Pot Pourri

I gotta break these S14 previews up - you'll get a double dose tomorrow (most of them are already written and I'm drip feeding them). Already a couple need changing as Ryan Nicholas doesn't look like getting to Queensland while this morning's news sees Chiefs No 8 Sione Lauaki out for the first month with a broken wrist.

When a kid, one of my favourite sport watching memories was when Lance Cairns smashed half a dozen sixes off the Aussie bowlers when we were about to get pulverised in an ODI contest at the MCG. Actually we did get arse-whipped, but no-one remembers that - just Lance and Excalibur putting Lillee and Co over the fence.

Watching Jacob Oram bat the other night and also smack 6 sixes will also linger long in the memory. It just might turn the Kiwis around; we all know they are a bunch of head-cases but 2 or 3 "good" performances like that in the next couple of weeks might see them actually start to play properly.

I say "good" as conceding 345 bowling first is not a good effort. But we've all forgotten that haven't we, we only remember Oram's innings. Just like no-one remembers we got thrashed when Lance went similarly beserk.

And onto today, a crunch match against England. We should win - if there's one team in need of the psychiatrist's couch more than NZ, it's England, but we are dealing with fragile minds here (on both sides). Expect another 7 hours of mediocrity punctuated by 1 or 2 individual highlights.

Reading a book at the moment, which had this line:

The main reason sports gamblers ...(lose is)... because they underestimate the complexity of the activity. Sports are contested by humans, and humans make mistakes.

Reading this the day after FedEx won his tenth Grand Slam and Tiger won his first start of the year on the PGA Tour (for seven PGA wins on the trot) made me smile. Either they have mastered their complex activity or they are not human. At times I wonder at the second alternative. I watched bits of both over the weekend, and we are lucky to have two of the greatest sportspersons to ever grace this planet beamed into our living rooms.

Another excerpt from the same book sees:

I don't recommend that anyone take up gambling as a livelihood. It's far too difficult for that.

Coincidentally, over at Steady's blog (www.punt.com) there is a well-written piece on the same subject. It's intriguing that I've yet to see a professional gambler actually recommend their profession as a nice way to make a living. Not because they don't want competition; but because it's damn hard work and the fruits of endeavour do not always result in just rewards.

To give an example: I've probably already invested 40 hours into the upcoming Super 14 season and I've got more to do. Yet all this work could become meaningless with an injury to a key player, or some fortuitous act like the bounce of a rugby ball during a game.

So it's a mug's game, right? Actually, no - but it's a wild ride of ups and downs that not everyone can handle. Someone asked me 6 months ago whether they should consider doing this for a living; at the time I didn't have an answer. Now I do, and the answer is the same as everyone else's - no, or really think through it carefully before taking the plunge. It's not as easy as it looks, and like anything requires a lot of hard work to succeed.