The return of the Scottie Awards
November 14, 2008
It's the moment none of you have been waiting for - the return of the weekly Scottie Awards!
Every Friday I'll be taking a look at the week's sporting action and handing out my unique Scottie Awards.
For those who don't remember the first iteration of the awards, they're called the Scottie Awards as a tribute to former All Black Glen Osborne.
When I first started in the media it became obvious the only way to become a respected journalist was to be awarded a nickname by sportspersons - "Smithy", "TJ", "Nisbo", the list was nearly beginning-less.
Little did I know when I went to the formal launch of the NZ Breakers' 2007-2008 season I was about to pick up that sought-for nickname.
The scene was set - the media was to take on the Breakers. But we had an ace up our sleeves in ex-All Black Oz. He spoke with us all, and then heard my brash Scottish accent and within a second I had become 'Scottie'.
And now literally no-one calls me Scottie, but I'm determined to have the moniker live on in cyberspace, hence the awards name.
That done, let's move on to the guts of this week's awards. . .
TEAM OF THE WEEK
There are a few possibilities for team of the week, and had I been uber-patriotic then I would have awarded it to Scotland for keeping the All Blacks to under 50 points.
The Kiwis came close with their stirring second-half comeback against the hapless English but, in the end, one team's performance was above expectations.
The NZ Breakers are a team I've grown to respect and admire. Their openness for the media is a yardstick by which other teams should be judged. And the entire club is focussed on being a team and it shows on court.
Having said that, I won't think twice about criticising them if I think it is warranted.
But no criticism is required this week. I told everyone in the office who would listen that this week would be the defining seven days of the Breakers' season. They had to face up against everyone's pre-season favourites the Melbourne Tigers and the team that's beaten them twice this season, the Cairns Taipans.
Two losses and the Breakers would know they would be unlikely to sustain a challenge this season. One win/one loss and they would know they should guarantee a home-play off.
But they won twice and in doing so have consolidated second spot in the league and shown they will be serious challengers this season.
The team would have expected to win both games, but I don't think many in the media, or even their support, would have expected to knock off the Tigers for the second time this season.
An honourable mention goes to Burnley for knocking Chelski out of the Carling Cup, but given the Premiership teams don't take the cup seriously, it perhaps wasn't that big a shock.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
If I gave this to Kirk Penney for his NBL Player of the Month award then you'd rightfully call me a Breakers cheerleader and never read the blog again.
So Kirk comes in a close second behind the clear winner of this week's award - Black Caps opener Jamie How.
I had the privilege of interviewing Jamie last week. He made a point of seeking me after he had finished another commitment as he knew I wanted to speak with him and he was happy to answer all questions, and with refreshing honesty.
He went into the warm-up game against New South Wales down on form, having performed pretty poorly by his own standards in Bangladesh.
But his fantastic knock of 170 yesterday, including a handful of sixes, shows that the faster wickets of Australia are a better fit and we should be looking for How to lead the way in the two Tests that follow.
Let's hope he gets some decent support from those around him.
OTHER AWARDS
The 'I'm Bored' award goes to Alinghi and Oracle. The America's Cup is off, it's on, it's off again. It's in court, the legal challenge is dead, it's back on again. What the heck is going on? I'm not a huge fan of this rich-person sport at the best of times, but I'm completely over everything to do with it at the moment. Someone needs to slap Alinghi and Oracle around the head and tell them to wise up.
The 'Obvious Statement of the Week' award goes to league legend Wally Lewis for his declaration the Kiwis v England semi-final match is too close to call. Ya think, Wally? I'm not going to risk $1 on the game because I don't know if the first-half Kiwis from last week or the second-half Kiwis from last week are going to turn up.
And finally for this week, the 'I need to keep my mouth shut and show it on the field' award goes to perennial loser against the All Blacks, Brian O'Driscoll.Ireland have a small chance of beating the All Blacks and if they do, BO'D is going to have to play well rather than just moaning about the All Blacks. We'll know on Sunday how that pans out.
So join me next Friday for another round of awards, but in the meantime let me know who you want to give an award to this week.
Who's your player of the week and who would you have picked for team of the week? As always, I appreciate your comments.
Every Friday I'll be taking a look at the week's sporting action and handing out my unique Scottie Awards.
For those who don't remember the first iteration of the awards, they're called the Scottie Awards as a tribute to former All Black Glen Osborne.
When I first started in the media it became obvious the only way to become a respected journalist was to be awarded a nickname by sportspersons - "Smithy", "TJ", "Nisbo", the list was nearly beginning-less.
Little did I know when I went to the formal launch of the NZ Breakers' 2007-2008 season I was about to pick up that sought-for nickname.
The scene was set - the media was to take on the Breakers. But we had an ace up our sleeves in ex-All Black Oz. He spoke with us all, and then heard my brash Scottish accent and within a second I had become 'Scottie'.
And now literally no-one calls me Scottie, but I'm determined to have the moniker live on in cyberspace, hence the awards name.
That done, let's move on to the guts of this week's awards. . .
TEAM OF THE WEEK
There are a few possibilities for team of the week, and had I been uber-patriotic then I would have awarded it to Scotland for keeping the All Blacks to under 50 points.
The Kiwis came close with their stirring second-half comeback against the hapless English but, in the end, one team's performance was above expectations.
The NZ Breakers are a team I've grown to respect and admire. Their openness for the media is a yardstick by which other teams should be judged. And the entire club is focussed on being a team and it shows on court.
Having said that, I won't think twice about criticising them if I think it is warranted.
But no criticism is required this week. I told everyone in the office who would listen that this week would be the defining seven days of the Breakers' season. They had to face up against everyone's pre-season favourites the Melbourne Tigers and the team that's beaten them twice this season, the Cairns Taipans.
Two losses and the Breakers would know they would be unlikely to sustain a challenge this season. One win/one loss and they would know they should guarantee a home-play off.
But they won twice and in doing so have consolidated second spot in the league and shown they will be serious challengers this season.
The team would have expected to win both games, but I don't think many in the media, or even their support, would have expected to knock off the Tigers for the second time this season.
An honourable mention goes to Burnley for knocking Chelski out of the Carling Cup, but given the Premiership teams don't take the cup seriously, it perhaps wasn't that big a shock.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
If I gave this to Kirk Penney for his NBL Player of the Month award then you'd rightfully call me a Breakers cheerleader and never read the blog again.
So Kirk comes in a close second behind the clear winner of this week's award - Black Caps opener Jamie How.
I had the privilege of interviewing Jamie last week. He made a point of seeking me after he had finished another commitment as he knew I wanted to speak with him and he was happy to answer all questions, and with refreshing honesty.
He went into the warm-up game against New South Wales down on form, having performed pretty poorly by his own standards in Bangladesh.
But his fantastic knock of 170 yesterday, including a handful of sixes, shows that the faster wickets of Australia are a better fit and we should be looking for How to lead the way in the two Tests that follow.
Let's hope he gets some decent support from those around him.
OTHER AWARDS
The 'I'm Bored' award goes to Alinghi and Oracle. The America's Cup is off, it's on, it's off again. It's in court, the legal challenge is dead, it's back on again. What the heck is going on? I'm not a huge fan of this rich-person sport at the best of times, but I'm completely over everything to do with it at the moment. Someone needs to slap Alinghi and Oracle around the head and tell them to wise up.
The 'Obvious Statement of the Week' award goes to league legend Wally Lewis for his declaration the Kiwis v England semi-final match is too close to call. Ya think, Wally? I'm not going to risk $1 on the game because I don't know if the first-half Kiwis from last week or the second-half Kiwis from last week are going to turn up.
And finally for this week, the 'I need to keep my mouth shut and show it on the field' award goes to perennial loser against the All Blacks, Brian O'Driscoll.Ireland have a small chance of beating the All Blacks and if they do, BO'D is going to have to play well rather than just moaning about the All Blacks. We'll know on Sunday how that pans out.
So join me next Friday for another round of awards, but in the meantime let me know who you want to give an award to this week.
Who's your player of the week and who would you have picked for team of the week? As always, I appreciate your comments.
Stick around for the 'bitter with life' award twobob - some silverware might be coming your way.
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