gingerjon

Fantastic game this, though

Just so monumentally stupid

There was a site that was taken down a few years back which went into quite forensic detail about the ways scandals were avoided and how players structured their seasons to avoid testing. Men’s tennis in particular with its long matches and short turnarounds is basically impossible to imagine without some assistance. Diet and nutrition only gets you so far and these guys are showing zero fatigue or need for recovery.

It was comfortably one of the worst I've seen and I've seen, for comparison, one in the First Qualifying Round of the Women's FA Cup between two teams who train once a week (it finished 4-3 and all the shots were decent and on target). But, it being one of the worst was what made the drama. You needed that stupid imperfection or else it's just like watching a tennis game with ace after ace after ace - and you also needed the knowledge that the game before it had ebbed and flowed and been mostly decent *and* that there is beef between the sides *and* a semi final place was on the line. Spain just need to turn up and not doing anything stupid. No one else is on their level.

You go to non league football from time to time? He's one of the ones in the bar complaining they don't have any 'real' beer, loudly telling everyone how he used to have a season ticket for a Football League side, and how it's all fake these days - all whilst checking the scores from everywhere on his phone and moaning that City need to sort out their midfield and here's the Paraguayan that he heard on Talksport they should sign.

I don't think the OP is being entirely reasonable but there is a problem when, in a small league, these are the odds for the next three games (predicted winner's odds shown): 1/9, 2/9, 1/4 You could accept one game like that out of the three but when all three are like that, and we seem to be replicating equivalents each weekend, then there is an issue. Whether it's a major issue or not is the debate. But the one thing I would add is that it's not a 'quality' debate. People mostly want to see competitive games. That can happen regardless of the perceived 'quality' of the players on the pitch but, obviously, to be competitive you need the top and the bottom to close enough in terms of consistent standards.

Quality is very overrated (IMO). Competitive, dramatic and fun tend to be what casual viewers want to see. There were another 3m on streaming - though I think that includes folk playing highlights clips as well - on the iPlayer and BBC Sport. An underrated aspect is just how good Robyn Cowen (sp.) is at getting the tone right in commentary.

One of the lowest quality penalty shoot outs follows one of the worst England performances but because the Lionesses get the win I DO NOT REMOTELY CARE. It really is only soccer that behaves like this. Love it.

They don’t step in for those now. This is absolutely insane.

It’s done. Team needs an overhaul and the defence needs their marching orders.

His severance package was 300k. The loss on the Odsal shenanigans to the RFL is, what, 900k. His vison is forever short term. His list of failures extensive. The damage caused by his actions irreperable. So, yes, I'm happy to accept for me that it is personal *as well as* the absolute unnecessary carnage caused by the ridiculous coup that, so far, has delivered precisely nothing. So I can add to the list above: failure to deliver review on time, failure to take control of any of the issues affecting the game, failure to be open on any aspect of governance.

I did some reading around the TV deal based on responses at the time. There were a lot of negative comments about it from those within the game. An especially damning voice was Ian Lenagan who said that the sport had chosen big money now (then) but that by isolating itself from broadcasters for 8 years would struggle to repeat that in the future. I’d argue he has broadly been proved right on that. We start every TV round as if it’s the first time we’ve done it. Of course, I’d also argue that Lenagan has also been part of the problem numerous times as well so I’m just flagging this up as “for interest”.

We did the maths a bit back for whether League 1 clubs could make a profit on streaming. A bang average set up, which is not the quality of the Sky additional games, is, for a punter to buy, about £1,200 a match. Even taking that low figure and multiplying it by 4 and then by 26 rounds you get to a value of 125k.

An AI Eddie Waring for the retro slots. Steve Ryder to come on every so often to mispronounce Salford and interrupt coverage so we cover the 2.40 from Wincanton.

You just need an iPhone and someone shouting “I can’t spayk”.