Lonely Boy: My 32nd blog of the year 2023

Well, the National Party is getting tough on crime in which most Kiwis are getting worried even if they win the election this year such as the restoration of law & order as they will back the cops by giving them a range of new legislative powers to disrupt & clamp down crime which is their plan as well as they'll crack down gang patches in public & prevent any gang members gathering in public places & also going to fight youth crime too, but a National government will make New Zealand a safe place to live, work & raise a family through effective policies that fight crime as well as implementing a Young Serious Offender category to raise consequences for repeat offenders like ram-raiders while more Kiwis are now victims of crime which shows Labour is lacking leadership & out of ideas when it comes to law & order then National is the party of law & order & they propose by doubling the sentences of those convicted whether it's theft or burglary in an area (But there's an expert has slammed National's propsed law & order reforms, saying the party's policy is "retrograde" which deemed to be 'Ineffective, expensive & inequitable' then new data released by National shows retail crime is increased by almost 40% compared with last year which had been skyrocketed while their is now been an average of 292 retail crimes being reported but there's a National goverment are expected to tackle gangs as well as crime).

And something terrible has happened in France as there were riots all over the place in places like Paris, Marseille & around the country about a shooting by police on a 17 year old regarding to police brutality while 1,300 people had been detained for it overnight as 45,000 cops had been dispatched/sent according to the minister with France's mayors even calling out for a mass mobilization just 2 months out until this years Rugby World Cup which has raised concerns about their preparation of hosting a global rugby tournament (And is it safe just in case if there's protests with security required to be heightened on that occasion? I hope so unlike the tackle height law from the shoulders to the sternum area in rugby that they're introducing in time for this years Rugby World Cup in an effort to make the game safer & a bid to end the war on dangerous contact regarding to the head & neck area is very similar to gun control in real life (In which Australia, New Zealand (Who leads the way of gun control reforms in 2019), Norway & the UK have already introduced in light of those devastating, horrible events that have been unfolded, compared to World War II in 1939 to 1945 & of course, the worst year in human history which circulated around 536 AD regarding to both eruptions & plagues that wiped the human race out) that they're trying to introduce in the United States (Whose northern part of America as well as Canada being blighted by the toxic smoke that they had from the wildfires in Canada which resulted air quality being poor on that occasion) regarding to those pretty terrible shootings that happened on the 4th of July on Independence Day but life is still a bit messed up mainly due to the cost of living crisis that they're having around the world as a result of high prices such as food & fuel are skyrocketing since last year).

And news coming straight out of rugby that there is going to be a global rugby competition called the World League which is expected to commence in 2026 a year out until the Rugby World Cup being held in Australia with the new competition has signalled the new era for both the July & November international rugby windows with SANZAAR and Six Nations Rugby are working in partnership to establish a new international rugby competition due to start in 2026 although the new competition will take place in the existing July and November international rugby windows while each of the four SANZAAR nations of Argentina, Australia, New Zealand (Who'll be without their key Crusaders stalwarts of Leicester Fainga'anuku (Who is nursing a calf problem that he suffered during the Super Rugby Pacific final against the Chiefs) & Will Jordan (Mainly as a result of concussion symptoms prevented him from travelling so Shaun Stevenson takes his place for the time being) for the test against Argentina on the 8th of July (That's the 9th New Zealand time which I'm always looking forward to) & South Africa and all of the Six Nations Rugby Unions such as England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland & Wales and federations will compete in the competition, with two invitational Unions such as Fiji & Japan for example, to join the SANZAAR nations then SANZAAR and Six Nations Rugby will own and operate the elite competition & World Rugby will create a newly formed second-tier competition, to facilitate promotion and relegation from 2030, & I think both Ma'a Nonu & Conrad Smith were the best midfield pairing for the All Blacks during our run for success in the early to mid 2010s, but Walter Little & Frank Bunce were by far the better midfield combination for New Zealand during the 1990's period according to antoher story that I remember from Dad but I prefer Nonu & Smith as my preferred all-time AB's midfield pairing.

And in Formula 1 related news such as Max Verstappen (The son of 'The Flying Dutchman' & 'The Boss' of Jos (The most hated man in Formula 1 as well as a former A1GP driver for the Netherlands), who said that the number of races in next year's F1 calendar was revealed (It remains the same but there was notable additions such as the return of China at the Shanghai International Circuit after a 5 year absence which is due to be held from next year onwards since the nation had eased its corona virus restrictions back in March or April (And it was during the pandemic that our country of New Zealand led the way in terms of COVID-19 response back in 2020 until last year where we opened our borders up in April, then eased our border restrictions back in December) & the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix being confirmed also for next year after the event had been called off this year due to flooding in the region) that it was too many) according to the blog that I did 3 months ago who dominated the sprint race qualifying to be on pole for the race) has won the Austrian GP, his 7th of the season in a Grand Prix marred by incidents involving multiple drivers such as 8 like Alpine's Esteban Ocon for example as well as Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, Sir Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, Alphatauri's Yuki Tsunoda & Logan Sargeant in the Williams had copped penalties for infringements such as going off track by failing to observe/comply the white line which is the field of play a lot in which further action had to be taken by the race stewards in a bid to stamp out drivers who go off the circuit for which was deemed to be harsh with the extreme but sheer number of laps being deleted for offences being taken too seriously to account (But I'm looking forward to Britain which is the home race of 3 British drivers such as Hamilton, Hamilton's Mercedes teammate George Russell & McLaren's Lando Norris (And can anyone stop Red Bull maintaining their perfect record this year? That is the question but will find out in the race on Sunday (And I just heard that Max Verstappen has dominated the 1st 2 official practice sessions on Friday) but the most recent grand prix held in Britain was last year in which Sainz won for the 1st time in Formula 1, but it was filled with drama as chaos erupted in the very 1st lap of the race where China's Zhou Guanyu (Along with Russell who also crashed) in the Alfa Romeo flipped his car over in an unfortunate crash, although he did survive the impact mainly because of the halo (Which was introduced in 2018 for safety purposes regarding to the driver's head area) which is the accepted form as part of safety in F1 along with the HANS device which was mandated in 2003 as also an accepted part of the safety features in motor racing regarding to the head & neck area, while the most memorable F1 race at Silverstone was at the British Grand Prix in 2020 where Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes won his home race on 3 wheels even though he picked up a flattie on the last lap (And that was obviously unfortunate that the crowd wasn't there as they remained in their homes due to the global COVID-19 pandemic in which the grand prix had being staged during that most difficult but tough time in that year) but guess what, the 3 time defending Supercars champion of Shane van Gisbergen (Who has struggled recently in defence of his title this year with Erebus Motorsport now taken over as the top team in the Supercars Championship since the start of the Gen 3 era with their driver Brodie Kostecki (Teammate of Will Brown who is obviously playing the supporting role of Brodie Kostecki's bid of winning his maiden Supercars Championship title) is currently the points leader going into the next event at Reid Park at Townsville) becomes the 1st New Zealander to win a NASCAR race in the streets of Chicago, Illnois which played host to its historic first ever NASCAR street race whilst making his NASCAR Cup Series debut over there as van Gisbergen also becomes the 1st New Zealander to compete in NASCAR.

And back to the rugby stuff that the AB's team had been named to play against Argentina for our always highly anticipated 1st rugby test of the year as well as the Rugby Championship opener (Along with the world champion Springboks (Who had left out their front line players such as Damian de Allende, Lood de Jager, Faf de Klerk, Eben Etzebeth, Cheslin Kolbe, Makazole Mapimpi & Malcolm Marx to prepare for the All Blacks in international rugby's most storied rivalry at Mount Smart Stadium in South Auckland to play their 1st test against the AB's in New Zealand since 2019 where it ended in a draw in Wellington before going on to win their last Rugby Championship with a bonus point win against Argentina, 3 months before successfully carrying the hopes of the entire country on their shoulders when they triumphed at the most recent Rugby World Cup in Japan against England in the final in the same year where the skipper Siya Kolisi (Who was one of the really decent rugby players that they had) hoisted the William Webb Ellis cup aloft in front of 70,000 people who are passionate rugby supporters therefore Kolisi played a key but crucial role of bringing the famous William Webb Ellis trophy back to South Africa after 12 years where they ended the utter dominance of the AB's according to the blog that I did last year who had our successful RWC glory at home in 2011 after 24 years before becoming the first & only side to defend the title in 2015 as well as the only time we won the tournament, outside of our home country) hosting the Wallabies (Who is Eddie Jones's 1st game back in charge for the 1st time since 2006 (It was in 2001 that the 1st match that Jones coached for the Aussies was against the South Africans on that ground at Loftus), & has named both Michael Hooper & James Slipper as co-captains in which Australia has never won against South Africa in Pretoria, but will history be made I reckon? I hope not) at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria) at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, Argentina (I wonder how the Super Rugby Pacific law interpretations will work by crossing over to the Rugby Championship in which they'll work the best in favour against the All Blacks (Who have the reputation for our worst discipline as we conceded too many penalties as well as yellow & red cards as well) so here is the starting lineup according to head coach Ian 'Fozzy' Foster (Who is in his final year as coach of New Zealand but it's has been 2 years since the last time I did the All Blacks team naming thing & it has been a while so I'm definitely making a comeback):

PLAYING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Ethan de Groot (Highlanders/Southland)

2 (Hooker): Dane Coles (Hurricanes/Wellington)

3 (Tight head prop): Tyrel Lomax (Hurricanes/Tasman)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Scott Barrett (Crusaders/Taranaki)

5 (No.5 lock): Josh Lord (Chiefs/Taranaki)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Shannon Frizell (Highlanders/Tasman)

7 (Open side flanker): Sam Cane (Chiefs/Bay of Plenty)

8 (Number 8): Ardie Savea (Hurricanes/Wellington)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back): Aaron Smith (Highlanders/Manawatu)

10 (First five-eighth): Damian McKenzie (Chiefs/Waikato)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth): Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki)

13 (Centre): Rieko Ioane (Blues/Auckland)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Caleb Clarke (Blues/Auckland)

14 (Right wing): Emoni Narawa (Chiefs/Bay of Plenty)

& 15 (Fullback): Beauden Barrett (Blues/Taranaki)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Codie Taylor

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Nepo Laulala

19 (Reserve lock): Tupou Vaa'i

20 (Reserve loose forward): Dalton Papali'i

21 (Reserve half-back): Finlay Christie

22 (Reserve first-five eighth): Richie Mo'unga

& 23 (Reserve back): Braydon Ennor

So that is my 508th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 32nd of this year, viva Ukraine.

Lo/Hi: My 31st blog of the year 2023

Well, there is hope for an A1GP (The series known as the World Cup of Motorsport for which I was a huge fan of which once ran from 2005 until 2009 in which drivers competed for their country instead of racing against each other where it stopped as a result of the global financial economic recession (And France (Their drivers were both future DTM & Supercars Championship driver who would gone on to win the Bathurst 1000 in 2019 with Scott McLaughlin of Alexandre Premat & future World Endurance Championship competitor Nicolas Lapierre) were the champions in the inaugural season in 2005-06 followed by Germany (Which featured a young, promising future F1 star of Nico Hulkenberg & future DTM driver Christian Vietoris) in 2006-07, then Switzerland (Which also featured former F1 test driver of Indian origin of Neel Jani who competed in Champ Cars at the time as well as a future competitor of the WEC) in 2007-08 & finally, Ireland (Who had future Formula E competitor Adam Carroll as their main driver) were the most recent champions in A1GP in 2008-09 in which was the one & only season to be powered by the Italian motor racing icon Ferrari) revival as 100 million dollars needed to be required to resurrect the series with British billionaire Keith Mills setting it up as well as having ex-Alpine F1 team principal Marcin Budkowski being involved in the project & if it happens, the series would commence from December next year until July 2025 but it must take place during the Formula 1 winter off season while 20 countries are expected to compete with both drivers in one team will represent their country (One who is experienced & the other who is a young prospect) with FIA Grade 2 circuits in the Asia-Pacific region needed to be held but here is the list of the dream grid for an A1GP return:

Australia: Will Power (Indycar) & Daniel Ricciardo (Formula 1 (Test & reserve driver)

Belgium: Stoffel Vandoorne (Formula E) & Laurens Vanthoor (World Endurance Championship)

Brazil: Helio Castroneves (Indycar) & Felipe Drugovich (F1 (Test & reserve driver)

Canada: Lance Stroll (F1) & Jacques Villeneuve (WEC)

Denmark: Christian Lundgaard (Indycar) & Kevin Magnussen (F1)

Finland: Valtteri Bottas (F1) & Kimi Raikkonen (NASCAR (Part time (Road courses only)

France: Romain Grosjean (Indycar) & Sebastien Ogier (Endurance racing)

Germany: Nico Hulkenberg (F1) & Mick Schumacher (F1 (Test & reseve driver)

Great Britain: Lewis Hamilton (F1) & George Russell (F1)

India: Jehan Daruvala (Formula 2) & Kush Maini (F2)

Italy: Raffaele Marciello (GT3 racing) & Valentino Rossi (GT3 racing)

Japan: Kamui Kobayashi (Super Formula) & Yuki Tsunoda (F1)

Mexico: Pato O'Ward (Indycar) & Sergio Perez (F1)

The Netherlands: Nyck de Vries (F1) & Max Verstappen (F1)

New Zealand: Scott McLaughlin (Indycar) & Shane van Gisbergen (Supercars Championship & NASCAR (Part time (Road courses only)

South Africa: Kelvin (FE (Substitute driver) & Sheldon van der Linde (DTM)

Spain: Fernando Alonso (F1) & Alex Palou (Indycar)

Sweden: Mattias Ekstrom (World Rallycross Championship) & Marcus Ericsson (Indycar)

Switzerland: Sebastien Buemi (FE) & Simona de Silvestro (Porsche factory driver)

& United States: Kyle Larson (NASCAR) & Josef Newgarden (Indycar)

And I tried setting up an international table hockey competition in 2006 in a similar fashion to A1GP as well as the cricket, football & rugby world cups, but there was only one Table Hockey World Cup unofficially in which my country of New Zealand, Denmark & Canada (Who my mate & old mentor Leon represented instead of Morocco) competed in which was known as the Table Hockey Tri Nations, but I'm setting up an Air Hockey World Cup even if I both purchase an mini air hockey table & a sports trophy to go along that awards the winner of which I will name it as the Wiremu Ngapo Memorial Trophy in memory of my late brother Wiremu (But I didn't want it engraved by the way), but I wanted least 3 countries to compete in the Air Hockey World Cup in order to grow a success (I will always be playing for my country which is New Zealand while Leon is from Morocco now but Carole could represent Great Britain even though she is a New Zealander despite holding a British passport but there is a New Zealand Air Hockey provincial championship that I'm trying to establish with me representing Wanganui while Pops could be playing for Thames Valley & Dad is from Tasman (Despite originally being born there).

And news coming straight out of America that retired American pop star of Britney Spears who is in Las Vegas as she lodges a complaint to Las Vegas police about attempting to meet the rookie NBA player who was the number 1 draft pick in this year's NBA draft of Victor 'Wemby' Wembanyama to wish him good luck by tapping him on the shoulder but one of Wembanyama's bodyguards who are in fact, silly hypocrites had grabbed her, therefore triggering an incident which alerted them (And the bodyguards of Wembanyama had warned to Spears afterwards in a stern message that Victor is not to be approached unlike the footballers who are playing in the German Bundesliga are not to be approached, security warn when the pandemic began in 2020) but American sports news that I've missed such as the Denver Nuggets led by Serbian of Nikola 'the Joker' Jokic winning their maiden NBA championship after winning 4 - 1 in the NBA finals best of 7 first to 4 series against Jimmy Butler & the Miami Heat + the Vegas Golden Knights have celebrated their historic first ever NHL Stanley Cup after their hard fought finals series win against the Florida Panthers 4 - 1 in the best of seven first to four series.

So that is my 507th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 31st of this year, viva Ukraine.

Polly: My 30th blog of the year 2023

Well, the All Blacks squad has just been announced so here is the list of 36 (Or 37) players being included in the 2023 Rugby Championship squad (And it is the 1st time I'll be doing the squad naming since 2 years ago in 2021):

Hookers:

Codie Taylor (32, Crusaders / Canterbury, 76)

Dane Coles (36, Hurricanes / Wellington, 84)

Samisoni Taukei’aho (25, Chiefs / Waikato, 24)

Props:

Ethan de Groot (24, Highlanders / Southland, 13)

Fletcher Newell (23, Crusaders / Canterbury, 6)

Nepo Laulala (31, Blues / Counties Manukau, 45)

Ofa Tu’ungafasi (31, Blues / Northland, 50)

Tamaiti Williams (22, Crusaders / Canterbury, *)

Tyrel Lomax (27, Hurricanes / Tasman, 23)

Locks:

Brodie Retallick (32, Chiefs / Hawkes Bay, 100)

Josh Lord (22, Chiefs / Taranaki, 2)

Samuel Whitelock (34, Crusaders / Canterbury, 143)

Scott Barrett (29, Crusaders / Taranaki, 58)

Tupou Vaa’i (23, Chiefs / Taranaki, 18)

Loose forwards:

Ardie Savea (29, Hurricanes / Wellington, 70)

Dalton Papali’i (25, Blues / Counties Manukau, 22)

Luke Jacobson (26, Chiefs / Waikato, 12)

Sam Cane (captain) (31, Chiefs / Bay of Plenty, 86)

Samipeni Finau (24, Chiefs / Waikato, *)

Shannon Frizell (29, Highlanders / Tasman, 25)

Halfbacks:

Aaron Smith (34, Highlanders / Manawatu, 114)

Finlay Christie (27, Blues / Tasman, 14)

Cam Roigard (22, Hurricanes / Counties Manukau, *)

First-five eighths:

Beauden Barrett (32, Blues / Taranaki, 112)

Damian McKenzie (28, Chiefs / Waikato, 40)

Richie Mo’unga (29, Crusaders / Canterbury, 44)

Midfielders:

Anton Lienert-Brown (28, Chiefs / Waikato, 60)

Jordie Barrett (26, Hurricanes / Taranaki, 48)

Rieko Ioane (26, Blues / Auckland, 59)

Braydon Ennor (25, Crusaders / Canterbury, 6)

Dallas McLeod (24, Crusaders / Canterbury, *)

Outside backs:

Caleb Clarke (24, Blues / Auckland, 15)

Emoni Narawa (23, Chiefs / Bay of Plenty, *)

Leicester Fainga’anuku (23, Crusaders / Tasman, 2)

Mark Telea (26, Blues / North Harbour, 2)

Will Jordan (25, Crusaders / Tasman, 21)

Shaun Stevenson (26, Chiefs / North Harbour, *) *

*: Called in as injury cover for Mark Telea

Unavailable through injury:

Angus Ta’avao, Ethan Blackadder, Cullen Grace, David Havili, Joe Moody, George Bower, Patrick Tuipulotu, Quinn Tupaea, Sevu Reece and TJ Perenara.

And what do I think of the squad naming? Five new faces, including Samipeni Finau, Dallas McLeod, Emoni Narawa, Cam Roigard & Tamaiti Williams have at least made it as on of the rookies in the squad, but no Brad Weber who didn't get in as well as Asafo Aumua, Folau, Jack Goodhue, Akira Ioane as well as Stephen Perofeta (And we have one player in the All Blacks XV squad which is one of Pops old students of Jona Nareki but 3 years of hard work has come down to all of this of making the AB's XV squad) & Hoskins Sotutu who has been dropped from the squad after his miserable Super Rugby Pacific form this year as he wasn't been selected in both the AB's & the All Blacks XV, well, that is a shame.

And tragedy has struck on the Titan sub near the wreckage of the Titanic as all 5 of them had been killed as a result of an implosion in Nova Scotia in Canada with flags being flown at half-mast & I mean that is totally shocking, absolutely shocking that Canada is in mourning about the disaster so all thoughts, prayers & condolences go to the families, friends & colleagues of the 5 victims who lost their lives during that sad & difficult time.

And in football related news such as Spain featuring its main player from Manchester City of Aymeric Laporte (Who was born in France but opted to play for Spain mainly because of him being of Spanish origin) have won the UEFA Nations League for the 1st time on penalties against the Luka Modric led Croatia (Who have yet to win a major football trophy after appearing in the 2018 Football World Cup final against France (Who appeared in another final at a Football World Cup last year against Argentina led by its mercurial skipper of Lionel Messi in which they went down & missed out on successfully defending the World Cup which was decided on penalties) which ended in defeat) in the final over in Rotterdam in the Netherlands (And they also won against Italy with a match winning goal provided by Joselu in the 88th minute in the semifinal) to capture their 1st major trophy since their triumph at Euro 2012 & to join the likes of both Portugal (The Euro 2016 champions who won the inaugural edition in 2019) & France (The twice European & twice World champions who won it in 2021 (The same year that the Italians won the Euros where they had to win on spot kicks against England (Who had their home crowd right behind them at Wembley, but fell short on that occasion) in the final while the French were outlasted by Switzerland on spot kicks in the Round of 16 during the tournament) ironically against Spain (Who redeemed themselves of winning this years edition 2 years after losing to the French) as the other champions of the UEFA Nations League.

And it has been one full year since the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe V Wade which introduced a clamp down on abortion throughout America where most Americans disagreed that they were unhappy about the full abortion ban which was focused ahead of next year's general election in the United States between the US president & the Republican presidental candidates.

And finally in the Super Rugby Pacific final as poor discipline cost the Chiefs a crack at the SRP title after losing to the Crusaders who were in overwhemingly dominant fashion after 3 yellow cards being handed out by referee Ben O'Keefe (Who is now facing death threats directed at him for online abuse in a similar fashion to dumb idiots who are supporters of AS Roma who assaulted the English football referee Anthony Taylor at an airport in Budapest, Hungary for his bad decisions which gifted Sevilla the UEFA Europa League title (And action needs to be taken in a bid to stamp out online hate, but Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Sonny Bill Williams & Sam Cane expressed support & solidarity towards O'Keefe who was the victim of threats being spread online by those disgruntled clowns related to both bullying & harassment for which I label it as shocking as well as diabolical & volatile, but they need to introduce a crack down of online hate being spread on social media such as fines or suspensions being handed out to merciless cowards who are absolutely despicable & stupid, but the treatment of O'Keefe by some Chiefs fans who are scumbags following the Super Rugby Pacific final is unacceptable) to Anton Lienert-Brown for a dangerous tackle on Dallas McLeod (Even though the All Black fans are hoping to see him wearing in black for the first time, but he might be ruled out of the 1st test of the year against Argentina as he is experiencing possible head injury symptoms but now Anton Lienert-Brown has been given a 3 week suspension for his sanctions in the final for a reckless high tackle with malicious intent on McLeod (Or 2 if you will if he cleans up his act by choosing to attend tackle academy which is run by World Rugby) as well as recalled All Black Luke Jacobson for not supporting his own body weight (The laws state that when you're going to the pilfer, you must at least support your own weight, but Jacobson didn't as he copped a sin binning for that during the final in which the Chiefs fans are gutted about the result, especially me) at a ruck & one of the Chiefs co-captains of Sam Cane who came in from the side of the ruck (In which in fact the ball wasn't out but O'Keefe had to be booed from the Chiefs fans who were in disbelief at a post match presentation for his poor decisions that he had similar to Anthony Taylor did in the Europa League final but one of the decisions O'Keefe had missed was a clear & obvious forward pass by the Crusaders in which the Chiefs (Whose fans had less charitable memories in front of the referee during the final which was the strangest in Super Rugby history since 2006 in which the Super 14 final between the Crusaders & the Hurricanes was played in the fog in which the fans, the commentators & the TV cameras were unable to see properly as a result of poor visibility dubbed as gorillas in the mist (But this is like a year after in Formula One at the 2005 United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (The home of the world famous Indy 500 which hosted its first grand prix in 2000 (A year before the 9/11 tragedy has struck America when 4 planes were hijacked. Both brought down the towers of New York City's World Trade Center; another crashed into the Pentagon at Washington, DC; & the fourth was forced down into a wooded area in Pennsylvania as the world was stunned when F1 played a huge part of America's healing process for their slow recovery after a tragedy occurred like that when the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, 19 days later, was the largest public gathering in the shattered nation since that fateful day (And security had to be heightened for that memorable occasion (And before 9/11, it was easier to get on a plane in the United States, but since that horrific tragic event, it was incredibly difficult as airport officers search for something illegal inside such as a bomb, knife, or a gun, & if it's not a explosive or a weapon, the status of the all clear would be given) during the event where Ferrari's Michael Schumacher (Who won the last race of the 2001 season in Japan which was Hakkinen's farewell race in Formula One) of Germany took on pole, but the race went to Mika Hakkinen (Who was Schumacher's main rival during the late 90's to early 2000's period & had taken over from Damon Hill who was Michael Schumacher's first rival) in the McLaren for his last ever victory in Formula One, his 20th of his decorated career) & on that weekend, however, the Grand Prix acted as a statement of national resolve in the aftermath of such tragedy) where Michael Schumacher won that famous grand prix despite spinning out during the race until 2007 where Lewis Hamilton took his 2nd win of his F1 career as he followed up his success in Canada where he scored his maiden win in Formula One) in Speedway, Indiana in which the constructors fitted with Michelin tyres opted not to take further part in the 73 lap race allowing the constructors fitted with Bridgestone tyres participated in which most fans were livid as they gave them raspberries by booing the 6 cars fitted with Bridgestones during the race as well as they threw beer cans & plastic water bottles, mainly because of Toyota's Ralf Schumacher (Whose brother & defending 7 time world champion at the time of Michael in the Ferrari won the race (I remember watching that race before going to Ruapehu College back in 2005 where someone told me at a library that only 6 drivers took part in the Grand Prix which is sorta like a race on the Gran Turismo video game from the first one until the 4th), his only win in 2005 (In which the championship was won by Spain's Fernando Alonso in the Renault) but the Michelin tyre company did send full refunds to the unhappy fans post race in which the F1 community was stunned) who crashed on an oval banked part of the area due to tyre failure during practice on Friday, resulting with an injury (And the FIA suggested that they should introduce a chicane to slow the cars down but eventually they had chose not to on that occasion by defying it) then Brazilian Ricardo Zonta filled in for the injured German of Ralf Schumacher before he was one of the 14 competitors alongside the eventual world champion of Alonso pulled out at the last minute regarding to Michelin's tyre debacle which was deemed to be a backlash from the disappointing fans who supported the teams that are associated with the famous French tyre company according to the blog that I did in January last year) were unhappy about that they should've awarded the scrum that cost them dearly, in a similar fashion to Wayne Barnes in which he missed a blatant forward pass by the French to go for the try with a match winning conversion to come against the All Blacks in the quarterfinal of the Rugby World Cup in 2007 which was always disappointing for the people of our country of New Zealand (And what went wrong for the Chiefs to lose the final like this? It must've been the discipline which hurt them a bit in which they cost a big opportunity to win their 3rd championship & their 1st since 2013 but hopefully they will be better next year (And will they about to change? Well, I hope so) in the dying seconds which cost them dear as the Crusaders (The Manchester City or the Kansas City Chiefs of SRP) win their unprecedented but record extending 12th Super Rugby title as well as retaining it in style (They first did it in 1998 against the Blues at a packed Eden Park in Auckland then they did it again in 1999 followed by 2000, 2002, 2005-06, 2008, 2017-19, last year & now this year) in 'Razor' Robertson's fairytale farewell (And is this his last breakdance before taking over from Foster as the new AB's coach starting from next year? You betcha) when he won his 7th out of the 8 trophies in the last 6 years that he won as coach (And he is the Pep Guardiola or Andy Reid of Super Rugby Pacific while Richie Mo'unga is in fact the definite equivalent of both Kevin de Bruyne & Patrick Mahomes & of course Codie Taylor is like sharing the same role as both Erling Haaland & Travis Kelce) to add to his 4 Super 12 titles that he won as a player in his 7th & final year of coaching the Crusaders (Who unveiled a mystery playbook by containing the Chiefs both on attack & defence, but it was a good call by the Crusaders of bringing back wily old veteran Sam Whitelock (Who played his last game for his beloved club as he seeks a new chapter of joining Pau in the French Top 14 competition after this years Rugby World Cup in order to get rich) from injury for the final which ended in glory as they successfully defended that Super Rugby Pacific title to follow up that they won last year) before taking over the All Blacks head coaching role from Ian Foster (Who is in his final year as the All Blacks coach) starting from 2024 (And I wonder the headlines would say: CRUSADERS REMAIN SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC CHAMPIONS or more like: CHIEFS MISS OUT ON SRP CHAMPIONSHIP AGAINST DOMINANT CRUSADERS or especially: HEY REF, DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON THE WAY OUT, but what a disappointing end for the Chiefs, what a match for our viewers right around the world (As the retired Australian cricket broadcaster Bill Lawry used to say along with "It's all happening!").

So that is my 506th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 30th of this year, viva Ukraine.

Tumble & Fall: My 29th blog of the year 2023

Well, the latest in Formula 1 as the defending 2 time world champion Max Verstappen has won the Canadian Grand Prix in an epic race from the pole as he moves to 41 race wins if you will, matching the late Brazilian of Ayrton Senna (Although Sir Lewis Hamilton leads the all-time list with 103 ahead of Michael Schumacher with 91 then Sebastian Vettel who notched up 53 & Alain Prost who had done it 51 times) while Red Bull is celebrating its 100th race win in Formula 1 since their debut in 2005 when they took over from Jaguar (Who were once known as Stewart F1 from 1997 until 1999, but their 1st win for Red Bull came in 2009 in China were Sebastian Vettel (A year after his first win in F1 with Toro Rosso in Italy & a year before he celebrated his first of 4 world championships) won an action packed grand prix) & only the fifth to record a century of wins in F1 along with 4 others such as Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes & Williams.

And I revealed that I have added Jackie Chan (Who is one of by far, my favourite Asian film stars as well as my favourite martial arts actors) as one of my favourite film stars list along with the likes of 6 others like Schwarzenegger, Cruise, Jackson, Reeves, Morrison & Urban.

And in cricket related news that the 1st Ashes test had been won by the defending world test champions of Australia (Who unveiled their mystery playbook by countering the Baz ball effect with some wicked piece of bowling by a star studded bowling attack consisting of veterans Mitchell Starc & captain Pat Cummins) at Edgbaston in Birmingham against the kings of limited overs cricket of England (Who declared 393 for 6 in the first innings) after a revival by easily one of Australia's best batters along with Steve Smith of David Warner (Who is set to retire after the Sydney test next year).

And I fear that there is going to be a war between China & Taiwan, but they haven't been yet confirmed just like the terrible events unfolded that happened since February last year that I can't show you guys on my blog so it doesn't offend the people of the country led by that lunatic who started it (And another country has supported their main country's role into that horrible event) because Pops warned me not to post stuff about it (But is it OK about posting stuff about another terrible stuff last year in another country? But not the horrific event being unfolded), & it has been going since as tensions mount between the two (And I originally posted stuff about it last year but Pops told me to get rid of that stuff which deemed to be illegal while Dad always posts stuff about the horrendous events being occurred on Twitter).

And I literally found something in my bedroom yesterday such as my old birthday ring (I'm keeping my birthday ring from now on) that I bought in 2008, but I decided to give my old jade green dragon necklace that the late Nan & Pops bought it for me in 2010 to my cousin as well as my honorary sister of Paige Williams (Best known as Cathey's daughter & Norah's mother) next time when I go to Wellington with possibly Dad along with my old Linkin Park Meteora album from 2003 since I got that remastered Linkin Park Meteora album which came out earlier this year that I'm giving it to her.

And finally here are the results of the semifinals of the Super Rugby Pacific competition:

Crusaders 52 - 15 Blues (It was the Crusaders night as they easily annhiliated the Blues (Who had Hoskins Sotutu sin binned for a side entry of a promising Crusaders maul which proved costly & that proved to be the game changer) to make another appearance in the final in their quest for their record extending 12th Super Rugby title at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch)

& Chiefs 19 - 6 Brumbies (And it was the Chiefs who stole the show to win that 2nd semi against the Brumbies to advance to their first final since 2013 for which I was stoked about it when veteran lock forward for the Chiefs of Brodie Retallick scored a sensational try before the death which put the semi beyond doubt which proved to be the turning point at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton)

So it's the Chiefs (Who is the Crusaders main challengers in this year's Super Rugby Pacific competition (It was the Blues last year, then the Chiefs took over this year) to play the defending champions the Crusaders in the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific final (Their last meeting between the 2 sides at in SRP was in round 10 in which the Chiefs won the match by 10 points at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton for their 2nd consecutive win against the Crusaders) at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton on Saturday local time (And it's Scott Robertson's last game in charge of the Crusaders as he is set to take over as head coach of the AB's from next year onwards but I once told Pops that there is going to be an Chiefs-Crusaders final, but it's happening as dreams are about to become reality that there will be a dream final between both franchises) to decide who will become Super Rugby Pacific champions (Well, who is it going to be? Whether it's Chiefs mana to party like it's both 2012 & 2013 or will the Crusaders continue to crusade on to defend their title? We'll see but I don't think so), but will it be Chiefs co-captains of Sam Cane & Brad Weber (It was both Craig Clarke & Liam Messam who did it in 2012 against the Sharks in the final then a year later against the Brumbies in the final) or Crusaders captain Scott Barrett to become the SRP winning captain to lift the Super Rugby Pacific trophy?.

So that is my 505th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 29th of this year, viva Ukraine.