The weather unremitting: cost of living, deadly potholes, local shops firebombed, local gyms firebombed, teenagers stabbing each other.
asserted
teenagers → firebomb → other
The three-hour, 10.35am Friday NFL match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers last week had it all.
asserted
match → have → it
Grand spectacle, folly (courtesy of the LA Rams attempts to defy jet lag) and something we have been missing for a while – jubilance.
asserted
we → defy → while
I didn’t attend the match nor understand what was going on.
asserted
what → attend → match
And for me, the real pleasure was not the onfield clash of titans but in the stuff that surrounded it.
asserted
that → surround → it
I owe thanks to a bunch of US sports writers (plus at least $30 million of taxpayer money) to blast away my jadedness about Melbourne and appreciate its pleasures anew.
asserted
I → owe → pleasures
I know that genuflecting to foreign arrivals is uncool, verging on pathetic.
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genuflecting → know → arrivals
We Australian journalists have been doing this shamelessly ever since 1961 Hollywood star Vivien Leigh, fresh off the plane at Sydney Airport, was asked by the press corp what she thought about Australia.
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she → do → Australia
Before she had even left the terminal.
asserted
she → leave → terminal
Her famously arch response was: “I don’t know.
asserted
I → know → ?
You are standing in the way.”
asserted
You → stand → way
Last week it was San Francisco 49ers chief executive Al Guido smoothly telling me how “starstruck” he was arriving at the MCG.
asserted
he → tell → MCG
Yes, this made me happy.
asserted
me → make → ?
And I wouldn’t be the only one who looked upon their city anew after a crack squad of US football reporters arrived a week early alongside the 49ers and got among it, listing the CBD cafes they loved, posting snaps of their big brekkies.
asserted
they → look → brekkies
David Lombardi, of The San Francisco Standard, even taught a few Melburnians a thing or two as he looked out at the MCG from Princes Bridge, noting the City of Melbourne motto was “We gather strength as we go”.
asserted
we → teach → strength
Who knew that?
asserted
Who → know → that
We all do now.
asserted
We → do → ?
“Prayer the winning strategy as NFL makes its Australian debut,” proclaimed the newsletter of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
asserted
newsletter → prayer → Melbourne
“Ahead of their Friday morning clash, a group of players from the San Francisco 49ers joined Melbourne’s Archbishop Peter A Comensoli for a pre-game celebration of the Eucharist.
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group → join → Eucharist
The Mass was organised through the team’s coaching staff and allowed players like star running back Christian McCaffrey, a Catholic, to partake in a different kind of preparation before the big game,” the newsletter reported.
asserted
newsletter → organise → game
And you thought queues of 200 people outside the NFL pop-up shop on Bourke Street was the real story.
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queues → think → Street
All appropriate deference to Him, but the real star of the show was Grant Cohn, who covers the 49ers on SI.com.
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who → cover → SI.com
He posted on every aspect of his Melbourne visit.
asserted
He → post → visit
Fans include Victoria’s newish Major Events Minister Anthony Carbines, who took over from Steve Dimopoulos.
asserted
who → include → Dimopoulos
And the AFL, which promptly hired him.
asserted
which → hire → him
There are lessons here for local journalists, about energy, intensity, but also in the foregrounding of daily pleasures that we treat nonchalantly.
asserted
we → be → that
For Craig Hutchison and Eddie McGuire, ceaseless impresarios of sport and major events through their various media companies, the NFL match was nothing less than an exclamation point marking the end point of Victoria’s listless COVID-19 years.
asserted
match → mark → years
“It was a demonstration of love of sport, our passion for big events and why our city stands above all others in the world per capita in the want, willingness and enthusiasm to do that at 10.35am on a Friday morning (for) a sport that is not played here,” Hutchison enthused on his SEN podcast The Sounding Board.
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Hutchison → stand → podcast
McGuire, unofficial ambassador for exuberance on Triple M’s Mick in the Morning radio program, said he was proud of the city.
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he → say → city
“This is the end of the COVID era … this is the end of all the dramas, we can lift our head and be proud of Melbourne again.
asserted
we → lift → Melbourne
“Let the politicians fight it out I don’t care about any of the stuff like that … fill a pothole in, throw a machete in a bin, we don’t care.
asserted
we → let → bin
This was a lot, even for FM breakfast shows that are noted for exuberance – and we should note that one of McGuire’s very many hats is as a board member of Visit Victoria, which funded a large chunk of the NFL visit.
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which → note → visit
Which brings us very neatly to the question of cost.
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Which → bring → cost
The normally forthright Hutchison was uncharacteristically coy when asked directly how much the game had cost the state.
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game → ask → state
While the “ballpark” figure of about $15 million per game was broadly quoted in the media, what was largely ignored was the other cost – staging the event.
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ignored → quote → event
Simply put, that doubles the cost to at least $30 million.
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that → put → million
Extra transport, security, fan zones, the exclusion perimeter around the MCG, replacing the turf at the MCG, the MCG underground carpark becoming a vast player dressing room with players’ cabinets.
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carpark → replace → cabinets
And don’t think that all that media attention from NFL journalists just happened without some input from Visit Victoria.
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attention → think → Victoria
Crown’s hotels had its second-biggest Thursday ever, while the Accor group, which has 53 hotels across Melbourne, including the Sofitel, Pullman and Novotel, was 25 per cent up on standard occupancy compared with the same time last year.
asserted
which → have → time
What a waste of money better spent of schools, hospitals and potholes, I hear you say.
asserted
you → spend → schools
…and 34 more, not listed.
The Aporia
