Oh dear, i bought another two books today. I mean, seriously, i already have like five books in my backpack - now i have to carry another fucking two! Gah. But how could i resist? I was in the Harvard bookstore; therefore i NEEDED to buy at least one book. And they had a GREAT 2nd hand collection, so i picked up George Orwell's 1984 and Vonnegut's Welcome to the Monkey House for $2 each.

On top of that, i went and did a tour of MIT and also went for a wander around Harvard campus. Very entertaining indeed! Did i mention that yesterday i went for a walk about Boston Public Garden - where the scene from Good Will Hunting was filmed (Matt Damon and Robin Williams on the park bench by the lake...)? Well, i did. And today i also walked past Fenway Stadium - the home of my beloved Red Sox, as well as the reference in GWH re Carlton Fisk's homerun on October 21, 1975 (five years precisely before i was born :) )

Tomorrow i hope to get to the pub where they filmed the "how do you like them apples" scene, and i also hope to get to Boston Garden - home of my beloved Celtics! Gah, how good is life when the two best teams in the USA are the teams you barrack for? God, i think i'm falling in love with Boston; SERIOUSLY considering moving here. I loved San Fran, but i'm thinking Boston is just taking the cake for my fave US city so far... And it's a lot closer to UVM - which is a bit of a deciding factor atm...

Then tomro arvo i'm off to New York! Spending three nights with Nicko, so that should be awesome :oD
And Friday i'm on my way to London! Kinda scary, but at the same time incredibly exciting!

Ok, i can't be bothered writing more, it costs me $1 per ten minutes here at the hostel, and i need to pack my bags since i'm checking out tomorrow morning (in like ten hours) and i have SOOOOO much left to do in Boston before catching a bus to NY in the afternoon....

Au revoir

The ruckman, who has since quit the club to go rowing, had cost his side a goal by giving away a silly free kick, allowing Woodville-West Torrens to reclaim the lead at Adelaide Oval.

This was not a moment to be just brushed off.

Level-headed Mickan is not known for his emotion and the incident says a lot of what he is about.

Mickan demands discipline. He will not tolerate any player putting even a toenail outside the boundaries of his ethos.

The Tigers lost their opening-round clash with South Adelaide this season. They have since won 10 successive games to sit on top of the premiership ladder. Until this year that had not happened since round 3, 1996. They had not won eight in a row since 1981.

The on-field success has inspired dreams among long-suffering fans who have not watched their heroes lift the premiership cup since 1986.

On Saturday there were 11,827 fans packed into Glenelg Oval to watch the eight-point win over Sturt. Almost 8000 supporters watched the Tigers beat the Port Adelaide Magpies at the same ground on the Monday of the June long weekend.

Saturday's crowd was the biggest at the ground since the inception of the Crows in 1991 and the biggest SANFL minor-round attendance since 2001.

There were more people crammed into the Bay ground on Saturday than attended the AFL games that night in Darwin (Port Adelaide versus the Western Bulldogs) and on the Gold Coast (North Melbourne v St Kilda).

The re-emergence of Glenelg as a SANFL power has not been an overnight phenomenon, nor is it a fluke.

Stability with well-planned decision-making off-field is the cornerstone to leading sporting organisations.

Success rarely just happens.

Since Graham Cornes' time with the Tigers ended in 1990 there have been 10 coaches. That included Peter Simmons, who lasted just three-quarters of the 2005 season before being sacked.

Publicly that was a dark time for the club. Discontent among members prompted the board to resign and a new team was installed to direct the club's future.

Gary Metcalf was one of only three board members to be returned and he has since been a pillar of strength for the club in his role as president.

Former coach David Noble had a sign saying "strong and united" placed above the door to the Brighton Rd club. Metcalf was instrumental in having the sign removed, believing it should not be seen until the club proved the words correct.

Under his leadership - and that of chief executive of six years Darren Chandler - the sign is ready to be hung again.

The club has 2000 members, double that of six years ago, this year opened a $1.3 million revamp of its facilities, has secured increased sponsorship, is attracting massive crowds and is on top of the SANFL ladder. Even the long-time rift between the football and cricket clubs is no more.

The success is no accident.

Glenelg has been prepared to make the tough calls, such as releasing dual best and fairest Bill Neely and Heath Culpitt - prolific ball winners with the Tigers but not the sort of players on which the club wanted to build its future.

"In 2002 we finished bottom. We had to put good people in place and we have gradually done that," Chandler said.

"We have had good board stability in the past three years plus strong football management with Ken Applegarth and Mark (Mickan) and a terrific team of staff.

"What I believe we have done better than any other club is how we have embraced the community.

"Saturday was probably the most satisfying day I've had. It was not just about the footy. Everything came together and worked well."

The next objective is to light up the oval for night football. Council approval has been gained, now the club just needs to raise $450,000 to get the job done. And who can doubt the Glenelg Football Club making it happen?

Certainly not the SANFL, with the Glenelg crowd numbers having a heavy influence on the healthy state of the competition.

Round seven's four games attracted 20,558 fans - the highest aggregate for a round in six years. Not since 1993 had more fans attended round seven games.

Last season 322,835 fans attended games - a 4.2 per cent increase on 2006 - and that season looks certain to be bettered this year.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/sport/afl/story/0,26547,23942802-21546,00.html

Hell yeah the fans love it! Even if i am 15,000 miles from home and unable to witness a crowd of 12,000 at Glenelg Oval...

Good times, good times!!!

In front of a record-breaking home crowd of 11,827 Glenelg won by eight points, holding the Double Blues goal-less in the final term and booting three of its own to scramble a remarkable escape act and reclaim outright top spot on the SANFL ladder.

Sturt forward Brant Chambers had two chances to steal the game for the visitors in time-on in the last term but with his side trailing by a solitary point the league's leading goalkicker missed a set shot from 40m and spilled an uncontested mark at the same spot in the frantic dying minutes.

The Tigers trailed by 10 points at the final change but goals to Thomas Holmes, Matthew Duldig and the clincher from captain Brett Back well to the non-scoring end sealed an amazing victory for the home side.

"We've played a lot better than that and lost," coach Mark Mickan said.

"It was one of those wins where you look at the players and give them great respect for the fact they were able to grind out a win from a difficult position at three-quarter time.

"I think we'll get a lot out of that - the belief that we're never out of the game. On a positive side that's what we'll take out of it but there's a lot to get out of it from a learning side as well."

The near-12,000 crowd at Challenge Recruitment Oval was the biggest at an SANFL game since Adelaide joined the AFL in 1991.

In a classic match that will be remembered more as a grind than a glamorous contest, the first half became a scrappy and static fight as each side sized up the other like a pair of heavyweight boxers.

Glenelg was the first to break clear when Todd Grima, Thomas Holmes and Matthew Bode all goaled in a four-minute burst. John Hinge jagged another from nowhere on the cusp of time-on and the Tigers jumped 25 points clear.

Sturt, with a superior percentage and the benefit of having played an extra game before yesterday, had to wait until the 22nd minute to register its first major through Luke Crane. But the Blues got their running game rolling in the second quarter with a midfield lift from Tristan Gum, skipper Jade Sheedy and Crane.

Michael Coad booted three goals in a pivotal term that delivered seven majors for the Blues. Coad converted in the opening minute, Gum made no mistake from 50m and when Chambers posted his sole contribution from 40m at the 10-minute mark Sturt had slashed its deficit to just one point.

A 25m penalty from a kick-in gifted Ruory Kirkby a goal but Coad's answering snap kept the difference to two points.

Sturt stole the lead 15 minutes in when Coad was paid a mark the Glenelg faithful was certain bounced before it reached his hands, but the Blues superboot bombed his third from 60m.

The Tigers responded again through Kirkby and Ben Kane but a clever kick from Gum set up Matt Jaensch, who held his nerve and put Sturt four points in front at the long break.

Sturt could manage only one goal, thanks to Crane, in the third term but Glenelg's return was worse, adding just two behinds before their final-quarter blitz.

GLENELG 4.4 7.7 7.9 10.13 (73)

STURT 1.3 8.4 9.7 9.11 (65)

Goals: Glenelg - Holmes 2, Kirkby 2, Grima, Backwell, B Kane, Bode, Hinge, Duldig.

Sturt - Coad 3, Crane 2, Gum 2, Chambers, Jaensch.

Best: Glenelg - Backwell, Cranston, Panozzo, Holmes, Mules, Kane, Block.

Sturt - Gum, Sheedy, Coad, Crane, Kurtze.

Injuries: Glenelg - Byron Murphy (ankle)

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Philp, Carey, Rowston

http://sanfl.com.au/news/sanfl_news/329/

GLENELG continued to smash a trail of destruction through the SANFL with an 84-point thrashing of Norwood at The Parade last night. Norwood kicked just 1.3 - nine points.

The Tigers embarrassed the Redlegs with an emphatic display of high-class team football to claim their seventh successive victory.

The triumph saw Glenelg replace Sturt at the top of the table, stamping it as the most potent machine in the competition after nine rounds.

Such was Glenelg's dominance, the Redlegs were kept to a disgraceful 1.3 – one goal and three behinds in four quarters of action. They failed to score in two quarters.

Glenelg's relentless style of football, so typical of the club this season, stretched into last night and this time it was the Redlegs put on notice early.

This Tigers outfit is honest, disciplined and extremely hard-working and all its strengths were on display last night.

The Redlegs were dealt a huge blow in the opening minutes when talented midfielder David Trotter, a late withdrawal from last week's win over North Adelaide, was forced from the field with a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

Glenelg was ferocious at the contest and just kept charging into the fray in pursuit of the ball.

And when it did not have possession, its tackling and harassment was desperate.

Tigers coach Mark Mickan has installed tremendous discipline and belief into the side and it produced an impressive advertisement of team football.

The hunger of the Tigers and their will to succeed dominated the battle, constantly putting Norwood under pressure.

They pushed the ball forward in numbers before bombing the ball confidently deep into attack searching for tall targets.

So committed was Glenelg to the task, Norwood was restricted to just 23 kicks and kept scoreless for the opening term. Norwood lifted the intensity after quarter-time but the Bays had all the answers.

It took the home side 10 minutes into the second period before Sam Rowe nailed its only goal.

Despite the Redlegs' Bryce Campbell doing a stout tagging role on Adam Fisher, Glenelg had far too many damaging weapons, too much class and too much desire for its opponent.

Rarely did the Redlegs venture into their attacking 50m, with the forwards starved of opportunities. And when they did go into attack, the Glenelg defence swarmed from everywhere to shut down any danger. After finally qualifying for the finals last season, the Tigers want to take their game to new levels and they are not satisfied with just winning.

They refused to take the foot off the throat of the Redlegs and pounded away at the opposition.

CROWD: 5768 at Coopers Stadium

GLENELG 3.4 5.7 11.11 13.15 93

NORWOOD 0.0 1.1 1.3 1.3  9

BEST: Holmes, Bode, Murphy, Grima, Cranston, Allen, Sugars.

SCORERS: Grima, McConnell 3.1, Holmes 2.1, Bode 2.0, Kirkby 1.2, Fisher, Sellar 1.1, Hinge 0.2, Kane 0.1, rushed 0.5.

 INJURIES: Grima (knee).

BEST: Campbell, Lower.

SCORERS: Rowe 1.0, Culpitt, Walker, Donohue 0.1.

INJURIES: Trotter (hamstring).

UMPIRES: M. Avon, C. Bowen, T. Dey.