I only watched the first half of the game.

Every year I like to watch the State of Origin, rather exciting type game. I tune the radio into JJJ and listen to Roy & HG commentary to make light of what always struck as an over hyped game of football. Takes the edge off if Queensland lose and provides some real amusement.

This game was different. The last game apparently NSW was upset with the ref. There were a couple bad calls but not that many, and they were evenly distributed on both sides which I thought was fair enough. Aparrently not for NSW. They objected and got rid of him.

The ref for game#2 was obviously under some direction to not let anything like this happen. Unfortunately there was bad call after bad call, all against Queensland. Still, despite this we managed to be ahead at half time. But I had seen enough. The writing was on the wall and I switched the TV off, and decided to never watch state of origin or rugby league again.

The problem stems from the ref having too much influence on the result of a game. Only a few bad calls from him can significantly alter the outcome. The game itself is very low scoring (3 or 4 tries per side in a game). Compare this to AFL where the ref has to give numerous bad calls to alter the match - the game depends on player skill much more. The ref has to be quite obnoxious before he alters the outcome (which does happen from time to time).

Goodbye Rugby League, some of the games were entertaining, but not when you think about it carefully. Pretty much like a "B" grade movie. Rugby can't be taken as seriously as all the annoying commentators would like you believe.

Sat 7 May, the Brisbane Lions AFL team played the Western Bulldogs. The Bulldogs were one above us on the ladder and we had enough star players back that we should have had an easy game. Particularly considering that it was a home game. However, given the run of losses we have had, my expectations were tempered. Sure, victory over Essendon the weekend before was a sweet one but our results have been all over the place, so I took little encouragment from it.

We played moderately well, but not quite well enough. There were some simple shots at goal that went astray and cost us the game. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, played excellently, kicking some spectacular goals and passing competently compared to our fumbles. They effectively kept our star players quiet and worked very well as a team.

As I was leaving the grounds, I thought the game was a good one to watch, exciting - it was close towards the end, and I was happy with the refereeing. Unlike the game against Sydney where I stormed out in anger over the extremely poor refereeing decisions before the final siren, wondering if I should bother renewing my membership next year ... maybe even turning in my current membership right now ... if the game is vs the refereeing then I just didn't want to be part of that game anymore. I was livid. I did not watch the next match.

So, even tho we lost this one, I was happy to watch it.

I installed MSN v7 and there is this "My Space" button. What's that? I click and it wants me to set up a Space. Fine. Click Username. Click. Agree ... Click. Wait a sec, agree to what? Check out that agreement. Opens up a whole new browser with a tiny window containing a huge document of disclaimer. Usual suspects. But wait. Hidden down there is a whole section on costs and charging. It doesn't say how much and even suggests that I might not have to pay. I certainly did not see anything about charges before hand. Hmmm. Hmmm. OK, continue. But as soon as they indicate that there will be charges for this - I am gone!

Why do corporations insist on hiding detail in legalese in tiny print embedded, for no reason, in a tiny window.