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AND THE centrepiece of the AFL's master plan to achieve footy domination in Sydney's west is … a 10,000 capacity stadium in Rooty Hill. Hard to say if the location is appropriate, but the name sure sounds like they're on the right track. 10,000 capacity! So, on one hand, you potentially prove to the hilarity of a national viewing audience that you can't fill a bonsai stadium; and on the other, it's a rip-roaring success and you have to knock the ground down and build a bigger one. With planning like this, who needs natural disasters?

KEENLY aware of the irreparable damage that hand-lettered posters reading "Go Brad!" or "Aussie Gold" could do to the People's Republic, Chinese authorities pre-emptively banned all spectator signs at Olympic venues. The IOC, displaying a spine of the sternest gelatin, insisted it was China's party and it can ban what it wants to - an effort so monumentally feeble that Kylie Minogue could probably beat it at arm-wrestling.

"Barry Hall - he's quiet off the field and aggressive on it. A real Heckle and Jeckle character."

OK, time for some remedial Popular Culture 101. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde were the diametrically opposed fictional characters of short story and movie fame. Heckle and Jeckle were the identical talking magpies of Terrytoons cartoon fame. And that whirring noise you're hearing is probably the late Robert Louis Stevenson hitting around 938 rpm in his grave.

NOW that Barry Hall's got time to concentrate on what he's best at, when can we expect a date for Fenech vs Hall? Maybe Mundine? Does anyone know what George Foreman's up to these days?

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2008-07-20From the cheap seats Looking around for another job? Want to find something fast without making too big a scene?

Rohan Connolly previews what promises to be a blockbuster AFL round.

James Brown's furniture and medical bracelet have fetched top bids at a New York City auction.

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