Taz Donovan Worthington

Hi all just wanted you to give you an update on my home life. At 1 a.m. on Friday the 20th of November my partner Andrea and I welcomed Taz Donovan Worthington in to our lives. Taz weighed in at 6.5 pounds and was 50.5 cms in length. Andrea is well and we are going through the sleepless nights and constant laughs that Taz provides us on a daily basis. Thank you to everyone who has emailed, twittered and called about Taz. He is a healthy and happy kid and that's all we can ask for.

Until next time have a beer for me, unless it's Taz, your only allowed milk.

Cheers Wortho

Digging a ditch

Well after tonight's disappointing loss to the Townsville Crocs I'm left to ponder what sort of hole we have dug at this point of the season. I understand that we do have Chris Anstey to come back but surely we can't place this much pressure on the big fella to turn our fortunes around. When we do get him back he won't be able to play half a game straight away. He wouldn't have played a game since game 5 of the grand final series in March. He won't have his proper Chris Anstey factor until the playoffs. 

Bottom line the Melbourne Tigers need to turn it around and quickly. We can't rely on Anstey to be our saviour. We can't continue to lose. The way we are playing we will be done before Chris comes back. 

Passion, desire and desperation is lacking and hugely responsible for why we are in the position we are in. I apologise to our fans, sponsors and owners. We need to turn it around quickly otherwise we can kiss goodbye our championship aspirations for 2009/10.     

Until next time have a beer for me 

Wortho

Wollongong believer

Hands up if you thought Wollongong was in your bottom two at the start of the season. If you still have your hand down your either A) a gong supporter or B) full of crap. From an outsider looking in I can only stand up and applaud the club, community, coaches and players for the way they have started off this season. Sure we saw them win the preseason blitz up in Darwin but who truly believed that when the bright lights were on that the gong would be sitting in the top 2 after 10 games. 

Gordie has his troops fit and firing on all cylinders at the moment and Ty McKee has been there go to man and he has delivered majority of the time. How about our aussie boys? What's different from last year? Sav and Matty Campbell are arguing less and playing every possession without frustration on a previous call and it' working for them. Trigger is proving he is a offensive weapon consistently and his MVP blitz performance wasn't a one off occasion. Larry Davidson who surely is leading the NBL most improve category by a country mile by proving his worth on both sides of the floor with his shot blocking, rebounding and long range three's. While Coenraad, Gruber and Martin are providing energy and efficiency off the bench.

Off the court they along with Townsville and Perth have been doing the most internet interaction with Twitter, player interviews and of course Pull The Trigger. Overall the Hawks are rewarding the local community for pulling together to save the Hawks thanks to a determined Matt Campbell and they look like they are having fun playing hard night in and night out.

Until next time have a beer for me

Wortho.

P.S. On a side note, my partner is less than 3 weeks away from birth of our first child. Hopefully it comes sooner rather than later but there will be an announcement when it happens.  

Scott Butler

Hi guys. First off I'm really sorry that it's taken so long between blogs but I have had major problems with the internet at my place. Hopefully it has been resolved and we are back for good.

Now I would like to get down to business and talk about the best ref in the NBL Scott Butler. Why is he the best ref? Quite simple, he isn't seen on the basketball court. He makes the calls that he should and doesn't make the calls that he shouldn't. He talks to players and coaches in a civil manner and is always looking for feedback throughout the game without prejudice. 

Ask any player in the league and they'll tell you who the best is and it's Scotty B. I've also seen Scotty on an international level and let me tell you he is one of the best in the world. He understands situations and players traits and calls the games accordingly. I look at Luke Schensher who stands up with straight arms but stills gets called for blocks because he is unique to this league and refs aren't use to it. I think Scotty lets those calls go. I'm not saying he looks after players I'm saying he understands the game. 

All in all I think most players would like to rock up to the game and see Scott as one of the refs and the NBL should realize they have one of the best in there own backyard.

Until next time

Have a beer for me

Wortho