Ray Columbus - December Ramblings

Happy Holidays and Blessed Merry Christmas

How Refreshing to see Graham Henry and his Assistant Coaches dissing (blaming) the Referee for the All Blacks' stumble in the crucial Quarter final of the Rugby World Cup.

In this PC World we now live in - it's great to see the facts being stated formally. Anyone with eyes could see that the line umpires and the ref were either blind, dumb or getting backhanders if the didn't spot the obvious fouls, offsides etal perpetrated by The French especially in the last 15 minutes of the game.

I've been through it before (while in a state of shock)in this column..so you can check it out if you want to. Sure Dan Carter may have had an opportunity for a drop goal..if it was in the plan...but the forwards attack on the French would certainly have produced a try or a penalty if the ref and his line guys were watching!

Enough said.

The fallout is growing.... Dan the Man Carter is now warning he may go off with a UK Team after his contract with the ABs ends next year. I suspect he's getting the modern day equivalent of 'treatment' from the Butcher, the Baker and The Candlestick maker'...'why didn't you do a droppie' etc..etc. He's certainly feeling the pressure from the fallout of the ABs loss!

It comes with the territory Dan, you were pumped up as the biggest star in the game... and the greatest asset. They/we made a huge Star out of you, your jockeys, your body, your face, your brains etal and then.....and then....your team lost...so you (under tall Poppy rules in Enzed) have to take responsibility! It's hard it's tough but your Manager should have advised you better, when you become a Rock Star it's a new ball game!

Anyway, you're not and never have been the biggest star in the game, neither has Wilkinson. JONAH LOMU is still the Biggest Star in Rugby, even while he's not playing. I swear everytime I watched a game in France (via TV) JONAH was in the audience. I suspect sometimes it may have been a cardboard cutout!...but he was there.

He is only outdone in the Profile stakes in Sport at the moment by Soccer's David Beckham, currently in Wellington for his new US team the LA Galaxy's 'friendly' against Wellington's Phoenix, is already a phenomenal success, in ticket sales and media terms, because of Becks. He and Jonah have a lot in common, quiet spoken, influenced strongly by their roots. So no affectation, no hype... They know who they are. They tell it like it is, with a refreshing lack of the pregnant pauses usually heard in this part of the world from Union and league players. You know what I mean.....the 'andahhs!...' in between every word!

David and Jonah don't do that, they are obviously very bright and that's why they have lasted. Becks' English team lost against Croatia, just before he flew out to Sydney to join the Galaxy, The English Coach was sacked...how did David handle it?? Big smiles all around, a new day, a new hat if you like. Even when the OZ media set him up to be nailed for ignoring 4 younger Cancer patients he was superb, face showing open horror (that no-one warned him) he didn't know they were there! So sorry, I'll meet them anytime, anywhere and sort this...AND HE DID.!!!

That obviously came from him. No spin, no briefing... Remember he had travelled by private jet via China to Sydney. The man deserves his Stardom and his considerable wealth because he's his own man. What a role model for us all. No matter that many commentators particularly in Britain say he's 'over the hill','doesn't have a left boot' etc David Beckham is still out there doing it for Soccer Worldwide, for sport in general.

I hope Dan Carter is learning from this master... If he's watching he shouldn't feel the need to leave the All Blacks and get away from the Heat. It's all part of the bigger game of life in the spotlight, you can't have it both ways.

EECP... Well my suspicions have grown fruit... My vocal range at the top end proved on 17th November "WILD THINGS" show at Auckland’s Monte Cristo Room to be back where it was in the early seventies before surgery on a pre-cancerous nodule on my vocal chords... (I had lost up to a semitone... meaning some of my earlier hits like "Till We Kissed" had to be lowered from A to G. I'm not just imagining it, on the night my good friends and colleagues Tom Sharplin and Kevin McNeill (The Mods) noticed the difference! Very pleasing indeed. BUT WAIT THERE's MORE!!... My hair is growing back too!!! (anyone with receding hair will tell you what a buzz it would be to get your hair back..and many of us vainer types spend a lot to achieve such a feat (usually with middling to disappointing results).

An EECP expert Clinician at LA's Global Cardio Care who was visiting and consulting at Primary Heartcare's Heart Clinic at 524 Parnell Rd, Auckland confirmed to me that the extra blood pumps from one's extremities into places that the Heart may have had difficulty doing on its own for all sorts of reasons, hardening of the arteries, lack of exercise, whatever.

Even reaching the tiny capilleries in my voicebox/Larynx and vocal chords... he had already heard about the hair regrowing, the lift in vocal range... was a bit of a surprise, even though Stevie Wonder is on the Board of Global's Foundation. But then again, he hasn't had surgery on his vocal chords and his range is so high he may not notice!

Anyway I have now had 40 sessions of EECP...Linda 37... the benefits are wonderful.

The end of The Year Of The Pig is nigh February 6th 2008. Under the Chinese Horoscope the worst trait of the Pig is the wallowing in happiness and sadness. So after losing the America's Cup, The Cricket World Cup, The Rugby World Cup and The Netball World Cup.

We've certainly had plenty to wallow about, the trick is to look at the bright side.

The Pig also brings us luck,wealth and happiness. We live in one of the best places for quality of life in the World and in Rodney, where I dwell most of the time, the District was voted a day or so ago as having the best quality of life in New Zealand. Out of the top most populated places (the other seven were cities...easy to guess them..Rodney was the only District and its people said they were the happiest with their lot. So I guess we've realised that all the sporting losses were really not all that important in the big scheme of things...sports games...in the game of life ..we're doing OK..No!

WE'RE BLESSED.
'Til next time. Enjoy it while you may!.

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