Before we get to Saturday’s preliminary final, forgive me as I shake my fist at a cloud. For reasons no-one can explain, or take responsibility for, they now blare music after every goal at the MCG. The stadium was one of the last to succumb to this execrable trend. But in a finals series where more than quarter of a million people have turned up to three MCG games, apparently the atmosphere needs to be augmented with lashings of Kool and the Gang, Kenny Loggins and Chad Kroeger.
Preliminary final weekend is supposed to be the people’s round. The following week is for the corporate and the fortunate. At preliminary finals, it’s a pure football crowd. But there’s nothing pure about “What’s New Pussycat?” following a check-side goal. There’s nothing pure about a perforated eardrum.
