Well, hi & welcome back to another blog, but welcome to all of our readers here in New Zealand & around the world, I'm Whetu here & you're tuning into my Kiwiavenger blog (And a shoutout to Carole (Who I first met her back in 2017, a year before she would move here to Whanganui also way back in 2018 (That was 2 years before COVID in 2020 where they once had the pandemic), & she has been here since) for her belated 73rd birthday on the 17th of June this month, so best wishes but we've already headed to Mint Cafe like yesterday for lunch 3 days after her actual birthday), but first in there was once a motor racing related story as 2001 wasn't even a great year in terms of motorsport standards such as the tragic passing of NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt Sr (AKA the Intimidator who was Dale Jr's dad & was a champion long ago in 1980, 1986-87, 1990-91 & 1993-94 as well as a Daytona 500 winner way, way back in 1998 as well as he won 76 NASCAR races, his last was in Talladega way back in 2000) in Daytona Beach, Florida during the Great American race of the Daytona 500 (The pinnacle event of the NASCAR Cup Series) earlier in the year in which the HANS device had been mandated following the tragedy, then twice CART Champ Car champion from 1997-98 of Italian Alessandro 'Alex' Zanardi (Who had to win gold in the hand cycling event in London during the Paralympic Games back in 2012) had lost both limbs that ended his open wheel racing career in a huge accident during a CART race in Lausitzring, Germany which took place after the 9/11 tragedy (Even though with the 2001 United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course marked the first time an major international sporting event had to be held within American boundaries in the aftermath of the tragic events of September 11th according to the Grand Prix circuits book that I bought from the Warehouse in Palmerston North back in 2017 in which they gave them their seal of approval, compared to 2005 where it was a farce 20 years ago where the constructors ran with Michelin tyres opted to pull out following an accident by Ralf Schumacher (The one who got injured before Brazilian Ricardo Zonta drafted in as replacement for the injured Ralf Schumacher before all hell had broken loose as Zonta was one of the 14 runners alongside the eventual champion Fernando Alonso (Who was a Renault driver at the time) & one of the championship contenders of McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen withdrew as 6 cars lined up on the grid were racing just like in the old Gran Turismo games from the 1st one until the 4th, & it was during the Grand Prix that Michael Schumacher won the most controversial race in F1 history which was an unpopular victory for the multiple world champion while one of his teammates of Rubens Barrichello finished in 2nd ahead of a Jordan driver of Portugal's Tiago Monteiro who was the only driver of his country to appear on the podium as he celebrated with a champagne spray in the aftermath of Michael & Barrichello leaving the podium early much to the disapproval of the race fans who were supporters of the constructors who ran with Michelin tyres such as Renault (Currently Alpine), McLaren, Toyota (Who departed after the 2009 season), Williams, BAR (Now Mercedes-AMG), Red Bull & Sauber (Kick Sauber as of today) in the Toyota during Friday practice by allowing the constructors fitted with Bridgestone tyres ran the whole 73 lap race meaning that the crowd were stunned by giving them raspberries according to the story that I did on my blog in 2023), & then the Champ Car movie called Driven starring Sylvester 'Sly' Stallone (AKA that Rambo & Rocky Balboa guy who played that legendary race car driver as well as former champion of Joe Tanto who tempted to come out of retirement to help by mentoring a young hotshot rookie named Jimmy Bly (Played by American actor Kip Perdue) in order to beat Beau Brandenburg (With German film star Til Schweiger portraying the role of him) of winning the championship, just like British racing legend who was the 1992 Formula One world champion of Nigel 'Nige the Lion' Mansell who beat his main challenger of 2 time Indy 500 winner who is also a motor racing legend of Brazil's Emerson Fittipaldi (The man who was a twice Formula One world champion way long ago in 1972 (In which he claimed the then record as the youngest driver to achieve the feat before Spain's Fernando Alonso took over 2 decades ago) & 1974 who dominated the Indy 500 twice long ago in 1989 then way, way back in 1993 in which he beat Mansell who embarrassedly got beaten by Fittipaldi (Who had to retire in 1996 due to injuries sustained in an accident) during the restart in which he struggled) did way, way back in 1993 where he won the IndyCar title as well as the rookie of the year honours, followed by a Colombian driver who was a future twice Indy 500 winning driver of Juan Pablo 'JPM' Montoya also way, way back in 1999 who did the same as Mansell, win the championship when he outperformed his main challenger of future 4 time IndyCar champion & twice Indy 500 winner just like Montoya, British driver Dario Franchitti (Whose career ended with serious injuries sustained in a wreck in an Indycar race on the streets of Houston back in 2013), then become the best performing rookie for the entire season) that came out in cinemas which was considered the worst Hollywood sports movies ever made, mainly because of the use of computer generated imagery (CGI), but they're about to release the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt (Fight Club, Troy, Mr & Mrs Smith) & featuring Spanish actor Javier Bardem (3:10 to Yuma, Skyfall) which is due in cinemas this month in June this year & the F1 movie is about a ageing former driver named Sonny Hayes who competes in IMSA as he mentors a young gun named Joshua 'Noah' Pierce (Played by British actor Damson Idris) who is willing to win the Formula 1 World Championship crown in a backmarker team called APX GP Team which is the 11th team on the F1 grid & it is set during the 2023 season, but the plot is similar to Driven & other motor racing related movies such as the 1990 NASCAR movie starring Tom Cruise (Of both Top Gun & Mission Impossible fame), Days of Thunder as well as the 1970's Formula One film about the Hunt-Lauda rivalry called Rush that came out in 2013 (And I've seen the movie like twice before which features the likes of Aussie Chris Hemsworth (The one who played the Norse god of thunder of Thor in the Marvel comics movies such as both Thor & the Avengers) who played the famous racer of the late James Hunt & the movie that came out in 2023 that I've got on Blu-ray, but never seen the whole movie of it of Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story which is about Jann Mardenborough's pathway from gamer to racer.
And secondly in the cricket that the history of the Champions Trophy (For which I label that tournament as a mini-World Cup with the top 8 teams from the previous men's World Cup, qualify for the Champions Trophy) cricket takes it all back to 1998 where South Africa (Who were fresh off from their Commonwealth Games gold medal triumph in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) triumphed in Bangladesh (Who were once a football playing country until they converted it to cricket as their main popular sport there in the country) to claim their one & only major international cricket tournament, then our own Black Caps of New Zealand went on to become champions of a limited overs tournament for the 1st & only time following our victory against India (Who had Sourav Ganguly scoring a ton during the 1st Indian innings) in Kenya with Chris 'Cairnsy' Cairns (Son of famous cricketer Lance) also scoring an unbeaten century that proved to be the game changer in which he had been awarded player of the game honours by getting the Knockout Trophy final MVP (Most valuable player), but the player of the tournament went to English born who plays for New Zealand of batter Roger Twose (Who after the tournament had decided to move on from representing his adopted country a year later due to a form slump), then fast forward to 2002 where India (Who beat South Africa who should've won in the semi, but a hamstring injury by batter Herschelle Gibbs had derailed South Africa's chances of making the final according to the comment I remember from former South African bowler Shaun 'Polly' Pollock) & hosts at the time of Sri Lanka shared the trophy apiece as co-champions after the final as well as the reserve day got rained out but abandoned without a ball being bowled before the West Indies went on to win the tournament way back in 2004 against hosts at the time of England in the final, then Australia won in 2006 against the defending champions at the time of the West Indies in the final when the tournament was held in India before retaining it in 2009 in South Africa against us (Who had before the final that our own skipper at the time of Daniel 'Dan' Vettori who had to pull out at the last minute which proved to be the turning point even though with the Aussies thinking that they have a better chance of becoming the first & only side to retain the Champions Trophy also according to the comment that I literally remember from former player Shane 'Watto' Watson, & they successfully did to claim the white jacket which is awarded to the winning players of the winning team) in the final in South Africa, then 4 years later in 2013 that hosts at the time of England (Who had their best chance of winning the Champions Trophy which could've gone either way) made their 2nd appearance of a Champions Trophy final, in which they fell short against India who prevailed in the final which was reduced to 20 overs a side because of the rain had fallen at Edgbaston in Birmingham before 4 years later in 2017 where Pakistan (Hosts & defending champions of this year's tournament who won their first major cricket tournament in the ODI format since 1992 (And we already heard that story before according to the previous blogs that I did) eventually triumphed over arch-rivals India (Whose chances of retaining the Champions Trophy proved costly due to a no ball by Jasprit Bumrah who thought he got a wicket of Zaman who eventually survived when he eventually posted 114 which proved to be the winning knock), but there has been an update in the cricket as the Black Caps win the Tri-Series against Pakistan in the final which was marred by a bizarre incident overshadowing Pakistan's last match prior to the mini-World Cup tournament which has taken a dramatic turn when a black cat that stormed onto the field causing chaos, therefore setting the tone before both sides square off once more, in the opening match of the tournament, but I fear it might be an India-South Africa final (Although Australia might not make the semis due to their 3 frontline seamers unavailable such as Mitchell Starc (Who withdrew through personal reasons), Josh Hazelwood (Who is currently out with an injury) & regular captain Pat Cummins (Who is injured just like Hazelwood as Steve Smith assumes the captaincy duties for the whole tournament) according to former South African cricketer JP Duminy, just like last year at the men's T20 World Cup when Suryakumar Yadav took a catch during the last over of the T20 international game that won them the final of course at Kensington Oval in Georgetown, Barbados, in the West Indies that was questionable which broke South African hearts) in the final at the Oval in London courtesy of a ton by Zaman where the tournament was held in England again.
And thirdly in the rugby as the new season of Super Rugby Pacific gets underway with the Crusaders bid of completing the greatest sporting comeback in history starts with the opening win over the Hurricanes (Who had to lead at halftime, but they fell short in the end) all thanks to a hat-trick to Wellington player who plays for the Crusaders of Kyle Preston (The hero of that match who is a relatively unknown but new to the rugby scene as the man who used to back the Hurricanes as a young kid, played for Wellington in last years National Provincial Championship season that they eventually triumphed, but he could be the next big thing in New Zealand rugby as he was called up to the Crusaders by coming into the squad as replacement for the retirement bound former English international halfback Willi Heinz to join both other halfbacks in the team, fearing that he might not get any game time for the Hurricanes behind Cam Roigard, such as Noah Hotham (Who suffered an injury early during the game, & then hey presto! Enter Kyle Preston) & the wily old veteran who is experienced of Mitch Drummond) before the New South Wales Waratahs break Highlanders hearts with the winning try scored by reserve prop Siosifa Amone, then the ACT Brumbies did the same thing as the Waratahs when they beat the Fijian Drua with starting loose forward Luke Reimer (Who could even be a Wallaby in waiting, in the coming months) providing the match winner when he scored a try off a rolling maul seconds until full time, then the Blues (Who were without Sam Darry for the whole season due to injury suffered during the pre-season) would gone on to lead at halftime, but the bench by the Chiefs (Who were without Wallace Sititi through injury that ruled them out of the entire season just like Darry) made them the difference of securing the win during the battle of the Bombays thanks to a double by one of their star men of Damian McKenzie, & to exact vengeance following last year's result in the final, before the Western Force break Moana hearts with a stunning try at the death to tie the game by Ben Donaldson who would run all the way to the try line then he would gone on to seal the match winning conversion much to the delight of the Force fans who were in a frenzy when Donaldson scored then converted his own try that won them the match.
And finally in the gaming department such as the Rugby 25 game (Which features the internationals (With rugby playing nations making an appearance such as New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, France, England, Australia, Argentina, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Fiji, Japan & others) as well as Super Rugby Pacific (Which features sides from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand & the Pacific Islands), Gallagher Premiership (An English club competition), Top 14 (It's a French domestic competition), URC (United Rugby Championship featuring teams from the 3 Celtic nations of Ireland, Scotland & Wales as well as Italy & South Africa) & MLR (Major League Rugby which is an American comp) that came out digitally on the 13th of February (20th for the physical version that I pre-ordered at EB), & the gameplay to me was dreadful but most disappointing & below par (And I should've sticked to Rugby Challenge 4 due to the woeful gameplay that they're having to deal with in the Rugby 25 game), but I manage to unveil my new secret tactic of getting past the defence by utilising the pick & go when I play on the Easiest difficulty until the team that I play scores a try (And I've got to watch the cleanouts from the opposition as they may intend to strip the ball in possession), & man I should really start using that (And an international rugby test is like a war to start with, compared to a domestic rugby game which is similar to a civil war), but I always struggle in the scrums as I would always concede penalties for certainly collapsing the scrum, but I need to improve by working on it in order to win scrums like that (And I always put my blogging skills to the test (And the blogging stuff is like being a news or sports columnist of a news outlet because I'm an expert on this) compared to my computer game skills that I always have, but I've managed to clock GTA V especially all of the 75 missions that I've completed (And I've achieved 20 gold medals in the missions department in the game) but I'm now doing the money investments stuff (And both of the 3 protagonists of the Grand Theft Auto V game of both 'Frankie Frank' of Franklin Clinton & Michael 'Mikey Mike' de Santa (Formerly Michael Townley) are up to a billion dollars except Trev (Trevor Philips) who remains as a multi-millionaire, but I'll still be doing it in both the afternoon & evening sessions on the 27th of February this year (And I got a keep an eye of investing on Merryweather which is a private military & security firm as well as the antagonistic faction in the GTA V game (For which I first played in 2023 (I thought I wasn't so keen on the game, until now), but now I'm starting to master it as of this year as all 3 of the protagonists are now billionaires), but I now establish the passing game as part of my new tactic since the update had already been dropping in.
So that is my 599th blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 23rd of this year, viva Ukraine.
P.S. I went to Palmy with Pops & Carole about going to Palmerston North that we visited Mobility Manawatu to get her new shower chair for her as well as pumping her wheelchair's tyres, then we headed off to the Plaza to get me both $100 PlayStation network cards at EB (I've got lots of them, but I really need to use them up before both Aunty Tan & Rejean get here in possibly December this year), then the 2 Fast 2 Furious (For which I have not seen the film for a very long time which starred the late Paul Walker (AKA that Brian O'Conner guy who tragically passed away in a crash back in 2013 whilst he was in the passenger seat), Tyrese (Roman Pierce) & Eva Mendes (Monica Fuentes), but the first time I watched it was way back in 2004 on Sky Movies (And the entertainment world is in mourning as retired American Hollywood film star of Gene Hackman (Whose last movie appearance was Welcome to Mooseport in which the movie came out way back in 2004 where he starred along with Everybody Loves Raymond star Ray Romano) has tragically passed away at the age of 95 according to the comment that Carole alluded to both me & Pops while we were at Little Savannah restaurant in Palmy so all thoughts, prayers & condolences go to the loved ones of Hackman & his wife who believe that they were eventually murdered by their daughter who is sentenced to life behind bars in this sad, difficult but tough time, RIP) Blu-ray movie that I purchased at JB Hi-fi that I watched late at night on the 3rd of March (A day after 25 years since the America's Cup was still, New Zealand's Cup, in the aftermath of Team New Zealand (Skippered by Dean Barker who raced in race 5 with Russell Coutts opting not to race just before he left TNZ (But he would've in order to break the all-time record for most consecutive wins as an America's Cup skipper in the finals of the Auld Mug because of the current record being set by 9 with Coutts & alongside him, the late American Charlie Barr) which set the tone for the 2003 America's Cup which was embroiled by controversy, therefore we suffered our loyal defeat in the hands of the Swiss syndicate Alinghi (Who lured many of our Team New Zealand personnel, especially Coutts, Brad Butterworth, Simon Daubney & Murray Jones to sail for the Swiss in which they manage to pull off the Auckland heist) of bringing the Auld Mug to Europe for the first time in which our NZL 82 boat wasn't reliable (Compared to Taihoro last year for which was most reliable (Although it had some damages in which we overcame the disaster just like in Bermuda back in 2017 in which we had a frightening pitchpole during the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinal race against Land Rover BAR) compared to NZL 82, in which we successfully completed a America's Cup threepeat in modern day history) pulled off by completing the first successful defence of the Auld Mug outside of the United States against the Prada Challenge of Italy) before heading to Little Savannah's which is a South African-Kiwi hybrid restaurant where I had a prawn pasta, but during that we got back that I thought I lost both of my passport & wallet, & it fell down from my pocket but I found them on the bottom of the seat (Just like Pops left his cell phone behind at the Commercial Motel after he went to the toilet a day earlier until a cop had found it therefore handing it in to him late at night, a day before he got a new purple coloured cellphone cover to replace the old brown/tan one) to end an incredible day it was (And I went to Fielding for the first time just before we went to Palmy).
Gene Hackman
1930 - 2025
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