Munro’s blazing bat demands attention
OPINION: Richie Mccaw is one of the most overrated All Blacks in history. The Black Caps are only playing well because they’ve had weak opposition. The Warriors should be kicked out of the NRL. A doctor has been jailed for 40 to 175 years in the US for abusing hundreds of female athletes.
You were probably having a lot of fun there, ranting away at my highly flammable comments until you got to the last line. That line has the yuck factor. You’d probably prefer it if it quietly took itself off to the world news pages where it belongs. It’s like a back trying to sneak into the sanctity of the scrum; they just don’t belong.
But ref, I would like a rule change. If the news is about someone or thing in sport, it should walk straight to the midfield of the sports pages, no matter what the subject. And yet the stomach-churning story of Dr Larry Nassar has struggled to even make the main news and the possible reasons deserve to be discussed.
Last week 54-year-old Nassar, who was sentenced yesterday after admitting he molested athletes, complained to the judge that listening to so many women testify was bad for his mental health.
I’m not surprised he felt ill. It must’ve been a shock to hear from the all victims of the despicable sexual assaults he’s carried out for decades at Michigan State University and as doctor to the US Olympic gymnastics team. He probably lost count but he’ll get better at it now more than 100 women and girls are suing Nassar. Michigan State and USA Gymnastics are defendants in many of the lawsuits and deny ignoring ‘‘red flags’’ and complaints over the years. You would think this would be one of the biggest sports stories in US history and yet it’s battling for space with NFL updates and snow storms. Why?
Before you get your jock straps in a tangle, I’m not going to blame this on most media sports departments not being womaned by women but manned by men. With endless yarns about team training, newsrooms are usually champing at the bit for controversy or criminal activity. And, according to reports, the courtroom is packed with journalists; they are there and paying attention.
Coverage did pick up, but only when former Olympian’s testified which only reinforces the reason why so many went unheard for so long.
Certainly it’s not the first highprofile sexual abuse case in America.
Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was found guilty of the serial molestation of boys in 2012. Only last year Baylor University was accused of the mishandling of rape allegations involving its football team. Is gymnastics suffering from minority sport-itis? Would they get more coverage if they created an ultra-extreme version that involves large men in crash helmets?
There’s an even more uncomfortable, yet possible, explanation. Could it be because in this case the victims are young women and we’re just used to seeing them victimised in society? It’s been normalised.
What percentage of movies show a man being abused by a woman?
Apart from Wonder Woman, when do the ladies get to be the hero instead of the victim? It messes with our idea of what makes a real man, especially in the big, tough sporting arena. Nassar was also a doctor so they trusted him. Sexual abuse of girls and boys horrifies us, it’s just easier to pretend it’s not happening in sport.
This story does belong in the sports pages. There are many people who never stray into the news section so, like hiding vegies in a kid’s meal, editors need to slide these news events in where they can. As athletes, fans and parents, we need to know what’s going on or this nasty maul will collapse on top of us. We all have to be ready to blow the whistle.
Colin Munro simply must be the man in most demand. His current form screams: Buy me! He’s arguably the hottest batsman in international Twenty20 cricket right now and deserves to be paid accordingly when the hammer comes down on his name at the IPL auction.
His summer form in the abbreviated game is irresistible. Check his run of scores against the world champion West Indies and respected Pakistan: 53, 66, 104, 49*.
The century made him the first batsmen to score three T20 tons in internationals. There’s also some decent efforts in the ODIS to back up this impressive streak.
What makes Munro such an asset is his bat blazes at the top of the innings. Starts are so important in T20s, whether setting a total or initiating a chase. No one is doing it better right now than the 30-year-old lefthander.
There were fears that the aggressive Black Caps batting might lose some momentum when Brendon Mccullum pulled stumps on his international career.
Mccullum had set the standards with his trademark approach from ball one.
But in a game where the turnover of players can be alarming, Munro picked up the challenge and it’s now debatable who is the better batsman between he and Mccullum.
Munro’s ability to mix traditional shots with innovative ones, play with power or with pushes, makes him a nightmare for opposition bowlers.
He will punish a bad ball accordingly but can also send a good delivery to the boundary with ridiculous ease.
He took a while to settle into the Black Caps but he’s now established himself and his stats are improving with each outing.
In 39 T20s he’s already averaging 34.34 with a strike rate just shy of 160. He’s clubbed 71 fours and 63 sixes in his 996 runs.
Don’t forget he can roll his arm over too. You couldn’t label him a genuine allrounder but skippers can squeeze an over or two of his medium pacers when required.
It’s his bat that does the talking, though, and right now it’s shouting for attention in the richest league in the game.