STAWELL GIFT: Another brilliant article from Dips O’Donnell, who has returned from his camping trip to the 2009 event.

RACING: Chris Riordan gets called “young fella” at Oakbank’s famous picnic carnival. And he likes it that way.

AFL ROUND 4: Cheesy O’Bree has always had the wrong end of the Brisbane-Collingwood stick. , But not on this night says David Enticott

LOCAL FOOTY: Rochester enjoy plenty of success for a club from a such a small town. Rod Gillett says it’s because the players play for the jumper.

AFL ROUND 3: Joshua Barnstable thinks the Tigers have got a lot of work to do if they are to rise to their customary ninth.

AFL ROUND 3: Andrew Gigacz goes to a St Kilda friend’s house and finds you can’t slam a door on a window.

AFL ROUND 3: John Harms sets out to challenge his deep-seated prejudices about Hawthorn fans, but just can’t seem to do it.

AFL ROUND 3: Rodney Eade has the cards to call Terry Wallace’s bluff, writes John Green.

GENERAL FOOTY WRITING: Is Johnno really Luke Skywalker with a big smile? John Weldon watches Footscray and gets all Star Wars on us.

GENERAL FOOTY WRITING: Stephen Cooke goes to central Queensland and finds he that he enjoys rugby union and he enjoys post-rugby union even more.

MOTOR RACING: Marc Cannella (footyalmanac’s motor racing correspondent) gives us the latest on Lewis Hamilton .

Matthew Lloyd provides the most compelling evidence to help Richard Holt win an Easter Saturday dinner party argument

Josh Barnstable comforts himself with chocolate as North cop a hiding

Hamish Townsend spends an Autumn Thursday in two of his favourite places: the State Library and the MCG.

Medium Dazza Smith thinks it could be true Sainter love this time.

Gigs points out (among other things) that it is not looking like a good season for teams with nine-letter names ending in ‘e’.

Peter Schumacher Gives His Round 3 View From Shepparton

Steve Healy still can’t get the Dees over the line.

Tim Ivins reminds us of the joys of punting against your own team.

Richard Arrowsmith is still pondering Adelaide’s handball fetish and a new stat: the HCFU

The Brisbane Lions help Big Kev Witham recover from a lean trot on the punt and pay for his Thai and beers.

Andrew Fithall laments his Pies’ poor kicking.

Catter Anthony Jensen is happy with the four points.

Steve Fahey on his profligate Pies.

STAWELL GIFT: Pamela Sherpa relates a family legend: how her grandfather D.C. McGillivray, pro-runner and punter, bought the family farm (click on STAWELL GIFT above)

STAWELL GIFT: In this brilliant article, former professional runner Damian ‘Dips’ O’Donnell gives a from-the-blocks account of the final of the 1984 Stawell Gift and reflects on what Stawell and the Easter carnival have meant to him. (Click on Stawell Gift or POSTS above and scroll down)

OTHER STAWELL GIFT PIECES MOST WELCOME (TO j.t.h@bigpond.net.au)

US MASTERS: Andrew Starkie’s quest for the 1997 US Masters.

From the editors:
This website emerges out of the book The Footy Almanac, which is now in its third year. The Footy Almanac is a game by game account of the AFL season, with dozens of contributors, edited by Daff (Paul Daffy) and me (John Harms).
We have had such a response from footy-lovers who want to write for The Footy Almanac that we just won’t be able to fit all the stories into the book. So we decided to create a place where they could be read – this website. And if you show a bit of form on the website you will thrust your name before the selectors and may even get a run in the book itself.
We hope you love what you read, and we hope you become a contributor to this site. At this stage, if you wish to post an AFL report (we suggest it is 800 words long), please send it to us at j.t.h@bigpond.net.au or pauldaffey@hotkey.net.au or footyalmanac@bigpond.com.
We are also keen to post writing on all footy and are happy to post different types of pieces:
Match reports on your local team
Match reports on your junior or school team
Comment pieces on what’s happening in footy (any issue, any character, anything of interest)
Good writing relating to other sports
Daff and I are always looking for something good to read.

]]> http://girlinboots.wordpress.com/2009/04/18/almanac-preview/feed/ 0 girlinboots http://girlinboots.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/i-want-to-bakpak/ http://girlinboots.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/i-want-to-bakpak/#comments Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:20:23 +0000 girlinboots http://girlinboots.wordpress.com/?p=20 ]]> there seem to be a number of issues with my flight to Tajikistan. The airline may or may not be bankrupt and the plane may or may not be ok to fly… great! Thank god for the free internet kiosks otherwise I would definitely have lost my mind by now, I feel like I’m in the film Terminal. There is a flight to Bishtek (Kyrgyzstan) on Thursday, if we haven’t left by then I’ll see if I can get on that plan and travel by land to Dushanbe (tajikistan) I don’t know how long my friend will wait for me… damn.

I’ve been spending my time researching more on Bakpakhistan. It turns out that Viator have tours which could be handy http://travelblog.viator.com/new-tours-to-republic-of-bakpakhistan/

I’m going to try and get some cheap ‘end-of-day’ noodles.

Luci

Dubai ariport is crazy and quite beautiful. I’m loving the free internet kiosks. From here I head into Tajikistan where I’m meeting a guy who has been to Bakpakistan and knows enough of the language to get us on a flight to the capital. He’s also a Lonely Planet author so I’m really excited about meeting him. He’ll have the best stories.

I’m going to go and have my last tofu burger before I get to the ‘stans!

I leave on Sunday and I’m almost packed. I’ve been walking in my new boots they’re almost perfect. I scaled Mt Dandenong last Saturday, I’ll upload the pic when I get more time. right now I’ve got to go and get plenty of batteries for my torch!

Only 3 sleeps!

Luci