Look, I know I’ve got a number of LJ friends who don’t care very much for sport.  But I adore it.  I was never very good at cricket or football at school, but thankfully that was never a problem with my school mates.  So my love for all things sport was never tainted by my childhood.

And, I’ve also got huge national pride.  I just love watching Aussie’s compete and when it comes to the Olympics – winning gold.  And why not.  Yeah jingoism is a terrible thing, but pride and enjoyment in my countries performance really gives me a pep up.  It just does.

On that note, tonight was an interesting night.

My dear Navy Blues (the Carlton Football club) were down by 32 points at three quarter time to the Brisbane Lions.  They kicked 6 goals to 1 behind in the last quarter to win the match by a goal.  They haven’t beaten the Lion in 7 or so years.  And yet… the boys showed heart and self belief and did the job.  They can’t make the finals (well, they can, but it’s highly unlikely) but at they’ve won 10 games this year (out of 21) compared to 4 games last year.

And then, when I got home from watching the footy with my Dad (and by the way, that’s another reason why I love sport, it gives me an opportunity to bond with my Dad.  We’ve started going to the footy together, and while his swearing and shouting has nearly had him murdered by other Carlton supporters, it’s actually been quite allot of fun)….  Anyway, when I got home, I saw Matthew Mitcham, the Australian diver, do the impossible and beat the Chinese at diving.  He needed 108 points to win the gold on his last dive.  100 points is considered a brilliant dive.  He came up with 112 points.  He was crying with joy when he came out of the water, and I have to be honest I nearly wept a bit as well.  Jules and I were jumping and shouting and being very nationalistic and rowdy.  And it was great.

But then I watched the Aussie woman play the US in the basketball.  And that’s when I started to get angry.  The US beat us fair and square by about 27 points.  In fact they dominated most of the game.  The Aussie girls looks outclassed, not being able to make their baskets.  But what really shat me were the commentators.  National Pride is one thing, but being all apologetic and making excuses for poor performances is another.  And I hate it when your 20 points down with five minutes to go and the commentators are still pretending that we might win.  In other words, I hate being treated like an idiot.  But then, Channel 7’s coverage of these Olympics have been shit house to the extreme… so I shouldn’t really be surprised.

Despite the Opals losing, it was still a great sports night.  I’m still coming down from the buzz of Carlton’s amazing come from behind win…