is not really representative, also in an international game, an international team can beat a US team, but this is because the US team is an all star team, and the international team is actually a team, if both teams were all star teams then the US team should win comfortably. However imagine if on Friday night there was an international vs US players game, using players who were not in the actual all star game. Think of the potential teams, the only international players in this years All star game were Yao, Dirk, and Nash. So that could leave an international team including Andrea Bargnani, Andrew Bogut, Pau Gasol, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Leandro Barbosa, Loul Deng, Andrei Kirilenko, Jose Calderon, Andris Beadrins, Mehemet Okur, Hedo Turkoglu, Yi (considering you need a mix of players and positions), I am sure I am missing people too. That team should beat the next best 12 US players who were not in the All Star game, and they would all have something to prove, the international players, and the US Born All star snubs.

Then consider there are players like Dirk who played like he should not have been in the actual All Star game, there is a lot of depth in this game, and it will only get better as more players from overseas come into the league. This would also increase the international emphasis in the NBA, which David Stern clearly wants to do if he wants to have a European division (more on this), and still showcase the young players, as a lot of them would still make this game.

Speaking of this European Division idea, I think it is a great idea, both for increasing the international popularity of the game, and because of the potential size of the markets revenue wise. However adding 5 teams to the NBA will ruin the league, so you would need to move 5 teams. If you moved New Orleans, Memphis, Seattle (OK City), New Jersey, Mikwaukee to London, Paris, Madrid, Amsederam, and either Berlin, it would be fantastic. Also you would need to move a team to Vegas to balance out the East having Amsterdam in their conference, so move the Kings out there. Travel will be a factor, but not much of a factor, it is not like these teams are flying on commercial airlines. The NBA wouldn’t need as many minor leagues if they had teams in Europe, there would be way less need for totally inferior leagues like the ABA, CBA, WNBA and the D League. When Europe already has an inferior league.

That evening White Warrior and I want to the first Waikato game of the Super 14, an always good local derby against Auckland at Eden park. It was a good time, unfortunately for Waikato it was too early in the season, so there were not many Waikato fans there, because it is February and it is hard to get into the mood for Rugby season. There was a good Auckland crowd, surprising because generally Aucklanders don’t show up for things. Overall I thought it was much closer than the final score showed, however I have been told that it did not look good on TV for Waikato. We snuck out of the stadium 10 minutes early to avoid the abuse from Auckland fans, and to beat traffic (I cannot figure out how that stadium is going to host World Cup games, it is going to be an embarrassment for New Zealand).

On a related note, I am now ready for Rugby season. Last week I thought it was too soon, and still summer, but now that I have been to a game, and watched about 3 more I am ready to get into this. I went into the season thinking that Auckland and Canterbury would be New Zealands best teams with Waikato not far out in Third. I still think this, because Wellington clearly will not be good, and Otago will win a game somewhere, just hard to see where.

Later that evening was Blue Streaks Birthday at the Ivory Lounge (there was a dinner first, but I was at the game). It was fun if uneventful, just drinking, which is always fun. After the bar closed we all returned to our place for more drinking, the problem was we only had spirits, and had no mixers. The solution was Green Griffin who produced a case of Red Bull, and we drank Vodka and Whiskey and Red Bull, going through about 13 bottles between not many of us (while watching Skin and Bones… once again good times). Unbelievably I was able to sleep when it came to that hours later.

Sunday was uneventful, aside from the NBA Saturday. Again it is an overrated night, but always fun to see NBA players wearing their suits, and their reactions to what is happening. It was fun to see Deron Williams and Chris Paul take the skills challenge seriously, and their rivalry. It was fun to see the 3 point shoot out, and see Chris Bosh look legitimately excited to see Jason Kapono, I was surprised that he even knew who he was and that he was paying attention to the event, do you think they hang out? does Chris Bosh have to hang out with with Jason Kapono because there are no other Black people in Toronto?

Finally the Slam Dunk contest. Normally I think that the Slam Dunk contest is a little overrated, but this year, with Rudy Gay asking for dunks on You Tube, Dwight Howard not getting respect last year, Gerald Green returning from last years great performance, and Jamario Moon playing this whole year trying to prove he should have been in the NBA all along. I thought Moon’s first dunk was awesome, and Rudy Gay’s Dunk throwing the ball off the back support was great and underrated, but Green and Howard took it to another level, If there were scores in the second round, Howard could have scored 200, they were all amazing, original, and fun. Greens shoeless dunk was great, as was the Birthday Cake dunk. It was the greatest Dunk contest ever.

The weekend finished watching Crank on Sky. Now I don’t want to say that the overall quality of movies has decreased over the years, but Sunday night used to be a night where there would be a decent movie on. Crank is a terrible movie. Jason Statham who was once a good actor, and was in great movies, Lock Stock and Snatch, is now reduced to making movies like this and The Transporter II. Even though the Transporter should never have been made, the Transporter II is even worse, it also has the biggest stretch in movie history. At one stage there is a bomb on the bottom of his car, the solution is the jump the car flipping it over under a crane, so the bomb gets hooked on the hook of the crane, and unhooks the bomb, while the car continues to rotate landing on its wheels, and driving away… If there is ever a Transporter III  I may have to kill someone.

Now all I have to look forward to is next weekends Boat Trip… wait that will be awesome.

YD, Trudes, and Michelle arrived back from Greece yesterday, I encourage you all to check out YD on the donkey very, very funny infact it’s a little cruel really he should have gave the donkey a ride on his back. Before to long things were back to normal Trudy cooking lovely food, and YD reeling off puns.

It has been very quiet while they were away there was just me, and our other flatmate Sunny. Once Trudy forced him to say hello to me he did, and then scampered off, this is the only conversation I have had with him. I did not see him the entire time the clan were away I was beginning to wonder if he existed, maybe YD was playing an elaborate practical joke on me. We are best friends in Wales only after all. Although I never saw Sunny I heard him a lot, Apparently he plays poker, you can hear him counting his chips (if you put a glass on his door, and listen closely) I figured he was just a quiet guy who liked his poker, little did I know he was a racist that’s right I’m calling him out. A racist I tells ya. Every day after work he would head straight to his room. YD, Trudes, and Michelle are back in town for 5 seconds, and he arrives home from work “oh Harro Michelle, How are you? How was your trip? You’re looking great! Great to see you back in town. Come up for a game of poker later if ya want. Admittedly he may not of actually said those exact words (although he definitely said harro) It was more than he had said to me, I believe this happened because I am not female that’s right I am playing the reverse sexism card (Yeah I went there). Strangely I didn’t actually see him I just heard him talking to Michelle, maybe he is a figment of my imagination I think I will make a movie about this, I will call it fight club it’s catchy don’t ya think. Michelle claims every night she hears a banging noise coming from his room, but we won’t go there, however last night I heard what sounded like die rolling, now there are two schools of thought on this. One he also plays Craps, maybe, but I think that he is actually playing three man, but with whom? Brad Pitt? Edward Norton? Graham Norton? Nawton Mall? It could be anyone I will get to the bottom of this before I leave!

Today was the first day I lost faith in Britain. I spent most of the day talking to stupid English people about work. First off I went to the Information place for I what I assumed would be information, it turns out Information in England translates into “place where no one knows anything”. I was looking for the Tax department as I assumed I would need some sort of Tax number to start work. First off I tried speaking English “Say good fellow do you chaps have a tax department in Birmingham” Info retard “?????” Skippy “Well in New Zealand we have the IRD what do you have here” Info retard “?????” Skippy (getting a little angry now) Ok who do you (pointing at him) pay your tax to?” Info retard “?????” Skippy (in full blown ginger rage) “Ok. Ok. When you get paid for working here, and I’m assuming they pay you for this. You know with money, where does the tax go?” Info retard “oh the tax department oh sure I know where that is” I almost burst into tears thinking he understands me, and follow his directions.

I arrive at the Council tax building where you pay your Council tax or rates if you will. I am a little angry, but try to stay calm. I Question a security guard, and another painstaking conversation begins, fortunately this guy may have been the smartest person in England as it didn’t take him long to point me in the right direction, but for some reason he gave me the most thorough list of directions I’ve ever been given after, about three or four minutes (I stopped listening after he said walk out the door and turn right) I thanked him, and headed for the door to his credit he was right on the money, maybe he should get a job at the Information centre.

Next I went to an employment agency they had mail sorting jobs advertised in their window, they said you need 5 years experience in mail, I said how about seven, they said they had had over 200 applications sounds like bullshit to me, and I think the lady just wanted to go lunch, she said try again in two weeks, I will probably be deported by then so left unimpressed. I went next door to another agency the guy was super helpful, but said I needed a National Insurance Number or NINO (It probably took the British quite a while to come up with that abbreviation), and to go to the job centre to get one.

Ah the Job Centre or WINZ to those of you playing at home. It’s a special place. I have been to this place many times to look at the job screens. I headed up the ramp I knew the ins, and outs by now if you go up the ramp you can avoid the pregnant mothers smoking on the steps. Right, past the mothers, sidestep the crackheads; big fend on the guy who smells like petrol, and in the door couldn’t be simpler. I ask the security guard about NINO, and he gives me a number to call I head to the phones, and dial the number, but the guy on the end can’t hear me so I hang up, and look for another phone. The other phones are busy so I wait patiently. I look around the room. I spot a sign on a broken phone that reads “Due to a technical failure this phone is out of order” I look at the phone I can’t help, but notice that the phone is missing it’s receiver, at a guess I would say a crackhead ripped it of the wall in a fit of rage, but It’s hardly a technical failure, somebody smashed it. My attention turn back to phones when a strange bearded man in a trench coat, and flares starts yelling down the phone “ I am an intelligent man, but I don’t understand this, GIVE ME MY BENEFIT” I am definitely not the judge of who is intelligent, and who isn’t, but I think he may have been overestimating his intelligence. Admittedly that’s a harsh call from the man waiting behind him in the cue, and who can’t even get a job at the supermarket.

Eventually a phone came available, and I got on the line, little did I realize I was about to become apart of one of the stupidest phone calls ever made. (This would have never happened if Tammy were Polish. Now don’t say I never teach you anything did you know that in the year 2006 a little over 220,000 Polish people migrated to the UK the next highest was Indians at a pitiful 37,000, so there’s a few of them over here Embrace the Polish, embrace) The conversation starts well Hello. How can I help you? She spelt my last name back to me Vera. She tries again verca, third try Vercae, The forth time when I spelt it I said “ You know O for Orange” she remained silent I would bet a quiet penny when that letter turns up there’s an F****** A in there somewhere. She asks for my first name this time I take no chances Skippy S.K.I.P.P.Y. As far as I’m aware you can only spell it one way, but I bet that bitch will find away to mess it up. Now the hard part is out of the way, she informs I will need to have an interview, but she doesn’t tell what day or what time it is. (For arguments sake I will name this weirdo Tammy) Tammy starts “Right your interview will be at the Job centre 100 broad st. (In a very patronising voice) do you know where this is? Skippy “Yes” Tammy “Ok I will send you a map, so you know where to go” Skippy “ Thank you, but that won’t be necessary” We talk briefly about what I need to bring. Tammy “ Now is there anything else I can help you with” Skippy “Ah. Yes. How about what day is my interview?” Tammy “ Ah (long pause) the 8 of Nov” Skippy “ And what time should I show up” Tammy “ ah (long pause) 1.15, I tell you what I’ll send you a map out” Skippy “I don’t need a map, I am calling you from your Job Centre phone inside the Job Centre, if I couldn’t find the place I wouldn’t be able to talk to you right now would I?” Tammy (silence) Skippy “ That will be all thank you” (slam). On the way home I called into the Tesco supermarket to she if they had any jobs going, they did not. My confidence is a little (lot) down. How the hell can Tammy keep a job, and I can’t even get a job at Tesco. Even the man in the trench coat gets a benefit (sometimes) I can’t believe I am lower on world scale than Tammy, and trench coat man. It had been a demoralizing day, I came home (to make things worse I had missed deal or no deal) and looked at flights home £400 quid is pretty reasonable, I’m giving it one last shot tomorrow before I make my final decision, The British may have defeated me, Tomorrow may be my Waterloo.

Skipoleon.

Actually, the title of this post is pretty much a lie. I am still very much smarter than a 10 year old, I was wrong however about the show “Are you smarter than a 10 year old?”. See, last week in this very space I said it was a really good show, yet I watched the show last night and realised it is actually average at best (technically that is another lie, I watched under half of the show last night, but that’s not really the point).

You see, my first impression of the show was while pretty hung over, and only flicking onto it, not really watching much at all. Last night however I was less hung over (feeling worse though), and as such did not have energy to keep changing the channel, this meant I managed to see extended portions of the show. It was painful.

I had said previously that it was NZs answer to ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ except with easy questions, and in fairness it is. The problem is that this should not be a compliment, which is kind of what I treated it as. The questions on this show are far too easy, and the contestants are far too stupid, which I have realised makes it completely unwatchable (in some ways this is a problem for all game shows these days, but I will expand on that in a bit). I mean, who wants to sit there and watch as a grown man explains his completely retarded train of thought about how he was going to answer a question that should require almost no thinking at all. An example of this from last night was as follows:

The question was “What is the sum of the internal angles of a triangle?”. The answer is clearly 180 degrees. This is something I have known since I was maybe 6 or 7, yet rather than just answering the question the contestant stood there thinking about it. But more than just thinking about it, because it is on TV he was forced to verbalise his thoughts (I say forced, but no one actually forced him to talk, or even asked him what he was thinking. Cancel that, he wasn’t forced, he offered forward voluntarily the idiocy that followed). These thoughts were so numbing I think it made me stupider to hear them. They were (basically) “Well, I don’t think I am going to answer, because I am pretty sure I know it, but don’t know exactly which of the options I am thinking is right. I am thinking 30, but then also considering 60 or 65 degrees. Hey, it could even be 35 degrees, I am just not sure which of them is right”.

How is that something worth seeing on TV? Is that not one of those things that if you overheard it in a bar (or anywhere actually) you would just turn around and start yelling abuse at the person for being so stupid? Or at least point it out to everyone around and laugh at them. I can’t fight how the host of the show didn’t take one of these options. Maybe they need the “Get a load of this guy cam” from Waynes World where the host can just look into it and mock the piss out of the contestants.

Last night’s show also had great moments where

• A person called Calcium a vitamin (not the stupidest thing ever, but not the smartest either. This is especially bad considering the host said before she finalised the answer “Read the question carefully” and then he read it and emphasised the fact they are looking for a vitamin). And;

• A person (while going through her thoughts) said “I am not sure if a mammal counts as an animal”

New Zealand is just full of geniuses isn’t it?

There was another weird bit of the show where one of the 10 year old kids got a question wrong. I had not seen this happen on the show before, and I think it actually hurts the show to allow this to happen. The problem being that if a kid who is currently being taught the questions that are being asked gets it wrong, why should it be considered a bad thing when an adult who may not have been asked a question on that topic for 30 year gets it wrong? I mean, the whole show is effectively about making fun of adults for incorrectly answering questions that 10 year old are shown to be getting right. If the 10 year olds are getting the questions wrong, then the show is hardly worthwhile. Maybe not, but it was still something I found at least a little odd.

Another weird thing is that the audience/family members get to interact in such a way to change the decision of the player when answering a question. For instance last night when the guy was tossing up about using one of his answers which was very wrong the host asked his wife/the audience if he should go with it or not. Because most other people were smart enough to see his answer was wrong they all yelled not to go for it. This was significant because the guy was going to give a wrong answer, until he saw that everyone in the studio knew he was wrong and told him to change it.

Right, now onto game shows in general.

Recently in NZ game shows have made quite the comeback, yet all of these shows have been subpar, and the problem is the type of game show they are. They all involve a single contestant playing at once.

This is a major problem because then the focus of the show is taken away from whatever questions/events are taking place, and is brought to the contestant themselves. This means we are watching shows about regular people getting excited, making scenes, and verbalising their thought patterns, no matter how inane they are. This does not lead to a good TV show.

This is really clear in stuff like who wants to be a millionaire or are you smarter than a 10 year old, because even for the simplest question we must sit through minutes of pathetic, unnecessary and painful dialogue before an answer is finally given. This is of course a bad thing for the TV audience who is only watching the show to see what the question is, answer it with their family, check they are right/wrong, and then see what the next question is. This should not take 5 minutes plus each time.

The single contestant also causes the need for people to be really excited after everything they say or do, otherwise there is too much down time because there are no other contestants to take the focus. A TV audience shouldn’t have to sit through some dickhead jumping up and down and high fiving people after answering a question, particularly when that question was intended for a 10 year old. That being said, a TV audience should especially not have to go through this after every single question that is answered.

The solution to this is easy, bring back (or create new) shows that have multiple contestants competing against each other (simultaneously). Furthermore, in these shows ask hard (or at least not piss easy) questions.

This works because it means that people don’t have as long as they like to answer each question (so we don’t have to hear their thought processes), and because it will eliminate stupid contestants (this means there is less chance of people thinking it is a good idea to jump around like a dipshit). Additionally by allowing people to be carry over champions etc you are encouraging and rewarding intelligence and ability, rather than a show like “deal or no deal” where you are apparently rewarding the ability to stand up and breathe at the same time(?, that show is just plain weird, what is the point of it? Isn’t it just like playing a lottery ticket, but in front of a big audience? Why don’t people just open the cases in numerical order? What difference does it make?).

Also, what happened to answering in the form of a question?

In conclusions I guess I am saying, bring back jeopardy!

GG

So there wasn’t really much doubt, but I am smarter than a ten year old.

On Sunday night I saw my first episode of the show “Are you smarter than a ten year old?” which based on my first impressions is a great show. I mean, where else can you basically not pay attention, get every question right and come off feeling so good about yourself?

Or, right, primary school.

So I was sitting in bed, badly hung over and managed to get all the questions right without putting in any effort, this just further illustrated the fact that it would be awesome to go back to primary school (you would be the best at everything!).

The show is very much New Zealand’s answer to who wants to be a millionaire. Easy questions, stupid contestants, very little money to be won (in the game show sense of things). How could this show fail? I honestly believe it was a couldn’t miss show.

Beyond being enjoyable to watch and make fun of the people who are stupid, you can play along at home as well (always a bonus), and you don’t really need to be watching the show to do good at it. Furthermore there are amazing spin off shows that you could make from it.

Are you stronger than a ten year old?
Are you faster than a ten year old?
Can you beat up a ten year old?

Those would all be awesome shows as well, and would put these little kids in their place.

Or you could do the exact are you smarter than a ten year old show, but do it with general knowledge questions that regular people (as opposed to ten year old people, I guess) should know. How awesome would that be, a show where you go head to head with a ten year old, except they probably don’t get any of the questions right because, in the big scheme of things, ten year olds aren’t smart!!

God that would be awesome! They could even rename the show “Can you destroy a ten year olds self esteem?” and encourage taunting of the ten year old when ever they get a question wrong. I know I would watch it!

If these ten year olds think they are so awesome you could also do other general activity ones, like;

• Can a ten year old sidestep Jerry Collins?
  This one is a simple premise, you give a ten year old a rugby ball, start him at one try line, and he has to get passed Jerry Collins who is trying to tackle him.
• Can a ten year old knock out David Tua?
  Again, basic idea. Take one ten year old, one boxing ring, one David Tua and 12 rounds of ferocious boxing action.

Can’t you just imagine standing around the water cooler at work on Monday discussing how little Rachel or Bobby really talked a lot of smack before the fight, but you could tell once they got in there they had just been all talk.

In fact, they should have these shows and have betting on them. Obviously it wouldn’t be head to head betting, it would be things like “How long do they last?”, or “How badly injured do they get?” kind of prop bets, but it would still be good.

In fact, while we are doing it we could make team games of it too, like can a ten year old rugby team beat the All Blacks? Or we could do it like those shows that put humans against animals – Can a ten year old out run a lion?! (interrobang)

Actually, you could make it like road rules/real world where we take a bunch of ten year olds, make them live together, and every now and then they have to do challenges against grown ups. That would be the best reality TV show ever (Why wont we get to see that show they were making in the US where they took a bunch of under 16 year olds and left them in an old abandoned town and let them try and live together. That idea was great. Well, until the kids started drinking poisonous stuff and things like that (then the show became even better than great)).

So, in conclusion, I am way better than a ten year old, and I should also be a TV producer.

Thank you,

GG

Oh, and I forgot.
Can you out drink a ten year old? This could be a  game in its own right, or it could be an opening for all the other games. Both contestants drink 12 beers and 4 shots, then play what ever game they were meant to. Good times.

Well it is now Week 8, and the Rugby World Cup is boring me to death. So it is good to get a chance to make my weekly NPC picks.

The only problem was, that I spent so much of last weekend drinking, and so little of it watching sport (aside from the RWC). So I didnt get a chance to even see any of the Air New Zealand Cup results, or get a chance to see who is on form playing well and who struggled.

This makes picking and gambling on this weeks games a far more difficult prospect.

Although I can still point out some things from a statistical standpoint.

Last week the home team covered in every game. However favourites were only 3-3 against the spread. Overall against the spread there is no difference between home and away, and there is only a slight advantage to the home team in terms of overall record 26-20-3.

Overall Favourites are 25-20 against the spread. However in general they are 33-9-3 overall, so there have been fairly few genuine upsets this year.

Before I get to my picks I want to point out a couple of things about the Rugby World Cup. Either get rid of the crap teams, or get teams the good teams to send a third rate team over to play these shit teams. The risk of injury is way too great for these teams to be playing the likes of Georgia, Romania, Namibia, Portugal, Japan, the Island Nations, USA, Canada, and if they did not play in the 6 Nations then Italy should be gone too.

This is not a sport like Cricket, where I think the lesser teams should get a chance to compete with the main teams (despite the fact I don’t like the blowout factor), I do enjoy the fact that these teams play their way into the competition and get a chance to take on the world.

Rugby is a physical sport, playing teams of this nature increases the risk of injury for the main teams, which could potentially effect the outcome of games at the important stage of the competition. It is also likely that these team are not physically capable to compete with the likes of the All Blacks, this is just dangerous, someone could seriously get injured. Think of boxing, there will never be an amateur Middleweight fight against a professional Heavyweight, because there will never a boxing association which would allow anything this dangerous, secondly boxing is all about money, and they could probably not market this fight, therefore they would not allow it to happen. So this weekend I urge you to turn off your TV’s, do not watch a powerhouse crush a minnow, if they realise they cannot make money off these games there would be no reason for them to be on, and these teams would not be in this competition. Either that or wait until Jerry Collins paralyses a poor chap from Portugal this weekend… that is bound to get rid of these teams.

The other thing I dont like about these games is the blow outs, they are boring. I dont want to see a team get beaten by 50 points or more. It is boring, I want the close games, or at least competitive games. It is embarassing supporting a team willing to put 90 points on another team, I dont want to support that kind of boring game, nor do I want to be associated with that kind of poor sportsman ship, or bulling tactics.

Canterbury @ Taranaki

The Naik have won to straight. Canterbury have won 7 straight. They will be favoured, but with the 23.5 points Taranaki are probably a good option. Canterbury have covered in every game this year, so they have got to not cover some time.

The Pick: Canterbury -23.5

Northland @ Hawkes Bay

Since when have Northland been good enough to only get 3.5 points on the road against a team which is proven to fight above its weight grade this year. Surely the home field advantage has to make Hawkes bay 5 point favourites. Does that mean that the TAB think that Northland are actually the better team?

The Pick: Hawkes Bay -3.5

Wellington @ Waikato

I hate it when the TAB gets no balls and doesn’t give any points to either team. I can only figure that the TAB likes Wellington, but gives Waikato stadium the respect it deserves, and that evens things out. I think over the past couple of weeks Waikato has taken a step backwards, and Wellington has improved. However we know that Wellington is not great on the road. I could never on principle go against Waikato in a straight out pick. Also I love to see Wellington lose because it gives us a lot of a chance to give Purple Punga shit. I also think back to the last time these two teams played in Hamilton… hmm what was the result of that game again? I cant remember exactly what that game was for? do you remember Punga?

The Pick: Waikato

Counties @ Manawatu

This is my pick for game most likely to end in a draw. I was thinking that Manawatu would be slightly favoured because of the home field advantage. However 6.5 points is too high, ever against Counties. The thing that seals it was how bad counties has been on the road.

The Pick: Manawatu -6.5

Tasman @ Auckland

There are a lot of points to overcome, however I gotta like Auckland at home. The ground should be dry, and the Auckland team should look to run in an abundance of tries.

The Pick: 26.5

North Harbour @ Otago

I hate both of these teams. I really really don’t trust either of them to perform as well as they should. Neither one should ever be favoured by more than 5 points, because I wouldn’t expect them to play competently enough to beat the Hillcrest High 1st XV, by more than 5 points at this point. Sure they would be better on paper, and should dominate every aspect of the game, but both of these teams have the ability to underwhelm opposition. They can win a game and look like half the team is intentionally trying to throw the game. I have never seen a team attempt to shave points when they are not favoured, or when they are losing. Both of these teams play like they are trying to screw over every gambler with random inconsistency and somewhat intentional looking incompetency. Even saying that I expected Harbour to be favoured… I cannot figure out either of these teams

Southland @ BOP

I really don’t trust the bay this year. I think Southland at this point in the season are better. However I also don’t like seeing a team favoured by more than a try in a game where It really could go either way. I think the TAB has set this line perfectly, and setting it at a level which will tempt gamblers either way. My gut loves Southland , I often feel that as a gambler the gut is important. I am torn though because my head says home ground, and points are the big factor here.

The Pick: Southland – 7.5 

The Pick: North Harbour +4.5

First of all, I have to mention the new Ranfurly Shield holders, Waikato. What more can be said other than it was a fantastic display, and a fantastic outcome. I really expected a little more backbone, from North Harbour, but what can I say, it was one of the most fantastic live sporting events I have ever witnessed, a great crowd which traveled north, and the great new shield holders Waikato.

I decided for this week, I would recreate the Air New Zealand Points table, however count the wins and losses and covers and not covers. Without giving bonus points for a close loss, because with a spread all games should be close, however still one for four tries. What would the table look like? Well I will show you.

Cvrs -Losses – 4T – Points -Act Pos

Canterbury 5-0-4-24-1

Auckland 4-1-4-20-2

Hawkes Bay 4 -1-3-19-3

Northland 4 -1-0-16-7

Waikato 3 – 2- 3- 15- 4

Tasman 3 – 2- 0- 12- 8

Southland 3 – 2- 0- 12- 10

Manawatu 2 – 3- 1 9- 12

Taranaki 2 – 3- 0- 8- 11

Otago 2 – 3- 0- 8- 6

Wellington 1 – 4- 3- 7- 5

Counties 1 – 4- 0- 4- 14

North Harbour 0 – 5- 0- 0- 9

BOP 0 – 5- 0- 0- 13

Well that shakes things up a bit, now on to this weeks picks

Auckland @ Hawkes Bay

Hawkes Bay are emerging as the giant killers of the competition, so it would be best to ride them when they are still hot. Both teams are hot, HB is at home, and they have the points.

The Pick: Hawkes Bay +14.5

Wellington @ Counties

Wellington have played well against bad teams this season. They have not played well on the road. They should win the game, particularly after what Counties did last week.

The Pick: Wellington -18.5

Southland @ Otago

Otago are getting better as the weeks go on, they are starting to win, but not looking convincing. They should win at home this week, but they will get a tough match from a Southland team which is also improving over the season.

The Pick:Otago -4.5

Bay of Plenty @ Tasman

Tasman are another team which is looking good. It is about time that BOP had a win, but will they get it on the road, will they get it against a good Tasman team. They are still looking for their first cover of the season.

The Pick: Tasman -9.5

Taranaki @ Northland

I get the impression these teams are heading in opposite directions, however it is hard to tell. Taranaki should be favoured, but it is going to be difficult to know if they will win.

The Pick: Taranaki +4.5

Canterbury @ Waikato

Going into last week I thought that Waikato would win, but expected it to be close and them to narrowly take the shield. They Smashed Harbour. Going into last week, I expected that they would do their best this week, and ultimately lose in a close game to the Canterbury Sheep Shaggers. After that display on Saturday Waikato looked like the top team everyone expected. Waikato have home ground advantage (which is what helped them against North Harbour). They have the adrenaline of winning the shield, and now defending it. They will want to win this game. I also think back to the Super 14 when a Waikato team, played a Canterbury team, in Canterbury, both teams with All Blacks, and Waikato came out on top… that was months ago, and this is a different comp, but I believe that they can do it again.

The Pick: Appears to be no spread – Waikato

Manawatu @ North Harbour

Can the Harbour boys redeem them selves. They have a cupcake to help warm them up for the second half of the comp, will that help.

The Pick: North Harbour -9.5

Last week: 5-2 Overall: 20-15

Once again this is my opinion of how things are stacking up in the 2007 Air New Zealand Cup. This is the first time this has been done for a couple of weeks so there has been some changes. I have split this into zones for ease of reference.

The Upper Tier - The teams who are playing as the elite of this competition.

1. Canterbury 4-0 (unchanged)

Once again they look to be the form team in the competition. They have been challenged for only 2 halves in the 4 games they have played to date. They will be looking forward to the shield challenge against Waikato in 2 weeks time.

2. Auckland 4-0 (unchanged)

Auckland have also looked good. They have only played one top team in Waikato, and really looked good playing a full 80 minutes, and finishing victorious.

No mans land - These teams are not elite yet the year, but they are definitely above the rest of the competition.

3. Hawkes Bay 3-1 (up 2)

They lost a couple of weeks ago to Tasman, but they have still beaten Wellington and Harbour which are quality victories. I am not sure if they are for real, or if they will keep this up, but at this stage they deserve this 3rd position.

4. Waikato 3- 1 (down 1)

All three victories have come against lowly opposition, and the ones against Southland and Counties, were probably less convincing than expected. On this list they are rated 2 spots below Auckland, and they did bounce back with a win after the loss to Auckland, but I am not sure if they are really as good as only two spots below Auckland, then again there is no one better.

This weekend will be a good test, playing away against a team they are better than on paper. The shield and road add extra pressure, which should mean a tight challenge. I expect to see Waikato win this game and take the shield back to Hamilton.

Middle of the Road - The dreaded zone, no real momentum, no real power, you get the feeling these teams can go either way.

5. Northland 2-1-1 (up 6)

The biggest gain on the list, but not the biggest surprise of the season. It was tough to put them ahead of Wellington. They are above Wellington because their best victory (Tasman) was better than Wellington’s best victory (Otago). They also had a draw with Harbour, and now have won 2 straight, where Wellington lost their last game, so I think they deserve this spot in the rankings.

6. Wellington 2-2 (down 2)

This position goes to show that Otago must be really bad.

7. Tasman 2-2 (up 1)

Have they really been playing better, or is it just that there are so many middle of the road teams that it is hard to determine who is worse? They have moved up a spot, however they really let themselves down against Northland. It was difficult to pick between them and Otago, however the overall quality of the victories, and competitive losses give them the nod over Otago in these rankings. Who would win if these teams were to play? that would probably depend on the location of the game. I also wouldn’t expect them to beat Wellington, even at home.

8. Otago 2-2 (up 2)

They beat Northland and Taranaki, but lost heavily to Canterbutry and Wellington. So after 4 weeks they have won the games they should have, and lost the ones they would have expected to loose. However none of that makes you feel like they have any real power. They are probably not as bad as this, but there is not much to show it yet.

9. North Harbour 1-1-2 (down 3)

Another team which is hard to judge. They have only won one game, they have only played at home once, they have only lost one game. The loss was to a surprisingly good team in Hawkes Bay, their win was close, but a game which needed to be won to keep the shield. They drew to a Northland team which is better than expected early, and the other draw was to counties, it was on the road, but they should have won that game.

This is the big test, a game where they will be the underdogs, however will have the advantage of home field and defending the shield, so they probably would thing they can win this game.

The Bottom Tier – Teams who should only hope to be competitive and grow to the middle ground. I wanted to put the Naki in the middle ground, but then considered the facts and…

10. Manawatu 1-3 (up 2)

Their one win (last week at Bay of Plenty), was enough to move them up two spots? This makes no sense, but unfortunately it appears to be true. They played with guts in their three losses, but this going to be a long year, at the start of the season you may have expected them to be 0-4, so they should be happy to be here.

11. Taranaki 1-3 (down 4)

Losers of three straight. This is causing their demise. They have not really played a good team yet, and have played three games at home. Good thing we have this great competition where there are so many flawed teams. I think their position only proves my point, there is about six to many teams in this competition.

12. Southland 1-3 (up 2)

Not a good team, their one win was against the Naki, and have lost to 3 of the top 4 teams, so maybe like Otago they will climb this list, but for the moment, they are not looking good.

13. Counties 0-3-1 (unchanged)

Not much to say, at least they are consistently bad.

14. Bay of Plenty 0-4 (down 5)

The biggest losers in these rankings. They have lost 4 straight, and 2 against teams they would have expected to beat. They looked good against the top two teams, and looked horrible against the other two teams. They are not good, and very disappointing.

What has been happening in the Air NZ Cup to date?

Last week was the week of the home favourite, going 3-0 and covering all games. Home teams dominated 5-2, with 4-1 covering.

On the year favourites are now 14-11 against the spread, however when it comes to winning outright they are 18-5-2. Favourites at home have dominated 13-2, however are only 9-6 against the spread. Away favourites are not great overall going 5-3-2.

So what does this mean, against the spread home teams and favourites have the advantage, however a home favourite while having an advantage does not appear to dominate as you might expect. This week at least four of the games will be home underdogs, so possibly expect three of these teams to cover.

Three teams are undefeated against the spread (Canterbury, Auckland and Northland), while three teams are looking for their first cover (Otago, BOP and North Harbour). The Bay and Harbour are playing this week, Harbour could also get their first cover.

Week 5 Picks

Hawkes Bay @ Counties

This is a trap game for the Bay, they are really starting to look good and gain some momentum. They are travelling to a team which does not have much to lose, but will want to put up a good performance. At the start of the year most people would have thought that HB was a slightly better team, now people probably rate them much higher, but what has changed? I think that HB will take this out, and 3.5 is not enough to take Counties.

The Pick:Hawkes Bay -3.5

Taranaki @ Auckland

Auckland should send the Naki to their forth straight loss, and should be heavy favourites in the game. A few days without rain in Auckland could make this high scoring, however depending on the spread rain could help the Naki.

The Pick: Tarankai +28.5

Northland @ Southland

The classic North South battle as the two teams from the furthest away play in week 5. Southland has been bad, Northland has a good record, but probably isn’t great. Should be a big test for both teams, therefore this is this weeks pick of game most likely to end in a draw. Northland should be favoured, this will be interesting when the spread comes out.

The Pick: Southland -2.5
Otago @ BOP

I could copy the above paragraph and put most of it here. Otago will be favoured and will most likely win, but the spread will be interesting. BOP could win their first at home. I expected this spread to be double figures, BOP have not showed anything yet to make me pick them.

The Pick: Otago -3.5

Tasman @ Wellington

Wellington have won both home games, lost both games away. Wellington are 1-3 against the spread and have not covered in three weeks. They will probably be heavily favoured at home, and should win. The cover will be difficult.

The Pick:Wellington -15.5

Waikato @ Harbour

This is the most important game of the week, and probably the most important game of the season for both of these teams. Most people think Waikato will take the shield. I have convinced myself they will. Beer Tuesday will be represented at this game with Box, Silver Sovereign, Neon Knight and myself going to cheer on the boys as they take home the shield. The cover will be difficult for Waikato, expect a close game. There is no way I would bet on this, there is too much at stake.

The Pick: Harbour +12.5

Manawatu @ Canterbury

Canterbury should be 5-0 after this week, but will the be 5-0 against the spread. This will all depend on the spread which is set. It will be high, but Manawatu has also covered against a high spread on the road in Wellington. This game would not be interesting, however with a good spread this could be a good challenge and interesting for the betting person.

The Pick:Canterbery -29.5

Not completely happy with these picks, I think I have taken too many favourites, hopefully it will work out.

Last week 5-2 Overall 15-13 Back above .500.

No mucking around this week, straight on to the picks.

Tasman @ Northland

I swear I made this pick before the game. As evidence I bet on it. Is it time for me to stop writing off Northland, and actually pick them? Nup, I am sure Tasman is better than Northland, and should be favoured. They aren’t, and I am taking them.

The Pick: Tasman +5.5

North Harbour @ Hawkes Bay

This is the potential draw of the week. I think that North Harbour and slightly better on paper. However HB has played well, particularly in their one home game. The weather will keep things close, and North Harbour has always had two draws. There is no draws when picking with the spread, so I will have to make a choice. Looks like the TAB is not going for a spread for this game, which makes it harder to choose, I was expecting to get a few points either way to help out one team.

The Pick: Hawkes Bay

Counties @ Waikato

Waikato will win this game. Will they win by enough. I hate Auckland and everything those sons of bitches stand for… bitter? we will see when it matters in the finals. I wouldn’t want to bet on this game, Counties is improving, Waikato is at home, the ground will be wet, but will there be rain and wind. Waikato failed to cover in there only other home game and is 1-2 against the spread this season.

The Pick: Counties +21.5

Auckalnd @ Southland

Auckland are good, they beat the defending champs so they must be. Southland are bad, but got lucky last week and decided to show up for the first time this year, and beat a Taranaki team that didnt show up. Southland have already been embarassed at home this year. They will not want that to happen again, especially against an Auckalnd team.

The Pick: Auckland – 18.5

Otago @ Taranaki

If Taranaki play like they did last week, they will not win this game. Who really knows which of these teams is better, and who really cares. I guess I have to make a pick.

The Pick: Looks like no Spread – Otago

Wellington @ Canterbury

Canterbury are really good (second best team at the moment), and playing at home. I am a bit unsure about Wellington, particularly on the road.

The Pick: Canterbury -6.5

BOP @ Manawatu

Time for BOP to renew my faith. They still haven’t won yet. Manawatu fight hard each week. This time they are at home. Hard game to pick.

The Pick: Manawatu +7.5

I have spent the first couple of days of this week trying to work out who is good, and who is not this year in the Air New Zealand Cup. So I decided that the way to do this would be with some “Power Rankings”, to try to rank the teams top to bottom.

NPC Week 2 Power Rankings

1. Canterbury – Not yet challenged in the first two games, they will not be this week against Otago either.

2. Auckland – Their Victories over the same teams as Canterbury have not been as impressive. Look for the tough game home to Waikato, and possible slide down these standings.

3. Waikato – None of the top 3 teams have played a good team yet. Waikato struggled against Southland, but this was mainly rain related. Stephen Donald has been absolutely fantastic in the first 2 games, and my personal Beaver Man Crush is reaching Kobeesk proportions.

4. Wellington – Dropping following the loss to Hawkes Bay.

5. Hawkes Bay – Sometimes it is better to be lucky, than good. Sure they beat Wellington 15 on 15, but you can’t help feel they had the advantage of knocking out (literally) an All Black, and not having to play the remainder of the game with 14 men, that was lucky. At this stage I don’t even think they are better than BOP, but time will tell.

6. North Harbour – They were lucky to get a draw on the road week 1, defended the shield well week 2. They have a couple of weeks to improve before the big shield challenge against Waikato.

7. Tarnaki – Beat Tasman, and had a close shield challenge. The Naki is always tough to beat, they will probably climb this list in weeks to come.

8. Tasman – Looked good week 1 in Taranaki, fought hard for a close loss. Dominated Manawatu week 2. Home to Hawkes Bay week 3. I feel an upset on the cards.

9. BOP – They are 0-2 and rated ahead of 2 teams which are higher on the table. They have played hard against the two top teams. The losses look bad on the scorecard, but they fought hard and were in the game until the middle of the second half. I think they are probably better than Hawkes Bay, and Tasman, just not more powerful at this stage.

10. Otago – This would be an improvement on last week (if I had done a list), but after getting thrashed at Wellington, and then only just beating Northland (and pissing me off in the process, more on this soon), they are simply not that good.

11. Northland – Lucky week 1 draw. Close loss week 2. But were either of those games against a good team… doubtful.

12. Manawatu – They played hard at home week 1. Got demolished on the road in week 2, this doesn’t leave them in a strong position.

13. Counties – Hammered in the first two games. They have played two tough teams, but they still need to improve.

14. Southland – Looked terrible in their two games so far, they are going to have a long season. Does not get easier against the Naki this week.

Other Notes

I am 0-4 against the spread on Friday night games, however last Friday I cant help buy feeling a little ripped off. BOP was covering at home against Auckland, until they fell apart in the last 15 minutes and blew the cover. At this stage I flick the channel and see that Otago is leading by 10 against Northland, and taking me to Covertown. Then they stuff up a lineout, and allow a soft try under the posts. I assure myself this is fine, and Otago proceeds down the feild to camp out on the Northland goal line, I feel the try for the cover coming. They are attacking the line for a good 5 minutes, Northland is about to cave, as the 80 minutes come up on the clock. I know I am fine because every New Zealand rugby team in the history of the universe has kept attacking in this situation, they just want to run up the score, make themselves look better, and damage the opposition. Otago decides to kick the ball out, how could they do this to me?

Against the spread this week was the reverse of the week before. Overall on the season home and away are both 7-7 against the spread. Favourites are 8-6 against the spread, making this fairly close overall. Overall Home favourites are 8-1, so if you are betting straight up take the home favourite, however home favourites and Away Favourites are only 1 game over .500 at 5-4 and 3-2 respectively. What does this mean? when it comes to winning outright, take the home team, and the favourite where possible, if you are betting with the spread it remains hard to pick, which I guess is the point.

On to the Week 3 Picks

Northland @ BOP

Both teams looking for their first win. BOP at home. TAB no spread, I predict a draw, that would be no fun of me, so having to take one or the other, I will refer to my own rankings and go with.

The Pick: BOP

North Harbour @ Counties

When I was trying to pick this spread, I thought it would be 22.5. The actual spread 15.5. What the hell, how  was I out by 7 points, that is a converted try. Sure North Harbour are not great, but counties are far worse. On paper this looks like easy money, maybe this game is this weeks Hawkes Bay, buyer beware.

The Pick: North Harbour -15.5

Hawkes Bay @ Tasman

After last week I expected HB to be bigger favourites, so I don’t know what to think on this one. I think Tasman could win outright, but a few more points here would have made this an easier choice.

The Pick: Tasman +4.5

Manawatu @ Wellington

Hard to know which Wellinton team is going to show up in Manawatu. A couple of weeks back Waikato was only favoured by 25 (ish) points against this Manawatu team in Manawatu. Is this Wellington team really 10 points better than Waikato? You also know that Wellington has something to prove after last week, so maybe 36.5 is fair. However a home team with a lot of points against a rival.

The Pick: Manawatu

Waikato @ Auckland

I figured that Auckland would be favoured but didn’t see them giving 6.5. I like Waikato’s chance to win this outright, so would be happy to see them cover. Winner of this game probably gets to top the power rankings if I did them again next week.

The Pick: Waikato + 6.5

Canterbury @ Otago

The Third rivalry game of the week.  Otago is very bad, and they will look worse when they receive a pounding at the hands of Canterbury this week. Not enough points for the Otagoians (?).

The Pick: Canterbury -20.5

Southland @ Taranaki

Another spread I failed to pick by more than a try. I really thought that the spread would be closer to 15 or 16. This seems to be an easy game to pick too, but surely Southland have to turn it around at some stage.

The Pick: Taranaki -8.5