Congrats Unplugged & RRRooocccaaa

[Snag Breac]

Collingwood's talented posters took the glittering prizes on the main board in the Footy Almanac Competition. Well done Unplugged and RRRooocccaa.



Re: Footy Almanac 2008: We've got five copies to give away.

Thanks for entering everyone. There can be only five winners so...

Paul Daffey Says:


Quote:
It was a very interesting exercise. Some of the writers were clearly
teenagers and I was rapt with the way they warmed to the task.

The one written by Unplugged was my favourite. Everyone had a real go.

Here's the five:

Top Five

Unplugged (Collingwood v Geelong, Round 9)
Rrrooocccaaaaa (Collingwood v Geelong, Round 9)
NT Thunder (Geelong v Bulldogs, preliminary final)
Jemima (Essendon v Collingwood, Richmond v Brisbane, Bulldogs v Carlton,
Round 17)
The Jester (Richmond v Geelong, Round 8)

Very unlucky:
The messenger (Geelong v Hawthorn, Grand Final)
Ripitup27 (Collingwood v Geelong, Round 9)
Paul will send these out Monday or Tuesday - they should get to their destinations by Tuesday if everyone gets their name and mailing address to me today by going to the contact page and sending those details:

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/sendmessage.php

 

[Snag Breac]

Unplugged's winning entry.

Round 9, of course. Collingwood vs. Geelong.

Usually I’d take any opportunity whatsoever to flee from school and year twelve, but the chance to head to Melbourne with three Geelong supporters and another Collingwood supporter was perfect. At recess I gathered my things and we were on our way – with some of my mates insisting on stopping at Kmart on the way out of town to purchase some cheap Geelong merchandise. Instead, I sit there thinking in my black and white stripes… thinking about what the night is bound to bring.

And so there we are, packed in an old white Commodore station wagon, with hardly any room to move our arms. But the beer cans still find a way to open.

It was a bit silent for some time regarding the match that would eventually come that night. The first real words were half expected. “Ready to get beaten tonight?” one says. I’m usually an optimistic sort of person, but I quietly shrugged and muttered two words: “I guess”. I began thinking, and unconfidently said “well… we could win, it’s not impossible.” As much as I hate to admit it, I didn’t actually think we had that much of a chance.

But I was quickly shut down. “I don’t think so” they claim.

So here we are. Five eighteen year-olds, travelling to Geelong, where we meet the brother of one of us, who’s also a Geelong supporter. He is also confident. It’s from his house which we walk (and then eventually run) to the Geelong train station which is around the corner, narrowly getting onto the train before it departs. I’m still hearing the confidence of what are now four Geelong supporters. We’re outnumbered.

The train is packed full of navy and white. It actually makes me feel unsettled.

We make it in time for the game and find our seats, sadly up on the third level, but with a good view that would show the game at a unique angle. I’m seated between two of my Geelong supporting mates.

We nervously laugh at the first minutes of play, where scrappy pieces of play are made from both teams. It’s only a quarter hour later I receive a text message from back home, “What’s the score. Have you lost yet?” Minutes later my reply is questioned with disbelief. As it is at half time, too.

Every goal we kick, I scream in the loudest way possible, as if my mates’ witnessing their own beloved team getting crunched wasn’t enough for them to bear. It isn’t long before I question whether or not I’ll have any voice for the train and car ride home, but I keep going in complete disbelief.

Behind me, pathetic Geelong supporters try and hide their disappointment by talking about Collingwood players wrongfully. Alan Didak is called a murderer. Dale Thomas was probably called a “horrid footballer” at least ten times. We were sitting right above his goal of the year nomination as it dribbled through. I was tempted to stand up and ask them who now was horrid, but refrained. That third-level drop looked quite painful.

In the back of my mind, right up until the final quarter commenced, I somehow still kept the thought in my mind that ‘it isn’t over yet’. But I can’t help myself to hear my mates frustratingly state that “this is shit.” But it wasn’t. It was absolutely amazing.

It was freezing cold. I was shivering, but refused to cover up my stripes with my jumper and proudly kept them on display.

And another text message from home: a request for the score. I answer quickly, and I’m again considered a liar. I try and picture my old man back at home… his bellowing voice becoming the frustrations of my usually quiet mother. This was my first AFL game without my old man beside me, and boy did I wish he was there with me, as we loudly sung “Good old Collingwood forever” at the top of our voice. My mates couldn’t wait to leave.

And I’ll never forget the train/car ride home. “Oi, remember that time Geelong lost by 86 points?” I couldn’t help myself. Defeating any silence that could lead to a mate falling asleep at the wheel on our way back home to Warrnambool had an easy solution. I almost felt sorry for some of them, as it turned out to be the only game some of them witnessed live in 2008 - Geelong's only H&A season loss.

Magic.

 

[Kirby]

Congratulations guys. You've done us proud!

 

[Snag Breac]

And here's RRRooocccaaa's winning entry. He's off on a camping holiday, so he may not even know he's a media star.

I'm doing myself no favours here, knowing where Harmsy's allegiances lay, but...

My favourite game:

Round 9 - Collingwood 20.14 134 d Geelong 7.6 48

The Friday was a weird one. So many things had gone on work-wise that day that I was really in the mood to let some steam off on a cold, cold Melbourne night. I was pacing nervously in the office, as I had to wait for my wife and daughter to make the trip from Geelong to Melbourne on the packed V-Line service and I was a bit anxious about making the start of the first quarter. Well, as it turned out they were late - REAL late. I was trying to keep my nervous tension under control but doing a terrible job, and I was at the point of throwing in the towel. "We're only going to watch us get slaughtered anyway" I said "Why not stay in and we can watch it on the Teev". The unprintable words my wife replied with went something along the lines of 'Don't be so silly, we didn't make this trip in such a hurry for you to give up before we even get there'.

So I relaxed, we got some hot food and strolled leisurely to the 'G knowing that at least I missed a quarter of pain. But the mood was a little weird as we got closer to the ground - kind of quiet. The moonlight night, frosty and still, set the 'G in a new kind of perspective. As we rushed through the Ponsford stand gates to get out seat I couldn't resist a quick peek at the scores on the monitor. Just as I thought 51-15 into the 2nd quarter and I gloomily headed toward our seats. But my wife was looking at me as if I were mad. "Did you read those scores properly?". "Eh?"

Just as we sat down, Marty danced in and launched one from 50 to thunderous applause. WHAT?!? I checked the scoreline and pinched myself.

So there it was. A rapturous crowd of 60K (felt like 80K) watched as our boys played like possessed soldiers, destroying all in their path and breaking down an already shell-shocked resistance. A few nervous pangs in the 3rd quarter (I still remember what Ablett did to us in the prelim '07) were soon snuffed out and I could enjoy a quick trip to fetch some chips for the little 'un without worrying about missing too much. The fans were funny that night, too. No jeering, no sticking it to the cats fans. We were too much in awe.

It was damn cold that night. I'm sure hell froze over.
__________________

 

[Kirby]

And here's RRRooocccaaa's winning entry. He's off on a camping holiday, so he may not even know he's a media star.


It was damn cold that night. I'm sure hell froze over.
__________________

Indeed it did!

 

[Optimax]

Indeed it did!

There was a gloomy fog that night and a full moon, everything that happened in that game had an eerie feel to it. Never seemed quite right and i was consistently thinking we could still lose well into the last. A night i will never forget never thats for sure


Both fantastic reads

 

[Jabso]

Well done guys. I wasn't aware of this competition, where is the link to this?

EDIT - found it: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=524925

Will they be published or what?

 

[Swooper18]

I was expecting Geelong to defeat us by at least seven goals, yet we were able to eradicate those possibilities by playing four quarters of high quality football by winning the first term by 26, the second term by 25 (51 points) before Geelong kicked three goals in less than five minutes at the start of the third. However, we went on to win the third term by 12 (63 points), before we had some genuine fun in the final term where we took the honours in that quarter by 23 (86 points). I've just registered on BigFooty, and my name is Joseph Hartley.

 

[unplugged]

Thanks guys

 

[Pie eyed]

Great effort from both.
And they say we are all illiterate!

 

[Pie eyed]

I was expecting Geelong to defeat us by at least seven goals, yet we were able to eradicate those possibilities by playing four quarters of high quality football by winning the first term by 26, the second term by 25 (51 points) before Geelong kicked three goals in less than five minutes at the start of the third. However, we went on to win the third term by 12 (63 points), before we had some genuine fun in the final term where we took the honours in that quarter by 23 (86 points). I've just registered on BigFooty, and my name is Joseph Hartley.

Welcome swooper....have a look at the Magpies Nest sub forum at the top of the page.

 

[Marklar_33]

I was gonna write about the Elim final vs Adelaide, but it just turned into a 3 page love fest of Dale Thomas and his goal on 3 Quarter Time

Congrats to the winners