For the last few years I've been growing increasingly fanatical about Australian Rules Football, or "Footy" as it is known. I don't have a terribly good explanation for the source of this passion. I am naturally curious about the world I guess, came across it, and kept coming back to learn more about the sport.
It is a brilliant sport, and for many different reasons that are not immediately obvious. Here's my attempt to capture some of the magic of footy: 1) It is fast paced with lots of scoring like basketball, but goals (worth six points) are still a big enough deal to rate real excitement (unlike basketball - in my opinion). 2) Aussie Rules is derided for being overly physical, but it's not the giant, organized fight most Americans and Europeans think it is. Yes, it is rough, but the rules are enforced and players are not put in regular danger. And when I say rules, they mostly make sense and are easy to follow (unlike Rugby). The game flows, there is a lot of tackling and scrapping, but not to the point that distracts from the game itself. 3) The pitch (playing field) is HUGE!!! Honestly, after watching three seasons now I'm still amazed at what a big playing surface it is played on. This is because, historically, Footy was developed as a Winter sport to be played at cricket grounds, like the MCG. This is, I assume, one of the reasons the game can be so fast paced but not have goals every few seconds. 4) It's easy to enjoy as a newcomer. I'm probably years away from understanding the finer points of the game, but the basics are easy to follow. A quick search on YouTube will bring up several videos to explain what a "mark" is, how far the ball can be carried without bouncing it, etc. After that you can easily watch a game and enjoy it. 5) Great rivalries and traditions. This is a sport that grew up in one single city: Melbourne. Even today, more than half of the teams in the Australian Football League represent different Melbourne neighbourhoods and suburbs. The clubs are some of the oldest in organized sports. My team, North Melbourne FC, is celebrating its 150th season this year! Why am I talking about Footy now you wonder? The new season is just a couple weeks away. "North" narrowly lost out on the playoff spots in 2018 after being picked by most to be dead last. We're hoping for big things in 2019. Proud to be a #shinboner!
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News Growl published three articles today:
I didn't write any of these articles, but I was in charge of putting them online (as I am most days). I was aware that it was International Women's Day today, but I only really thought about that when it came to the third article (which is about International Women's Day). Of the three, by far the most traffic has been for the article about Ms Norrell. In fact, the fashion profile of her is one of the most read on the first day we've ever published (it is coming close to rivalling the profile of Ambassador Vlora Çitaku, our most read fashion profile to date). This could have easily not happened. Before Gail (the author of our fashion column) went away for a few days yesterday afternoon she sent me four articles, including two for the News Growl fashion column. One was about a male state legislator from Oklahoma. I thought the profile of Ms Norrell was much better, so I went with that one. We'll probably publish the Oklahoma guy next week, but with a chance to do more editing. A couple hours ago, for the first time since its launch over a year ago, our fashion column received a complaint. It came in the form of an email entitled, "International Women's Day - why would you do this?" It came in on Gail's email account, but as she's away I responded. I explained how the fashion column is meant to focus on style and fashion and not just appearance (as the writer alleged), and that the column features men and women (although, to be fair, we struggle to find male politicians worth profiling). A few more angry emails followed from the same complainant, and in our correspondence I explained (1) that I was not "mansplaining" - Gail is away and I thought it important to respond, (2) the decision to publish that particular profile on that particular day was mine, not Gail's, and (3) that since launching the column we've received many thank you notes, Facebook shares, and retweets from the men and women we've covered in it. It's not ever meant to offend anyone ever. I also pointed out that the BBC published an article about women's fashion in politics today, except unlike us they did it with the explicit intent to tie it to IWD. My interlocutor did not ask me to do this, but I then went ahead and emailed Ms Norrell explaining the same points I mentioned above just in case she was actually offended. The last thing I would want to do is upset someone with these articles. I offered an apology if she was offended in any way, and even offered to take down the article if she wanted us to. It occurred to me afterwards that, as a politician, she is unlikely to want to respond to such an email (and she hasn't so far), but I do genuinely hope she took the article in the same spirit in which it was written. And, despite the fact that I disagreed with the premise that a fashion article that refers to a politician as being stylish is inappropriate to publish on International Women's Day, I went ahead an apologized to the person who complained via email. The fashion columns are meant to be fun, entertaining, and complimentary. They are not meant to offend anyone. If they do, they have (at least in one respect) failed. And that deserves an apology. |
AuthorSteve has many disparate and unconnected interests. This, he thinks, entitles him to claim the label "Renaissance Man." Archives
March 2019
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