Pre-NBA Draft, Rancid, The Almost and Last.fm

I've had a few things on my mind this week, and here I am, sitting on my couch, watching Queensland beat up on New South Wales again, so I decided to blog.

Basketball
This week is NBA draft week. Most Australian basketball fans are keen to see where Patty Mills ends up. If he goes late in the first round, he could end up with an automatic contender, and possibly joining Luc Longley, Brett Brown and Andrew Gaze as Aussies with an NBA Championship Ring. Patty's story is well known. I used to see him play for the ACT when he was in Under 14's. I particularly remember watching him play against Shoalhaven, with Jeff & Ben Dowdell, so no team of mugg players. This kid, I thought he was probably one of the Cannons import players sons, he just ran the team, played so well. Seemed like a player to watch. We shall see.

A guy I am really hoping does well is Joe Ingles. Joe used to date a player I coached, which is how I first heard of him. My wife and I saw him play a couple of times at Wollongong last year. He left the game with a minor twinge in his leg, but as he was stretching it out, he was talking to the kids, the fans of both teams, and all with a massive smile on his face. I really hope Joe gets drafted, in a similar way to Nathan Jawai last year, to a team that wants him, trades for him, gives him a go.

Music



Loving the new Rancid album.

Let the Dominoes Fall is a brilliant piece of "old skool" street ska punk! If you are into anything like that, have a listen. If you used to be into that stuff, have a listen.

Another band I discovered for the first time is "The Almost". Famous as an Underoath side project, they have combined the meltacore music of Underoath with a great deal of melody. This album is hard to come by in Australia, I downloded it via Nokia Music (loving that part of my new phone).

A CD I am not a fan of is 21st Century Breakdown by Green Day. I've given it a few listens now, and it just missed. Sorry kids.

Last.fm

I love this site. If you go to my page, youcan check out what I've been listening to. You can compare your musical taste with mine, and see what is popular on your media player this week. http://www.last.fm/user/coachdeakes is my user profile. I hope more people sign up to last.fm and share what they are listening to.

The End Bit

QLD just won, comgratulations to them. NSW is turning into a bogan state, Rugby League is a bogan sport, but QLD dominate both times.

until next time

Welcome to Sports and Music (and maybe some politics

Hi there, and welcome to my new attempt at becoming a blogger. It's been a while, actually, about 5 years since I last attempted this. At that time the self proclaimed "greatest country in the world" had just re-elected some moron from Texas. This time, I have thought about what I want to share with the world. Those things are Sport and Music.

I am a true amature in both sport and music. They are past times for me, things I enjoy to do when I am not earning money for my family. I pay to attend both of these things. It sort of strikes me as rediculous that I pay just as much to see a NBL game here in Australia as I do to see a touring music group from the UK or USA. I am a Wollongong Hawks fan, and in season 2008/09 the stadium was over half full once or twice. That was it. I could only afford to go as I had my uni card and I got in for $10. If I wasn't a student...$22-$50 depending on where I wanted to sit.

WHAT IS THE POINT OF CHARGING SO MUCH WHEN NOBODY GOES? I do believe if tickets were cheaper, more people would go more often.

Anyway, I will soon be posting on the Australian Cricket Team, and the death of Rugby League in New South Wales.

Hope my blogs get better