Thanks, Julian Savea, for the 46 times you scored tries for the All Blacks, the joy you have given your country.
No thanks to the sportswriters and knocker fans for saying you're finished at the age of 27. Thumbs-down the spurious claim that greatness ends at that age.
Mediocrity, atabout the age of 10, makes itself known when its possessor becomes aware he wakes each day seething with jealousy and resentment of his peers who have a sunny outlook, yet possess a killer competitive attitude playing sport.
Our unpersonable young mediocrity starts to wonder how he can even the genetic score.
At 15 or 16 with no girlfriends and hardly any mates added to the festering mind, mediocre people are down to wanting revenge. But how, against such impossible odds? Become a sports journalist. (That's my invite to the paper's Christmas party gone.)
Or join the crop of beer-slugging couch spuds and make an art of putting down sportsmen and knocking back beers, gobbling chips.
Here's a little test I've used for years to reveal a person's true character: Tell him or her of someone's success. And watch the eyes glaze over. Ram it home by giving big dollar numbers gained and see the faint tremor of facial muscles.
That's envy coming to the boil. Hatred comes next. Self-hatred later in their bathroom mirror.
Thanks to the Auckland Blues for trying to right your lurching ship. Sometimes these things take time, a lot longer than you think. But written off? Why turn our backs on such talent when all that's required is the right person(s) to instil a winning culture?
Thank you, Tana - no surname required for a legend - for getting the ship under control. Thank you for beating the Lions when every single scribe in the country said "impossible". I was at the match with friends and joyous it was too.
Since when was any game of rugby or rugby league won from a laptop or the couch? Think of the poor parents of these boys who have sacrificed so much to ensure son gets into a top team only to read or hear him being battered.
Doesn't matter who it is - when an All Black's "gone" he ain't coming back. These people don't want him back. They want the next big thing, the new sensation. Till they don't. And the process starts over again. Knocking, always knocking. Never praising, other than the knockers' own claimed talents.
Who's going to stop the Bus? All Black wing Julian Savea on a thundering run. Photo / Greg Bowker
Israel Dagg was written off and the public were told by these little non-achievers that Dagg's reign was over. Seemingly confirmed when Hansen and co dropped Izzy for the 2015 World Cup. But Hansen actually stated publicly that he felt Izzy had at least another 20 tests in him.
Not so the sports hacks. Virtually to a man they wrote him off. He's finished. Kaput. Way past his best. Till Dagg came back - again - with even better than his best and compelled the selectors to only one choice on the wing: Israel the Magnificent.
Recently, a British rugby identity had Israel Dagg in his world top 30 rugby players.
Knock, knock. Who's there? "Me, whose name kind of rhymes with knock. Best rugby analyst in the world. A scorching rugby career in my primary school second XV, third in the 20-metre under-9 freestyle swim, you should have seen it. What did you ask? Well, yes, that was me booing the guy's kicks at goal the other day. He's the opposition."
Sure. But he's not your enemy. Nor are the players.
Dan Carter in the months leading up to the 2015 RWC? Finished. Past it. Lost his confidence. No longer commands. So who plays the best game of his already incomparable career in the final? Dannyboy. Shut the knocking brigade up.
Ask any top level sportsperson if ever a newspaper article lifted his or her game. How does slagging help anyone? Would any business succeed if the employees only heard criticism? You're a Blues player and you read a vicious outpouring, how do you feel? What is achieved? If every time a sports journalist put their copy in and the editor told the whole country he is not up to the job? How long before he resigned and looked for other work?
If children at our schools were subject to daily haranguing on their every little perceived misdeed, on not getting a point first or fifth time up? Where would they be other than shutting down and rejecting their teachers?
What's achieved if all you hear is criticism? How are you going to fix your mistakes, build your team culture? "The Bus" will be back. The Warriors and the Blues will find the winning formula. The hacks and couch spuds? Never.
