A Fallen Idol

Imagine if the idol you had supported and followed for over half your life turned out to be lie. For me that nightmare has been unfolding watching one of my heroes, Lance Armstrong’s reputation be destroyed in front of the worlds media. This is a difficult post for me to write mainly because a part of me is still finding it hard to accept what’s happened. For a man who was an example of triumph over adversity he is now nothing more than a fallen idol.
I have virtually worshiped Lance since I was a little girl, at the time I was amazed at how one man could go up against some of the tallest mountains in Europe for hours on end while fighting against some of the best cyclists on the planet. But not just that I admired him for his cancer fight and his ability to come back from the brink. When I met Lance at Adelaide’s Tour Down Under back in 2009 he gave me one of his yellow “Livestrong” bands and I have not taken it off since that day. I still remember my first reaction when I met him, I was simply in awe. I never thought that I would ever meet someone with Lance’s reputation in my home town.
His work with Livestrong was legendary, and he claimed it was one of the main reasons that he came back out of retirement. The black & yellow wording is permanently intertwined with Lance and for those now associated with the charity it is now a poisoned chalice. As I write this news reports are coming through that Lance has stepped down as chairman, but it doesn’t matter. There isn’t a person out there who doesn’t know Lance created LiveStrong, he might not be a part of the charity anymore but his echo still remains.  
It’s still hard thinking back to the mass hysteria that Lance’s arrival caused in Adelaide back in 2009. The amount of people that were there waiting with me to meet him, holding everything from yellow jerseys to photos. I wonder if Lance came back to Adelaide now how many of those same people would be there to meet him.
Cycling had always been a tarnished sport, there isn’t a year that goes by where you don’t hear of someone testing positive to something but it always had seemed Lance was the shining light amongst a sea of controversy. The amount of times over the years he has said no to drugs or don’t do drugs seems like a joke now, but at the time I loved him for it. With what has happened in recent weeks it now makes it harder than ever to be able to sit there and enjoy cycling without that nagging feeling that not everyone who is racing is clean.
Of course drugs will always be around sport but this incident proves that nobody is safe and to always expect the unexpected: even your idol that you have supported no matter what could be the cheat that you so despise.

An Open letter to Viktoria

Dear Vik.

I am putting this on my blog because honestly I want the world to see it. In such a short period of time you have done what few have managed to do, and that is to bring light to so many dark places in people’s lives. I have seen the lowest points of humanity in the last few years, I’ve seen people who have barely been able to hang on, hoping just hoping to see that tiny ray of light that they need to keep going.  And you by far and away are that light that helps so many; I won’t name names but the amount of people who have told me privately what you have done for them is endless.
No-one has a bad word to say about you and all I ever hear is the same thing, your positive mindset and your ability to say the right thing when someone badly needs to hear it just proves what an incredible person you are.

I haven’t had the best time of things myself but I now look to you as someone to inspire too. I do my best to try and help others despite the little experience I have. And I just hope that I can half the impact you have had on people by just doing the small little things that matter.
People like you are rare and extremely special; the ones who genuinely care no matter if they are a friend or a stranger off the street are people who should be treasured. And the fact that you have done so much for people that I consider important just makes you even more important to me.
You are the friend that people need and the sister that some have never had.
They say certain darkness is needed to see the stars; well you are those stars, brightly shining above the heads of those who need it most. God bless you.

Love Karissa

RIP John McCarthy

The word tragedy is bandied around too often when it comes to sport.  It’s a tragedy when a team loses or when a player gets injured and is out for 12 months but in truth these things a trivial when in comparison to life itself. Today Port Adelaide AFL player John McCarthy lost his life after it’s believed he fell from a balcony while holidaying in Las Vegas. At the young age of just 22 it truly is a tragic end to the life of a guy who was just getting his AFL career back on track.
John came to Port Adelaide through the preseason draft after his chances at Collingwood had been limited. When I heard he had ended up at Port I wasn’t surprised, the club had a habit of turning players careers around with Jay Schultz and David Rodan both examples of this.
While I don’t support Port Adelaide I absolutely loved watching John play, he played all but 1 game this season and had well and truly cemented himself into the Port Adelaide side. And I could see that he was going to be an important cog in the Port machine for years to come.
I met John once at one of Port’s early training sessions this season; he was on his own warming up so I decided to go over and say hi and welcome him to Adelaide. He was genuinely appreciative of my kind words and I spent the next 15 minutes having a chat to him. What struck me then was how own to earth he was, he was willing to stand there and answer any question and sign any autograph that a little kid asked for.
 But I guess what I liked more was his positive attitude about life in general.
As football fans we can bitch and moan about how bad our team is doing, about how the umpires have done us an injustice but today’s events put that all into perspective. When we say oh well there is always next season for our teams, there is no next season for John. Time has stopped for John’s family, friends and his team mates and while life goes on for the rest of us incidents like this make you realise that tragedy can strike anyone. At 39 games Australia will never see John play football again but I know he shall never be forgotten.
Rest in Peace John, you were a genuinely lovely guy and it a pleasure just to have spoken to you once. And I send my heartfelt condolences to John’s family, his friends and to the Port Adelaide Football Club and its supporters as a whole. We as AFL fans are all grieving with you.

The Trolls claim another victim

When you grow up as part of generation Y it’s only natural that you use social media on a daily basis. Both Facebook and Twitter have become a part of the social fabric and too not use them almost seems unheard of. But sadly there will always be a dark side to using the internet and what has happened to Charlotte Dawson is just one example. I have always had the upmost respect for Charlotte, she says what she thinks and normally doesn’t hold back, you need people like her in the world because without them society would accept the crap it’s fed and not have a voice. She stuck her neck out over the last week and called out those trolls who have been causing a campaign of hate against her and for that I thought she was extremely brave. But instead of the wave dissipating the hate turned into a tsunami and not even the strongest soul would have been able to handle it.
Despite how much I love using social media such as twitter I hate the fact that so many have fallen victim to the trolls that are spawned from it. Celebrities in particular cop the brunt of it because they are in the public eye but just like everyone else they are human and deserve the same respect as everyone else. I’ve been a victim of internet bullying in the past and at the time I wasn’t sure what to do or how to get out of the situation and in the end it very nearly cost me my life.  I tried to ignore the trolls I even at one point tried to reason with them but it made no difference they are the ones who think they have all the power and I saw no way out.
Sadly when it comes to this sort of thing there is no real solution. You can try and catch these trolls, name them and shame them but as the saying goes when you cut the head off the snake 2 more grow back in its place. There are always going to be more out there lying in wait to catch you out and it doesn’t surprise me that many celebrities ignore social media or even fan mail now for fear of hate being thrown at them.
People wonder why trolls do this, why they try and hurt others from behind their keyboard. The answer is sadly very simple, because they take pleasure in seeing someone else’s pain, they love it when they see someone all but give up and enjoy the victory of a battle that was only ever one sided. But a part of me wonders if these trolls really understand the damage that they cause, if they realise that the person reading these tweets or facebook messages is dying inside.
Charlotte my heart goes out to you, what you have had to endure is truly disgusting and I hope that you will fight back and come out stronger from this hell you have been thrown into, because you are so much better than all of them put together.

Channel 9 and The Olympics FAIL Coverage

As a passionate Australian sports fan the Olympics is one event I refuse to leave the house for. Over 2 weeks it is a symbol of national pride and is the result of 4 years of hard work. This is also the time where those household names go into folklore and where complete unknowns become stars. The Olympics is something I cherish personally because I am one of those types who appreciate every sport no matter what it is, but when it comes to watching the Olympics that has become a battle in itself, slowly slipping down in quality as the years have gone on. Free to air television stations pay huge amounts of money to show one of the biggest events on earth but clearly have no interest in the public when they do bid for it.
Four years ago I sat on my bed watching Steve Hooker jump for Gold in Beijing, back then Channel 7 had the broadcast rights and made someone like myself wait till nearly midnight before actually showing his winning jump. Back then I was annoyed and upset by the coverage that 7 had shown and delaying certain sports become almost ridiculous. When I heard a few months later I heard that Channel 9 had won the rights to not only the 2012 London Olympics but the Vancouver Winter Olympics I was overjoyed because I thought no-one could do worse. Oh how wrong was I, not only have 9 produced a worse coverage but it is boarding on a farce.  Watching the 2010 Winter Olympics was beyond painful and I guess that’s why my expectations for London were so low.
Swimming has always been one of the highest profile sports for Australia and the media scrutiny leading up to the games; especially on swimmer James Magnussen was unbelievable. Having won gold at the world championships last year the Australian media expected not only gold but the 100m Freestyle world record to fall. Neither of those things happened, instead James came an outstanding second, only being touched out on the wall. For his first Olympics and at just 21 to get a silver medal I thought was a fantastic achievement but instead channel 9 and its media made out as if it was a failure. Not only did they repeat his disappointed interview afterwards but 9 thought to also make reference to his effort in the 4x100m relay from 2 days earlier. The edited package made it look like it was James fault for us coming 4^th and not giving the team any credit for putting up a good fight to make the final in the first place. The pressure that 9 are placing on the athletes and highlighting failures or skipping over certain results (e.g. The Rowing) is pathetic. We should be celebrating the fact they have made it as far as they have instead of expecting Gold all the time.
One of the things that bugged me about Channel 7’s coverage 4 years ago was their incessant need to chop and change sports, but what I didn’t expect was 9 to be worse than that. For the majority of the first week we have seen only snippets of sports whenever an Australian has been competing before quickly moving onto something else. I am a football fan and despite the fact Australia failed to qualify a men’s team I had hoped to see a game or 2. Spain, Argentina & Brazil had brought some of their strongest teams to London and it would have been wonderful to see. Instead 9 had failed to mention the football or show anything except a tiny highlight of a women’s game on Day 1. I know 9 will probably show the Gold Medal match, but I wanted to see the games to that point.
Channel 7 did do one thing right though 4yrs ago, they gave SBS the less high profile sports such as fencing and Handball to show and at least gave them some coverage. Also SBS was good enough to respect the “no ads during play” policy and only played an ad during half time. Channel 9 has yet to show a single fencing match or a handball game, I’ll admit neither of these sports are of a great interest to me but that is not the point. There would be plenty of people out there who love those sports who deserve to see some of it at least.
Channel 9’s need to show commercials every 5mins is another thing that is getting to me, but then again it’s no different to any other show that they broadcast. I get that the Olympics is a commercial product and sponsors need their moment but to constantly play Coles & Swiss ads every 5mins gets to a point where I just change channels. But even when channel 9 is showing their coverage the amount of stuff ups has been endless. Getting commentators who are not knowledgeable in the sport they are commentating makes for almost excruciating viewing. Michael Slater knows his cricket but to expect him to comment on diving is pathetic, at times he seems to be hoping they flop into the pool and some of the questions he asks are ridiculous.
 But then of course last night took the cake, cycling legend Anna Meares was lining up to race in the heats of the Kieran and in the same heat was her great rival Victoria Pendleton. These 2 women racing each other was one of the things i had been looking forward to for months. But just as they were about to start they immediately cut to an ad break claiming that we would understand as they had special guests in the studio. When they came back it was Prince William & Harry talking about the Olympics! Now I have nothing against the princes but they could have recorded the interview to play later. There was no need to show it live. Many people had got up or stayed up to watch Anna race and they were treated to this instead. In this case my father said it best, “Channel 9 have had their priorities wrong from Day 1” and I agree.
I think everyone’s feelings can be summed up perfectly by a post I read on Channel 9’s Facebook page last night. “Your channel is the reason I got Foxtel” and it’s very true. I personally can’t afford Foxtel but I know its coverage is head and shoulders above what 9 is serving up. But hopefully by the time the next winter Olympics in Russia comes around that shall be rectified.

Thank You Rachael :) (@rachaeleahcar)

So today I finally got to meet one of the 3 amazing people whose music has meant a lot to me over the last 4 months. I have had the pleasure of speaking to Rachael on Twitter for several months but I was unsure what I would be able to say. I will admit when I’m nervous my right hand shakes so bad I have to shove it in my pocket and it did get that bad today but I was impressed at how I managed to not make a fool out of myself. Today was worth the crappy bus ride and the standing in line and being pushed and knocked over just so I could have a few moments. They say music is a powerful healer and I firmly believe that, it saved my life 4 years ago and it’s helped keep my head above water now.

I must say I had my fingers crossed Rachael would sing La Vie en Rose, I have loved the song for a very long time and fell in love with the song even more after watching the 2007 film of the same name. I got plenty of looks from people when I was able to sing along while others just watched but that’s what happens when you have heard the song close to 150 + times. And I have to say I thought Rachael was an incredible singer on The Voice & from her YouTube videos but getting to hear her live is something else altogether. I have no words to describe how good she is other than she is a gift.

But I think what I loved was her appreciation for everyone, there are many who could have been out off in her situation but not Rachael. And that’s why I stand by the comments I made back after Rachael’s blind audition, she has the same love & appreciation of the fans as Delta. And I have the faith that her career will be just as long as her coach.
Thanks Rachael for making these holidays a memorable one, it certainly made up for my airport drama last week. You’re an angel and ill support your career for the rest of my days and that’s a guarantee