Semi Finals

[Perm]

Someone please start a thread with voting options on who is the biggest ****wit in the Australian team. I would like to compare results with my official rankings

You're back Good to see, the Watson love has been out of control after that knock he played against us, we need you to put those damn Aussies back in their place.

[pasag]

You're back Good to see, the Watson love has been out of control after that knock he played against us, we need you to put those damn Aussies back in their place.

Says the one with an Aussie in his avatar

[Perm]

if you were a neutral then you would realise that some of the australian players are ****wits.

don't know if that would affect your view...

Mind you, if we weren't Kiwi's then we'd probably hate Bond because he's so good and lay into Vettori, Oram, McMillan and McCullum for their ****ty records. It's natural to dislike your opposition, especially Australia vs New Zealand.

[Fiery]

Hahaha, Fiery's back. Catch Wattos innings by any chance? Brilliant hey.

Yeah not bad. He'll have to play a few more of those though. One swallow doesn't make a summer

[Blaze]

Mind you, if we weren't Kiwi's then we'd probably hate Bond because he's so good and lay into Vettori, Oram, McMillan and McCullum for their ****ty records. It's natural to dislike your opposition, especially Australia vs New Zealand.

hmm don't really see your point. There are no reasons that you mention there for a neutral to hate NZ (by the way I couldn't give a **** who neutrals support) , whereas people all over the world hate Australia becasue -

a) they win all the time
and b) they have a number of players who are disliked by a lot of the cricketing world.

[pasag]

Yeah not bad. He'll have to play a few more of those though. One swallow doesn't make a summer

Indeed.

[pasag]

hmm don't really see your point. There are no reasons that you mention there for a neutral to hate NZ (by the way I couldn't give a **** who neutrals support) , whereas people all over the world hate Australia becasue -

a) they win all the time
and b) they have a number of players who are disliked by a lot of the cricketing world.

b) is because of a) IMO. An opinion I've held for quite a while as well. Anyways, probably the wrong thread for this.

[shehanwije]

Yeah I agree with that. The best side should always win. It always annoys me a little when the best side of the year doesn't win the premiership. Obviously that's the way sports and in particular knock-out scenarios work so that's why I always support the better side in situations like this and I'm not much of a fan of the whole 'underdog' concept.

This sort of comment has its downsides and is not entirely valid.

Take for example the 1996 World Cup. Everyone would agree that Aus was the best team leading upto the final. SL caused probably the biggest upset in world cricket at the time by winning the final, and that too relatively easily.

Everyone thought it was a flash in the pan and that Aus just had a bad day (if you were an Aus fan)

A few weeks after the final, Steve Waugh even went onto say in an interview that "Its a pity that we lost to SL...if we had played them 10 times, we would have won 9 times" - Bert Newton show, Channel 9.

What happened next? Aus toured SL a few months later for the Singer Cup. They lost to SL in the preliminary game in a close contest. Then the Lankans walloped Aus in the Singer Cup Final. Suddenly, it was 3 played, 3 lost to the so called top dog.

Now go back to Pasag's original comment. Perhaps you may think a bit differently.

The champions is the winner of the final - no ifs and buts....the whole campaign to win a cup must be geared towards this goal. Not just maintaining for a the longest period of time.

[Perm]

hmm don't really see your point. There are no reasons that you mention there for a neutral to hate NZ (by the way I couldn't give a **** who neutrals support) , whereas people all over the world hate Australia becasue -

a) they win all the time
and b) they have a number of players who are disliked by a lot of the cricketing world.

Ponting, Lee and Watson are the only two that I can think of straight away. Of course there will always be the McGrath and Warne haters because they are so good, but apart from that I would think that most of the neutrals like a lot of the Australian players. I guess it comes down to whether you admire them for winning, like I do, or get pissed off with them because they win all the time, like you do.

[Fiery]

Indeed.

yeah, I noticed he's been playing for his average too

[Perm]

yeah, I noticed he's been playing for his average too

Gotta love it.

[Blaze]

b) is because of a) IMO. An opinion I've held for quite a while as well. Anyways, probably the wrong thread for this.

in some cases probably. Definitely doesn't cover the whole issue though.

[pasag]

This sort of comment has its downsides and is not entirely valid.

Take for example the 1996 World Cup. Everyone would agree that Aus was the best team leading upto the final. SL caused probably the biggest upset in world cricket at the time by winning the final, and that too relatively easily.

Everyone thought it was a flash in the pan and that Aus just had a bad day (if you were an Aus fan)

A few weeks after the final, Steve Waugh even went onto say in an interview that "Its a pity that we lost to SL...if we had played them 10 times, we would have won 9 times" - Bert Newton show, Channel 9.

What happened next? Aus toured SL a few months later for the Singer Cup. They lost to SL in the preliminary game in a close contest. Then the Lankans walloped Aus in the Singer Cup Final. Suddenly, it was 3 played, 3 lost to the so called top dog.

Now go back to Pasag's original comment. Perhaps you may think a bit differently.

The champions is the winner of the final - no ifs and buts....the whole campaign to win a cup must be geared towards this goal. Not just maintaining for a the longest period of time.

Right. I'm not strongly disagreeing with any of that really and I would never begrudge a side that won, say Sri Lanka, New Zealand or South Africa in this World Cup. However, in general as a sports follower, I don't like supporting the underdog in finals situations and I rather the side that has dominated throughout the year and has clearly been the best win it. That's just me however. When my side Carlton got into the 99 Grand Final, they didn't deserve to be there, they fluked their way in and where no way near the second best side in the comp. More like 6th best and when they lost the Grand Final convincingly I wasn't even that upset because we didn't deserve to win (if we did, like 93 I'd be inconsolable).

There is however an argument against this that you could say that whoever wins in finals situations, under that pressure is infact the better side and deserves to win, no matter what happened during the year. But that's not a huge (deciding) factor imo.

[pasag]

yeah, I noticed he's been playing for his average too

[Blaze]

I guess it comes down to whether you admire them for winning, like I do, or get pissed off with them because they win all the time, like you do.

Well aren't you just such a great person...