La Dee-vina Comedia

He might sit behind the glass at Marvel, but I saw him at the Richmond game sitting on outside seats on level 2 in the Richmond members area at the MCG. At the time I thought (quite seriously) that it's a fine thing that a public figure can sit in a public area at the footy without the need for security.

Has it been conclusively proven that J Smith's injury was made worse by going back on? Initially that seemed to be correct, but as Saty in the training thread for today (14/5) has referred to J Smith having OP, I now wonder if that is necessarily the case. I admit I don't know what causes OP but I'm also not sure that being asked to continue playing with a sore groin would make it worse.

Geelong is smart. Getting the promise from the party most likely (if the polls are correct) to form Government.

I hope the players aren't as pessimistic as the supporters! Even if some of the players would not be considered to be in our top 22, those who will be playing are being given an opportunity to show they belong at the top. I expect nothing less than a spirited performance.

Weren't we complaining 12-18 months ago that Oliver didn't kick the ball often enough? Seems somewhat ironic that now he's kicking it we're not so sure we want him to.

According to Wikipedia, Gary Lazarus kicked 206 goals in 132 games. Not bad from the back pocket!

Love child of Paul Roos and Daniel Cross? PS: Love your work, Saty. Particularly the photo of Lever training without knee strapping. I believe (with no evidence) that strapping is probably physically useless for rehabbing ACLs and therefore more a sign of psychological fear. I think no strapping suggests a high level of confidence in his recovery. At least, I hope so.

I understand the Match Committee is checking to see if we have anyone on our list by the name of Lazarus.

Is it time to dust off the anti-Vietnam war slogan, "Suppose they Gave a War and Nobody Came"?

What might be different is what other rights (if any) Disney bought that the others didn't. For example, was the Bulldogs 'Marvel' jumper part of the deal? What other Marvel ideas will be introduced to the game day experience? etc.

While there is some value in this statistic, it's the equivalent of the truth without the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If my team retains the ball 25.6% of the time in its forward 50 while the best team keeps it in 36.6% but my team gets the ball into the forward 50 twice as often as the team that retains it 36.6% of the time, which team is doing better? Of course, if my team gets it in there twice as often and retains it more than anyone else but doesn't score, etc. I could go on. In other words, the value of this statistic only goes so far. Sometimes stats are useful. And sometimes their value is grossly overstated.

Can't work out whether this means: Bring a TV evangelist to Australia to work some form of miracle cure invoking his imaginary friend; or Send an Australian-based TV evangelist offshore to remove the curse that person has placed on the club. Either way, though, sounds like a plan.

Getting dangerously close to being easier to list the uninjured players.

So does that forward line.

It's just come to me. Put a roof on top of the MCG and put turf on it. Right size, right orientation, right location.

What rubbish. You really need to get that chip removed from your shoulder.

What about during the off-season when cricket is played there? Admittedly, there appear to be fewer and fewer cricket matches there each year, but while there are cricket pitches in the middle of the ground, that's going to be a problem. Mind you, I've lost so much interest in cricket, if the powers that be are all in favour of the MFC having the MCG as its training base and moving cricket permanently elsewhere, I wouldn't object.

I admit to not knowing the difference between AI and machine learning, and I don't care to. All I really want to say is that if you're located in Canberra and working in AI...please tell me you don't mind people wondering whether you're doing something to improve our system of Government.

Players are tough and want to play. Melksham strikes me as being one of the toughest (I'm not sure why I think that.) Is it possible he wouldn't show he was in pain so as to get back onto the ground?

Gameday night matches.

For anyone too young to remember Flower, these figures are solid evidence that the bulk of the era in which he played was equally miserable for Melbourne supporters as the recent years in which Jones has played. However, Flower's ethereal brilliance made attending Melbourne's games a joy. Winning was just a bonus.

You'd have to assume the Match Committee will be thinking about whether to move Hunt to the backline this week, particularly if both Lewis and Hibberd miss (and Jetta, May, Lever...). Not because they will want to do so, but we're running out of troops back there and he at least has some experience in the role. I hope they find a way to keep Hunt forward.

I recommend readers skip that and go straight to pages 100-115. They're the readable bits I mentioned. (Hard to believe it's the same author.)

For a really good analysis, have a look at pages 100-115 of this extremely readable academic thesis which discusses the politics of parklands when the National Tennis Centre (aka Melbourne Park and Rod Laver Arena) was first proposed. It's a fascinating read and hopefully has been looked at by the club. It explains how difficult it is to get any developments which impact on parkland in the area.

Agree. But the more I think about it, the more I think our expectations are based on flawed logic. While the quick play on from full back with the designated kicker running 15m before kicking looks fast, a ball actually moves more quickly when it's kicked. Ergo, if the ball is kicked out immediately from within the goal square, it increases the chances of it getting to the other end more quickly than if it is run out of the goal square first.