No-one should be surprised by Eddie McGuire’s outburst over Mick Malthouse’s frank assessment of the Barcodes circa round 3, 2012. Eddie is, and has always been, first and foremost a showman. It’s the sizzle that excites McGuire, not the sausage.

Here at AussieRulesBlog Central, we haven’t managed to get past the adverts for McGuire’s eponymously-titled new TV vehicle. It’s clear that EMT takes a lowest common denominator approach — not unlike The Footy Show, a former McGuire vehicle — and isn’t interested in anything much other than sizzle.

Nathan Buckley, on the other hand, has his feet firmly planted on the ground, regardless of his FIGJAM reputation. No wonder then that he backed his predecessor's right to comment as he felt was appropriate.

And, of course, the ‘controversy’ was turned up to ‘High’ by that soul of sober reflection, The Age’s Caroline Wilson.

Did anyone really expect that Malthouse wouldn’t be asked his opinion of the 2012 Barcodes? More especially since he’s employed to provide insightful comments on football?

McGuire isn’t quite the shrinking violet that Jeff Kennett is, but they both generate far more column centimetres than they’re entitled to.

Storm? Meet teacup.

After writing about the Ashes disaster and the possibility that James Hird and Nathan Buckley might write further storied chapters in their lives yesterday, we happened upon an interesting story in a non-sports blog.

Seth Godin is an American marketing guru. His blog is a collection of thoughts on the general theme of small, independent business entrepreneurs. Not the place you expect to see sports-oriented wisdom, but we liked this one.

Zig Ziglar [a sales guru] used to tell a story about a baseball team on a losing streak. On the road for a doubleheader, the team visited a town that was home to a famous faith healer. While the guys were warming up, the manager disappeared. He came back an hour later with a big handful of bats. "Guys, these bats were blessed and healed by the guru. Our problems are over."

According to the story, the team snapped out of their streak and won a bunch of games. Some people wonder, "did the faith healer really touch the bats, or was the manager making it up?" Huh? Does it matter?

Are James Hird and Nathan Buckley faith healers (in the sense of Godin’s blog post)? Do their very records and stature in the game lift the morale and enthusiasm of their teams?

In the end, Godin is right. It doesn’t matter how the team is empowered, but it does give pause to think . . .