He can't speak Hindi

HEROES

Jamie Whincup

The Holden driver was all class behind the wheel at Barbagallo Raceway, tightening his grip on the V8 Supercar title lead in what could prove one of the series' most crucial meets. Whincup had turned in a shocker in the Hamilton 400 in New Zealand, but that performance was erased by a narrow victory over Perth-loving teammate Craig Lowndes on Saturday, a second-place finish to BJR's Jason Bright in Sunday's first race, and a return to the top of the podium to close out the weekend. However, his wasn't the only valiant act in the west: local driver Karl Reindler fled for his life with burns to his face and hands after his Commodore exploded in a crash on the grid.

Mitchell Williams

A decision made three months ago to have a crack at the Stawell Gift paid off in a big way on Tuesday, when the beach sprinter took out Australia's greatest foot race ... just. In one of the most dramatic races in the event's history, Williams tore his hamstring five metres out from the line and almost hit the finishing gates. As soon as he crossed, Williams hit the deck and punched the ground, thinking he had just missed out on victory and the $40,000 cheque. However, the photo finish showed he had finished 0.01sec ahead of race favourite Edward Ware.

Chris Sandow (South Sydney)

With Souths facing a 12-0 deficit against Cronulla – and potentially the end of their season – the Rabbitohs halfback produced the game of his life. Two tries, a field goal and five from five conversions fired Souths to a 31-12 victory over the Sharks. The timing couldn't have been better for the little playmaker, who has reportedly been offered a three-year, $800,000 deal to join Parramatta in 2012. No doubt Russell Crowe and the Souths hierarchy will be doing all in their power to retain the 22-year-old after Friday night's blistering display.

Zach Randolph (Memphis Grizzlies)

Until this year, the Grizzlies were winless in the 12 NBA post-season games they had played since their relocation from Vancouver in 2001-02. And what chance did they have against their first-round opponent, top-seeded San Antonio? Next to none, so imagine the disbelief when the Spurs were stung straight-up and then lost two of their next three games.

However, the perennial playoff performers pulled the series back to 3-2 with the knowledge that a win in game six would set up a decider on their home court. With 4:41 to play on Friday, San Antonio reclaimed a lead it had only held in the opening minute. Enter power forward Randolph, who scored 17 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter to seal the 99-91 victory. With that, the history-making Grizzlies became just the second No.8-seeded team – since 1984's introduction of a seven-game opening round – to claim the conference's biggest scalp.

GOATS

Darron Gibson (Manchester United)

If you can't handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen. And if you can't handle abuse, stay off Twitter. Unfortunately for Red Devils bit player Darron Gibson, this advice comes a little too late. Just two hours after opening a Twitter account, presumably so he could fit in with cool kids like Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand, he abruptly closed it. Apparently the criticism from United fans was too much to bear. One of the posts read "nothing would make me happier than if we sold you this summer". Ouch!

John Longmire (Sydney Swans)

While there is still a lot to come from the AFL's official investigation into the Swans' interchange infringement against Carlton on Friday night, one thing is certain: the coaching staff made a costly error. At a crucial time in the match, the Swans gave a free kick away when Adam Goodes came from the ground and Dan Hannebery ran on. Goodes returned to the field, prompting the interchange official to call a free kick and a 50-metre penalty for the Swans having 19 men in play. Longmire has since claimed the Swans had five men on the bench and that Goodes was entitled to go back onto the ground. Should he be correct, he has also admitted to the serious error of having just 17 men in action when Carlton had only just taken the lead.

Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar

Who are you and why aren't you Indian? Such was the welcome given to new national team coach Duncan Fletcher by Indian cricket greats Dev and Gavaskar, who wonderfully highlighted the outdated philosophies of their generation. Zimbabwean Fletcher, a successful former coach of England, was understood to have been recommended for the position by his predecessor Gary Kirsten, who steered India to its No.1 Test ranking and last month's World Cup triumph. And to think he was South African!

Dev and Gavaskar's suggestions for the role were countrymen Mohinder Armanath, Robin Singh and Venkatesh Prasad. "Someone like Amarnath would have been a better choice for the simple reason that the core of the Indian team today is from the Hindi-speaking belt," Gavaskar told NDTV, clearly convinced that Fletcher and his players could spend just hours trying to understand each other.

Paul Simpkins

North Queensland got out to a big lead against Manly on Saturday night, and was only saved from the Sea Eagles' late charge by a poor call from video referee Simpkins. Manly crossed the line three times in the last 10 minutes, but its second effort was ruled a knock-on by Jamie Lyon earlier in play. Michael Oldfield had accepted a Lyon flick to run 60 metres and score the try. The footage showed that Simpkins had the benefit of looking at the red line, and that the ball had clearly rolled backwards. Manly coach Des Hasler was furious after the match, calling it a "weak" decision. For once, it was hard to disagree.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of BigPond Sport.

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