AFL draft watchers were keenly awaiting the selections at both ends of the spectrum when clubs revealed their picks on Tuesday night.
Apart from the expected interest in who would be named number one – which turned out to be entirely predictable – attention switched to whether Wylie Buzza would become an AFL name to remember.
Geelong duly delivered, selecting Queenslander Wylie with pick 69, to the glee of commentators.
Now the acid will be on his new Cats team mates to come up with the ideal nickname.
The AFL still has some distance to go to catch up with the unusual names spread across America’s National Football League, though.
Vontaze Burfict, Elvis Dumervil, Captain Munnerlyn, Fair Hooker, Webster Slaughter, D’Brickashaw Ferguson, Barkevius Mingo and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix are just a few.
Love to hear what Dennis Cometti would make of some of those.
Mind you, the NFL doesn’t have a lock on unusual names. In fact, regional Australia was right up there as well a generation or two ago.
Double Take fondly remembers dear old mum once recounting the names of childhood friends from her early days in the state’s northwest.
She rattled them off one by one until a young Double Take couldn’t help snorting in delight at Ophelia Dickie.
“We didn’t think that way back then,“ mum explained, blushing lightly.
Hopefully young Ophelia grew up to marry into a less suggestively-named family, like the Paynes.
The evolution of lesser species continued apace this week in a Planet of the Apes-like incident at Torquay.
A local was attempting to coax her vet-weary dog through the clinic’s doors but the little fellow was as reluctant as ever.
“Come one,” coaxed our owner, “you know you have to do this.”
The pooch lifted his muzzle ceiling-ward with a baleful “noooooooooo”.
Ahh, pets – talking one day, forcing us to toil in their underground sugar mines the next.
