I was genuinely saddened to hear about the death of Bob Davis, but the slow motion tributes garnished with saccharine pop-tart soundtrack slop would not do justice to the premature break-up of a boy band, let alone the melancholy demise of an old fashioned Aussie rules character like Bobby.
Elsewhere, Ashley Browne at BPL:
It was in the early 1990s on Sportsworld, the Sunday morning TV show that replaced World of Sport, that Davis paid out on a typically poor performance by the then Brisbane Bears.
When challenged by a fellow panelist to "name names", Davis promptly did, pulling out his copy of the AFL Record from the day before and verbally drawing a line through pretty much every member of the Brisbane side. Among the gems that day, were: "David Bain... too small.... Brad Hardie ... too loose... Roger Merrett... too old... Richard Champion...in name only"
AB left out the "catch a tram" part, probably because he, like me, could never work out what it meant.
Not that I am interested in nitpicking Ashley Browne. I am far more interested in nitpicking purveyors of Fractured Flashbacks. Repeatedly over the last couple of days I have heard commentators announce they saw the above performance on League Teams. Gerard Healy last night on 3AW: "I will never forget seeing that on League Teams." Or words to that effect.
There is every chance Healy did indeed see Bobby bag the Bears, but it would not have been on League Teams.
Once again we witness a virulent outbreak of OPMS (Other People's Memory Syndrome). Maybe not in Healy's case who worked for Seven and has probably seen the footage (although "I'll never forget" followed by the wrong fact is always highly suss), but certainly in the case of many other pundits and non-pundits who, keen to join the moment, blurt out something they have heard second hand, or second ear, as the case may be.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory_syndrome
No one ever calls talkback and says "I can't remember exactly what it was but,..."
Posted by: bruce | 05/19/2011 at 08:10 PM
I have always been an early to bed type, so I didn't watch League Teams all that often; only when Carlton were going to play a big game. I was, however, a devotee of World of Sport and looking back now, I think that most of Bobby's witticisms went straight through to the keeper, probably because he was less vaudevillian in his delivery than Jack and Lou-Lou. He also seemed to be a bit of a buzz-kill, keeping the others on message by the timely delivery of Pelaco shirts and Patra orange juice.
Posted by: Random | 05/20/2011 at 05:27 AM
... and a box of Red Tulip chocolates worth a dollar-fifty.
Posted by: Tony | 05/20/2011 at 05:47 PM
"Roger Merrett... Richard Champion" -- I think it was actually Max Merritt and Richard Clapton -- or was it Champion Ruby?
Posted by: Professor Rosseforp | 05/20/2011 at 06:33 PM
Was League Teams where Lou had recipes between teams?
Posted by: Ann O'Dyne | 05/20/2011 at 08:20 PM