Melbourne Stars, Hobart Hurricanes, Babe 'Bambino' Ruth, and the curse of the marketer ... Inside BBL 3:2:1
January 7th, 2022
‘The curse of the Bambino’ - the city of Boston, a town not dissimilar to Melbourne, endured the ‘Bambino’ hoodoo for 86 years.
Babe Ruth, the Boston Red Sox’s star player, was sold to the New York Yankees, their fiercest rival, at the end of the 1919 season. It wasn’t until 2004 that the mythical, or not, curse was exorcised. A World Series win returns the Red Sox back to Boston!
Fast forward to Melbourne 2011 - and the Big Bash League was born, with the original state-based competition expanding from six to eight teams - readily assuming the US-centric franchise model.
Melbourne was granted two licences, and the marketers were put to work; they emerged with a red team, the Renegades, and a green team, the Stars. There the curse of the Melbourne Stars was born!
In a world of reinvention, they, the Stars, might choose a less obnoxious name, maybe preferring a slightly more sympathetic descriptive, subtly outlining their superiority over the aptly named Renegades. Underdogs are widely accepted in Australian sport; tall poppies are ripe for harvesting.
This league, the BBL, might not be around in 86 years, and who knows how the world will look in 2088. Surely, though in an eight-team competition, a title will come the way of the Stars. What might make things interesting would be a sale of their marquee player, Glenn Maxwell, to the team in red!
Harry Frazee, the 1919 Red Sox owner, will always be remembered as the guy who sold Ruth. “Bambino’’ was one of his many nicknames, and we would assume there is a marketer somewhere, tapping away on a keyboard, rueing his idea of branding the green team as the Melbourne Stars. Attaching Eddie McGuire to this rhetoric would be creative and mischievous. Why not? He ‘might’ welcome the notoriety!
I fear BBL11 will elude the Stars, and they will have to wait another year, or 86.
Tasmania, the hidden gem that is no more, has long since tolerated the role of the underdog. Set adrift from mainland Australia, the sporting folk of the apple isle have continually revelled in their under-privileged position.
Tasmanians still await an AFL team, the Australian Football League, the league that represents Australian rules football across the continent. Hard to follow.
Cricket is allowed, thankfully, and where would Australia cricket be without the contribution of Ricky Ponting, and before him David Boon, among many others.
The Hobart Hurricanes are still to win a BBL title, playing the role of bridesmaid in 2013 and 2017.
BBL11 sees them well resourced.
Captain Matthew Wade, a quintessential Tasmanian, leads only from the front, bringing bags of experience and, recently, the value of a world T20 win. His own form is patchy as we speak; I expect this to change. As is the case in this format, he is 10 or so balls away from firing again.
Ben McDermott (featured earlier) and the rest of the batting looks solid. Finding the right partnership combinations is a fluid process; they seem agile in their thinking, so a more productive and reliable top order is not far away. Tim David is a ball-striker to watch, finding the optimum number of balls for him to face will be crucial in their push to finals.
I believe the real strength, though, lies in their bowling and fielding. They have pace and swing up front, combative quicks through the middle, excellent spin options, and nailed-on close out bowlers. Couple this with Wade’s keeping and captaincy, acceptable inside fielding, and reliable outside catching and throwing. A pretty decent package.
Of course, the tipsters’ curse hovers; they have lost their past two games, and now need a bounce back win against a depleted Brisbane Heat on Saturday. This should be well within their grasp.
I would hazard a wager that the Hurricanes will win a title before the Stars!
Dan Shaughnessy wrote ‘The Curse of the Bambino’ - a great read