La Dee-vina Comedia

Could we be talking about the same Frank Anderson? Someone playing in the mid to late-1940s could be 91 years old now.

I'm struggling with the story, particularly as the first sentence states "...due to the [AFL's] strict rules and regulations". Since when did the AFL ever have "strict rules and regulations"? I thought the whole idea was to have a fluid set of rules which could be bent whenever it is deemed necessary by Gil, Hocking and the whole Commission.

In his inimitable style, Titus O'Reilly has commented on the AFL Rule Changes in his summary of the Worst Ideas of AFL Season 2018 (and mentioned a few other things, too).

Agree entirely with your last sentence. However, I might be basing my view on Melbourne games which were generally free-flowing. Perhaps games involving the lesser performing teams which I didn't see became unwatchable due to coaches demanding defensive tactics in an effort to minimise the size of their losses.

I assume once the free kick is paid, the 6-6-6 rule no longer applies, so team b could send its players forward. But your point is valid - team b won't have enough time to get their players forward to overcome the number disadvantage. And even though I substantially agree with your premise, I'm not prepared to say you aren't nuts.

I'm quite surprised to see a player wearing a watch when involved in body contact work. I would have thought if they're doing the body work with any genuine intensity an errant watch might do some damage to someone's face or teeth.

I think you could equally mount an argument that for every home ground advantage they get, they get a disadvantage for having to travel long distances roughly every second week. Whether the disadvantage can be quantified as more or less than the advantage would seem to be difficult to assess, although I suspect Champion Data have tried.

Or State and Federal elections. Ugh. What a thought.

I was hoping for a theory that was far more creative. Nevertheless, your sensible suggestion is noted.

Conspiracy theorists start your engines: The training tops for Neal-Bullen and KK have a huge, blank space on the back with some smaller writing which I can't decipher at the top. The training top for Steven May has iSelect in a prominent location on the back. Is this a sign of anything?

With that name I immediately think of someone aged 91 with short back and sides and loads of California Poppy.

I don't understand. How does it help the big clubs in particular? Doesn't it help everyone equally?

6 min 22 sec for 2 km is almost exactly equivalent to a 5 minute mile. Which gives us some idea how fast Roger Bannister, John Landy, etc used to motor to complete a 4 minute mile, let alone Hichaem El Guerrouj who holds the record for that distance with 3.43.13.

I assume Sydney FC knows it won't happen. So, why are they promoting the idea? I can think of two reasons: As a diversion to distract from some other issue. I think this is unlikely. Because they actually want something else and this is just the ambit claim to get the ball rolling. So what is it they might want? I'll take a punt and say that all the interstate teams are going to (a) want a guarantee of more of their games in the home and away season played on the MCG or (b) to have more home games than away games during the home and away season to reduce the amount of times they have to travel and increase it for Melbourne-based clubs, or (c) both.

I must have caught a different strain of MFCSS. I'm the eternal optimist (otherwsie known as the glass half full sort of guy) who goes to games in a positive frame of mind irrespective of when logic suggests otherwise. And even as an optimist, I still assume we'll find a way to stuff it up next year.

For the kiddies out there (meaning probably anyone under about 50) these were wonderful must-have household items. It was made of a stiff piece of paper (like a birthday card) with team names each having a small cut out section which slotted into the ladder. Every Saturday night (because all games were played Saturday afternoon) you could shift the teams around to ensure you had the most up-to-date ladder.

Mitch Clark is back and still having his name mis-spelled on Demonland?

I said he was a victim who inflicted it upon himself. I didn't say anyone had to feel sorry for him.

Bugg is a victim in the same way Gaff is. Self-inflicted, but nevertheless impacted by his own foolish action.

You are quite right. My post can only make sense if some umpires didn't notice him who now may be more likely to because their peers already have.

They can both be victims. Brayshaw is a victim of the physical impact while Gaff may be a psychological victim from feeling guilty. The fact that Gaff made the violent contact does not stop him from being a victim albeit one that was self-imposed.

I don't think it worried us when we were interested in Jake Lever. I have no problem at all with clubs talking to players during the season. It's a professional competition and the players and the clubs are both striving to make the best deals they can. Nevertheless, I don't like the NRL system where players announce during the season that they will be playing with a different team the following year, but I suspect it will inevitably happen in the AFL and we'll all just get used to it.

The biggest surprise in these odds is that Angus Brayshaw is 25/1 for the Brownlow. I only say that because as an "unknown" last year he still managed to come third. I would expect he will now be noticed even more by the umpires in 2019 and benefit from that. Of course, he will also now be subjected to more scrutiny from the opposition, but no more than the names ahead of him on the list.

Wow. I'm starting to think that you're not really Ernest Hemingway. The real Hemingway would have condensed all that down to the second last line and gone off to the bar for a drink.

Change jobs.