Modern sport . . .
Baltimore and Bangladesh.
I mean, they both start with B, but there are not many other similarities that I can see between "Charm City" — the setting for The Wire, one of the five greatest television shows of all time — and the densely populated "Land of the Bengals".
Bangladesh first, and obviously that means cricket.
The Bangers are out of the T20 World Cup after they refused to play in India, highlighting what they claimed to be security concerns around their team after a period of political tension between the nations.
The International Cricket Council — effectively run by Indian cricket now — declined to move Bangladesh games to co-host Sri Lanka, claiming there was no threat to visiting players or officials, and invited Scotland to replace Bangladesh at the tournament.
This has actually been an ongoing story that came to a head when an IPL team, the Kolkata Knight Riders, booted out Bangladeshi quick Mustafizur Rahman on the orders of the Indian cricket board.
Funnily enough, when India asked not to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy last year, that request was instantly granted.
All a bit unseemly, really, especially when you consider the ICC boss is Jay Shah, formerly the honorary secretary of Indian cricket, and son of Amit Shah, India’s minister of home affairs and good buddy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sport and politics are, and always have been, inextricably linked, but this circus does nothing to enhance the status of world cricket.
. . . at its finest?
Then there is rugby.
We take a break from feverish speculation over the identity of the next All Blacks coach (last man standing?) to briefly address something that has become unremarkable but still feels a little off.
It has been confirmed the fourth test in the Greatest Rivalry tour between those All Blacks and the Springboks will be played in the United States on September 12.
M&T Bank Stadium, home of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens, gets the gig following three tests in South Africa.
Meh.
Playing tests in neutral venues to make more money — sorry, to help grow the game (pfft) — is nothing new, and the All Blacks have already played tests in Chicago, San Diego and Washington, DC.
Does nothing for me, though. Test rugby should be played at the home ground of one of the combatants. It feels like this makes the Greatest Rivalry tour a three-test event, and the Baltimore bash just an add-on.
Masters of their domain
The Last Word extends a warm welcome to all you characters, campaigners and chancers who have come south (or north) for the Masters Games in Dunedin.
You have (hopefully) missed the worst of the weather and you will find this odd little city a perfectly pleasant spot for your swimming, pickleball, darts and wine tasting.
Have fun and watch those knees.
Who could it be?
The Last Word is told of a notoriously verbose Dunedin rugby identity who, after years of slinging slander at others, deserved some of his own medicine recently.
Our man had apparently headed to Wānaka for a big birthday bash for well-known Otago rugby/business chap John Faulks.
Upon arriving at the Upper Clutha Rugby club and noticing it was suspiciously quiet, he checked the invitation before calling another cobber to report: "Ah, yeah, I’ve made it to Faulksy’s birthday do. Turns out it was last night."
Talk about being kicked for touch.
Fantasy land
I would always rather watch a sport or read about a sport or play a sport (on a PS5) than spend my time digging into fantasy sport.
In saying that, fantasy NFL has become an obsession for the past five years thanks to my participation in the Any Given Sunday league, and I have dabbled in fantasy NBA.
Time to give fantasy Super Rugby a dabble.
Tune in next week to see the team I put together.
Quote of the week
“The question is, are we tennis players or are we animals in the zoo where they are observed even when they poop? That was exaggerating, obviously, but it would be nice to have some privacy. It would be nice also to have your own process and not always be observed."
That was Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek backing up Coco Gauff’s complaints about a lack of privacy at the Australian Open.
Gauff thought she had found a quiet spot at which to bash her racquet into the ground multiple times after a quarterfinal loss, but the whole temper tanty was caught on camera.
Swiatek had earlier featured in a clip shared widely on social media when she forgot her accreditation.
Mixed feelings here.
These are people who deserve some privacy and certainly do not need to be feeling like zoo animals.
The flip side? This sort of stuff means more eyes on the sport, which is never a bad thing.
