The public transport issue has gotten completely out of hand for the Victorian Labor Government, and to Joe Public, Lynne Kosky is surely the deadest of mortal mallards.

Don't tell The Age though. It still blames Jeff. In it's front page story yesterday on the train chaos (not available online, although there's a flavour of it here) the paper reports:

Ms Kosky admitted the rail system was not coping with the heat.

"The extreme heat is having and impact on our tracks and trains," she said, pointing out that the circumstances were extraordinary.

''This is the hottest heatwave Melbourne has experienced in 100 years,"said Ms Kosky, who on Tuesday said "decades" of underinvestment in Melbourne's rail system had left it vulnerable to failure. She has been responsible for Melbourne's public transport system since December 2006.

There's more outs there for Kosky than the bottom of a Bangladeshi batting order. The claim about a one-in-100-year heatwave is simply preposterous, particularly given that when she made it, Melbourne had experienced a "heat wave" of 25C, 34C and 43C when Kosky uttered it.

Then there's Kosky's self serving line about decades of under investment, and The Age's helpful reminder that when it comes to trams and trains, she's a mere Janet-come-lately.

Compare and contrast this to the treatment of the Opposition:

Ted Baillieu - whose Liberal Party has yet to release any policies on how it would fix Melbourne's public transport problems - said the Brumby Government had failed to spend money on the rail system. "There has been a failure to invest, and there has been a failure to focus on the needs of those who use the transport system," he said.

Mr Baillieu would not answer questions about whether the previous Kennett Government had been instrumental in downgrading the transport system. Instead he turned to blame back on to Premier John Brumby.

How unreasonable of Ted. Can someone please remind The Age that this Government has been in power for nine-and-a-half years?

UPDATE 9.14pm Try and blame Jeff for this. What a mess.

Dear readers, I suppose you have noticed too that when you click on a link around here, it automatically opens said link in a new window?

It's kind of annoying, no?

I would like to say this slick-looking site was all my own doing; in fact it was pilfered and customised by yours truly, with some very, shall we say, rudimentary html skills employed in the process.

I quite like how the links on the sidebars open in new windows, but for everything else (comments, in particular, and clicking on the "home" link at the top left) it's just bloody annoying.

Any clues on how I might fix it up?

First things first. I quite like Dan Lonergan. He did his apprenticeship in Perth on ABC radio in the late 90s. He replaced the late, great, Clint Grybas, who replaced the late, great George Grjlusich. Come to think of it, it was Wally Foreman who replaced Lonergan, and he's late and great too. Dan, look out. Clint "Tiger" Wheeldon, look out too. Working with Glen Mitchell can be dangerous.

I grew up in Perth, and therefore, the fact that Dan did a stretch in Dullsville (his Saturday arvo WAFL calls were particularly notable) virtually makes him a West Australian. It's the same logic that sees us claim Gilly. (But the reverse need not apply. We claim Simon Katich too.)

Aaaanyway...

I reckon Dan Lonergan is a very capable and professional sports broadcaster. This does not, however, mean I want to hear him call the tennis. Tell me the following is good radio:

Murray serves... deep in the corner. Granoyers returns. Murray-forehand-cross-court-Granoyers-backhand-slice-Murray-top-spin-forehand-Granoyers-forehand-Murray-forehand-Granoyers-forehand-Murray-forehanddowntheline-Granoyers-backhandslice-Murray-forehand-Granoyers-backhand-Murray-forehand-Granoyers-forehand-Murray-forehand-Granoyers-forehandintothenet... Murray wins the point... 15-love...

It is not.

Yet on and on it goes, every afternoon and evening for two weeks. I suppose it spares us Tony Delroy's quiz. For small mercies we should be thankful.

But I just can't help but think that whoever is in charge of these things should rethink live play-by-play tennis as a viable radio proposition.

Apropos of this*, The Half Back Flank presents part 1 of a continuing series entitled "A Blight on Australian Society".

1. The Fanatics

Not funny, not creative, not cool. Not even, I hypothesise, actual sports fans. Something about the dressing up and the over-the-top green-and-gold gives me the creeps. It also suggests the prime objective is to get on telly, rather than watch the contest at hand.

Plus the chants. Contrived. Pommy soccer fans chant and sing, and because they've always done it, they're quite good at it. American sports fans are told when to chant and cheer by the playing of too-loud rock and rap, and the jumbotron. It would be awfully cheesey if tried here (anyone been to a Twenty20 international lately?) but in a Seppo ballpark or a football stadium, it works beautifully; it's part of the sporting culture.

The Fanatics? Not so much. It's contrived, but worse, these clowns celebrate boorish behaviour, like the Aussie Aussie Aussie chant** and reinforce negative stereotypes about Australian sports fans.

Just stop it please.

To be continued.

* Thanks to Tony from After Grog Blog for the link. Talk about efficiency. He obviously checks his referrer logs. I guess this means I have to keep writing.

** When travelling overseas with a particular group of mates, we have only one rule. Any person who participates in an Aussie Aussie Aussie chant is on the next Flying Kangaroo home.

And while we're on sports that aren't all that interesting, Lance Armstrong is in Australia at the moment - you hadn't heard? - and is creating all sorts of warm and fuzzy picture opportunities, like this one in a South Australian hospital.

It seems 37-year-old Lance of Yellow Wristband can do no wrong in this unlikely-looking comeback when it comes to the Aussie media coverage of his tour through the Adelaide hills. Don't put the Herald Sun's Trevor Grant in that category:

WHEN we were children the best way to avoid anything horrible or uncomfortable was to pretend it did not exist.

As far as I know the people who run the South Australian Government are all grown-ups but they seem to have borrowed this tried and true method of avoidance.

From Premier Mike Rann down, they have simply chosen to ignore some inconvenient realities as they go weak at the knees in the presence of cycling's controversial champion, Lance Armstrong.

And it's not just the politicians who prefer to look the other way as they preen themselves over the appearance of Armstrong, secured at an estimated cost of $1 million to the taxpayer.

Ask about drugs as the Tour Down Under cyclists whiz past in the Adelaide Hills this week and you are liable to be flung under wheels.

Grant, being a proud Victorian, slings some gratuitous insults at fawning Croweaters (this is to his credit). But the beatification of St Lance has been a pursuit indulged by all media across the country. Not that I've been watching all that closely, but the 7.30 Report has been the only media outlet I've seen that's really raised the fact that an Armstrong urine sample from the 1999 Tour de France allegedly contained the banned endurance enhancing substance EPO. As Dr Mike Ashenden, an expert in blood doping, told the ABC the other night:

I think that Lance Armstrong's era is unquestionably associated with drug use.

It seems like following the Tour de Phil late at night on SBS gets trendier every year. July is now accompanied not just by freezing cold weather, but boring know-it-alls who drone on and on about how the Aussies go OK on the plains but get eaten alive by the Europeans in the mountains. Even when Cadel came so close last year (accompanied by media coverage normally reserved for future Test openers from NSW who are yet to face a first class delivery) I just can't get excited about a sport that's been based on cheating for at least the last 20 years.

On the other hand, Major League Baseball (greatest. game. ever.) is an entirely different story.

Hypocrite!

Was listening to Derryn Hinch on 3AW this arvo on the drive home from work when the bearded one crossed to the Strayan Open.

Aussie Jelena Dokic had just despatched her first round opponent, prompting AW's sports reporter Shane McGuiness to comment on the circumstances of her comeback (apparently - I don't follow the tennis much - she has been Much Maligned™ of late).

Opined McGuiness: "It's a terrific result for Jelena, the perfect start, and it will certainly silence her distractors."

Indee... er, what was I saying?

Hi. I guess this thing works now.

Welcome.

This blog has no big plan, no grand raisin d'extra. It's simply a spot for me to write about stuff that occurs to my tiny brain. You can probably expect observations on stuff in the Australian media, and the sporting milieu.

Or it could just be rubbish. Who can tell. Won't you join me!