il_serpente Posted February 7, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 7, 2019 1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said: Is a 'relief pitcher' a large jug of piss? I've seen a few over the years who were. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Withnail Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 3 hours ago, sharkyvilla said: Surely all the American sports getting longer and longer is purely the commercial breaks they insist upon. NFL is almost unwatchable live on TV for me unless I am reading a book at the same time and can switch between the two when the programme drops in and out of the action. I never watch pretty much any sport totally live. Record it to the DVR and time it for all the following. NFL fast fwd through adds, time outs, video reviews, heck even save 20 secs fast fwd per down. Don’t need talking heads in between quarters etc etc. Well you get the picture. To a lesser extent the college basketball I watch. But still fast fwd the adds and the endless timeouts late in the game. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Zen Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 8 hours ago, il_serpente said: I think back then, players just got on with it and played the game. Batters didn't keep stepping out of the batter's box, pitchers weren't constantly stepping off the rubber. You'd see some of that stuff in playoffs and world series games, but for the most part the game moved relatively quickly. I agree with this. And there are rules in place to deal with it, but they need to be properly enforced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 13 hours ago, sharkyvilla said: Surely all the American sports getting longer and longer is purely the commercial breaks they insist upon. NFL is almost unwatchable live on TV for me unless I am reading a book at the same time and can switch between the two when the programme drops in and out of the action. I suppose the more feeble minded or younger people won't do that sort of thing and change the channel instead during baseball/cricket/NFL etc or just not watch altogether. What does surprise me is that the basketball players seem to be the best-paid American sportsmen having looked at that graph on the previous page, I'd have thought it would be NFL. Some of the Saints games on Sky this season that kicked off in the early hours , I'd record , then get up and watch them before i went to work ... you could literally watch the whole game in an hour depending on how good you were with the fast forward /play button but the games also felt a bit sterile viewed this way .... you sorta want a balance between getting some of the commentary insight / the play calls and the replay ..but making it last 2 hours instead of 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 A lot of people I meet that claim to be a Patriots fan also happen to be a Man Utd fan. Anybody else noticed a correlation? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted February 7, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 7, 2019 43 minutes ago, Wainy316 said: A lot of people I meet that claim to be a Patriots fan also happen to be a Man Utd fan. Anybody else noticed a correlation? I've said it on here before, but if anyone tells me they're a Man Utd fan my brain just automatically doesn't take their opinion on football seriously. I realise this is doing a disservice to a lot of people. But it's like I just think "oh, they're a gloryhunting Man Utd fan. They know **** all about football" I imagine that's how Patriots fans are treated 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted February 7, 2019 Moderator Share Posted February 7, 2019 15 hours ago, il_serpente said: Given that the average length of the game in the mid 1940's was under 2 hours and it's currently over 3 hours, I would think it would be possible to speed things up without upsetting the purists. That's interesting. Why has it increased? You'd think the first thing they'd do to try and get new interest or stop waning interest would be to reverse whatever resulted in the increase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 59 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: I've said it on here before, but if anyone tells me they're a Man Utd fan my brain just automatically doesn't take their opinion on football seriously. I realise this is doing a disservice to a lot of people. But it's like I just think "oh, they're a gloryhunting Man Utd fan. They know **** all about football" I imagine that's how Patriots fans are treated I'm exactly the same unless they speak like Frank Gallagher from Shameless. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 My arch enemy at work supports Man Utd despite never having gone to a game, and also thinks Ronaldo is better than Messi. They are probably the two biggest indications for me that someone is an absolute weapon who I am very unlikely to get on with. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted February 7, 2019 Author VT Supporter Share Posted February 7, 2019 2 hours ago, sharkyvilla said: My arch enemy at work supports Man Utd despite never having gone to a game, and also thinks Ronaldo is better than Messi. They are probably the two biggest indications for me that someone is an absolute weapon who I am very unlikely to get on with. I've posted this before, but while we're on the subject, I'll repeat it. Back when I was still playing football (in Bradford) we once got a referee with a very noticable Brummie accent. In the pub afterward I introduced myself and asked him: "Villa, Blues or Albion?" He replied: "Man United". I turned and walked away. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 Yep, Blues fans (as 'orrible as they are) over Brummie Reds any day of the week. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted February 7, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 7, 2019 (edited) The other thing Man Utd fans do is have their stories at the ready to explain why they support Man Utd despite having no connections to the club. A guy at work's is that he idolised Roy Keane when he was a kid. Blatantly bollocks. Edited February 7, 2019 by Stevo985 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Albrighton Posted February 7, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 7, 2019 I don’t massively care about Man Utd fans who aren’t from Manchester or nearby. Most of them made their choice when they were kids. I get it, winning is more fun than not winning. That’s going to appeal more at an impressionable age. I think a few of them have only just realised how good they had it and didn’t quite appreciate it as much as they should have done at the time. What I don’t get is the sort of fan who’s literally never made any attempt to go and watch them. They don’t have to be a season ticket holder, don’t even have to attend a game a season or whatever. I’m talking about fans, like a handful of my mates, who have “supported” Man Utd for 25+ years and have not once bothered to go to Old Trafford. I can’t imagine another supposedly passionate interest where that would be considered normal. “Oh I love the works of Shakespeare, ever since school, love it all, Kenneth Branagh, the BBC productions, great stuff.” “Ever been to Stratford upon Avon?” “Nah.” 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 On 05/02/2019 at 23:13, sidcow said: I don't profess to know anything about the global consumer electronics market If I was a betting man I would guess at 2 things. 1) Japanese tech used to be cheap so they dominated over more expensive European and American companies who couldn't compete on price. Now they have gone the same way as the companies they trumped, employees will be very highly paid, the modern world of health and safety, pension costs, all the trappings of being a developed economy drags them down. South Korea became the new kid on the block with substantially lower cost base in an underdeveloped economy, lower wages, less baggage to pay for so they could undercut the Japanese on all fronts. 2) Japanese companies dominated the world when they were young and nimble, innovative full of enthusiasm and desire. They became huge fat corporations which are notoriously difficult to steer and change, little innovation. Koreans are in that early cycle now. Mark my words some economy will suddenly start chucking out cheap innovative products in the future and take the Korean crown and they will look old and stale, out of date. Someone will wonder why Samsung don't dominate anymore and where Indonesia or someone came from to become a global tech giant. Who saw Apple overtaking Microsoft who seemed untouchable? I think we're starting to see the cracks in Apple now also, they have certainly treated customers with contempt who have turned their back on their pricing. The mistrust and dissatisfaction can grow and with their size they may struggle to innovate. Of course they will always be there but like Japanese companies may no longer be the top dog and considered cool anymore. I mentioned a Sony Walkman the other day and my kids had no idea what I meant. Something so popular it's product name became the generic term for what it was. Now lost in 20 years. That's what I reckon anyway. Great points. The Chinese will be the ones who take the Koreans crown. We're seeing it now with Huawei and Xiaomi in the mobile phone world, HiSense and TCL in TVs and Lenovo in laptops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 2 hours ago, Wainy316 said: Yep, Blues fans (as 'orrible as they are) over Brummie Reds any day of the week. Indeed. I may despise the unwashed but I also begrudgingly respect them for supporting a poor team and not taking the easy option and supporting Man Utd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 7, 2019 Moderator Share Posted February 7, 2019 6 hours ago, BOF said: That's interesting. Why has it increased? You'd think the first thing they'd do to try and get new interest or stop waning interest would be to reverse whatever resulted in the increase. This is an instant reaction with no research whatsoever so treat with a pinch of salt. I suspect it's because that gives you 3 hours to sell cheap shit at a premium which nets more money than 2 hours of selling cheap shit at a premium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
il_serpente Posted February 7, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 7, 2019 8 hours ago, BOF said: That's interesting. Why has it increased? You'd think the first thing they'd do to try and get new interest or stop waning interest would be to reverse whatever resulted in the increase. That's probably better answered by @Michelsen and others on here who still follow the sport. I stopped paying attention in the early 90's after my childhood team the Minnesota Twins has won a couple of world series. But I think they've already touched on what i suspect are the main causes: Commercial breaks. All games are televised somewhere now. That was not the case 40-50 years ago. Use of relief pitchers, often several per game who may be brought on to face only one batter. It used to be the norm to allow the starting pitcher to finish the game unless he was getting battered. Particularly if he was winning, it was considered natural to let him finish the job. Now they bring in a reliever to close out the game even if the starting pitcher is still going strong in the late innings. Pitching changes consume time. More "strategic" bullsh*t. More conferences at the mound; batter steps out of the box to adjust his glove, get his head straight, play mind games. Same with the pitcher stepping of the pitching rubber. From a time standpoint, it starts the who at-bat process over again each time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 16 hours ago, Shropshire Lad said: I don’t massively care about Man Utd fans who aren’t from Manchester or nearby. Most of them made their choice when they were kids. I get it, winning is more fun than not winning. That’s going to appeal more at an impressionable age. I think a few of them have only just realised how good they had it and didn’t quite appreciate it as much as they should have done at the time. That's what annoys me most. The amount of whingeing from Man Utd and Arsenal fans over the last few years despite racking up numerous FA Cups and top four finishes. Just **** off! And people say Villa fans whinge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted February 8, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 8, 2019 5 minutes ago, Wainy316 said: That's what annoys me most. The amount of whingeing from Man Utd and Arsenal fans over the last few years despite racking up numerous FA Cups and top four finishes. Just **** off! And people say Villa fans whinge. Again I've told this story before... at my previous job I had a guy start working for me. Was probably when LVG was in charge at United. When i was showing him round I did the standard token chat of "So do you follow football? Which team do you support?" Anyway, it was Man Utd (despite him living 5 minutes from the Baggies ground and his dad being a Baggies ST holder) When I asked him how he thought Man united would do in the coming season he said something like "I'm not very optimistic. I'd settle for an FA Cup and a top 4 finish" I nearly slapped him. I'd cut off my leg for an FA Cup and a Top 4 finish! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddywhack Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 Weirder than glory hunters, I have two mates who love football but don't follow a team. They're from different groups of mates, they don't know each other. One's from Dudley, the other's from Huddersfield. I don't understand how they got through school without having an allegiance. How can they get excited about a new season if they haven't got a horse in the race? The worst is when one of them gives me stick about Villa. That shouldn't be allowed if you don't follow a club, I can't come back with anything. I have another mate who has always liked football, never had a team, but has got himself a season ticket at Wolves this year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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