With Laura away for another weekend race event, I decided to check out the National Sports Museum. Housed in the Melbourne Cricket Ground (the MCG ... or "the G"), it holds the relics and recognizes the legends of Australia's sporting past. Coming highly recommended by all the travel guides, it contains an impressive collection of memorabilia. Fortunately for you, pictures are not permissible. Lets just say the entire history of Australian sport crammed into an underground section of of even Australia's largest stadium tends to look like a scrap-booker gone bonkers. This is what it looks like ...
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| From Coolfunpics.com |
Seriously, so much stuff! Could. Not. Focus. I retained zero information and my eyes went batty. If I could portray a visual of the AFL Hall of Fame room for you. Close your eyes (while reading this) and put yourself in a 15 ft. x 15 ft. room with probably a 25 ft. ceiling. There is one door into this room. Now picture all four walls completely canvassed in 8in. wide by 1ft. tall tiles of varying grey-scale at varying depths. Those lucky enough to be inducted into the AFL HOF have their image and career details on a tile. These dedicated tiles make up a small percentage of those in the room and are scattered randomly. I challenge anyone to spend more than 10 minutes in that room and not end up in a padded cell. I attempted to regain sanity taking in Shane Warne's (the "Michael Jordan of cricket") hologram recap his career. Holograms are not easy on the eyes either.
On the plus side, the NSM has an awesome simulation area. It's probably supposed to be geared towards kids, but I spent a solid hour and a half there honing my Australian sport skills. I replicated Gary Ablett Jr.'s 45m goal on "pro" mode first kick, then subsequently missed every other attempt. I can't handball to save my life. I can hit the stumps (in cricket) with the best of them. I was never an accomplished shooter in basketball, and was predictably worse without the backboard as is scenario in netball. And, like any other human with even an ounce of athleticism, I can beat a goaltender with ease on penalty kicks.
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| The G |
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| Growing the cricket pitches outside the G |
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Melbourne hosted the Olympics in 1956. Such a sporting city
and gaining notoriety from being "most livable city" 3 years
running, I wouldn't be surprised to see them back here in our lifetime. |
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| I think this picture of the museum is legal. |
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| Statue of Shane Warne |
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| Commemorating the first game of Australian Rules Football played on these grounds. |
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