I was leaning towards cynicism for most of Tuesday night as a prominent television programme staged its show in the Octagon.
Its two major weak points were immediately obvious.-
1. It was deliberately rah-rah, at a time when there is precious little rah-rah in the hearts of those who are sickened at what became of the Otago Rugby Football Union.
2. Paying off the small creditors is unquestionably a worthy aim. On the flip side, you could argue Campbell Live has been paying off the ORFU's debts, ergo the ORFU has been bailed out. Again.
Still, there was definitely just a teensy bit of feelgood factor about the whole thing.
It was a particularly smart move for the ebullient host to interview three Otago players - youngster Michael Collins (Queenstown), bespectacled prop/teacher Scott Manson (Cromwell) and outside back Matt Faddes (the pride of Balclutha).
All three had clearly been hand-picked, but it was still kind of nice to hear from three genuine Otago blokes who just want to play rugby in a blue and gold jersey.
The ORFU let this province down terribly. But Otago rugby DOES mean a lot to a lot of people.
What could have made Tuesday night's sausage sizzle even better?
If all ORFU board members of the last 10 years had been there to thank every business donating money, every Mum and Dad buying a snarler, and every kid putting their pocket money in a bucket.
• A different approach
Prolific correspondent Calvin Oaten emailed The Last Word this week with some further thoughts about the ORFU bail-out deal.
Where I suggested last week the Dunedin City Council had no option but to swallow a distasteful compromise, Calvin argued the council should have pressed harder for a better deal.
This was his (abridged) five-point plan:
1. All games - provincial, super 15 and internationals - to be played in our stadium will be at full commercial rates, and all promotional costs pertaining to same would be at the hirer's expense.
2. The ORFU will be liquidated, and a full investigation of all financial details produced.
3. All creditors possible will be paid in this order: first, small independent trades, suppliers and workers; second, the full amount, or as much as is available, must be paid of the debt owing to the DCC; third, the ORFU, in conjunction with the NZRU, must make its own arrangements with the BNZ.
4. Failure to meet these requirements will mean the stadium will be unavailable. (This would be the hard-nosed opener which would have set the ORFU/NZRU back on their heels. The DCC held the whip hand but instead basically begged.)
5. Need time to try to get another model in place. There is no model which will work, so it must be faced that the professional rugby "business" is destined to fail due to lack of population. It barely works in Europe with a billion people surrounding, so how can it work here with just 4.5 million?
Calvin added all of the current mess should have been easily forecast before the expensive stadium project turned into "one of the greatest blunders in the city's history".
Your thoughts?
• Club comparisons
Thank God for club rugby.
No liquidation, no contracts (not over the table, at least) and no stadium debt.
Just good, grass-roots stuff that is a world away from the ORFU and its spectacular collapse.
Plenty of in-depth analysis will follow in the coming weeks.
To start on a lighter note, I had the idea of looking at the 10 clubs and comparing them with English football clubs. Here goes:University A = Liverpool: The easiest comparison to make.
Glorious history, but tough times of late.
Dunedin = Manchester United: Big and successful, which leads to envy and loathing.
Southern = Chelsea: Both have recent silverware, a young coach (though Chelsea's has been given the flick) and a vigorous recruitment policy.
Also roughly the same number of Englishmen in each starting line-up.
Taieri = Manchester City: Emerged from a long slump to dominate the competition. Both play in front of approximately 47,000 fans.
Pirates = Everton: The people's clubs. Both live in the shadow of stronger neighbours.
Green Island = Bolton: Solid, working-class support base.
Won't win the title but won't surrender without a fight.
Kaikorai = Stoke: Capable of beating bigger teams, defensively tough but don't play with a great deal of flair.
Alhambra-Union = Arsenal: Plenty of success over the last decade but have been hot and cold in the last two seasons.
Harbour = Spurs: Good support base and can play with panache. But never seem to win anything.
Zingari-Richmond = Wolves: Both influential foundation clubs, and both have had years of glory and victory. Just not right now.
• Ludicrous Lionel
Seriously, how ridiculous is it that Lionel Messi has scored 234 goals for Barcelona?
He's only 24, he's a pipsqueak and he's dominating a league that is hardly full of mugs.
I thought the talk of Messi joining Pele and Maradona in the debate over greatest footballer of all time was premature.
Not now.
• Worst. Interview. Ever.
All sports reporters have struck reluctant interview subjects at some stage of their careers.
But not many televised interviews can match, for awkwardness, the one golfer Ernie Els gave American television on Sunday.
The Big Easy had just imploded, going bogey-bogey over the final two holes of the Transitions Championship to miss a playoff by one stroke.
He agreed to an immediate interview and it was excruciatingly painful to watch.
Els, with a look of utter shock on his face, gave two curt responses to two predictably lame questions, and the interview was over.
Google it. It's tough but fascinating to watch.
• Birthday of the week
Dean Jones is 51 today.
He was one of those brash Australian cricketers New Zealand fans loved to hate.
But Jones was classy. He also features in one of my favourite cricket stories.
It was 1986. Australia v India, the third test in Madras (now Chennai). The result - the second tie in test history - would make the game famous, but Jones would remember it for other reasons.
Australia batted first in oppressively hot conditions.
David Boon got a ton and Jones, playing his first test in three years, also reached three figures.
Jones pushed on but struggled in the heat.
While batting, he stopped regularly to vomit. In the breaks, he covered himself in ice.
On 170, Jones decided he had to retire. But his captain, Allan Border, marched down the pitch and said: "You weak Victorian. I want a real Australian out here. I want a Queenslander."
Jones went on to 210, after which he was hospitalised with exhaustion.
