“Warren Tredrea, take a bow!” ABC Radio Commentator before Tredrea’s lap of honour at AAMI Stadium on Saturday.
Here at The Terrace, we couldn’t agree more with our good friends at the ABC. Nice work, Warren. By the way, did you know Waz’s second name is Gary? That, my good friends, is noteworthy.
Australia loves big things. The Prawn, the pineapple, sharks, the ‘G and the jPod to name a few. But how often do we ask the big questions? Is there a God? Does he have a son? Do I inhabit a meaningful universe if he is no longer part of it?
With more angles than a Stevie J GPS reading, the task of extrapolating, defending and understanding how we would cope on an emotional, social and physical level without our junior is near impossible to anticipate. The speculation has been constant and still continues. We at The Terrace have wrung out every drop from our army of blue and white informants and still we are not placated.
Like a successories poster hanging in your psyche, we remind ourselves that the one thing we can control is our attitude. Therefore we have accepted (on one level) that he may leave us in pursuit of mammon. We fear an emotional bottleneck if we haven’t appropriately worked through the ‘what if’ if it were to become a ‘what is.’
If we grieve now, then we are prepared and the chance of tears at unwelcome public moments (in the future) is minimised. If he stays, then the chance of a life-size 29 tattoo on the back becomes a possibility.
There are a number of key stages when grieving, known as the ‘grief cycle.’ They include shock, denial, anger, loss, despair and acceptance. For the moment we don’t know where we sit in that cycle (possibly right of anger), but crushing the pies on Friday can only help.
Joffa is a knob.
Whilst we’re at it, check out some footage from Sam Newman’s 300th game at KP waaaaay back in 1980. Rumour has it there were 40,000 punters in attendance!
Here at The Terrace, it’s been a long time between premiership drinks. We’ve just awoken from almost two months of post-premiership hiberbliss and, we’re delighted to say, we’ve still got that special tingle inside. So much so we’re looking forward to reliving the glory again, and again and again. Did someone say glory again?
Today, it’s the second biggest day (after Monday night football day, if you know what we mean) in the football calendar: draft day. Yawn. We might just head back to the cat cave to enjoy a few more weeks of hiberbliss before we wake to the magic of Christmas and find the special premiership DVD pack - rumour has it the KROCK commentary is worth the wait, Cats y-fronts and Harmsy and Paul Daffey’s 2009 Footy Almanac inside our premiership garry hocking…ummm…I mean stocking.
In the meantime, enjoy reading this cracking article about Bill McMaster and Stephen Wells, Geelong’s recruiting officers from the last 36 years. I think you’ll agree they’ve done a fine job. Unfortunately one of our favourite finds, the ‘Mummy’ Mumford, won’t be with us to celebrate back to back in ‘10. On that note, who has been, in your opinion, the most anticipated but ultimately disappointing recruit or draft pick in recent times? Brett Spinks? Steven Hooper? Brian Peake? Gary Ayres? Stephen O’Reilly? Brent Grgic?
Zzzzzzz……….
The Terrace
Word from the City of Dreams has it that the players are “Cherry ripe” for Saturday. On a late morning jog at Bells today, celebrating the life of the Bodhi (aka Patrick Swayze in Point Break ), I noticed a local wearing a well-worn GFC cap. I struck up a conversation and he commented that he’d seen the big Otto catching a wave yesterday. Good news indeed, suggesting he is relaxed and back to his Pettigrew-snaring power of 2007. This local also reported some other very interesting news…
He has a mate who has been doing some filming for the GFC. This filmographer does work during the ‘closed sessions’ which have been occurring throughout the year. Apparently the Cats have been working on ‘new’ (and exclusive to the The Terrace) stoppage strategies yet to be used in 2009 - ready for their world premiere this Saturday evening. Whether this local confidant has the goods or not, here at The Terrace are struggling to remain focused on anything but the simmering and bed-wetting excitement inside.
There is no doubt that Bodhi, with his great love of Bells and all things West Coast, was a Cats fan. And in the words of the great man: “Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true.” Rest in peace, Patrick, and bring on the Pies!
Preliminaryinglovlingly,
The Terrace
We could spend our Tuesday talking about Collingwood, and the the drivel their players have been drooling for the past day or so, and the fact that Dane Swan is a first-class bogan, that a high percentage of their team share less-than-below-average excuses for christian names (think dane, dayne, tarkyn, sharrod, jarryd, jarrad, steele) and that they have one player with the surname ‘dick’. But, here at The Terrace we are more mature than that.
For now, sit back and enjoy a first-class Gary Ablett Snr audio-visual extravagazza. Top ten marks, top ten marks alternate version, top ten goals, top ten goals alternate version - and first but not last, Gary Ablett’s big hits to the tune of ‘Eye of the Tiger’. The Lester Ellis footage is priceless! If you can spare the time in your high-flying executive day, it really is worth it. Enjoy…
There has been no lack of commentary surrounding this weekend’s much-hyped game (if we hear the word rivalry again we’ll have a Barry Hall conniption), so we’ll let some more moving pictures and commentators do the talking.
Let’s go back to watch the 1986 clash between the cats and saints at VFL park. Of particular note and enjoyment are:
a. Peter Landy’s matching suit and and hair combo
b. a very futuristic set that reminds us of the Tardis interior (look out for the tv animate in when the camera position changes)
c. four Geelong redheads (Mossop, Bruns, Morgan, Neal)
d. Plugger Locket
e. that man Ablett
f. last but not least, Pete’s quote: “St Kilda-Geelong games, however, have proven fiery affairs in years past.”
Well then…in keeping with tradition, can we please have one wish for Sunday (apart from the obvious): that someone will clean-up Stephen Milne? Good.
Yours in Sunday anticipation,
The Terrace
Shane Mumford has all the traits of a ruckman: his first name is Shane, he has an awkward sounding surname, he’s a qualified boiler maker and he’s from a town called Bunyip. Fine credentials indeed. Shane is also a fine footballer who has a great story behind his hulking frame. Watching ‘Mumfy’ make the transformation from bush footy to the premier league has been a delight for all concerned; apart from Blakey, who is now nervously watching his back.
Many of you would have read an article in the Hun recently (written by fellow cats fan Scott Gullan) which described Mummy’s transformation. Some of the quotable quotes include:
Anyway, read the article for yourself. It’s a great story.
What do you think of the Mumf? Let us know…
Your sincerely,
The Terrace