Word: sport
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...century ago that rugby ceased to be just a sport to New Zealanders and became a vehicle for national pride. In 1905, New Zealand sent to Britain a squad combining players of European origin with the physically imposing indigenous Polynesians. But for a loss to Wales, the tourists trampled everyone in their path. Later, rugby became the one sport in which New Zealand could be confident of beating "big brother" Australia, where the best athletic talent gets scattered between several football codes. It's rugby that allows New Zealanders to believe they matter in the world, says Douglas Booth...
...problem with hitching your identity to a sport is that it can drain the fun from playing it. And at the pointy end of recent World Cups, the All Blacks have looked clammy - which is how their supporters are feeling now. "My friends and I are rugby tragics, but no one's mentioning the Cup," says Auckland publishing executive Paul Gardiner. "Our mentality is such that when we watch these games we'll be too scared of losing to enjoy them...
...August, tourism officials were already reporting the highest number of foreign visitors to Paris since 2002, and hotel occupancy rates were also above normal. The area is expected to get an additional boost through September and October, meanwhile, as rugby fans flock to France to watch matches in the sport's World...
...those of us who've spent a good part of our lives watching men play games, most sports films are viewed through parted fingers. While the ones about the hopeless kids' team coming good under the unlikely coach can be all right, those based in the big-time tend to send the cornball meter into meltdown. With all that striving and emoting, it's easy to see why sport lures film-makers. But sports fans get the real thing on television every week. There's also the problem of actors trying to look like athletes. And move like them...
...game. No one loves hitting the perfect angles on the move - off your drop shot, your lob, your slice - more than him. "So stymie him by boring him to death," says Courier. "Play every single ball to the same corner, over and over. Deny him the pleasures of the sport." Another tedium tactic is to take extra time between points. "He's a rhythmic kind of player," says ex-pro Barry MacKay, a veteran TV commentator. "He likes to have things moving along at a certain pace. It's like a batter stepping out of a batter's box against...