Well, it looks like that Carole & Pops holiday to the Cook Islands has been officially cancelled so that they can watch the Paris Olympics on TV (And Carole is mainly a tennis watcher as Pops told me, but the crowds are expected to return to the Olympics for the first time since 2016 in Rio after missing out 3 years ago in 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with nobody (And I mean, especially the fans were able to tune in at home) able to watch the athletes in action as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which put the whole world on pause for many of both 2020 & 2021 (And it's mainly the support staff & other athletes who watched the action, but there were less crowds watching in Sapporo for the marathon being held in that city) with the trip to Taupo will instead be taking place between the 14th to the 16th of May so I will be looking after the house when both Carole & Pops are away.
And the mouth watering mid year rugby test schedule which has been confirmed with the AB's (Chance to regroup under new management following the scars of '23 that came to haunt us in last year's RWC due to a red card & the controversial refereeing decisions from an English referee that raised the ire of our All Black rugby fanbase here in our country (And I was totally gutted about it, especially the result of the final last year in which we fell short by a single point), had cost New Zealand its destiny as well as destroying our reputation & legacy of becoming champions of the world (And unlike Wales whose quest of becoming champions of the world in rugby back in 2011 had been ruined by a controversial red card to the Welsh captain in the semi against France for a tip tackle deemed to be illegal on a Frenchman who played on the wing) squaring off against England (Who lost in the semis against the highly successful South Africa side (With Leicester Tigers player Handre Pollard providing a clutch moment of nailing that penalty goal which was reminiscent of 2019 when the South Africans had outperformed Wales in the semi in Yokohama in similar fashion) before finishing 3rd in which they defeated Argentina in the 3rd/4th place playoff) in a 2 match test series for a chance of New Zealand for our elusive first win since 2018 against the English, then last year's RWC quartefinalists Fiji in San Diego, California in the United States in which the AB's will field lesser known players while the Joe Schmidt coached Wallabies side (In a chance to rebound after failing to qualify for the knockouts in last year's Rugby World Cup, & to change the team's fortunes around for the people of Australia right behind them) is expected to face Wales (Who were outplayed by the Argentinians in the quarters) in a bid for payback after losing to them at the World Cup during the pools last year, also in a 2 match test series then Georgia in a one off test in Sydney & of course, 2 of the most fearest/fiercest sides lock horns with the reigning world champs the Springboks (Who'll face Wales at Twickenham in London, in South Africa's first test since they completed their successful defence of rugby's most treasured prize, the Rugby World Cup in France last year led by that iconic sporting figure who played for both South African club sides of the Stormers as well as the Sharks & currently playing for French club Racing 92 of Siya Kolisi who is the man born in the poor but impoverished township of Zwide near Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) when he remained as the Head of the Table as well as keeping his self-proclaimed rugby god status intact according to the previous blogs that I did when at that moment in a story billed as keeping South African rugby great inspired by the former US president Donald Trump according to the previous blogs that I did, became the most successful rugby playing nation in the tournament's history with a record 4 to their name) against the defending Six Nations champions Ireland (They won it last year (Same year that the Irish had been outclassed by the All Blacks in that epic quarterfinal game at the World Cup) before their successful retention of the Six Nations Championship this year despite dropping a game against England in the penultimate round with Marcus Smith also providing the clutch moment to dispatch the Irish at Twickers with the Irish's quest of another grand slam, had been short lived) in a clash of champions including the 1st test at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria which is a rematch of the pool stages of the Rugby World Cup in Paris last year in which Ireland became the last side to defeat South Africa (Who won 4 on the bounce against Tonga in the pools, then France in the quarters, England in the semis & New Zealand in that controversial final which resulted in heartbreak/heartache for our beloved All Blacks side who were shattered in a repeat of 1995 when we were playing with 14 players for the remainder of that final after the New Zealand captain became the first man to be sent off in a Rugby World Cup final) in international rugby before taking on Portugal (Who reigned supreme against Fiji during the very last match of the pools last year at the Rugby World Cup) in a one-off test in Bloemfontein & last year's Rugby World Cup semifinalists Argentina play previous RWC hosts France (Who fell short against the Boks in the quarterfinal as they crashed out of their home tournament also according to the previous blogs that I did including Springbok winger Cheslin Kolbe's sneaky little move of charging down the attempted conversion from French fullback Thomas Ramos in which South Africa had KO'd the hosts at the time at their home tournament) in a 2 match test series.
And something is going on in Indycar because recently they found that controversy has come about Team Penske's Josef Newgarden being stripped of his race win in the season opening round of the Indycar series due to DQ for the illegal use of push to pass before the restart in order to gain an unfair advantage along with his Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin (The winner of the most recent Indycar race at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama) who had his podium position been taken away as a result of a disqualification, then the 2 time former champion Will Power had his 10 championship points being deducted for his role in the Team Penske push to pass before restart controversy at St Pete (And man, this is like sandpapergate in the cricket in South Africa 6 years ago back in 2018 where the 3 key players from the Aussie cricket team had to be banned including captain at the time Steve Smith (Who was the modern day iteration of the late Sir Don Bradman got 1 year for it, allowing Tim Paine to take over the captaincy before he relinqushed the role as Paine handed it to Pat Cummins who got the nod in 2021, & has been the skipper of the Aussie cricket team in the test format since), David Warner (Who was one of Australia's best ever modern day cricketers in which he got suspended just like Smith for a year as a result of his actions) & Cameron Bancroft (He got 9 months for it for playing their part in sandpapergate in which he, Smith & Warner copped sanctions for a ball tampering breach in which Bancroft who deliberately changed the condition of a cricket ball by using sandpaper which is against the laws of the game) in light of the controversial ball tampering saga during Australia at the time touring there in the republic, often compared to Bodyline in 1932-33 during England's Ashes tour to Australia where the late Bradman tried to counter so many English fielders who were behind square (That was the introduction of the 2 behind square law following Bodyline (Although the English referred it to as leg theory) & the infamous underarm incident by Trevor Chappell (Who didn't have any children in light of him bowling underarm which tarnished his reputation) in 1981 where New Zealand were desperately trying hard to win against Australia with a match winning six from Brian McKechnie at the MCG in Melbourne in a One Day International cricket match over there which is worse than sandpapergate) with Mexican Pato O'Ward (Who drives for Arrow McLaren SP) being declared the winner in the aftermath of Newgarden & McLaughlin getting themselves disqualified for an infringement regarding to the use of the overtake button prior to the green flag restart when the Indycar season got underway, & there were massive fines being handed out to Team Penske for breaching the rulebook such as the push to pass usage before restarts is disallowed, but there is a rule change as Indycar have enforced a crack down on the highly controversial 'Dragon move' (Just like both the NFL & NRL have successfully implemented a clamp down on the controversial 'Hip drop' maneuver) which enabled Josef Newgarden defending his position from the outside lane on Marcus Ericsson (And it would've caused an accident if they're not careful in which Indycar have now outlawed the controversial 'Snake move' that they used for the last 2 Indy 500's starting from this year) before Newgarden went on to win the most recent Indy 500 which was held last year.
And finally that in Canada & possibly Australia that news outlets such as Sky News being shown on social media such as Facebook, are now prohibited due to the Canadian government passing a controversial law last year that prevents anyone from gaining access to their news stuff on social media, & now Australia is trying to do the same as the Canadians did by passing a controversial law regarding to news outlets that cannot be shown like Facebook from example as well as sharing some stuff like that.
So that is my 549th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 25th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.
P.S. And the music fraternity here in New Zealand is in mourning as guitarist & singer of Wiremu 'Willie' Hona from the iconic but legendary New Zealand reggae band of the Herbs, has passed away so all thoughts, prayers & condolences got to the Hona whanau, may you Rest In Peace (RIP).
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