discussion The other pandemic

[Gern]

I don’t particularly care for football, or pretty much any sport (though I kind of like cycling, partly because the countryside and spectators are often interesting to see :smiling3 but guys … you do realise that you’re griping about the kind of things pretty much everyone would do when in the same position, right?

The main one seems to be high salary top footballers get, for supposedly doing very little. Blame the salary on the clubs and the media: if they weren’t asking, respectively willing to pay, so much for broadcast rights, the players wouldn’t be getting that much money either. Or to turn this around: the players simply want a share of all the cash they see the clubs make, because the club wouldn’t be making it without the players. This is no different from factory workers demanding higher wages when the company is doing well.

The players’ haircuts and other flamboyancy is simply a result of having a lot of money and being of the current extravert generation. Pretty much everyone ever in history who had a lot of money, went about showing it off to others. High-level footballers, being the kind of people who are used to (and enjoy) being in the spotlight, just tend to do this in more obvious ways than, say, a nerdy IT billionaire or a fantasy writer who might spend it on sportscars, an aircraft museum, a gigantic yacht, or, oh, I don’t know, a football club.

Oh yeah, and all the “football is dull” memes are (almost certainly) American, who (not to put too fine a point on it) don’t understand the sport. The first part of this video explains the reasons pretty well:

And you thought football was tricky! Anyone seen the rules for cricket?

Cricket Rules - O.K!​

You have two sides – one out in the field and one in.

The side that is out in the field tries to get each man in the side coming in out.

Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out to play, and stays in until he’s out. When he is out he comes in and the next man goes out and stays in until he is out.

When they are all out, the men on the side that’s been out come out and try to stay in, while the side that's been in comes out and tries to get those coming in out.

Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

Sometimes you get men who are still in that have to come in even though they are not out.

When both sides have been in and out – including the not outs –

The game is over!​

 

[Tim Marlow]

Football rules are quite simple, as are Cricket in the main, but Rugby? Out on the full is allowed sometimes, but not always….and why is it called “out on the full”….. and sometimes you can call for the mark, and others the game carries on…..offside is virtually unintelligible to the non cognoscenti and most rules are open to change at regular intervals….
By the way, I’m not anti rugby, but might be giving that impression ….I love to watch a good game as much as the next man. My school was very much rugby oriented, my year producing an England captain (Richard Hill) and several England Schoolboy players. My brother in law had a trial for England Schoolboys as a winger, but ran up against the vested interest that is the public school system. The trial match was held at Marlborough college, and was set up as their team against the rest of the trialists….of course the the public schoolboys came across as better positionally and slicker passers. Living and playing together every day while the other trialists hadn’t met before helped that impression LOL..

 

[Guest]

And you thought football was tricky! Anyone seen the rules for cricket?

Cricket is essentially simple: one side tries to knock over the little stick on the three longer sticks, the other side tries to prevent that.

The confusing thing about cricket is the scores. I have read about how they work several times and still never grasped how it’s decided who’s won.

 

[Gern]

Cricket is essentially simple: one side tries to knock over the little stick on the three longer sticks, the other side tries to prevent that.

The confusing thing about cricket is the scores. I have read about how they work several times and still never grasped how it’s decided who’s won.

You mean it's possible to win a game of cricket?

 

[Tim Marlow]

You mean it's possible to win a game of cricket?

Only if you’re playing England!

 

[The Smythe Meister]

You mean it's possible to win a game of cricket?

Yes of course it is Dave......
In this case a draw is sometimes considered a "Win":anguished:,.......
SO,Bat 1st,then pray for rain........if it does..... you don`t lose!!:dizzy::thumb2:,
Andy

 

[minitnkr]

We dropped out of NHRA drag & USAC oval racing when they became flooded w/rich sponsor teams w/seemingly unlimited budgets.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Damn fine football over the last couple of days. Two never say die games yesterday with 14 goals between them, and we finally beat the ancient foe (after what seems like about thirty attempts) today! Commiserations to our German brethren, but it had to happen some day!

 

[Guest]

Paint drying a exciting pastime.
The expression was well known by the late 20th century and has led to real-life activities. In 2012, the World Watching Paint Dry championships were held by online trade merchants localtraders.com to promote various brands of paint. Entries were received from all over the world.

Meanwhile I shall mainly be gardening, modelling or sleeping , in no particular order.
Management are currently watching the Wimbledon Tennis so all is well .

In 2016, director Charlie Lyne released a 10-hour-and-7-minute-long film of paint drying titled Paint Drying to antagonise the British Board of Film Classification as a protest against their censorship and steep fees. The board was forced to watch all of it in order to award it a U certificate.:smiling2::smiling2::smiling2::smiling2::smiling::smiling:

 

[Jim R]

Forget football and tennis.
"Mark Cavendish, The Manx Missile, won Stage 4 at the Tour de France. A real fairy tale comeback. 31 Tour wins - only 3 behind Eddy Merckx's record."
Jim

 

[Dave Ward]

I knew something was going on last night! A huge cheer from the local pub ( who had a large outdoor screen in their beer garden ) just down the road, and another a little later. I didn't need to see the news that England had won 2-0! On to Saturday - hope, the weather is kind....
Dave

 

[wasdale32]

On the subject of understanding scoring - tennis is the only game that I know of where you can score more points than your opponent and still lose. Think of a match where player A beats player B 0-6,0-6,7-5,7-5,7-5 player A has won 21 games but player B has won 27 games!

 

[Guest]

tennis is the only game that I know of where you can score more points than your opponent and still lose.

Well, that, and American presidential elections, of course.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Well, that, and American presidential elections, of course.

UK elections using first past the post can throw up the same anomalies. More seats but a lower overall share of the vote. I’m pretty sure it’s happened for both main parties in my lifetime. It doesn’t invalidate the result, it’s just the system…..

 

[Allen Dewire]

Damn fine football over the last couple of days. Two never say die games yesterday with 14 goals between them, and we finally beat the ancient foe (after what seems like about thirty attempts) today! Commiserations to our German brethren, but it had to happen some day!

So true Tim, so true...It was good game and the better team won. On the downside, it was Jogi's last game as trainer after 15 years. I guess history will forget all the good matches and only remember his last one that he lost.................

On another note, I can't, for the life of me, understand why fans boo when the other teams national anthem is played. It's happened many times during this EM, and honestly, I think that's just plain rude......

So when does the World Bowls championship start???............It's fun to see people banging their balls around on the green carpet........

Prost
Allen

 

[AlanG]

On another note, I can't, for the life of me, understand why fans boo when the other teams national anthem is played. It's happened many times during this EM, and honestly, I think that's just plain rude......

Because the 'fans' doing it are mindless idiots that should be neutered to save society from their biology. It is utterly disgraceful.

 

[Gern]

Similar thing happened halfway through the game. An England player was down and the Germans kicked the ball into touch while the medics looked at him - in the true spirit of sportsmanship. When England took the throw, they passed the ball directly to the German goalie - in the true spirit of sportsmanship.

They got booed by the crowd! A*******s!

PS Isn't it possible to win more individual games in a darts match and still lose the match as the winning outcome is decided by sets?

 

[Jim R]

..... and the amazing come back continues.
Tour de France, stage 5, winner Mark Cavendish - the greatest sprinter the sport has ever seen.

 

[Tim Marlow]

..... and the amazing come back continues.
Tour de France, stage 5, winner Mark Cavendish - the greatest sprinter the sport has ever seen.

Trouble is Jim the TV in the UK has been infected by the Wimbledon variant……I think the BBC is scheduling about eighteen hours a day tennis every day for a fortnight…..thats like showing 130 football matches back to back in two weeks!

 

[Guest]

Tour de France, stage 5, winner Mark Cavendish - the greatest sprinter the sport has ever seen.

https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/1413/speed-demons-the-best-sprinters-in-tour-de-france-history
This ranks him fifth

I think the BBC is scheduling about eighteen hours a day tennis every day for a fortnight…..

On both 1 and 2 … why don’t they begin a dedicated sports channel so that those of us who like to watch non-sports programmes, can?