Schoolyard bullies get a shock when the unexpected “weak” person stands up to them in the school yard. President Barack Obama has turned himself inside out for five years wanting to “reach out” to “both sides of the aisle” to do good things for the “American people”. (“American people” is like God -always on the side of the politician who is speaking.)

So the Tea Party Republicans, all of whom have health insurance (natch), really wanted to stop this black man giving away their money to help the sick.

So having listened to him talk about cooperation for five years, they hatched a plan to strike down his Obamacare in return for funding the government. They created their our-side-your-side choice and then called for “cooperation” to “sit down with us and negotiate”.

“Be reasonable Mr President, we will let the government proceed — just cross out spending our money helping sick people who do not deserve it.”

But we, who knew the story from day one,  recognized that this was moment that the weak kid was going to stand up to the bully and give him a bloody nose. The bully did not have the intelligence to understand the unspoken sentence –

“My mother died from cancer because she couldn’t pay the medical bills.”

The countdown took place on Tuesday October 2, 2013 at the Star Event vast big room near Darling Harbour (actually it is the Casino). It was red carpet and all. There were easily a thousand guests.

Towards the end, as actor Russell Crowe opened the envelopes (sort of), it was anyone’s award (points are secretly stacked away during the season). Cooper Cronk – brilliant dedicated player from the Melbourne Storm received 28 points for the season. Three wonderful players tied for second – Jonathan Thurston, Daly Cherry-Evans, and Todd Carney. (The older bloke in the photo is me.)