Cats are Clear!

Geelong is clear through to the 2007 AFL Grand Final!! I woke up at 7am this morning to listen to the 2nd half of the Cats preliminary final against the Collingwood Magpies (think of them as the Yankees of Aussie rules football) on the radio over the internet, and it was a heckuva match at the MCG with a raucous crowd of over 98,000. The Cats were up 48-43 at halftime and also kicked a goal right before three-quarter time to pull back ahead of the Pies 67-62. Collingwood kicked the first goal of the 4th quarter to take a 68-67 lead, but then Geelong charged back to kick four goals and a behind to pull ahead 86-68 for what looked like the dagger, but Collingwood wasn’t done yet. The Pies showed some real pluck and pulled to within 5 points of the Cats with 1 minute left (meaning a goal would’ve won it for Collingwood). Fortunately the Cats defense held in the final seconds, securing a thrilling 92-87 victory!! Wow!
This’ll be the first Grand Final appearance for the Cats since 1995, if I recall correctly, and they haven’t won the Premiership since the late 1960s, so this is a big deal for Geelong. Next weekend for the Grand Final the Cats will play the winner of tomorrow’s match between the Port Adelaide Power and the North Melbourne Kangaroos. Whichever team wins, the Cats should be the favourite, as the Cats were far and away the best team in the regular season. Both teams have beaten the Cats this season though, the Kangaroos a week 5 upset in Geelong to put the Cats record at 2-3, and then the Cats reeled off 15 consecutive wins before losing at home to the Power on a last-second goal in week 21. The Cats won their final regular season match, and then destroyed the Kangaroos in the first round of the finals 156-50 (the short YouTube clip below is from that match), before edging perennial power Collingwood 92-87 today. Go Cats! We are Geelong!
[UPDATE 22 Sep 2007 at 10:10am: Port Adelaide annihilated the Kangaroos 133-46 overnight in Adelaide, so the Grand Final is all set: Cats v Power. Should be a dandy!]

Alright, off to campus for me. Only 30 hours or so until the Penn State-Michigan game… WE ARE… PENN STATE!! BEAT MICHIGAN!!