Opinion - Paul Hickey: Sport galore, Wimbledon hawk and theatre giveaway

Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates after beating Australia's Nick Kyrgios to win the Wimbledon men's final. Photo / AP

Oh, I do miss the days when Sky TV had everything.

People moaned about the price, but it was cheaper than what we pay now for all the different services for sport, news, normal shows and more.

Usual readers and listeners will recall that I did cancel my subscription to the full Sky package towards the end of last year. But I always knew that, come certain parts of the year, sooner or later the sports fan in me would have to get it back.

And that time is now.

The monthly streaming package is great value, especially when the All Blacks are on!

Though, one has to wonder if they are not actually on at the moment? Despite the loss last weekend, I'm still always right behind the men in black, and find it hard to comprehend how a sports team losing can bring out the worst in people.

Some of the vitriol that gets written, and the sad stories of Irish fans at the game last Saturday having to take verbal and physical abuse from Kiwi fans is just not on.

Congrats to Ireland, who are now one of the best teams on the planet - it's not a surprise nor a disgrace to lose to such a team.

But I'm still backing Sam and the boys this weekend, and if they can't win it, we still wake up on Sunday morning, right?

I might just avoid the social media comments, though, for my own mental health.

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As for other sport, I finally got to watch a State of Origin game this year.

After missing only one game in the past 25 years, I've missed two this year because of that wretched flu; staying up till 10pm was never going to happen!

And how about the thrills of the Wimbledon tennis finals? Nick Kyrgios in the final, who would have thought?

Another tennis story also captured my interest early this week, but I didn't see any proof of its validity on the telly.

Apparently, Wimbledon has an official hawk named Rufus.

Every morning, from 5am to 9am, before thousands of spectators enter and play gets under way, the beloved Harris's hawk flies over the world's most manicured tennis courts and keeps pesky nuisance birds like pigeons away.

Described as an "important member of the Wimbledon family", Rufus has been scaring away other birds for about 15 years, taking over from his predecessor, Hamish.

How cool is that?

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There is no doubt that there is plenty of artistic talent in Rotorua, and starting this weekend we can see plenty of it at Rotorua Musical Theatre, with their new show 'Streakin' Thru The 70s'.

With a live band to complement the onstage performers, the show features big songs and a journey through game shows, sitcoms, disco, natural highs, and the political unrest of a much-maligned decade.

I've got more tickets to giveaway next week; listen to find out how to win.

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Paul Hickey is your local host on The Hits Rotorua weekdays between 9am and 3pm. Featuring Rotorua news, information, and giveaways, plus trending stories from around the world. Listen on 97.5FM or download the iHeartRadio app. PLUS follow The Hits Rotorua and Paul on Facebook and Instagram.