katysam ([personal profile] katysam) wrote2008-08-26 11:37 pm

Hey, Tuesday! Pig 'n a Poke!

Kubrick, one of the goldfish I was fish sitting died this morning. I like to think he's swimming happily in the big fish pond in the sky. The other fish appear to be unaffected by his passing.

***

Rainbow the cat is sitting next to me as I type this. She's sitting on the table (naughty cat!), on a map of North America. Her butt is covering Southern California and Arizona, her body is covering parts of New Mexico, Texas and Mexico, and her tail is some where around the Grand Canyon. Located to the left of the fan on the laptop, which is blowing out warm air, it's the warmest part of the map. She's not a silly cat.

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This part of the post isn't going to mean a whole lot to about 95% of you who read this but I was a bit excited this evening when I caught the train home from work with Billy Slater! In reality it was only a picture of Billy Slater but there he was, his cheeky face smiling down from the wall of the train above my head. Go Storm!



Billy Slater is just one of the superstars of Melbourne's own, Melbourne Storm Rugby League Club.

Seeing an ad for a footy game on a train might not seem like a big deal but Melbourne Storm don't get any a lot promotion about town so I always get a bit of thrill seeing things like this. It's probably similar to the feeling you get seeing Supernatural promoted anywhere ;)


Billy SlaterCameron SmithCooper CronkDallas Johnson


Founded in 1997, and playing it's first game in 1998, Melbourne Storm is only a young club but it is an extremely successful club. A handful of established and well known players plus a whole bunch of misfits not not wanted by any other club were brought together in a non-rugby league town and went on to finish in third place in their first year. The following year, 1999, they won their first Premiership. Since their inception Storm have only missed the finals once (2001) and this year will be no exception. With only two weeks of the 2008 season left the Storm boys are sitting pretty at the #1 spot on the ladder. If we win the next two games we are guaranteed to finish first (Minor Premiers) for the third year in row. Last year we went on to win the Grand Final (Premiership) for the second time.

Despite being such a successful team on the field Melbourne Storm still struggle to attract a crowd. Why? Because historically Rugby League has been confined to the east coast of Australia (New South Wales & Queensland) whereas in all other states (Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory, Tasmania and Western Australia) Australian Rules Football (AFL) is the most popular sport. There is so much rivalry between the two codes it would be kind of funny if it wasn't so detrimental to rugby league. Why they can't just co-exist in peace, is beyond me. Also, Melbourne Storm, being based in Victoria, are pretty much the outsiders even though the competition they play in is called the NATIONAL Rugby League. (There is also a team from New Zealand but that's okay because depending on which side of the Tasman Sea you live on, either New Zealand is the 8th Australian state or Australia is the West Island ;)

Combine these two factors and it results in us being drowned out by AFL coverage and not receiving any help from the NRL in promoting the game in Victoria...

Hence, the excitement of seeing anything promoting Storm :D

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[identity profile] bobbinrob.livejournal.com 2008-08-26 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
poor poor Kubrick :(
aww thats awesome, go Storm :D

[identity profile] katysam.livejournal.com 2008-08-27 11:31 am (UTC)(link)
I got some strange looks from other passengers as I was taking a photo of the mini poster. Sadly, they were probably all thinking, 'Who or what are Storm?'. ;)