the weekend after a 60 cm dump. happy times for one nanna.

3247m

nanna tracks

there’s even football.

Dave, RH, DC, TW, AW, Arnaud (MOM)

vs Men in Black (again due to yet another forfeit)

Nannas 9 plays Men in Black 6

Attendance: CB (1), GF, CG (1), JH (MOM, 2), RH (3), TW (2)

The night started with beer. Guy Fraser is going away (in case you don’t know), so him and me went to some little bar in the city to meet other RMIT-ers to talk about Web Services and some of the other people he had to work with. The discussion was lively, and many a regret was shared that Guy was leaving RMIT and Melbourne.

Anyhow, then we trained it to the Preston and got there just in time to find the gate locked. While trying to figure out how to get in we sized up the opposition.  They seemed one part old, too parts fat and the last part way too young. But first appearances are often deceiving and so it was on this occasion. The old dude, even though he did have a ciggy just before he came on court, had some moves and a shot on him. The two young fat guys were pretty good also (why is it that dudes who are top heavy always seem to have a low centre of gravity?). And the young guy? He didn’t play.

Anyway, so we got into it. They got a couple in that first stanza but the Nannas were always on top. Gilla got possibly the goal of the match, with a long shot that had more dip on it than a cracker at a early evening boozy BBQ. I slotted two, one from a Captainly pass and another from a long ball again from that man our keeper. I think Chassy got the fourth to round out the half, and we took it to the sheds with a 4-2 lead (Gill and Chassy had a little tete a tete at half time, which although I didn’t see, I did hear about post match. Apparently offence was taken after one teammate told another to play the percentages. On the face of it, this doesn’t seem an unreasonable request [especially since the guilty party is a bit trigger happy in his low percentage play] but obviously the aggrieved party took it in the wrong spirit. I feel for him).

Then to the second half, and as so often happens they came at us early in that interval. If the truth be told we gave them every opportunity, as we coughed up the ball time and again. Sure we did get an early goal (I think I miss kicked it to the Captain who was on hand for the simplest of tap ins) but they got a couple and were just about to get a third when Guy Fraser, four beers in him and all, stepped up and put his mark on the game.

It was a pivotal moment. If they had of scored, it would have been five all, and they would have had all the momentum going into those last ten to twelve minutes. This is how it went down. Gilla was off his line. The ball got past him and was heading for the back of the net. Tao was on hand but couldn’t quite manage to clear it: he was falling, he was trying to coordinate his body to get a foot to it to boof it clear. And then from no-where, like Maverick coming out of the sun going head to head with a commy to save Ice Man’s pearly white arse, Fraser came to the rescue of the Nannas. No one knows where he came from, how he read the play to get himself into that position to make such a stunning goal line clearance, but there he was with those size 13s doing the business.

From there we steadied, scoring four more before the final whistle. The Captain’s header (patented Nanna sucker punch) was the most memorable of these (or the one that I remember). They got two very late but by then the game was over. The only other thing to mention is the Captain’s shoulder charge, which almost caused a fight on court. Sure it was an accident and not really his fault, but you can see why the opposition were a bit upset about it: he really did smash the guy.

After that, we went to Guy’s for bad pizza and possibly the best choice for a Nanna movie ever. If you weren’t there, all I can say is you missed out: never has the rapture been so well represented on the big screen.

Nannas 5 play Coconut soldiers 2

Attendance: GF 1, CG (keeper)2, RH, TH 2, AW, TW CB(ass coach) (I have no idea who got the goals, is this right?)
Virtual attendance: DC (skype)

MOM: GF

The ladder has gone J.L. Borgesian, with nannas crusing down parallel universal freeways, playing the same team, again and again, in endless semi semi finals.
It has begun. We’ll be playing Coconut Soldiers each week from now on for eternity. And we’re all slowly waking up to that fact.
But when you think about it, it’s a pretty good way to spend eternity (and all because some failed player in the Balkans sold his soul to the devil and this was one of his bizarre wishes, but that’s another story).
I think this was the first time, the first time we played the Coconut Soldiers in the semi semi, but we could literally have already played them dozens of times and I probably wouldn’t remember this until years later (like the recurring opening credits to First Blood dream I keep having, where I’m Rambo and I’m coming home).
This may have been the first semi semi though, lets pretend that it was.
We came out strong and dominated the entire game. Andy showed a lot of vigour out there. Tao showed passion. Hinkley and Tom working the field like a couple of grunts digging trenches as the shells are falling. Gilla went a little whacko and got a couple of yellow cards but he looked like he was loving every minute of it. The new ref sorta reminded me of Baklie off Perfect Strangers. In an insane parallel universe infinity maze, his straightness was like a cucumber slices laid out on the mind. My girlfriend was there, and I was elated to score a goal from a quick pivot turn in front of her eyes. I can’t remember shit about the game apart from that, but there’ll be more. There’ll be plenty more.
We did good, we did real good. One of the strongest starts to infinity season one could hope for.

Nannas 8 play Coconut soldiers 8

Attendance: CB 1, GF 3, JH 5, RH, TH (keeper)

MOM: JH

We almost had ‘em Nannas. We were close, very close. Had one or two things gone our way, or one or two things gone against them (especially in those last minutes), victory would have been ours and ours alone.

Yet, a draw wasn’t a bad result given how well they started. Within a couple of minutes they had scored twice, and then soon after that they put in a couple more. Tommy did get caught in goals once, but they were quick, and if you gave them half a chance (which I did for their first) they were good at putting them away.

But there was a sense that we weren’t out of it. Even though they went four up within about ten minutes, we were in the game. We were getting heaps of ball and they were letting us have heaps of time and space on it. There were three or four times in that opening stanza when we were running at them and they kept backing off, almost inviting us to shoot, which we did, but couldn’t make it count.

Then we got one. Tommy threw the long ball, which I got my head to and the deflection snuck under their keeper. Then we got another, as the Captain got the ball from a quick side kick in (after the ref penalised them for a slow re-start, which he would do a few more times throughout the match). The Captain and I only had the keeper to beat, which we did (even though I almost fucked it, getting the ball caught under my feet). Half time 4-2.

The second half was much more open. They kept coming at us but we came at them too, and for the most part they came off second best (most of their goals in that second half came from long throws).

The tight five was really working for us on this evening. Maybe because it was the A team. Special mention goes first to Chassy. Yes, he was playing on no knees, hobbling around the court like an old man, he usual speed and verve visibly reduced but he still managed to play the anchor role, cutting off passes in the middle of the park and distributing nicely up the court. Fraser also gets a mention, not only for his committed running but for his positional play up front. The big man has now worked out where to put himself to make the most of his hulking frame and as a result the goals are coming. The Captain too deserves mention. He planted himself in the middle of the park and was integral to most of what the Nannas did. It’s strange with the Captain because I only remember bit and pieces of his involvement or him playing at all (maybe that’s why he go so few MOM votes) but from what I do remember he played well.  Last but not least is Tommy. He again proved that his case to be our number one is very strong, not just for his stopping ability but also his distribution. We were getting heaps of ball and it was all quality.

So, pretty soon the goals were coming thick and fast, and pretty soon after that we had parity, with seven a piece. And then, with about a three or four minutes left on the clock I was loitering in front of their goal on a side kick in and then I stepped out to the left. No one picked me up. Chassy, who saw the opening, fed me the ball; the keeper, sensing the danger, came at me; I, with only one thing on my mind, slotted it under him. 8-7, we were in front for the first time in the game.

After that they came at us and came at us again. We repelled most of their assaults but then they got a corner. They played it in to the middle and the ball bobbled around a bit. Chassy and Ghee were on hand but couldn’t quite get close to it, as the enemy repeatedly pinged at goal and after about four goes, they finally managed to put it away. 8-8.

There was about forty seconds remaining when we kicked off again and somehow the Captain and I found ourselves down the left hand side. Captain got tackled and the ball spilled to me. I lined up, I shot but it went across the face just as the hooter went. 8-8.

Now, there is a little matter of how many goals we scored. I am very sure I got five, Ghee is totally sure he got three and Chassy is claiming the one. There were a couple of times in the match when the ref did get the score mixed up, awarding goals to the wrong team. Did we get shafted?

Nannas 2 play One hit wonders 5

Attendance: GF, CG (yellow card), JH, TK, TW, Arnaud

MOM: CG, JH

It’s tough being a Nanna these days. It’s true we are not the force we once were. It’s also true that we can hardly scrape together a team. The word was put out on the Flurry that this could be the last season we play indoor, and while there a couple of people who were emphatic in shouting this down, there was also an eerie silence from those who used to like to call themselves upper management.

No one knows why the Coach didn’t play but he did turn up immediately after the game to go see a movie with his Brown brothers (at least that’s something). Cocky was in Adelaide and Andy omitted himself due to family commitments (he can be excused after his heroics of the previous weeks). But what of Captain and Chassy? There has been a rumour going around that Chassy is in the permanently injured camp (something about cartilage and knees), while the Captain it was said was out to a play (really?).

However, given all that, the Nannas were okay on this evening. Sure we got beat but it wasn’t all bad. We got out to an early lead courtesy of two goalie long throws: one their keeper turned into his own goal; the other, I slammed home after their keeper again made a mess of it.

From there it looked like we might go on and rack up a score but that only lasted for a minute or so. We lived off scraps: we didn’t hold the ball all that well when we had it, and we never had it all that often.

Our opponents were pretty good, it has to be said. They held the ball well, they shut us down well, they shot well (although Gilla did save well) and well, they were just better than us.

After our early lead, they put five past us, although one was a gift from Gilla who got trapped with the ball close to his own goal.

I thought our ring in was going to provide us with more (after seeing him warm up), but he did say after the game that he hasn’t played in almost a year, after suffering a stroke just before that.

I also thought Tao might slot home a few, after his form from a couple of weeks back, but he really didn’t see that much ball. Guy Fraser was also keen to get on the scoresheet after he told his woman he would get one for her but even he couldn’t manage it.

And then there was the small matter of Gilla getting up the ref. Some people think he’s good but I’m sorry, I am not one of them. He misses a lot (not to mention a goal, which Gilla did score). Having said that, it is not a good idea to berate him, as it only makes him hate you.

Nannas 2 vs Spartans 5

TW, GF, JH (mom) 1, TK, CG (mom) 1, Arnaud,

There was a dead bird lying on the ground under the porch as we approached the Preston Girls High School. A pidgeon.

The Spartans were that, undermaned, lean and hungry. They came with a wry smile. We were thinking about the bird. The dead bird. We also had a frenchman among us, Arnaud. He was a friend of Takeshi and a great footballer. This seemed to be enough as we were sudddenly up 2 nil. Things were looking good, then all of a sudden, in the blink of an eye, they got a triple and we were scratching heads.

I got shitty with the ref as the gap got wider and we got a little out of touch as another goal became 5-2. That didn’t help. We fought on but they were rather good at holding onto the ball and won out convincing winners. We fought well, but they were all good, with two guys particularily good.

As we skulked outside, past the dead bird, a figure shuffled up. The lurking coach in the shadows. How long had he been there, no one really knew. He said he just turned up, but we couldn’t have been sure. He had a peaked cap that shielded his eyes.

He went off with Fraser and Tao in search of gravity as Jim and Takeshi went home.

GF(1), CG, RH(3(MOM)), AW, TW(4(MOM), JH(1)

Nannas 6 play FD United 7
Attendees: DC, GF (2), CG (2), JH (2), DAVE
MOM: CG, JH

So here I was, a little bit high, a little bit out of breath, a little bit what the fuck do we do now? Cocky, in going for a run up the middle, got his fucked foot stomped on. He was straight off with a, ‘Sorry Nannas, I am out.’

At the time, I thought was a fucking soft cock (after the game it did look pretty bad) and started doing permutations in my head: our four players, they had six; there were still thirty-odd minutes on the clock; they were one goal up; Ghee and I were super high; Dave and Gilla are good but not that good.

The opposition weren’t great. Sure, they had some nice foot skills and they were up for it: being more pushy and aggressive than America in the eighties. Yet, they had a bad habit of shooting from range, instead of taking us on or passing through us. They shot and they shot and they shot some more, but it was all from outside our defensive ring, and Gilla swallowed them up every time. And their one big failing was their keeper, because in that first half we kept scoring against him. Gilla forced a couple of long ones, I got one on the turn, and Ghee tapped home from close range from a side kick in. These last two goals were things of beauty, even if I do say so myself. We went 4-1 up early in the first half.

I think they go one back before half time (my recollection is fuzzy on this, it could have been two). I do remember Gilla on the ground entangled with one of the opposition fighting over the ball in the goal mouth. I thought Gilla had won the fight but in the end he lost and the ref (who, in my opinion at least, was favouring the other side) gave the goal, when it really should have been a foul.

Anyway, we stepped on court for the second half to Ghee saying something like, ‘if we win this we will be heroes.’ He meant it as a pep talk but Dave and I promptly told him to shut up (sorry Gheezer).

The second half was different to the first in that we didn’t get as much ball and the novelty of playing four on five had worn off. What’s more, we were starting to tire, and Gilla was throwing more and more of the ball away. He did tell us at half time that our only hope was to hit them with the sucker punch. I couldn’t quite work out if he was defending his long ball tactics, or if he was forewarning us of what he was going to do in the second half but it mattered little: I was too addled to argue.

For most of that half, we defended, defended, and then defended some more. It was working pretty well. We weren’t marking up but more marking the space, putting our number of three between them and goal. They did get through us a couple of times and I mis-kicked a corner that went straight to one of them, who only had Gilla to beat, but for the most part we frustrated them. It went to 6-4.

And then, just as it looked like we were go to go down, Gilla’s long throw strategy gave birth to a goal, and I forced another from their culpable keeper from a side kick in. He really was shit. So here we were, five minutes to go at 6-6. We were feeling pretty confident: our defence was working, another goal was on the cards, and if we won this thing or least drew it, which looked likely, we truly would be heroes.

Then with thirty seconds they got a corner. They passed to the little guy with the moves. He got through Dave and Ghee. I confronted him, and he went to my left but I couldn’t get close enough to him. He shot. Gilla got his hands to it but couldn’t turn it aside. The final whistle blew. 7-6.

After, on the car ride back to dinner, we discussed the crumbling of the Nannas, how long we would last (about a month most said) and what happened to the commitment to the Brown cause. It was widely agreed that the Nannas were now something we did only if we didn’t have anything else on. And then Cocky cried, and we all cried with him.

vs Club M
lost 3-7
TH (GK), CB 1, TW, RH 2, DH, DC (ass coach)
MOM CB/TH

This week’s flurry, aka Farting Like Unicorns Rimming on Rhian’s Yacht numbered some 70 replies and was viewed 203 times. With only 4 Nannas available to play we were lucky to have Carolina’s Dave Henderson put his fatherly duties to one side and come to our aid.

Club M are a big team. Physically superior, skilful, cohesive and to top it all off fully freaking francophone. The Nannas might have been running on empty but they stepped up big time and played well out of their skins. Solid marking, tight defence and unflappable composure kept the score a respectable 2-1 to Club M by half-time.

DH was excellent on the intercept and his passing on the offensive baseline was well frosty. DC was in attendance and was phenomenal in his role as ass coach. The Nannas’ goals all came from the calm zone. Two of them were the product of a sequence of passes back and forth across the court, leaving the Club M goalie out of position for the silky tap in by RH. The writer’s goal was a kick from the side. He thought to himself, ‘boot the crap out of it towards the goal and hope for the best’. Then he thought, ‘no, you’ve been doing that all game and it hasn’t worked.. try fast and accurate, toward the back post’. It worked. Deflection off the inner calf of one of the M’s.

So they got a few more goals but they had to work for them. Tommy “3rd string” Howie showed just how deep the Goalkeeping talent runs in the Nanna squad. Transcendentally deep man!

The aprés action was to be had deep in the dimly lit recesses of Joe’s Shoe Store. An oldie but a goodie. The pilseners tasted real good and Sebastian was keeping bar which always adds to the ambience. TH didn’t make it for the aprés as he had to rescue Eve from the feds.

GF stayed home to fold his undies but being the relaxed fella that he is, he was quite ok with louchely tossing his panties unfolded into his valise.

Looking forward to joint ass coaching with DC this week and welcoming big JH back from his country hiatus.

For those who missed it and those missing it:

The original Geekbench score with 2 x quad-core 2.26 GHz

a pair of X5680s secondhand off ebay

cleaning stuff, thermal bits and a long 3mm hex driver

Processor board comes out

heatsink comes off leaving some goo behind

nice shiny heatsink

fan connector clipped

thermal pad attached to voltage regulators

shiny new CPU leaves the cosy safety of it’s anti-static bag

and gets smeared with thermal paste

and then placed in motherboard

the tricky bit is tightening the screws on the heatsink but it all went very smoothly and now there are 2 x hex-core 3.3Ghz chips…

which are TWICE as fast… happy days.

Loss 3-10 to United

7-8 Loss to The Fatties

RH(4), Dave ((1)Ring In), ES ((G) Ring In), GF, GS (WOM), TW (2)

The following post is written by the Woman Of the Match Grace Sims.

Pressure! So much pressure.

It is a mighty day in Nanna history, let me start from the very beginning…

Sitting there on the train listening to two old guys chat about the recent changes in politics, boring as pig shit! I receive a phone call of a magic dog who vanished from one property to another with no sign of entry or exit.. “by the way your filling in for the Nannas tonight”. SHIT! I am of the female variety so this is a huge request. Vaginas on the Nannas team is UNHEARD of.

So, the magic vanishing dog, Sims (the other pressured ring-in), the small dabi giving child, T-Dog, Gee and myself venture out into the night for this most epic adventure.

Mixed emotions as we step out to warm up.. the Fattys look… skinny and good! Low expectations can only get better right? Sims is getting the hang of things in goal. Apparently the only person willing to step foot in that god forsaken box of doom. Polite introductions from the long standing Nannas who are certain that this game is already lost but at least they got out of the house for a night… The Game begins. Not a great 1st minute however a striking 2nd minute goal by the almighty Nannas! Maybe its not going to be as bad as we all thought.

WAIT! I’m going to bloody die! I’m pretty sure there are daggers in my lungs and T-Dog won’t let me off god damn it! 1st half seems like a wheezy hot blur of balls flying all over the place. Some spectacular goals scored… unfortunately for the Fattys as well. On a lighter note the ref was doing such a great job he barely got yelled at. Gorilla defence was the strength of the half for sure.

Steaming forward (literally I think I might be bright red and about to throw up on the shorter guy with the black top and fancy footwork). D-Man (another more regular ring-in) was freakin rockin around the place with epic defence and equally as epic attack. Somewhere in the a yellow card was flashed about to the Fattys goaly. Seconds later BOOM Nannas strike again. Were on our toes! I have no clue how I managed to the end of the game, everyone was so tall and lanky and really hard to keep up with.. the boys (our boys) were smashing their fancy footwork to the dump and turning it around.. and in the end… we lost:-( BUT it was the best loss ever. Only by 1 when the expectation was to be much like last week.

Chur to the fantabulous Nannas for letting a Vagina play on the team!

BOOM done… beat you damn blog post!

5-3 Win Vs Xavie’s FC

CB(2), DC(2), CG(G), AW, GF, RH, TW(1(MOM))

It was a night to relish. A big win against a team that could have had us. We kept poise and grace for most of the night. Dan was off his rags, which helped, and Gilla was ignoring his groin issues, which also helped by keeping the oppositions tally down.

The first half gave us a taste of what we were up against. I can’t actually remember anyones goals except my own, which I usually can’t remember either, but on this occasion it felt real good. A pass back from the sideline and I just kicked that fucker right on the sweet spot to send that ball flying with a nice curve on it’s travels into the top left corner. Yeah that felt good.

The Xavie’s had a couple of players with some talent but the real threat didn’t come until they subbed goalies and the shortest of the Irish crew came out to try his luck. It wasn’t long before we frustrated this little yellow wagtail into kicking the ball away when it was our line kick. This infuriated myself and I made a stand. Next time it was a kick of theirs from the sideline I kicked it for 6. For what reason you may ask, well good question and one the ref plus our friendly court side manager felt they needed to ask me. Was it necessary? Yes it was unnecessary, but did it make a point to the Xavie’s? It may have a little. Did it make me feel better? Well yes it did. So was it worth it? Well I didn’t get a yellow and I still got MOM so yes, yes it was fucking worth it.

This is a team we will have to keep and eye on. They do have some good players and they may start playing better as a team. Let’s hope not. We need at least a couple of teams we can beat in this league. Otherwise it’s back south side.

So in summary I spoke a lot about the opposition and, well, myself I guess. Sorry about that.

On a brighter note a few dedicated Nanna’s didn’t pussy out from their beach box obligations and went out on Saturday night for some gluttonous dumpling eating, serious beer drinking, ugly tequila swigging, rather tame vaporising, even tamer Hollywooding (not that it wasn’t appreciated) and profitable poker hands (well for me any hows). Funniest moment of the night would have to be Dan thinking 4s were still wild. Classic.

Vs coconut soldiers
8-3
CB 1, TH 1, TW 1, TK, DC, GF
AW (post match)

What we have doneth is that we have inverted our shizzle in a temporal sense and now instead of playing well in the first half and then petering out like a Circuitt in the second half, we is now petering like a Circuitt in the first half before we have e’en beguneth. And by Gwyneth ’tis not working for us. And ’tis making us loseth.

On a positive note, our second half is solid. Or unsullied you might say. As strong as one thousand unsullied. As hitherto mentioned in a prior report by this selfsame writer, whence that writer did freely availeth himself of the Eco-bulb metaphor (pronounced met-a-fuh), the game of nannas is a gradual one and one that takes some time to reach its zenith.

“So what did happeneth in this particular game of nannas” I hear you cry, sounding not unlike Joffrey when he did yelleth “I am not tired” in the season finale of a certain unmentionable television series.

Well, I shall telleth it and it wenteth thus. Many goals were struck. Nine goals in the first half. That’s one goal every two minutes. Seven for the soldiers and two for us. Our first goal was a corker from old ironborn T-Ho. He came thundering in toward the corner ball from C-Bro, and then smashed it beyond doubt into the back of the net with maximum velocity. It was not dissimilar to the first goal in the Socceroos’ match vs Jordan by Bresciano.

Later, T-Wi executed an unforgettable piece of offensiveness in scoring another goal. No mind could have forgotten the circumstances of this outstanding play. No normal human mind. But then the Nannas posesseth minds of such thoroughbred efficiency and raw singleminded power and silky self excising purity that even the details of this memorable moment slipped straight through the collective consciousness like so many olestra fried potatoes through the collective colon.

Then it was half time and we got a bit roused up and we went back on and unlike the writing of this report (which is now tapering to its slim end), we got our turgid thickness on, fought back with all our beef and tied the final 18 minutes 1 fucking all. Resulting in an 8-3 loss.

C-Bro put a long ball in for a goal that caressed a man’s gut on the way in to the net. T-Ko was excellent in goals and took many a fulsome hit. D-Cro played well but sulked a bit at half-time. G-Fra had some moves but looked a little sleepy.

Afterwards we took it to the Northcote Social Club for some burgers eh! A-Wah joined us for the post match. Nuff said.

vs Balkanjeros 8-6 Loss
CB 1, DC, GF 1, JH 3, RH 1, TH gk (MOM), TW

Once when Old King Lion was on his way to rock bottom, but hadn’t quite bottomed out, he went to a bar. He’d just lost another game at the pits and there was whiff of scat about his mane. He went to a bar looking for a good time, looking for a way to forget another beating. He started drinking and chatting to the ladies and drinking some more. He chromed a couple cans of gold spray paint and dropped some advils. He showed some backpackers his premiership tatts and did some bourbon shots with them. He had a couple bumps of cheap blow and shelved some meth. He was in a bit of a state. Then this super smoking sexy woman walked in. At first she was all like “who’s this minging lion with the crazy eyes”, then she found out he was the lion known as Old King Lion and she was keen for a sail on this mighty boat of a lion, once the fiercest and most wrathful of all the lions. She wanted to be one with the legend and taste the formidability, and a little bit of her felt sorry to see that the once mighty beast had fallen. Now Old King Lion never had any trouble getting any, he was after all Old King Lion, but since the slide had started it was fair to say he wasn’t quite banging any supermodels or hot young starlets, and despite the impairments in his system he still knew something wasn’t quite right. This chick didn’t want to fuck him for who he was, she wanted to fuck him for who he was (ie in the past). It would be nothing but a dirty mercy fuck. But he still went and made sweet love to her because damn that shit feel good mercy fuck or no.

Anyway Jim should probably rightly feel a bit shafted for missing out on MOM after a hattrick. And apart from a couple of dumb goals against us we gave them a good run. Cooking has become a bit of a hit and miss affair, we’re just randomly picking Chinese restaurants on High st, and they’re generally only a pass mark. But there is always Raccoon for a whiskey with Rhian’s best friends.

The coach, in his inimitable metonymical style, has pretty much covered all the leonine bases, which leaves me only to ruminate on the twisted ankle I received during the game. It was one of those 50/50 balls where both combatants are connecting at pretty much the same instant. If it were an exercise in 5th form physics the be-leather-patched teacher would explain to his young and restless  students how the equal and opposing forces cancel each other out resulting in an energy transfer from kinetic to heat or light energy. Unfortunately for the author this was not the case, instead the younger, angrier, stokier side of the equation got more on it and the more elegant and subtly placed side of the equation got hideously twisted beyond the normal operational envelope… to be continued… maybe.

First published on: Jun 6, 2013 @ 19:17 – backdated for your viewing pleasure

win 5-2
CB 1, DC(MOM) 2, CG(MOM) 1, GF, TH(MOM) 1, TW, AW

Sometimes Old King Lion is pissed off, there’s little ants biting the inside of his nose, it’s too hot in the African sun, the hyenas are making too much noise and generally being cockheads about it all, as a result his mind is not focused and pursuant to this his performance suffers.

Other times Old King Lion is very relaxed, he’s just hanging out on the Savannah, his balls being licked by whatever small mammal does not want to be eaten by him, there’s a bit of a breeze coming off the lake where the flamingos frolic as the sun goes down creating a vista to marvel at, he’s being served freshly cured antelope jerky and he is in what you may call a zen like state, a state where no frustration resides in his belly, in such a state he will fuck you up a thousand ways, barely raising a sweat.

Suffice it to say it was the latter of the two states Old King Lion found himself in this Thursday past. Despite the fact he was staring down an ugly angry bunch of most unsportsmanlike jackles -who probably had the edge on him- he kept his grin on, and never really looked like losing.

5-2 loss maybe?
MOM RH and another ? maybe TK?

The sound of the waves of discontent that crashed upon the APISC shore could still be heard from the sparsely furnished Preston Girls mezzanine. Previous woes buffeting the ears of proud brown men like the autumn winds that chased the leaves in their new Northern home. But how proud they were, and strong, and resolute, protective of the fragile leather that lay between them like spent love between the sheets.

And sing the good song of Harmony these brown men did. The drum of unity driving the melody of individual flair, a symphony in motion. The mid point met us with all things equal, a game balanced on the tip, who would crumble?, who would lose their nerve?

But who is this? Surely not? The old enemy from within? Conflict, Abuse disharmony. The once proud men drop the metaphoric ball before the real one has time to reach them.

Loss

The taste of winning too rich for those used to lapping at the pool of humiliation. A game lost rather than a team beaten.

Lesson: defeat rides the thermals of hot men losing their cool

Tao did a fine job of covering the match proper and, given as he wasn’t able to attend the ‘aprés’, I shall offer instead a report on the after-match festivities.

—

So, newly ensconced in the deep north the nannas have been forced into a re-think of the post match venue. It had been rumoured that Preston is veritably teeming with hipster bars so we set out to find one … and find one we did. The Racoon club left me with three enduring images. The First, taxidermy, the stuffed racoon is the new wooden owl. The second, a pretend lumber jack working on his full sleeve tat designs, you know, the bearded, buddy holly bespectacled, flannel shirt wearing guy hunched hunched over a sheet of tracing paper earnestly working on the shading of his pseudo japanese gangster dragon scales… The last and most comical, is the more effete version of the faux-jack, whispy beard and sailors beanie on top of overtly miscombined patterns swirling a ridiculously large brandy glass … hilarious. The captain was experiencing an acute case of hipsteritis and muttering into his order-of-magnitude-more-hetreo-and-manly whiskers… needless to say we were back the following week ordering the finest Islay single malts* and locally brewed small batch IPAs…

* Ardberg, not as medicinal as Laphroig but with all the smoke and peat

First published on: Jun 6, 2013 @ 19:04 – backdated for your chronologically ordered viewing pleasure

5-6 Vs ?? (New Team Not Listed)

CG (GK), CB(1), RH, DC (2, MOM), TH, AW, TW (2, MOM)

After a solid win then a draw the Nanna’s were certainly feeling pretty optimistic of a win on this night. The third night northside and up against a new team at that. Well unfortunately it was not to be.

In the end we may have come in a little too cocky for our own good. For a good part of the game we felt we had them under control but a little of their pushing and more so their ability to get around us got us a little hot under the collar and Nanna started blaming Nanna. Never a good sign.

At some stage in the game the other team had a late arrival who was a serious game changer. All of a sudden their gun fired a few shots that no one saw coming in the dying minutes and left us wondering WTF just happened.

So what went wrong? Well the team were a bit better than us.

Did they keep their cool under pressure?…… Yes.

Did they blame each other when things went wrong?….. No.

Did they have that guy that can just take control and carefully and thoughtfully take the ball from one end of the court to the other and score?……. Yes.

Did we keep our cool under pressure?…… No.

Did we blame each other when things went wrong?…. Yes

Were we a little confused by a much bouncier ball?….. Fuck yes. That thing bounced all over the place. Legs were flying into mid air as the ball bounced over the top of our feet on many occasion.

Can we blame the ball for our loss?……. We can try.

What we can take from this?…… Love Thy Nanna.

The Nannas™, on their knees again…

—

First published on: Jun 12, 2013 @ 14:58 – backdated

First Published on: Jun 12, 2013 @ 14:55 – backdated

15-2 Vs Balkanjeros

CG(1,GK), DC(5), RH, AW(1), JH(4), TW(4)

I am honoured and humbled to be writing this post. This the first game in 13 years of Nanna history to be played in a new league. Yes we have finally done it. We have officially moved Northside. Well done gentleman. It was a bold move and one that, so far, is paying off.

While the court was not of the standard we have grown used to, and the lighting was a little artificially white for my liking, it was however a lovely way to enter this new league. An emphatic  victory over a team that quickly learnt that the Nanna’s are not to take for granted.

The move to the north weeded out the weak Nanna’s leaving the obvious Nanna A team that brought home a 15 goal total and a defence that only allowed 2 goals to pass through. Could it be any clearer who the true A team are?? I think not.

The passing was impeccable, the goals were many and often from generous passes. The Nanna’s played not as individuals but as a single entity.

The ref was very good allowing the game to flow but not letting it get out of hand at any stage. Certainly no controversial calls as far as I can remember.

I’d like to think that all the games would be a win like this but I’m sure we can’t come away too cocky and will have to lift our game even more to stay on top of our future opponents.

The night ended at Joe’s Shoe whee some good beer was drunk and some high times were felt. It was mentioned that there might be a need to introduce the cook again based on Northside eateries and bars. This could be make for some very interesting niche eateries.

In all it seems to be shaping up as a good idea though we have to feel for poor Jim who may have trouble making it to a few of the games. Think you might have to set yourself up in a corner of Cocky’s studio Thursday nights. Justine would be cool with that wouldn’t she??

GF (1 MOM) CB (1) DC CG RH TK JH TH

Nanna Core Meltdown. This may have been the end of an era game, the final Albert Park club game. The game I scored a killer goal off the left, through sheer tenacity and a skillset that I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for Gassius Clay.

Unfortunately our combined skills were easily good enough to beat Gassius Clay. And that is why we lost.

Because my friends, we didn’t just play Gassius Clay, we played ourselves. And the enemy, was in us. But mainly we just lost because TWO, count em, two refs played in Gassius Clays’ team, even though they had enough players to play without any refs.
This was one of those “Hellshit, even the refs are getting in on kicking some Nanna butts” moments.

I think we probably should have played the season out. Writing this now, it feels like the Nanna’s packed a bit of a sookie-bubba, or at least left on a bit of a dour note.

But to balance that angle out a tad, we were already talking about moving to Preston before the defiling and it sure seemed like a good idea.

Still waiting on the feed back from the Balkan game, but that sounds horrific.

The cook was insanely good. So good I went back there on Friday night for a little more of that chicken popcorn and slow roast pig burger. It felt like we were feasting after a day in the mountains or something. Respect to Gilla for that restaurant selection. 20 bucks each, with beer. Absolutely amazing.

End report.

The Rehersal

1-5 vs Pornstars

9-2 v Ozpspurs with 2 ref

CB (1) DC, RH, JH(1?), AW, TH, TK(M)
2 ref support unbeatable? No. We are truly matching up the performance first half. The score was 2-1 at half time.
Great pass works and good quick foot work. When we lost the 4th goal, all balance was changed and we could not keep up…

I am not sure this 2 ref support happens again but we need to have a tactics. We should have different style to fight against different teams. Any call anyone??
Japanese soldiers had good lucks by the Banzai charge but it did not work in front of heavy machine guns at WW2. It is time to update our fighting technique.

Korean BBQ combo D at Wooga was fantastic.

5-4 v Left Footers

CB(2), RH(1,MOM), DC(1,MOM), AW, TH, CG

The low-lights… as witnessed by gopro
best viewed in HD on the vimeo site.

p.s. if you can’t see a picture try here… http://vimeo.com/60721071

10-4 vs left footers
Tk (goals), CB 3, TW 2, GF 3, RH 2, JH
CB MOM

It was hot but not as hot as the week before.

We were taut. The taut six. Tighter than the week before.

The opposition were a bit shit. A bit shitter than the week before.

We had the Tokyo terror in goals who brought the composure and distribution that we needed at the baseline.

We had sleepy-eyed Hannan, his stoner evangelism dripping off him like anal leakage and causing the opposition to slide disconsolately into oily befuddlement.

And we capitalised on their befuddlement with goal after goal after goal after goal after goal after goal after goal after goal after goal.
That made 10.

Myself and the lumberjack littered the goal mouth with a hat trick a piece. The captain and the purple head knocked in two each.

The opposition were enthusiastic and hungry although lacking in skills. Somewhat like the nannas you might think? But what do the nannas have in spades that this team lacks?

EXPERIENCE! That’s right kid, the nannas have experience. WHERE IT COUNTS. Under the hood. When the nannas actually manage to get that creaky engine to work, it hums, it glides, it purrs, it sizzles.

And there’s only so far hunger and enthusiasm can take you when you’re toe to toe with the hummingglidingpurringsizzling nanna meat machine.

That’s how we won it. We got our engine on. Thanks in no small part to the captain’s stirring halftime speech. Which was received in it’s entirety without the outrageous slings and arrows of interjection. Swallowed whole into the collective nanna cerebellum like a guinea pig into a gryphon’s putrid maw.

Example: the writer, from the sideline near the D; “Hinkley, header!” The ball sails the distance of the court, kisses the captain’s precise forehead and boo.. Yaah! Goal!

That’s all for now. Drinking with cocky and Rhian for cockys fortieth.

Nannas 0 Vs Vagabundos 5

AW, JH, GF, RH, TH1, TK(G MOM)

End of the year game. First game in the new season. Everyone just started Xmas holiday. Excitements for the end of the year break. Some of the Nannas were already vacation. Just before the end of Maya calendar. Venus is alined and empowering the human harmony. Stars shining. Busiest month in the life for everybody. Many Xmas parties already. The chance to go to the top of the ladder. Sense of the fresh start. Hope of miracles happen. Thinking all games have played. Thinking the years we spent. Looking the book documented the spirits of Nannas. Imagining all game we will play in the future. It was certainly best year for Nannas.

See you in 2013. Heading to Mimosa Rocks today

Nannas 5 Vs Pornstars 10

AW, DC2, JH, GF, RH, TH1, TW1, TK(G MOM)

Early and hot. It was reported as the deadly hottest day in November last 100 years. It went around 42 degrees. The traffic rage was reported as 140%. Certainly we loved the 6pm game.
Brain damage from a fever will not occur unless the fever is over 42C for an extended period of time. I wonder how long it is. I am not sure about my brain function but I want to be sure of the functions of my ball.

We had a best intention for the game. like we do for the finals. Really committed Nannas were on the field before 6pm for the warm up and we chased the opponent like hounds.

The result was loss but we had great speedy goals supported by magic pass works. We simply just needed more of them. I felt that the game was even first half. They gradually scored more than us and we had few slow defenses to let the guys in. We ended this season at the bottom of the ladder. We recharge our batteries and come back as the old lion riding on stallion.

Unfortunately, I missed the beach beer burger bonX session after this. Wait for the picture from the other Nannas.