If a Golden Globes ceremony goes ahead and nobody’s there to see it, did it really happen?

Didn’t think so.

The nearby Eagle Bay bushfires

For context, where I’m staying with the family is pretty much smack bang in Dunsborough, just out of the Watch & Act zone:

So in case you’re unawares, the fires around Cape Naturaliste/Bunker Bay/Eagle Bay/Meelup started late last night near Curtis Bay, not even 2km from the Dunsborough town centre, and the ABC cameras got a very telling shot of the full brunt of the fires under cover of darkness:

It’s obviously forced the closure of parts of Cape Naturaliste Road, which means there’s no visiting the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse or Eagle Bay Brewery anytime soon, and by sunrise as the DFES trucks and the waterbombers all streamed up towards the Cape, I couldn’t really see anything besides some rising black smoke from behind the Meelup Regional Park when I visited Dunsborough Beach at 9 o’clock this morning:

However, we went to Busselton this afternoon, and from the area around the Busselton Jetty, you could get a pretty clear look at the smoke emanating from Eagle Bay:

It is crazy for me to think that I went for a scenic cruise up Cape Naturaliste Road not even half a day before the fires started just to take a few photos, because I hadn’t been up there for about 6 years…

This was from Bunker Bay looking towards the area that is now copping the brunt of the flames:

And this was towards Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse:

Strange days.

Went to Shelter Brewing Co today

All I can say is that Busselton have now got two ‘Biggest Things in the Southern Hemisphere’ – The Jetty is the longest timber-piled jetty in the southern hemisphere, and I reckon Shelter can lay claim to having the biggest giant arse industrial fans in the southern hemisphere.

That could almost qualify as a wind turbine.

I thought this was going to be a nice shot of a South West sunset

Turned out it was an hour before the whole thing kicked off.

Another thing I noticed from the Margaret River venison shop

It looks like Paul Hogan dropped off the remains of the original crocodile from Crocodile Dundee:

Crikey.

A resounding tribute to Nifty Nev Dhu from the Manning Thursday 5th Division last Thursday

Last Thursday was the first game of Perth midweek pennants for 2021, and the first for Manning since the sudden passing of our teammate Neville Dhu just before New Years, and the lowly 8th placed Manning 5th Division side came up against 4th placed Thornlie, and to cut a long story short, it was a resounding win for Manning across all 3 rinks to take the aggregate 75-45, claiming all 6 points.

As for what went down with my particular freaky foursome, there was a lineup change as Glyn came in to replace late scratching Bruce, which meant I had to play third for the first time in a pennant game after leading through the first half of the season, but I can confirm I didn’t steer my skip Geoff, aka Smiley, into too many icebergs, and it showed on the scorecard, because after trailing 0-4 early on, we stormed back and held 4 shots on 4 separate ends throughout the game, which contributed to a solid 26-13 win:

The other advantage I’ve found playing as a third is that when it comes time to perform a measurement, well, compared to some of the old codgers I’m playing against, I’ve got two working eyes and two working knees.

Also, if you want to see the definition of teamwork, this was one of the ends that we held 4… Glyn put down the sparkly blue bowl as the lead, Nick had the white, Smiley had the royal blue just behind Nick, and I had the Black & Gold.

So that’s the second time this season ‘we’ have knocked off a Top 4 team, given we’re the only team to knock off Rossmoyne.. It’s a crying shame we can’t play like that against the teams around us, otherwise we wouldn’t be stuck in 7th with a healthy percentage, although there is a mere 2.5 points between 4th and 7th.

I have rostered myself off for this week, but I’ve got my doubts that 5th Division will even get to play Belmont City this Thursday, given Belmont, who have been under the blowtorch from the local Sport & Rec club for the last year, had to forfeit last week against Dalkeith-Nedlands for some unknown reason (Possibly not enough players available), but anything can happen, and it usually does.

More vintage Big Bash umpiring in the Scorchers vs Stars game in Geelong

At the end of the 10th over, Laurie Evans was on strike for the Scorchers and scored 2 runs, which means Ashton Turner should’ve been on strike after both teams came out of the drinks break, which was a good 5 minutes long, so naturally everyone was too busy getting a bit of quality H20 into their system.

However, nobody, not even the 3rd bloody Umpire who had access to replays, bothered to check that Evans was on strike to start the 11th over when play resumed.

He wound up belting Haris Rauf for 6.

Not bothering to check which batter should’ve been on strike, yep, that’s a Big Bash moment alright.

Capping it off, at the end of the Scorchers innings, Rauf wound up trapping Evans LBW for 69 (nice) with a ball that wouldn’t have even hit 5th stump as Evans went for a crap ramp shot, but the umpire was already drunk at the wheel, so why the hell wouldn’t he give it out.

Manly forward Marty Taupau is clearly in denial of the fact that he’s been declared dead from sudden heart failure by Twitter

“‘Ere. He says he’s not dead!”

“Yes, he is.”

“I’m not!”

“He isn’t?”

“Well, he will be soon. He’s very ill.”

“I’m getting better!”

“No you’re not, you’ll be stone dead in a moment!”

The transcript of the Novak Djokovic interview with the Border Official is basically a Clarke & Dawe episode

Deadset, it’s like John Clarke is doing the interviewing and Bryan Dawe is answering the questions as Djokovic…. you could read it in their voices:

“So, as we said Mr Djokovic, you have 20 minutes to provide us this additional information.”

“What additional information?”

“The additional information that we’re asking for.”

“But what additional information do I need to provide to enter the country?”

“That’s correct Mr Djokovic. Unless you provide us this additional information you won’t be able to enter the country.”

“What additional information?”

I think Scott Boland now has a proper nickname

You’ve gotta love the laziness of the AFLW YouTube page

It’s 2 full days since Round 1 of the AFLW season finished, and they still haven’t changed the title of the highlights video of the Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne game, which is still called North Melbourne vs Geelong, even though they’ve already posted the highlights for the Roos vs Cats game.

It’s great to see them start the season better than Brisbane’s women have in their premiership defence.

Cam Smith shooting 34 under par on Maui and breaking Ernie Els’ PGA Tour record for the lowest 72-hole score

That’s now two impressive records that Smith holds – He was the first Golfer to shoot in the 60s for all four rounds of a Masters tournament back in 2020, and now he’s bettered the Big Easy’s record of 31 under par from the 2003 Tournament of Champions at Kapalua.

Of course, this year’s Tournament of Champions was so ridiculously good that World No.1 John Rahm and fellow Aussie Matt Jones (Who shot 23 UNDER on Day 3 & 4) both broke the old record of 31 under, and yet it still wasn’t enough to deny Smith.

I think that’s a sign of how good John Rahm is playing… it quite literally took the lowest score in PGA history to deny him the title.

Canada’s ATP Cup win was a rare Final win for Félix Auger-Aliassime

For context, World No.11 Félix Auger-Aliassime, more accurately nicknamed FAA, is the highest-ranked ATP player without a career singles title, having played in 8 finals and lost them all, which goes to show that like quite a few decent golfers, he’s consistent without winning, having made the final 8 at Wimbledon and the Semi Finals at the US Open last year.

In fact, Canada upsetting Spain to win the ATP Cup was only the second time FAA has won a final from 12 attempts across all formats, and to get technical, knocking off Roberto Bautista-Agut to seal the Canadian victory was the first time he’s won any kind of singles match in a final.

Singles: 0-8

Doubles: 1-1 (He won the 2020 Paris Masters with Hubert Hurkacz)

Team Events: Now 1-1 , having also played in Canada’s 2019 Davis Cup Final defeat to Spain.

So yeah, good on you FAA, and I should also point out that the score from the Auger-Aliassime vs Bautista-Agut match was 7-6 6-3, the perfect reversal of their 2019 Davis Cup encounter, which RBA won 7-6, 6-3..

Just enjoy Rafael Nadal’s reaction speed and shot anticipation at the age of 34

It’ll be a delight to see Rafa go around in the Australian Open, and make it all the way to yet another agonising Quarter Final defeat at Melbourne Park.

As is tradition.

And finally, James Hird makes a coaching comeback at GWS

As history shows, Greater Western Sydney is a great destination for displaced Essendon coaches to reignite their careers….

Just look at Kevin Sheedy.