Rugby League vs AFL

I noticed yesterday that the CEO of the Parramatta Eels rugby league team, Paul Osborne, dismissed the new Western Sydney AFL team as being a threat by saying,

‘I am not particularly worried by it… It’s a pretty ordinary game and we’ve got a much better product.’

He went on to say,

‘I am not too concerned as I am sure they will come back when they see how boring it is. They are quite intelligent in Western Sydney.’

Ha ha ha. Don’t make me laugh. Rugby league is only strong in NSW and Queensland whilst Aussie rules is strong not just in Melbourne but in Adelaide and Perth, both the Swans and Brisbane Lions are very strong, whilst Tasmania have been begging the AFL to grant them a franchise for a dozen years or more. The NRL has just two non-NSW or QLD teams, one from New Zealand and the Melbourne Storm. (I know technically Canberra is in the ACT but in reality it is part of NSW) The Adelaide Rams rugby league team lasted just two seasons, and although they had attendance figures that put most Sydney rugby league clubs to shame, Rupert Murdoch decided that they could not compete with the AFL’s Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power.

The Storm have been a roaring success in Melbourne but it is still just a handful of regular supporters who attend every match. An average of 12,474 spectators to their home games in 2008, whilst the Parramatta Eels attracted 16,478 spectators to their home games in 2005 (the latest figure I could find). An average of 16,466 people attended NRL games in 2009. In contrast 37,776 people attended each AFL game, with Port Adelaide having the lowest average attendances every week at 25,589. The Sydney Swans attracted an average crowd of 30,857 spectators to their games in 2009, with 2008 seeing an average crowd of 31,821 at Swans games. In 2005 an average of 37,000 people attended Swans games. In 2008 AFL had 1,784,000 MORE free-to-air TV viewers in the capital cities each week than the NRL. If Aussie rules was such a boring game and rugby league so superior wouldn’t it make sense that more people would go to or watch the games and that it would have penetrated into more states of Australia? Since around twice as many people attend Swans AFL games than those of these two NRL teams I reckon there should be a lot of concern. If Paul Osborne isn’t worried now he should be.

Sesame Street 40th Anniversary

Just thought I’d post a link to an earlier post that I made, regarding the 40th Anniversary of Sesame Street. This is where it all began back in October/November 1969.

Sydney Dust Storm Exclusive Pic

I was given this pic a month or so when Sydney had that big dust storm. It was probably funny back then.

Balloon Boy Pooh

Here’s something I should have posted a month ago when Balloon Boy was still relevant.

Emo Mickey

I have had this pic for years but only now have decided to post it. It’s from the Mickey Mouse daily comic strip from the 1930s, by Floyd Gottfredson.

Melbourne Zoo Brown Bear Pic

Here’s a pic I took when I visited Melbourne Zoo back last year.

Graham Kennedy Statue – Melbourne Docklands

This statue is one of a number at Waterfront City in Docklands that pays tribute to the great entertainers from Melbourne.

Top 10 Air Guitar Songs

To counter the big hole of suck that is the Triple M Super countdowns, I thought I would make my own vastly superior one. Here’s the results of the top 10 Air Guitar songs as voted by Triple M listeners.

Top 10 Air Guitar Songs
10 Smoke On The Water – Deep Purple
9 Alive – Pearl Jam
8 Walking By Myself – Gary Moore
7 Back In Black – AC/DC
6 Are You Gonna Go My Way – Lenny Kravitz
5 Enter Sandman – Metallica
4 Hotel California – Eagles
3 Monkey Wrench – Foo Fighters
2 Bow River – Cold Chisel
1 Kickstart My Heart – Motley Crue

Not bad, but not great. I take it ‘air-guitar songs’ is a euphemism for greatest riffs. Here is my even better list.

1. Layla – Derek & the Dominos (Duanne Allman)
2. Stay With Me – The Faces (Ron Wood)
3. Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page)
4. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) – Jimmi Hendrix
5. Smoke On The Water – Deep Purple (Ritchie Blackmore)
6. Paranoid – Black Sabbath (Tony Iommi)
7. Brown Sugar – The Rolling Stones (Mick Taylor)
8. You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC (Angus Young)
9. Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry
10. Sunshine Of Your Love – Cream (Eric Clapton)

I also have an alternative top 10 guitar songs that is more bluesy and unlikely to have been heard by any Triple M listener.

1. Shake Your Money Maker – Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green)
2. Jeff’s Blues – The Yardbirds (Jeff Beck)
3. Ice Pick – Albert Collins
4. The Sky Is Crying – Elmore James
5. I’m Tore Down – Freddie King
6. Statesboro Blues – Taj Mahal (Ry Cooder)
7. You Really Got Me – The Kinks (Dave Davies)
8. I Ain’t Superstitious – Jeff Beck Group (Jeff Beck)
9. Jumpin’ Jack Flash – The Rolling Stones (Keith Richards)
10. Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns ‘N’ Roses (Slash)

Triple M’s Super 10’s Countdown Charts

Triple M is currently running a series of Top 10 countdowns on their website and playing the results of the vote on air. The mix of songs is quite eclectic with a few tunes that don’t regularly get played on Triple M getting airplay. However these ‘Super’ countdowns automatically fail by not having Joan Jett’s I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll in the Chicks That Rock Top Ten. In fact, let’s look at the ways in which these polls fail and ask who the morons who vote for these songs are…

Top 10 Movie Soundtracks

10 Ghostbusters – Ray Parker Jnr.
9 Blaze Of Glory – Jon Bon Jovi
8 Danger Zone – Kenny Loggings
7 I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing – Aerosmith
6 Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Simple Minds
5 Everybody Needs Somebody – Blues Brothers
4 You Could Be Mine – Guns N Roses
3 Oh Yeah! – Yello
2 Good Times – INXS & Jimmy Barnes
1 Eye Of The Tiger – Survivor

Why the hell did Ghostbusters make this list? I thought that it was well established that Ray Parker Jr. blatantly ripped off Huey Lewis’ I Want A New Drug with this song. Also I’m sure there are several thousand other soundtrack songs that could go in this list ahead of Kenny friggin’ Loggins.

Top 10 Greatest Guitarists

10 Jimmy Page – Led Zeppelin
9 Eddie Van Halen – Van Halen
8 Dave Gilmour – Pink Floyd
7 Chris Cheney – Living End
6 Mark Knopfler – Dire Straits
5 All Along The Watch Tower – Jimi Hendrix
4 John Frusciante – Red Hot Chili Peppers
3 Always With Me Always with You – Joe Satriani
2 Angus Young – AC/DC
1 Slash – Guns ‘n’ Roses

FAIL. No Clapton, no Keith Richards, no Peter Green, no Jeff Beck, no Pete Townshend, yet the dude from the Living End makes the list. I wasn’t expecting Triple listeners to vote for Robert Johnson but WTF is wrong with them?

Top 10 Cover Versions

10 You Really Got Me – Van Halen
9 I Will Survive – Cake
8 Sympathy For The Devil – Guns ‘n’ Roses
7 Mrs.Robinson – Lemonheads
6 Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon – Urge Overkill
5 Smooth Criminal – Alien Ant Farm
4 Cats In The Cradle – Ugly Kid Joe
3 Suspicious Minds – Fine Young Cannibals
2 Knockin’ On Heavens Door – Guns ‘n’ Roses
1 Black Betty – Spiderbait

Umm… NO! That’s just fucked up! Especially the piece of shit that was GNR’s version of Sympathy For The Devil. Also Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door features in about half these polls, which is just wrong. That Spiderbait cover is just a direct knock-off of the Ram Jam cover version of the ol’ Lead Belly song.

Top 10 Greatest Concerts Ever

10 Pearl Jam – Melbourne Park – 1998
9 Crowded House Farewell – Opera House – 1996
8 Green Day – Telstra Dome – 2004
7 Pink Floyd – National Tennis Centre – 1988
6 INXS – Wembley Sradium – 1991
5 Pink – Rod Laver Arena – 2009
4 Midnight Oil – Sound Relief, MCG – 2009
3 U2 with BB King – National Tennis Centre -1989
2 Kiss Symphony – Telstra Dome – 2003
1 Guns N Roses – Calder Park – 1993

How many Triple M listeners attended that INXS gig at Wembley?I’m surprised that Live Aid wasn’t listed, and wasn’t there bands other than Midnight Oil at Sound Relief?

Anyway the full lists can be found here. Also I feel that I need to right this wrong by making vastly superior lists…

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