KEY POINTS:
GOOD WEEK ...
Marina Erakovic
New Zealand's best tennis player now has two wins at Wimbledon to hang her shorts on.
After spending a couple of years with her ranking hovering in the mid 150s, a remarkable few months has seen Erakovic climb to the brink of
the top 50. Not bad for a player who entered the year without a single WTA main draw singles victory to her name.
Brazil's U23 soccer team
Having spent months quaking in their boots after learning they had been grouped with the Olywhites, the young Samba Boys can now breathe easier in the knowledge they won't have to face Tony Lochhead and Shane Smeltz.
The senior All Whites duo were denied a release by the Wellington A-League club, with boss Tony Pignata dismissing the Olympics as an "under-23 tournament". Right on, Tony. Who'd really want to play in some poxy little age grade tournament when they could be playing in the A-League instead?
Kaka
AC Milan's Brazilian superstar will know exactly how Smeltz and Lochhead feel after also being denied permission to play in the Olympics. Kaka no doubt would have been champing at the bit to face New Zealand - a team widely blamed for Brazil's poor showing at the last world cup.
The All Whites' crime, allegedly, was being so poor during a pre-cup warm-up in Switzerland that Brazil went into the tournament rather over-rating themselves. Quite why they felt that way after beating us just 4-0 is anyone's guess.
Porcelain taxidermy
Tauranga-based amateur golfer Jared Pender turned heads when he arrived back in New Zealand after a strong showing at a tournament in Canada.
Pender's fourth-place finish at the Pengrowth Invitational earned him a porcelain ram's head that caused a few chuckles when he hauled it out of its wooden carry box coming through customs at Auckland Airport.
"The winner got a huge stag's head, complete with a full set of antlers, which might have been a bit of a struggle getting back into the country," he said.
Young golfers
Officials from a golf club in Broomfield, Colorado were left with some explaining to do after a children's tournament clashed with a strip club's charity fundraiser. A group of seven to 12-year-olds were finishing up their rounds when a bunch of scantily clad women spilled out of a limousine. The women were strippers employed as caddies at Shotgun Willie's Charity Golf Tournament to benefit breast cancer.
A woman told KUSA-TV the clash drew curious questions from the children, such as why the men joining the women were carrying water pistols.
BAD WEEK ...
Kobe Bryant
As if it wasn't enough to suffer a humiliating NBA finals defeat at the hands of the Boston Celtics, LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant had to endure former teammate and arch nemesis Shaquille O'Neal dissing him in song. As well as blaming Bryant for causing his divorce by "ratting me out", the 2.1m wannabe rapper pointed out Bryant hadn't won an NBA title without having him as a teammate. "Last week, Kobe couldn't do without me," rapped the Shaq. "Kobe, tell me how my arse tastes."
Paul Collingwood
You know it's a bad day at the office when cricket commentators compare your morals to those of Greg Chappell. And it didn't take a behavioural analysis expert to see the Black Caps were less-than-thrilled with the England captain's conduct during the controversial run out of Grant Elliott in yesterday's fourth one-dayer. Lip readers were confused as Daniel Vettori appeared to shout to the English "Duck you, shunts". A contrite Collingwood apologised but his day didn't get any better with news he faces a likely suspension over England's slow over rate.
Peruvian football
A student was fatally shot and seven other Universitario club fans were wounded while on their way to a league football match this week. Police said a gunman on a motorcycle opened fire on the eight fans, who were on their way to the National Stadium for a match between Universitario and Sporting Cristal. Witnesses said the gunman was a fan of Universitario's bitter rival Alianza Lima.
Chinese democracy
A Free Tibet protester has done what Wayne Rooney couldn't and made it on to the pitch at Euro 2008. Anyone thinking China's activities in Tibet had fallen off the radar, what with earthquakes and cyclones, may have cocked an eyebrow at the sight of a bloke in a T-shirt reading "Tibet is not China" dashing across the field after Turkey's 86th-minute equaliser against Germany.