Month: November 2015

This isn’t really the type of thing I like commenting on and something a bit out of Almanac character, but I felt compelled to write a few words on what could be considered at the very least, gender hypocrisy, among other things.

I have just read an article in Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph by Soraiya Fuda, commenting about GWS player Matt Buntine and his win in the Cleo Bachelor of the year.

Soraiya happens to be the entertainment editor of The Daily in the NRL heartland of Sydney.

Matt Buntine, in case you missed this momentous event, won the hearts of females all around the country, and probably a posse of males as well, by taking out the 2015 Cleo Bachelor of the Year award.

Good on him I say.  He is a “good looking rooster”, has a six pack, plays in an elite sporting competition and from all accounts is a good bloke.

Unfortunately not everybody thought as much, with his win prompting a straight to the point expose from The Daily’s entertainment editor.

“UNSHAVEN, skinny, two-toned blonde hair and deer-in-headlight stare down the camera… ladies, meet your Cleo Bachelor of the Year”, she wrote.

Don’t get me wrong, I can take or leave the GWS Giants, Matt Buntine, the award itself and Cleomagazine but I can’t help wondering what the backlash would have been had a male written these words about a female?

Ms Fuda continued unabated, cutting a swathe through the newly crowned king.

“The appearance standards seems to have dropped after Greater Western Sydney Giants, AFL player Matt Buntine, 22, was handed the prestigious title yesterday”.

Prestigious title? Standards……Um?

Adding to her ramblings, she chose to compare the Cleo Bachelor of the year to the Miss Universe pageant. “With the expectation as high as ever in the Miss Universe Australia stakes, it’s baffling how a loosely similar male-equivalent competition would choose Buntine as its representative”.

In something akin to oranges being compared to apples, I am sure a Cleo popularity contest voted on by the public, isn’t the same as a competition reviewed and adjudicated on by a panel of judges?

Just to be clear, Cleo doesn’t choose the winner, the public does.

She continued her article by highlighting negative social media opinions thus joining the throngs that carelessly cast comments into the atmosphere, oblivious to the impact.

Opinions are opinions , but what would have been the reaction if a male had written such a publicly demeaning article about a female sportsperson?

Surely we can be light-hearted and easy going about something that is supposed to be fun and in actual fact, nothing more than a marketing campaign by the magazine.

I accept that with this article I am giving her article more oxygen but when I was growing up my grandmother used to say to me if you haven’t got anything good to say about somebody then don’t say it. Good advice I think.

Success in any market, pursuit or industry around the world, is celebrated by various means and activities.

In some cases the method of celebration would appear to contradict the activity.

Take American sport as an example.

Despite political correctness and a modern backlash against smoking tobacco, lighting up a cigar following a win in a pennant, Super Bowl or Championship, seems to be a ‘rusted on’ tradition.

Ingrained in American culture, the image of the athlete hugging a trophy with a ‘stogie’ in his mouth, is commonplace and a clear representation of winning in the US.

Red Auerback, the famous coach of the Boston Celtics who is widely considered the pioneer of the modern game of basketball, once said that smoking a cigar is a sign of relaxation and a cigarette is a sign of tension.

During his reign as one of the all-time great basketball coaches, and in a show of competitive arrogance, Red was known to light up a cigar during a game when he thought his team had the game won, drawing the ire of opposition coaches, players and officials alike.

Whilst synonymous with American sporting success, Cigar smoking is starting to infiltrate the Australian sporting scene. You only need to look at Rob Dixon’s 2008 AFL documentary, “Essence of the Game”, to see Hawthorn premiership heroes enjoying a cigar on the MCG, well after the crowd had dissipated into the night.

Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Shaquille O’Neal and superstar Ice Hockey player Wayne Gretsky are just a few of the sports stars known to ‘light up’ in celebration of a victory or a milestone.

On a recent trip to New York City, I found myself wandering the streets late one night and I discovered a small shop that nurtures a tradition of American culture that is fast becoming lost in the haze of automation, technology and factory machine lines.

With modernization squeezing the romance out of times gone by, hand making cigars is a skill that has been handed down over generations.

New York’s Martinez Hand Rolled Cigars, promotes what is American folklore and a dying art.

You don’t need a street address for Martinez, you simply follow the smooth, rich, earthy smell of cigars that spice the New York City air. You can smell the shop a block away.

Only a drop punt from the home of US sport, Madison Square Garden, and decorated with 1970s fixtures and fittings, it has an almost ‘hunting lodge’ appeal.

Cigar artisans from the Dominican Republic, diligently roll and pack each cigar whilst flaming up themselves.

Surrounded by historical sporting memorabilia and immersed in thick grey blue smoke, the tobacco specialists sit at open plan, well-worn work stations corralled by brown wooden cupboards and dried green tobacco leaves.

With dozens of the finished product packed up against the wall, each craftsman are experts in their field having accumulated upwards of 40 years’ experience packing and hand crafting cigars.

Open since 1974, Martinez is the only handmade cigar manufacturer in the New City York area, and one of perhaps only a dozen across the United States. Almost like David and Goliath, Martinez competes with the big money suppliers in the Cigar business and does it well.

Cigars are not only the jurisdiction of sports champions. New Yorkers mill around the shop having arrived to smoke, talk, joke and get away from the crush and pressure that is New York City.

That’s what’s unique about this shop, it’s almost like a neighbourhood pub, an oasis in which to relax and take it easy amongst the fog of tobacco smoke that sits in the air.

Customers casually walk in, purchase a cigar for anything between $3 to $14 and stand around talking to anyone within earshot.

“What about those Yankees”, could have been the catch cry to launch a thousand conversations in this place.

Working with NFL team, the New York Jets for a special game day cigar later this season, second generation shop owner Jesus Martinez, sees smoking one of his cigars as an experience to be savoured.

In talking to his staff, it’s clear that smoking a cigar is an event to be appreciated with time, never to be a ‘one drag event. It’s about the experience.

Maybe Red Auerback was right, cigar smoking is a symbol of relaxation. In the case of Martinez Cigars you don’t have to be a sports star, just a New Yorker looking for an outlet.

Lighting up after a championship win remains the defining picture of success in the US but maybe it’s not just a symbol of success for the sporting elite.

For sports stars and New Yorkers in general, a cigar at Martinez is a chance to relax, forget about the world and celebrate a job well done or simply to bring an end to a hard working week.