Maximus Decimus

I have some sympathy for Price but he handles it so badly. I didn't think the crowd responded to him that badly tbh, but he just encourages them by the way he acts. His over-cheering doesn't go down well, and everytime he has a go at the crowd he just fuels it next time. He's suggested he might not play next year but the heat of the moment and all that.

Couple of nervy quarter-finals today. Averages are a good indicator but that's all they are. A few things can affect your average, one of which being your opponent. If you're playing somebody who is hot on doubles, your average will be higher because you aren't spending much time missing doubles. If I played MVG, my average might be 55 without having a shot at a double, if I played a total novice my average might be 35 because I'm having to win every leg for it to end. That said, I'm struggling to get my head around how Michael Smith just won 5-3 with an average 6 points lower than Bunting.

Haha I've not long took out my world cup winnings, so lost the appetite for betting. The manner of how Barnie beat him recently (coming back from miles behind) had the air of fortune about it, that I doubted would strike again. Been some really good games the past couple of days. The standouts that I've seen being the unexpected MVG-Sujlovic game (with the incredible 161), Clemens-Williams and now Ross Smith vs Van Duijvenbode.

Well the Aspinall-Rock game lived up to the hype! Feel for the Asp, his shocking doubles cost him dear.

He has but I'd bet my house that Price beats him this time. I don't know why but I think this time he wins and quite easy.

Regarding playing darts, I haven't been able to play as much this year and as we've moved to a nicer house the missus won't let me put a metal-tip dartboard up in the house. The problem isn't me, it's when other people come round and fancy having a go leaving holes all over the wall . I have therefore progressed to a soft-tip board, a Granboard. Whilst it feels a bit like cheating with the size of the segments, I actually really like the online play it has. Because the board registers your score, and you use the camera on your phone there is little scope for cheating. There's a real good representation on there from across the world, and actually very few Brits. Lots of Spanish, Belgians, Germans and of course Americans. I've been especially enjoying playing some of Trump's followers. Like their great leader, they aren't very good at winning

She actually played better than she has been doing and was arguably better than Evans (her average was higher), she just got the moments wrong. The Barney-Price game will be one to watch; I do like Barney's throw, it's so smooth. Quite a big upset today, as Wade went out to Jim Williams. Somehow doubt he'll be missed too much! Rock played well yesterday too, pretty easily beat Callan Rydz who has gone right off the boil. His match against Apsinall could be up there with Barney-Price for the one to watch in Round 2.

I was actually going to start a thread about your favourite historical artefacts but it may as well go here. Mine might at first seem unusual, but I will explain! As an ancient history graduate, I have long studied famous people and events from long in the past. Great statues, buildings and valuable artefacts are great and it is nice to think that they were once inhabited by those people but for me nothing beats the feeling I get when I look at these ostraka from Athens. Ancient Athens had a policy whereby anybody who was deemed to be getting too powerful could be ostracised for 10 years. They would vote on broken pieces of pottery (ostraka) and then whoever got the most would be banished. They have found many of these, and they include the names of many famous Athenians such as Perikles, Themistokles, Kleon, Miltiades, Thucydides etc. I just love thinking that these were written by ordinary citizens who actually knew these people and wanted rid of them. It makes them feel so much more real whereas there is something faintly mythical about reading their names in ancient texts.

Extraordinary evil can be done for the right cause. The desire to prevent nations (and by consequence tipping the world balance) from falling into communist hands was a noble one, however at that time it was handled terribly and with little thought for the nations caught in the crossfire. However, there is simply no comparison between 'the West' (which isn't a synonym for the USA btw) and the Communist nations at that time. As a society, we have completely lost sight of the extraordinary freedoms which we enjoy and especially how easily they can be lost. Public opinion within those countries was one of the main reasons why the US and the UK had to change course, and anybody involved is now a pariah - it almost single-handedly destroyed the reputation of Blair. They now serve as a severe warning to any leaders thinking of doing the same. Autocratic regimes (like we see in Russia today) have no such worries. The Soviet Union, and especially Communist China at that time were extraordinarily evil regimes. Maybe their foreign policy doesn't seem much worse, but domestically they were repressive and cruel much akin to what we see in North Korea today. Nobody said the West is perfect, but it represents the regions of the world where change can happen, and the story of the 20th and 21st centuries is one of slow but definite progress. This isn't inevitable, and as we see in Russia today it can easily be reversed.

I do have a great deal sympathy for the genuine fans. A couple of hundred (at best) can end up tarnishing tens of thousands. I've been there where you and everyone you know has personally done nothing, but your club/country is dragged through the mud because of the actions of a fringe hooligan element. It's not nice especially when it is blanket asserted that they are what fans of x are like.

There is an Australia ln soccer fan who posts the same message under every single NRL highlights video. I hope to god it's some form of computer program or that's just time-wasting on an epic and truly sad level. Imagine thinking that posting how big soccer is underneath every single video would have any effect.

I actually witnessed one of these when I went in 2006, it even made international news. My experience was that it was massively overplayed, and no more than a handful of youngsters shouting football chants at each other.

The size of Ireland makes this difficult. They could never realistically sustain a top well-attended league. Rugby Union has just 4 clubs I think. They're competing with something they can't realistically compete with - GAA. This isn't because they don't want to, but because it is basically a form of representative sport where every county has a team. Football just isn't going to replicate this model.

I think here is a good example of where you absolutely can convict somebody without a body. In this instance, there is blood and other objects in the perpetrators car and flat. The victim has disappeared and there is clear evidence that she has been harmed by the individual. Interestingly, the first ever televised UK trial was an example of a conviction without a body. It was on a few years ago and from a Scottish court; IIRC it was an appeal against an original conviction. In this one they managed to come up with a plausible instance of how the body had been disposed of. At the time, I was a little unsure of the reasonable doubt in the same way, but bizarrely during sentencing they were allowed to bring in a whole heap of evidence that had been disqualified such as the fact that he'd beaten her on a regular basis including to within an inch of her life just a few days before. How this wasn't eligible in the trial I didn't know. The difference with the Dawson case, is that there is no actual evidence of harm. The case is far more circumstantial in that respect. Him murdering her is quite a likely possibility, but I don't think it is the only one even if the other possibilities are unlikely. When it started, I was 99% sure he'd done it. During the podcast they brought out a top level defence lawyer to give an impression of what the defence might argue. They stated that at no point had anybody suggested that Dawson was stupid, yet he didn't think to pack some of her belongings into a bag or that moving in his lover 2 days later would look incredibly suspicious. They argued that if you viewed it through the lens of someone whose wife has suddenly left, then his actions look less suspicious and are born out of necessity. This probably nudged it to 95% for me. One of the biggest travesties is that it was never investigated at the time. Not only would memories have been much fresher, there might have been actual physical evidence in the house or the car etc.

Exactly. The reputation of football elsewhere will no doubt encourage other copycats in newer markets. Apparently, they were originally protesting about a decision to centralise the Grand Final in Sydney.

Some decent games so far, although round 1 can often be disappointing mismatches. Stand outs were the first Phillipines player Ilagan winning and the Hempel match last night, both going down to the wire. Beau Greaves sadly lost 3-0 but she played really well in patches, just unlucky to come across O'Connor. I suspect she'd have beaten a good number of other players from the first round. I'm pretty sure O'Connor has the current highest average of any 1st round player.

I was teaching recently about famous Ancient Greeks and I happened to mention who I thought was probably the most famous. Since then I've been on a bit of a quest to find out who it is and remarkably I've found a lot of people can't name one or go for Zeus or Herakles or something like that. My opinion is skewed by having a degree in ancient history. I've been wording it as: if you were on family fortunes and you were asked 'famous Ancient Greek' who would come into your mind first. Who would you say?

Surprised to see Rock at such short odds. People have been raving about him for a while now but still thought it was early.

It isn't Christmas without the world darts championship! MVG is the favourite, but I'll be rooting for Michael Smith after finally winning a TV title recently. Most interesting early match I can see is Beau Greaves vs Willie O'Connor. This young girl could be the real deal, and has been on a ridiculous run in the women's game. She's definitely in better form than Fallon Sherrock, who the PDC have fudged the rules for to get in the tournament. Sadly, I'm not looking forward to seeing the reaction to her as a result.

Yeh it was about 6 episodes too long.

It isn't at all relevant in a discussion about dirty players. There is a real perverse attempt amongst many in our society, to try and make everything about how bad the English really are and nobody else can really be objectively bad. That's why you really brought it up.

Typical glorious victory for England. Seen us play much much worse and go out. Maybe didn't deserve to lose, and hard to take Kane missing the pen. I'm starting to think It's coming home is like chasing the dragon.

I'm very much like you in this respect. The Teacher's pet podcast made a lot about the fact that he had gone back to his old property when he wasn't living there and talked to the new owners about the work they were doing. One even said he'd asked 'where are you digging?' Which was made out to be chilling. They spent millions digging up the whole site and found nothing. This was a turning point for me: when you're viewing actions through one lens they can turn relatively innocuous actions into sinister ones. I don't think you could rule out suicide where a body wasn't recovered. That would also fit the same evidence, and we know that suicide isn't always a rationally thought out act. I think what effectively did Dawson and meant he was convicted, was that he couldn't keep his own story straight. He said his wife contacted him saying she wanted time and at different times said it was up to a week later and up to 6 weeks. No matter about the passage of time, you wouldn't forget to that extent.

I really don't know how the bit about not crossing the line has anything to do with your point. Also, whether or not Rattin's sending off was deserved or not, it says nothing about what he was actually like. I suspect Tony probably wasn't referring to that one point.

I'm pretty sure this lesson has been learned in a high-profile instance quite recently. My mind is drawing a blank though on exactly when though. It'll be 24 years for them at the next World Cup, that's starting to feel like a real monkey on their back.