Sport

Yesterday I spent the morning writing blog posts…apparently you can’t hunt and blog at the same time…in the afternoon I went back to the vineyard at Otane I was at yesterday and spent the afternoon shooting waxeyes and starlings again.

Before that I picked up some supplies in Hastings. As I was walking down the street a guy introduced himself to me…turns out he is an avid reader…he offered to drop me off to where I was heading about 2 km down the road. It is always nice to meet up with readers, fans and the lurkers.

With the birding at the vineyard, I’ve tried a few techniques from sneaking along and popping up to striding down the middle of the vines. Sneaking is necessary against starlings…but the waits are long…once you bomb them up they tale 20 minutes to come back…and they watch you.

By far the most effective was striding down the middle of the vines, chatting loudly. We were about 6 rows apart and moved the length. This makes the birds jump and break above the vines and then we can bomb them up. It was much more productive.

Towards evening we got out the clay thrower and shot through a box of clays. I have fired about 300 rounds through my Beretta today with out a single jam or fault. I am very happy, apart from my shoulder which is a bit tender and red.

Today I am going to Putorino overnight to hunt some Reds. I called the landowner and they confirm that they are roaring nicely.

ᔥ Sydney Morning Herald

It seems that two sporting shibboleths have been slain. Cold Water Immersion and Stretching:

Dr Shane Brun, an associate professor of musculoskeletal and sports medicine at James Cook University: ”There’s not a lot of evidence so far that cold water immersion does a lot for physical benefits of people using it.” And even then he was only just warming up!

Dr Brun again: ”The physical evidence suggests stretching does not do much to help the body recover … “

My idea of warming up is a couple of mags down range to take the chill off.

ᔥ Sydney Morning Herald

Apparently shearing should be a commonwealth sport…why stop there, why not get it into the Olympics. Perhaps Colin King can be enlisted to promote the sport world wide along Parekura Horomia and then parliament have get some use out of the pair of them:

Federated Farmers of New Zealand spokeswoman Jeanette Maxwell says shearing’s time has come: ”Surely, time has come to elevate shearing’s sporting status to the ultimate world stage? One way would be to make shearing a demonstration sport at a Commonwealth Games, if not the Olympics itself … top shearers are athletes who take it to another level.” Cue the boys up the back: “Shearing? Shearing? I’m not shearing my sheep with anyone!”

As someone who gets to see most of the course either side of the fairway for my green fees I can appreciate a great shot when I see one. My usual appraoch to the green is from another fairway.

Watch as Martin Kaymer skips his ball across the water at Augusta Masters 2012:

ᔥ Herald Sun

An Australian woman has found out that the defence to a charge of defamation is the truth, and it took a jury just 27 minutes to find that talkshow host Steve Price didn’t defame her when he called her a slut:

SINCE when has it been acceptable to call a woman a “slut” on radio?

Former Melbourne Talk Radio host Steve Price has just been cleared of defaming Sydney woman Charmyne Palavi on Sydney station 2UE.

Palavi, known as the NRL Cougar, sought damages after Price called her a slut in 2009.

It was in the wake of an ABC TV Four Corners program, which Palavi used to describe her sexual escapades with professional League players.

Last week a jury took only 27 minutes to dismiss Palavi’s case, causing Price to crow that he had been “vindicated”.

But while Price might have won the battle, he’s lost the war with women.

For a start, why is Palavi singled as a “slut” rather than the men she had sex with?

As Palavi wrote on news.com.au, even after the show aired, players kept contacting her.

“It’s like a drug to them. They want to go where their teammates have been before them,” she said.

ᔥ Stuff.co.nz

12 year old has done what no other skateboarder has achieved…the 1080:

It’s the manouevre that has eluded the world’s best skateboarders – until now.

American 12-year-old Tom Schaar has become the first boarder to pull off the 1080 – a stunt that involves three complete rotations while airborne.

Tom landed the trick while skating the MegaRamp at Woodward West action sports camp in Tehachapi, California last week, and video of his efforts is now making waves on YouTube.

“It was the hardest trick I’ve ever done, but it was easier than I thought,” Tom told ESPN.

His dad, Nick, said he landed it on only his fifth attempt.

“He warmed up with 10 gay twists [a fakie to forward mute-grab 360], half a dozen 720s, and I think he threw a 900 in there. Then he did the 1080 on his fifth try. Then he went back and did it again the next day,” he told ESPN.

ᔥ NewstalkZB

The Maritime Union has had another PR disaster. They almost wrecked the fun of supporters of the Breakers.

Luckily there are some responsible cargo handlers in the rest of the country.

 A shipment of the bangers destined for the Breakers’ virtually sold out basketball game at Vector Arena on Friday night has been held up in Wellington thanks to the Auckland port dispute.

The Breakers play the Townsville Crocs at Vector Arena on Friday night in the first of the ANBL finals.

But KiwiRail has pulled out the stops to get them on a train today in time for the game and they are now on their way to Auckland.

Breakers media manager Andrew Dewhurst says it’s good to know the team has fans in Wellington, who are doing their best to see the thunder sticks are hauled up the line today.

He says if the container didn’t get loaded on to that train today, the thunder sticks wouldn’t arrive in Auckland in time.

“Home advantage, we’ve got 9,500 people coming but it’s a bit of a disaster, we’ve had to put out not an SOS but and SOTS, save our thunder sticks.”

Mr Dewhurst says it’s very unfortunate the thunder sticks have been caught up in industrial action.

ᔥ American Hunter

A CEO has to apologise for pissing off the hunting lobby.

You must have been in a deep, Rip Van Winkle-esque sleep if you haven’t heard the news—several photographs taken while Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were on African safari two years ago have started a media frenzy, highlighting the depth of divide between hunters and non-hunters.

After viewing the photos, Marcus Lemonis, CEO of Camping World—an RV and camping supply company and former advertiser of Donald Trump’s popular television show “Celebrity Apprentice”—went on record to say he was “disgusted” by the photographs. Other reports claimed the company would be pulling its sponsorship from the show.

Enter responsible hunters everywhere, expressing their outrage that a company that claims to “celebrate and honor all traditions of the outdoors” suddenly appeared to be anti-hunting.

On March 21, after consulting with representatives of the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA) as well as Ted Nugent, Lemonis, a non-hunter, reached out via a web press conference with members of the outdoor media to rectify his statements.
“I am deeply, deeply apologetic for any offensive behavior anyone believes I took part in,” said Lemonis. “My reaction came from a lack of education, from a lack of understanding and in no way was directed toward anyone in the hunting community … I am 100 percent in favor of legal hunting and fishing.”

Cutesy video of a girl talking herself into doing her first ski jump, with a little bit of help from her instructor.