Stand: My 28th blog of the year 2023

Well, in the tennis department in France such as Poland's Iga Swiatek who successfully retained the women's singles title at the French Open in Roland Garros against Czech player Karolina Muchova (Swiatek had done it before in 2020 (That was the year before Barbora Krecjikova won against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to claim her 1st & only grand slam of her career) then last year & this year) while in the men's section that the greatest tennis player of all time of Serbia's Novak Djokovic has won his 23rd Grand Slam title with victory in the French Open men's singles crown against Norwegian Casper Ruud in that epic final (And it is job done for Nole (AKA the Djoker & the Serbinator) who is the man as his hard work must've paid off for the win against Ruud to claim his record breaking 23rd grand slam tennis title).

And in cricket related news that Australia has beaten India to claim their 1st World Test Championship at The Oval in London off the back of a dominant performance in the 1st innings with Travis Head (Who top scored 163 in the first innings) becoming the 1st player in history to score a ton in the WTC final followed by Steve Smith who got 121 in the 1st innings (And I was like: By crikey! Strewth! When the Aussies prevailed over India (Who had batter Shubman Gill fined 15% of his match fee for criticizing the umpires decision during the WTC final) & my thoughts after the Aussies won & became the kings of test cricket (Compared to England who are currently the kings of limited overs cricket (Both the 50 over One Day International & 20 over T20 formats but there should be an interesting battle in the Ashes this year as the kings of limited overs cricket of England prepare to face the kings of test cricket of Australia in test cricket's most important series of who'll be crowned undisputed champions when they lift the Ashes urn) "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, oi, oi!" But I wonder what the headlines would say: WORLD TEST CHAMPIONSHIP FOR AUSTRALIA AFTER VICTORY AGAINST INDIA or more like INDIA FALL SHORT AGAINST DOMINANT AUSSIES IN EPIC WTC FINAL (And I mean, what a disappointing end for India, what a match for our viewers right around the world, & how appropriate that the 3 main players who were part of the playing XI in the 2015 men's 50 over Cricket World Cup, the men's T20 World Cup in 2021 & now the World Test Championship this year of David Warner, Steve Smith & Mitchell Starc who are part of the success that they had but that is the 9th time that Australia (In which the country having a population of 26 million according to the comment I remember from former Australian player Matthew Hayden compared to India (Who overtook China this month as the nation with the biggest population) having 1 billion people) had won a ICC sanctioned tournament when they won the men's 50 over CWC a record 5 times (They first did it in 1987, then 1999, 2003, 2007 & 2015) then they won the Champions Trophy twice (2006 & 2009), the men's T20 WC in the UAE in 2021 & now the WTC this year after missing out on appearing in the 2021 final due to points being deducted (Or should I say docked), for slow over rates in the test against India in 2020/21 (And it is similar to the Argentina football team led by its star mercurial captain of Lionel Messi (Who is set to join the fledging Inter Miami (Owned by English football legend David Beckham whose club had started to win games since Messi's arrival with the club) in Major League Soccer after he took a gamble of leaving the French club Paris St Germain, but there has been an update as the Premier League champs Manchester City who went on to win the FA Cup against city rivals Manchester United at Wembley (Their 1st since 2019), then followed up with their historic first ever Champions League title with a win in that action packed nail biting final against Italian club Inter Milan in Instanbul, Turkey, therefore capping off another incredible season by completing their treble) in which they fought they were going to play a tough opponent in the semifinal against Brazil (Who are in a rebuilding phase after their defeat in the quarterfinal against the Croatians) during the Football World Cup last year, but it was Croatia who had taken their place which was an easier option for the Argentinians for their path of world domination in football, in which they outlasted them before going on to win on penalties against the defending champions at the time of France (Who Leon told me this month that the French should've won the final last year in order to become the 1st side since Brazil in 60 years to successfully defend the World Cup if the trio of Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante & Paul Pogba had not been injured (And then all of a sudden, the French trio had picked up serious injuries which opened the door for Lionel Messi & Argentina of bringing their Football World Cup trophy back to their home country since 1986 when they successfully did that late last year), unlike that the All Blacks should've won the semi after going down against England in the 2019 Rugby World Cup should Damian McKenzie had not been injured & in counterpoint, that Ben Smith could've played instead of the most underrated player in world rugby of George Bridge according to the story that I literally remember from Dad in both 2021 & last year), in that memorable final of years to come, but it's also similar that Roman Reigns (Who the WWE has taken over by not only one, but let alone 2 former stablemates of the Shield of Reigns (In which he is currently part of the Bloodline along with Solo Sikoa (Son of Rikishi) & their manager Paul Heyman (Ex-manager of Brock Lesnar) who is the current title holder of the Undisputed WWE Universal championship along with Seth 'SFR' Rollins (Husband of Becky Lynch who took part in the women's Money in the Bank ladder match at MITB in London in which was the best in history which was far superior than the men (It went to Damien Priest (Who is part of Judgment Day along with Irishman Finn Balor (Becky Lynch's trainer who lost to Rollins in a title match at Money In The Bank), Dominik Mysterio (Son of famous wrestler & WWE hall of famer Rey) & the defending WWE Women's champion (Raw) of Australian Rhea Ripley (Who defeated the Canadian of Natalya in a title match at MITB) in the men's section of the Money in the Bank ladder match) but failed along with 4 others (Like Bayley (Iyo Sky's Damage Ctrl stablemate), Zoey Stark, Canadian Trish Stratus & Zelina Vega) because it went to none other than Iyo Sky (One of the female Japanese competitors along with Asuka (Who was the one who defeated the 6 time champion of Charlotte Flair in a title match on Smackdown) of Damage Ctrl (The villainous female tag team stable consisting of Sky, Bayley & our own Kiwi Dakota Kai (Who is currently out through injury) who is currently the WWE World Heavyweight champion) did at Wrestlemania last year after successfully unifying the titles in which he triumphed over Brock Lesnar by setting the tone for the man known as 'The Tribal Chief' & his path of dominance in the WWE since he became the WWE Universal Champion in 2020).

And I have about 24 rock music albums that I own as part from my collection including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park (One of Dad's mates of Bernice (The one who is living in Australia now) is a fan of that band just like me & Sophia Ong (Who currently lives in Wellington with his Welsh husband & their son Shaia but she's pregnant again according to the comment from Leon made to me last month with the child expected to be born in December this year) who was once a follower of that band during her UCOL days), Incubus, A Perfect Circle, Shihad, Filter, Audioslave & Lenny Kravitz to complete it, but I have announced that I'm giving my old Linkin Park Meteora album from 2003 to my dear cuzzie of Paige (Well, I'm not sure that she is into rock, but she listens to any music, just whenever it is on the radio according to the email that I saw in 2016 that she sent to me when I told Dad about it during a phone conversation on the 9th of June) next time when I go to Wellington possibly with Dad to see her but I would like to meet Paige's daughter Norah one day as Dad told me before during our phone conversation.

And here are the results of the quarterfinals of the Super Rugby Pacific competition:

Blues 41 - 12 Waratahs (It was the Blues night as they crushed the Waratahs to become the 1st side to advance through to the semifinals of the SRP competition at Eden Park in Auckland)

Chiefs 29 - 20 Reds (And it was the Chiefs who prevailed over the Reds who proved to be competitive compared to the Waratahs as they exacted revenge after their defeat in New Plymouth in the regular season to go through to the semi at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton)

Crusaders 49 - 8 Fijian Drua (And it was the Crusaders who hammered the Fijian Drua into pieces exacting payback after their defeat against them during the regular season to reach the semifinals of the competition at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch)

& Brumbies 37 - 33 Hurricanes (And it was the resilient Brumbies side who crush the Hurricanes (Who were inconsistent during the quarterfinal as they fell short, again, just like last year but as a die hard Hurricanes fan, I would have to be disappointed about the defeat after Ardie Savea had a chance of scoring the winning try, but it has been disallowed not only it was a controversial decision) dream of making the semifinal therefore becoming the remaining Australian team in the competition at GIO Stadium in Canberra)

And here are the confirmed matches being played in the semifinal stage (AKA the final four) in this years Super Rugby Pacific tournament:

Crusaders Vs Blues* (Their most recent meeting in Super Rugby Pacific between both sides was in round 12 where the Crusaders continued their dominance against the Blues after Dalton Papali'i had been shown the red card after originally being given a yellow as well as an off-field review by the TMO for a dangerous tackle on Crusaders playmaker Richie Mo'unga)

& Chiefs Vs Brumbies* (The last time both of these sides met was in the penultimate round in round 14 where the Chiefs came away with a win against the Brumbies who had their last loss in this years competition before winning 2 in a row against both the Rebels in the final round of the regular season then the Hurricanes just now in the quarters in which that I'm so gutted about the result after Ardie Savea's disallowed try that robbed us a chance of advancing through to the semi)

*: Key matchups

So that is my 504th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 28th of this year, viva Ukraine.

Counting Blue Cars (Tell Me Your Thoughts On God): My 27th blog of the year 2023

Well, there are fires breaking out in Canada as smoke from the fires has passed on to America's East Coast while millions of Americans (Who have been given health warnings & guidelines to follow with high quality masks being required to wear outside but not for long (And they must stay indoors folks according to the mayor of New York), just like the days during the COVID-19 pandemic with the war on toxic smoke had been officially declared in the eastern part of the United States who are under attack from the fire taken from the Canadians (They could face sanctions for causing a fire like that) as they braced themselves of a epidemic taken from a dangerous smoke) being affected under air quality alerts as Canada wildfires rage with New York City being the worst in the world in terms of air pollution (And they have postponed both a WNBA game in New York & both MLB baseball games also in NYC & in Philly have been called off but many flights have been delayed across the eastern part of America as well but oh, this is a downward spiral as things especially in New York that have gotten out of control & escalated completely) but a quick news flash that the former US vice president of Mike Pence is announcing his intentions to run for president along with former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

And reports straight out of the tennis as the final four at Roland Garros has been confirmed but first in the women's singles as Australian Open women's singles champion of Aryna Sabalenka takes on Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova before world number 1 ranked Iga Swiatek will play Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia then onto the men's department as the highly anticipated showdown between Novak Djokovic & young 20 year old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz has been locked in while Alexander Zverev will play Casper Ruud for a place in the men's singles final at the French tennis open but there has been an update as Karolina Muchova & Iga Swiatek crusing into the women's singles final with their victories in the semi final against both Aryna Sabalenka & Beatriz Haddad Maia respectively while in the men's singles as both Novak Djokovic & Casper Ruud had their wins against Carlos Alcaraz & Alexander Zverev respectively in the semi of the men's singles to advance through to the final.

And in Formula 1 related news such as Max Verstappen (The man who totally dominated Monaco when he won that famous motorsport event in the world on the same day that American Josef Newgarden stole the show as well as the headlines of winning his 1st Indy 500 to add 2 of his Indycar Series championships that he won in both 2017 & 2019, as he held off fellow American Santino Ferrucci for the win in a duel for the last couple of laps a week before the 2021 Indycar champion of Alex Palou who won the most recent race in Indycar on the streets of 'The Motor City' of Detroit, Michigan which returned to the Indycar fold after 32 years (It took place at Belle Isle from 1992 to 2001 then 2007 until last year) has taken victory in Spain therefore claiming his 5th win of the season (First it was Bahrain then Australia, Miami, the aforementioned Monaco race I was discussing before & Spain now) but Mercedes are slowly creeping up as they restore to a pre-2021 pace (And are they're offically back? Well, they could be since 2021 where the F1 crown went down to the wire in Abu Dhabi & now Mercedes have just had sufficent upgrades which made all the difference but it must've been the upgrades which might have worked the best) while Red Bull's 100% winning record this year remains intact.

And finally here are the results of the final round of round 15 of the Super Rugby Pacific competition:

Blues 16 - 9 Highlanders (It was the Blues night as they ended the Highlanders (Who had bid the 2015 Super Rugby winning player for the Highlanders as well as the Rugby World Cup winning player for the All Blacks of Aaron Smith farewell as he heads off to Japan to play for Toyota Verblitz in the Japan Rugby League One competition) hopes of reaching the playoffs at Eden Park in Auckland in a successful effort of hosting a home quarterfinal)

Brumbies 33 - 17 Rebels (And it was the Brumbies who have stunned the Rebels to bits to book a place of hosting a home quarterfinal at GIO Stadium Canberra)

Fijian Drua 41 - 17 Reds (It was the Fijian Drua's day as they were no match against the Reds (Who lost that game despite securing qualification into the playoffs) to book a quarterfinal place at HFC Bank Stadium in Suva)

Hurricanes 27 - 26 Crusaders (And it was the Hurricanes night as they book a place in the playoffs with a win by a single point against the Crusaders who have already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals at Sky Stadium in Wellington, but the Crusaders have a new coach now to replace the All Blacks bound Scott Robertson with Rob Penney set to take over from him commencing next year, compared to Scotsman Clark Laidlaw being appointed as the new Hurricanes coach that I haven't heard of as he is set to take over from Jason Holland)

Waratahs 24 - 33 Moana Pasifika (And it was Moana Pasifika who claim their 1st & only win of the season after upstaging & spoiling the Waratahs (Who had their player Michael Hooper bid an emotional farewell as he scores the last try of the game in his illustrious Super Rugby career) party to register the boil over of the season at Allianz Stadium in Sydney)

& Force 19 - 43 Chiefs (And it was the Chiefs (Led by Anton Lienert-Brown while their Chiefs front line players had to be rested such as Damian McKenzie) who snatch a win against the Force who suffered their 1st home defeat of the season at HBF Park in Perth)

And here are the confirmed matches being played in the quarterfinal stage in this years Super Rugby Pacific tournament:

Blues Vs Waratahs* (The most recent meeting between both teams in Super Rugby Pacific was in round 9 where the Blues totally dominated the game against the Tahs side who were without its star Wallabies players including Lalakai Foketi, Michael Hooper & Mark Nawaqanitawase)

Chiefs Vs Reds* (The last time both of these sides met in SRP was in round 12 where the Reds had won the game to claim the upset of the season against the Chiefs whose 11 game winning streak had been snapped)

Crusaders Vs Drua* (Their most recent clash in Super Rugby Pacific was in round 3 where the Fijian Drua had won to claim the biggest boil over & will meet the Crusaders again for a place in the semi)

& Brumbies Vs Hurricanes* (And also their first meeting between the 2 sides in Super Rugby Pacific since round 10 where the Hurricanes had won against Australia's best which is the Brumbies (Who are by far, the most competitive Australian side against New Zealand opposition)

*: Key matchups

So that is my 503rd blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 27th of this year, viva Ukraine.

I Got You: My 26th blog of the year 2023

Well, I have been sharing a lot of stories on my blogs, especially around the sporting department as well as sometimes the international world news & of course sometimes, our family life, but there was once a rugby story that after the 57 - 0 hammering by the All Blacks in 2017 that the Springboks (Who had Raymond Rhule being overlooked for the next test (Then he was dropped from the squad after the events of the 2017 Rugby Championship) after missing a heap of tackles during the game in his worst performance in the Springbok jersey) had hired a new coach in the form of former player Rassie Erasmus (Who is no longer the coach when Jacques Nienaber took over as their current coach since 2020, but Erasmus is currently the director of rugby for the Springboks) a year later in 2018 (The year that South Africa delivered when they pulled off the unthinkable to defeat the All Blacks at Westpac Stadium at the time in Wellington where they gained from strength to strength according to the blog that I did last year, gave them relief for South Africa which set the tone as part of their motivating factor building towards their success at the tournament a year later in Japan) to replace Allister Coetzee, a year out until their successful Rugby World Cup glory in a campaign dubbed as 'Chasing the Sun' against England (The AB's nemesis in the semi) in the final at International Stadium Yokohama in Yokohama (To win their 3rd RWC crown inspired by their triumphs in 1995 & 2007 also according to the blog that I did last year & to equal with New Zealand (Champions in 1987 (That was Pops most memorable RWC moment), 2011 (Dad prefers this one as his standout) & 2015 (My most memorable moment of the Rugby World Cup not only that I was stoked about it) as the most successful then the South Africans became the 1st side in history to win the tournament after beginning their campaign with defeat ironically, against the All Blacks (Similar to Spain (Who lost to Switzerland in the opening game before winning all 6 games en route to the title including the final against the Netherlands at Soccer City in Soweto, South Africa in which Andres Iniesta had scored the winning goal during the 2nd period of extra time (It was similar 4 years later in 2014 in the final at the Maracana in Rio, Brazil between Germany who won in the end & Argentina (It was a rematch of the controversial final in 1990 where West Germany at the time won) led by Messi (In his 1st World Cup final which ended in failure, but the Argentinians had a massive turnaround 8 years later against the French in the final) where a winning goal had scored during the 2nd period of extra time which belonged to the German of Mario Goetze) did in 2010 at the Football World Cup along with Argentina (Who just had the one blemish against Saudi Arabia in the tournament opener at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar...then took victory in all of their remaining matches in style including the penalty shootout victory against the defending world champions at the time of France in one of the greatest Football World Cup final in history at the same venue to become world champions) last year in captain Lionel Messi's final ever World Cup game which was a fairytale farewell for him of bringing the Football World Cup trophy back to Argentina after 36 years (In which was the days of the late Diego Maradona who passed away in 2020 & his nation's success of securing their 2nd of 3 Football World Cups that the Argentinians won along with 1978 at their home World Cup led by Daniel Passarella featuring the likes of Mario Kempes) that Erasmus had been touted as the next successful South African rugby coach, then he chose Siya Kolisi to be their captain when Kolisi was hailed as South Africa's future RWC winning captain.

And I once heard a story from Carole about her bro Martin playing tennis against the French great Yannick Noah that every time Marty plays against him, he would lose every damn time, but hell he's so difficult to play against (And unlike Pops beating Dad in tennis matches every time, until Dad turned 14 when he started beating Pops as I heard a story from Pops on the 31st of May when me, Pops & Carole were at The Cobb).

And in motor racing news such as the former twice Indycar champion of Josef Newgarden had won his 1st Indianapolis 500, becoming the 1st American since Alexander Rossi in 2016 (This was the year before Takuma Sato (Japan's most successful racing car driver in American open wheel racing since Toranosuke 'Tora' Takagi according to the blog that I did in February this year) won in 2017 then the defending 2 time Indycar champion Will Power (Who is Australia's most successful racing car driver since the good old days of Alan 'AJ' Jones who won the Formula 1 World Championship in 1980) won it in 2018 becoming the 1st Australian to do so followed by Frenchman Simon Pagenaud in 2019 then Sato again in 2020 which was a COVID-19 affected year as well as Brazil's Helio Castroneves in 2021 as he becomes the most successful driver at the Indy 500 with 4 to join the likes of AJ Foyt, the late 'Big Al' of Al Unser & Rick Mears as well as being the most successful foreign driver to triumph in that event, & Marcus Ericsson last year in which he became the 2nd Swedish driver to win after Kenny Brack in 1999 after his CGR teammate Scott Dixon nearly pulled it off, of winning his 2nd Indy 500 after a pit stop gone wrong which proved costly) to win that prestigious motor racing event in the United States (And I'm not sure that he'll be heading to Formula 1 after his success in the Indianapolis 500 this year, but he'll likely to remain in Indycar for the time being, & for the forseeable future), but I didn't watch it because of the drivers other than the 2 Kiwis of Scott Dixon & Scott McLaughlin were always going to win, & they did when they pulled it off.

And here are the results of the penultimate round of round 14 of the Super Rugby Pacific competition:

Highlanders 35 - 30 Reds (And yes that game was by far, the match of the round when Folau (He'll be the 1st choice halfback for the Landers when next year's Super Rugby Pacific competition begins) had a chance to win it for the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, & he successfully did when he picked the ball up from the ruck then did a dummy before running all the way to the try line to secure the win to keep their playoff hopes alive in Aaron 'Nuggy' Smith's farewell home game as he is announced that he'll be playing for Toyota Verblitz in the Japan Rugby League One competition (And Folau's match winning try was easily the best finishes in the game so far in terms of Super Rugby Pacific this year)

Rebels 52 - 14 Force (It was the Rebels night as they hammered the Force at AAMI Park in Melbourne to boost their playoff bid)

Fijian Drua 47 - 46 Moana Pasifika (It was the Fijian Drua's day as they decimated the winless Moana Pasifika (Who are useless this season as they remain at the bottom of the table & is on a brink of a historic collapse, by completing the season without a single win) by a single point at Churchill Park in Lautoka by delivering both a Boston Celtics & Dallas Stars inspired performance)

Crusaders 42 - 18 Waratahs (And it was the Crusaders who won in the end against the Tahs at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch despite their disappointing game beset with injuries to key players such as Cullen Grace & David Havili (And they go into the last round of the regular season against the Hurricanes with many key men being dealt with injuries (And their reign as Super Rugby champions could end in an instant, not only a new SR Pacific champion will be crowned) while the Crusaders had handed a debut to one of the 39 year old prop forwards of former Blues & 2011 Rugby World Cup winning player of John Afoa who became the oldest player in Super Rugby history, breaking the previous all time record set by Ben May last year (And Afoa had to head back home to his country of birth of New Zealand on Thursday from France to join up the Crusaders squad as injury cover).

Blues 36 - 25 Hurricanes (And it was the Blues who scraped past the Hurricanes (Who had to bring back the trio of captain Ardie Savea, Jordie Barrett & Tyrel Lomax) to host a home quarterfinal at Eden Park in Auckland with 2 test All Black Mark Telea delivering another super human like performance just like in the Highlanders game in Dunedin in the opening round as he scored 4 tries in the game)

& Brumbies 21 - 31 Chiefs (And it was the Chiefs (Who had to rest both Anton Lienert-Brown & Tupou Vaa'i through the AB's rest requirements policy as the majority of the All Blacks top players cannot afford to play their 6th match in a row in Super Rugby Pacific) who were dominant against Australia's best which is the Brumbies (Who brought back their big guns for their all important clash) at GIO Stadium Canberra in Canberra to confirm themselves that they remained on top of the table)

So that is my 502nd blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 26th of this year, viva Ukraine.

Just Because/Again/Get Free: My 25th blog of the year 2023

Well, I hadn't mentioned on my blogs that a French F1 driver & good friend of Monegasque F1 driver who currently races for Ferrari of Charles Leclerc of the late Jules Bianchi who had a fatal accident during the Japanese Grand Prix in 2014 when he lost control of his Marussia in very wet conditions & collided with a recovery vehicle then 9 months later, he tragically passed away as a result of severe concussion he sustained in a serious crash & was the 1st F1 driver to be tragically killed since Ayrton Senna (Whose car collided head on into the wall, suffering a head injury which resulted in his sudden but tragic passing in which safety was the key priority of slowing the cars down according to the head of the FIA of the late Max Mosley (Who took over a year earlier from Jean-Marie Balestre as FIA president until in 2009 that former Ferrari F1 team principal Jean Todt (An ex-partner of famous Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh) took over) as well as introducing chicanes especially at the Imola circuit & other race tracks to follow suit) in 1994 at the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola which is located in the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy therefore the sports governing body of the FIA introduced the Virtual Safety Car system (Or VSC) in which drivers are asked to slow down (This is similar to the safety car period in which the safety car is out) to avoid getting pinged by the race stewards for speeding under the VSC (And the halo was implemented in 2018 in response to the tragic passing not only of Bianchi but of both the late 18 year old British driver Henry Surtees (Son of the late John Surtees who was the 1964 F1 world champion) in 2009 (Same year that Felipe Massa had suffered life threatening injuries after being struck by a spring detached by a rear suspension of Rubens Barrichello's Brawn when he drove at full speed during practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix, & he survived the impact caused by it) when a flying wheel struck his head killed him during a Formula 2 race in Brands Hatch in the UK which put head protection on the agenda & also in 2015 (The year that Bianchi died 9 months after his crash at the Japanese Grand Prix that sent him to hospital & had been in a medically induced coma) during an Indycar race in Pocono, Pennsylvania in America that former British F1 & Champ Car driver of the late Justin Wilson got killed when flying debris struck him instantly causing death by feeling the blunt force trauma of it (And it was 4 years after the events of 2011 when the late British Indycar driver of Dan Wheldon (The twice Indy 500 winner in 2005 & 2011) also got killed after causing a multi car pileup when his car sailed 325 feet through the air into a catchfence & his head hit a post in the fence when the blow created a non-survivable injury in the 2011 Indycar season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada).

And it is 70 years to the day that the late Sir Edmund Hillary who stood atop of Mount Everest along with the late Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on the 23rd of May of 1953 in such an historic achievement (And there is a fee for those who want to climb Mount Everest which is worth 200,000 American dollars not just for the worthy rich people) for our country of New Zealand (And Hillary stood atop of Mount Everest 70 years ago was much sweeter than Team New Zealand's first America's Cup triumph in San Diego 1995 & was bigger than the All Blacks Rugby World Cup triumph on home soil in both 1987 (In which we co-hosted the tournament with Australia) & it was more meaningful than in 2011 (In which we were the sole host of that tournament) in which Hillary famously said after climbing that dreaded mountain which is the highest in the world "We knocked the scum off".

And I also hadn't mentioned but I did mention about a pair of shootings in El Paso, Texas (It was at a Walmart store where a far-right white individual opened fire by killing 23 innocent people & wounded 23 others as the FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism as well as a hate crime as well as the gunman has since pleaded guilty to 90 Federal Hate Crimes & Firearms Infringements regarding to the mass shootings) & Dayton, Ohio (Where 9 innocent lives had been taken as well as 17 have been wounded near the entrance of the Ned Peppers Bar in the Oregon District before the gunman was fatally shot by responding cops 32 seconds after the first shots were fired) in America (And it must've something to do in which both shootings in the United States in 2019 was influenced by the Christchurch terror attacks (It has been 4 years since the tragic events have taken place where 51 have been killed by a sensless gunman who opened fire which resulted a crack down on high powered guns being brought into the country (Along with gruesome & violent content being shown on social media like Facebook but if the uploaders fail to remove that banned/illegal video, they'll be sent behind bars for the matter) by following Australia & the UK's footsteps of introducing gun control in wake of the tragic events unfolded which was similar to the mass shootings in Port Arthur, Tasmania in Australia in 1996 where the clamp down on gun violence was introduced such as the ban of semi-automatic rifles in light of the massacre being unfolded but the Christchurch mass mosque shootings (Then followed by the events of 2019-20 such as the protests in Hong Kong followed by the eruption on White Island here in New Zealand, the bushfires in Australia & of course, the global corona virus pandemic (Which was my most tragic event throughout my generation according to the previous blogs that I did compared to the September 11th tragedy in America way back in 2001) which lasted 3 years) was worse than Aramoana in 1990 according to the previous blogs that I did before) that took place on the 15th of March (And the gunman who opened fire by killing 51 people has since been locked up as he serves an imprisonment for life sentence which is a severe punishment) which looked pretty bad/terrible.

And in rock music related news that the latest reports from the famous American rock band the Foo Fighters that they have announced that Josh Freese (Formerly from A Perfect Circle) is in, as the new drummer of the Foos for touring purposes as he takes over from the late Taylor Hawkins who passed away in March last year & with the band announced that they're intending to both make & play live music again following Hawkins's passing.

And I always say my dear cuzzie Paige's daughters name Norah (Well, I've never met her before since she was born (And I could meet her one day when Dad told me on the 9th of June on the phone) but I suggested her a new nickname which is Nozi compared to her mother Paige (Who could be my honorary sister because I don't have any sisters in my family (And I think I treated Paige like my sister when I last met her in 2016 along with Cathey) since Leon Benbaruk has an honorary daughter named Sophia Ong (And how does Sophie is now being friends with Pops on Facebook? Mainly due to the fact that I'm best mates forever with her in real life since I 1st met her in 2007) being Paigey as well as Norah's grandmother & Paige's mother (And my biological aunty) Cathey being possibly Cath) nearly every day as I told Pops about it on the 24th of May (And Hera (AKA 'HR' (Which stands for Hera Ruby because Ruby is her middle name in contrast to her brother Bernard of Bernard Thomas (Known as 'Bernie/BT') due to the fact that Thomas is his middle name) who is with an Australian partner named Brendon & she lives in Brisbane, Australia now) has got a daughter now named Willow who is named after possibly a character from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (And I saw a picture from the 3 of them including the couple with their child but unlike Benny's sister & Kathy's eldest daughter Gemma naming her daughter Rosalie, which was inspired after the famous character from the Twilight series of Rosalie Hale) unlike I used to call Bryan, uncle Bryan but I call Aunty Tania, Aunty Tan now since Tan is her nickname but I address her as Aunty Tan anyway.

And finally, here are the results of round 13 of the Super Rugby Pacific competition:

Moana Pasifika 7 - 41 Crusaders (It was the Crusaders (Who had their prop forward George Bower gone for the season with a bad knee injury in round 6 against the Reds which includes the Rugby World Cup that ended his dream of playing on the world stage along with Sevu Reece) night who maintain their 100% winning record against Moana at the newly named Go Media Stadium Mount Smart in Auckland)

Reds 26 - 45 Blues (It was the Blues who return to winning ways after defeat against the Crusaders in round 12 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane)

Highlanders 20 - 17 Rebels (And it was the Highlanders who pick up the win via a match winning penalty goal scored by Sam Gilbert (Who did a Kemu Valetini when he scored both match winning penalty goals against the Crusaders & the Hurricanes respectively) at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin)

Chiefs 23 - 12 Hurricanes (And it was the Chiefs (Who brought back 4 key men such as co-captain Sam Cane, Brodie Retallick, Samisoni Taukei'aho & co-captain Brad Weber (Who is heading to France with Stade Francais with the 2023 season will sadly be his last) night as they bounce back from defeat against the Reds (Who subsquently became the 1st side to defeat the Chiefs in this years Super Rugby Pacific competition) for their 1st loss of the season to also return to winning ways against the Hurricanes (Who bagged in both quick tries to both Josh Moorby & Brayden Iose) at FMG Stadium Waikato)

Waratahs 32 - 18 Fijian Drua (It was the Waratahs who dismantle the Fijian Drua by continuing their pursuit of making the quarterfinals at Allianz Stadium in Sydney)

& Force 34 - 19 Brumbies (And it was the Force who dispatch the Brumbies (Who are without their key frontline players who left themselves out due to the Wallaby rest requirements policy) to claim a boil over at HBF Park in Perth)

So that is my 501st blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 25th of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And the music industry is in mourning as 'The queen of rock'n'roll' of Tina Turner who now was the famous American singer & entertainer has recently passed away at 83 years of age as a result of a lengthy illness so all thoughts, condolences & prayers are with the family of Tina Turner as well as colleagues, friends & fans from not just the United States but around the world that shared throughout an incredible music career.

Tina Turner

1939 - 2023

And I would like say that I'd like to give Pops a shout out for his 76th birthday last Wednesday so best wishes all around.