One of the world’s great sporting event events has started this week in Melbourne. The Australian Open is a truly fantastic spectacle.

Who will win the mens and ladies championship?

How will the Aussies go?

Anyone interested in the doubles and mixed doubles?

Let Crikey Sports know your thoughts.

And, as a completely unrelated segue — this has to be the funniest story I’ve ever read, courtesy of today’s NT News (click to enlarge):

UPDATE:

The Gold Coast Bulletin have some awful front pages, but check out today’s effort (22 Jan 2010) regarding Tomic’s 3am outburst:

Kamran Akmal: will he be at Ballarat for today's races?

So the Third Test starts today in Hobart. Simon Katich is in and Phillip Hughes is out for the hosts. Marcus North has been placed on notice.

Notably, Pakistan has dropped vice captain Kamran Akmal (actually he fell on his sword amidst huge media pressure both here and at home), replacing him with Sarfraz Ahmed ( a supposedly superior gloveman but inferior batsman). Faisal Iqbal, Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Sami have also been replaced with Shoaib Malik, Khurram Manzoor and Mohammad Aamer.

So four changes all up for Pakistan. That’s a helluva lot change between one Test to the next. Reminds me of my own exploits as captain for a suburban cricket team here in Melbourne where four changes in a week is quite commonplace — but usually due to the Spring Carnival or schoolies.

Is Kamran Akmal going to the races?

So how will the Pakistanis go? Despite the gloom and doom predicted before the West Indies series (and strengthened after the landslide that was the Brisbane Test) the rest of the summer has been superb cricket.

Will the Pakistanis fight in a dead rubber? Will Marcus North stand up? Will Jason Krejza do a nudey run, ala Maxy Walker in The 12th man, resplendent with a “give me my job back” sign in protest to Nathan Hauritz’ continued (and justified) selection?

So baseball legend Mark McGwire has admitted to taking steroids in 1998; the year in which he broke the single-season home run record, previously held by Richard Maris.

As ESPN reports:

McGwire said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Monday that he used steroids on and off for nearly a decade. During a 20-minute telephone interview shortly afterward, his voice repeatedly cracked.

“It’s very emotional, it’s telling family members, friends and coaches, you know, it’s former teammates to try to get a hold of, you know, that I’m coming clean and being honest,” he said. “It’s the first time they’ve ever heard me, you know, talk about this. I hid it from everybody.”

Is nothing sacred? Well when it comes to baseball, probably not. Fellow major league big hitters Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds have both had the speculation of drug use hang over their heads in recent years.

USA Today reports:

Fans have a right to feel cheated by McGwire. Numbers are such a big part of baseball lore that McGwire, in effect, changed the course of history. The question is: what’s really different now?

So does drug use taint the image of Mark McGwire? And does it taint baseball fans’ memories of his achievements? His 62nd home run in the 1998 season to break Richard Maris’ record, for instance?

Similarly, did tennis great Andre Agassi’s confession in October last year that he had taken meth amphetamines during his career tarnish tennis fans’ opinion of him?

If Richie Benaud comes out and says he used to binge on cocaine during the the 1960 tied Test between Australian and the West Indies then I’m giving up.

Meet Mike Hussey.

He’s 34 years young and bats at number 4 for the Australian cricket team. He’s played 46 Tests for his country, countless one day internationals and a score of Twenty20 matches.

Importantly, he has a sort-of-cool (in a Wheels from Degrassi Junior High kinda way) nickname in “Mr Cricket” and he feasts on making runs. He needs runs to survive. He’s like a shark. If he doesn’t score runs his momentum stops. He dies.

Wheels (left), sporting an 80s Footscray jersey (Ha!) and Mr Cricket (right) -- same but different.

He’s the zany uncle of the Australian cricket team who really isn’t that zany at all. But he is also steel personified. Chuck Norris is scared of him.

If they made a movie of Mike Hussey’s life, Morgan Freeman would play him.

Mr Cricket’s been under the pump in recent years for having all his form desert him (it went to Queensland for the warm weather). His head has been called for and because of that, somewhere, a fairy died. Mr Cricket was set to become Mr Cricket (ret.).

But then Mike Hussey saved Australia.

Today he scored a magnificent century in the second innings of the Sydney Test against Pakistan to potentially save the match for Australia.

Like water buffaloes love First Dog on the Moon, I love Mr Cricket.