How Seed Famine Led To Mac Attack
The Sunday Age
Sunday January 20, 2002
The early and constant evaporation of seeds at the Australian Open may help create a new reputation for our grand slam event as the Bermuda Triangle of tennis stars. They came, they talked, they disappeared.
A cruel aspect to the television coverage of this has been the exploitation of poor old Paul McNamee. Every time another major attraction disappears in a puff of brimstone and liniment, all cameras swing on to the former Supermac, preceding the inevitable stampede to stick a mike under his beak.
He puts a brave face on it all, and steadfastly returns serve with the standard, "This is what happens in tennis", or "There's plenty of action left", sure. But you can tell around the 15th time it happened that his heart is breaking, and he probably wishes he'd gone into something stress-free, such as commentary, or over-priced tennis camps, like all the other old players. Look at the poor man. Clearly, he can barely eat, such is the stress. He can't have put on any more than five kilos during the tournament. Even his hair seems to have gone a funny colour. We may have to arrange a telethon.
OK, back to business. Last week, we looked at the sport roster of SBS, Seven, Ten and the ABC. Let's roll on.
NINE
Last time around, I commented that Nine picks its sports and picks its spots, and the only thing that's changed since is that it made the news last year by picking someone else's. So, in 2002, adding to its narrow but well-selected sporting arsenal of Australian-based cricket, some tennis majors, and swimming (when deemed appropriate), AFL will be added to the PackerTron stable. All we know right now is that Nine is covering Friday and Sunday action, and any ancillary coverage, beyond The Footy Show juggernaut, is pure guesswork. As Seven knows, fans expect commitment. We'll see.
Other than this, Nine seems to have gone off golf, and its coverage of rugby league here was KGB-like in terms of the efficiency with which it "disappeared" the product. There are a few Sydney race meetings. That's about it.
When it comes to sport, Nine is still like a well-run abattoir. It buys what it needs, and there's no wastage. (We'll look at the Goodwill Games as an aberration that proves the rule.) The only question is how many Bizarro World extra-curricular roles it can conjure up for Eddie McGuire this year.
FOX SPORTS
The big deals here are American team sports - NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball - and English Premier League soccer. Fox Sports are all over the latter like soup on a necktie. Having Test series not involving Australia would have done them no harm with cricket nuts. On the other claw, while they soak up plenty of both rugby codes, neither will result in phone exchanges blowing up owing to floods of new subscribers in this market. As with Nine and Ten, AFL is their big-deal trump-card this year, and the biggest promise it holds for Fox is as a potential coffin-nail for the No. 2 brand, pay-TV opposition, Optus Vision. Pro wrestling no doubt remains a cult-level cash cow.
Outside of the money-earners, nightly sport news is handy, and their single-sport summary programs are OK, except for Inside Basketball and Soccer Scene, which are better than that, particularly the latter. As for all that nine-ball pool, darts, club boxing and kickboxing from the Zeta Dimension, well, I guess they're cheap.
(Next week, C7, ESPN, Main Event and a general wrap-up).
THE BEST OF THE INTERNET WWW...MARTIAL ARTS by GRAHAM TANGEY
Karate is probably the best-known martial art, and has its origins in Japan. Americans have embraced this art almost like a national sport. Sites such as the Australian Karate Union (www.ozwebart.com.au/kua) try to give as much information as possible on all styles of karate. There are links to all styles of the sport in the United States and overseas and listings of training centres around the country.
Jujitsu was developed in Japan, and also has different styles in different places. Brazilian Gracie-Jujitsu is one form of the sport, which has evolved in the past 100 years. The Gracie Academy website (www.gracieacademy.com) has some terrific information about the development of this newer style, with pictures, videos and descriptions of all moves and positions. Many of the best exponents of this style compete successfully in Ultimate Fighting contests around the world. Jujitsu can trace its past back to the time of the samurai and the jitsuko site (www.jitsuka.org) gives you the history, legend and mystery of this sport. Sword work is a major component of jitsuko and this site has plenty of diagrams to help improve your technique.
Roy and HG helped to increase the profile of judo during the Olympics with their original commentary, but the sport was already one of the most popular martial arts in this country. The Judo Federation of Australia (www.ausport.gov.au/judo/) has a small site with a short description of the sport and links to other judo sites. The most important part is a list of contacts for associations around the nation. The judo information site (www.judoinfo.com) is full of pages on jokes, history, training methods, equipment and techniques.
There are millions of taekwondo players around the world, with Lauren Burns the most famous exponent of the sport in Australia. The sport was developed in Korea and has spread rapidly in the past 20 years, and was included in the 2000 Olympic Games. The International Taekwondo Federation
(www.itf-taekwondo.com) has a small site, but does link to one of the best information pages devoted to the sport (home.thezone.net/~sdowney/links.htm). The Australian association has a web presence (www.itftaekwondoaustralia.com) that makes the governing body's pages seem amateur in comparison. A great flash intro at the start, and videos, pictures and directories makes this site worth a visit.
If you are a frequent reader of this column, you will know that I am a big fan of newsgroups. Newsgroups are a great way to interact with other people and you don't have to be logged on at the same time. Martial arts newsgroups include alt.martial-arts.karate and rec.martial-arts. Both of these groups have large numbers of posts, with discussions on training, styles, and who the best teachers are around the world.
FAN SITE OF THE WEEK
www.labs.agilent.com/personal/Danny_Abramovitch/martial_su.html
Danny Abramovitch's martial arts home page is a collection of links and PDF files containing all sorts of martial arts information. There are tips on training, as well as jokes about Danny's favourite martial art styles, aiki and Gracie/Brazilian jujitsu. There are also some great drawings and photos, with a good links page at the end of the main page. Maybe this site will inspire you to give martial arts a go.
© 2002 The Sunday Age