Far-West Footy

Watts, Barry, Trengove, and Toumpas didn’t play because we feared they could be affected by our exorcism of the Demons. Our Holy Ground is a sanctuary, indeed. Despite their great efforts, the Demons couldn't maculate our home. --- So ugly a win, it was beautiful. In truth, I couldn't watch the only quarter we dominated. At Q3T, Brazil-Costa Rica started, and my focus shifted to the World Cup. I left my phone with the AFL app open, so I could check our comeback; but I have no idea what we did differently than the rest of the game. But, hey, it worked! It was an ugly win, but there are positives besides the score. We are exorcising demons that haunted us last year. Yes indeed, we lost the midfield. However, I had seen a game where Melbourne dominated the midfield, and they absolutely obliterated the Crows. Last year, by the way, they destroyed us mercilessly. So, they use midfield dominance to impose themselves, and we couldn't deal with opponents controlling ...

Half of the fun from being a Port's barracker comes from the Crows. That's why I love them. I haven't written anything for our friends from West Lakes so far, but this post amends that. This is for them. --- "#WeWantAnswersAFC" is trending on Twitter, while the entire Adelaide Crows is using the bye week for a kind of spiritual retreat away from everything — as if their last isolated camp had done them any good. Meanwhile our rival is in crisis, the #HasWinesSignedYet clock was reset to zero! Ollie is staying and ready to face the Demons on Friday, but that is a subject for another post. Today, I just want to relax and savour all this Schadenfreude brought by all the mismanagement happening at West Lakes. For that, I have found the perfect soundtrack, which I offer to all the Crows out there as a token of good-will. Enjoy the bye, folks! Let's put our "Collective Minds" to work and just imagine a better world: IMAGINE   Joh...

On the other hand, I am excited as a Golden Retriever! Not only because Port won, and big!, but also because the 2018 World Cup has started! I must warn you all that, since I will be busy watching it, I won’t post for the next 30 days as much as I have been doing so far. Still, I solemnly promise at least a review after every Port’s game. --- The alarm rang at 6:15am. Wife doesn’t wake up without coffee and she had a special Pilates class at 7am. Since I would watch Port’s game anyway, I simply set the alarm a bit earlier than I would. Temperature was in the low 40 o F’s (near 6 o C) outside. Those things we do for love![1] When the game broadcast started, I was fully awake. It was still dark outside, so, when NTUA played, it seemed I was closer to Port Adelaide than the actual 8,000 miles distance that separates the club from Uruguayana. At some point during Q2, when the sun was already shining amidst the clouds, my younger son appeared in the living room.[2] He watched w...

An attempt to bring aid and relief for the suffering we may have caused to our beloved brothers from across the border. --- Dear Richmond barrackers, I know it is difficult to understand what you just experienced, but since I have passed through a similar situation last year, I may help you cope with your pain. This is simply how playing against your team feels like. Not good, right? We beat you fairly in the first half, applying f orward pressure, playing contested footy, and moving the ball fast into attack.  Then, in the second half, as you adjusted to stop our offense (we were leading by 23 points), we gladly accepted your invitation to slow the game down, play the ball to the ground, and go for the contest. You see, we know how to play like this as much as you do.  The fact is that you capitulated in halftime. We were leading, and the game was never on the line after the second quarter.[1] You won the final half, indeed, by 9 points. However, we still had 8 scoring ...

The picture shows me during last year's AFL Grand Final. Friday, Richmond should enter on the field surrounded by a guard of honor, and receiveing thunderous applauses from the home crowd. We can kill the Tiger during the game, for sure; but, before, we could show all our appreciation for what they have done for us last year. --- Finally, a Port's night game! This means the bounce-off happens at 7am GPT (GremioPower time). I can believe I will be able to watch the game while fully rested. And what a game it may be! Against the  club who shares its song  with Brazil's  America Football Club , the AFL reigning premiers, that which Glenelg wishes to, but will never be: the Richmond Tigers.  By the way, the truth is that Port Adelaide were Richmond before Richmond was cool. Both teams were supposed to play a similar brand of football: forward pressure; contested footy; and fast transition into attack. Richmond won a flag playing Port style. (Damn!) T...

I would like to publicly thank the PAFC, in the persons of Loukas Founten and Hamish Hartlett, for the gifts. --- No words. Really! Speechless... I don't know what to say! The gifts have arrived today at noon. I loved them all: letter, badge, shirt, autograph. I have written a message to Loukas already, and I would like to send my warmest regards to Hartlett for having signed my shirt. I wish him a fast and full recovery. I was told he wore #22 in his first year. How great is that?! Gremio "Dixon" Power will be soon rocking Uruguayana! CARN THE PORT!

“ The usual person is more than content, he is even proud, to remain within the indicated bounds, and popular belief gives him every reason to fear so much as the first step into the unexplored. The adventure is always and everywhere a passage beyond the veil of the known into the unknown; the powers that watch at the boundary are dangerous; to deal with them is risky; yet for anyone with competence and courage the danger fades. " (Joseph Campbell, ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’)   --- I woke up suddenly, and my first thought was that I had lost the game. It was dark in the room, but since daylight does not start before 7am, I couldn’t know how late it was. I stretched my arm for the phone, but it wasn’t on my bedside table. Then, I remembered. I wasn’t supposed to have fallen asleep. I had everything set for watching the game on bed – a compromise with my wife, who understandably likes her husband’s company at night. So, I had put the phone, the earphones, and the ch...