Can National win the next election?

One of those late night thoughts that came up and I had to write about.

I was thinking could the National party actually win the next election? I have to answer, their chances took quite a jump when John Key took over from the Jandel Man.

Not that I have been a long term obsever of the National party and its policies, but in my political rememberance I don't think I have ever seen one person in so short a time do so much damage to a political party than I did see Don Brash do in three years. The biggest change I saw that that he repaired some of the damage Bill English did three years before him. But the man who I've come to call the Jandel man for his notorious flip-flops...did some damage.

But I have to think that JK, just might have the lead in this new wave of the National party. He tactfully put Billy back into leadership and is re-shaping his front line while I know he himself, after listening to him in parliaments debates, and reading the transcripts of his recent speeches, is placing himself out there as a person for the people.

I do wonder some times when these politicians go out there and try to kick soccer balls in $5,000 suits look like they are going to break their ankle before they move the ball 10 inches, if they have sometimes forgotten what it is to be a person who is not driven around in corportate cabs, have their travel picked up by the government, and uses their own bank account card to pay for gas, rather than a fleet card. I wonder sometimes if they have forgotten what it is like to be an 'average Joe' any more.

I wonder if this is the way Key, English and the new Nats like Power, Collins, and some of the old school like Smith, Williamson, and Mapp are going to try and change the look of the traditional blue colar outlook of the Nats. Make themselves look like the average kiwi. (Granted earning more than the average kiwi).

Anyways, it will be interesting to see what happens when we next go to the polls, that if the Nats gain enough support, who the alliances will form with and the shape of the next MMP government will be.

The poor state of NZ Sports

I've hardly been impressed with the Black Caps feeble attempts at calling what the recent one day games have been as being convincing cricket matches.

Far From It!! Well, maybe the first game that Sri Lanka won...but the two since...hardly convincing games. A win by the DL system and another in what was appropriatly described as a B-Grade movie.

Take this from the NZ Herald I was reading yesterday while lunching in Aucklands Manukau city.
"Michael Mason steered New Zealand to a four-wicket win over Sri Lanka in cricket's equivalent of a B-grade movie yesterday, raising more questions about the integrity of the rotation system.
On a cold, grey and wet Canterbury day, in which the spectators should have been paid for showing up, they were instead forced to endure the sight of Sri Lanka's understrength combination stumbling to a record-low score against a weakened New Zealand line-up.

While I guess that everyone had their doubts about the rotation policy Graham Henry brought into the All Blacks Camp when he began his coaching tenure. There are just some sports where I don't think that has a place. A bungled test series, flopped Twenty20 games and a far from convincing 2-1 lead in the one-dayers is not convincing me this rotation in the Black Caps is working.

As for my first love of Basketball, I'm so glad I didn't invest in some season tickets for the NZ Breakers. Two years after dropping franchies mainstays like Pero Cameron and Dillon Boucher, they have langushed at the bottom of the table and now are pretty much out of the play-off picture.

The key is simple. While Carlos Powell has done wonders for the team and is a contender for MVP this season, certainly earning some recognition from the ANBL, if you shut down Paulie Henare, the team is lost. Ben Pepper has some serious issues finishing 1-foot from the basket for a big centre man, and most of the non-import members of the team have the Tall Blacks curse of poor free-throw statistics. Oh, and by the way, there is no rotation policy with this team. Maybe their should be more of one. Where is the development squad to build this team up with? Why are some of NZ's better players playing for Brisbane, Cairns, Sydney, and Adelaide. Good experience but then we don't gain from it.

Most NZ sports with the exception of the NZRU and Netball NZ is struggling for finances. In most cases, I feel an investment, and a serious one is needed to show that there is a real belief in what the team is able to accomplish and that the country is behind them. For example, the recent news about the dropping of the Softball tournament. Here we have multiple repeaters as world champions sleeping in backpacker accomodations, paying their own way for the trips they take, and yet, they might be lucky to get $1.50 to wash their uniforms which they, in all likelyness, had to pay for. We have not won a Rugby world Cup since hell knows when and while I am proud of the way our guys have played the last couple of years...we havent been in the World Cup during those games.

When you play for a title...the pressure builds, the expectations pile up, the games intensity is a final game from the start of the Web Ellis tournament to the final whistle in the final game. England, Australia, France, Italy, Wales, Ireland, won't be the same teams they were over the last two years. I know teams will take knocks in the non-cup years, and step up like stampeeding animals during the times it matters most.

But we have teams that go out year after year, take on the worlds best, and win, and they pretty much have to pay their own way to wear our nations insignia and uniform. Why?

Why aren't we investing in New Zealand Sports like Australia does. The Australian Institute of Sport is a huge complex. Ours is relativly a gymnasium. Yet, for the most part they get results.

Invest it...and the cups will come...