'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Games

emuboy

Premiership Player
Dec 17, 2006
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Have you ever watched a match where a player has an especially bad game, where nothing goes right for him and everything wrong, where he cannot take a trick and when everything he does seems to make it worse? A game where things go as badly for him as things do for Larry David in the popular sitcom 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'.

One especially bad game I remember dates back many years happened to a player who normally was a very good, hard working and reliable player, John Gastev. Gastev played for the West Coast Eagles in 1987-1988 and the Brisbane Bears from 1989-1994, and often was a shining light in some pretty ordinary Bears' teams.

Not so in a game between the Adelaide Crows and Brisbane Bears at Football Park in Adelaide in Round 14 1991, the first meeting between these teams. After an even first half where the Bears were able to stay with the more powerful Crows outfit, the South Australians buried the Queenslanders with an 18-goal second half, Adelaide sending Brisbane packing with a 66-point thrashing, 23.18-156 to 13.12-90.

Playing in the over-worked Brisbane defense, one thing after another went wrong for John Gastev, kicks going out of bounds on the full and sometimes directly to Adelaide opponents. On one occasion when kicking in after a Crows' point, Gastev miskicked the ball which travelled a few metres straight into the turf, where it ricochet directly to an Adelaide player.

I was still at high school at the time, and had the game on in the background while working on a Geography assignment but I soon became distracted from cartography, remote sensing and topography and watched the game, which I still remember years later.

Have you ever seen games like this where you look at a player when he leaves the field after such a bad game that you hear the 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' theme song - Frolic by Luciano Michelini - playing in your head?
 

Frank Gallagher

Diamond Encrusted Unobtainium Premium Member
Aug 26, 2016
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AFL Club
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Got to the ground one day and realised i'd forgot my shorts, only spare pair available were a pair of white Stubbies (and it was wet), right boot splits from the sole in the second quarter just to add some salt, and we lost, campaigner of a day.
 

M Malice

Hall of Famer
Aug 31, 2015
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By the Gabba.
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9c3e43974003570f033d7c9d27048f56
 

Thats Wright

Premiership Player
Jan 16, 2011
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Brad Scott has. Kicking a security guard on the way down the race to spray Thomas after a disgraceful first half against the coast. Was lucky to avoid a court case.
 
Apr 10, 2014
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Cameron O'Shea against Sydney in 2012.

There was only 3 points in it at 3QT and he came on as the sub in the last quarter and single-handily cost us 3 or 4 goals which is how much we lost by in the end.

He was dropped from the team and only played one more game for the remainder of that year...
 

Da Main Man

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Sep 14, 2009
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Darwin
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Jack Anthonys' last game for Freo was a nightmare for him, gave away some silly free kicks, then slung a player around the neck as his final act in the afl. (i pretty sure he was never picked again after this game)

Ross mouthed the words 'get him the f**K off' for the world to see. perfect camera angle timing.

nice way to finish up.
 
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