Madness • Heat • Public Address

<!doctype html> <html lang="en" class="no-js"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=0.96" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://publicaddress.net/heat/madness/" /> <meta property="og:image" content="/static/img/publicaddress-logo.png?k=1b4bab4db5" /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Public Address RSS Feed" href="/all.rss" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://publicaddress.net/heat/madness/"> <link rel="shortlink" href="https://pubadr.es/3c0ba9b8-88b0-466c-8667-a2ba1f340660"> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/static/img/favicon/favicon.ico?k=1b4bab4db5"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="/static/img/favicon/apple-touch-icon.png?k=1b4bab4db5"> <link rel="mask-icon" href="/static/img/favicon/safari-pinned-tab.svg?k=1b4bab4db5" color="#556766"> <link href="/css/c.css?set=css&v=1712884442000" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all"/> <link href="/css/c.css?set=css-layout&v=1712884442000" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all"/> <link href="/css/c.css?set=css-handheld&v=1712884442000" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="handheld"/> <link href="/css/c.css?set=css-print&v=1712884442000" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="print"/>    <script src="/static/runtime.1c2f96bd.js?k=1b4bab4db5"></script><link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/head.min.c4435313.css?k=1b4bab4db5" /><script src="/static/head.min.5ba2f511.js?k=1b4bab4db5"></script> <title>Madness • Heat • Public Address</title> <script src="/js/c.js?set=js&v=1712884442000" ></script> <script src="/static/js/typekit.js?k=1b4bab4db5"></script> <link href="/global.css?mod=20240414154549" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all"/> <link href="/css/c.css?set=css-blog&v=1712884442000" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all"/> <link href="/heat.css?mod=20240412132840" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all"/> <meta name="author" content="Rob O’Neill"> <script type="text/javascript"> $('#currentPageLink').val(location.pathname); var baseUrl = "/system"; </script> <script src="/static/system/js/forum.js?k=1b4bab4db5" type="text/javascript"></script> <script>var siteroot = "/";var csrf = "Z5P03kUHbAHG4hxz";</script> <script src="/js/c.js?set=js-header&v=1712884442000"></script> </head> <body class=" "> <script type="text/javascript" src="/js/c.js?set=osdetect&v=1712884442000" ></script> <div id="container" class="blog"> <header id="title" class="header"> <div class="header-content"> <a id="logo" href="/">Public Address, a community of blogs</a> </div> <a href="/heat/"><h1>Heat <em>by Rob O’Neill</em></h1></a> </header> <div id="main" class="tk hfeed"> <article class="hentry heat" id="post3c0ba9b8-88b0-466c-8667-a2ba1f340660"> <header> <div class="meta"> <time datetime="2003-02-17T08:57:53+1300" class="published updated" pubdate>8:57 Feb 17, 2003</time> </div> <h3 class="entry-title"><a href="/heat/madness/">Madness</a></h3> </header> <div class="entry-content prettify"> <p>Coming back to Auckland after a couple of years in Sydney it’s hard to believe New Zealand’s utter obsession with the Auld Mug. </p><p>People talk of the team members as they would of footballers. They can name the afterguard and the familiar apostates on the other side. Some I know who hate sport with a passion are now following yachting avidly.</p><p>No one dares stand up and shout: “It’s only yachting guys!”</p><p>Technology is the difference – the coverage has to be seen to be believed. On-board cameras and microphones, helicopter shots, shots from every angle, computer simulations to show the relative advantages, directions, air shadows and so forth.</p><p>And then there’s the marketing and the press. Controversy has bred the “Loyal” campaign and thousands wore this stamped to their faces and arms over the weekend. Huge Loyal banners were towed by plane around the city and out into the gulf. </p><p>In one Parnell gallery the Loyal poster has been framed and put in the window over the weekend like a work of art. Café blackboards wished the team luck. </p><p>With the score now 2- 0 to Alinghi, some are starting to think about the implications of losing, and by and large their prognosis is dark. They say it will be bad for the country, the economy, and especially bad for Auckland. Knowing the gloom that descends after an All Black defeat, many will be gutted.</p><p>But it is only yachting, guys. </p><p>Most people outside of New Zealand – and maybe now Switzerland – don’t even know it’s going on. In Australia, the country that first wrested the cup from the New Yorkers and our nearest neighbour, there is hardly any coverage at all.</p> <p></p><p>Over there there is only one sporting event on at the moment and that’s the Cricket World Cup. I have to phone my daughter to tell her what’s happening. </p><p>(Speaking of the Girlie, I left her with $200 for my week away. A few days ago I heard she'd run out of food. Apparently she spent all the money on clothes. Then she found some "insects" in the larder, threw a bunch of stuff out and sprayed the whole thing liberally with roach spray.)</p><p>The disconnect between the offshore interest in the cup – virtually nil – and the New Zealand obsession is stark. But then, like no other cup campaign, the New Zealand one is a national challenge and we have hitched our sense of nationhood and worth to the black boats. For better or worse.</p><p>It is not hard to imagine Auckland without the cup and in some respects it’s a better place. The cup is a psychological abberation and an economic distortion.</p><p>Cupless Auckland, painful as that may sound, is situation normal.</p> </div> <footer> <div class="meta"> <a class="icon share" href="#">Share</a> <ul class="share-options"> <li><input type="text" class="shortlink" value="https://pubadr.es/3c0ba9b8-88b0-466c-8667-a2ba1f340660"/></li> </ul> </div> </footer> </article>  </div> <aside id="centre" class="tk"> <h1 class="hidden">Navigation</h1> <section> <h2>Recent</h2> <nav class="recent slab"> <ul> <li><a href="/heat/thats-all-folks/">That's all folks</a></li> <li><a href="/heat/a-few-simple-things/">A few simple things</a></li> <li><a href="/heat/the-new-like-whatever/">The new, like, whatever</a></li> </ul> <footer> <ul class="dotted"> <li><a href="/heat/archive/">Heat Archive</a></li> </ul> </footer> </nav> </section> <nav id="blogs"> <h2>Blogs</h2> <ul> <li><a href="/hardnews/" class="hardnews">Hard News</a></li> <li><a href="/up-front/" class="upfront">Up Front</a></li> <li><a href="/cracker/" class="cracker">Cracker</a></li> <li><a href="/busytown/" class="busytown">Busytown</a></li> <li><a href="/onpoint/" class="onpoint">OnPoint</a></li> <li><a href="/southerly/" class="southerly">Southerly</a></li> <li><a href="/legalbeagle/" class="legalbeagle">Legal Beagle</a></li> </ul> <ul> <li><a href="/fieldtheory/" class="fieldtheory">Field Theory</a></li> <li><a href="/muse/" class="muse">Muse</a></li> <li><a href="/radiation/" class="radiation">Radiation</a></li> <li><a href="/notes-queries/" class="notesandqueries">Notes+Queries</a></li> <li><a href="/envirologue/" class="envirologue">Envirologue</a></li> <li><a href="/polity/" class="polity">Polity</a></li> </ul> <footer> <ul class="dotted"> <li class=" "><a href="/speaker/" class="speaker">Speaker</a></li> <li class=" "><a href="/capture/" class="capture">Capture</a></li> <li class=" "><a href="/feed/" class="feed">Feed</a></li> <li class=" "><a href="/access/" class="access">Access</a></li> <li class=" fullwidth"><a href="/access-granted/" class="accessgranted">Access Granted</a></li> <li class=" fullwidth"><a href="/great-new-zealand-argument/" class="gnza">Great New Zealand Argument</a></li> </ul> </footer> <div class="dotted"> <ul> <li><a href="/system/">PA.System</a></li> </ul> <ul> <li><a href="/radio/">PA.Radio</a></li> </ul> </div> </nav> <section id="search"> <h2>Search</h2> <form method="get" action="https://www.google.com/search" id="searchform"> <input type="text" name="q" id="searchfield" class="tk" value=""> <button id="searchsubmit" type="submit">Go</button> </form> </section> </aside> <aside id="right" class="tk"> <div class="group"> <section> <h2>Links</h2> <nav> <ul> <li> <a href="/about-heat/">About Heat</a></li> <li> <a href="http://www.leafsalon.co.nz/">LeafSalon</a></li> <li> <a href="http://norightturn.blogspot.com/">No Right Turn</a></li> <li> <a href="http://www.nzpundit.com/">NZ Pundit</a></li> <li> <a href="http://mediacow.blogspot.com/">MediaCow</a></li> <li> <a href="http://johnhoward.blogspot.com/">John Howard's Weblog</a></li> </ul> </nav> </section> </div> </aside> <footer id="footer"> <p>©2002-2024 Public Address, all rights reserved. <a href="/disclaimer-1/">Disclaimer</a>. <span class="cactuslab">Made by <a href="http://www.cactuslab.com/">Cactuslab</a>. 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Madness • Heat • Public Address