The Big Finals

OK, I know the title isn't snappy or anything. I don't really care. The finals I refer to are, of course, AFL, but specifically, the ones that affect my teams (or rather, the teams I barrack for): EJ's footy team (I do go for them, after all), who played their Grand Final, and the Carlton-Brisbane game. For the sake of some drama, I'll withhold who won which games until I get around to it.

I got up at around 6:15; I'm not sure exactly when I woke up, although I do know I was laying bed for a while, trying to get back to sleep. It didn't exactly work. Dad left before us, and we left at about 8:15. I brought many things, for what I thought would be a long day out at the ground. Specifically, I brought: my iPod, my portable radio, my deck of cards, and 2 books. We got there at about 9:30, give or take, and there was already a game happening: Emu Plains, in Brisbane guernseys, and Rooty Hill, in Port Adelaide guernseys. I decided to go for Rooty Hill, pretty much just because their name was hilarious. Their name was 'Rooty Hill Power,' which just adds to the humour. At 10, when everybody was here, the fateful game started: The Southwest Tigers against the Campbelltown/Wollondilly Swans (the same team they played against 2 weeks ago).

The game started off ominously, at least from our point of view, with the Swans getting a goal in the first 10 or so seconds. However, luckily, the Tigers rose to the challenge pretty quickly, getting their first goal about a minute afterwards. The game was shaping up to be a good one. However, the backlines tightened up, and there was only one more goal kicked for the quarter. One of the Tiger kids, Ben, was also seemingly knocked unconscious near the end of the quarter while trying to stop a Swans goal from the middle of a pack. He came off the ground, of course. The quarter ended at 2.1, 13 to 1.3, 9, with the Tigers in the lead. The second quarter was a big one for EJ's team, with EJ himself getting a goal in this quarter. There were numerous shots at goal for Southwest, but due to defensive pressure by Campbelltown/Wollondilly and some accuracy mishaps (read: they kept missing), they didn't get as much as they probably should have. However, the Tigers did hold the Swans scoreless in this quarter, with the half time score reading 4.5, 29 to 1.3, 9.

Quarter 3 saw a lockdown by the Swans, in an attempt to stop the Tigers scoring and running away with the game. And it worked too, with our team only getting one behind for the whole quarter. although due to Southwest's centre work, the Swans couldn't capitalise. However, they did get one goal for the quarter, which resulted in a massive uproar by the other team's parents. The quarter ended with Southwest being twice the score of the Swans, at 4.6, 30 to 2.3, 15. The last quarter of the last match was then to be played, with only 3 goals in it and the game could have been won by either team. However, the Tigers went in there and played the most important quarter of the season in style, although the accuracy left something to be desired. Billy started to really run, and the whole team fire up. The Swans kicked 7 points for the quarter, but the Tigers kicked over double that, with their highest scoring quarter for the game. The final score read 6.11, 47 to 3.4, 22. The Tigers had won, won the first premiership for the entire club since god knows when. After the game, while they were lining up to get their medals, and I decided to be a smartass, so I just said: 'Coulda done better.' (I wasn't being serious, of course). After talking to people, and after the kids finished their celebrations, we went home.

We got home at around 2, and after I'd gotten lunch and what-not, I went into my room, so that I could blog about Friday. When that was completed, at around 4:30 (I procrastinate a lot, remember), I figured that I needed a break, so I got on Battlefield Heroes. However, I also wanted to see what was going on with the Cats-Dogs game, and I didn't want to leave my room. But then, inspiration struck: my portable radio (I would use my actual radio, but it only picks up FM signals). So I went out to Battlefield Heroes, while listening to the score. The Cats won, and I didn't do so bad myself. Then, at around 6:30, we all went out to Club Italia for premiership celebrations.

When we got there, there weren't many people there, and luckily I had brought my deck of cards. So I played a few hands of blackjack with EJ, and then I decided I'd show him what 31 was. So we played that a bit, and later when we went in to the special occasion room, he offered a game of President & Asshole. I refused, and offered to play 13 instead, which is similar to President & Asshole, but better (proof). Cleveland and Michael from Friday were there, and Cleveland said that he knew how to play. So we started to play that. A few rounds in, I realised that the Carlton-Brisbane game had started, so I took out my portable radio and listened to that. Later, after endless pestering by EJ, and also Cleveland to a degree, Michael started to play, after picking up the majority of rules of the game watching us. Later, after dinner, while the game was playing over the radio, EJ's coach, Alan, came over to listen, and also ended up playing, with the help of Cleveland. And started kicking ass. In the end, though, the game started to break down, and we all went to do our different things. I mostly listened to the game. Carlton were up by 30 points 2 minutes into the last quarter, and it seemed that we were bound to win. But the Lions roared back (pun intended), and kicked 6 goals, and shutting the Blues down. We lost by 7 points, and when the siren sounded, I collapsed back. Black and Bradshaw, after both being ruled out on Friday arvo and being last-minute inclusions for Brisbane, were their two best players, with Black being big in the centre, and Bradshaw kicking five goals. Goddamn. That's awful. Next year, though, we'll be big. So for the rest of the night, I read and listened to Tom Lehrer on my iPod. We got home around 11:30. So obviously I didn't get to post.

To comments, just the 1, but the first for what seems like a long time:
*Mango: Oy vey. I can't be stuffed figuring it out, you gave this to me in Maths. I'm sure it's simple, but I really, really don't care.

And that was my day. Sorry about the late post, but now that you've read this post, and when you read the next post, you'll understand. I'll try to get my schedule back on track as soon as I possibly can; believe me, I'm working on it. But I'm not promising anything.

Great work, EJ's team; There's always next year, Carlton,
AB