Aussie Rules #3 The American Pie And The Son Of The Macedonian Marvel

On this day two years ago I satirically declared Melbourne, Australia’s sporting capitol, dead. I did that because stupid lockdowns deprived Melbourne of the Australian Rules Grand Final in the birthplace of the game. The ridiculous banning and incarceration of Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open tennis tournament last year strengthened that assertion.

But the sheer love of sport in the hearts of the Australian people, especially Melburnians, might offer some consolations.

Aussie Rules football is, in Melbourne, undoubtedly the best game in the world. (We think so.) It is, for many of us, our religion. (For me personally, it is a part of the way God manifests divinity through us, both men and women, as beings made in God’s image.)

I write this post a couple of hours before the count in the Brownlow Medal, the most prestigious individual award in Australian football. In this award, the umpires cast the votes for the fairest and best player. Favourite to win tonight is twenty year old Collingwood player, Nick Daicos, seen below and above celebrating last Friday’s preliminary final victory with the “American Pie”, Mason Cox. (Collingwood are known as the Magpies or the ‘Pies. Cox was recruited in 2014-15 from the United States. In America, Cox was part of a state championship soccer team at high school and played 57 minutes of university basketball for the Oklahoma Cowboys, scoring 7 points.)

Both these men are crucial to Collingwood’s chances this week in Saturday’s upcoming Grand Final.

Daicos is the son of the Macedonian Marvel, Peter Daicos, who revolutionised the way small forwards kicked goals. Nick, at this stage of his career , appears to have achieved more than his legendary dad at the same age.

Mason Cox, at his best, has a fierce determination to win the ball. We call this “attack on the footy”. This manly sporting spirit does his home state of Texas proud. The chant of “U-S-A !!!!! U-S-A !!!!!” often greets his wonderful spirit.

Go Pies !!!!!!!

Geoff Fox, September 25, 2023, Down Under