by Nick Gibson


Well the Cairns Taipans have finally been beaten in their own gym this season and it took a 21 point comeback and a lot of spite to do it.

The top of the table NZ Breakers showed why they lead the league by never giving up and upsetting the hosts in more ways than one.

It was a great game to watch and turned out to be a fiery clash that got away from the Taipans who just couldn’t put the visitors away down the stretch - and the umpires certainly didn’t help!

Now before I start umpire bashing I do believe they are allowed to make mistakes, but it’s a real shame when consistency lacks and the result is determined by a bad decision.

Centre Ian Crosswhite, who was winning his tussle against the opposing centre, was ejected for his second unsportsmanlike foul and unfortunately for the Snakes it was a sinking ship from then on.

From where I was sitting it was certainly a foul but there was no malice at all involved. I have no idea which game that umpy was watching and hope he gets reviewed for a bad performance.

There were scuffles during the game and heated words by the coaches at the end so Cairns may have found a new rivalry for the future.
 
As quickly as the streak was snapped the Aussie Open has also been and gone again for another year and well done to Kim Clijsters and Novak Djokovic.

Princess Fiona and the ‘Joker’ were the cream this year and both were paying about $8 at the start.

The women’s final was very entertaining but I bet I wasn’t alone wishing the Joker was playing Federer or Nadal. Andy Murray is stressful to watch and on several occasions I felt like reaching for some razor blades and ending it all!

For the love of god smile mate; your ugly and Irish (or Scottish, same thing) but you’ve got heaps of dough and it can’t be that bad! He certainly lacks the grace of other top players and maybe his Mum shouldn’t tour with him as it’s like he’s too scared to lose ‘cause Mummy’s gonna drag him home by the ear lobe and open up a can of woop ass!

Let’s hope some Aussies can make into the second week next year....
 
Bring on the footy baby!