2007 in review

We appear to have come to the end of another year. As is the tradition at this time of year, I shall now provide my own summary of my favoured events, in chronological order.

January: 5-0

Revenge was sweet, as Australia scored an Ashes whitewash for the first time in 86 years or so. The greatest bowler in the history of the universe, Glenn McGrath, retired from the game in style, and the poms were sent home with nothing. Except for the Ashes, that is. They’re such bad sports that they won’t even let us keep the trophy.

January: Tool

This was the second time I have seen Tool. Awesome.

July: Cadel Evans

In the closest ever top three finish, Cadel Evans became the greatest ever Australian cyclist, finishing just 23 seconds away from the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. This is despite having one of the weaker support teams. Next year for sure!

August: The Farm

This was the seventh (?) trip to the farm, and with the biggest fire yet, it was certainly one of the best. Highlights include drinking, cooking dead animals, and lighting stuff on fire. Oh, and my successful comeback to the exciting sport of postie bike riding. This time, without the crashing into tree part.

September: The Combat Wombats

For the first time since 2005, we put together a Futsal team. Despite our final position on the table (10 games, 0 wins, 0 draws) we had a fantastic season and I’m confident that we can only go up in 2008.

November: Dani Ecuyer Dummy Spit

It was a bumpy road for Dani Ecuyer. Running for the seat of Wentworth against her ex-boyfriend George Newhouse, and sitting MP Malcolm Turnbull, she caused a bit of a stir in the media.

A satirical piece on this site was the final straw for Dani, who believed that Miranda Devine was really calling her a left-wing harlot. This response was posted on votedani.com:

Miranda Devine, Caroline Overington and Climate Change

Well well well, it seems the sisterhood only works in theory. It’s official I am having a real impact on the incumbents and I have now been called a ‘harlot’ by Miranda Devine.’ So I work on Climate Change and the pulp mill. Two super hot issues in election 2007, especially in the Environment Minister, Mr Turnbull’s electorate. Now I am a ’stiletto thumping femme fatale’ and a harlot to boot. Amused, well I can assure you I am not amused in the slightest. I am running on real issues and have two websites to prove it, not to mention a serious career in investment banking.

And it went on… Of course, this post was removed from her site shortly afterwards. Obviously a friend let her in on the joke.

Thank you Dani, for brightening up an otherwise grey campaign.

November: Maxine’s victory

I would like to say that the Labor victory in November was one of the highlights of the year. However, as I believe that Kevin Rudd is the spawn of the devil, I shall only pause to commemorate Maxine McKew’s victory over a populist PM who had it coming for a long time.

My grandmother once recounted how she had believed that “Honest John”, as he was known back in the 90s, was going to be great for the country, and we were going to have sunshine and roses every day.

Eleven years later, even the staunchest Liberal voter would have to admit that Johnny had lost his sheen long ago, and that the lies had always been justified by the electorate’s hip pocket. Thankfully, no longer will this be the case.

December: The Wedding

Yes, on December the 15th I married my bride, Sarah. This signalled the end of the first stage of my life, as I settled down and became a responsible member of society.

That’s what I told Sarah, anyway.

To the pub!

Well, that about sums up all the important events of 2007. I’m off to Tasmania for the honeymoon, and will be back at the end of January. Bon voyage!

Postlude: I would like to wish a quick congratulations to Mr Nicholas J. Broadbent, and his magnificent fiancée Mel. Nice one!

Menner N Men 5 - CombatWombats 2

The futsal season kicked off last night, and the mighty Combat Wombats were in action at North Sydney. I arrive first, shortly followed by another three members who promptly vetoed a pre-match drink, and I was forced to head towards the field in a complete state of sobriety.

After a quick kick-around, the lagging two members of the team showed up - in work gear. With only five minutes to go until kick-off, they headed off to get changed, and then disaster struck! Duncan, our star midfielder, sustained what could be a crippling injury to the foot.

Luckily for us, Dunc managed to walk it off, and we headed on to the field where the other team and referee were assembled ready for the start. Unfortunately, out two late arrivals had decided they needed to apply mascara before the game, and so the start was delayed, which, combined with my aforementioned sobriety, made the team a little nervous before kickoff.

And a nervous start it was - we conceded four goals in the first half, and could only reply with an inspired MJ Dean shot, 1 yard from the goal. The keeper had no chance. Going into the break 4-1 down, we resolved to keep possession in the second half and try to peg back some goals.

It was a different team that took the field in the second half, as, calm and composed, we took control of the game. Shot after shot went nowhere near the goal, but still we persisted. Chuck caught the referee’s attention with a nasty slide tackle, but no card was presented. Finally our persistence paid off with another MJ Dean special, this time from at least 1.2 yards out.

Alas, it wasn’t to be, and to add insult to injury Menner N Men slotted home a final goal from the sideline, despite a valiant effort by yours truly yelling at all and sundry.

It wasn’t all bad news though - the two other games ended up 5-0 and 10-1, putting us in fourth position on the table, thus poised in semi-final contention. I was nominated “Man of the Match” with 4 votes, ahead of Mike (on 1.5) and Chuck (on 0.5), while Mike goes to the top of the Golden Boot competition. Keep up to date on all the stats at the CombatWombats page.

Next week sees Combat Wombats take on our avowed arch-rivals the Mullets, at 9pm Monday night, ANZAC Stadium, Nth Sydney. Be there.