Gary’s Q&A

Listener question & Gary’s response · Transcript passage

Gregory Langlois asks, Hi Gary, you’ve mentioned you spent a fair bit of time in Australia, in particular Melbourne. Did you happen to visit the MCG and watch any AFL games? If so, what did you think of the stadium, and did you adopt a team to follow? Hoping to hear an episode about the AFL and how unique the game is. Best game in the world.

I didn’t visit the Cricket ground, but I did go past it. I also didn’t get to see any AFL games in person.

Normally, my support for non-North American teams is based on people I meet or places I’ve visited. I’ll often do a swap with someone I met on my travels, where I’ll agree to support their team if they agree in theory to support the Packers as their NFL team.

For example, I met a guy when I was photographing polar bears in Manitoba several years ago from Sydney. He was a huge Roosters fan, so I agreed to have the Roosters as my NRL team. I can’t say I follow them closely.

Likewise, my English Premier League team is Liverpool, my La Liga team is Bilbao, because I visited their team headquarters and stadium, and my CFL team is Edmonton. I also support Wiggan in theory, but they aren’t going to be in the Premier League anytime soon.

The position of my AFL team is still open. I’m seriously considering going to Australia for a month or two in January/February to escape the winter, so I’ll miss the AFL season, but I might be able to select a team. I’d currently lean towards St. Kilda, just because I stayed in that area when I was first in Melbourne.