GEELONG GOODBYE

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.