Kiwi Kids Books

Already the stress is beginning to show in our house. The weekend is only hours old and already I have been reprimanded by Rachel for a number of minor, yet significant, transgressions. The first was a failure to listen while the shopping list was given to me and the second was failing to listen when important instructions regarding the makeup of Eli’s wardrobe were passed to me.

The reason I say that the stress has only just started is that this weekend is probably the most significant sporting weekend we have had for over a decade. The media have referred to it as ‘Super Saturday’ and while this does highlight the importance of the weekend it is effectively media speak for what is known as ‘The Make or Break Weekend’.

To those unfamiliar with this weekend you probably don’t understand its significance. In the same way that Haley’s Comets only passes our earth once in a blue moon so it is with this weekend. The sporting calendars have all converged on August the 16th – 17th it will definitely be ‘Make or Break’ for many New Zealand marriages.

Weekends like this do come along every so often, perhaps once a season. What makes this weekend special is the huge importance and national significance to so many sporting events.
Firstly, we have the Olympics and the fact that we are medal less halfway through the two week extravaganza is a concern. Saturday evening will see our big rowing hopes on the water as we have 5 boats in rowing finals. The recent form of the rowing team has been a concern and with gold medal Mahe Drysdale coming down with diarrhoea just before his last race the nation is holding its collect breathe. Mahe is also holding his breathe because it is well known that diarrhoea runs in your jeans.
We also have further Olympic medallist opportunities with Valarie Villi and Nick Wills beginning their quest for Olympic immortality.
So far, apart from New Zealand’s medal telly, the Olympics have lived up to the hype and there has been some compelling viewing. For me two things stand out. Firstly, the weightlifter dislocating his shoulder has been regular viewing in my class over the last few days. Secondly, I have been astounded at the tans on most of the Olympic athletes, especially the ones from New Zealand. I am sure you have noticed it and if you haven’t just check out our rowers on Saturday evening. While most of us here in Aotearoa have lost our summers tans and are now whiter than a Scotsman’s belly, our Olympic representatives have spent the off season on the tanning bed. Perhaps this is the reason we are doing so poorly at the Olympics.

While the Olympics will hold centre stage, that is only just the beginning of the weekend. We have the All Blacks playing the Africans on Saturday evening and victory in South Africa would see us favourites to retain the Tri Nations Trophy. While most pundits are predicting a win for the greens this could be the making of Ritchie McCaw’s leadership. While not totally convinced of an All Black victory I would put my house on the fact that Canterbury will beat the arch enemy Auckland comfortably this weekend. The fact that this Canty v Auck game only gets two lines in this tribble is testament to the sheer volume of sport on this weekend.

But before the rugby and following our rowers small medal haul we have the warriors. The warriors have been building nicely over the last 6 weeks and another home victory could see them push into the top 8. I will be watching with interest.

Furthermore, we also have the start of the all importance soccer season. The Premiership begins in England and hopefully we will see Tottenham rise above their normal 10th place finish. We also have the Phoenix starting their quest for A-League victory on Sunday afternoon at 5pm.

So you can already see the importance of this weekend. It will not be easy but hopefully come Monday morning Rachel will still be talking to me, New Zealand will have a couple of gold medals and I am not too tired to make it to work by 8:00am.