Answers to quiz questions.....

1) St George Illawarra Dragons & Collingwood Magpies


2) Melbourne Rebels


3) Thomas Muller


4) Mark Webber & Sebastian Vettel


5) Australia, New Zealand, England, Papua New Guinea


6) 3

Hope you did well!!!!!

Games are more than just Australia's domination

                                              
                                                                 Photo Source: smh.com.au

Im sure im not the only one who throughout some stage of the Commenwealth Games looked at the medal count and thought what a joke, is anyone going to challenge Australia?  Yes it was true Australia once again made a mockery of these games by dominating almost every aspect of every event from start to finish, obviously in the clear absence of many powerhouse nations.  However, Jack Kerr's article made me realise something else, it made me realise that the games are not only a chance to see Australia continue to dominate but rather pay attention to the ability of many smaller nations raise above themselves and reach heights they never would have thought possible.

Kerr's article focuses on specific memorable performances of nations like Samoa and Tonga who achieved great success.  The article is fairly well structured with Kerr clearly elaborating on specific achievements of these athletes although it may have been best to lead the story by highlighting Samoa's amazing weightlifting feat's which inevitably saw them walk away with not only their first ever gold medal but also their second and third as opposed to making reference to this towards the article's end.  Samoa's success is definitely the most appealing aspect of the article as within the space of 3 days the nation went from last on the medal count to 11th, yet Kerr saw this success as less newsworthy than other minnow nation competitors who merely achieved personal bests. 

Kerr's use of sources are not extensive as he only seeks the opinion of Samoa's Chief de mission Shelly Birch, however her quote about the prime minister's jubilation is definitely effective in giving the reader insight into how much it means to such a small island nation.  Kerr could have added to the quality of the article by gaining a comment from any of the athletes he mentions in particularly the gold medal winning weightlifter's from Samoa. 

Despite a few deficiencies the author did produce fair online article that touches on a different and refreshing aspect of the games with a good portrayal of certain characters that are far from household names in Australia. 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/14/3038514.htm?site=thedrum

Should transgender golfers be permitted to play in womens golf?

Photo Source: dailymail.co.uk

Who said this blog doesn't explore all the issues in sport?  Legally when a man undergoes a transgender operation they are considered to be a women at the conclusion of the procedure.  However, it can get a little trickier when sport is involved.  Lana Lawless has been officially banned from competing on the US tour because she was not born a woman, much of the reason no doubt attributed to the fact that officials believe she is still gaining some sort of physical advantage as seen by her incredibly long driving.  If the law recognises Ms Lawless as a female (both physically and mentally) then shouldn't the LPGA do the same?

Katie Thomas's article explores the events that led to transgender golfer Lana Lawless's decision to sue the LPGA for violation of civil rights.  The article provides quite a simple yet descriptive and informative recount of the events surrounding this saga how they have impacted the different parties directly involved. Thomas quite rightly illustrates the point of view of Miss Lawless first to correctly establish to the reader her motivation for taking such a path as a result of feeling discriminated against. 

Thomas follows this up by highlighting relevent comments from representatives from the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco, former transgender tennis player Renee Richards and states that LPGA officials refused to give comment on the issue.  Thomas could have added another element to the story by gaining the perpective of a current player on the LPGA tour.  This would have been very intriguing and made the article more appealing as common question many readers would have been left wondering is whether or not fellow competitors Miss Lawless would be competing against believe she is entitled to play on the tour and if so does she gain an unfair advantage or not. 

The article is a fair piece of online journalism displaying key fact supported by insightful and relevent sources and solid a structure.  Although failure to seek comment of current or even past LPGA tour players weakens the article and takes away from much of the good work achieved throughout the story. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/sports/golf/13lawsuit.html

A Pole the next F1 champ?

Photo Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/

When we think about Formula 1 champions names such as Schumacher, Alonso and Hamilton come to mind.  These drivers all come from European countries with a history of motor sport champions.  However, a new driver has marked his claim this season and he is not from England or Germany but rather Poland.  Yes, Robert Kubica is the first Polish F1 driver and judging by his impression showing this season he is not just content to make up the numbers. 

Mark Hughes's article for the BBC, specifically claims that Robert Kubica is a future F1champion, effectively supporting his claim by highlighting certain facts and making relevent comparisons between Kubica and past champions.  Hughes's article goes beyond the facets of a simple profile but rather communicates a well established opinion. 

The article is well structured with Hughes chronologically stating his reasons why he believes Kubica is such a special talent claiming that despite his car being inferior to other performers like Ferrari and given he is still relatively inexperienced he still manages to qualify on the front and second row on technical tracks.  The comparisons made between Kubica's talents of driving well with an inferior car to that of Mika Hakkinen effectively clarifies to the reader the potential he possesses and therefore strengthens Hughes claims.  Numerous questions are raised throughout the article, in particular why is a driver of Kubica's talents driving such an inferior car?  In seeking response to this question Hughes gains insight directly from the source, that being Renault technical director James Allison who claims that in recent years a aerodynamic issues have hampered the team although next season these problems should be resolved. 

The article is an exemplary piece of opinion journalism which fundamentally clarifies claims and arguments with well structured and supported reasons as well as the opinions of relevent sources.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9080455.stm

Refs under the pump

Photo Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop

Who seriously wants to be a referee at any level of sport these days?  Seriously it is a thankless job by which you are heavily slandered when you have a bad game and not complemented when you have a good game.  I for one applaud all referees for showing the courage to step to up to such a contentious position. 
Tension is however brewing in the NBA with many referees given their marching orders before the start of the new season.  Peter Vecsey's article in the New York Post claims that an increase in oncourt fines for player misconduct has led to the firing and resignation of many NBA referees particularly the league's oldest and more experienced officials.  The article is extremely informative and quite insightful however, tends to overstep the mark for an online article by initally confusing the reader with an avalanche of statistics before revealing the article's main purpose which is to reveal the referee overhaul in the NBA.  Online news reader's do not want to sift through mountains of statistics to reach the half way point of the article to know what the essence of the story is about.  Vecsey needs to initially state the fact that many referees have lost there jobs for the upcoming season then reinforce this statement with the relevent statistics. 

Vecsey's article does not portray any insight from sources.  This leaves the reader wondering and curious to the opinion of the recently fired referees, current referees players and the NBA board itself.  This particularly article which reveals the current situation in the NBA and divulges mountains of statistics demonstrating why the NBA is cracking down on oncourt discipline, needs to consolidate these claims and information with perspective from those directly involved to give more weight and credibility to the article.  Although the article reveals an interesting trend and is fairly informative it is a poorly developed and structured online article.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/more_sports/nba_curtain_calls_dcSu6psa1Ln2No4a6WQNUL/0

Roc's Sports Quiz - How well do you know your sport?

1) Who won both the NRL and AFL grand finals this year 2010?

2) What is the name of the new Rugby Union franchise to join the Super Rugby competition in 2011?

3) Who won the golden boot at the 2010 Fifa World Cup?

4) Name the 2 drivers for the Formula 1 racing team Red Bull Renault?

5) Who are the 4 teams participating in the 2010 Rugby League 4 Nations tournament?

6) How many grand slam titles did Rafael Nadal win in 2010?

Answers will published in next week's post!!!!!!!!!!!!