• Home
  • SOCRATES’ THINKING
    • News and comment
    • Editorial
  • About
  • US
    • Sportsocratic team
    • Contributors
  • Reviews
    • Adventures
    • Books
    • Places
  • Contributions
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Sportsocratic

Thoughts, ideas, opinions and postulations on sport and adventuring

  • Sport & society
    • Ethics & Values
    • History
    • Favourite photos
    • Cultural and social issues
    • Politics
    • Big questions
    • Sport fashion
      • Sartorialism and style
  • Wild sports
  • Silly stuff
  • Sports science
    • Research
    • Coaching
    • Innovation
    • HEALTH
  • The things that made me
  • Stories
    • General sporting stories
    • Waves of Pain
      • No Respect!
      • Death Wish at Fairy Bower
      • Fried nuts
      • The ocean is a trickster… especially Hawaii’s North Shore – Gas chambers bites the unwary!
      • Titus Kinimaka’s nightmare Christmas
      • Dix dumped – the trials of a self-confessed elite body surfer
      • The little surf that nearly ruined a promising career…
      • Rabbit killer – a master takes a caning at pipeline!
      • Death Wish at Fairy Bower
      • Easternmost memory – surfing in the wild at the end of the continent
      • Nothing ruins a good surf like a couple of blokes with automatic assault rifles…
      • Agony for Miki Dora
      • Smashed at Gas Chambers
      • Who was Europe’s first surfing woman? Introducing the wonderful Witch of Newbury.
      • A bad day at Palmy – surfies and clubbies at war!
      • When being a proven waterman is not enough!
      • The highs and lows of surfing Sunset Beach while competing at the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational
      • An American midnight surf – that goes very wrong!
  • What does it mean?
    • What is a snake?
    • What does “shag” mean?
    • What does “Freddy Jones” mean?
    • What does “hook and ladder” mean?
    • What does back walk-over mean?
  • Philosophers Sport Bar
    • Socrates and Aristotle debate football defence
    • Michel de Montaigne on coaching sports
    • Ancient philosophers discuss what makes the beautiful game beautiful! Laozi and Socrates get technical.

communication in the surfing world

Are surfers sheep?

January 26, 2023 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

Where do you surf? What’s your primary source of information about where is the best place to choose to surf? Over several weeks I watched the surfing grape-vine drag punters from one surfing spot to the next according to what the latest “word” was telling them about where they needed to surf. It made me wonder whether many surfers were just happier being part of the mob than in actually surfing great waves. It wasn’t long before I discovered that more people suffer from the sheep syndrome than I originally imagined. It is a powerful disease.

Walking with Nietzche – John Kaag follows in the philosopher’s footsteps

February 5, 2021 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

While preparing a thesis on Friedrich Nietzche, philosopher John Kaag took at trip to the Swiss Alps to experience some of the places and pastimes that influenced the 19th century Swiss/German philosopher’s writing. While Nietzche didn’t specifically discuss his exploration of the high mountains in his work, the impact that the mountains had on his thinking became clear to Kaag has he emulated Nietzche’s hikes around Splugen and Piz Corvatsch. The significance and importance of suffering and the impact that walking has for humans in the way that it provides immediate physical benefit as well as liberates the mind and unleashes it’s potential for creativity were just some of the things made real to Kaag. The way that mountains enable humans to sense their own ephemeral nature also became clear. Take a walk with the young John Kaag and discover how important hiking, movement and mountains can be in the search for the understanding of human existence, knowledge and experience.

This excerpt from John Kaag’s book Hiking With Nietzche (Published 2018 – Farrar, Straus and Giroux) is reproduced with his permission.

To share John Kaag’s journey click on the pic… and discover how his search for Nietzche’s philosophy nearly cost him his life!

Tips from coaches

Socrates and the cranky coach…

August 17, 2022 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

Socrates, the ancient well known busy body, grabs a forlorn famous sports coach when he is trying to enter the gym and pesters him about why he gets so upset with referees. The ensuing discussion tests the meaning of words like “cheating” and “rules” and asks whether a coach has a role in how his or her players should approach the rules of the game and the officials.

Best Model of Sports Leadership? King Henry V

February 3, 2022 By SOCRATES 1 Comment

What are the skills and qualities that enable a coach or captain/coach to lead their team to great victories against all odds? One of Australia’s greatest ever actors, John Bell, reckons that Shakespeare had this leadership business summed up pretty well with his character King Henry V. Henry crops up in a few of Shakespeare’s plays but, as a gun fighter and captain coach of a top-notch brawling army, he came into his own around the time of the Battle of Agincourt when his English troops gave the French army a good thrashing (much to the bookies surprise). Click the pic and get the full story here. What wins great battles and sports matches? Leadership or the technical skills of the boss?

Sport changing lives

Sport made fun for all – Urban Rec

June 2, 2022 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

My son calls me on the phone. He’s desperate. “Can you play European Handball with my team at Urban Rec tonight?” he says. I didn’t know what Urban Rec was. I didn’t know what European Handball was either. But I found out. It was a blast. What’s the best mid-week thing you can do for fun, friendship and fitness without worrying that some jerk is going to take it all too seriously? Its probably Urban Rec. I talked to Australian Urban Rec founder, Madeleine Wilkie, to get the low down. Don’t miss this story… or you might be missing your sporting future.

How working with horses changes young lives

March 29, 2022 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

Most of us know that sport, exercise, and a whole range of other physical activities are great for mental health and provide positive relief from trauma. But physical activity with horses? Why horses? Could horses actually change the lives of young indigenous people (who have experienced extensive trauma in their young lives)? Professor Juli Coffin, who designed and runs an equine assisted learning programme (Yawardani Jan-ga) for troubled young folks between the ages of seven and twenty-six in Broome, Western Australia, is confident that the relationships that are formed between horses and programme participants are making a big difference.

Penalty shoot-out? Nah. Let’s play Murderball!

March 14, 2022 By SOCRATES NEWS DESK Leave a Comment

The League Cup is over, and Liverpool wins the comp on penalties, 11-10. When I read a post on Instagram that puts the victory down to Liverpool’s exemplary data driven approach, I slap myself in the side of the head, grunt “derr”, and make a silly incensed reply stating what seemed to me the obvious […]

reviews

Girls Can’t Surf – film review

April 6, 2021 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

The blokes said that the girls will never be able to surf as well as them. Did they have a point? Film makers Michaele Perske, Christopher Nelius and Julie Anne De Nuvo take a look at the early female surfers of the seventies and eighties and explore their lives and careers in their new documentary film, “Girls Can’t Surf”. Amazing characters from professional surfing history like Jodie Cooper, Pauline Menczer, Pam Burridge and Lisa Anderson describe the lousy treatment, horrible conditions and discrimination they experienced in the early days of women’s pro surfing. Check out Socrates’ review. Click the image and read on?

Road Test – Cameron Smith versus Tom Brady (Socrates looks under the hood of second hand athletes)

March 3, 2021 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

At their prime they were the best in their class… but twenty years down the track do they still perform? Do one, or the other, or both offer value for money into future years or does their advanced years and way too many kilometres on the clock mean that they should be avoided like the plague. Socrates test drives the 1983 model Storm hooker and the 1977 model Bucc quarterback, rates their present-day performance, and considers the likelihood of them providing a satisfying driving experience into the future. Is one a better buy than the other? Is one more likely to win future championships than the other? Don’t consider buying a Cameron Smith or a Tom Brady without having read Socrates’ road test comparison report first!

Philopher’s Cafe

Surfer philosophy – Let no wave be unridden, no flip-flop unworn!

October 8, 2021 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

Two surfers sat down to a post-surf coffee and the discussion turned to philosophy. While one lamented the ill-fortune he had been dealt in recent weeks the other pointed out that he needed to take a look at himself and learn some of the important philosophical lessons that the beach and the surf can offer. Click the pic and discover the critical life lessons… epistemological, ethical, metaphysical and logical… that one surfer offers the other that were hard won through a life of surfing.

newsdesk

To smash or be skillful? Can good defense be coached or are accidents like the Latrell Mitchell and Joey Manu incident inevitable?

August 31, 2021 By SOCRATES NEWS DESK Leave a Comment

In a tough body contact sport are occasional horrible accidents inevitable? Possibly. But probably not with the frequency that many former elite players and expert analysts argue. Socrates believes that good coaching and hard work from highly skilled players can prevent many potentially dangerous tackles and that accepting the horror accidents as inevitable and high level skills as “uncoachable” sells athletes, professional sports and coaches short. Get the story here. Click the pic.

Exercise is always good – but especially during Covid!

August 30, 2021 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

Recent research by a United Kingdom University highlights the potential consequences of lack of exercise and poor diet during a period of isolation. It found that patients who didn’t isolate prior to going under the knife were less likely to suffer post-operative pulmonary complications. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t lock down. But it might mean that we should watch out for our health during lockdown! This research and story highlight the need for exercise and sound eating practices while the pandemic rages around us. Click the pic for an inside look into this fascinating piece of research.

rugby test

Wallaby v France test – the moment that soared above all the others

July 20, 2021 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

There were many great moments in the final Wallabies versus France rugby test last week but according to Socrates, one stood our far above all the others. Was it a great try? A brilliant tackle? A perfect scrum or line-out? A fantastic bit of work at the break-down? According to the rotund Greek hooker it was none of those things. He reckons that the highlight of the game was a much quieter, simpler and more subdued moment. A moment that might have escaped the attention of millions of spectators. Find out about Socrates favorite moment of the test. Click the pic.

COVID IMPACT

RITUAL: BEING CHAIRED UP THE BEACH

September 13, 2022 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

Why do we subject professional athletes to embarrassing and cumbersome rituals at times when they should be celebrating. Why do athletes agree to participate in rituals that make them look like nongs? Chas Smith makes the argument for banning the post-contest victory chair-up-the-beach. Click the pic to get Chas’ important advice to the world of contest surfing.

True story from the world of sport

Just six words…

May 20, 2021 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS 1 Comment

Have you ever wished that you could meet and have a conversation with someone you idolize? What would you say to your idol to convince them to want to stay in the conversation? What would they say in response to your brilliant social skills? How would the conversation go? How would it leave you feeling? An Australian ex-professional athlete who had played with and against some of the greatest basketball talent that this country has ever seen (Andrew Gaze, Ricky Grace, Shane Heal, Phil Smythe) once, by chance, had a meeting with possibly the greatest and most famous professional sports person that has ever lived. The superstar he bumped into, in a New York elevator, just happened to be the Aussie basketballer’s idol. How did the meeting turn out? Click the pic and discover the six most memorable words in this Australian point guard’s life.

rugby league shock

New State of Origin Format Proposal – Exclusive!

February 25, 2021 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

In an exclusive that is sure to shock the sports loving world, Senior Journalist for Sportsocratic, Socrates revealed that, according to a top football administrator, the popular State of Origin rugby league series format is about to be given a major shake up.

A senior Australian Rugby League official recently leaked to Socrates that the ARL are looking at tweaking the State of Origin team selections approach for future interstate matches. While not being totally dissatisfied with current arrangements the official argued that it was experimenting with selection rules that turned interstate Rugby League fixtures into the success that it is today, and decision makers should not rest on their laurels by not considering possible future selection possibilities. Get the details about the changes ahead in Socrates’ exclusive report. Click the pic and start reading.

learning about life through sport

Are surfers sheep?

January 26, 2023 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

Where do you surf? What’s your primary source of information about where is the best place to choose to surf? Over several weeks I watched the surfing grape-vine drag punters from one surfing spot to the next according to what the latest “word” was telling them about where they needed to surf. It made me wonder whether many surfers were just happier being part of the mob than in actually surfing great waves. It wasn’t long before I discovered that more people suffer from the sheep syndrome than I originally imagined. It is a powerful disease.

Walking with Nietzche – John Kaag follows in the philosopher’s footsteps

February 5, 2021 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

While preparing a thesis on Friedrich Nietzche, philosopher John Kaag took at trip to the Swiss Alps to experience some of the places and pastimes that influenced the 19th century Swiss/German philosopher’s writing. While Nietzche didn’t specifically discuss his exploration of the high mountains in his work, the impact that the mountains had on his thinking became clear to Kaag has he emulated Nietzche’s hikes around Splugen and Piz Corvatsch. The significance and importance of suffering and the impact that walking has for humans in the way that it provides immediate physical benefit as well as liberates the mind and unleashes it’s potential for creativity were just some of the things made real to Kaag. The way that mountains enable humans to sense their own ephemeral nature also became clear. Take a walk with the young John Kaag and discover how important hiking, movement and mountains can be in the search for the understanding of human existence, knowledge and experience.

This excerpt from John Kaag’s book Hiking With Nietzche (Published 2018 – Farrar, Straus and Giroux) is reproduced with his permission.

To share John Kaag’s journey click on the pic… and discover how his search for Nietzche’s philosophy nearly cost him his life!

Waves of Pain

Teen’s toes attacked at Tallows Beach

January 7, 2021 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

The ocean never fails to surprise with its choices for methods of torture of its adherents… as Byron Bay young gun surfer, Jack, discovered a few years back. While Jack had his heart in his mouth when he turned up for his surf lesson to discover that the Ocean at Tallow Beach was in an angry mood, he would never have imagined, in a million years, that his session would end up as it did. Click the pic and read about Jack’s adventure and discover how weird the ocean can be when it gets grumpy.

The little surf that nearly ruined a promising career…

May 21, 2020 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

Imagine growing up around big waves, being addicted to surfing and then being transferred to a work place more well-known for its bears, forests and snow than surfing breaks. It can be a cruel world! Under such circumstances young folk would do almost anything for a surfing fix. Imagine yourself taking your “once in a blue moon chance” to get a wave and having that wave work you over so bad that it not only bloody nearly ruins your year but almost ruins your career. That’s what happenned to one young fella from Perth. Now that is a serious “Wave of Pain”. Usually, a day in the waves is bliss. Ocassionally it is hell. Read about one rare hell day here.

Philosopher’s Sports Bar

Surfer philosophy – Let no wave be unridden, no flip-flop unworn!

October 8, 2021 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

Two surfers sat down to a post-surf coffee and the discussion turned to philosophy. While one lamented the ill-fortune he had been dealt in recent weeks the other pointed out that he needed to take a look at himself and learn some of the important philosophical lessons that the beach and the surf can offer. Click the pic and discover the critical life lessons… epistemological, ethical, metaphysical and logical… that one surfer offers the other that were hard won through a life of surfing.

Sport 2021 – Sports philosopher No 2. Aaron Kearney

April 4, 2020 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

Multi-skilled and multi-award-winning sports presenter, sports expert, sociologist and philosopher, Aaron Kearney, joins Socrates in the philosopher’s sports bar to run through some of the changes that we might expect in our sporting lives when the dust from the Covid19 epidemic settles. Not only does Kearney describe a bunch of changes that are likely in the world of sport over the next twelve months but he has a bit of a wish list as well. Let’s knock the boring sports celebrities down a peg or two might be one of his hopes! Other than a democratization of the world of sports stardom there is not a lot of negative in the sporting world of 2021 that Kearney imagines. Check out his conversation with our beloved “Round Mound of Scrumming-Down” (Socrates) here. Just click on the pic.

melbourne cup

Research shows whipping horses doesn’t make them run faster, straighter, or safer — let’s cut it out

November 17, 2020 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

Like many others I have always viewed horse racing with ambivalence. Previous and current generations of my extended family have had strong equestrian links but, on the matter of horse racing, opinions of family members have been split down the middle for decades. Attitudes were so powerful and entrenched that it was strictly forbidden, at family gatherings, to mention to Aunty Betty and Uncle Dick that cousin Matt and Uncle Dave kept race horses. And so, as this recent Melbourne Cup came around, yet again, my feelings towards the event were mixed. I had immense admiration for the athlete horses and jockeys for the extraordinary and difficult sporting event that they were going to participate in but I had huge reservations about the potential cruelty of the race and the gambling, drinking and foolish outfit wearing (described by many as “fashion”) I found repulsive.

Anyway, the first Tuesday in November came and went and, yet again, the horror stories that came out of the event far outweighed the heart-warming and life-affirming stories. Another horse had died during the running… and yet another jockey was handed a punishment for excessive use of the whip. As the news unfolded about the running of the race, my former ambivalence was rapidly swinging towards opposition.

The next morning, I heard Sydney academic Paul McGreevy on the radio discussing the Melbourne Cup. In the course of the interview he raised an issue that surprised me and, I suspect, would surprise most people. He and his research colleagues compared the performance of horses competing in “hands and heels” races (races where whipping is not permitted) with performance of horses competing in traditional, whip-use-permitted, events. They discussed their findings in a report for “The Conversation.” Here it is. Click the picture above to get the story… and read on!  

aphorisms, insights and wisdom… about fishing!

“You know when they have a fishing show on TV? They catch the fish and then let it go. They don’t want to eat the fish, they just want to make it late for something.”

Brilliant and unorthodox American comedian, Mitch Hedberg, who like so many other comic geniuses, died way too young.

 

Wisdom

 

“Rugby is a good occasion for keeping thirty bullies far from the centre of the city.”

Oscar Wilde

While I appreciate Oscar’s humour, I gotta say he is being a bit harsh. There are a few rugby players who are not bullies!

wisdom

“These are my new shoes. They’re good shoes. They won’t make you rich like me. They won’t make you rebound like me. They definitely won’t make you handsome like me. They’ll only make you have shoes like me.”

Who else but the incomparable Sir Charles “Round Mound of Rebound” Wade Barkley.

Where do you surf? What’s your primary source of information about where is the best place to choose to surf? Over several weeks I watched the surfing grape-vine drag punters from one surfing spot to the next according to what the latest “word” was telling them about where they needed to surf. It made me wonder whether many surfers were just happier being part of the mob than in actually surfing great waves. It wasn’t long before I discovered that more people suffer from the sheep syndrome than I originally imagined. It is a powerful disease.

sports style – or lack of it

Seven deadly sins of sports sartorialism and style.

April 17, 2019 By SOCRATES 2 Comments

There are hundreds of fashion choices that look ridiculous, foolish, horrible and offensive in a sporting context but seven particular style choices brand the “sinner” almost beyond redemption. Socrates smugly sticks his massive nose in the air and points the finger of sartorial disgrace at the “sins” he finds most hideous.

Recent Comments

  • David Evans on Best Model of Sports Leadership? King Henry V
  • Alexa Jordan on The secret to sublime soccer – great players see and create “Ma”
  • Brett Parker on Still on the wing… (a life of music and rugby)
  • Adrian Hoffman on Just six words…
  • Bobby K. Horito on A surfing life well lived – Socrates reviews William Finnegan’s “Barbarian Days”.

Archives

  • January 2023
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • June 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • October 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015

SOCRATES’ RECENT TWEETS

Tweets by Sportsocratic

Secret Sports Person

Their sporting life – A journalist’s story

April 7, 2021 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

“Bill” could have been a great rugby player… but he was more interested in other things. Do people display characteristics of their personal and working lives through their performances on the sporting field? Socrates describes the sporting life of one of his favorite people, and shows how the skill and character of one of Australia’s best journalists was always on show, even as a young man, whether on the rugby field, the basketball court or even on a quiet country headland when threatened with fisticuff by a big bloke wearing a blue uniform. Get “Bill’s” story here. Click the pic!

Olympics Rugby Teams – Who are the greatest?

April 23, 2020 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

The rugby trivia question for the century! Which national rugby union team holds the record for the most Olympic gold medals in Rugby Union (the full-team fifteen a side game)?

Ethics and fairplay

Wallaby v France test – the moment that soared above all the others

July 20, 2021 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

There were many great moments in the final Wallabies versus France rugby test last week but according to Socrates, one stood our far above all the others. Was it a great try? A brilliant tackle? A perfect scrum or line-out? A fantastic bit of work at the break-down? According to the rotund Greek hooker it was none of those things. He reckons that the highlight of the game was a much quieter, simpler and more subdued moment. A moment that might have escaped the attention of millions of spectators. Find out about Socrates favorite moment of the test. Click the pic.

Never cheated in my life!

November 19, 2020 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

What is cheating? Is cheating a black and white moral issue… or are there shades of gray. Socrates spent twenty years in the engine room of the beautiful game of rugby… the scrum. He loved being a rugby hooker. He reckons that being slap bang in the middle of sixteen enormous, sweating blokes desperate to secure possession of the ball for their team taught him quite a bit about the fine art of cheating… what it is… and what it isn’t…. and how it can be done. Here Socrates lifts the veil on aspects of the workings of the 1970’s and 80’s amateur rugby scrum revealing some of its secrets. In so doing he shows that cheating is not a simple moral issue. he also claims to haver never deliberately cheated. Do you believe him?

matildas

Just six words…

May 20, 2021 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS 1 Comment

Have you ever wished that you could meet and have a conversation with someone you idolize? What would you say to your idol to convince them to want to stay in the conversation? What would they say in response to your brilliant social skills? How would the conversation go? How would it leave you feeling? An Australian ex-professional athlete who had played with and against some of the greatest basketball talent that this country has ever seen (Andrew Gaze, Ricky Grace, Shane Heal, Phil Smythe) once, by chance, had a meeting with possibly the greatest and most famous professional sports person that has ever lived. The superstar he bumped into, in a New York elevator, just happened to be the Aussie basketballer’s idol. How did the meeting turn out? Click the pic and discover the six most memorable words in this Australian point guard’s life.

Outstanding achievement

RITUAL: BEING CHAIRED UP THE BEACH

September 13, 2022 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

Why do we subject professional athletes to embarrassing and cumbersome rituals at times when they should be celebrating. Why do athletes agree to participate in rituals that make them look like nongs? Chas Smith makes the argument for banning the post-contest victory chair-up-the-beach. Click the pic to get Chas’ important advice to the world of contest surfing.

New surfing podcast

One of Australia’s greatest ever surfers – one of surfing’s greatest story tellers – “Rabbit” Bartholomew – talks to award winning journalist Tim Baker about life, surfing and stuff. Perfect listening for lockdown entertainment.

professionalism

To smash or be skillful? Can good defense be coached or are accidents like the Latrell Mitchell and Joey Manu incident inevitable?

August 31, 2021 By SOCRATES NEWS DESK Leave a Comment

In a tough body contact sport are occasional horrible accidents inevitable? Possibly. But probably not with the frequency that many former elite players and expert analysts argue. Socrates believes that good coaching and hard work from highly skilled players can prevent many potentially dangerous tackles and that accepting the horror accidents as inevitable and high level skills as “uncoachable” sells athletes, professional sports and coaches short. Get the story here. Click the pic.

wisdom

Its just a job. Grass grows. Birds fly. Waves pound the sand. I beat people up. – Muhammad Ali

sport at mardi gras

Athletes in the LGBTQI Mardi Gras

March 12, 2019 By SOCRATES 2 Comments

Twenty-one different sports teams marched in this years Sydney Mardi Gras. That’s twenty-one groups of out and proud queer athletes. The LGBTQI community need to be “fearless” and queer athletes are no exception. Check out these fearless sporting clubs living it up on their night of night!

A life with horses

A life with horses – or Lulu in wonderland

August 8, 2018 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

It’s well known that playing sport can be a life-changing experience. For one mum, adventurer and businessperson, having a sporty pastime was more than life-changing. Lulu’s friendship with her horses has touched her and her daughter’s lives in a million ways and created a whole new life in an ever-changing wonderland for them both. But don’t think for a moment that their horses are the purpose built catalysts for their ideal lives! Its way more complex than that… and more respectful. Read on! It’s worth it!

wisdom

“Pressure? Pressure is a Messerschmidt up your arse. Playing cricket is not!”

Keith Miller

One of the greatest cricket “all-rounders” of all time, Keith Miller was not only an exceptional performer in multiple elements of test cricketing (batting, bowling and fielding) but he was also gifted in numerous other aspects of his life. Witty, entertaining, handsome, a renowned war time pilot and gifted Australian Rules Footballer, Miller was famed for calling a spade a spade and acknowledging that there was much more to life than elite sports. Having flown fighter bombers in the Second World War under life threatening circumstances he was not one to take the “pressure” of high level sport too seriously!

trivia

Here is a cracker of a trivia question.

Who was the college recruiting scout talking about when he said the following to his head coach.

“I’ve just seen a fat guy… who can play like the wind!”

Yup. The same guy who told people that just because they had shoes like his, it didn’t make them like him in any other way. Charles Wade Barkley.

Etymology

Are surfers sheep?

January 26, 2023 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

Where do you surf? What’s your primary source of information about where is the best place to choose to surf? Over several weeks I watched the surfing grape-vine drag punters from one surfing spot to the next according to what the latest “word” was telling them about where they needed to surf. It made me wonder whether many surfers were just happier being part of the mob than in actually surfing great waves. It wasn’t long before I discovered that more people suffer from the sheep syndrome than I originally imagined. It is a powerful disease.

What does it mean?

What is Elvis leg?

Admit it. You’ve never heard of “Elvis leg,” have you? What the blazes is “Elvis leg?” As is the case with every other “What does it mean…” story we have ever posted, the answer is not directly related to the name itself. It is indirectly related to Elvis, though. Have a guess what the relationship is… then click here and check out whether your were correct. Find out for certain which sport uses this term and what it means.

What is a liberator?

Of course most you aviation buffs will think that a liberator is an American WW2 heavy bomber. Fair enough. But in a sporting context does it have a completely different meaning? Indeed it does. You are going to have to click here to find out what a liberator is and does in the world of sport.

Aphorisms, insights and wisdom

“The thing that’s depressing about tennis is that no matter how good I get I will never be as good as a wall.”

More perceptive sporting analysis from Mitch Hedberg, comic genius.

 

ebook

Phillip has returned to the south of India after eighteen years. But who is the young girl staying in his hotel? And what will he learn about his estranged brother through Inez, the Spanish backpacker?

To buy The Bangalore Test, John Campbell’s new ebook novella, just click the link.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

©2019 Sportsocratic