Everything posted by Diamond_Jim
-
As many have said I can reluctantly live with the game in the Centre but Darwin has to go. In fact I could learn to like the game in Alice... This year demonstrated that with work it can be made into a showcase game. -
It will be interesting to see how the Russians behave at the World Cup. One half of the tickets were set aside for them. Their past history in this area has not been good but I suspect they have been well and truly told what is expected of them. It could be a watershed event for them.
-
A Night at the Bolshoi... When in Moscow one does what the Muscovites do. The Bolshoi ballet is certainly no longer the "people's ballet" with tickets at a few roubles but it was worth the money to see this wonderful company. I'm no follower of ballet so there was a lot of googling beforehand to work out what was going to happen.Even with my prior research I nearly left before it finished.How you may ask.... well after about two hours or more we got to a spot where the whole cast took a bow etc with everyone clapping etc as they do at the end of a show. Strange I thought they haven't done the "Shade dance" which this ballet is famous for. Off to pick up my backpack from the cloak room and the Russian matron said, "Not Finished". Back I went and watched the last act. It seems that as many of the dancers don't appear in the final act those not needed take their bow mid show and go home !! The ballet was called La Bayadere one which the Bolshoi made famous and the spectacle of the final act as the corps de ballet descends from shade into light is stunning. To ballet aficionados it rivals swan lake as one of "the" scenes in ballet. While the dancing was great , the theatre itself is a star. Completely renovated and re-opened in recent years it looks like when it was visited by the czars. A great night and worth the obscene price. And yes .. it went for three and a half hours!!! Arrived in Kazan today ...more on this city almost bordering Asia tomorrow.....( The Aussie training camp is behind a very high wall so no free views.)
-
I don't think the average westerner has any idea of the racism levels practised in Asia for example. As an aside I was at the Bolshoi ballet last night in Moscow (drop over to the soccer thread .. I will post a ballet report later). Anyway the ballet was set in Moghul India. It featured a troupe of 10-12 year olds in "brown face". Obviously no problem with that kind of thing in Russia.
-
Sure did ... and very good it was. My favourite however was at the Central market where they sold little dishes like Tapas and ice cold draught beer. The fresh sardines were delightful. In Moscow the Doner Kebabs are an artform and are everywhere.
-
Just a little more: Russia as you all know is an enormous country. Luckily the games are being played in the western third of the country but that area is probably at least one half the size of Australia. The days are long. In Moscow it's sunrise at around 3:30 am and sunset somewhere after 9pm. The night games start at 9pm local time presumably to go into Europe at prime time of 8pm. There are no real traditional Russian bars. There used to be vodka joints but they have been largely replaced by sports bars and themed bars .. Irish, Bavarian Belgian .. you name it. There are very nice tea shops that sell beer and food at quite reasonable prices.
-
Greetings from an overcast Moscow where the temperature is a a balmy 14 degrees or so. The weather next week is supposed to improve to low twenties which should be pleasant. Today, June 12 is Russia Day. It's a public holiday where people look for something to do but there's not much on. (Think Moomba). The day commemorates the announcement of Russia as a country or put another way the end of the Soviet Union. When you think about it that way you can understand why most don't think of it as a great day of celebration. The traditional May day is way bigger. Moscow is a very impressive city and I can thoroughly recommend some time here. With the devaluation of the rouble it's not too expensive although my ticket for the Bolshoi ballet tonight was serious money. Security is everywhere but the people and police are very pleasant. Nowhere near like the officious stereotype. Food is good but the local food is way outnumbered by just about every franchise you can think of. KFC and McDonalds have pride of place at the entry to Red Square !! Tomorrow I head to Kazan the capital of Tatarstan and my base for the next three weeks.
-
Ten games left ...probably 3 definite wins.... Saints , Bulldogs and Suns Freo in Darwin is now much bigger than it would have been had we played them in Melbourne. So that is 12 assuming we don't have an off day. None of the other games are gimmes by a long shot especially if GWS starts turning it on again. Can you see where I'm going with this thought process..............
-
Wiseblood put that forward as the reason why Brayshaw played a low possession game. I listened to the match so please correct us if this was wrong.
-
burning a key mover on a tagging role is not a percentage play ...use another if you want to do that. Example .. play Stretch and replace Hannan Goodwin rarely wins the tactical battles against the better teams it seems
-
Interesting coaching move to put your most recently prolific ball getter in a tagging role. Needs to be analysed a little more methinks
-
no real reason to think we will be better next year. The players are all in the zone where they should deliver. The disappointing thing is that we lost this game twice. Once in the first quarter and then we fight our way back in the early second quarter only to let it slip away again. The only positive is that it gave the players some experience of playing in front of a monster crowd ..something we do rarely
-
Nah.. he's too good for Casey but he does need some work. A few quarters in the mid field or down back might wake him up. Really not sure but that's what we pay the coaching staff to work out.
-
now that is the question...
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
