PETE’S PUNCHLINE – The National

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused all kinds of disruptions to sport and its related endeavors. Regardless of this all our athletes seeking to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics have been patiently going about their preparation no matter how badly impacted their training has been. Stay the course guys and good luck.
For those athletes who are struggling to find good competition, or any competition for that matter, to help them prepare for the Olympics (or the qualification events at least) this is a good time to think outside the box. Who knows, you might strike gold (no pun intended) with your innovative methods.
Team PNG will have only one slot for a track and field athlete and it’s between Toea Wisil and Rellie Kaputin.
Chelsea manager and legend Frank Lampard certainly is feeling the heat after picking up just four points from the last 18 available.
Knights fans, Mitch Pearce was always a suspect purchase. The man has shown himself to be far from the star you thought he was. He just proved that with an idiotic act recently which has seen him have to give up the captaincy and make headlines. It’s a shame he couldn’t be more like his old man.
I’m betting Phillie’s Ben Simmons will attempt a grand total of five three-pointers this season – so far he’s attempted one and got it versus the Magic on Dec 31, and that’s from seven games he’s played. Talk about a crux.
I like the Raptors but they are a rabble at the moment. While they have been competitive in their games thus far, they just seem to lack the match-winning plays/player and that composure. Pascal Siakam is a shadow of the player he was in the 2019-2020 season. Kyle Lowry and Fred van Vleet are undersized guards in this league and coach Nick Nurse needs to come up with a plan to get the team firing again or its the bottom of the bottom eight for them.
It’s a bit rich for Australian captain Tim Paine to give the on-field umpire a verbal spray after his appeal for lbw against Cheteshwar Pujara was turned down. An irate Paine blurted out, “Where’s the f…ing consistency?” after losing an appeal that had been sent up to the video umpire. Players, especially captains, should know better. He should be sanctioned for that. I mean really, are umpires allowed to say, “F… you, what do you want me to do about it f…wit.”
Will Pucovski (how about that for a name) made his long awaited debut for Australia on Thursday and scored 62 opening. Problem is Pucovski is prone to concussion – he’s had to withdraw from games or leave in the middle of them hurt a total of nine times in his professional career so far. He’s only 22. But he looks like a fine talent all the same. – PGTP ([email protected])