Distant but good memories Oddy. 'Rum' another blast from the past and a favourite term of my long departed Gran (born and bred in Skeggy) to describe a cheeky or slightly errant chap as I recall.
The mysterious Secret Agent 'Chaninbar': They seek him here, they seek him thar, That damned elusive Chanin-bar...…………... (with apologies to Emma Orczy)
How the Hell is “UFC” considered a sport? Went in the boozer Saturday night and after the U21 Belgium v Italy game had finished, a friend of mine asked one of the staff to find some boxing. I am no fan of boxing myself but what the heck, the staff put on BT Sport and it was “UFC” coverage, clearly coming from ESPN+. They showed the Las Vegas betting and the American was 3/1 and the other guy was 2/9. The first ‘fight’ lasted nine seconds. The winner punched the loser straight in the face after three seconds. He fell to the floor and the winner then jumped on him and punched him three more times in the head before the referee called it off. In the advert breaks, they kept warning that the program contained flashing images and violence. Who would have guessed? It is bad enough seeing warnings about programs being unsuitable for children when watching NCIS but warnings before legalised thuggery... The next fight Las Vegas betting had the American 2/1 and the other guy 4/11. In the second ‘fight’, one guy was 35 and had not competed in UFC for five years and the other guy was 25, a foot taller and with a foot longer reach. In the first round the kid kneed the old guy in the eye so he was bleeding all over the place but it was not stopped. It took him three rounds to finally finish it off by getting the old boy on the floor and pummelling him until the referee called a halt to it. If I wanted to see this sort of ‘sport’, I could go down ‘Ull Old Town at 11:30 any Saturday night – no referees, just stops when the Old Bill show up.
I'm a real boxing fan from way back QM, but I have to agree on this UFC stuff ... I think it's a regressive step when it comes to combat sports. I'm with you mate, it's little more than thuggery.
French Drivers (not all of them, but too many) Anyone who has driven in France will have experienced this. You are driving along a quiet D road and in the lane coming towards you are 2 cars (one about 6 feet behind the other). You think to yourself 'poor bugger must have broken down and is now being towed'. But none of that, when they both flash by you it becomes obvious the 2nd driver is driving just over a car's length behind the other car on purpose! Worst still of course, is when you are the first driver and the 2nd idiot is right behind you. Why do they do it? The company I worked for demanded we had a day out every year with the Institute of Advanced Motorists. One of the French we had working for us went out and the IAM instructor reported back to his manager that he shouldn't drive. 'What on company business' he asked. 'No he shouldn't drive' came the answer. That they drive like this and have so many bangs and knocks (with the ensuing bouchons) should be no surprise to anyone. They drive with such frustration and speed, yet having overtaken you hold up everyone behind when they get to a roundabout, they can't handle that. I love it.
I'm with you on that. Love watching MMA. Be boring if we all liked the same stuff. I feel the same way about Cricket as you do about UFC. Cricket has to be the most dull, pointless 'sport' to have ever been created. In my opinion that is.
The great thing about viewing cricket on the television is the preponderance of great raconteurs among the ex-players and other commentators who cover that sport. Much more so than football, rugby union, golf, boxing, tennis, horse racing or any other of the 'main' sports covered on the TV or the wireless. It also seems to me that the coverage of cricket is the least biased and unbalanced when it comes to International competitions.
I'm sure it's already been covered on here but VAR, really? Let's just go back to refs/linos making the odd mistake and getting over it. The Lady Roons getting loads of flak for their behaviour in the last 16 game against England but I for one have some sympathy for them. Football just not set up for VAR in it's current format. Will kill the game for the fans who go to matches. VAR exists purely for the armchair fan.
Not driven in France but there is plenty of suicidal tailgating goes on here in Blighty. Worst experience I had was a few years ago on the Rhigos Road to Treorchy in South Wales. Had never driven it before but it winds all over, it was a foggy night, sheer drop on one side and I had some tw*t with full beam headlights right behind me blinding me in my mirrors. If I touch the brakes he is in the boot. Ended up taking foot off gas and slowing to about 30mph – hope that really p*ssed the arsehole off!!!
I never said we all had to like the same stuff. I said I do not see how this is classed as sport. I could not care less about golf, but I can see how it is considered a sport. Not sure how it is a sport when one guy is a foot taller, has arms a foot longer and is ten years younger; and the opponent is allowed to continue for six or seven minutes while bleeding from a gash above the eye. Surely a boxing match would be stopped if one boxer had such an obvious injury. What is sporting about knocking a guy on the floor in three seconds, jumping on him and whacking him in the head until the referee stops you. That’s what drunks do on Friday/Saturday night at closing time. Cricket being dull is an opinion that you are entitled to just as I am of the opinion that UFC seems to involve little sport, having only seen two pathetic examples.
I think you are right, it has been mentioned before as I recall posting how I could see PL matches next season kicking off at 3pm and some of them not ending until 5:30pm because of VAR added time. There were seven added minutes in the England women’s game second half pretty much all down to VAR. The game was the perfect illustration of the fundamental failing of video replay: the idiots using it. England’s second goal was offside in real-time and was offside in slow motion but the VAR people used a freeze frame before the English girl played the ball – at which point the scorer was onside but in motion. When the ball was actually kicked, she was offside. I have no idea how the Cameroon girl’s goal was ruled out for offside when the freeze frame they used clearly showed that the girl passing the ball was level with the last English defender. Instead of it being 2-1 game on, it stayed 2-0.
My god you are pedantic. I know you never said that, I said that to make the point that we don't all like the same things. You don't see UFC as a sport I very much do. Then I used Cricket as my own example which I don't consider a sport, which you clearly do.