Geelong vs Port Adelaide

This is going to be one of the rarest of posts from me; an account of my actually watching a sporting event. I can't quite say *enjoying* a sporting event though, in the end, it wasn't all that bad.

It was, of course, the Australian Football League Grand Final[^]. You may remember my account of an attempt to watch the 2005[^] Grand Final. That's been my usual feeling toward the game but this time around, with Heino here, it was a trifle different. Indeed, I wondered how he was going to survive being unable to catch the game live and almost his first question was whether one of the US sporting networks would carry the game. I feared not and a check of those channels included in the Cox Cable basic package proved I was right.

Google to the rescue; we found a pub in Scottsdale where the game would be shown live. I suppose I should have guessed Arizona would have an Australian Rules Football club, the Arizona Hawks[^] (they even have the same colours as the original Hawks, Hawthorn in Melbourne). We duly signed up and then fronted tonight to find an Australian woman outside checking names off a list and handing out complimentary drink tickets. Love that accent! She picked me as an Aussie even though I was wearing an aloha shirt (that may be the subject of a future post). I think the necktie with the Australian flag might have tipped her off!

Now I wouldn't want you to imagine this was an Australian style pub in Scottsdale; no sirree no, not that lucky. Nope, this was a British Pub and our hopes of Four'n'Twenty[^] meat pies were dashed. I even took along a new bottle of Rosella Tomato Sauce just in case they had managed pies (hoping for both pies *and* tomato sauce would be akin to hoping for world peace). They did have some very nice sausage rolls though and that almost made up for the paucity of pies.

The beer list was interesting and I had some 'Old Peculiar'[^] for no better reason than that the name appealed! Of course, I'd have gone for 'Old Bastard' if they'd had a beer by that name! Nice drop though, as I was driving, I had to limit myself to a mere two.

Thus to the game. A walkover. Geelong beat Port Adelaide 163 to 44 and Port never looked like winning. Me? I couldn't have cared less who won but Heino was on the Geelong side on the grounds that it was a Victorian team. Peculiar reasoning but there you have it. Perhaps he should have been drinking the beer instead of me!

Our entrance fee also included an entry each in the half time raffle. I half hoped it'd be a chook raffle[^] but alas, it was not to be. We won anyway; a dozen Coopers Original Pale Ale[^]. They're chilling nicely in the fridge as I write. That's better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick!