« Go Kiwis | Main | Britain Too Dangerous? »
February 18, 2003
Go Kiwis
Most of the world may not be aware of the America's Cup (yacht race). This is normally a big, expensive race between billionaires. Last time round a small country put a team in - sort of a national effort. That was a really big deal. The funny thing was - they won in 1995 and defended successfully in 2000.
It was a big deal because Australia only got excited about the cup after it had been won by Alan Bond (back in the days of robber barons and West Australia Inc.) whereas this country was united behind the team from the start.
Well this time round the Kiwis will win again. How do I know? Both remaining teams are Kiwis. One is team is the "national effort" of New Zealand which is approaching the problem just like last time. The other team consists of those who abandoned the Kiwi team to follow the lure of the almighty dollar (or in this case Swiss francs).
No matter who wins it will be a victory for New Zealand but it would be nice to see the national team win!
Late Edition
The Sydney Morning Herald which missed this story yesterday has caught up today with an article. It mentions Swiss joy at the win yesterday but fails to point out that the Swiss (like the Australians) only started to get excited after the winning commenced. Unlike Team NZ, the Swiss team is only a Swiss team because the guy who owns it happens to be Swiss not because the Swiss people had any input into the challenge.
Posted by Ozguru at February 18, 2003 12:02 PM
