22 February 2013

All this talk last night about the referees at the Wildcats v Tigers game overshadowed the post game comments by two of the NBL’s better guards.

Damian Martin admitted his admiration for Johnny Flynn’s offensive genius saying it was a privilege to go up against someone of his calibre in this league. “It’s not often you get to guard someone like him,” he said.

Flynn, in return reciprocated similar respect for Martin’s defensive tenacity, saying  the Wildcats were well drilled and relentless.

Melville Holden are Official Motor Vehicle Partner of the Perth Wildcats. To test drive the Volt yourself, contact Melville Holden on 9333 5333.

OK, I admit it. I actually parked my car in the garage, locked it and went inside for a go od hour until someone alerted me that I’d left the engine still running.

You could hardly blame me!

I’m used to a diesel engine, and Holden’s new Volt electric car is so quiet you hardly know it’s on. The car has keyless entry and a push-button start so the only noise you hear is the futuristic sound when you turn it on.

[unedited] I arrived in Madras (I must learn to start calling it Chennai – however Chennai Curry just does not have the same ring to it) late in the morning and my friend Joseph picked me up from the airport with his wonderful family.

I was quite excited to see him after two-and-a-half decades that I spent the travel time talking and not taking much note of the city and its changes.

He now lives in Kerala with his wife and eight-year-old daughter but has come up for the week for the reunion.

[unedited] Today I go back to India after 25 years in Australia.

I left India in the late 80′s at the age of 17 and spent most of my adult life in Melbourne.

So I’m expecting a shock of sorts.

The India I left was sheltered from western culture and highly regulated in all aspects. I recall television was limited to a couple of hours each night with most of the programming being government-regulated news and farming programs.

There has been a lot of talk about Sunday’s game against New Zealand.Â

Nothing must overshadow the obvious fact that we should have won it in regular time. But winning is easier said than done.

Earlier this season I asked my players to stop remonstrating with referees. It was a matter for the coaches and the captains, and perhaps the administrators (post game).

Given that request the greater onus must now lie with us to ensure any concerns are addressed.Â

Just over 18-months ago, I spoke at the Digital Sports Summit in Melbourne regarding Social media and sports. Also speaking at that conference were Jeremie McPeak from NBA’s Phoenix Suns and Collingwood’s Harry O’Brien. Attending were numerous journalists -especially those who worked online.

Not surprisingly, a lot has changed since then. We now employ a Social Media manager at the Perth Wildcats as do most major sporting clubs. Portals like Facebook and Twitter are key vehicles for engagement in our organisation.

However, it is the change on the other side of the fence -journalists and news agencies – that deserves some comment.

I’ve trialled quite a few programs and options to get my Outlook Notes on to my Android phone with limited success.

One common option is to sync the phone to your computer to your phone using USB or WiFi. The problem I had with this option was that the USB was manual and apart from linking notes, there really was no need for me to connect my phone to my computer via USB.

Three Perth Wildcats named in Boomers training squad:

1. Adam Gibson (Gold Coast Blaze)
2. Damian Martin (Perth Wildcats)
3. Jason Cadee (Gold Coast Blaze)
4. Ben Madgen (Sydney Kings)
5. Clint Steindl (St Mary’s College US)
6. Daniel Dillon (Cairns Taipans)
7. Peter Crawford (Townsville Crocodiles)
8. David Barlow (CAI Zaragoza Spain)
9. Stephen Weigh (Adelaide 36ers)
10. Daniel Kickert (PGE Turow Poland)
11. Jesse Wagstaff (Perth Wildcats)
12. Luke Nevill (Triumph Lyubertsy Russia)
13. Julian Khazzouh (Sydney Kings)
14. Matt Knight (Perth Wildcats)
15. Anatoly Bose (Nicholls State University US)
16. Aron Baynes (EWE Basket Oldenburg Germany).

NZ – Currently NZ lead the league with 16 wins and three losses – 9 games left. Even if they lose all nine games they will still finish with 16 wins.

Given Perth, Townsville and Cairns are on 13, 12 and 11 wins currently, it seems a mathematical probability that a minimum of 16 wins will be required to make the top four – and the playoffs.

PERTH – For Perth, this means splitting the remaining six games – of which three are at home (Adelaide, Cairns and Gold Coast) and three away (NZ, Townsville and Cairns). All three away games are against teams in the top four as well as one home game against Cairns.

Today I unpacked the new Kindle. This is the international version that was announced over Christmas but only delivered in the New Year.

It retails for around $180 dollars. A lot cheaper than the iPad but it does a lot less.

It’s primarily a book reader and if you’re buying it for anything else you will be dissapointed. It also does newsletters and magazines reasonably well. I susbcribe to the Harvard Business Review and the Kindle Edition is reasonably well presented, much cheaper and delivered in real time.