Round 1 - Cats tame the Lions ...

I'm not sure if taking my digital camera to the footy and reporting on each game will be a weekly fixture, but here goes. Yesterday was April 1, but the only fools at Kardinia Park (I still refuse to call it Skilled Stadium) were the umpires who looked like martians in their green uniforms and Geelong's once almighty opponent, the Brisbane Lions. It's hard to imagine that this was (sort of) the same team who appeared in four consecutive grand finals, winning three of them, not too long ago.

"Geelong slaughters Lions" was the headline in the esteemed broadsheet and the final score was Geelong 17.13 (115) to the Lions' 5.8 (38). It was an awesome display that saw the Cats take advantage of the wind and their trust in each other to seal the win by halftime in this man's humble opinion.

Poppa Blog and I took up our seats in Bay 1 of the new Hickey Stand (the old Hickey Stand is now the Doug Wade Stand, go figure) and, weatherwise, it was a typical winter's day in G-Town. Rain, wind and the occasional burst of sun through otherwise grey skies. While the other JB, Jimmy Bartel, surely would have secured Brownlow votes, my dad (who your remember from Christmas) was also best-on-ground for bringing the Thermos filled with spicy tomato soup, some cheese and bacon rolls as well as a big pack of Smith's chicken chips, which were mainly devoured by yours truly well before three-quarter time. They were washed down by a few plastic pots of Carlton Draught bought at the bar for $5 each.

Next week, it's back to K-Park to play the Kangaroos. Hopefully, the spicy tomato soup and a Geelong victory will again be on tap. I might see Blackie, my old primary and high school buddy there. We caught up yesterday and were both very pleased by the final result.