Eight reasons why you should go to the Meads Cup final in Oamaru or at least watch it on television this afternoon:
1. Success breeds success - this is the TWENTIETH playoff game North Otago has been involved in since 1997. It will be hosting its 14th semifinal or final. That's an astounding number.
2. Cunning, is the Rat - North Otago coach Barry "The Rat" Matthews doesn't seek accolades, but the job he has done in getting the Old Golds back to the top of the lower division has been impressive.
3. Don't forget Growler - Glenn Moore's three seasons with the Highlanders did not produce many wins, but that doesn't mean he forgot how to coach. The word is his input to his former team has been significant in recent weeks.
4. Bones signs off - This could be the end of the road for Ross Hay, the lean and laconic loose forward whose place in North Otago rugby history has long been secure.
5. Let's go, gold - Join one of the most dedicated band of fans in New Zealand rugby with their regular battle cry. And help them find a chant to rhyme with "Zampach".
6. Age has not wearied them - Speaking of Greg Zampach, take a moment to appreciate the speed and subtle touches of the former Highlanders winger, and the more straightforward approach of his fellow ancient, captain Luke Herden.
7. Big Ben - English first five Ben Patston is the Jonny Wilkinson of the Heartland Championship. Big, blond and blessed with a booming boot.
8. Jandal man - Keep an eye on the northern corner of the ground. Whitestone Contracting Stadium has one of the more famous scoreboard attendants in the country. Ross somebody.
• Ooh, aah, why not?
Good on Tana Umaga for making himself available to play in the Super 15 next year, and good on the Chiefs for giving him a crack.
Rugby players are put out to pasture far too early these days, and it's nice to see somebody reverse the trend.
Umaga might not be the player he was in 2004 - who is? - and he probably won't be able to play every week, but his experience and nous and physicality would benefit any of the New Zealand franchises.
I actually wonder if new Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph might have considered sounding out Umaga for a spell down here.
In a radically overhauled Highlanders side, with midfield options consisting of Shaun Treeby and (presumably) Kenny Lynn and (possibly) Jayden Hayward, Umaga would have been a great addition.
• JK is OK
John Kirwan has always been high on my list of greatest All Blacks and now he gets my thumbs up for writing the sports book of the year.
And his book isn't even really about sport.
I recommend Kirwan's All Blacks Don't Cry (Penguin, pbk, $42) to anyone who wants to learn more about the great winger's battle with depression, or who wants some help with handling their own mental illness.
Kirwan first revealed his struggles in a series of powerful television advertisements. Now he tells the whole story of his battle with the Black Dog, and how he triumphed.
He makes it clear that All Blacks do cry, and bloody well should cry. And he offers plenty of reasons why his "hang on to hope" mantra has real meaning.
There is also a detailed question-and-answer session with a mental health expert at the end of the book.
• Junior changes mooted
The Otago Rugby Football Union is considering changes to the structure of junior competitions in an admirable bid to keep more youngsters in the game.
On the table are plans to offer rippa rugby to older kids, and to have mixed (age and weight) grades.
One of the biggest issues for the union is losing players who get to high school and are lost from the game because they don't have a team to play for. The proposals would allow some young first-year secondary school pupils to remain in junior grades.
The union also claims 20% of children stop playing rugby when they have to tackle, so offering rippa at higher levels should keep some of them involved.
• The numbers game
A belated follow-up to a story that ran in the Otago Daily Times a few weeks ago on the number of registered players in the various sports in Otago.
We reported rugby (8180 participants) as being at the top of the heap, ahead of cricket (7000), basketball (5120), netball and football (5000 each).
A glaring omission was golf, which Golf Otago boss Doug Harradine informs me had 9894 registered members across the Otago clubs at the start of this year.
He believes the figure would now be higher than 10,000, and argues twice that number again play casually or take part in regular events like twilight golf.
That assertion is backed up by Sparc's Active New Zealand survey, which revealed 30,120 people had played golf in Otago during 2007-08.
The only sports/activities bigger in the province were swimming (55,212) and cycling (47,593) - both of which attract far more casual than registered participants.
• Honour for Wells
Congratulations to Otago's Sam Wells, named one of the promising players of the year in the 2010 New Zealand Cricket Almanack.
Wells emerged from the fringes to average nearly 60 with the bat for the Volts last summer, scoring his first two centuries, and claiming 21 wickets, with two bags of five.
The other promising players were Black Caps batsman BJ Watling and Auckland fast bowler Michael Bates. Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum were predictably named players of the year.
• Paying homage to Diego
Finally this week, and much against my better judgement, I stand aside to let my colleague, Sean Flaherty, a worshipper at the church of Diego Maradona, pay tribute to the old nutter on the day of his 50th birthday:That Diego Maradona made it to 40 was a major medical surprise.
That he turns 50 today is verging on the miraculous.
Maybe he is deserving of his godlike status in his native Argentina, where members of the Church of Maradona, who celebrate their Christmas today, gather regularly to worship at his chubby feet.
On the field he was surely touched by the divine, playing with more beauty, artistry and wit than any player in history.
But his private life had more in common with Keith Richards than Jesus of Nazareth - partying with gangsters, hoovering up mountains of cocaine and sharing hot-tubs with many women who were not his long-suffering wife.
The coke ruined his heart. Then he ate and ate and ate until he was the size of a baby elephant.
Then he almost died. Twice. Buenos Aires came to a standstill as thousands gathered outside hospital praying for his recovery.
He recovered. He got a talk-show. He hung out with Fidel Castro. He became Argentina's coach and memorably slid on his belly across a rain-soaked turf to celebrate qualification for this year's World Cup.
In true Diego fashion he then dominated that World Cup, his emotion on the touchline ensuring he made headlines despite his cluelessness in tactical and selection decisions.
He had planned to spend his 50th in Naples, where he took Napoli to two Serie A titles, but was put off after remembering tax officials confiscated two luxury watches and a diamond earring during his last visit in 2006.
Naples will party on regardless with a full day of festivities planned including, in typical low-key fashion, the dedication of a Maradona statue that will now be part of the city's most famous nativity scene.
Happy birthday Diego. Few geniuses grace this world. You are one of them.
