Sport shorts - 30 July

AFL

• Getting to the business end of the season and hard to think of a more open season. There are now questions over GWS, Adelaide, and even Geelong. Adelaide snatched a draw after trailing by 50 points at one stage of the game. so their slow starts are a concern. GWS' from is patchy though maybe if their full list was healthy they might be doing better. 
• Credit to Alistair Clarkson and the Hawks, they might not sneak into the finals but they've had an impressive turnaround to their season. It just wasn't the Swans night, hopefully we'll see a better performance and upset win against Geelong ;)
• I'm happy with the draw to remain, and don't think we need a result for every game during the regular season.
• Feel there's a bit of misplaced sympathy for Patrick Dangerfield. He's now ineligible for the Brownlow Medal after receiving a deserved suspension for a tackle in Geelong's game against Carlton. Read more here.
• Congrats to Nick Riewoldt on a great career with the St Kilda.  

NRL

• Great to see the Knights back in the winners list with a tense 21-14 win over the Dragons.  Given they're playing the Warriors next week they might get back to back wins. 
• Impressed to see Cam Smith on the field this week - and with an awesome game too.  
• Think the eight is almost settled, with either St George or Penrith taking the final spot - there game in round 27 will almost settle it. I'll be cheering for the Panthers.

Super Rugby

• The Hurricanes are out after blowing a 22-3 lead. And the killer is that it means the Crusaders will travel to South Africa for the Final.  I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect the Lions will win. Then we have a two week break before the Rugby Championship starts with Australia playing New Zealand in Sydney. 

Other

• I've shared this elsewhere, but I was saddened to hear of the death of Les Murray. I spent countless hours listening to him talk football with Johnny Warren, Damien Lovelock and most recently Craig Foster. The passion he has for the game is infectious. He was more than an ambassador for Football, he is great Australian who fought for a more compassionate Australia. 
• More on soccer - congrats to the Matildas who have beaten the United States for the first time in 30 years (27 games). 
• I've been enjoying the baseball (perhaps not the Blue Jays form) and one of the things I really love is the walk-off hit, home run or Grand Slam.  And there was a great moment in this morning's game where Kyle Farmer in his first MLB at bat achieved a walk off two run hit.  
• Finally, this article about concussion in sport is a must-read.

Sport Shorts - 23 July

AFL

• Ok, hands up who thought that Sydney would be in the mix for a top four finish after their 0-6 start. I certainly didn't. Mind you, they've still got three tough games before the finals (Hawthorn, Geelong and Adelaide). 
• Hard to read GWS at the moment, they're not playing particularly well, but they've still got players to come back. 

NRL

• I saw my first live game for the year on the weekend, and went to ANZ Stadium and saw the Wests Tigers tackle the Parramatta Eels. In summary it was a fun (and close) game, but not the best advert for the game. I'd be surprised if the Eels did much damage in the finals. 
• I guess it was another honorable loss for the Warriors - losing 12-24 to the North Queensland Cowboys. 
• The other story from the weekend was Sia Soliola not being sent off in the Canberra v Melbourne game. Coupled with Ricky Stuart's bizarre press conference spray about the referees. This article about the issue is interesting reading.

Super Rugby

• The winners of the semi finals were the Hurricanes, Lions, Crusaders and Chiefs.  So in next weeks finals we'll see the Hurricanes travel to South Africa to play the Lions and the Crusaders play the Chiefs.  
• I'm thinking the final will be between the Hurricanes and Crusaders, but we'll see. 

The Cricket World Cup

• The Women's World Cup was great viewing. England are the deserved winners. The two moments of the tournament for me were Chamari Atapattu's unbeaten 178 and Harmanpreet Kaur's 171* in the semi final.  There's a great read about the World Cup here.  While I was disappointed to see NZ get knocked out early, it was great to see South Africa do well. 

Sport Shorts - 16 July

AFL

• Another win to the Swans this weekend. They have now won nine from their last ten and sit in the top eight.  They'll need to keep winning to stay there, but its been an impressive run. 
• Awesome performance from Dangerfield on the weekend, injured early in the game against Hawthorn, and came back on and kicked five goals. The game had a great finish, sad for Isaac Smith who for the second time had a chance on the siren to kick a goal to win the game for Hawthorn. 
• So, seventeen rounds in, the joint favourites for me are GWS and Adelaide. GWS might just jump ahead when they get some of their key injured players back. Sydney will be the team no one wants to play should they make the finals, but they have to make the finals first. With games against Hawthorn, Geelong and Adelaide left, its by no means safe to assume they will make the finals. 

NRL

• Perhaps not surprising by Queensland won this years State of Origin, making it ten of the last eleven.  Seems to me NSW were just out of ideas. It was great to see Cameron Smith bring Jonathan Thurston up on stage.  It won't be too long before Thurston is inducted into the Hall of Fame.
• Think the season is now over for the Warriors - they won't make the playoffs, especially with Johnson's season ending injury. 
• Melbourne look like the team to beat this year. 
• I'm glad for the bye rounds to be over, it certainly feels like a different competition during State of Origin. 

Super Rugby

• The regular season finished, and the Australian teams went 0-25 against New Zealand.  There's at least one more match-up with the Brumbies hosting the Hurricanes in one of the finals.  It is certainly one of the anomalies of Super Rugby that the Hurricanes are playing the Brumbies away. The other semi finals are : Crusaders v Highlanders; Lions v Sharks and Stormers v Chiefs. 
• I suspect the Hurricanes, Crusaders, Lions and Chiefs will win the semi-finals. If the Lions win, then they will host the final (should they qualify).  
• Perhaps the other anomaly is that the Lions made the final, without playing a New Zealand team

Football

• It was great to see both of Arsenal's two Sydney games.  Really impressed with the attendance (over 160,000 people attended the games)  The gulf in class between the clubs was evident with Arsenal winning both; 2-0 (v Sydney FC) and 3-1 (v the Wanderers).  
• I enjoyed the game against the Wanderers more - felt they played better than Sydney, and the atmosphere was certainly better, mostly due to the Wanderers fans who sang and chanted the whole way through the game. 
• In terms of Arsenal I was impressed with Alexandre Lacazette.  We do need to hold on to Alexis Sanchez. Shame he didn't make the trip over. 

Wimbledon

• Part of me was sad that Venus Williams didn't win the Ladies Final. It was a impressive run from her, but it was a super performance from Garbine Muguruza to win her second title. The final made her the only Women to beat both Serena and Venus Williams in Grand Slam Finals. 
• Super impressive performance from Federer to win his 8th Wimbledon and 19th Grand Slam title.  It was the second time he's won a Grand Slam tournament without dropping a set. To my mind, he is one of the greatest sportsman or women of all time. 

A little update..

If you have been following my blog, you'd know that we were in Wellington for the rugby. We also had a great chance to see the city.  One of the must-see attractions in Wellington is the Te Papa Museum, and one of the main exhibits they have on at the moment focuses on Gallipoli. The exhibit tells the story of the Gallipoli campaign in World War I through the eyes and words of eight ordinary New Zealanders who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. The exhibit has eight large figures (made by Weta Workshops, who worked on the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings). You couldn't help but be moved by each story.

It was quite eye-opening to hear the story of Gallipoli from the New Zealand perspective (the campaigns they were involved in).

On our final day in Wellington we went up the cable car and visited the Cable car museum. It was interesting to see the history of the cable car, but also fascinating to watch a video about the houses in Wellington which had installed cable cars for access.

It was just lovely being in the city with thousands of Lions fans. Our plane from Sydney was filled with them. It just created such an awesome atmosphere in the city (and at the rugby). It was interesting how drowned out the All Blacks chants were at the ground, it almost felt like a home game for the Lions.

Wellington is such a beautiful city, in lot of ways its coffee culture reminds me of Melbourne.

After Wellington it was back to reality pretty quickly. Last Tuesday morning I started radiotherapy so I now have had nine sessions, almost half way through. I'll have twenty in total, then a short break before restarting Chemo.

I find radiotherapy very different to chemotherapy, during my chemo sessions I sat in a chair for four hours while the drugs were pumped into my veins. For radiotherapy I lie on a bed and the machine moves around me three times in ten minutes, and I'm done.  While I'm doing radiotherapy, I'm also having oral chemotherapy.

So far I haven't t felt too bad, the worst side effects are psychological. I'm finding that I'm far more irritable and moody than before, and I need to get better at knowing how I'm feeling and communicating it, I also need to get better at managing my mood.

What I'm in to - June

Reading:

Another quiet month for reading this time, I've managed two books. I finished Susan Carland's 'Fighting Hislam' and 'Radical Remission' by Kelly Turner.

Susan Carland's book was a really eye opening read, talking about woman seeking to change Islam from within.

'Radical Remission' is about people who have survived cancer against the odds. The book explores nine key factors shared by these individuals (often they stop using conventional treatments, like surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy).

The nine factors mentioned in the book are: Radically changing your diet; taking control of your health; following your intuition; using herbs and supplements; releasing suppressed emotions; increasing positive emotions; embracing social support; deepening your spiritual connection; and having strong reasons for living.

It was a helpful read, I'm certainly not thinking about stopping the treatments I'm doing at the moment, but some of the factors are worthwhile thinking more about, and trying to apply them.

Watching
The highlight of my TV viewing  during June was The Voice. Even if none of the contestants really jumped out  at me this year, it was still enjoyable to watch. I really like Delta as a coach so it was great that Judah won. The dynamic between Kelly and Delta was great.

I've been enjoying watching Masterchef too.  I enjoyed the episodes filmed in Japan; probably because I love Japanese food.  The really frustrating thing about cooking shows is that you never get to taste the food which has been made.

Listening
I spent a lot of June listening to Radiohead's OK Computer, R.E.M's Automatic for the People and Coldplay's  A Head Full of Dreams. I'm looking forward to the new album from Nichole Nordeman. It was a very nice surprise when I found out she had a new album coming out.  She's one of my favourite singer-songwriters. One of the reasons I'm looking forward to hearing the album is how she describes it:

These songs have given me permission, and I hope you too, to silence the voices of regret. To recognize that every part your journey, every broken place, have all been part of the story God is writing in your life. Lessons we had to learn. Tears that had to fall. Chapters that had to be written and then closed, to find ourselves in a bigger, more beautiful story.
It all mattered. Every single mile.

Sport shorts - 9 July

Rugby

• So, the All Blacks - Lions series was drawn, with the final test ending in a 15 all draw.  It surprises me the the All Blacks didn't go for a drop goal in the final few minutes.  That said, think the Lions played quite well, and a drawn series is probably a fair result. To me, no there shouldn't be extra time to determine a result.
• Possible the biggest shock of the weekend was the Jaguar's 40-27 win over the Waratahs. It is the Jaguars first visit to Sydney, and despite how the Waratahs have been travelling I stlll expected them to win. 

AFL

• The Giants became the first team to draw two games in a row for 96 years. The two draws are probably are four points lost. They led by two goals with not long left against Hawthorn and possibly should have been able to hold on. 
• Sydney are in the eight for the first time this year with a good win against the Suns. Still with a few tough games there's still work to do. 
• I didn't see the St Kilda-Richmond result coming, it was like the Tigers didn't show up. 

NRL 

• Given the decider in the State of Origin this week, there were only four games this weekend.  
• The results were hardly surprising, even Parramatta beating a Melbourne side missing their spine was definitely not too much of a surprise. 
• Was gutted for Newcastle, losing after conceding two tries in the last few minutes, then being awarded a penalty on the siren which could have taken the game to golden point.  I did wonder why Hodginson didn't take the penalty?

Other

• I'm looking forward to a couple of things this week -  the All Star baseball game on Tuesday night and then on Thursday and Saturday night Arsenal play Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC. Can't wait to see Arsenal play live again.
• Today is a rest day but I'm looking forward to see what the second week of Wimbledon throws up. 
• The Women's Cricket World Cup is now on.  The top four teams are Australia (4-0), India (4-1),  New Zealand (3-1,with 1 no result) and South Africa (3-1, with a no result).  Favour Australia to win the tournament.

Sport shorts - 2 July

Rugby

• The weekend saw the Second test between the All Blacks and Lions. I was lucky enough to attend the game in Wellington. The atmosphere was awesome, even if the All Blacks fans were a little quiet. In terms of the game, Sonny Bill Williams send off certainly made it difficult, as did Barrett's inaccuracy with the boot. The All Blacks attack was a little disappointing creating few chances. The Lions certainly made the most of their opportunities. On the send off - I don't think the referee had any choice. Bring on the third test. 

AFL

• The Swans are now 7-7 and in this incredible season while they sit ninth are only one game from 5th. If they keep winning being in the eight is a distinct possibility. 
• Looking forward to a few games this weekend.  The Hawthorn-GWS and St Kilda-Richmond games are the two I'm most looking forward to aside from the Swans-Suns. 

NRL

• Perhaps no surprise but with another big win, the Storm firm as competition favourites. 
• The Warriors let another lead slip - leading Manly 16-0 before losing 22-26. 
• Manly and St George are my surprise packets for the year both doing better than I expected. 

Other

• Wimbledon started this week and I'm looking forward to following the twists and turns of the tournament. 
• Confederations Cup - Germany was impressive through the tournament, and were deserved winners,