Not much to report from The Terrace this week, although it’s fair to say our Gold Coast Ablettometer has swung from fair to stormy. Oh, Gary – where art thou? Anyway, we did enjoy this little gem.
By the way, is Liam Pickering starting to annoy you?
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!
My lovely lady said she saw Gary Jnr on the plasma last night – watching the big game at the tennis. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t with Maria, and I’m very sure he didn’t have a crop of hair. Regardless, we couldn’t resist sharing this snap with the faithful. With all respect to the little master, do you think he looks like Martin Bryant in this photo? Hmmmmm…judge for yourself.
Oh, by the way, great news about Captain Ling hey? We couldn’t think of a more fitting man for the job. Maybe they’ll finally hang our ‘Ling of Fire’ portrait in the hallowed halls of KP? Unlikely…but we can live in hope.
Yours lovlingly,
The Terrace
In a week of lid keeping on-ering, it’s hard not to inhale a little deeper, pump the chest out a little further, cock and nod the head to the side when reading about Gazza and Joel. Even during a week off the field they are front and square. In many ways it’s affirming that amongst their peers they are also adored. We mortals ‘feel’ every bump, barb and tackle evaded or inflicted by these two wunderkinds but the judges of the AFLPA ‘know.’ It’s nice to know that our feelings have merit.
Yo.
At the Terrace we don’t generally embrace American terms creeping into the Australian lexicon. Commentators who use words such as ‘defense’ and ‘quarterback’ should give themselves an uppercut. Normally terms such as MVP and MCP would make us A-N-G-R-Y but on this occasion we can’t help but feel proud. Even though Holty did promise to go all the way with LBJ, let’s just hope that Premiership rings never creep into our mighty National game!
Loving y’all,
The Terrace
p.s. for the sake of some Friday footage…
It wasn’t the most beautiful game of football to watch, but on the late afternoon of a long-weekend Sunday, it was just great to be watching your team live and winning – again.
Considering the past two margins (135 and 99) against the Weagles there was an air of expectation. However, at the end of the day it’s about the four points…and Gazza accumulating more votes…and seeing the Tomahawk pull down a big grab (not to mention bag 3 goals) and…well, you get the gist.
Each quarter in four words or less:
1st: Looks like a cakewalk
2nd: Cox is a gun
3rd: Poor fella, wrong way!
4th: It wasn’t pretty but…
It’s the halfway point of the season and we are definitely on track with 11 wins from 11 games. So, with the split round in mind, we thought it was time to take a brief break from the cats to enjoy some random Grand Final entertainment from the glory days of 1991.
Have a great weekend – and here’s to a lossless 2nd half of the season.
The Terrace
Geelong (Blakey and Gaz in particular) allegedly created a world record on Sunday by kicking the quickest goal ever in a game of AFL football. It probably doesn’t mean it was a world record (we’re sure some squid playing up bush has dobbed one quicker), but here at The Terrace we’ll take it none-the-less. For the…ummm…record, the goal was kicked in under 9 seconds. We’re not sure if it is indeed a record for a VFL/AFL game. Does anyone know? I seem to recall Gary Senior kicked a quick one at the start of the ’89 GF, but i don’t think it was that quick. As an aside, our archivist has spent the last four nights fumbling through the office records to reveal a dozen Geelong significant records, including:
Further suggestions to boost The Terrace’s archive would be more than welcome…
Anyway, enough said. Enjoy the goal!
“I don’t care if ya 13 years old and pregnant, if ya change teams I’ll kick ya outta the house…” Young lass, local establishment, Western Suburbs.
Well, those were the words of one fine young lass at the local last Saturday night, sharing her father’s stern words of warning regarding the prospect of club-support infidelity under his roof. Nothing to do with Geelong, Friday or YouTube really, but The Terrace thinks you’ll agree it was worth sharing nonetheless…
Anyway, Friday afternoon’s neither a time for reading verbose blogs nor doing work ; it’s clearly a day for watching classic footy moments on YouTube. So, as an inaugural YouTube Friday post and a pre-cursor to Sunday’s apparent mismatch (there are good odds on the Demons apparently), we thought we it’s only fair to share some footage of one of Geelong and Melbourne’s finest: Mark ‘Jacko’ Jackson. Enjoy!
By the way, if you happened to miss Junior’s goal from the Hickey pocket last week (ummm… i mean Wade pocket, but it just doesn’t sound as sweet, does it?) , then fret no more…here it is!
‘Start me up!’ is obviously the title to one of the The Stone’s epic tracks, and most of The Terrace’s loyal readers (then again, does anyone actually read this blog?) will be aware Cameron ‘Moondog’ Mooney has a son called Jagger. I’m not sure if he’s named after the potent big-lipped man, but either way the Moondog has awoken from his hibernation and start me up he has!
Jagger #1 in a weird pair of tights with knee pads.
Jagger #2 relaxes at home on a stylish mohair rug with the Moondog and Seona
For those who may think Jagger is bad form in the baby names stakes, for the record Nathan Buckley has a son called Ayce. Ayce? I mean, really Nathan. What were you and Tanya thinking? Where I come from Ayce is a good name for a cheap bistro and stands for ‘All you can eat‘.
Anyway, I digress. The Moondog’s trademark flying chest grabs, his unselfish assists, his powerful body play and wind-affected locks were on display in an emphatic demolition of Brisbane. There were so many contributors to this potent performance, but when the spiritual leader is presenting with belief, the congregation lifts.
Each quarter in four words or less:
1st: It is very wet!
2nd: Gazza has 27 possessions.
3rd: Wet weather football revolution.
4th: Glorious goal Gary, unbelievable!
The Terrace Soap Box
The Terrace was in a characteristically cynical mood as we pored over the sports section this morning. Mick Malthouse’s saying “Unfortunately, I reckon we let the ANZACs down” incensed us. Firstly, Collingwood are a bunch of prawns and don’t deserve to be compared with our war heroes. To involve the memory of our fallen soldiers in describing his emotion and teams performance is out of place. Secondly, they let themselves down with their insipid fade out in yesterday’s match. The misappropriation of the ANZAC memory happens enough in preparing for this match, let alone describing the wash up. Take that, Mick!
This week: Our inagural Red-head Tuesday and 2nd past-player profile! How very exciting.
John Button once said of Geelong, “The pain I can handle, it’s the hope that’s killing me!”
Waiting for Round 1 in 2009 has been the reverse. So much pain…
Not since the demise of Springding has a summer in Geelong dragged so much. Under lights, at the ‘G, the cats were finally back and with them a path to redemption.
Like the Bain Marie at the Corio Bay Roadhouse, the lights were on, every bay was full, smoke rose off perspiring bodies and an adoring crowd salivated in anticipation. From the bounce it was obvious that this shark was going forward. Fifteen touches in the first to the loved one had me wondering why he didn’t put on a 25-minute set at Sound Relief. It was pure entertainment.
Each quarter in four words or less:
1st: High intensity, missed opportunities
2nd: Will Lonergan cut it?
3rd: We’re back on track
4th: It’s no Premiership, but…
there’s nothing like a victorious post game wrap up on K-Rock!
Just in case you had any doubt whether G. Ablett Jnr was robbed of the Norm Smith, have a peek below: