KEY POINTS:
A BBC radio journalist covering a league test in Auckland steered me into a pub, bought the drinks, then waved a microphone in my face.
It was late 1999, France had just blown past the All Blacks in a World Cup semifinal and the man from the Beeb had quickly lost interest in the league. "What is the mood of the nation?" he asked, clearly not referring to the Kiwis' solid victory at Ericsson Stadium.
And further: "What effect will this have on the election?"
I recall one reply. Playing the politician, I could only suggest that while a rugby disaster wouldn't bring Jenny Shipley's National Government down, it wouldn't exactly help the incumbents when the country trundled into the polling booths in a few week's time. Ducking and diving, or a bob each way in other words.
The mood of this nation and its ties to the rugby rollercoaster is subjective. Outsiders may see it as collective thought, but it is a more confused matter on the inside. Not everyone in the shaky isles trembles at the sight of the All Blacks leaving the field in defeat, or even watches or cares about rugby in the first place.
Gone are the days of'56, when apparently an entire nation lay in wait for the Springboks.
Life has diversified. Even the most ardent rugby fan can return to a comfortable life after a test defeat, beyond the dreams of those who live in poverty and violence-stricken lands where sport is truly a passion and an escape. By comparison to these and even more affluent lands, our expressions of sporting pride can be restrained and stoic. Maybe we have saved our most passionate responses for Rugby World Cup defeats and yachting victories in recent decades. Come 2007 though, it could be time to see how we pour those emotions into a long-awaited rugby triumph.
The sporting year will be headlined by New Zealand's fifth attempt to reclaim the world rugby crown it won in 1987, although the America's Cup challenge will bob gloriously to the surface, and the world cricket and netball tournaments will grab plenty of limelight. The Rugby World Cup has been no laughing matter for this country in the past 20 years. We've sent a line of coaches to the gallows and failed - dismally - to find any gallows humour.
Comedy is not our strong point, but we do a damn good tragedy. The amateur analyst keeps wanting to burst forth on this, pointing to a national insecurity that invests too much in esteem-enhancing rugby. Maybe that's why we once accepted claims we were done in by a World Cup poisoner.
Realising our lack of self-parody, opponents quickly put the boot in, and constantly remind us that the All Blacks only win when it doesn't really count. Which only stirs us even more. And how.
Until Graham Henry arrived on the All Black scene, New Zealand had organised its rugby to ensure the national side had plenty of crumbs of comfort. Now, the system is geared entirely to feed a banquet to the All Black machine. We now have an All Black welfare system, from the cradle of the national championship to the grave business of winning back the World Cup.
I, for one, have no doubt at all that the All Blacks will triumph in the 2007 final in France. Bookmakers around the world are in a similar mood, quoting a New Zealand victory at about $1.50. You can safely bet on the All Blacks, the problem being that it's hardly worth it.
The four-year form book is impressive, and current form even more so. Since losing the 2003 semifinal to Australia, the All Blacks have won 33 of 37 tests, the defeats being a trio to South Africa and one to Australia. Henry's All Blacks won a brilliant 12 from 13 in 2006.
More importantly, the All Blacks are well covered in most positions and on the rise while all their major foes - quite unbelievably - are in serious decline or a clinging-on pattern. Australia are the strongest challengers because they are rugby tournament experts from a sporting nation which thrives on an inner belief, even if the exterior is tattered. They are also the only team capable of challenging the Polynesian-powered All Black backs.
France could be tough if they are stirred into action by national pride but the All Blacks have dismantled their scrum on home territory, which has torn at the French inner core. South Africa's form is hard to nail down but their backline lacks penetration. Ireland have iconic figures in the backs and pack - Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell - but their depth and self-belief runs thin. England are in a shambles. In a nutshell, if goalkicking ace Dan Carter is on the field then other sides will have to better the All Blacks in try scoring. It's hard to see any of them, in their current state, having much chance of doing that.
The other great sporting prospect on a world scale for 2007 is the America's Cup. Team New Zealand, with Grant Dalton in charge and Dean Barker again the skipper, have risen from the depths of 2003. Yet who really knows what the top teams have got up their skirts for the Spanish showdown.
Holders Alinghi, who beat a woeful New Zealand defence, are no longer skippered by Russell Coutts, but have fellow New Zealander Brad Butterworth in charge, although another man will actually be at the helm of the Swiss boat. The Alinghi camp includes 10 New Zealanders.
The challenger of record, America's Oracle, are led by Kiwi yachting legend Chris Dickson. The other top prospect is expected to be the Italian entry Luna Rossa while Spain may provide the fourth semifinalist in the challenger series, which begins in mid-April. The America's Cup has, supposedly, reached a point of major tinkering rather than radical design. The holders are now assisted by a relentless build-up of races each year.
It means they don't go into the defence cold, while still getting the extra time to make technical changes as the challengers battle it out in the Louis Vuitton Cup. Team New Zealand have launched their two boats, Oracle will practise in New Zealand waters, while Alinghi have still to put their best boat forward.
Winds off Valencia may be lighter than first predicted, but America's Cup controversy and intrigue is sure to be heavy. You can just see those piercing eyes of Dickson glaring like headlights at the centre of the storms which are sure to rage.
The encouraging news for the Emirates-sponsored TNZ, the nation, and those who are ready to invest financially in the return of cup racing to our waters, is that Dalton and Barker appear to have their campaign on a good track.
The big question for the holders is how much will they miss Coutts in what is shaping as a gripping contest. As a fate-tempting exercise, a Team New Zealand victory in Valencia would ignite yet another sports hosting palaver in the Queen City because the old yachting bases have already made way for apartments. Can't wait for that one.
On to cricket, and the World Cup in the West Indies. Test ineptitude has left New Zealand so disenchanted with the five-dayers that one-dayers may soon be the longer form of the game in this country. Twenty is about the number of people you might find at a test ground, while Twenty20 is surging ahead with a posse of new fans.
We are heading to a point of one-day specialisation but it is still difficult to hold any hope at all for NZ success in the 2007 World Cup, even though the Black Caps are clinging to a world ranking of four.
Yes, the Black Caps might, just might, cobble together a bowling attack to hold the others back. They might even cobble together a certain fast bowler with a healthy back. But who would rate the batters as able to flay an attack the way Australia, the red hot favourites, can.
New Zealand is grouped with England, Kenya and Canada in the perfunctory stage of the tournament. The super eight stage will surely include the Kiwis, England, Australia, Pakistan, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.
This is a tournament for Australia to lose. They have a clutch of bludgeoning batters including Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds and a one-day maestro in Michael Hussey. That is to name but a few of Australia's potential match and tournament winners. Pakistan might threaten on a good day. The weight of Black Cap batting expectations will fall on Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle, Scott Styris and the effervescent Brendon McCullum. A thin line.
The New Zealand media is hardly massing at the World Cup gate either - the daily print representation was down to one agency man at last count, and jokes are doing the rounds that he is booked to depart before the semifinals. Still, one day cricket is a strange animal, and gigantic upsets have been known. New Zealand will also be able to prepare against the best, with a stack of matches against Australia on both sides of the Tasman in the new year.
Then there's big event number four: the World Netball Championships in November. It's a two horse race, for the venue and the title. Either Waitakere or Christchurch, either Australia or New Zealand.
Australia turned the tables on New Zealand in 2006. The Silver Ferns have lost a few veterans and the brightest star of them all, Irene van Dyk, is in her twilight years. Maria Tutaia is the great new hope on attack although the reappearance of Tania Dalton this year suggested that fresh blood does not run deep. Australia are favourites by a whisker at this stage even though the Silver Ferns have been handed the advantage of high-decibel home support because of the Fiji coup.
Finally, a sporting oddity. The All Golds league tour will take place at the end of 2007. This is a commemorative Northern Hemisphere jaunt by the Kiwis, who will be allowed to pick one Australian player.
They should be good at that part, having practised the move with Nathan Fien in 2006. Andrew Johns is the Aussie favourite for the job. He would emulate the great Australian Dally Messenger who joined the original New Zealand All Golds on their 1907/08 tour to Australia, England, Wales and Ceylon.
A final prediction: the 2007 sporting year will be remembered primarily for two events - the Rugby World Cup and the America's Cup.
Defeat in the latter might be received with reasonable grace, but another disappointment in the former will certainly not.
The 2007 sports year also invites a think ahead to 2011, when New Zealand could defend both the rugby and yachting titles on home turf and waters if the corporate dollars - including the vaults-full belonging to the Emirates - allow.
There's actually a rumour around that the America's Cup could locate to Dubai, but enough of that. Imagine the extravaganza of a dual defence in 2011. It also happens to be a general election year.
