New Zealand Knights play Newcastle Jets in 2006. Photo/File
SURE, you can go to Auckland and have a memorable one-night stand, just don't expect any kind of long-term commitment from said fair maiden.
Odds are tonight's one-off A-League match at Eden Park between the Wellington Phoenix and Adelaide stands a very good chance of breaking the capital club's regular season attendance record of 20,078, also made at the Garden of Eden in 2011.
The 11,000 advance ticket sales by yesterday morning with the prospect of a healthy walk up by football fans in the City of Sails, bereft of this level of competition beyond the novelty of perhaps a yearly fixture, has prompted suggestions that the A-League licence heading north again would raise the revenue streams of a Phoenix outfit going through the doldrums.
Not a good idea. At all.
Admittedly those in the Windy City seem to be a little too cool for school these days when it comes to their previous reasonable attendance levels at the Cake Tin. But give manager Ernie Merrick and captain Andrew Durante more time to prove their new expansive style of play can be adapted to performing under sudden-death pressure during the next three home games (two in Wellington after tonight) and I dare say Yellow Fever will prove an infectious bug once again.
In this ever-changing world of technology, most of us had given up the VCRs but not yet caught on to DVRs or My Sky technology back in 2006.
If we had, we would likely still have the footage to remember the cavernous atmosphere at North Harbour Stadium as two men and their dog watched the New Zealand Knights sucking on life-support through another wooden spoon chasing season.
The dog went home at halftime.
Come that December, the Knights licence was revoked with NZ Soccer thrust into a role which should never have been theirs to baby-step the failed franchise through its torturous final five weeks of competition.
Just months later, Wellington's Terry Serepisos made his one financial gamble that may yet pay off long term, although not for him personally any more other than perhaps a kinder note in the history books than his property investment portfolios will receive.
Mainstream football acceptance in this country is fair-weather in nature at the best of times but Wellington fans' efforts in filling their stadium by a third or at least a quarter during less turbulent days deserves stronger consideration than returning the Australasian competition to the northern climes on a weekly basis.
Up there, when a sporting franchise has the slightest of struggles, you could throw a live hand grenade into any grandstand and no injuries will be suffered.
As Lord Scrumptious once enthused to Caractacus Potts "Time's up. Had your chance. Muffed it." (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 1968).
SPEAKING of being good hosts, it was such a shame the quality of Active Physio Wanganui's performance against Hawke's Bay in the first senior representative cricket game at Centennial Park in 24 years could not match the quality of the festivities off the pitch.
As well as working bees manicuring the ground and painting the picket fences, the Marton Saracens club made the most of last weekend's occasion by inviting all former Rangitikei players to come have a reunion, further enticing them with a healthy number of supplied beverages.
The result was, gasp, genuine spectators rather than just family members watching a local Hawke Cup cricket match from the pavilion, not to mention a reasonable handful of cricket tragics parking up with deck chairs at various spots under the trees around the ground.
Talk about a throwback to yesteryear - there was actually a bit of atmosphere.
But the best part had to be the massive feed the ladies put on for the boys.
If only Hawke's Bay had partaken a little more of the beautiful baked macaroni cheese or gorged themselves on the sandwiches, then maybe they would have been too full to devour Wanganui twice in the field in less than eight hours.
The Marton girls were also kind enough to let the Fourth Estate members indulge in the leftovers after the teams had gone back out following Saturday's lunchbreak.
Despite having already partaken of a far inferior packed lunch for journos, you better believe I went back for seconds.