http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/tony-watson/ Tony’s love affair with the written word began with Little Golden Books, moved through Asterix at the Olympic Games and HSC English literature and onto graffiti on the toilet walls at university.  He’s a fan of popular culture, all things sport - not just league and a bit of cricket during the summer - particularly the Sydney Swans, Sydney FC, St George Illawarra Dragons, the Toronto Blue Jays, Liverpool FC and Kings XI Punjab.  He can usually be found on a weekend at a local park cheering his son at cricket or soccer on or playing himself.  He’s a huge music fan and believes that there are only two kinds of music, good and bad.  Although if it’s heavy metal the odds are much greater that it’ll be good. He studied linguistics, literature and communication at university and is one of the few who understands functional grammar.  His school reports always said “Tony is easily distracted”, which is teacher-speak for “he talks too much”, something that has held in him good stead in most of his career moves since.  He experienced his 15 minutes a few years ago, when an innocuous letter to the Sydney Morning Herald resulted in him and his wife becoming minor celebrities among readers for a few months.  He’s a proud husband and father and is most annoyed by shallow people and those who do go through life without ever stopping to consider anyone but themselves. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-to-win-a-footy-tipping-competition/ The invitation came via email.  “Join The Punch mini-league.  It’ll be fun”.  As usual, they left it so late that the NRL league didn’t start until week 2 of the season but we got the AFL comp underway in time.  I was already in a couple of other tipping comps but they’re all online these days so what difference does a few extra mouse clicks make on a Friday morning? Anyway, I started pretty strongly, took the lead by mid-season and was lucky enough to hang on to it for the rest of the season.  My prize?  Turns out it was to write a piece on how I did it.  It’s a bit like winning “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and finding out the prize is getting to do something “a little special” with Drew Carey. So, this is how I did it, or how I think I did it, or the approach I took, or some Zen-like sounding thing to cover up the fact that anyone who wins a tipping comp jags it. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tony Watson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-to-win-a-footy-tipping-competition/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-to-win-a-footy-tipping-competition/#item4079 Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:40:41 +0000 Tony Watson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-a-spark-missing-from-this-ashes-series/ And so it begins, although it seems strangely anticlimactic.  The reason for that could be because of the two week gap between matches, which was the norm until a few years ago when International tours became compressed affairs so the Test specialists could be shipped off and the one day specialists freighted in. Now we add the Twenty 20 specialists to the mix as well, so we’re lucky they don’t run the 25 days of the 5 Tests consecutively, or play a Test during the day and a T20 fixture at night as a double header.  We used to enjoy the fact that five Tests took five and a half months to play during which time the players would play a couple of counties between Tests, get to travel to Scotland or Ireland for a couple of beers matches on a local village green and come home in time to have a week’s rest before the first Shield game started. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tony Watson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-a-spark-missing-from-this-ashes-series/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-a-spark-missing-from-this-ashes-series/#item980 Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:33:28 +0000 Tony Watson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-fans-take-on-a-fallen-hero/ As a long-time member of the Sydney Swans Football Club I have been seated in the outer at the SCG or whatever Stadium Australia is called this year for pretty much every game Barry Hall has played in the Harbour City.  He was a popular replacement for the retiring Tony Lockett and his move north seemed quite appropriate, considering that he had followed a very similar path as Plugger - a talented forward who had his troubles with discipline.  They even played at the same club prior to moving to Sydney.  Hall quickly became popular with the fans.  Those of us who went to supporters days always found him kind, generous with his time and happy to chat to us.  I take my son to the kids clinic every season and Hall was always out on the field with the other players coaching the kids.  When it came to autograph time, he was the one they all flocked to.  He patiently signed every one and never appeared to be anything other than genuine in his desire to be there. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tony Watson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-fans-take-on-a-fallen-hero/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-fans-take-on-a-fallen-hero/#item562 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:28:35 +0000 Tony Watson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/forget-sport-i-want-live-odds-on-ending-up-in-the-doghouse/ It seems that our obsession with having a bet has even reached the rat community.  If, however, rats can have a punt while considering the odds and make a decision based on reason, as the article suggests, it probably puts them a step ahead of most of us.  As Kent Brockman may have said in response to this: “I, for one, welcome our new Rat Overlords.” This news of course comes at a time when the ongoing practice of everyone’s favourite network, Channel 9, of giving live betting updates during sporting events, continues apace.  During the summer it was Betfair odds during the cricket and now it’s TAB Sportbet during the rugby league season.  Many people, including me, find the practice appalling, but Nine have never really been known for giving two hoots about what the ethical among us think, as long as there’s a dollar in it for them. The League calls feature renowned punters Ray “Rabbits” Warren and Peter “Sterlo” Sterling giving live updates on the current Sportbet odds as the match they commentate on progresses, accompanied by a rather feeble-sounding closing rider about betting responsibly.  Older readers in non-NRL states probably know Rabbits, aka Rabs, from his previous life as a horse racing caller.  Younger ones may know him from his swimming commentary, which sounds much like his horse racing commentary. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tony Watson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/forget-sport-i-want-live-odds-on-ending-up-in-the-doghouse/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/forget-sport-i-want-live-odds-on-ending-up-in-the-doghouse/#item492 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:45:24 +0000 Tony Watson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/weekend-warriors/ There’s no denying it.  I have officially moved from serious weekend sporting participant to weekend warrior.  You can kind of justify it when you’re in your 20s or even early 30s but you know from the reactions of people when you tell them you play on the weekends that the Rubicon has been crossed.  It used to be “That’s cool.  How you guys doing?  You gonna win this year?”  Now it ranges from an empathic “Well you’ve gotta do something to keep fit” through “What the hell are you doing that for?” to complete disinterest, as if feigning any would somehow legitimise my obvious lunacy. Still, as any of my fellow WWs could tell you, Saturday or Sunday afternoon sport is addictive and virtually impossible to give up.  You’ll know many of us by our somewhat arthritic-looking shuffles in through the office doors on Monday mornings.  If you’re still playing at my age, the only sympathy you’ll get for your agony is from fellow WWs, as the rest of society wrote us off as mad long ago. On the weekend, we’re a different story.  Many of us are and have been involved in our clubs for many years.  We may have children now working through the age groups and grades, often displaying far greater skill than we ever did.  We may be on the club committee.  We may be firing up the barbecue, our partners may be working in the canteen, and we’ll wear our club colours proudly.  Come game time though, it’s on.  We play hard but fair and any agitation is almost always left on the field.  There’s an esky afterwards, and/or a trip to the pub.  Then we’re on our way home to shower and groan around the house for the evening, using our post-game aches and pains as a legitimate excuse for not helping around the house that evening. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tony Watson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/weekend-warriors/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/weekend-warriors/#item250 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:16:39 +0000 Tony Watson | Author bios | The Punch