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Makes you Sick to the Gills

There's a lot to be loved about Australia, and a lot to be despised. The worst thing is the disgraceful kow-towing many people do to sports stars.

This often gives people who can run faster than others, or leap higher, or swim quicker a bigger opinion of themselves - and their own importance - than they should have.

After all, if Joe Ordinary down the street was able to spend his life exercising (at the tax payers' expense) he'd probably be a pretty damn good sportsman too.

So in this nation of sports-hero worship and the cult of personality, why do we allow people to be bullied by big-name stars or their managers.

Take, for example, the sacking of a female TV reporter who is alleged to have upset the management of Ian Thorpe by commenting on the size of the bloke's extra-large feet and we know what that means (wink, wink). One would suggest that Thorpe has heard that sort of comment a gazillion times before and should be able to take it in his stride, so to speak.

Now, Thorpe has had a lot of media mileage from the fact he has massive flippers and it is very hard to understand how anyone could possibly have got so narky that his management called Channel 7 and demanded her sacking.

The gutsy execs down at Channel 7, who have signed a deal for the swimmer to present a TV show (God, won't that be exciting), rolled over and dismissed the woman. I'm pleased to say that she has settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Without putting too fine a point on it, big names who have been made big names by the media should not attack reporters in such a way. They've made their money through the media and we get just a little sick of hissy fits from people who are too big for their boots.

Ooooops, sorry.

If there is something that has really got up your nose, let Grumpy Old Coot know at grumpy@webwombat.com