3 of a Kind???

At the moment, I feel somewhat sorry for this guy.

This is Benji Marshall.  Captain of New Zealand Rugby League Team, five-eighth for the West Tigers NRL Team & is/was the current 'face' of the NRL comp of 2011.  He's currently on charges for assault after he allegedly split the lip of another male outside a Golden Arches restaurant in the wee hours of Saturday morning.  Now I'm not condoning the use of violence and I realise these sportsmen are role models for our kids (hey, we're big AFL fans & don't follow League but my kids know who he is because they see him on Foxtel doing an "Undercover Coach" segment) but jeez ... these guys must find it tough to just be themselves.  I was listening to talkback radio yesterday and some people were ringing in with what I thought were quite ludicrous comments;

"He shouldn't be out that late at night" - um, folks, the guy is 26.
"He shouldn't have been drinking." - um, again, the guy is 26.  He's allowed to if he wants.
"He gets paid lots of money." - Yes he does but that shouldn't be part of the argument I believe.
"He should have just walked away." - Well I daresay that's been crossing his mind of late, but it's easier said than done when you're apparently being called a black *#*# who should #*#* off back to NZ.

Now if you haven't already thrown up your arms at where my sympathies are at the moment, I'm going to throw another one at you ... flame pants on here.

I feel a tad, that's just a teensy bit, sorry for this guy.

Yes, it's Matthew Newton.  Australian actor and son of Bert & Patti Newton.  Please don't hate me.  Again, I'm not condoning what he's done over the past few years and I'm not in favour of violence, particularly domestic violence against women, but I do somewhat feel a tad sorry for him.  Matthew has obviously got a lot to sort out in his head & has his demons to overcome before he can get well, but there are people out there who are certainly not making things easy for him.  Newton's solicitor claims a journo from a Sydney newspaper went on a national campaign calling on people to "smack him in the mouth".  Other media apparently jumped on the bandwagon & in December last year Newton was king hit as he left his house, leaving him with black eyes, a broken nose & needing stitches. Surely we're better than that people?

So if you're still reading this, I'm hoping that you might be "with me" on the next one if you haven't so far shared the same feelings as I.

This person I do not feel sorry for.

Yes, Brain McFadden.  Ex-member of Irish boy band Westlife, recording artist, fiance of Delta Goodrem & the biggest gobshite getting around on 2 legs at the moment (notice how I tried my best to find the dorkiest photo of him ;-).  I don't know what it is about Bri, but I've never warmed to him.  He's always seemed a little disingenuous to me.  Maybe not to you. Of late though, he certainly hasn't made it easy on himself.  Firstly there was the story about an incident onboard a flight from LA to Sydney where McFadden was allegedly drunk & abusive.  Twitter went mad & Delta went on the defense of her man, but how she can stand by him now, I do not know.

If you don't already know, Brian has released a single called "Just the Way You Are - Drunk at the Bar" (now there's a hit title if ever I've heard one) and apparently it's about how he finds it cute when the love of his life, Delta, gets a little tipsy & giggly ... surely there's no material in that to be a hit song?  Now if I were Delta, I'd be a little bit miffed that he wanted to tell the world about it, but I'd be livid if he chose to do so via a song with words such as;


I like you just the way you are, drunk as shit dancing at the bar / I Like it and I can’t wait to get you home so I do some damage.


I like you just the way you are, drunk in the back seat of my car / I Like it and I can’t wait to take you home so I can take advantage.


Smooth Bri, real smooth!  And more importantly, Delta ... are you cool with this???

There have been a lot of people up in arms about this song, and rightly so.  It's shite!  The lyrics, as you can see from above, are disgusting & offensive, not to mention misleading, confusing & potentially dangerously influential to young people.  I do believe Brian when he says the song's not about date rape, but it sure is wading into some murky territory.  How Brian's record label didn't think this song was inappropriate astounds me and I don't think you can use the thinking of any publicity is good publicity either.  We're a nation that loves a tall poppy & since you're not quite "one of us" yet, Brian, no matter who you cosy up to, we will cut you down quicker than you can say Pog mo Thoin!

Now here's a heads-up, Brian.  We Aussies love the Irish.  Most of us have some Irish ancestry in our family tree.  We've also embraced many things Irish; Ned Kelly, St Patrick's Day, Dave Allen, Guinness, Irish themed pubs, Jim Stynes, Angela's Ashes & Jimeoin, but you ... you're pushing the friendship with all of this malarchy!