Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Ben Cousins Makes Flipping The Bird Becomes Popular Again

Ben Cousins, disgraced former West Coast Eagles captain and now Richmond player, came back to Perth a couple of weeks ago for a match against the Fremantle Dockers. Ninety minutes before the game he spotted a TV camera and "flipped the bird" in its direction. Otherwise known as giving it the one-finger salute. The AFL was a bit unhappy about the action and fined Cousins $5000 as did his club. Ten grand for a gesture. I wonder what you could get away with in civilian life for a maximum $10k fine?

Anyway, it appears that the "bird" is becoming more popular. The other day I was wandering around the city and noticed a bus and a taxi trying to occupy the same position on the road. The taxi driver had overtaken on a double-white line, a no overtaking position, and had cut the bus driver off somewhat. They were both inching their vehicles forward to make life difficult for one another. Then you could hear the bus driver yelling. Finally he took his belt off, opened the door and stormed up to the front passenger door of the taxi, flipped the bird as he started mouthing off and opened the front door. He then gave some abuse and went back to his bus, leaving the taxi door open. Well, the taxi driver took his belt off, had a few words to say to the bus driver as he circled his car to close the door and got back in. Then the bus driver wound his window down, stuck his head out of the window and continued to give some abuse.

Amusing stuff. Has Ben Cousins made flipping the bird popular again? Can't see the bus driver getting fined $10k for his actions.

4 comments:

Iris Flavia said...

LOL!
Well, maybe not so! But written to make one laugh! Had to wiki "Flipping the Bird" - and even found it!

Hammy said...

Thanks for the link Iris. That certainly made for interesting reading. More interesting than my post.

Anonymous said...

Bird flipping rules!!

The bird flipped by Ben Cousins said...

I wish people would stop flipping me!