One day wane
I was lucky enough to score a ticket in the Members area for the one day cricket match between Australia and West Indies at the SCG on Friday. The match was abandoned due to rain after 51 overs, but frankly it had already been 11 overs too many.

Maybe it was the unbearable heat and humidity, maybe it was the tricky pitch, but the middle overs of the Australian innings were more boring to watch than curling at the Winter Olympics.

A late arriving friend, who did not heed the "C'mon Stevo, C'mon" ads and instead stayed in the office for a full day's work, got to the ground just in time to see Aussie fast bowler Ryan Harris smash 18 runs from four balls in the last over.

"Damn," she said. "I must have missed some exciting batting earlier." She hadn't.

Hours before, another friend had looked up at the scoreboard and said "Geez, is it only the 15th over? This game really drags on."

In an age where attention spans are about as long as a Chris Gayle innings, and where people communicate in 140 characters or less, cricket needs to get with times when it comes to the short form of the game. One dayers are dead. Long live Twenty20.

More joy for Singo
The Gai Waterhouse trained and John Singleton owned filly More Joyous led all the way to win her first start back from a spell in the Light Fingers Stakes at Randwick on Saturday, and looks set for a big Autumn Carnival.

Trainer and owner are now in dispute however, with Waterhouse wanting to map a path to the AJC Oaks (2400m) for More Joyous, while Singleton prefers to target the Doncaster Mile (1600m).

''Gai wants to run her in the Oaks but I want her in the Doncaster,'' Singleton said.

''One is worth $300,000 and the other is worth $1.5 million. Which one would you prefer? I have never won the Doncaster but I think she could win either.''

Waterhouse's view is that a filly only has one three-year-old season, and therefore only one chance to win an Oaks. It's all about the romance of racing.

Singo is clearly thinking "Show me the money!", but there will be no complaints if More Joyous goes on to win either of the Group One races and the successful businessman shouts the public bar at the track, just like he did after Belle Du Jour won the Golden Slipper at Rosehill in 2000.

Power Play Fail
The inaugural Indigenous All Stars rugby league match was a huge success, with all the fans' favourites on display in a hard-fought contest at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

Footy-famished fans said it was great to see league back as early as February, and the messages of remembrance, understanding and reconciliation were not lost in a come from behind 16-10 victory to the Indigenous team.

However the experimental 'Power Play Try', where a team can forgo its conversion attempt worth two points and instead attempt to score another try from a single play worth four points, proved too difficult to understand for some players.

The basic rules of the Power Play Try are that the defensive fullback leaves the field for the play, and the attacking team is not allowed to kick the ball.

So what did NRL All Star forward Nate Myles do when his side was attempting a Power Play Try? He chip-kicked over the top, instantly negating the play.

Tahs, Byrnes get away with it
The NSW Waratahs were whistling Elmer Bernstein's iconic theme song from 'The Great Escape' all the way back from Suncorp Stadium after snatching a 30-28 victory over the Reds in the dying seconds on Saturday night.

The Waratahs, debuting fly half Berrick Barnes against his former province, were outplayed for 70 minutes but managed to score two late tries having attempted little running rugby throughout the match.

Being an interstate grudge match there were three citings after the clash, including former Waratahs Academy lock Adam Byrnes. Byrnes was cited, and later cleared, of a biting charge, but he got away with a few other incidents of gamesmanship on the night.

The way Byrnes continually laid all over a tackled Barnes for extended periods after the play had moved on made me wonder just how much the Reds miss their former playmaker.

Love you, hate you, love you again
November 16, 2005 will always stand out for me as a great day in Australian sport, and Socceroo John Aloisi played a major part in it. There wouldn't be many Aussies who haven't seen the famous footage of Aloisi blasting the match-winning penalty kick past Uruguay keeper Fabian Carini, sealing Australia's spot in the 2006 World Cup Finals.

Aloisi, sans shirt, then sprinted down the sideline with the crowd of more than 80,000 at Homebush going crazy.

Fast forward to December 21, 2008. Some mates and I decided to head out to the SFS to see Sydney FC take on Perth Glory in the A-League. It was a hot summer Sunday, and the heat was about to be turned up even further on underperforming Sydney forward John Aloisi.

Glory won the match 4-1, with Aloisi providing one of the worst misses in front of an open goal in world football history. The 'striker', a term used loosely at the time, was substituted in the 55th minute to raucous boos and jeers from the home crowd. It was a new low for the one-time World Cup hero.

Yesterday, Sydney FC won its first A-League premiership title, and first piece of silverware in four years, with a 2-0 win over arch rival Melbourne Victory. The star of the show was John Aloisi.

Aloisi put in his best performance in a sky blue shirt, possibly including his 41 appearances for Coventry City in England, and helped seal victory with a stunning strike after receiving the ball near the halfway line.

The 34-year-old's fourth goal in as many matches for Sydney was a massive contribution to a club and city craving an elusive title and Asian Champions League qualification.

It was Valentines Day, and Sydney FC fans were loving Johnny Aloisi once again.


:: More from The Hangover