Happy Steven Bradbury Day to you all!

The immortal moment that delivered Australia’s first Winter Olympic Gold Medal – That said, although it did occur in Salt Lake City on the 16th, it was the 17th in Australia when the final was run, given there’s an 18 hour time difference between Utah and Sydney/Melbourne in the Australian summer.

On another note, it also took me at least a decade to realise that Bradbury pulling a Bradbury occurred the day after my aunt Liz & uncle Bruce’s wedding, which would mean that today would be their 19th anniversary.

At least it was the last time I checked the photos.

All these people bad-mouthing Ash Barty and saying she’s had a cushy draw in the Australian Open

I absolutely agree with them – Have you ever noticed how Ash Barty never seems to play anyone ranked above her?

It’s uncanny.

That said, comparing the two sides of the women’s singles draw, the bottom half has been akin to the Group Of Death since the Fourth Round:

Naomi Osaka vs Garbine Muguruza (Both multiple Grand Slam champions and World No.1s), which may go down as the highest quality match of the entire Women’s Singles draw, despite only being a 4th Round match.

Serena Williams vs Aryna Sabalenka – 23-time Grand Slam champion versus the World No.7 who had won 23 out of her last 26 matches, which appropriately went 3 sets.

Iga Swiatek vs Simona Halep – Reigning French Open champion (Who defeated Halep on the way to that title) on a massive upswing versus the World No.2/Multiple Grand Slam champion/Former World No.1 and the most consistent WTA player of the last 7 years.

Halep vs Williams tonight – A Final 8 matchup good enough to be a Grand Slam Final, which it literally was at Wimbledon in 2019, although this time the outcome was reversed by Serena.

And now on Thursday, you’ll get Williams vs Osaka, another match-up which has previously been a Grand Slam Final that’ll have to settle for a Semi Final.

Put this on a loop

This may have been my favourite play of the AFLW season thus far:

On Sunday, Fremantle were hemmed inside their Defensive 50 by Adelaide, who had a full head of momentum despite being goalless up to that point in the game, and an irretrievable 32 points down on a damn good Dockers team, who had been scoreless in the 1st Quarter.

In a moment that summed up how thoroughly the Dockers cleaned up the Crows, there was a scrambled kick out of the danger area by Freo that bounced to an unmarked Kara Antonio (It could’ve been Ebony) at centre-half back, and at that moment, Adelaide’s structure fell to pieces (Not for the first time) as a smart Antonio went straight up the corridor and hammered a long kick for Gemma Houghton to chase goal side, and despite getting pushed out to the pocket and having to manage a low pick-up on the run, Houghton gave a superb counterattack the finish it deserved.

An AFLW record 10 wins in a row for Fremantle – Sell them short to your detriment.

Alleged surrogacy in the Victoria breeding industry

According to a source close to the Racing Victoria investigation, who is not authorised to speak publicly, it’s suspected that at least two foals may have been born this season out of embryo transplantation – a filly out of Miss Andretti and a colt out of Strikeline – which were sired by Ultra Thoroughbreds’ stallion Addictive Nature in late 2019.

The Australian Stud Book, which guides thoroughbred breeding, clearly states a horse produced by any form of artificial breeding is not eligible for the stud book, meaning it is not permitted to race or breed for thoroughbred purposes.

If you ask me, there’s only one person who can clean up this four-legged paternity mess for Racing Victoria…

MAURY POVICH.

When it comes to baby Nature Strip, NICCONI, YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER!

The McLaren MCL35M for Daniel Ricciardo

I like that it looks like a Formula 1 car…. complete with the subliminal tobacco advertising from BAT.

Well-known sporting birthdays on February 16

John McEnroe (1959), certified Superbrat who occasionally proved himself handy with a tennis racquet

Valentino Rossi (1979), a 42-year-old MotoGP legend who refuses to listen to the dozens of taps he gets on the shoulder every year telling him to retire…. It’s probably time, Vale.

Malcolm Blight (1950), Australian rules football Legend and spokesperson for Noel’s Caravans.

AND CATHY FREEMAN, WHO TURNS 48 TODAY

Manning Jack Attack – BACK TOMORROW NIGHT

And I can detail some top quality match-ups for Week 1:

Trevor Chappells vs Missing Moo’s

The Habibs vs The Young Guns

Great Bowls Of Fire vs Tie Break Turkey’s

CD’s vs The Bowled & The Beautiful

Ten Pins vs The Empire Strikes Jack

Stay tuned for Thursday.

Pearl’s Entity is no Honour Rampage

A classic ‘It Happens’ moment in the opener at the Horsham dishlickers, as Pearl’s Entity, who had been suspended for 28 days in December for causing interference, had the chance to bring up the maiden win at start 8, but instead of going on with it, decided to run Sneaky Kiss out of business and cop another month on the sidelines.

Beloved No Hope Avenue dishlicker Honour Rampage wouldn’t throw away a win like that, especially if it was over 275m and he had the outside box.