Athletes of the Week

This page will be our archive of our "Athletes of the Week"

Week 1: Epiphanny Prince

Epiphanny Prince of Murry Bergtraum High School scored 113 points in a game Wednesday, breaking a girls' national prep record previously held by Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller.

Week 2: Richard “Dick” Cheney

US Vice President Dick Cheney shot Henry Wittington in the face while on a quail hunt. Ranch owner Katharine Armstrong said Mr Cheney had turned round to shoot at a bird, unaware that Mr Whittington was behind him. "The covey flushed and the vice-president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by God, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good," she said.

Week 3: Jonathon “Fatal1ty” Wendel

Jonathon “Fatal1ty” Wendel (note the “1” in Fatal1ty) just took out the Painkiller tournament in Sweden. Wendel is part of the CPL (Cyberathlete Professional League) Tour and made roughly USD$200,000 last year. At 24 years old Wendel is known as the “Tiger Woods of professional gaming”.

He is currently single.

Week 4: Jason McElwain

Jason McElwain is a student at Greece Athena Highschool and is the assissant coach and manager of the schools basketball team. He is incredibly passionate about the sport. He also has autism. In the team's last game of the regular season the coach let him "suit up". With roughly four minutes remaining in the game. The coach stands up and points at young Jase and in he goes. His first shot is a gigantic airball, his second also misses. Then he sinks a giant 3-pointer. Then another. And another. He keeps firing and sinking until at the end of the game he sinks a buzzer beater to get 20 points in four minutes (5 points per minute). The crowd has at near riot levels and when the clock showed all zeroes Jason was swept onto their shoulders and carried from the court.

Awesome. (See the video of Jason's feat here)

Week 5: George Bush Jr.

The big W visited Pakistan recently. During his visit he met the Pakistani cricket team and, after speaking to captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, gave the game a go. After correcting his baseball stance Inzamam bowled him a few balls. George managed to belt the first one, so ul-Haq bowled him a googly which actually hit the president on the shoulder. Lucky for the captain they were using tennis balls. George stared him down and then smacked the next ball as well.

Condoleeza Rice was a close runner-up for her new exercise regime that she has exposed to the world.

Week Three in Review

Three podcast episodes. Who would have thought it? That's three more podcasts than we ever thought we'd be able to manage. So, whatever happens now, we are, and always have been, ahead of our expectations.

Before launching into our predictions from last week and why things didn't work out the way we thought, or at least the way they should have, it is time to delve into some statistics. Statistics are good. Statistics are cool. Statistics make the world go round. Well, 84% of the time they do anyway. The other 16% is money. Love and other wishy-washy concepts don't come into it.

After Week 3:
- 23% of round robin games have been completed; that's 21 matches played: 8 wins to the home team, 12 wins to the visiting team and 1 draw.
- All of the Australian home games have resulted in wins to the away team (twice the away team has been another Australian teams and three times it has been a NZ team).
- Lome Fa'atau (the Hurricane wing; hurricane in more ways than one) has scored more tries on his own (5) than either the Stormers (4), the Blues (4), the Reds (3), the Force (2) or the Cats (1) have managed.
- The Brumbies have only conceded 1 try in three games; the Force have leaked 10.
- The Hurricanes have scored 13 tries; the Cats, as mentioned above, 1.
(Unfortunately, these next stats are only for the first two weeks - updated stats will, hopefully, be available later this week)
- The Force have the best lineout according to a straight wins-to-lineouts-contested ratio (who knew?): out of the 85 lineouts thrown in their first two games (by either team), they've snaffled 52 of them (or 61%); next best are the Cheetahs on 57%.
- On the same basis as the Force having the best lineout, the worst are the championship leaders, the Hurricanes - they've only won 36% of the lineouts in their matches (is there a moral in these last two statistics somewhere?). These statistics would be slightly skewed because the Force played the Hurricanes in the second match, and in that match the Hurricanes only threw 9 lineouts against the Force's 34.
- Technically, the best lineout is the Cheetahs - they've only lost 3 of 32 (or 9%) of their own throw, and snaffled 23% of their opposition's.
- Worst on their own lineout throw are the Reds - they've lost 9 of 36 (or 25%), although they have won 20% of the opposition's.
- Probably the worst lineout is the Brumbies' - they've lost 21% of their own throws and only managed to win 10% of their opposition's (which puts them equal worst on the opposition's throw with both the Cats and the Force).
- Best on the opposition's throw are Waratahs and Highlanders, who've both snaffled 24% of the opposition's throws (the Crusaders, Bulls and Cheetahs are close behind, all snaffling 23% of the opposition's throws).
- There have been 282 scrums in the first two weeks, of which 110 have had to be reset (i.e. 39%); that's a lot of wasted time.
- There were no strikes against the head in the first two weeks.
- The Crusaders kicked the least from general play (26 times); the Bulls kicked the most (75 times).
- The Chiefs were penalised the most (26 times over two matches); the Force were only penalised 12 times.

(Note there is a ridiculous dearth of Super 14 statistics on the interweb - oh for a web site along the lines of www.cricinfo.com or www.nfl.com; if we can find a good way to present all our stats for your viewing pleasure, rest assured we will do so.)

Onto a review of our predictions for the games in Round 3. In summary:
- We predicted the Hurricanes to beat the Cats by 13+: totally correct. It did take a bizarre touchdown by Isaia Toeava in the last seconds to do so, however: more in our next podcast.
- We predicted the Chiefs would do for the Force by 1-12: winner correct, margin wrong. Finally, we picked a Chiefs game.
- We picked the Brumbies to beat the Stormers by 13+: totally wrong. The first draw of the competition.
- We thought the Crusaders would thump the Sharks by 13+: partially right. It took a drop goal by Dan Carter to steal the win from a committed Sharks team. We didn't see that one coming.
- We thought the Reds would have the wood over the Blues by 13+ points: totally incorrect. Obviously we should do less thinking, although this game was more a case of the worst team lost than the best team won.
- We knew the Bulls would beat the Waratahs by 1-12: and, by God, we were right.
- If we thought the Highlanders would beat the Cheetahs by 1-12 points we would have been totally correct. As it was we were totally incorrect: we thought the Cheetahs would win by 1-12. Stupid try of the round by the Highlanders in the wet (I guess we shouldn't really complain, as the NZ team won).

Pick accuracy this week was again 4 out of 7 (or 57%, as it was last week). Grade: C. Must do better.

Coming up in podcast number 4:

A review of Week 3 of the Super 14

A review of other sport
What was on? Winter Olympics? Cricket? Rugby League? Something else?

A preview of Week 4 of the Super 14
- The Chiefs are finally back home after three away games; they're hosting the Reds, who managed to turn their fortress of Suncorp Stadium into the Welcome Inn - will they fare any better away from home?
- The Brumbies are back in Canberra to take on the Cats, who got closer to the Hurricanes last week than the score board showed.
- The Waratahs are also back home in Sydney to face the Sharks; can the Sharks back up their last game against the Crusaders with something similar this week?
- The Blues travel to Jade Stadium to try and keep their heads above water; they'll find the Crusaders a different kettle of fish to the Reds, however. Game of the round?
- The Highlanders continue their South African safari this week when they meet the Stormers in Cape Town.
- And finally the Hurricanes join their southern compatriots in the Rainbow Nation, facing the Cheetahs.

The Bulls and the Force have byes this week. (You can see the Force wiping their foreheads in relief from here.)

What else?
Athlete of the Week, Dick of the Week, No Pun Intended, some stats perhaps and maybe something a bit mystical if you've all been good boys and girls.

Virtual Super 14 Update
The Dropkicks dropped 25,535 places to be 43,865th thanks to managing all of 26 points. If 26 points was good we'd be happy. As it stands, 26 points is bad, so we're not.

Week 3 Podcast - Contents

Here is a run down of the Week 3 Podcast:

+ Cough 0:00:00
+ Introducing the Dropkicks 0:00:05
+ Rundown of the Show 0:00:23
+ Super 14 Round 2 Reviews: Highlanders versus Blues 0:00:37; Cats versus Chiefs 0:03:31; Bulls versus Brumbies 0:05:11; Hurricanes versus Force 0:05:47; Reds versus Crusaders 0:07:08; Cheetahs versus Sharks 0:07:31; Stormers versus Waratahs 0:08:00; the table after Round 2 0:08:45
+ Other Sports News: the new IRB rules 0:09:14; the Warriors salary cap trouble 0:11:12; cricket and water bottles 0:12:15; from the "That's Interesting" file: Kobe Bryant and Wilt the Stilt 0:15:15; the Winter Olympics and the Canadian Kiwis 16:32
+ Wacky Round the World 0:18:33
+ Dick of the Week 0:20:37
+ Athlete of the Week 0:23:08
+ No Pun Intended 0:25:57
+ Fashions in the Field 0:28:
+ Super 14 Round 3 Previews: Hurricanes versus Cats 0:38:46; Chiefs versus Force 0:40:45; Stormers versus Brumbies 0:43:01; Crusaders versus Sharks 0:43:59; Reds versus Blues 0:45:13; Bulls versus Waratahs 0:47:50; Cheetahs versus Highlanders 0:48:44; the Dropkicks' predictions rundown 0:49:33
+ The Last Word 0:49:58
+ Until next week 0:50:21
Total time: 0:50:26

Oooops

It has just been pointed out to us that the link to the second podcast, as given in our blog entries Week 2 Podcast - Contents and Our Podcasts, was wrong. Instead of a hugely entertaining listen, people were getting a 404 error. Er, whoops. Our fault entirely. You will be pleased to know that normal transmission has now been resumed and the links are working.

Please accept out apologies for the inconvenience.

PS All of you who subscribe to our podcast using either iTunes or some other RSS client will not have experienced this problem. See our blog entry How to get our Podcast for more information about subscribing.

Week Two in Review

Two podcasts into the Super 14 season, and a number of things have come to light:

1. The Crusaders will win the competition.
2. There is no 2.
3. There is still no 2, and 3 is away on vacation.

Well, ok, only one thing has come to light. No, wait, there is a second: injuries will play a role in who finishes in what order behind the Crusaders. (Note that the Crusaders could lose their entire team to injuries and still win the competition. That's just The Way It Is. And no, we're not Crusader fans. We're realists.) Both Brumbies first choice hookers: out. Conrad Smith: out. Luke McAlister: out. Wendell Sailor: out (drunk doesn't really count as an injury, but he gains extra points for stupidity). All those players we mentioned in our second podcast: out.

Also mentioned in our second podcast were our predictions for the games in Round 2. In summary:

- We predicted the Highlanders would beat the Blues by 1-12 points: totally correct. We're not sure that the Blues are playing rugby. We think they are playing golf. In golf, if you score less than your opponent, you win.
- We predicted the Chiefs would beat the Cats by 1-12 points: totally incorrect. From all accounts a game right out of the top drawer. The top drawer of crap, that is. Are you playing this bad, oh Chiefs, just to spite us? And Cats - seven penalties? Come on! You're a Southern Hemisphere team, for goodness sake.
- We predicted the Bulls would beat the Brumbies by 1-12 points: totally incorrect. The Brumbies unleashed their impressive backline to score 3 tries to zero. Again, Bulls, you call yourselves a Southern Hemisphere team?
- We predicted the Hurricanes to beat the Force by 13+: totally correct. Such a mismatch, it's hardly worth claiming the correct prediction. And what a game to lose Conrad Smith in. If it had been the final with Smith drawing six Crusaders before passing to Lome Fa'atau to score the winning try, fair enough, that's probably worth a broken leg. As long as it was a really, really minor broken leg and he was able to play for the All Blacks. But the Force? [Insert appropriate Star Wars joke about the Force and being it not with them, hmmmmmm?]
- We predicted the Crusaders would beat the Reds by 13+ points: totally correct. The Crusaders decided to play the first 50 minutes with both arms tied behind their backs and their eyes replaced with grapes, but the Reds could still only manage to be a couple of points ahead. Then the Crusaders decided they may as well win with a four try bonus point just for kicks.
- our coin predicted the Sharks would beat the Cheetahs by 13+ points: totally incorrect. Obviously we were using an Acme-patented Back-To-Front-Coin. If we'd gone the total opposite of what the coin had told us, we would have got this game totally correct. We know now.
- We predicted the Waratahs would beat the Stormers by 13+ points: correct winner, incorrect margin.

We therefore picked the winner correctly in 4 of the 7 games, for a pick percentage of 57%. Our standards slipped slightly from Round 1, but that was primarily because teams (we're looking at you, Chiefs) didn't play as well as they could. It was no fault of...hang on...look into my eyes, look into my eyes...the results from Round 2 did not match our predictions because of circumstances beyond our control and do not reduce our rugby wisdom any - in fact, although you can't put your finger on exactly why, our rugby wisdom has only increased...three, two, one, and...

So, coming up in podcast number 3:

A review of Week 2 of the Super 14

A review of other sport
Yada yada. Maybe some cricket, although Hadyn doesn't like cricket, but Sideline Mike has a few bones to pick, especially since the Westpac Stadium staff confiscated his water bottle. Bad Westpac Stadium staff. Karma will get you. Yes, we watch "My Name is Earl" too.

A preview of Week 3 of the Super 14
- the Hurricanes return to the Caketin and take on the Cats.
- the Chiefs are still away, but getting closer to home, albeit very slowly. This week they are in Perth to take on the Force.
- the Stormers are at home to the Brumbies.
- the Crusaders set up camp in Timaru and will take on the Sharks on Saturday night (NZDT).
- the Reds are still at home in Brisbane, this time to the Blues. A battle of two of the additive primary colours. Will they add up to make a game worth watching? Oh, we made a funny.
- the Waratahs look to continue their 100% record against the Bulls in Pretoria.
- new boys the Cheetahs host the Highlanders.

Anything else we feel like throwing in
The towel is staying firmly on the towel rack. It is not even remotely looking like being thrown in. That may change tomorrow, of course, but for now...

Virtual Super 14 Update
The Dropkicks dropped 5,213 places to 18,330th thanks to only managing 29 points this last week. Much as the Empire did, we will strike back.

The Sophomore Blues

OK, so it's not strictly our second year, so sophomore is a bit of a pompous adjective to use, but it is our second podcast. Yay! It's here! And like most second attempts at anything, it was probably more difficult than the first, hence the Blues bit. (And Blues, well, that's an in-joke, ha ha, because there's a team called the Blues in the Super 14, and they lost in the first round, so the Blues are feeling the blues, although this really doesn't have anything to do with sophomore because it's technically the first year of the Super 14, but, nyah, it's a catchy title.)

We have managed to trim the time down to about 44 minutes, pretty damn close to our target of 45 minutes, but is shorter really better? If you have any feedback, we'd love to know.

If you're subscribing to our feed you will already know about the new podcast. If you can't subscribe to it there is a link to it in the Our Podcasts entry on this blog. What are you waiting for? Go there and get it!

Week 2 Podcast - Contents

Here is a run down of the Week 2 Podcast:

+ A Spot of Jazz 0:00:00
+ Introducing the Dropkicks 0:00:15
+ Rundown of the Show 0:01:00
+ Super 14 Round 1 Reviews: Blues versus Hurricanes 0:01:25; Crusaders versus Highlanders 0:03:26; Force versus Brumbies 0:04:15; Cheetahs versus Bulls 0:04:38; Reds versus Waratahs 0:05:25; Cats versus Stormers 0:06:28; Sharks versus Chiefs 0:06:49
+ Other Sports News: the LA 7s 0:08:30; the Six Nations 0:11:09; the Winter Olympics 0:13:35
+ Athlete of the Week 0:18:43
+ No Pun Intended 0:20:51
+ Super 14 Round 2 Previews: Highlanders versus Blues 0:27:00; Injury Rundown 0:29:16; Cats versus Chiefs 0:34:07; Bulls versus Brumbies 0:36:38; Hurricanes versus Force 0:37:37; Reds versus Crusaders 0:39:15; Sharks versus Cheetahs 0:40:29; Stormers versus Waratahs 0:41:11
+ Goodbye 0:42:57
+ Another Spot of Jazz 0:43:20
Total time: 0:43:59

Our Podcasts

This post will be used to store links to all of our podcast episodes. If you don't have a way of subscribing to the podcast (e.g. using iTunes or an RSS client), check back here occasionally. To get the podcast you want, just click on its link below and the mp3 will start downloading straight away - note the large filesizes!

Note: Some people have had problems with an "Error Reading XML" message in their browsers. If this happens, right-click on the podcast you are after and select "Save Target As..."

Episode 30

Episode 29

Episode 28

Episode 27 (we decided that "week" probably wasn't acurate anymore)

Week 26

Week 25

Week 24

Week 23

Week 22

Week 21

Week 20

Week 19

Week 18 (The Start of our "second season")

Week 17 Podcast

Week 16 Podcast (Filesize: 16.52MB; Length: 0:36:06; Contents)
Uploaded Thursday 25 May 2006 (NZT)

Week 15 Podcast (Filesize: 14.77MB; Length: 0:32:16; Contents)
Uploaded Thursday 18 May 2006 (NZT)

Week 14 Podcast (Filesize: 14.99MB; Length: 0:32:45; Contents)
Uploaded Wednesday 10 May 2006 (NZT)

Week 13 Podcast (Filesize: 14.11MB; Length: 0:30:50; Contents)
Uploaded Thursday 4 May 2006 (NZT)

Week 12 Podcast (Filesize: 14.24MB; Length: 0:31:06; Contents)
Uploaded Thursday 27 April 2006 (NZT)

Week 11 Podcast (Filesize: 13.16MB; Length: 0:28:45; Contents)
Uploaded Thursday 20 April 2006 (NZT)

Week 10 Podcast (Filesize: 25.18MB; Length: 0:55:01; Contents)
Uploaded Friday 14 April 2006 (NZT)

Week 9 Podcast (Filesize: 24.74MB; Length: 0:54:03; Contents)
Uploaded Thursday 6 April 2006 (NZT)

Week 8 Podcast (Filesize: 24.69MB; Length: 0:53:55; Contents)
Uploaded Thursday 30 March 2006 (NZT)

Week 7 Podcast (Filesize: 27.32MB; Length: 0:59:40; Contents)
Uploaded Friday 24 March 2006 (NZT)

Week 6 Podcast (Filesize: 29.24MB; Length: 1:02:23; Contents)
Uploaded Thursday 16 March 2006 (NZDT)

Week 5 Podcast (Filesize: 29.71MB; Length: 1:04:54; Contents)
Uploaded Thursday 9 March 2006 (NZDT)

Week 4 Podcast (Filesize: 27.52MB; Length: 1:00:08; Contents)
Uploaded Friday 3 March 2006 (NZDT)

Week 3 Podcast (Filesize: 23.09MB; Length: 0:50:27; Contents)
Uploaded Friday 24 February 2006 (NZDT)

Week 2 Podcast (Filesize: 20.14MB; Length: 0:43:59; Contents)
Uploaded Friday 17 February 2006 (NZDT)

Week 1 Podcast (Filesize: 29.05MB; Length: 1:03:27; Contents)
Uploaded Saturday 11 February 2006 (NZDT)

(See the How to get our Podcasts blog entry for other methods of obtaining our podcast.)

How to get our Podcast has been updated

Apparently, some people have been asking how to get our podcast without having to use iTunes. Do not be afraid, there are ways. Rather than splitting instructions about how to get our podcast over two posts, we've just updated the original How to get our Podcast post with more downloading methods. Enjoy!

How to get our Podcast

UPDATED: people have been asking whether they can get the podcast without iTunes. The answer is, fortunately, yes. We have therefore updated this blog entry with further instructions on how to do it.

Tena Koutou. Just a quick note about how to get our podcasts:

How to Get our Podcast Using iTunes

If you want to manually subscribe to our feed (see below), instead of stumbling around the iTunes directory looking for us, follow these instructions.

1. Open iTunes
2. Advanced > Subscribe to Podcast
3. Put http://feeds.feedburner.com/dropkicks into the URL box.
4. Click OK, and you'll be away laughing.


How to Get our Podcast Using an RSS Client

If you don't have iTunes, don't fret. You can still subscribe to our podcast using your RSS client of choice. As the feedburner URL (mentioned in step 2 of the iTunes subscribe instructions above) is technically an RSS file, it should work in any RSS client. What you will see is dependent on the client, but in most instances you will see our name (The Dropkicks), our description and a link to the mp3 file.

How to Get our Podcast Using a Web Browser

If you think RSS stands for Repetitive Stress Syndrome (what you get reading technical stuff like this), then again, don't fret. You can still get our podcast. The beauty of iTunes and other RSS clients is that they will let you know when a new podcast is available. Otherwise you have to hunt it out yourself. Fortunately, hunting it out is not too painful. There are two (probably more) options:

(1) Check back to this blog every now and again. We will put links to all of our podcasts in the Our Podcasts post (the latest one will be at the top of the list).

(2) Using your browser, point it to http://feeds.feedburner.com/dropkicks (and bookmark, if you feel that way inclined). What you will probably see is a lot of gooble-de-gook. However, there's no need to get all glaze-eyed: just look (with your eyes or do a word search, usually control-F) for "<link>" (if you do a word search you probably don't need to include the pointy bracket things, but it is best you do). The first <link> you'll find will (or should) find has the phrase "http://dropkicks.blogspot.com/" directly after it. Ignore that one, that just tells iTunes and RSS clients about our wonderful blog here. Search again and you should find a second <link>, this time with another great big long web address in it, which will end in .mp3. This is the file you want. Just copy the entire web address (with the .mp3 on the end) into the address bar of your browser, hit enter, and your world will be full of downloady mp3 goodness. Note that it is always the second <link> you want, this will always be our most recent podcast.

We are aiming for podcasts of about 30 minutes in length (probably about 15 to 20MB in filesize). The first podcast we did we kinda went over this - it is 1 hour and 3 minutes long and 29MB big. Be thankful, however. We chopped it down from 1 hour and 45 minutes. Be kind to us, we're only just learning how to do all of this.

Week 1 Podcast - Contents

Here is a basic run down of the Week 1 Podcast:

+ Introducing the Dropkicks 0:00:00
+ Super 14 Round 1 Previews: Blues versus Hurricanes 0:01:20; Force versus Brumbies 0:08:35;
+ Other Sports News: including the 7s, the Six Nations, the Winter Olympics, the Superbowl, plus some other pieces of trivia and general stupidity 0:16:02
+ Super 14 Round 1 Previews (continued): Cheetahs versus Bulls 0:37:39; Crusaders versus Highlanders 0:39:36; Reds versus Waratahs 0:44:29
+ McKay-isms 0:52:00
+ More Super 14 Round 1 Previews: Cats versus Stormers 0:54:29; Sharks versus Chiefs 0:58:26
Total time: 1:03:27

Week One in Review - A Sporting Glut

Keep an eye out for our second podcast which will be appearing later this week. The first one was a roaring success. So far, it has been downloaded four times: twice by members of the Dropkicks, and twice by people unknown. All those radio stations and podcasts that joke about their listenership comprising of one or two people: huh, we know you are lying. We are not. We really do only have a listenership of two. In your face.

So, those two of you who did listen to the podcast will know that we made a number of predictions concerning the sport over the weekend. In summary:

Super 14
- We predicted the Hurricanes would beat the Blues: correct. The Hurricanes won away 37 points to 19 on the back of a 34 points to 3 advantage in the second half. Huge. Just huge.
- We predicted the Brumbies would beat the Force: correct. The Brumbies prevailed away by 25 points to 10. A large crowd at Subiaco Oval, as Perth had hoped, but the Force will need more than that to win a game this year.
- We predicted the Bulls would beat the Cheetahs: correct. Bulls by 30 points to 18, again away from home. We sense a theme developing. Like the Western Force, the new boys found the step up a bit too large.
- We predicted the Crusaders would beat the Highlanders: correct. Crusaders won by 38 points to 15. A bit of controversy in the non-awarding of a penalty try to the Highlanders which may have made the game closer, but lets face it, these are the Crusaders. If they can't beat you, they buy your best players and then they beat you.
- We predicted the Waratahs would beat the Reds: correct. Yawwwwn. Waratahs 16, Reds 12. Better than sleeping pills.
- we predicted the Stormers would beat the Cats: correct. Not knowing much about the Stormers or the Cats so far this year, we will just say...look into our eyes, look into our eyes...you will believe that we knew what we were talking about when we made this prediction. We even predicted the correct score (23 points to 12). If we are ever wrong, it is your fault, not ours...three, two, one, and...
- We predicted the Chiefs would beat the Sharks: incorrect. Obviously the universe slipped out of cosmic alignment for that game. It must have been seriously out of whack: Lord Percy "Montgomery" Percy scored 25 points. We therefore cannot be held responsible for the result (Sharks 30, Chiefs 21). We know we are right, and should the universe bump back on to the correct timeline, we'll be able to prove it. Until then, you'll just have to take our word for it.
Pick percentage for the Super 14 is therefore (a grudging) 86%.

Six Nations
- We predicted England would beat Italy: correct. Who really cares?
- We predicted France would beat Ireland: correct. Who really cares?
- We predicted Scotland would beat Wales: incorrect. Again, who really, really cares?
Pick percentage for the Six Nations is therefore 66%. Like we care.

Winter Olympics
- We predicted no one would care about them: correct. People playing in the snow. Good luck to them.
Pick percentage for the Winter Olympics is therefore 100%.

Cricket
- We made no predictions: correct.
Pick percentage for cricket is therefore 100%.

Not bad if we do say so ourselves. Which we do. So enough of what was, here is what will be. Coming up in the next podcast:

A review of Week 1 of the Super 14
Basically what was said above, but with more buffoonery.

A review of other sport
Yada yada.

A preview of Week 2 of the Super 14
- the Highlanders take on the Blues at the House of Pain. Both teams looking to bounce back.
- the Chiefs continue their roadtrip in the republic, this time taking on the Cats in Jo'burg. Another battle of first round losers.
- the Brumbies make their way to South Africa to play the Bulls.
- the Hurricanes are at one of their homes (New Plymouth) to the Force, who will need all of their Jedi mind tricks to even come close.
- the Reds take on the Crusaders in Brisbane.
- the Sharks and Cheetahs do battle in Durban.
- the Stormers host the Waratahs in Cape Town.

Anything else we feel like throwing in
Not the towel. Not just yet.

Oh, and we almost forgot, the Dropkicks are currently on 39 points in the Virtual Super 14. We are 13,117th out of 129,271. We're starting off slowly so as not to make the rest of you feel inadequate. Add us to "Your Mates" if you're playing and want to feel humiliated by our high-powered rugby intellects.

We are the Dropkicks

Oh yes, we are.

This is the official blog of The Dropkicks, a crack podcasting unit whose weeks-long mission is to search out and assimilate all the knowledge they can on the Super 14 rugby competition. Played out between (pseudo-)provincial unions from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, it is the premier Southern Hemisphere rugby competition that starts in February.

Once we have assimilated all the information we can, we pass it on to you, the consumer, the user, the public, to do with as you please. How do we do such wonders, you may ask? Well, firstly, through our podcast. And secondly, through this blog, which may, or may not, be updated occasionally.

So, for now, it is adieu. And remember to listen to our podcast, because it is really, really good. And we're not just saying that.