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Debbie - Sport …

Headlines about a “horror” draw for the Socceroos at next year’s World Cup in South Africa amused me over the weekend.

Sure, we have to play Germany - but given we were always going to have a seeded team in our group, I’m not sure why this should be seen as some sort of cruel, unexpected obstacle in our path.

Last World Cup, we had Brazil in our group, a bit scarier a prospect than Germany, I think.

Serbia, also in our group, are currently ranked just one place ahead of us in the FIFA world rankings. And Ghana are 37 on the world standings, compared to the Socceroos 21.

A “horror” draw would’ve been to get one of the two unseeded heavyweights, France or Portugal, as well as the favourites Spain or the defending champions Italy. Or Brazil again.

But really, gasping at the prospect of having Germany, Serbia and Ghana to deal with first up at a World Cup is a bit like reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon and being stunned to find you’ve got to face Andy Roddick or Novak Djokovic.

Or getting selected to open the batting for Australia and being amazed to find someone intends to bowl a cricket ball at you at more than 150k an hour.

It’s not a horror turn of events.

It’s what you’re in it for.

___

Mark - Breakfast E.P.

You’d think that after a week’s worth of information from all around the globe, I’d turn off my radio on the weekends…or at least listen to something other than ABC Newsradio.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Our weekend line up is truly terrific.

I usually try and catch Scott Wales and Debbie Spillane talking all things sporting on “Weekend Half Time”.

The radio repeat of “Insiders” is required listening at 11am ADST on Sundays (particularly if you sleep in and miss the version on the box!)

I also love dipping in and out during the day….getting the best of the BBC, Deutsche Welle, Radio Nederlands, plus all the news and sport from around Australia and the world.

And then occasionally I hear something that is so terrific that it takes your breath away.

Like yesterday’s “Assignment” program from the BBC World Service.

I’ve always been a fan of BBC correspondent Allan Little’s work, but his program on the legacy of Bhopal - the world’s worst industrial accident - is truly shocking.

It makes you want to scream at the radio about how unfair the world is for some people - particularly those who are poor, sick and marginalised, and are no match for multi-national companies with teams of suited lawyers who aren’t worried about morality, or governments that promise to help. And then don’t.

It should be required listening for anyone who works in the area of so-called “Corporate Social Responsibility”.

If you missed it, you can hear it on the web:

On another point:

In last Friday’s blog about NSW politics, I got a bit confused about the timeline of my Grandpa’s journalism career.

An email from my Mum (an avid reader!) soon straightened things out.

Apparently Alan Hill came back from the war, then went off to Tenterfield to edit and manage “The Star” for Rural Newspapers, before returning to Sydney as State Political Roundsman for the Daily Mirror, NOT the Telegraph as I had claimed.

He left Macquaire Street in the early ‘50s, when he came into some money from his father’s estate.

Grandpa bought the Harden-Murrumburrah Express and headed back to the country.

Not only was he the editor, chief reporter, publisher and owner of that esteemed publication on the NSW south-western slopes, he was also the Harden-Murrumburrah correspondent for 2LF - the radio station at Young.

You’ll be pleased to know the Express is still going strong.

It’s now owned by Fairfax:

http://www.hardenexpress.com.au/

And a final thought….

We went to a local Asian eatery last night to celebrate my son’s 12th birthday.

At the end of the meal, he opened his fortune cookie to reveal the profound message inside.

He rolled his eyes and groaned.

“What’s it say?” I said.

He handed it to me.

“The fortune you seek is in another cookie.”

This entry was posted on Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.