Mayhem of bounce; Sydney Kings vs West Sydney Razorbacks - Entertainment Centre - 15/01/05

Ethan Switch - Sunday, January 16, 2005 - Print Version

Balmain criss crosses with all sorts of vowels and a military imprecision still misses its mark. Like a sticky plague, the bookstore captures another wad of bills, this time featuring animals over the change. Despite heavily sweating, the blue dye remains on the bag as the disparity between Creature Comforts and The Bittersweet Summer weigh themselves for a piece of garlic splinter.

The Flames of Sydney University and the Lightening of Adelaide finish up their game well before the seats are found. The section angle here right between seats with Kings News. Large chunks are taken out with the spectator numbers slightly more than that of the Bondi shield match a few weeks ago. Blockheads are at a minimum, other people having also made their connections down. The last derby of the season between the cross town rivals; The Kings of Sydney and the Razorbacks of the West. One up for each, the deciding match is this and a sudden urge to eat out the left side of the face explodes under the jaw. An urge going on more than a few weeks now.

Tipping out and around, the start is a little messy, Mark Sanford pinning down the first shot. Out there on the court, the visitors are mostly woodsmen, faces lugging beards heavy and moderately thick. Half play the game, the other half on the shave, chins glistening under the lights. Sanford goes for a slam and sees the ball out of bounds as he hangs a little on the rim. Rolan Roberts is too fast off the bench, grabbing a rebound while holding his shoe in the other hand. Running away with the loot, the visitors also are up high in the first, the margin taking a spear near eleven. Their burst loses some wind as Luke Martin takes it back and closes out to even the initial quarter. All on for 26***.

Announcer Rodney O is away and the replacement is leaving no throb undone. The sheer fanatical energy and all out screaming is a little disconcerting. There are many minutes left, a scratch this early could leave him rasping before the end. Enthusiastic like the school kids on a line of sugar and sherbert up the left nostril, the night's caller gloriously knows no sense of limits. Carmie Olowoyo trips his tongue at first, but it just keeps on getting better as the night wears on. Listening to the fervent cries a joy. Bit too verbose at times though. Especially when the guys are just standing around.

Quarter two sees Sanford go for another shot at the slam. And again the man misses with the ball slipping just out of his hands. Razorback's Nick Horvath prompts a referee to send him off. The blood streaming down the back of his neck having something to do with it. And the blood all over the court. Blood which holds up the cleaners as they try and wipe it as squeakily possible, scrub that red! Casualties of war? In the lengthy hold up, the Lion takes his time trying to find a loud enough section of the crowd to pull down for the half-time comp. If arms are anything to go by, one contestant is from a dead section. BJ Carter gets into the game, runs outside onto a box table and flips out onto the seats. Kings hold 54, Razorbacks 42.

Half-time entertainment walks on four people; two guys, two girls. Shoes on half, barefoot for the other. They're given 24 seconds to shoot from the free throw. Catching their own rebounds, the shots are both wide and short. Typically erratic for the spectator competition. The one they call Penny is up first and nails it on the first go. The rest of the attempts are all out. The same happens for the guy in glasses and another woman, one with no shoes, both fail to make even one. The last contender, Justin, barely sinks one in for a dead heat tie with Penny. The Lion slaps one ball back and gets a sizeable question from the crowd; rules here, rules. In the second round, Penny manages two in the twenty-four and as she watches the time peter out for Justin, is jumping all over the place as he fails to connect with a second. Off to Singapore spilling her guts all over the court.

Making their entrance after waiting in the wings, Bollywood Allure for the night's Bollywood presentation. The Bollywood performance sticks in a craw, the slight mirth at the choice of Panjabi MC's Beware of the Boys to soundtrack. Is there a story in this, with the women and men dancing rather calmly? Who knows. Since they're not jumping up diagonally four feet into the air, it's probably safe to assume that this is not the section of the movie that replaces the sex scene. Twirling in a circle, the people of the village welcome home the fishermen from their long haul out at sea. A storm is on the horizon and a new shopping complex being built is looming over the hill, threatening the sacrosanct act of marriage. Make up your own story here, interpretive is too hard.

Third quarter sees Martin and Sanford steal the ball the from Razorbacks' Simon Dwight. Taking offense to this, Dwight runs up and pulls down Martin, giving him the charity walk. Horvath comes back in and is now back in his own singlet after taking the second in a 4. This quarter is nuts, yet the Kings are slipping down to 70 with the yapping of 68 close behind. Did they both forget about scoring here?

Both ends of the Harlequins cheerleaders look to be challenging each other; first to sit down relinquishing the battle. One blonde does back kicks and adds to the difference. Who wins this? Hard to say. The Lion snacks on an overly rubbery pig's head. Back to the kitchen, the chef will not be working here anymore. Please remove the labels, the taste of adhesive is getting to the Japanese rice cracker section. Too many, too many, but all gone within a few minutes. The peanuts can be a bit much.

Fourth quarter isn't money time this time, Queen still play though. A wayward lay up gives Roberts the chance to clean up, dunking from behind the crew and beating Sanford to the dinner table. Hands from both team are up all over the air, snatching an easy possession not in the cards. Weeks of questioning, "Where's Barlow?" ends up with tonight's appearance under two minutes for the end. There is not ball handling beyond a pass. The announcer - who not once times the yell at the Philips big screen right - is still holding that fire, all the way into the end. Sam Mackinnon walks off to a rapturous reception. Six fouls from the game and the man is on the bench. Doesn't matter, the Kings hold down the Pigs with their heads in the sweat as they look at the scoreboard, 100 at 86.