Aussie sports over confident, over zealous, and over amplified

Three stories about this weekend's sport are amusing for different reasons. First, there's the commentary about the Waratahs beating the Brumbies and therefore being in good shape for the final, presumably against the Crusaders. I think they're a little over confident myself. They beat the Brumbies sure, but the Brumbies are past their best and only had Larkham on the field for 12 minutes (injured again). Settle down fellas, you've still got to beat at least two of the Highlanders (away), Chiefs (away) and Hurricanes (home) to secure a home semi-final and then win it.

Then there's Ricky Ponting getting into trouble with the Match Referee (our very on Jeff Crowe) for challenging the umpire's decisions in the test against Bangladesh. Ponting is easily the best test batsman in the world at the moment, and Australia are clearly the best team, but Ponting needs to be calm in his approach to umpires and officials. His class as a player is sadly absent as a captain.

Finally, Adam Gilchrist is in the news for his very odd and very loud statements from behind the stumps. According to the ABC's Media Watch, Gilcrist's bizarre behaviour, where he was overheard frequently endorsing various sponsors of the Australian cricket team, was a clever protest against broadcasters who were not turning down the microphones located in the stumps, as they're required to do, between overs. Broadcasters, presumably trying to catch Australians sledging the opposition, were none to happy with Gilly's free advertising competing with their paid offerings!