KEY POINTS:
Sky Sport offers a variety of fare, some top drawer, some part of a package deal.
Not all of it immediately appeals to New Zealand palates, but you've got to love the diversity.
There is a soft spot for those strongest man contests where enormous blokes with huge breasts pull tractors, roll whopping tyres end over end and carry small hills of rock.
Over the weekend, we've had the start of another summer of beach cricket tri-nations at Coolangatta, with a New Zealand team squaring off with South Africa and Australia in a giant sandpit.
They are not there just for a chance to catch up with old adversaries and share a lager or two, XXXX of course. There's a cheque too, apparently between $10,000 and $20,000 depending on how important you are.
Might this be cricket's nadir, where once outstanding players - in New Zealand's case, names like Fleming, Astle, Morrison, Nash, Greatbatch, Harris and McMillan - are made to look like clowns for the benefit of TV and a beer-swilling mob?
As swish after swish cleared the "boundary" about 20m away, commentator Graham Gooch offered serious thoughts on what had just occurred. You'd think the funereal-faced former England captain is highly unsuited to the job of offering witty bon mots to fit the spirit of the contest. So it proved, which actually made it unintentionally funnier.
The day's activities were introduced by an Australian wearing tinted sunglasses popular with certain types of men in nightclubs. He shouted at the camera. It was truly hideous.
But the good news? New Zealand are defending champions and cleaned out South Africa first up. So it can't be all bad.
And if they retain their title it should be given the accolade it deserves. This column will keep you posted.
