BBB - Brooke Barbara Butterworth, Luke Butterworth’s wife of four months, has just been through the toughest part of her life so far. A double lung transplant. Brooke is a Cystic Fibrosis sufferer. Constant visits to the hospital, an interrupted social life and a husband who couldn’t be nicer if you injected him with "nice" serum. Positives and negatives in a life that should be nothing but positive. The lung transplant is in hope of allowing Brooke to lead a normal life. One full of happiness with her new husband and hopefully a couple of kiddies to enjoy and cherish as they get older. None of this would be possible without the "gift of life" from an organ donor. If you are not an Organ Donor please become one. I’m not one to push my beliefs on people, but seeing first hand how this will directly affect people close to me I plead with you to donate. People often talk about leaving a legacy behind when they are gone. What better legacy to leave? Knowing that you could be the one to kick start someone’s life. Brooke is recovering well from her operation and our thoughts have been with both Brooke and Luke throughout the past month as they endure a mighty challenge.
We say goodbye to the Big Bash and all the highs and lows that it brings. The highs we applaud; the way the home crowds from all states got behind their teams, MCG Catering and Rana Naved. To "The Lows" of the Big Bash, behind your back I am flicking you the bird. I hate "The Lows" like a 9-year-old boy hates girls. "The Lows" has cooties. "The Lows" mother wears army boots, I dobbed on the "The Lows" for smoking behind the school gym. "The Lows" - I hate you!! Childish, yes. But the Big Bash takes me back to the highs and lows of being a child. Lets have a look at some comparisons;David Warner "Bullying" me for 23-runs in one over took me back to the time my school bully Daniel Coward forced me to eat a cream bun out of a bin. Ok, so he didn’t exactly force me to eat it. Alright, it was my idea!! But he did pick on me for doing it. Kids are so harsh.Mark Waugh "Playing favourites". Unless you are playing for New South Wales or were born in New South Wales you will most definitely be picked on by Junior Waugh. It’s that old school picking on that I’m sure Mark used to receive from Steve and Danny. Niggling little things. Flicking of the ears, yanking of the mullet, taking of Australian spots, deliberately running each other out. Childish stuff.This is my favourite - "School yard punch on" Its best to watch the school fight from a far. No point getting your school shirt ripped and having your bum smacked by your old man. Sit back and enjoy the show, which is exactly what the other states did during the Muscle Man Manou v High Pants Hussey war of words. In true school yard fashion there was a "he said it first" and a "you guys have it coming to you" and it wouldn't be a school yard performance without someone refusing to shake hands. Box on boys. I was involved in a school yard barney once. Lets just say that she came off worse for wear!!
Congratulations must go to the Bushrangers for their Twenty20 Title. They are the benchmark that all States are striving for in the Twenty20 format. In other Bushranger news; Brad Hodge has announced his retirement from the longer form of the game. Unfortunately for the interstate bowlers its not goodbye to Hodge just yet, he will still play on in the shorter forms of the game. Congratulations Hodgey on an amazing career filled with enough silverware and fond memories to fill a Brad Hodge Museum (c) Brett Geeves 2010 - no can do though little fella without buying out the name!!
For those of you who blinked and missed me during the 3rd Test against the West Indies, I was the 12th man. I find it a little strange facing the media when something like this comes up. Twice now I have been called into the Australian Test Squad to act as cover for the guy who was acting as cover for the guys in the team. It’s the same question every time. "How do you rate your chances of getting a game?" There are four ways to answer this question; 1. Cliche'/Expected "Being a part of the Australian team is what I've dreamt of since I was a young boy playing in the backyard with my Dad" 2. Poorly "I hope someone gets injured so I can get my hands on one of those caps. I reckon I could get a couple of grand for it on eBay in a few weeks" 3. Honestly "I am heading over to run the drinks. Peter Siddle is in doubt with a sore hamstring and Clint McKay will naturally replace him as he was already over there as 12th man. I’m looking forward to getting to Perth and learning more about my game from guys who are the best at what we do." 4. Warrick Todd style "Perth is a great place; The Leaderville and Hippy Club double would rival any Thursday night circuit in the world. I feel the WACA suits my style of play, the yobbo's love the Swan Draught served on the hill and they really warm to me as an individual. My last innings at the WACA I really hooked into em' (Insert picture of Warrick Todd "hooking into" his 13th can of Swan Draught in the change rooms after being dismissed for a duck).My response flirted with two of these styles. I ran with the honest line and also threw in some Warrick Todd saying how much I enjoyed Perth as a City. When asked why by the local reporter all I could stutter was something about the weather and Luc Longley.
Christmas has been and gone for another year. I’m not sure what I've done to upset Santa but over the past three years he has really kicked me up the bum on Christmas morning. Is it a sign that your getting old when for Christmas you get checkered shirts and cricket bat shaped soaps for your underwear drawer? Santa was obviously hung-over when thinking about my gifts this year. I don’t even like Cricket!! Why put cricket related soaps in my stocking? Rodney Rude sings a pretty appropriate song about my thoughts on Santa.My parents did buy me Ben Elton’s latest release and god bless them for it. You might be surprised by this; I read quite a bit.... shocked? Elton is a genius. His latest piece is called Meltdown. It’s about a circle of friends who are directly affected by the economic crisis. If you love reading and enjoy a bit of humour, all of Ben Elton’s work is for you.While we are talking about books. I started reading Andy Bichel's autobiography "No Bull" - (no really I did. Honestly. No Bull......... is the name of the book) in an Adelaide Book Store. The first words written by Andy in the book are "I had arrived" (in reference to his 5 for vs the Windies at the Boxing Day Test sometime ago). I love a bit of self promotion, so I brought it. Written with the obvious intent of letting anyone who knocked him or doubted him throughout his journey as a cricketer know that he was a success - He misses no one!! Even gets a kidney punch into the guys who left him out of his local country rep team as a 14-year-old... Hilarious stuff. One giant negative to this book - it was $40! If it wasn’t for the fact the girl serving made me weak at the knees with her huge brown eyes - I would have asked to speak to the manager and there may have been a confrontation over the price. Ben Elton, writer for successful BBC TV shows The Thin Blue Line, Blackadder - made" We Will Rock You" into the highest grossing theatre production of all time - Genius... $25 a book. Andy Bichel, outswingers and a few games of cricket, no TV shows, no theatre productions - $40 a book. Elton - millions of dollars in royalties. Bichel - $4.65 and a cheese board in royalties. "I think there’s something in that for all us.... Don't you?" Full Frontal skit 93.
In brief; - Washington Wizards All Star Guard Gilbert Arenas has found himself in trouble with the law after he and fellow Wizards Guard Jarvis Crittenton pointed guns at each other in the locker room over a $25,000 gambling debt. The irony of all this is that the late owner Abe Polin changed the name of the Washington Bullets to Wizards because of the violent connotations. Gold!! Tom Triffitt and Kane Rickards are writing a joint Blog. Tom is a talented and funny writer, Rickards is not. ps Rickards, when bagging out possibly the greatest Australian batsmen of all time; make sure you get his name right. Chapelli is Ian - Greg would be Chappellg.
Rickards - you are a poor blogger.
Goodnight.
