Feldy at the Footy

What a week it has been in the footy world. North Melbourne legend Adam Simpson will play his last game tonight, Nathan Buckley and Mick Malthouse will work as a team at Collingwood, and the for the first time in a while, the bad Port showed up for a Showdown. But all of this has been overshadowed by one name, a name that hasn’t really come up in AFL talk very often – Karmichael Hunt.

In case you’ve been living under a rock this last week, Karmichael Hunt, or Khunt as league fans seem humorously inclined to call him, is an NRL star who, at 22, has clocked up 115 games for the Brisbane Broncos, 11 games for the Australian Kangaroos, and 10 games for the Queensland Maroons. On Wednesday, Hunt signed a deal that will see him playing in the Gold Coast AFL franchise from next year, spending a year in the VFL competition with the GC to get acclimatized to the sport, before diving into AFL when the Gold Coast enters the competition in 2011.

Doubt has been raised as to whether Hunt will be able to make the transition, but many other players in the AFL have defected from rugby league to Australian rules in the past, just not a high-profile as Hunt. These players include St. Kilda’s Sam Gilbert and Sydney’s Kieren Jack, while the Bullogs’ Tom Williams was a Union defect. So it’s definitely possible for one to make the switch between football codes.

While rugby league and rugby union seems worlds apart from the sport of Australian rules football, it’s not really that much of a leap. AFL players such as former Magpie/Roo Saverio Rocca and former Cat Ben Graham have both made an equally unlikely code change – from Aussie Rules to American Football, with talks of fellow AFL players Nick Davis, Anthony Rocca and even, by some commentators, Barry Hall (though he seems more suited to boxing) joining them in America. American football is closer to the rugby codes than it is to AFL in my opinion, and I feel that if AFL players can make that transition, there’s no reason why the idea can’t be reversed and players can make the change from a sport such as rugby league, to a sport such as AFL.

Also, if you looks at Sydney’s Mike Pyke, a former Canada international Rugby Union player, who has been signed to the Swans since last year, he has proven that it is possible to move to an AFL level of play after spending time at a Rugby code, although he hasn’t really been anything to write home about as of yet.

So, it’s definitely possible for Karmichael Hunt to make it in the AFL. Whether he does or not, is another question. Only time will answer that one.

Can Karmichael Hunt successfully make the switch from the NRL to the AFL?

Feldy’s Hoops Talk

Well, again a quiet week in the world of basketball, being the off-season and all. So, I’ve decided to do a talk about a recent trade, the one between the New Orleans Hornets and the Charlotte Bobcats in the NBA, that saw Tyson Chandler head to the Queen City in exchange for former Rookie of the Year Emeka Okafor.

It is reasonably unclear to me, as it is to most basketball fans probably, as to which team has ultimately won out with this trade. Skill-wise, there is very little to separate these two big men. Both were highly touted when they joined the league, and to begin with, the Orlando Magic were criticized by many for selecting superstar Dwight Howard over Okafor. But both have failed to reach the superstar heights they were predicted to by the media at the start of their careers.

Monetarily, Charlotte wins this trade hands down. Okafor is paid a tonne more than Chandler is at the moment, and the Hornets have clearly shown that they aren’t afraid to dish out the money, even with the economic climate in the state that it is. But, back in 08, when the Hornets made a shock run to the Western Conference Semis where they were defeated by the San Antonio Spurs, Chandler was a key piece in that, albeit overshadowed by Chris Paul and David West. Chandler has experienced what it’s like to be on a winning team, and that experience is something the long suffering Bobcats desperately needed. On that basic, I think the Bobcats win this trade.

And with NBA legend Michael Jordan ultimately calling the shots at Charlotte, that’s hardly a surprise

Which of these big men is better to have on your team?

Today’s A Current Affairs Tonight with TheFeldster

If one thing is certain in the world, it’s that Kyle Sandilands is a tosser. It’s a sentiment which is no longer in the realms of opinion, but simply a fact nowadays. And, if you’ve read the news recently, you’d notice that Kyle’s back in the news again, with his co-host Jackie O, due to a controversy involving their lie detector segment on the Kyle and Jackie O radio show.

If you haven’t heard the story, here’s a run-down: A mother brought her daughter into the Kyle and Jackie O show to strap her 14 year old daughter to a lie detector and ask about her sex-life. Despite the 14 year old telling Kyle specifically that she didn’t want to go through with the segment, the show went ahead. When her mother started, live on-air, to question her daughter, her daughter eventually broke down, and admitted that she’d been raped 2 years ago. It was later revealed that the mother knew this all along. Kyle’s reaction to the admission was “Is that the only experience you’ve had?”, as if further questioning this girl about her sex-life was actually going to help matters.

Now, the big wigs at the radio station have defended Kyle and Jackie O from any wrong-doing, claiming that they couldn’t have known what was going on. But I beg to differ. Surely anyone with a brain can see that strapping people to lie detectors and quizzing them about their personal life live on air is gonna cause trouble sooner rather than later. Another problem I have is the way Kyle, Jackie O and the radio station handled it. Personally, if I was a radio presenter, as soon as rape was mentioned, I would go straight to a lengthy commercial break to try and change the subject quickly, NOT go on to ask the rape victim if they’ve had any other sexual encounters. Seriously, Kyle, rape is not an object to try and gain rating out of. It’s sickening.

The apology Kyle and Jackie O came out with the next day was pretty weak as well, with them apologizing, but then saying that they didn’t understand what they were apologizing for, and both choosing the same adjective to describe the revelation – not disgusting, not appalling, not shameful – but weird. Is that the best they could do?

However, in the end, the real villain of the story is the mother who, knowing her daughter was a rape victim, then made her announce it on radio. Someone should lock that woman up and throw away the goddamned key.

Kyle and Jackie O should have some reprimand from the weeks controversy

FELDY LOSES IT!!!!!!!!

With all this talk about Kyle and Jackie O’s show going on, what really pisses me off is the fact that Kyle and Jackie O are allowed to stay on the bloody air, while a group of comedians who made a harmless skit about the Make A Wish foundation – a skit that ultimately hurt no-one, and only insulted over-reactive parents of sick children – was responsible for a show being taken off air for a 2 week period, and probably ended any chance of the same show returning for a new series in the future. Yes, for those who haven’t realized, I’m talking about the Chaser’s War On Everything, one of Australia’s finest comedy programs that aired for the last time on Wednesday night.

Seriously, the people who have a go at the Chaser for their stunts are purely ignorant! If you think about the Make A Wish Foundation skit, has anyone heard of an actual sick child complaining about that skit, or have you, like me, only heard of the parents of these kids? The thing about kids with serious diseases, is they have a strange tendency to find the funny side in everything, and it’s clear that the Chaser skit had a funny side to it.

Other skits of the Chaser have raised controversy and calls to axe the show, but have any really been that serious? The most famous of these skits involved two cast members and an ABC crew infiltrating Sydney’s famous APEC security in 2007 in a Canadian motorcade with Chaser member Chas Liccardellio disguised cunningly as Osama Bin Laden. People at the time claimed the Chaser had made Australia look foolish on the world stage, and that they were stupid. But the Chaser admitted that even they were surprised their motorcade got so far, for 3 reasons:

1. Canada wasn’t even a member of APEC, so a Canadian motorcade was not even meant to be cleared
2. The motorcade’s “security” were all holding video camera’s to film the stunt.
3. The security passes that they showed numerous guards had the word “Joke” written on it in large letters.

As you can see, that was the securities fault it got that far, but the Chaser copped the blame in the end.

Another skit they got in trouble for was the song known as the “Eulogy Song”, a song describing society’s habit of overrating celebrities after they’d passed on, and reminded people of some of the low parts of deceased celebrities careers. They were criticized as expected, but everything they said was true*.

So, in the end, did the Chaser deserve the shit they’ve got over the years, while Kyle and Jackie O get off scot-free when forcing a girl to reveal she’d been raped on a radio show? I don’t think so, and that really pisses me off!

*I’m not sure about the Princess Di was a slut claim however, don’t know enough about that, and the claim that John Lennon’s songs “were never quite as good as Paul’s” is a matter of opinion

The Chaser aren't all that bad. Seen here, they have reconciled with recurring targets such as Tracy Grimshaw, John Howard, the APEC Security, and a random old lady.

Nostalgia
A new segment, replacing “It Could Only Happen To Me…” this week. Just a bit to let me reflect on my childhood a bit

Well, you may have heard the news in the last week. For those who are upset by the state of Aussie comedy, maybe this is the remedy – one of Australia’s most beloved variety shows, notable for including an ostrich with all the one-liners, a psychotic duck and a mop wearing a baseball cap, is back… yes, people, the show which as a kid I worshiped, Hey Hey It’s Saturday, is returning to Australia’s screens, with Daryl Somers, Red Symons, Molly Meldrum, Wilbur Wilde, Plucka Duck, Dickie Knee and maybe even Ossie Ostrich all returning for the specials.

I still have my old Plucka Duck plush toy somewhere, and I am greatly looking forward to these specials. Will the crew be able to reproduce the silliness they were known for? Who knows? But hopefully they can, and it will definitely be a trip down memory lane for me and many more around the world.

He's not a chicken or a cow.....

Album Review

Album: …Something To Be
Artist: Rob Thomas
Year: 2005

With Rob Thomas soon to tour Australia, I thought I'd do one of his albums this week.

I was first made aware of Rob Thomas and his work 4 years ago when this album was released. While it may not be the most remarkable of all albums, I instantly, for some reason, fell in love with the song This Is How A Heartbreaks. While that is not my favourite on the album any more, it is still a class above the other mainstream hits you hear on the radio.

The album itself has a bit of everything – radio’s tend to overplay the song Lonely No More however, probably because of it’s pop feel to it. For me, highlights include the great guitar rhythms on When The Heartache Ends (best on the album) and Problem Girl, to the funky feel of Falling To Pieces, to the soft piano ballad – a mixture between Billy Joel-style and Paul McCartney (Let It Be era) style – found in Now Comes The Night. Also notable is the guitar work by John Mayer in the song [/b]Streetcorner Symphony[/b].

Has a lot of rubbish in the album, but there are some definite gems in the debut solo effort of Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas.

Overall rating: C+

"...Something To Be" is the debut solo album by Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas

Random Beatles Fact

Mimi Smith, the aunt and guardian of John Winston Lennon, used to always tell her nephew “Music’s all well and good John, but you’ll never make a living out of it”. After the release of Sgt. Pepper’s, John had those words engraved into a silver plate and mailed to his aunt.

Mimi Smith was adamant that her nephew make something of himself, instead of always worrying about music

As always, if you wish to comment on any of the topics discussed here, feel free to comment below