Aussie.Rules. Football. This is one of theinternational sports we enjoy following in this space. In October, when the Grand Final has been played,there is a sense of loss, when play begins again in Autumn (southern Autumn) theseason stretches out for months. Thatseemingly endless season has reached an end, as this weekend, with the 23weekend of league play, is the last. TheGrand Finals "the playoffs" begin soon, but for now, the greatpageant, and contest, that is the Aussie Rules Football campaign is closing inan exciting way. Theconcluding weekend began last night, with a contest between two teams who hadlittle hope for anything but glory. TheWestern Bulldogs lost to the Hawthorn Hawks, 15.9 (99) to 13.12 (90) at theEtihad Stadium. Fans will remember theexultation with which the Western Bulldogs took ultimate glory last year,winning the league for the first time since the 1950s. Apparently, that energy did not translateinto fresh glory for the long season. TheHawks sent retiring champion Luke Hodge out on a winning note, ending theWestern Bulldogs season and Robert Murphy's career. This emotional night saw the retirement of Bulldog'sMatthew Boyd. With little on the linethe match became a celebration of football and of these three great careers. Hodge, Murphy and Boyd were carried from thestadium side by side through a guard of honor. Still, the Bulldogs will have some soul searching, as they playedwithout that special spark, and theybecame the first team in some time to miss the finals the year after theirflag. The Bulldogs were well served by severalplayers, but, like their season, they just couldn't get their game going forsustained periods and never looked convincing, finishing the season with morequestions than answers. Thisspace's pick for today's action is an epic clash between numbers two and threein the standings, as the number 3 Geelong Cats take on the number 2 GreaterWestern Sydney Giants at the Simonds Stadium. Over their last five meetings,the teams are roughly even. It was just two weeks ago the Cats' run to thefinals was precariously placed by injuries of key players. The cats had unexpected wins over Richmond in round 21 and then Collingwood on lastSaturday. Their wins have sealed a top-four finish, and a victory on Saturdaynight would catapult them over Greater Western Sydney and into second.Meanwhile, the Giants can finish top with a win (if Adelaide loses to WestCoast), after winning their past four games. The Giants have yet to take a winat Simonds Stadium, so the Cats are favored, but it should be a marvelouscontest, emblemic of the best of Aussie Rules Football on the final weekend ofregular play. Wrestlingis one of the most ancient sports still contested in the world today. So called "professional wrestling"definitely has its place and fans, and is considered by many a positivecontribution to the sport. Traditionalforms of wrestling are sometimes eclipsed by "professionalwrestling," but they remain in existence and must be preserved as a livingand progressive manifestation of the athletic games of ancient Greece. The2017 World Wrestling Championships are being contested this weekend, in France,without the fanfare, publicity, or funding of "professionalwrestling," but with the professional and amateur athletes who contest thesport in the traditional way. They are the14th edition of the combined championships and began August 21 in Paris at the Accor Hotels Arena. They wrap up tomorrow, Sunday the 27th. This is a combined event, held each yearsince 2005. Until 2003, each of thethree styles represented had their own tournaments. The Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling tournamentbegan in 1904, and the Men's Freestyle Wrestling tournament began in 1951. TheWomen's Freestyle championships were first staged in 1987. These all ended in 2003, and after a pausefor the 2004 Olympics, the combined events started in 2005. The is the seniors championship. The juniorschampionship was contested earlier this month in Tampere, Finland, and thecadets championship will be contested next month in Athens, Greece. Inteam competition so far, the United States leads in freestyle, Russia inGreco-Roman, and Japan in the women's freestyle division, where they have aresounding and convincing dominance, having almost swept the gold medals. The team competition is decided by points, notmedal count. Overall, Japan leads the medal count, followedby Turkey, Armenia, the United States, with Belarus and Germany tied for fifthplace. Russia is second to Japan in theoverall medals count, 8 to 7, but lacks a gold medal to move it up the medalschart. Each participating nation was able to send 24wrestlers to contest this year's tournament, readers of this space may recognize such greatwrestlers as Georgia's Geno Petriashvili and Hungary's Balázs Kiss. -- Posted By Rex to SR at 8/26/2017 12:10:00 AM -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/omnisport. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
