Other sports worth following

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  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078

    And I quote!

    Eric Bristow was awarded the MBE in 1989 for his services to sport.
    That was when he was a goalie for Sutton United.
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  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    ddraver said:

    Ned Boulting - cycling commentator and darts TV person - have a really good defense of darts as a sport on a podcast

    ... unfortunately, I've forgotten where it was, can anyone else remember?

    Found it!

    "Darts is not just a sport, it is THE sport. It is the most perfectly reductive, win or lose, game of nerves and skill. Binary Purity. It's like an endlessly repeating penalty shootout. It is just nerve-shredding, it's gladiatorial. It is THE sport"

    They then go on to add other bits such as, "Everyone has the common experience of ridden a bike, everyone has thrown a dart" [I was running when I stumbled back on this discussion so I should add that everyone has run a race too], the route out of poverty for the working class [discussed up thread...in a fashion] and also that it is very inclusive. Women v men, LGTB etc.

    The penalty shootout analogy is the bit I find most convincing.
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    I follow bodybuilding. Tough sport from many angles. I was a wanna be in my teen years. I think it should be an Olympic sport, despite the drug use. Although there is the yearly Mr. Olympia contest which can be won by one person over and over.
  • mrb123
    mrb123 Posts: 4,581
    Trump and Lisowski out of the Masters snooker after positive Covid tests which is a shame for the event.
  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078
    dennisn said:

    I follow bodybuilding. Tough sport from many angles. I was a wanna be in my teen years. I think it should be an Olympic sport, despite the drug use. Although there is the yearly Mr. Olympia contest which can be won by one person over and over.

    It'a purely subjective though who wins isn't it? A colleague of mine is a competitive bodybuilder and he rants quite a bit about the judging.
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  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    dennisn said:

    I follow bodybuilding. Tough sport from many angles. I was a wanna be in my teen years. I think it should be an Olympic sport, despite the drug use. Although there is the yearly Mr. Olympia contest which can be won by one person over and over.

    It’s a bit of a weird one though. The training is undoubtedly very hard but the competing is literally just a pose.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,207
    mrb123 said:

    Trump and Lisowski out of the Masters snooker after positive Covid tests which is a shame for the event.

    Shame for Trump, losing his job as POTUS and then getting booted out of a snooker tournament after getting Covid for the second time. Tough week.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,217
    dennisn said:

    I follow bodybuilding. Tough sport from many angles. I was a wanna be in my teen years. I think it should be an Olympic sport, despite the drug use. Although there is the yearly Mr. Olympia contest which can be won by one person over and over.

    Quite a different look to cyclists...
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,207

    dennisn said:

    I follow bodybuilding. Tough sport from many angles. I was a wanna be in my teen years. I think it should be an Olympic sport, despite the drug use. Although there is the yearly Mr. Olympia contest which can be won by one person over and over.

    Quite a different look to cyclists...
    A friend of mine went from riding for Wales as a junior into body building in his early 20s and got a podium in his category at the Welsh Masters. The amount of committment and training that went into the body building looked far more demanding. Training twice a day seems hard enough but the diet regime when shredding would finish me (then there's the waxing, being sprayed with fake tan so you look like the Cuprinol man and standing on a stage in virtually non-existent budgie smugglers 'flexing' that takes a special sort of self-confidence!).
  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078
    Pross said:

    dennisn said:

    I follow bodybuilding. Tough sport from many angles. I was a wanna be in my teen years. I think it should be an Olympic sport, despite the drug use. Although there is the yearly Mr. Olympia contest which can be won by one person over and over.

    Quite a different look to cyclists...
    A friend of mine went from riding for Wales as a junior into body building in his early 20s and got a podium in his category at the Welsh Masters. The amount of committment and training that went into the body building looked far more demanding. Training twice a day seems hard enough but the diet regime when shredding would finish me (then there's the waxing, being sprayed with fake tan so you look like the Cuprinol man and standing on a stage in virtually non-existent budgie smugglers 'flexing' that takes a special sort of self-confidence!).
    Yeahu colleague is at the gym at 5 every day, then lunchtime and then again in the evening. He eats 7 times a day, almost always just chicken, vegetables and rice.
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  • what a fantastic end to the Aus/India series. Huge respect to India for having the balls to go into the test with 5 bowlers and an amazing stat that they had bowled 10 balls between them in test matches. Gill in only his 3rd test looks an astounding prospect, you would put your boat on him being up there with Tendulkar and Kohli by the end of his career.

    talking of boats the Vendee is unbelievably close and hats off to Ineos for transforming their boat into something competitive for Ainslie to work his magic
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 20,503

    what a fantastic end to the Aus/India series. Huge respect to India for having the balls to go into the test with 5 bowlers and an amazing stat that they had bowled 10 balls between them in test matches. Gill in only his 3rd test looks an astounding prospect, you would put your boat on him being up there with Tendulkar and Kohli by the end of his career.

    talking of boats the Vendee is unbelievably close and hats off to Ineos for transforming their boat into something competitive for Ainslie to work his magic

    It was good entertainment over breakfast yesterday.
  • piker2
    piker2 Posts: 49



    talking of boats the Vendee is unbelievably close and hats off to Ineos for transforming their boat into something competitive for Ainslie to work his magic

    I think a little clarification is in order for those not into sailing. The Vendee Globe ( single handed around the world race) should finish in a few days. Sir Ben Ainsley and his crew are competing in the Americas Cup where the British entrant ( sponsored by Ineos ) is competing against other entrants to challenge the last winner ( New Zealand) .
    Both these are yacht races but are as similar to each other just as a track team sprint is similar to the TDF i.e they are both bike races.
    Neither of these yacht races are anything like the average Joe would imagine. There is some great footage of both on Youtube that is worth a look.
  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078
    I've not really been following, but just saw that Ben Ainslee's Ineos yacht has won 5 from the last 5 round robin races in the challenger series. A few weeks ago they were losing by miles or not finishing races, with seemingly major technical issues. This seems like a huge turnaround. What happened?
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  • Looking forward to the T10 cricket (slog fest) starting in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
    It's also covered on Freesports.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078
    edited January 2021

    Looking forward to the T10 cricket (slog fest) starting in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
    It's also covered on Freesports.

    I'm more a fan of the test form. Been trying to follow the Sri Lanka Vs England tests.

    Really pleased that Root seems to have remembered how to bat again. We're still looking for a spinner to replace Swann.
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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,217
    NFL semi finals (not what they’re actually called) this evening.

    Quite a solid final 4. Should be competitive.
  • elbowloh said:

    Looking forward to the T10 cricket (slog fest) starting in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
    It's also covered on Freesports.

    I'm more a fan of the test form. Been trying to follow the Sri Lanka Vs England tests.

    Really pleased that Root seems to have remembered how to bat again. We're still looking for a spinner to replace Swann.
    I do think we should be using this series as preparation for India and taking our strongest team there
  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078

    elbowloh said:

    Looking forward to the T10 cricket (slog fest) starting in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
    It's also covered on Freesports.

    I'm more a fan of the test form. Been trying to follow the Sri Lanka Vs England tests.

    Really pleased that Root seems to have remembered how to bat again. We're still looking for a spinner to replace Swann.
    I do think we should be using this series as preparation for India and taking our strongest team there
    It would make sense that yes. Not sure what the plan is. Burns will come on with pretty much no cricket under his belt and I understand Bairstow is heading home?
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  • jimmyjams
    jimmyjams Posts: 707
    morstar said:

    elbowloh said:

    I've also always been on the darts is not a sport side, but then I think if archery is classed as a sport, then so should darts.

    I'd argue archery in it's current form is a skill game that has it's origins in hunting. It could be made into a sport like biathlon if you had to cover km's on foot in between shots (or whatever they are called)
    I realise I'm late coming to this (too much snow outside today to do my normal sunday ride, so ended up looking at threads I don't normally follow) but ….

    Archery does already exist in a biathlon-type fashion, albeit maybe not in the UK. There is a winter version where the competitors are on cross-country skis, like a winter biathlon, but they carry a bow & arrows instead of a rifle.
    And just like there are summer biathlon events (where one runs, cycles or is on roller skis between rifle shooting stations), there is a summer archery version where competitors run, carrying their bow & arrows between archery stations.

    And if you've never done archery, morstar, you won't realise, as well as skill and concentration, how much physical effort and exertion is required (the physical aspect seemingly to be critical to your definition of sport).

    I'm on the sport side wrt darts, to me it is a lot more a sport than simply chucking a javelin as far as one can, because of the continual concentration and skill it requires and because one has a direct opponent, which means mental strength/stamina is needed and tactics can play a role.
    Many Olympic sports are simply a matter of instantaneous brute strength or brute speed.
  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078
    But that brute strength or brute speed was the entire point of the Olympics and is still it's motto today.

    Citius, Altius, Fortius.

    Faster, higher, stronger.
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  • elbowloh said:

    elbowloh said:

    Looking forward to the T10 cricket (slog fest) starting in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
    It's also covered on Freesports.

    I'm more a fan of the test form. Been trying to follow the Sri Lanka Vs England tests.

    Really pleased that Root seems to have remembered how to bat again. We're still looking for a spinner to replace Swann.
    I do think we should be using this series as preparation for India and taking our strongest team there
    It would make sense that yes. Not sure what the plan is. Burns will come on with pretty much no cricket under his belt and I understand Bairstow is heading home?
    I believe Burns wanted to be at the birth of his child which is a ballsy move that looks to have spectacularly paid off.

    Bairstow being given time off out of the bubble
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    elbowloh said:

    I've not really been following, but just saw that Ben Ainslee's Ineos yacht has won 5 from the last 5 round robin races in the challenger series. A few weeks ago they were losing by miles or not finishing races, with seemingly major technical issues. This seems like a huge turnaround. What happened?

    This may be a level of nerdery you weren't looking for but here's a vid. (I'm sure better are available but the algorithm threw that one up...)

    https://youtu.be/AmiuzDxqhkg
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • morstar
    morstar Posts: 6,190
    jimmyjams said:

    morstar said:

    elbowloh said:

    I've also always been on the darts is not a sport side, but then I think if archery is classed as a sport, then so should darts.

    I'd argue archery in it's current form is a skill game that has it's origins in hunting. It could be made into a sport like biathlon if you had to cover km's on foot in between shots (or whatever they are called)
    I realise I'm late coming to this (too much snow outside today to do my normal sunday ride, so ended up looking at threads I don't normally follow) but ….

    Archery does already exist in a biathlon-type fashion, albeit maybe not in the UK. There is a winter version where the competitors are on cross-country skis, like a winter biathlon, but they carry a bow & arrows instead of a rifle.
    And just like there are summer biathlon events (where one runs, cycles or is on roller skis between rifle shooting stations), there is a summer archery version where competitors run, carrying their bow & arrows between archery stations.

    And if you've never done archery, morstar, you won't realise, as well as skill and concentration, how much physical effort and exertion is required (the physical aspect seemingly to be critical to your definition of sport).

    I'm on the sport side wrt darts, to me it is a lot more a sport than simply chucking a javelin as far as one can, because of the continual concentration and skill it requires and because one has a direct opponent, which means mental strength/stamina is needed and tactics can play a role.
    Many Olympic sports are simply a matter of instantaneous brute strength or brute speed.
    Interesting insight. Wasn’t aware those biathlon’s existed.
    Not getting back into the darts discussion as it was simply that. Really doesn’t matter but I do find the description of darts as a sport an anomaly.
    However, I could not have been more clear in not diminishing the skill aspect.
    Many people have claimed the skill and quality of competition make it a sport.

    Maybe they do but not for me. In no way does that take those aspects away.
  • morstar
    morstar Posts: 6,190
    edited January 2021

    NFL semi finals (not what they’re actually called) this evening.

    Quite a solid final 4. Should be competitive.

    Damned with faint praise.

    Assuming players stay fit you have the two best young quarterbacks against each other in one game, two of the best veterans in the game against each other in the other leading to a new vs old Super Bowl.

    I really don’t think it could be set up much better. As game 1 is showing at the end of Q2.
  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078
    ddraver said:

    elbowloh said:

    I've not really been following, but just saw that Ben Ainslee's Ineos yacht has won 5 from the last 5 round robin races in the challenger series. A few weeks ago they were losing by miles or not finishing races, with seemingly major technical issues. This seems like a huge turnaround. What happened?

    This may be a level of nerdery you weren't looking for but here's a vid. (I'm sure better are available but the algorithm threw that one up...)

    https://youtu.be/AmiuzDxqhkg
    Cool, cheers for that. A bit nerdy, but fine.
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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,217
    morstar said:

    NFL semi finals (not what they’re actually called) this evening.

    Quite a solid final 4. Should be competitive.

    Damned with faint praise.

    Assuming players stay fit you have the two best young quarterbacks against each other in one game, two of the best veterans in the game against each other in the other leading to a new vs old Super Bowl.

    I really don’t think it could be set up much better. As game 1 is showing at the end of Q2.
    As it is at halftime I can't see Green Bay winning this, unless they sort their cornerbacks out and get a bit faster and not take so much time off the clock on every drive.
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 20,503
    Solid win for England there.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,217

    morstar said:

    NFL semi finals (not what they’re actually called) this evening.

    Quite a solid final 4. Should be competitive.

    Damned with faint praise.

    Assuming players stay fit you have the two best young quarterbacks against each other in one game, two of the best veterans in the game against each other in the other leading to a new vs old Super Bowl.

    I really don’t think it could be set up much better. As game 1 is showing at the end of Q2.
    As it is at halftime I can't see Green Bay winning this, unless they sort their cornerbacks out and get a bit faster and not take so much time off the clock on every drive.
    There you go.
  • Solid win for England there.

    a remarkable days play