You won’t find us arguing with this bitter Kiwi editorial. We’d be bitter too.
I’ve often wondered, who is Larry and why is he so happy?
Now we all know: Happy Larry is Larry Ellison, the IT billionaire who spent a fortune buying the America’s Cup and a second fortune to retain it. Ellison’s new self-serving America’s Cup rules, unveiled this week, stink. The cup is in danger of becoming an event defined by match-fixing, rather than “match racing”.
Yet another sad chapter in its history of lawyered-up rich nobs fighting it out through the courts, rather than on the water. Frankly, it’s time Grant Dalton and co packed up the Team New Zealand sails and walked away from the sham cup. It is now a complete and utter farce. Team NZ needs to pull the pin and tell Ellison and his bottomless pit of money that we’re not interested anymore.
And without the very real and raw talent of the Kiwis, the event loses so much appeal – if not all of it. Read on.
Title inspiration, ironically, is thanks to Sham 69.