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THE LOOP - Beige Brigade Epistle, June 2007

10 June 2007

Nice to be back - has been a wee while between drinks so apologies for that.

As a starter for 10, when you're next mucking about in town head into a bookshop and check out page 60 of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2007 - it is the one with the fat philanderer on the front cover. Surely one of the Beige Brigade's finest moments - especially as many of those are unprintable.

Got a couple of tours to throw out at you...New Zealand head to Australia for a week to defend the Hadlee-Chappell Trophy (see the dates here) just before Christmas. We're lining up a weekend in Adelaide/Sydney as a cheeky Beige Brigade tour...Also, next year's massive one will be in May/June next year where we're zeroing in on a Test match tour of Old Blighty (dates for that one are here)...everyone needs to see a Test at Lord's before they die... If you're interested in joining us flick us a note to BeigeHQ@beigebrigade.co.nz and we will unleash details on you.

And if you're up for the rugby in France in September, make sure you consider going berserk (and beige) with us on tour to Edinburgh and Cardiff. There is a ridiculous myriad of tours on the go out of our palatial office in Covent Garden - check out www.beigebrigade.com for all that carry-on.

Our podcast, The BYC, has been going for more than 30 episodes now, and is getting downloaded by the thousand each month which is nice. If you've not checked out our irreverent weekly show, extracting the michael out of cricket the world over then you'd best go here. The greatest achievement in the life of The BYC came on Anzac Day when TV3 put together a montage of beige fans at the World Cup as the video to a BYC song inspired by Bob Marley. (Howard Dobson's cheesy intro is memorable too.)

The Beige Brigade Awards came out recently too - the winners were stoked as these awards are always a great indicator for the main event which are held by NZ Cricket in an Auckland hotel (the official awards are notorious for being shown live on Sky TV and as soon as the cameras start rolling they stop serving grog so everyone aims to get smashed as quickly as possible during the meal. TV3 were particularly pleased with their BB Award and managed to mention it in a segue from the much more serious NZC awards run-down.

The Beige Brigade blog, The Rave, has been busy of late. Make sure you haven't missed the lads creating a magnificent backyard cricket pitch with tender loving care, a mate of ours skiing in the infamous lycra suit, and blow-by-blow details of Mike Lane's unravelling at Gallipoli and at the Cricket World Cup. We welcome all contributions and comments - unleash!

Apologies to all those people who have had a bit of a wait for their beige rugs - the little old ladies at the factory in Hamilton seemed to be under the impression that in winter they could go into hibernation. Well, they bloody well can't and we're quite pleased that the beige is well and truly back in The Shop. We have just got in a new product too - a magnificent upgrade to the jandal sock - the all-new Jandal Walk Socks... Note Cris pictured left at Yankee Stadium with the NYPD in the background,  effective!

Congrats to Kezza Walmsley and Gadget Penn for their wins in the recent celebrity boxing event over in the UK. Kerry destroyed rower James Cracknell and Gadget's was a controversial one. He won the fight then Syd Lawrence went berserk after the bell and thumped him. In the end Gadget won by disqualification although he may not remember it...reminiscent of when our very own Off White Thunder took him on in a sparring session.

Don't miss the news on the Small Horse front - and for God's sake, please take care out there...

Paul (Karori HQ) and Mike (London Town)