Something else to celebrate...

Everycat knows that yesterday was Grand Final Day, right? Well, there was something else to celebrate yesterday... my 100th post!

Nick and Kate helped me celebrate in true footy style. Every week when footy players run out onto the field, they run through a HUGE banner made out of crepe paper, decorated in team colours and featuring a catchy slogan to motivate the team. When players have milestone games (like 100th, 200th or 300th games), the banners feature a message for the milestone player. Guess what? Kate made me my very own banner! Check it out:

Here I am preparing to run through the banner. On Grand Final Day. I feel just like Jimmy Bartel!

Hang on. This is harder than it looks...

Um... I might have to get back to you on the banner run-through. Sorry. Awesome banner though, Kate! Thanks.
Cheers,
--Pabs

That One Day in September...

Well, footy is over for another year. The winning team?

In front of a crowd of over 97,000 people, Daisy's Geelong Cats beat Sooty's Port Adelaide Power won by a massive 119 points (24.19.163 to 6.8.44)! This is the biggest points margin in an AFL final ever. Port never even looked like winning, sorry Sooty. The Cats were just too strong all across the ground. So congratulations, Daisy, the grand winner of my AWESOME Footy Finals Fever competition! Click here to check out some pictures from the big game.

And guess what? Tripper won my Grand Final footy tipping competition! His was the closest guess at the winning margin, he tipped Geelong by 66 points. Congratulations Trip, my tabby brother!

Can't believe that season 2007 is all over. Wonder what I'll do now...

Cheers,

--Pabs

Grand Final Eve...

I can't believe it's Grand Final Eve already! Thanks heaps, everycat, for your entries in my Grand Final tipping competition. Haven't entered yet? Click here for details. Entries will be open until 2pm Australian Eastern Standard Time tomorrow (29 September), with the Big Game starting at 2.30pm (that's 0430 GMT/UTC, click here to work out what time it will be where you live).

If you're up for an interesting Aussie culture experience, you can listen to the radio broadcast of the game LIVE by visiting the AFL or Radio Australia websites (I can't guarantee that these will work, but I'm pretty sure they will!)

Once again, a reminder of the contenders:

Daisy's Geelong Cats

versus

Sooty's Port Adelaide Power

The majority of footy fans are going for the Cats, partly because they've had the best form in the competition this year and partly because they're a sentimental favourite... they have not won a premiership since 1963! But there's quite a few fans going for Port as well. They're pretty tough, and tasted premiership success in 2004, so you can't write them off. Anything could happen on the day, especially if the weather is bad, which I think it's forecast to be (we've had lots of rain and wind in southeastern Australia in the past day or so). Either way, the game is gonna be HUGE!

As promised, here are Daisy and Sooty's entries for the creative part of my quiz. They're great.

Sooty's entry:
Sooty created a team called the Leopards, whose uniform is yellow with black spots and leopard-skin tights. Here is the Leopards' theme song:
We are the leaping Leopards
and we do not need shepherds
because we are the fiercest in the game

Our teamwork is flawless
all other teams are claw-less
our mighty spots will beat them every time

So come on, all you Eagles
you Hawks, Crows, Swans and Magpies
We'll make you all duck soup when we are through!
Grrrrrrrrrrr!!

Daisy's entry:
'My team would be called Curly’s Cuties. My team colors would be pink and white. Here is my team song: Go, Cuties, Go! You can Fight! You can BITE! Fight, Bite, WIN!'

Well, everycat, get into the Grand Final spirit! Help Daisy and Sooty cheer their teams on! I need to go nap to get ready for The Big Day tomorrow.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Football, football, football...

As part of Grand Final Week, I thought I'd share some of the creative answers that the finalists in my AWESOME footy finals fever competition sent in. If you remember, one of the questions I asked was: 'Imagine you are in charge of a new AFL team. What is your name? What are your colours? What are the words of your club song?'

This was Phoebe and Monica's answer:
'Our team would be the Medford Missies. Our team colors would be pink and purple and our fight song would go like this:
We are the Medford Missies, hear us purr
We have pretty colors in our fur
We will fight fight fight to win the game
The Medford Missies is our name.'

And here is Faz's answer:
'My team would be called the Wimbledon Warriors (because that's where I live). Our colours would be green and purple which are my favourite colours (see blog) but also the colours of Wimbledon (so it must be fate). Our song would be sung to the tune of 'It's a small world after all':
We're the best club that's for sure
Warriors win over all
We're the best club that's for sure
We're the Wimbledon Warriors

We play AFL and we always win
We kick and catch and never flinch
We are so cool, we are no ones fools
We're the Wimbledon Warriors

We're the best club that's for sure
Warriors win over all
Green and Purple always score
We're the Wimbledon Warriors'

Here's Yoggie's entry:
Yoggie's team would be called the Ark Warriors (after his favourite Swedish band, The Ark). His team colours would be black, white and pink. The Ark Warriors' theme song would be 'The Worrying Kind', which is a song by The Ark... it was Sweden's entry in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest!

Gypsy and Tasha ran out of time to complete this question, but they said that their favourite team in the AFL was the Brisbane Lions, whose colours are maroon, blue and gold. Gypsy said that the Lions were his favourite team because he is a miniature mountain lion in a cat suit and also because his mum originally came from Brisbane. Their theme song is sung to the tune of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise! (JH, if you remember, the Lions are your buddy Keiser 's (may he be playing happily at the bridge) human Daniel's favourite team).

The Hot(M)BC:
'Tasmania Tuxies! Our colors ... sorry... colours... are black and white, of course! And our mascot is Mini the Tuxie -- she should be good for something other than just eating. Our jumpers could be black and white or we could all wear our furs (or dye our furs/skin black and white for the games if some players weren't natively tuxie cats.)Our song (Sung to the tune of "Dixie") is "Tuxie!"
I'm so glad to be in tha land of Tuxie
Good times here are not forgotton
Cheer away - Cheer away
Cheer away - Tuxie land
In Tuxie land where I did win
All the time on the tuff old shin
Cheer away - Cheer away
Cheer away - Tuxie land
Then I'm glad I am in Tuxie Land - Cheer away - away
In Tuxie land I take my stand
I live and win in Tuxie
Cheer Away - away - I live and win a Tuxie'

As you can see, the entries were all of an awesomely high standard. I'll save the Grand Finalists' entires until Friday, which is Grand Final Eve! Woo hoo! And hey, don't forget that you can still enter the Grand Final tipping competition. It's easy! Click here for details.
Cheers,
--Pabs

Footy's night of nights: The Brownlow Medal

Tonight, we celebrated footy's night of nights: the Brownlow Medal. Every year, the Brownlow Medal is awarded to the best and fairest player in the league, based on the umpires' votes throughout the regular season (I guess it's similar to an MVP). You could be forgiven for thinking that the Brownlow was named after me ('cause I'm brown and my name is pab-LO... brownLO...), but it was actually named after Charles "Chas" Brownlow, a great player and administrator from the early days of the game.

As you can see, I dressed up for the occasion. It's strictly a black tie affair, and a night for the players' wives and partners to strut their stuff on the red carpet. It's the Oscars of AFL.

The medal was won this year by Jimmy Bartel, from the Geelong Cats, who scored 29 votes. Congrats, Jimmy!

The d-o-gzillaz really enjoyed the night, by the way. Here they are watching Jimmy:
I know he doesn't look very happy. I think he was just overwhelmed and a bit emotional. Who can blame him? His name was written in the AFL history books tonight!

To have YOUR name written in the AFL history books, enter my footy tipping competition, where you guess the winner and the points margin of Saturday's big game. Scroll down for more details.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Grand Final Week: Get involved!

Ok everycat, it's finally here. AFL Grand Final Week! The Big Game is not until Saturday, but we've got a whole week to build up the anticipation. As promised, I'm gonna be sharing the finalists' creative entries with you. But there's more! Everycat can also enter my FABULOUS footy tipping competition. It's so easy! You don't have to know anything about footy to enter. All you have to do is give me your prediction on who you think is going to win the Grand Final, and guess the correct points margin. Here's a reminder of the contenders:

Daisy's Geelong Cats

versus

Sooty's Port Adelaide Power

So, your 'tip' (guess) will involve selecting 1) the team you think will win and 2) the correct points margin. As a rough guide, the last 10 grand finals have been decided by an average margin of approximately 29 points (29.1 points, to be precise). And don't forget to include your name! Here's an example of what I'm after:
Pablo, Port Adelaide, 57 points (not my actual prediction, just an example)

This competition is open to all cats and dogs and bunnies with blogs or Catster/Dogster IDs. Animals from multiple animal households can have separate entries. The only cats who can't enter are Sooty and Daisy, cause they're already gonna get awesome prizes for being grand finalists, and I wanna share the love around! The entrant who selects the correct team by the closest points margin will win; in the event of a tie, the entrant who posted first will be judged the winner. (PS I reserve the right to change these rules at any time, because I'm Pabs.) What do you win? A donation to the Hobart Cat Centre made in your name and a yet-to-be-determined kitty treat! Just post your entry in the comments to this post. Entries close at 2pm Eastern Standard (Australian) Time, this Saturday, 30 September.

Good luck, everycat! Ooh, I love September!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Preliminary final 2: Kangaroos v Port Power

This evening's game decided who will play the Cats in next weekend's Grand Final. The contenders?

Gypsy and Tasha's North Melbourne Kangaroos

versus

Sooty's Port Adelaide Power

On their home ground, Port Adelaide let everyone know that they're going to be a strong contender in next week's Grand Final by handing the Kangaroos a massive 87-point thrashing, 20.13.133 to 5.16.46. Bad luck, Gypsy and Tasha! Sadly, this loss marked the final game for 311-game Kangaroos veteran Glenn Archer, who has retired after 16 years in the game.

So, the big Grand Final next week will see Daisy's Geelong Cats take on Sooty's Port Power. It's sure to be a mighty contest.

To find out how YOU can be involved in the excitement of the AFL Grand Final, check out my blog tomorrow!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Preliminary final 1: Cats v Magpies

Well, it was another massive game in the Australian Football League finals series tonight. The first preliminary final, with the winner going on to next week's Grand Final and the loser hanging up their boots for 2007. The contenders?

Daisy's Geelong Cats

versus

Faz's Collingwood Magpies

98,000 people turned up to the M.C.G. (Melbourne Cricket Ground) tonight to watch a thrilling contest. The Cats went into the game as strong favourites but, like last week against the Eagles, the Magpies would not be denied. It was a tense, tough arm-wrestle of a game, but the Cats held on to win by 5 points! The final score: 13.14.92 to 13.9.87. Congratulations, Daisy, your team has made it through to next week's Grand Final!! Bad luck Faz, me old mucker.

So, tomorrow we'll find out which team will win the right to take on the Cats in the big game next week. Will it be Sooty's Port Adelaide Power? Or Gypsy and Tasha's North Melbourne Kangaroos? Stay tuned to find out...

Cheers,
--Pabs

Arrrrrr...

Curses, me scurvy dogs! Oi've missed Meow Loik a Poirit Day. Oi be very sorry for this abominable oversoight. Oi hopes ye will all be forgivin' me, savvy?

Semi-final 2: Shinboner spirit wins the day

Well, after a massive defeat at the hands of the Cats last week, the Kangaroos (Gypsy and Tasha's team) have bounced back (ha ha... get it?) to score a very strong victory against the Hawks tonight. So Yoggie, mate, your team's out of the running now, sorry. It was a tough and very physical encounter, quite close throughout until the last quarter, when the Kangaroos took the game away from the Hawks' reach. The final score: 14.9.93 to 8.12.60. So next week, the Kangaroos play Port Adelaide (Sooty's team) for a place in the Grand Final.

What's the 'Shinboner spirit'? Well, a million years ago, the Kangaroos were known as the Shinboners, because many of the men who played for them worked at a local meatworks (yum!). This team is particularly known for its tough, never-say-die spirit, which has come to be known as the 'Shinboner spirit'. They sure showed it tonight!

Only 3 more games of footy left for the whole year! Who will win the Premiership? The Cats, Port Power, the Magpies or the Kangaroos? Stay tuned to find out! Finalists, your team needs your support... get behind them!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Semi-final 1: What a thriller!

Oh. My. D-O-G!! That was one of the most exciting games of footy that I've EVER seen! Tonight the West Coast Eagles (The Hot(M)BC's team) were beaten by the Collingwood Magpies (Faz's team) and eliminated from the finals race. But don't be too sad, cats of the Hot(M)BC, the Eagles fought so hard! I'm sure that your purrs and cheers helped them!

For the first time since 1994, the final went into extra time, because the teams were locked at 72 points each at the end of full time. So, they played two 5-minute periods of extra time, in which Collingwood kicked away to win 13.15.93 to 10.14.74. Faz, Collingwood now goes on to meet the Geelong Cats (Daisy's team) in a preliminary final next week. The winner of that game goes on to the Grand Final on 29 September.
Tomorrow (well, later today, since it's 12.09am right now), Yoggie's Hawks (Hawthorn) take on Gypsy and Tasha's Kangaroos (North Melbourne) for the right to play Sooty's Port Power (Port Adelaide) next weekend. Can't wait!

Better get some good napping in before the next game.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Wednesday wipeout...

Sunbeam: 1, Pablo: 0

Week one wash-up

One week of finals down, three to go! Daisy's team, the Geelong Cats, absolutely demolished the North Melbourne Kangaroos (Gypsy and Tasha's team) in their qualifying final yesterday, 23.18.156 to 8.2.50. This result confirms the Cats' status as favourites to win the flag in 2007.

So last weekend's big winners, Geelong and Port Adelaide (Sooty's team), enjoy a week of this weekend. Meanwhile, the Collingwood Magpies (Faz's team) travel to Western Australia to play the West Coast Eagles (the Hot(M)BC's team) on Friday night, and the Kangaroos face off against Hawthorn (Yoggie's team) on Saturday in Melbourne. All games are sudden death (loser is eliminated) from here on in, so the pressure is really mounting. Finalists, your teams need you to send them your best purrs and cheers!

Between now and Friday night, I'll return to my regularly scheduled program of blogging... no more footy talk, I promise!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Hawks and Magpies live to fight another day...

Another exciting day of finals... this afternoon, Yoggie's team Hawthorn came from behind to snatch a three-point victory over Karl's team, the Adelaide Crows: 15.15.105 to 15.12.102. Meanwhile, this evening, the Collingwood Magpies (Faz's team) were too good for the Sydney Swans (Phoebe and Monica's team): 18.17.125 to 13.9.87. The Swans fought hard, and were just 10 points behind at half time, but they just couldn't keep it up. Karl, Monica and Phoebe, I'm sorry that your teams have been eliminated, but you can be very proud of their efforts.

One more game in the first round of the finals tomorrow, Geelong Cats (Daisy's team) v North Melbourne Kangaroos (Gypsy and Tasha's team). The Cats have been the dominant team of season '07, but the Kangaroos are always tough to beat. Can't wait!
Cheers,
--Pabs

Port Adelaide makes an early charge!

Wow! What a game last night! Port Adelaide (Sooty's team) came from behind to beat last year's champions, the West Coast Eagles (the Hot(M)BC's team), by just three points (9.14.68 to 9.11.65 this means that both teams scored 9 goals, worth 6 points each, but Port scored 3 more points than the Eagles). It was a very exciting game - a great opening to the finals. Don't worry, cats at the Hot(M)BC, you have another chance next week (not sure who you play yet). And Sooty, your team gets a week off and will play in a preliminary final in two weeks' time... if they win that, they're in the Grand Final! But it's still early days.

It was an exciting night for Port... not only did they win, but their coach's wife had a baby! He left straight after the game to be with his wife and meet his fifth child. I think he's trying to make his own footy team!

Two matches today... well, one today and one tonight. May the best teams win!
Cheers,
--Pabs

The final eight!

First of all, I'd like to thank everycat who entered my AWESOME Footy Finals Fever Competition. But second of all, I'd like to apologise to everycat, cause I think I made it a bit too hard... I only had seven entries! It was my first go at designing a competition... I think I got a bit carried away. Sorry!

Anyway, here are the finalists, and their corresponding AFL team:
1st place-- Daisy (50 points) GEELONG CATS
2nd place-- Sooty (50 points)* PORT ADELAIDE POWER
3rd place-- Hot(M)BC (49 points) WEST COAST EAGLES
4th place-- Gypsy & Tasha (47 points) (NORTH MELBOURNE) KANGAROOS
5th place-- Yoggie (44 points) HAWTHORN HAWKS
6th place-- Faz (42 points) COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES
7th place-- Phoebe & Monica (42 points)* SYDNEY SWANS
(In the case where two entrants scored equal points, the entrant who submitted their entry first was awarded the higher place)

Now, the AFL has a final eight, so I thought I'd award 8th place to our good friend Karl. Even though he didn't submit an entry, I thought that playing in the finals might lift his spirits at this sad time. Karl's team is the ADELAIDE CROWS.

Now to this weekend's finals matches...
Friday 7 September: PORT ADELAIDE v WEST COAST (AAMI Stadium, Adelaide)
Saturday 8 September: HAWTHORN v ADELAIDE (Telstra Dome, Melbourne)
COLLINGWOOD v SYDNEY (MCG, Melbourne)
Sunday 9 September: GEELONG v KANGAROOS (MCG, Melbourne)

The aim of this weekend's finals is to reduce the number of finalists from 8 to 6, so the two lowest-ranked losers will be eliminated.

Congratulations to all the entrants! Get behind your team! Sing your song! Show your colours on your blog! I'll keep everyone up to date on the results. And I'll share some of the finalists' creative entries in the coming weeks.

I can feel that finals fever coming on...
Cheers,
--Pabs

A sad Sunday...

In memory of the friends we've lost this week and all the Ones Who Came Before.
(thanks to Kashim & Othello for organising this tribute weekend)

Cheers,
--Pabs

Another long overdue meme: The catnip meme

My mate Yoggie in Sweden tagged me for this meme last week. I have to list five things that happen to me when I'm on the 'nip. It's a bit hard to tell how many things happen to me when I'm nipped out, so I'll just list everything I can think of and hope that it's somewhere near five.

Even though I'm getting to be a middle-aged cat (I'm eight early next year!), I've only been introduced to the nip in the last year or so. This is my current source of nip:

This mousie was one of the presents that my Secret Paw, Gypsy, bought for me. He's a nip mouse! And this is what happens to me when I play with him:
I immediately become very interested in grooming him. This goes on for quite some time, because he tastes great.

Then we have a bit of a roll around together. Sometimes I have to stop to lick his furs some more.
That's when things start getting a little spacey. I roll around on my back, doing lots of full monties and half monties and side monties and... just... whatever...

After that, I slow down. Waaay down. I get the stares and my head spins. That's when I know it's time to stop.

Nip doesn't make me extra friendly... just extra playful and then extra dizzy. But it doesn't last for long. Then I'm back to normal old Pabs again.

Hey, don't forget that my AWESOME Footy Finals Fever competition is still open. And guess what? Places in the top eight are still up for grabs! There's some great prizes on offer, as well as the chance to learn a bit about my favourite sport... Aussie Rules Football! Entries close this Sunday, 2 September, midnight PDT. Give it a go!

Cheers,
--Pabs