KEY POINTS:
Nothing, not even a hotted-down rugby competition that rates at about six out of 14, rivals cricket in the disappointment stakes right now.
As is the fashion, the bad news came via those strips snaking across the bottom of the television screen.
Australia were still looking good bets
in the opening tri-series final match against England when it was revealed that Ricky "Punter" Ponting and Adam Gilchrist would not be in the squad for the three-game Chappell-Hadlee one day series which begins in Wellington on Friday.
Just typical.
Stiffness in the back, the Aussies said of Ponting, who is increasingly crucial to their World Cup hopes.
You can understand that an Australian cricket captain faces relentless pressure. But you can bet your bottom dollar that if the Ashes were on offer, the back would have felt a whole lot better. Ponting didn't have to play every match over here.
A New Zealand Cricket spokesman was quoted as saying: "We still expect it to be a very, very strong side." He did not believe a weakened Aussie unit would keep the spectators away.
Spin, spin, spin, to use a bit of cricket lingo. Where's the frustration? Where's the truth? This is Ricky Ponting, pal, or maybe you never got taught about him in spokesperson school. Does every sports mouth have to check the wallet first before giving their tuppence worth?
This, sadly, is typical sports fare. You can take the All Blacks out of the Super 14, but you can't take the All Blacks out of the Super 14 television adverts. No sir.
Look at what we have on the main sports menu right now: a rugby competition with the best New Zealand players removed and the best cricket side in the world about to tour without their captain, a man who is mentioned by some in the same breath as Sir Donald Bradman.
The curse of World Cup obsession strikes again.
This was a chance for New Zealanders to see "Punter" in the flesh and his prime. Instead, the punters have been robbed. Again. Gilchrist at his best was worth the admission price but the finest wicketkeeper-batsman in cricket history is a hit-miss-miss-miss proposition now. Gilchrist looks in dire need of a break, and Australia may be justified in trying out the theory that a change will bring an end to the holiday bowlers are enjoying against the most devastating master blaster since Viv Richards. Only maybe, mind you.
But Ponting is a different story. He is batting like a dream. His numbers are exceptional, history-making.
This level of disappointment is a reflection of the regard this punter (and everyone else I'd imagine) holds Ponting in. I was on the verge of penning a column mid-week that the arrival of Ponting should be among the most eagerly awaited sports moments.
The 32-year-old Australian captain falls short in only one area, in that he does not reach the very highest levels of elegance attained by a genius few. A quibble, to be sure.
There may never have been a better sight in cricket than the former English captain David Gower in full flow. The lean left hander peered back at the bowler with a lazy suspicion, and hit the ball with a bat so apparently thin that it could have doubled as a pool cue. Yet the ball would flash magically around the ground, having been dealt to by this magic wand. There may never have been a more elegant batsman than the Australian Greg Chappell. There are a few others in this class.
The stockier Ponting is infused with different strains, enough grace and balance for sure but he is also powered by the efficiency of Steve Waugh, Allan Border and the crop of Australian batsmen who operated on belligerent defiance in the years that followed Kim Hughes' capitulation in the mid-1980s.
Ponting is emerging as the greatest of them all, with perfect footwork and every shot to match. No one has hit the cross bat shot better to the leg side.
When does this country have the chance to witness one of the greats operating at his best? How often do such legends come along? How much will this Chappell-Hadlee series - there's a temptation to call it the Hadlee-Chappell series on this side of the Tasman - really mean when Australia have tagged it as a B-plus job without their A-plus captain.
Our national sport is the leading offender in this. The NPC is a feeder for the Super 14 so it doesn't rate having full-strength squads, the Super 14 is a feeder for the All Blacks so the best players are yanked out when the selectors are struck by Webb Ellis fever, the All Blacks are a feeder for the All Blacks so every Tom, Dick and Harry gets a shot in the national team, and rugby tours are development tools for the World Cup.
It's getting tiresome, these sports offerings that aren't the real deal. This rare air shot from Ponting is a massive disappointment.
High
Another fine performance by the Auckland cricket team, who nabbed the State Shield title.
Blues match-winner Isa Nacewa. As Bill Lawry might say: "What a footballer, what an athlete."
Low
That news about Ricky Ponting. It stinks.