Sour Grapes

Ye Shiwen.

Better remember the name, people, because if this 16-year old swimmer's recent Gold medal-winning performance in the women's 400m individual medley during the London Olympics last Saturday night are anything to go by, her name will be popping up in many more Olympic games to come, barring any sudden retirements, loss of form, injuries etc.

She apparently swam a section of her race faster than US swimming stars Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps (he of the eye-popping eight gold medal haul in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and legendary diet plan). Not only did she break defending champion Stephanie Rice's world record, but she did so more than a second quicker than Rice's previous best.
During the freestyle leg of the race she clocked in at 25.75 seconds - putting Michael Phelps' own freestyle time during his own individual medley race to shame.
Lochte was clearly impressed with the teenager, stating that she had what it took to beat him in a race. Lochte's mentor, US swimming team coach Gregg Troy hailed her performance as 'a heck of a swim'.

Clearly, a star in the pool was born last weekend. But when I read an article on the internet about it, the headline and the last few lines made me roll my eyes. The article was titled Swim Starlet Sets Off Chinese Whispers and towards the article's conclusion was the mention of China's drug-tainted past when it came to swimming.
The writer, Steve Larkin, is from the Australian Associated Press. I hate to point fingers but to me, he seems bitter that Rice (who is Australian) was beaten by a youngster in her pet event. Don't take my word for it, the comments generated by the article were a mixture of support for Shiwen (some users lambasted the article, claiming that it reeked of sour grapes, childish accusations and to some degree, racism) and people who are adamant that Shiwen wasn 'on the juice'. Some readers also slammed the Australian media and public in general, calling them narrow-minded sore losers who try to come up with excuses to justify our athletes' losses and show total disrespect towards winners from other nations.

Me personally, I say congratulations to Ye Shiwen on an impressive, gold medal-worthy performance, even if it came at the expense of my fellow Aussie in Stephanie Rice, and unless something comes out, I am not going to sit here and accuse her of being 'roided up'. Why throw such heinous accusations without any proof to back it up? To his credit, Larkin also mentioned that in the 2010 Asian Games, Shiwen blitzed the same event some two seconds faster than Rice managed in last Saturday's swim so he does recognise the fact that she really is talented, rather than some roid head who can't perform without her precious drugs. Still, the headline of his article and adding in that ugly factoid about Chinese swimmers doesn't let him off the hook that easily.

Yes, it does suck to see your compatriot lose during the Olympics but it's still the early stages, people. There are still plenty of opportunities for your respective nations to strike gold. Even Rice herself vowed to put this loss behind her and move on. Let's do the same, and in the meantime take our hats off to a deserved winner.

Get out there and play - it's that simple!

According to a study by the University of Sydney, up to 70 percent of children from New South Wales are unable to run, throw, catch or kick a ball properly, skills that should have become routine by the time a child has turned seven years old, regardless of their athletic prowess.
Naturally, these shocking facts painted a bleak picture for Australia's future sports stars and indicates that more and more children are going to most likely grow up overweight or obese. Dr. Louise Hardy, who led the report, blamed this on the lack of PE teachers in primary schools and the growing number of parents who can't be bothered kicking a ball around with their kids.

Being a fitness-oriented person, I found this story shocking to say the least. When I was young, just about every kid knew how to throw, catch and kick a ball, whether they were athletes or not. Even the kid who was picked last for team sports mastered those skills. I was quite chubby and unfit when I was young and I had no problem performing skills, though the results were often unimpressive.

I have to disagree, however, with Dr. Hardy's view that the lack of PE teachers in primary schools are one of the key reasons for this development. When I was a kid, and all due respect to my teachers (I wouldn't say I enjoyed school, but I will admit that all but one of my teachers during my primary school years were excellent at what they did), but I wouldn't say that any of them even came close to being a PE teacher. But that said, they had no problems teaching us how to master those basic skills needed to play sports and be active. It doesn't take a 'PE teacher' to show kids how to play ball. If their parents won't teach them then you, teacher, should do it. It's not that hard.

Scientists and health experts have banged on repeatedly about how ancient humans would have beaten us 'modern' people in any physical endeavour based on the differences in levels of activity between the two, and now the same has to be said about children from this generation and from those of generations past. An average kid from ten or twenty years ago would most likely beat an average kid from today in most sports simply because they've learned the basic motor skills needed to run, throw, catch and kick properly. Time to get out and play, kids. Put down whatever it is that is keeping you on the couch and preventing you from becoming the very best you can be physically, pick up a ball, invite some of your friends and family and have a lovely game outside. Who knows? You just might grow up to become Australia's next sporting hero, inspiring other kids to get active.

F is for 'Fail' - and 'Fake'

On March 23 this year, I posted a blog about the impending return of reality TV series Big Brother on Australian TV screens (which will happen some time after the Olympics) and in the blog I also wrote briefly about a then-upcoming reality show called The Shire which, apparently, was supposed to be Australia's answer to the US series Jersey Shore. I wrote that it was likely going to be a train-wreck featuring a bunch of try-hards, idiots and fake personalities, would make viewers question their sanity, would make a laughing stock out of the Sutherland Shire area and would attract critics from all angles.
Interestingly, when comparing Big Brother and The Shire I recommended that viewers go with the latter, simply because Big Brother is always guaranteed to be a virtual repeat (if not a worse version) of the previous season whereas The Shire was something new.

Well, The Shire is currently on the airwaves and just as good ol' Bernd predicted, it was an absolute train-wreck, triggering the kind of wide-ranging backlash that hasn't been seen since Julia Gillard unleashed the Carbon Tax and Kraft released the isnack2.0 (later renamed Cheesybite). I didn't watch it myself but based on what I read in news reports and friends' posts on facebook thank God that I was smart enough not to, all due respect to anyone who did. I read people called the show 'crap', 'rubbish', 'drivel', 'piece of shit' and of course, the oft-used 'The Shite'.
Meanwhile, media outlets and news reports wrote about the show in a mainly negative light. They commented that the show made a mockery of its setting and criticised the cast for their fake, shallow personalities, for portraying negative stereotypes and even some of the girls for their fake body parts. The show's creators were shamed and facebook groups have been set up petitioning for the show's cancellation.

The Sutherland Shire's mayor Carol Provan was especially harsh in her criticism of the show, particularly towards the female characters whom she branded as 'tarts' and even took a shot at the Sydney suburb that two of the show's more notorious cast members originally came from. Speaking of which, as it turns out at least seven of the show's main characters (including over-tanned, surgically-enhanced bimbos Vernessa and Sophie, the show's two most notorious characters) don't even live or work in the Shire area. However, channel 10's programming boss David Mott stated that as long as cast members were willing to 'live, work and play in The Shire' (ie: be a part of the show), then they were ok.
But which ever way you look at it, the show was deemed a massive fail for the Ten network and appalled many, particularly angry and embarrassed locals whose community are still trying to shake off the negative image cast by the 2005 Cronulla Race Riots.

Sophie and Vernessa

Ok, I hate to sound like an insensitive jerk, I can only imagine how many viewers are hurting right now for losing 30 precious minutes that they'll never recover, but to the viewers who are complaining about having their life, time and energy wasted, what the hell did you expect? When TV shows try to imitate another they usually fail (the US version of The Office turned out to be a success so I guess there are exceptions to the rule) and a show that tries to imitate one already known for trashiness and controversy is all but guaranteed to be a prize stinker. You should have known that before you flicked onto channel 10 at 8pm on Monday night.
Yes, it's ok to vent about how bad the show was and how angry you were for watching - I would have done exactly the same if I did, but in the end it was your own fault for getting fooled into watching it in the first place and not having the guts to switch channels or switch off the TV when the show got worse. Just saying.

As for the people lamenting that Australian TV has come to this, keep your chins up. Judging by the criticism that this show is getting, I'd imagine that it will be axed pretty soon, if not only last for one short season. If Yasmin's show can get axed before she could find her groom I'm sure a bunch of fake, shallow try-hards can be given the heave-ho before the party's over.

Well, that's about it. The people of the Sutherland Shire area have something new to be embarrassed about, a bunch of viewers have been left angry and in utter disbelief and God forbid but if this show was to be broadcast in other parts of the world (good God, I hope that hasn't happened yet!) it would make the good people of Australia look like fools.n Well played, creators and channel 10.

For all that, Bernd gives you an F for Fail - and Fake.