2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 12,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

The Great Fanzone wallpaper massacre – 2011 – The Saffers

I don’t know really know what the Sharks were thinking:

They should probably have just stopped at this one.

The Sharks Girls are the only reason people go to Kings park anyway.  That and the vertigo.  What’s the doodle behind the shark’s girls? Is it supposed to represent something?  The sea.  The strong whiff of Durban poison in the car park afterwards?  Hot air from all the chest thumping after the Curry Cup win?

The Great Fanzone wallpaper massacre – 2011 – The Aussies

Melbourne Rebels

I naively thought a rebel was someone who resists authority, but no I’ve subsequently discovered a rebel is about respect.  And Balance in terms of um sport and life.  And balance between Determination and… what? humility?  We, not me?  Really? And do the stars on the left indicate the decreasing level of importance.  leadership…A nice to have.  They should be the Melbourne Brights.  For the bright shining beacon that Mortlocks head provides for the grim low-wattage AAMI park behind him.

2011 Super 15 Calendar

Once again I have some Super 15 Calendar files for you to download and use in Outlook or Google. It only includes the rounds, the finals are left out for now.  Please feel free to download.

Google can be a bit messy, so I advise adding a new Calendar before importing the file:

Create a new calendar in Google calendar

Call it Super 15 (or Dogsoup, if you like)

Save it

In the main calendar window, click on Settings under My Calendars

Click Import Calendar

Choose the .csv file

Select the Super 15 Calendar to import into

Import

 

NB: The files below have a .xls extension and need  to be renamed to .CSV before importing!

There are 3 files, one for each timezone.  Games times are in the relevant timezone and not local:

South Africa: Super 15 schedule AU

Australia: Super 15 schedule NZ

New Zealand: Super 15 schedule SA

(remember to RENAME to .CSV files after downloading!)

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 6,800 times in 2010. That’s about 16 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 14 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 102 posts. There were 12 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 237kb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was February 11th with 93 views. The most popular post that day was Games & Predictions.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were en.wordpress.com, gothetahs.com, freesexmovie.irwanaf.com, apps.facebook.com, and en.search.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for rugby wallpaper, stormers cheerleaders, stormers, rugby wallpapers, and wallpaper rugby.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Games & Predictions December 2008

2

The Great Fanzone Wallpaper massacre – Part 2 April 2008

3

Save the Cheerleader, Save the world – Stormers February 2009

4

Save the Cheerleader, Save the world – Sharks April 2009

5

S14 Cheerleaders April 2008

Running of the Bulls

What’s happened to the Chiefs in the second half of this season.  After topping the table with 3 away wins at the start of the season, they have only won one more game.  And against the mighty defence of the Stormers, they never really had a chance.  At least next week they can notch up another win, but probably their last for the season.  And it all started so well for them.
The Stormers are continuing their winning ways as they fight for one of the top two spots.  Cant wait for the last game of the regular season as they face off against the Bulls.  Crucial match.

And the Brumbies continue to be unimpressive.  With a lineup that must have cost their sponsors a fortune, they are fumbling their way through the season and really are lucky to be as close to the four as they are.  A win this weekend over the Tahs is all important for both points and pride.  The Hurricanes kept their chances alive, although very slim, and broke a five game losing streak.  They were just too strong for the Brumbies.

To Judge or Not to Judge

So i was watching the first half of the Chiefs v Bulls, when i saw a number of infringements that the central ref missed, but it was obvious that the touch judges saw.  Nothing was done about it and the players were pleading to the touchie to throw his flag in the air.  “Here’s a rant for next week!” i thought.  Over the next couple of beers i was writing my rant in my head comparing the Northern Hemisphere’s empowerment of the touch judge versus the Southern Hemisphere’s use as someone to hold the flag and call the ball out.

But then in the second half, a Bulls try was disallowed under the post (luckily they got their bonus point try minutes later) and a 3 point penalty attempt (Donald missed it though) was given to the Chiefs for the softest of infringements ignored by the central ref and insisted upon by the touchie.  Could have been a 10 point error.  Just to compound the issue, the issue the same thing happened in the Highlanders v Force match, although no points were denied or scored as a result.

Super Huxley to the Rescue

The Highlanders just held onto the win over the Lions even though they conceded 5 tries with the boot of Dagg being the difference. Early in the game the Lions maul was making great in roads into Highlander territory, scoring their first 2 tries from this move. Yet their tactics changed and so did their fortune. The Highlanders lead by 22 points at one stage, but let the Lions drag 12 points back in the final 10 mins. Unimpressive win but I’m sure they’ll take the points.

The Brumbies scored a late try to break the close fought 23 all score line and hold on to a nervous win, putting them just out of the top 4, but with an extra game played over Reds. They are starting to hit their straps now, and should really end up above the Tahs on the log at the end of the season and will fight for the number 4 spot and a place in the finals. After only 10 mins, Fainifo injured himself, and on came Julian Huxley. He was inspirational for the team, not only giving them a lift in spirits but also throwing his body on the line to be one their their most valuable players. Looking forward to seeing more of him in the coming weeks.

Save the Cheerleaders

TVNZ has Cheerleader photos, which is vital for Friday’s

Link

Captains Run

3 captains in 2 weeks brought up their 100th super rugby game after Phil Waugh last week and Keven Mealamu and Victor Matfield this week.  True stalwarts of the game.

Blues and Brumbies was a high scoring feast after a slow first half.  Two tries in the first 4 mins of the second half really put the Brumbies on the back foot after going into the break 6 points up.  Joe Rokocoko finally found some form this year with some good takes of the high ball and 2 tries to his name.  The disappointing part for the Brumbies was their usual strong defence struggling this week.

Save the Cheerleadeer, Save the world – Reds

Score-fest rugby …

Great start to the week with the Chiefs hosting the Saders, lots of running (over 1,200m all up) and scoring, the first half was frenetic. I was thankful for the half time hooter just to catch my breath. The second half was more of an arm-wrestle as the two teams battled it out in the centre of the field. Carter surpassed Mehrtens and now only trails Mortlock for the highest scorer in Super Rugby. I’d say he’d catch the old man next week. These 50/50 games are killing me and my tipping as the Chiefs went down for the second week in a row.