Lost/Teardrop: My 12th blog of the year 2023

Well, there is another interesting fact that on 3 occasions that a host nation would gone on to win the Rugby World Cup (But first, it was New Zealand in 1987 when we were co-hosts along with Australia to win the inaugural tournament then South Africa in 1995 (In which the late president of their country of Nelson Mandela who famously attended the game as a spectator & presented the trophy to the winning captain which was South Africa's Francois Pienaar at the post match presentation in which they united a nation by using rugby as their symbol of success) & the All Blacks again in 2011 in which we ended 24 years of heartbreak & disappointment) compared to only once on that occasion that a side has gone onto to successfully defend the William Webb Ellis trophy, & it was the AB's in 2015 (Compared to the Football World Cup that both Italy (Who won the tournament 1934 then retained it in 1938) & Brazil (Who also won the Football World Cup in 1958 then completed a successful defence in 1962) did it) & also only once has gone on to win the tournament after losing the opening game as I mentioned in my previous blogs, & that belongs to the Springboks at the most recent one in 2019 (And also compared to the Football World Cup that both Spain (Who did it in 2010 after losing to Switzerland in the opening group game by becoming the 1st European country to win a World Cup outside its home continent followed by Germany in 2014 who became the 1st European nation to win the tournament staged in the Americas) & Argentina (Who also did it last year, inspired by their triumph at Copa America in 2021 after they also lost to Saudi Arabia (Who made history as I mentioned in my previous blogs, in one of international football's biggest shocks which turned the football world upside down but it's been 3 months since the Argentinians had a successful Football World Cup glory for the 3rd time, against the defending champions at the time of France on spot kicks at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail in one of the best World Cup finals in history, their 1st since 1986 in which the late Diego Maradona (Who is Messi's childhood hero as a young kid as I mentioned in my blogs) hoisted the Football World Cup trophy aloft after their team's win against West Germany in the final at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City) in also the opening group match) did it) after beginning their campaign with defeat against New Zealand.

And how ironic that my Moroccan Jewish mate & self proclaimed Liverpool FC as well as Pink Floyd fan of Leon (Who I last saw him on the 19th of February last month (On the same day as I met both Andy & his wife Kelsey for the 1st time since 2021) & used to live in New Zealand from 1980 until 2022) proposing to his partner Michelle (Who I haven't seen her since September last year & she's now living in the UK with Leon to be close to his & her family who are living abroad) asking her to marry during the half time break at a Premier League football game during the Merseyside derby clash between Liverpool & Everton at Anfield, & she accepted the offer meaning that Leon is engaged again (He's married before but he's not now & is about to).

And back onto the rugby related stuff with so many matches to look forward to this years Super Rugby Pacific season (The last before this years global showpiece event, the Rugby World Cup which is held in France) on the weekend of the 24th to the 25th of February such as the defending 11 time champions, the Crusaders (Whose Super Rugby dominance kick started when they won their 1st title in 1998) kick start their title defence against the Chiefs (The former twice Super Rugby champions in 2012-13) in a replay of last year's semifinal at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch followed by the Waratahs (Champions of the 2014 edition of the tournament) which will celebrate the return of Fijian Nemani Nadolo as they take on Australia's best from last year which is the Brumbies (The 2004 champs) at the brand new Allianz Stadium which opened last year in Sydney then Moana Pasifika (Who are in their 2nd season since their debut last year) begin proceedings against the Fijian Drua (Who along with Moana are into their sophomore year in the competition) at the home of the Warriors NRL team at Mt Smart Stadium while the Highlanders (The 2015 Super Rugby champions who were quarterfinalists from last year) kick off their campaign against the Blues (Who are seeking redemption after the disappointment of last year when they missed out on the Super Rugby Pacific title in the final, against the dominant Crusaders side at Eden Park in Auckland right behind them) in a rematch of the quarterfinal from last year at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin before the Reds (The champions from 2011 who lost to the eventual champs, the Crusaders in the quarters) commence the season against the Hurricanes (Who haven't won a Super Rugby title since 2016 in which they went down to Australia's best, which is the Brumbies last year in the quarters) at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane & the final match of the weekend sees the Force (Their 1st season was in 2006 & remained in the competition until 2017 then they got reinstated last year when they competed in the Super Rugby Pacific competition) & the Rebels (Who have Italian international Monty Ioane, as one of the key signings which stunned Super Rugby Pacific) go at it when they kick start their campaigns at HBF Park in Perth, a week out until the Super Round set to stage again just like last year at AAMI Park in Melbourne.

And my dear cuzzie Paige (Partner of Jarrod Ahearn who I haven't seen her since 2016) has just recently given birth to her daughter named Norah meaning that she's a mother now as Pops told me on the 18th of February while Paige's mum & my biological aunty Cathey Middelplaats (Who I have not seen her since 7 years ago) is now officially a grandmother but I would also like to give a shout out to Paige so congrats for becoming a mother (xoxo, love & arohanui to you all, Whetu).

And onto motor racing related news, especially in F1 that Haas (Who have their drivers of German Nico Hulkenberg (A former A1GP ace & the only German competing in Formula 1 since the departures of Mick Schumacher (Michael's son who just joined McLaren from Haas as their test & reserve driver after originally being named as a test & reserve driver for Mercedes who he is under contract with now) & the recently retired 4 time world champion Sebastian Vettel) & Denmark's Kevin 'K-Mag' Magnussen (Son of famous driver Jan) was the 1st to launch their new car for this years season while Alpine (It is an all French pairing of both Esteban Ocon (Who raced for the team since returning to F1 in 2020 under the name Renault, a year before their rebranding to Alpine) & Pierre Gasly who recently joined from Alphatauri to replace the twice F1 world champion Fernando Alonso who has gone to Aston Martin) was the last to launch their 2023 car but the reigning constructors champions Red Bull are in fact going to be slow after copping a penalty for breaches regarding to the cost cap when their driver Max Verstappen went on to win his 1st world championship in 2021 with both Ferrari & Mercedes now genuine contenders in their bid of winning the constructors championship, thinking that these cars might just be quick enough (And I am making a comparison to the different eras of Formula 1 starting with F1 in the 1960's was known as the Grand Prix Legends (The computer game that I never played was arguably the best) era compared to the 1970's was known as the Rush era (I've seen the movie about it) as well as in the late 80's to mid 90's which was known as the golden era (Where V12 engines where used from 1989 until 1995) while the Schumi era takes place during the late 80's to mid noughties period (That was the V10 engines being used way back then from 1989 until 2006) before the modern era took place in the mid noughties to mid 2010's period (V8 engines were used back then from 2006 until 2013) & now, they have the silent era which had taken place since the mid 2010's (And it was during the V6 turbo hybrid in which they are currently adapting from 2014 & has been there ever since).

And finally a shout out to Dad & Raewyn out there celebrating their 4 year wedding anniversary that they had last month on the 16th of February where they got married in 2019, a week before Carole's son Andy as well as John & Rhonda's daughter Kelsey (My 1st ever meeting between both of them was in 2019 in the 1st of 2 meetings then 2020 & in 2021, 2 years before I met both of them most recently) had their marriage on the 23rd & is about to also celebrate their 4 year wedding anniversary on that day while Carole & Pops attended both weddings, the 1st one was Dad & Raewyn where I went then the 2nd one was AJ & Kels.

So that is my 488th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 12th of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And it's been an emotional but sombre year since the high profile rock star drummer of the late Taylor Hawkins from the legendary rock band the Foo Fighters (Which is my 2nd favourite rock band ahead of Linkin Park (Who are still on hiatus since 2017 after their lead singer Chester Bennington passed away (Along with his good mate Chris Cornell of both Soundgarden & Audioslave), but I've been listening to the album that I got of Meteora (One of 2 Linkin Park albums that I own along with the 20th anniversary edition of Hybrid Theory) in its entirety, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the album's release), but behind the Red Hot Chili Peppers (One of the band members of Chad Smith (The most important member of the Chilis along with bassist Flea compared to lead singer & rhythm guitarist Dave Grohl & the late Hawkins as also the most important members of the Foos then the late Chester Bennington & Mike Shinoda being the most important band members from my favourite Nu Metal band Linkin Park as well as also both Mark Hoppus & Travis Barker also being the most important band members of Blink-182 & also Chad Kroeger & Ryan Peake also being the most important band members of one of my favourite Canadian rock bands of Nickelback) is good mates with the late Taylor Hawkins as well) who took his own life in a hotel room in Colombia during the band's South American tour so I have been listening to them on my CD player (I've got 5 Foo Fighters albums now such as The Colour & The Shape, Greatest Hits, Wasting Light, Medicine At Midnight & now But Here We Are) including songs that Hawkins was involved in like Learn To Fly, Breakout, All My Life, Times Like These, Best Of You, The Pretender, Rope, Walk, Shame Shame & Waiting On A War as well as Everlong, the last song that the band played live before Hawkins passed away, in honor of the great humble man whose life had been taken away too soon at 49 or 50 (And the Foos (Who are less popular than Nirvana that the current lead singer of the Foos of Dave Grohl (Who used to be a drummer before forming his own band) had been involved in after the tragic loss of Kurt Cobain in 1994) are hoping to resume making & playing live music following Hawkins's death last year, but the band are currently searching for their new drummer to replace him (And it looks like that the son of Queen drummer Roger Taylor of current drummer for the UK rock band the Darkness of Rufus who is in line of joining the Foos to replace his godfather, the late Taylor Hawkins because he knows all of his stuff, but the session drummer of Josh Freese (Who performed at the Taylor Hawkins tribute show in London only along with Rufus Taylor who peformed in both London & Los Angeles while Matt Cameron performed it in LA only) is among the contenders to take over from Hawkins of joining that band (And it looks like that former Soundgarden & current Pearl Jam drummer of Matt Cameron is among those of joining the Foo Fighters but denies rumours about it).

Sex & Candy/Life's Coming In Slow: My 11th blog of the year 2023

Well, there is tragic news such as Cyclone Gabrielle which has ravaged the North Island in New Zealand in which 9 people have been tragically passed away in the regions of Hawke's Bay, Gisborne & Muriwai in one of the worst storms in New Zealand's living history (And there were floods all over the place right there (Compared to there was floods throughout the lower North Island way back in 2004 which affected those areas) but they must save water throughout the areas being crippled by the storm but I hope that my dear half brother of Jans is a OK just because he is now residing in the Hawke's Bay area (And his main job is fencing because he works under the 2020 world fencing champion of Tony Bouskill (Partner of Jansen's half sister of Johnella & lives with 3 children such as Keira Lee (KL), Jack & Katana (Who was named after the famous Japanese sword), so all thoughts & prayers go to the family of the victims whose lives had been taken away from the cyclone which crippled in the North Island of our country of New Zealand but an earthquake has happened in the Cook Strait at around 7:38pm on the 15th of February that I felt it before.

And there is a deadly earthquake struck in Syria & Turkey with the death toll increased to 40,000 (And I mean that is tragic, compared to the events of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake here in New Zealand which resulted 185 deaths (+ the damage of AMI Stadium at Lancaster Park caused by it which had to be demolished in 2019 with Te Kaha likely to take over as Christchurch's main sporting venue) & the Tohoku earthquake & tsunami in Japan that they had in the same year which resulted 19,759 who tragically passed away) for that matter with rescue workers are on the hunt of searching for any bodies from that rubble taken from collapsed buildings in which deemed to be earthquake prone but time is running out for those attempting to find the remains of survivors being stuck there.

And 3 of the 4 Chinese spy balloons have been shot down by missiles taken from American fighter jets in America & also in Canada while the US President Joe Biden (Whose hopes for re-election could be questionable regarding to his health & fitness protocol standards, but the president says that he is declared fit & healthy but I don't think he may be considering for re-election, thinking that he's too old because he's currently 80 years of age) has a stern message about any other spy balloons should be taken down by fighter jets if they illegally fly over US airspace.

And there's been a tragic shooting in the University of Michigan which resulted 3 casualties by a senseless gunman who killed himself to avoid getting captured by the authorities meaning that the men's & women's basketball & men's tennis programs had to be cancelled on the 15th of February.

And in Six Nations news, here are the results of round 2 that came in:

Ireland 32 - 19 France (It was the number 1 ranked Ireland's day who ended the number 2 ranked France's incredible 14 match winning streak in the Six Nations at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin (And the Irish (Who are the favourites to win both the Six Nations (In which Ireland have never won since 2018) & the Rugby World Cup (In which the Irish have never won & has never got beyond past the quarterfinal stages in their history but will it be their year?) proved themselves that they are genuine contenders going into this year's RWC, & they still mean real business & that match was one of the standouts of round 2 in this years competition along with the Scotland-Wales clash) 

Scotland 35 - 17 Wales (It was Scotland's night as they over powered Wales to win the Doddie Weir Cup for the 2nd time & their 1st since 2020 in honor of the now late great man at Murrayfield in Edinburgh to begin the Scots campaign with 2 straight wins for the 1st time since 1996 which was during the Five Nations era & it was one of another standout matches during round 2 of the 2023 Six Nations season along with Ireland-France)

& England 31 - 14 Italy (And it was England's day as they decimated Italy so easily to register their 1st win under current head coach Steve Borthwick (The man who took over from Eddie Jones who is now coaching the Wallabies again in which he is known as boomerang Eddie) at Twickenham in London).

And finally in American sports related news such as the Kansas City Chiefs (Led by its star quarterback Patrick Mahomes who is now a twice Super Bowl winning player as well as taking home both the season & Super Bowl MVP as well as managing to overcome an injury yet again during the game & is now, one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks in the modern era), win the Super Bowl for the 3rd time in history as they topple the Philadelphia Eagles (Led by its star quarterback of Jalen Hurts) to take home the Vince Lombardi trophy for the 1st time since 2019 with a match winning field goal provided by the Chiefs that proved to be the turning point after coming from behind for most of the game while in the NBA that the player playing for the Los Angeles Lakers of LeBron James (A 4 time NBA champion who did it twice with the Miami Heat & once for both the Cleveland Cavaliers & the team he is currently playing for, the Lakers), has broken the NBA all-time scoring record previously set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Who is a 6 time NBA champion along with Michael Jordan & played for both the Milwaukee Bucks & the LA Lakers), which had to stand for 39 years from 1984 until this year when the Los Angeles Lakers lost the game to the Oklahoma City Thunder in an NBA game.

So that is my 487th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 11th of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And a shoutout to my dear biological aunty of Cathey Middeplaats (Who I haven't seen her since 2016 a day after me, Pops & John Coburn went to that All Blacks-Wales test at Westpac Stadium (Now Sky Stadium) in Wellington as I mentioned in my previous blogs) to her 56th birthday 2 days ago a day before St Patrick's Day who is a grandmother now since her daughter Paige (Who is turning 29 next month on the 5th of April who I also have not seen her since 2016) gave birth to a baby girl named Norah (As in the famous female American singer of Norah Jones according to the comment from Pops as of today) & it's been an emotional year since the passings of former All Blacks Inga Tuigamala (Who appeared in the reality TV show Celebrity Treasure Island until he fell ill then he passed away in February 2022), Joeli Vidiri (The greatest All Black that never was who was in America seeking treatment for his kidney disease & married the love of his life during his time over there) & Australian cricket legend Shane Warne (The 2nd highest wicket-taker in test cricket ahead of England's James Anderson but behind the great Sri Lankan of Muttiah Muralidaran who was in Thailand over there at the time before his apparent passing, but his last ever tweet on Twitter (Owned by South African born American Elon Musk, who is the founder of electric car company, Tesla) came was about Rod Marsh passing away which went viral as I also mentioned in my previous blogs) have happened.

Fallen Angel/9 PM (Till I Come)/Keep Hope Alive/Missing: My 10th blog of the year 2023

Well, this just in as calls for police reforms to curb racial profiling (Which is a massive problem to their society throughout most Americans) in America in wake of the 29 year old innocent African American man named Tyre Nichols who got bashed to death by police in Memphis, Tennessee, reminiscent to the events of the racially motivated murder of George Floyd by officer Derek Chauvin (Who is currently serving time behind bars for the murder of Floyd) in Minneapolis, Minnesota back in 2020 which was a corona virus affected year with 5 African American cops set to be charged for the brutal assault & murder of Nichols (And the US vice president of Kamala Harris (Who is the 1st US female vice president in history) attended Tyre Nichol's funeral).

And there was Chinese spy balloon sightings throughout America as calls for US president Joe Biden (Who feared for his safety along with his family due to the US Secret Service (The US president's official security provider since 1903 & was established just before Abraham Lincoln got assassinated in 1865) had announced that they made the right decision to heighten security in time for the State of the Union address which they had taken place on the 8th of February last month (New Zealand time) that they ordered to shoot down the balloon but the military had to wait until the balloon had reached the sea before a heat seeker missile from a US fighter jet finally took the Chinese spy balloon down afterwards & it will be handed to the labs at FBI in the state of Virginia in which China had condemned it about the incident but there was another sighting of a 2nd Chinese spy balloon, this time in both Colombia & Costa Rica in Latin America had happened/occurred.

And the Six Nations rugby season for this year is well & truly underway so here's the results from the weekend so far:

Wales 10 - 34 Ireland (It was the number 1 ranked Ireland's night as they cruise to victory over Wales (It was Warren Gatland's 1st game back in charge after he replaced Wayne Pivac to become the coach of Wales yet again) at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, going into the next game against the number 2 ranked France at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin hoping to end France's 14 game winning streak just like they did against the All Blacks in 2016 in Chicago (Which was a landmark history) & England in 2017 in Dublin during the last round of the Six Nations, but the Ireland-France clash is similar to a title unification match at Wrestlemania 38 last year but who'll provide the Roman Reigns moment? Is it going to be either the French or the Irish? We'll find it out on the 12th of February New Zealand time)

England 23 - 29 Scotland (And it was the Scottish who celebrated with a win by successfully retaining the Calcutta Cup for another year in which they were holders since 2021 (And it was Steve Borthwick's 1st game in charge as the new England coach who took over from Wallabies bound Eddie Jones) a Twickenham in London with South African born Scottish international Duhan van der Merwe (Who was the standout player of the game) crossing over for the try not once but twice (And it was probably my standout matches by far, in the 1st round of this years Six Nations season)

& Italy 24 - 29 France (And the number 2 ranked France (Host nation of this years Rugby World Cup & defending Six Nations champions) who came away with a win in a nail biting encounter against Italy (Who had the chance to go for the win but failed as the resilient French side held on for the victory going into the next match against the dominant Ireland side who are favourites to win both the Six Nations as well as the RWC this year & have never won a Six Nations title since they last achieved the grand slam in 2018, in Dublin which is going to be a key matchup in which France will put their 14 match winning streak on the line, but have never lost a test since 2021 against Australia in a test series decider in Brisbane as well as becoming the 3rd side during the professional era after the All Blacks in 2013 & England in 2016 to go through the calendar year, undefeated in which they won all of their games last year) to extend their winning streak to 14 games at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome)

And the latest on the tennis as Novak Djokovic (Who returns as the top ranked male tennis player in the world after his success down under in Australia as well as he made a successful return after a year absence due to his vaccination status in which he shouldn't have allowed him to play & is one of the sports people in the world who is an anti-vax, along with NFL player Aaron Rodgers & NBA player Kyrie Irving who now plays for his new NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks after previously played for the Cleveland Cavaliers where he won 1 NBA championship with, the Boston Celtics & his previous team now, the Brooklyn Nets (I did not know the general manager of the Nets is, & it's a Kiwi who is a former NBA player, Sean Marks) revealed that he played with an injury which helped him win the Australian Open according to the tournament director that Djokovic should not have played as a result of an injury as many of the top players like Carlos Alcaraz, would've pulled out of the event.

And back onto the rugby stuff as the All Blacks 1st test match of the year is against Argentina (Which is a Football World Cup winning country now since they succeeded in Qatar last year which was Lionel Messi's last outing in international football in which he is a bonafide football god right now) in a shortened Rugby Championship, in preparation for this years Rugby World Cup in which the Argentinians will have a chance of claiming their 1st win against the AB's at home (They came so close in 1985 when the 2nd test match had ended in a draw in Buenos Aires) after winning it twice in 2020 where they had their 1st win in Sydney & last year in Christchurch for the 2nd time (And that's the last time New Zealand (And every time the All Blacks would win the RWC, we would always beat the Argy Bargies 1st during the tournament, but New Zealand has never won a Rugby World Cup without beating the Argentinians first (We came so close in 1995, only for the South Africans who had their first five of Joel Stransky kick a winning drop goal in which he struck his name across rugby history according to New Zealand rugby commentator Keith Quinn, therefore breaking our hearts which resulted the host country being united after their win as well as their great leader as I mentioned in my previous blogs, which is the late Nelson Mandela (Who was the president of South Africa at the time who passed away in 2013 (He's also good friends/mates with the former Springbok rugby great & captain, Francois Pienaar) would taste defeat in international rugby & our country is on 1st equal along with the South Africans for most Rugby World Cup titles won with 3) in both Rugby Championship tests.

And finally the latest on one of the all time great quarterbacks in the NFL as the 45 year old Tom Brady calls time on his career again in American football (Last year he retired then he came out of retirement to play one last season & now in all of a sudden, he's retired once again) as his career accolades is incredible as he took home the Vince Lombardi trophy 7 times (The most by an individual player), 6 times with the New England Patriots & once with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well as a 3 time league MVP & a 5 time Super Bowl MVP (And he began his NFL career as an undrafted player for the New England Patriots where he became the back-up quarterback to Drew Bledsloe, & that's why Brady's first taste into NFL action began after the injury to Bledsloe, during the game against the New York Jets back in 2001, but his last game in the NFL was against Dak Prescott & the Cowboys on the 17th of January this year during a NFL Wild Card Round in which the Tampa Bay Buccaneers crashed out of contention of making it into the playoffs after losing to them, in Brady's last ever game in the NFL before calling it quits according to a social media post that he had that went viral).

So that is my 486th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 10th of this year, viva Ukraine.

Techno Syndrome (Mortal Kombat)/Control/Halcyon & On & On/Confusion: My 9th blog of the year 2023

Well, there was a incredible Rugby World Cup story about the All Blacks thought that they would going to play the Wallabies (Who originally became the Rabbits in 1908 by some cheeky English press, but that name thought it was involuntary, & replaced it with Wallabies, the 1st time the name was used according to experienced New Zealand rugby broadcaster/commentator Grant Nisbett in the Rugby Challenge video game series) in the final of the 2011 tournament, but due to ramifications according to the comment that I remember now from Scotty 'Sumo' Stevenson made after Ireland's win over Australia in the pool games that the Aussies had shunted on the same side of the draw as the AB's meaning that we're playing against them in the semis at Eden Park (A night after the Welsh captain Sam Warburton's moment of madness had been escalated as he was red carded by the Irish referee Alain Rolland (Who did not get the chance of taking charge in a final again) for a tip tackle on a French player Vincent Clerc in which that have should've been yellow in which France won the semi by a single point with Wales hopes of reaching the final had been evaporated as well as being dead & buried) in Auckland, & we did by getting our 1st win against our trans-Tasman rivals at a RWC after 2 straight losses in both 1991 & 2003 behind them (One of the memorable moments in the semi was Israel Dagg went through the gap before being tackled by a Wallaby player in which he set the try it up with a beautiful offload infield to Ma'a Nonu who scored New Zealand's only try of the game & also Jerome Kaino manhandling Digby Ioane to stop a try being scored during the match & also, Aaron Cruden's drop goal that occurred in which I label it as critical), to reach the big dance against the French in a replay of the 1987 final in which we successfully won by a whisker to end a 24 year hoodoo as I mentioned in my blogs (And then 4 years later in 2015, we did play against the Australians in that memorable final of our lives in which I was stoked about it as I also mentioned in my blogs which was a trans-Tassie affair, in a successful bid to retain the Rugby World Cup in 2015 at Twickenham Stadium in London, England).

And there is floods throughout Auckland as they had to declare a state of emergency with several people evacuated from that course especially Auckland Airport (And there was an Elton John concert being called off at Mount Smart Stadium as a result of flooding but I hope both Andy & Kels are alright back in Auckland but their home (Except it was flooding in the garage a wee bit along with our place that it always gets flooded in our garage) hadn't been affected as Pops told me on the 29th of January).

And in sevens rugby news as the Black Ferns 7s becoming the last ever women's champion in Hamilton after their successful bid for glory at that event against the United States in the women's cup final in which they followed up to our win in Cape Town then the Argy Bargies became the last men's champion in Hamilton after they thought the All Blacks 7s had scored the winning try but was denied by the TV referee in which New Zealand were heartbroken & gutted about the defeat in the final, meaning that Argentina had won the men's cup final, inspired by their country's football team's success at the Football World Cup last year (1st it was Samoa in Cape Town who ended the All Blacks 7s hopes of becoming champions of that event then the Argentinians in Hamilton in which they held on for the win) but the next World Sevens Series event is in Sydney at the brand spanking new Allianz Stadium, which was won by both the Black Ferns 7s (Who had won 3 in a row including Cape Town in which we beat our traditional trans-Tasman rivals Australia then the USA at our home event in Hamilton & finally getting one over France again after previously met them with a win during the pool stages in Sydney but the most famous meeting between the Black Ferns & France was at Tokyo 2020 at the delayed Summer Olympic Games in 2021 in the gold medal match where New Zealand proved to be overwhemingly dominant to win gold & did have the chance to redeem ourselves after falling short in 2016 in Rio against the Wallaroos 7s in which we were so disappointed about the result as I mentioned in my previous blogs) & the All Blacks 7s (It was their 1st win of this season's World Rugby Sevens World Series circuit after missing out twice against Samoa in the wet in Cape Town, South Africa & Argentina in our final home event in Hamilton in which we were so gutted after our match winning try had been rubbed out/erased by the TV referee) who both recorded their shutout/clean sheet wins over the French women & Bitzbok 7s (Who beat the AB's 7s earlier in the tournament in the final pool game with 'Tricky Ricky' of Ricardo Duarttee scoring the match winning penalty goal at the death, resulting in heartbreak for New Zealand who got penalized for diving off our feet) respectively in the cup finals of the women's 1st then the men.

And in tennis related news happening in Australia as the finals of both the women's & men's the Australian open final are locked in as last year's Wimbeldon ladies singles champion from Kazakhstan of Elena Rybakina (Who defeated Victoria 'Vika' Azarenka (Formerly from Belarus who is now competing under a neutral nationality) in the semi) will do battle with ex-Belarussian of neutral nationality of Aryna Sabalenka (She beat her opponent of Poland's Magda Linette in the other semi) in the women's section then it's Greece's Stefanos 'Stef' Tsitsipas (The tennis player who defeated Karen Khachanov (An ex-Russian competing in a neutral nationality) & is of Russian origin because of his mother while his father named Apostolos is a full blooded Greek) in the 1st semifinal to reach his 1st Australian Open final & his 2nd grand slam final since he appeared at the French Open final in 2021) who'll do battle with Serbia's Novak Djokovic (Who had beaten American Tommy Paul in the other semi who is known both as 'The Djoker' &/or 'The Serbinator') in the men's section which is a rematch of the 2021 French Open men's singles final but there's been an update as Sabalenka wins her 1st grand slam title which is the Australian Open women's singles title against Rybakina by dominating the last 2 sets after dropping the 1st set, then a day later it was Djokovic's night as he is officially back of winning the Australian Open men's singles title in straight sets over Tsitsipas to claim his unprecedented 10th title (His 1st triumph came in 2008 when he beat Frenchman Jo Wilfred-Tsonga in the men's singles final way back then before he did it 9 times).

And continuing onto the rugby stuff as Ireland's Josh van der Flier (A man whose name is South African sounding according to Tony Johnson in commentary during a rugby test in 2016 that I remember but he is of Dutch origin) takes over from France's Antoine Dupont as the best rugby player in the world after being awarded the World Rugby men's player of the year (And he played a crucial but pivotal role when Ireland (Who seemed to be competitive against us when they gained from strength to strength since they beat us 5 times now) triumphed in the test series against New Zealand for the 1st time during the professional era (And the 1st side since France in 1994 before the sport had turned professional) as well as he was the 1st Irishman to achieve the award since Jonny Sexton (Who is seeking to become the 1st Irish captain to lift the prestigious William Webb Ellis trophy & in counter point, that he could pull off a Lionel Messi (The most recent Football World Cup winning captain for the Argentinians after Daniel Passarella (Who according to as one of the greatest defenders throughout that generation) in 1978 & his childhood idol as I mentioned in my previous blogs, the late Diego Maradona (Who was once regarded as the best Argentinian footballer ever produced of all time) in 1986 & one of by far, the world's greatest ever footballers during modern times for his country) by finishing off his international rugby career as a Rugby World Cup winning player as well as the winning skipper, but no foreign born head coach has ever won the RWC but will it be the Englishman Andy Farrell's time as a tournament winning coach? Even though with Farrell being rugby's equivalent of Pep Guardiola (The former Spanish football player who is now the coach/manager of current Premier League champions Manchester City in which he is widely regarded as the super coach) in 2018 & with the Irish setting their sights of reaching their 1st semifinal & 1st final at a Rugby World Cup in history after they struggled to reach the semi 7 times in the quarters but they are gunning to end their drought during the tournament) while women's rugby player of the year went to Black Ferns co-skipper Ruahei Demant for successfully guiding New Zealand of defending the 2021 women's Rugby World Cup last year & the coach of the year honours went to 'The Professor' of Wayne 'Smithy' Smith (The ex-Crusaders, All Blacks coach & AB's & Chiefs assistant coach who had taken over from Glenn Moore after their horrendous tour from hell in 2021 after record/landmark defeats in which the fell to both England twice & France twice) for his heroics when he coached the Black Ferns to a successful women's RWC glory in the same year.

And I've got a family photo frame taken at Kathryn & Ken's home in Northland in my room of Huia, Huia's partner (Although he's no longer together with her as of today), Huia's brother Ben, Ben's partner Sanne, Huia & Ben's mother Kathryn, Kathryn's partner Ken & last but not least, Huia & Ben's niece as well as Kathryn's grand-daughter & Gemma's daughter Rosalie that Ben gave it to Pops but I've put it in my bedroom anyway.

And finally in NFL news such as the Philadelphia Eagles led by its star quarterback Jalen Hurts secure a place in the Super Bowl for the 1st time since winning it in 2017 after hammering the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship which was overshadowed by dodgy officiating while the Kansas City Chiefs (Who haven't been to a Superbowl since 2021 & haven't won it since 2019) led by Patrick Mahomes who had an incredible performance have won the AFC championship against the Cincinnati Bengals after a game winning field goal attempt in the dying seconds, punched them a ticket to Superbowl LVII in which the game was marred by some terrible officiating which was questionable about the personal foul on a Bengals player for taking out Mahomes out of bounds.

So that is my 485th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 9th of this year, viva Ukraine.