Okay, so we've had a day to let our feelings simmer down and we think we may have overreacted to NBL commissioner's comments about the Illawarra. In fact, we think he might actually be right.
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In case you missed it, let's recap. In an interview with an American basketball website, NBL commissioner Jeremy Loeliger made the following observations: "Illawarra is a region rather than a city and a very beautiful place. It's right on the ocean, picturesque, mountainous and at the same time, you'd expect it to be a tourist destination, but it's really not. It's an industrial location. We've had big steelworks there for many, many years. As a result, it's become a blue-collar town."
You can read our response to those words, which we regrettably called "laughable" and "downright rude", here.
We're obviously far too close to the subject matter, whereas Mr Loeliger has the benefit of distance and splendid isolation in that tropical southern paradise of Melbourne. So upon further reflection, we've come up with 16 reasons why he's right about the little burough we call Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama.
1. Nothing but steelworks and ships in Port Kembla.
2. All the green and blue in our views make your eyes hurt.
3. There's the damn beach right outside the court where the Hawks play their home games.
4. And no tourist attractions at all.
5. Our churches are pretty bland.
6. Firmly blue collar, no world-class universities to be seen.
7. And the escarpment blocks all the views inland.
8. No growth happening in this little municipality.
9. The surf at Shellharbour really sucks.
10. Disappointingly our bridge doesn't look like a coathanger.
11. The place is just so depressingly industrial.
12. Who would want to spend time here?
13. And our people are the worst.
14. No one ever comes to our Yours and Owls festival.
15. And all those annoying wine bars, microbreweries and eateries keep popping up all over the place.
16. Basically a ghetto.
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