Sport to the exclusion of everythng else

BBC1: England v Germany at football
BBC2: Wimbledon
News channel: Sportsday

Jeepers.

I do believe there are these new fangled streaming services, where you can spend the entire evening trying to choose what to watch.

Flanged? Is that anything to do with oranges?

Don’t forget ‘Le Tour’ down near Rick

I thought that ‘flanged’ pertained to instruments that had been run through a flanger. [How dare my spooling chucker now recognise flanger!?]

However. Regarding the program of BBC1 or ARD in Germany ;-): Congratulations from my side to the English national team!

Don’t forget ‘Le Tour’ down near Rick

Good day for The Manx Missile.

and I’ve been coming here to AVOID the wall-to-wall sport.

Jeepers.

Wait until England have an actual chance of winning. BBC 1 football, BBC 2 football, BBC Four some programme about the history of football, ITV 1 football (from a different angle), ITV 2 a rerun of a Carry On movie followed by some film related to football, Channel 4 a news programme about football, Channel 5 a film in which Charlotte Rampling gets undressed with a football score ticker along the bottom of the screen…

<sigh>

where you can spend the entire evening trying to choose what to watch.

Yup. I do that a lot. My watchlist is longer than my remaining life expectancy, and all too frequently after looking at what I might like to watch, I’m too tired to actually do any watching.

Congratulations from my side to the English national team!

Just know that if they win, the English will be absolutely bloody insufferable. They may even try to pass it off as an effect of “Brexit Bounce” or something equally illogical.

[PS: I’m Scottish ;-)]

and I’ve been coming here to AVOID the wall-to-wall sport.

That’s why Netflix. No schedules, no sport, no “if you were miss-sold solar panels within the last six years you could be due thousands in compensation”…

Strange how the Scots and Welsh are happy to support any team / anyone who isn’t English who is playing against a team / person who is English. Mostly the English are happy to support any UK team / person regardless of their home nation.

That said, I don’t give FF about football. I particularly hate the way not only are the TV schedules full of it, but so are the bits in between the football. And why the need to dissect what has just happened on the pitch (at a massive cost in pundit salaries)? If you watched the match, you’ll know what happened, so why does it need to be explained to you. And then all the time taken before the match starts (an hour on the BBC last night) to discuss what might happen? Did I mention that I hate football?

Strange how the Scots and Welsh are happy to support any team / anyone who isn’t English who is playing against a team / person who is English.

Of course. The Scottish team is kind of rubbish and never gets anywhere, so if we’re going to have any rivalry with the English, we’ll need to lend support to any team that doesn’t fall over before the first hurdle. ;-)

Mostly the English are happy to support any UK team / person regardless of their home nation.

You’re conflating two different things here. A UK team is not the same as an English team. Would an English person support Scotland (or Wales), especially if said team beat England? ¹

I’m quite sure that a Scot would support a British competitor. Because that person represents all of the countries.

And why the need to dissect what has just happened on the pitch

Because viewers are morons? I’ve seen the end of MoTD in the past while waiting for a film or whatnot, and I never understood this. By all means play that epic goal where the bloke whacks the ball off his head from the other side of the field. But this step by step analysis? Surely that’s like explaining the joke? Isn’t it better to watch the game and have the excitement of it playing out in real time? There doesn’t seem to me to be any point in all the after game analysis. Some decisions were good, some less so. Some people played well, others less so. A game was played, a result obtained, and talking about it for twice as long as the game took to play isn’t going to change that.

to discuss what might happen?

Personally, I think this might be because football is a highly variable game. There’s half time. There’s overtime. There’s penalty time. There’s tea time. There’s penalty time on penalty time. And if all else fails (as in a match a few years back, against Portugal I think), everybody lines up to try to boot the ball straight into the goal.²
So I think the broadcaster might block off a certain amount of time and if the game takes longer it may overrun slightly, and if the game takes less then it’s airtime that needs to be filled.

Did I mention that I hate football?

At boarding school, the blue jerseys were all the good players, and the red jerseys were all the crap ones. The PE teacher very obviously favoured the good players, to the point where if they screwed up and we reds actually managed to score a goal, he’d pluck some made up rule out of his arse to justify why the ball being put into the net wasn’t a real goal and didn’t count. So let’s just say that I have no time for watching a bunch of overpaid numpties (of whatever nationality) running around kicking a ball to please the believers in the great cult of “the beautiful game” ³).

¹ Not bloody likely that such an event would actually happen, but you get the point.

² If they just did that in the beginning, we all could have been saved two hours of watching people run up and down a field.

³ The beautiful game is chess, if you ask me, but nobody ever did…

The Scottish team is kind of rubbish and never gets anywhere

You’re doubtless right, but they drew with England the other day.

</footballfan>

The beautiful game is chess, if you ask me, but nobody ever did

Didn’t need to. Just knew. I agree, but would put Go alongside it.

as in a match a few years back, against Portugal I think

That was hilarious. We met up with friends from down south in a pub restaurant in Glenelg. We did explain that not all Scots hate the English all the time as they sadly inferred from the somewhat vocal support for Portugal and derision heaped upon England that night. Especially in the penalty shootout.

My impression as an Englishman living in Scotland is that the Scots don’t hate the English at all. They hate the Wastemonster government and the tories, but actual ordinary English people are okay.

There doesn’t seem to me to be any point in all the after game analysis

As has been suggested, it does provide legal employment for people who have no other talent.

The PE teacher very obviously

Very obviously couldn’t understand that being sent to the headmaster and forced by the head to spend the rest of a freezing cold PE lesson in the library reading wasn’t actually a punishment.
Oh, the headmaster knew I loved reading, so, there was clearly only one confused soul.

The PE teacher very obviously

Very obviously couldn’t understand

Not necessarily. You may be doing the PE teacher an injustice. He might have been “punishing” you for the benefit of the rest of the class, while knowing full well what would happen to you and approving. See http://clive.semmens.org.uk/Recounts/Geography.html

You may be doing the PE teacher an injustice.

The headmasters comments included: “you need to appreciate he’s not the brightest candle…” which surprised me. I wasn’t disruptive, in fact it took the staff years to “bring Steven out of his shell” – so if you lot want someone to blame, there’s a list.

Of sport in general (it’s the thread), I was never a competitor. I could run faster than the then local schools champion for 100, 200 and 400, but since that had the incentive of avoiding physical harm, I don’t think it counts.

Cycling I can relate to as something that got me to other places¹ and I can admire the people who do a better job. Cavendish getting a Tour stage win is definitely better (actually his career 39th)

¹ Cycling 11 miles to a pub, having two pints and cycling back was a simple trip.
Missing a train back from Birmingham and cycling to Coventry instead of just from Coventry station.

Miles per doughnut’s :-)

The headmasters comments included: “you need to appreciate he’s not the brightest candle…”

Ah. Additional information I didn’t have 8~) ! Fair enough; different time, different place, different individuals.

On sports in general: most of my life I’ve not been a competitor. For a couple of years in my early teens I was, I don’t know why. Won a few races and the shot put. Funnily enough though my daughter at the same age could run quite a bit faster than I ever did, winning in her school but not in the district games. I was a keen cyclist until I was 60, when my doctor advised me to give up. Cycled a lot in Europe & India, many times over 100 miles in a day, but never in competition.

These days people are encouraged by their doctor -to cycle when they are well over sixty.

Surprised Rick in France doesn’t take it up :-)

Clive in India :)

You’re conflating two different things here. A UK team is not the same as an English team. Would an English person support Scotland (or Wales), especially if said team beat England?

Yes, if England doesn’t get through we are happy to support one of the other UK nations as second choice. Where as the Scottish will support anyone else in the world in preference to England, even our sworn enemies such as France, which is really sad.

Not sure why in world games – the UK is allowed several dibs at the pot!

These days people are encouraged by their doctor -to cycle when they are well over sixty.

For sure, and I’d love to. But it does rather depend on one’s specific issues! I’m encouraged to walk lots, run in moderation. Okay to drive. But NOT to ride a bike, unless I get myself a recumbent.

even our sworn enemies such as France

Whose sworn enemies? The Scots don’t regard France as sworn enemies…

I suppose our leaders were a trifle upset when the Germans tried to take France – when England had been trying for Centuries :-|