Excessive Sportitude
Posted: Wed 26 June, 2024 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Sport, Television Leave a comment »At the moment, things on TV seem to have gone sports-mad, and as someone that’s not into any of it, it’s *really* tedious.
Obviously there’s the Euro kickyball tournament, which appears to have been at least two matches every day for the last couple of weeks, with still another fortnight-ish to go (although the frequency of matches drops once the initial stages are done with)
Last week there was [a tennis tournament] that took over another channel – and this week there’s [a different one], followed next week by Fucking Wimbledon (to use its full title)
As if that weren’t enough, last week also involved televised coverage of horse-racing, for some fuckforsaken reason. I assume that’s just in case people felt there wasn’t enough sport on.
And the weekends seem to be full of bloody Grand Prix excitement tedium.
Then we’ve still got the Olympic and Paralympic Games to come (although at least they contain a wider range of things, some of which may even be watchable)
And of course then we’ll be back to the normal Kickyball schedule as well.
The only other alternative seems to be all the bullshit being spouted about the upcoming General Election. (Which would be far more interesting if we introduced Guillotines, in my opinion)
I’m sick and fucking tired of it all.
Bow 2
Posted: Fri 18 December, 2020 Filed under: Archery, Domestic, Getting Out More, Sport, Travel Leave a comment »Having got back into my archery this year, the winter season brings its own interesting issues and problems.
Basically, everyone shoots at shorter distances – twenty to thirty metres, rather than fifty to eighty – and ideally indoors, for the wimps. And if possible, that means dialling down the power in the bow. Heavier/bigger arrows also help, as they’re slower than the usual ones.
Unfortunately, my bow is already dialled down to pretty much the lowest weight it can manage, which is around a 45lb pull. That meant at the short ranges my club uses, I was going to end up putting the arrows through the targets and into the concrete wall behind (indoors) and losing all the fletchings (feathers) as well. Which becomes very expensive, very quickly.
Having looked around a bit, I went back to my normal archery store in Newark (it’s a bit of a slog to get to, but worth it for their customer service, knowledge, and prices) and bought a second bow, specifically for winter/indoor archery. It’s a good little bow, from a Chinese company called Sanlida, and cost me £175 including the sight, arrow rest, and small stabiliser. That’s incredibly good value! Additionally, if I decide to use it all the time, I can also dial it up from its current setting (about 25lb pull) all the way up to 70 lb, which is pretty epic.
I bought it a couple of weeks ago, and have only used it a couple of times so far, but on that limited experience, I’m really pleased with it. It’s doing what I want, and the current power means it’s accurate enough, without damaging things.
But it does also mean I now own two bows – although that’s OK too, as I’m using both. If they’d gone back to sitting doing sod all, that would be a bad thing. But as it is, I’m OK with it.
Lockdown Weekend
Posted: Mon 9 November, 2020 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Getting Out More, Lockdown, Sport Leave a comment »This weekend was remarkably unproductive, and yet I’m actually OK with it for once.
I’d had a lot planned – initially I was going to be going to a restaurant in London, but I moved that forward by a couple of weeks – nothing about Lockdown, just that I saw the menu two weeks ago had some things I really wanted, and they couldn’t be certain they’d still be on by now, so I moved things around.
Once that had changed, I’d then lined up an archery coaching session on the Saturday, and we were due to have a competition shoot on Sunday. However, with the new Lockdown, archery is (for some fuckforsaken reason) specifically included in the “thou shalt not operate” lists, so all of that got cancelled too. I’ve no idea why outdoor archery isn’t allowed – even in competitions, no-one’s even close to each other, and certainly when I’ve been using the range on a Friday it’s just me using it. There’s certainly no issue with any of it being crowded!
So yes, I had lots of plans, and none of them happened – which is frustrating, to say the least.
However, it’s been good to have the downtime. I meant to do some stuff from home, and failed entirely to do so, but instead caught up on some reading, and did stuff that was exceptionally quiet and relaxed. It was pretty good, all things considered.
Sporty – Semi-Completed
Posted: Mon 16 July, 2018 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Sport, Television, Thoughts 1 Comment »A couple of weeks ago I wrote about sport, and how we seemed to be having a surfeit of it this summer.
Thankfully, We’ve finally finished with the Kickyball World Cup (although I believe it’s less than a month ’til the next season starts off, FFS), and the Wimbledon Smashyball stuff, and the British Grand Prix is over and done with too.
The Tour de France is still ongoing (thanks, Gordon, for reminding me that this was on too) although that’s a lot more tolerable than the others – if nothing else, I still find myself in awe of the people who can ride 100+km in a day up idiot mountains and so on, and still do a sprint finish…
Anyway, it’s nice to just have fewer sporty-ball things on TV for a few weeks, at least. Happy, happy day.
Sporty
Posted: Mon 2 July, 2018 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Sport, Television 2 Comments »Fuck’s sake.
So not only do we have World Cup kickyball, cricket and rugby gubbins going on, but as of today we’ve got Wimble-bloody-don as well?!?
I give up.
Sporting Chronoclasm
Posted: Sun 10 July, 2016 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Sport, Thoughts, Weirdness Leave a comment »Every year it boggles my mind that this weekend seems to be All The Sport – due to some epic scheduling, we always end up having the finals of Wimbledon on the same day as the British Grand Prix.
This year, we’ve also got the finals of Euro 2016, just in case we didn’t have enough bloody sport to contend with already.
Not that I care (in case you hadn’t guessed) as I won’t be watching any of it.
But seriously, how much organisation and planning does it take, to get three major sporting events to all climax/happen on the same damn day?
27
Posted: Tue 22 March, 2016 Filed under: Charitable, Health, Sport, Thoughts Leave a comment »I’m not a massive fan of Sport Relief – although I do prefer it to shite like Comic Relief and Children-in-Need – but regardless of any of that, I have to say that Eddie Izzard’s achievement of running 27 marathons in 27 days (including two on the final day, as he’d missed one early on) is nothing short of amazing.
That he’s also raised more than £1.35million is also seriously noteworthy.
That’s not to belittle the fundraising efforts of anyone else, as I’d rather see anyone raise £50 than nothing. Regardless though, the sheer madness of saying “I’m going to run 27 marathons in four weeks” – and then manage to do it – is a gobsmacking and noteworthy effort.
Premier League
Posted: Tue 15 December, 2015 Filed under: London, Sport, Thoughts, Weirdness Leave a comment »As regular readers know, I couldn’t give a monkey’s chuff about football in general. It’s not something I follow, or am really interested in at all, and I’d rather shit in my hands and clap than go to a game.
However, I still listen to the news etc., and I have to ask – what the hell is going on with the Premier League this year?
At the time of writing, Leicester are top of the Premier League, Bournemouth beat Manchester United over the weekend, and Chelsea are hanging just above relegation. What the fuck?
I know it’s only a game, and thus hostage to the vagaries of luck and chance, but that’s still a pretty radical year, all things considered.
Self-Inflicted Damage
Posted: Wed 13 May, 2015 Filed under: 1BEM, Charm School, Cynicism, News, People, Sport, Thoughts, Weirdness Leave a comment »[Note : As always, I don’t actually give a shit about sport/cricket – I’m more interested in the mindset beneath it in this case]
Over the last couple of days, the news has been full of bloody Kevin Pietersen throwing a strop about not being allowed – yet – back into playing cricket for England.
Apparently a while back it was…
suggest[ed he] could add to his 104 England caps if he joined a county and scored enough runs to merit a recall.
(Quote from the BBC story)
Pietersen did this, and fair play to him. Earlier this week, he scored a personal best innings, something like 350 not out. So he’s assumed that on that one showing, he should be allowed back into the England team.
He met Andrew Strauss – the new ‘director of cricket’, apparently – who said there was no chance this summer, and that some people didn’t trust Pietersen. Which is also fair – Pietersen’s always been an asshat.
But now he’s thrown his toys out the pram about it, and has written about how he feels ‘deceived’ and so on in his column in the Telegraph.
Really, all it seems like is a whining brat. Yes, he’s done what was asked, and had one excellent innings. But that doesn’t make a team player, and doesn’t mean he has to be immediately accepted as part of the England team.
Indeed, if anything is now going to make sure he doesn’t get back in, I’d say it’s his own behaviour in this. (Of course, he won’t see it like that, because he’s perfect and no-one else is. Rah rah rah. Standard asshat behaviour) I would’ve said he might have a chance if he continues to excel at county level – the same criteria as could be applied to any other up-and-coming player.
But really, how can you trust anyone who throws their toys out like this at any opportunity? When they decide to destroy their own chances and credibility, in a fit that looks more like the act of a stropping toddler kicking their feet and screaming in a supermarket than one of someone wanting to play for – and thus represent – a country’s cricket team?
Nearly Done
Posted: Mon 14 July, 2014 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, News, Sport 2 Comments »2014 has been another of those grim “Summer of Sport”s that piss me off. But it’s nearly over, which is A Good Thing.
This year’s sport includes…
Winter OlympicsWorld Cup(Football)- Commonwealth Games
Wimbledon(as usual)UK Grand Prix(as usual)- Tour de France (as usual) with
UK start - Various cricket things
- Various rugby things
- Various cycling things
- Other stuff I can’t recall right now.
The real genius is that a lot of it was all on the same weekend – Grand Prix, World Cup, Wimbledon and Tour de France start. Genius right there.
Still, we’re now at the point – now the World Cup’s finally bloody over – where it’s (I think) just the Commonwealth Games to go from the list of ‘main’ events.
And then of course we’ll just be back to the normal football instead. *sigh*
Too Hot for Football
Posted: Fri 4 October, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, News, Sport 2 Comments »I must admit, I really don’t understand the whole ‘it’ll be too hot’ kerfuffle going on about the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
After all, you would imagine that FIFA were aware when they awarded the World Cup to Qatar that playing it in the Summer is likely to be – well – bloody hot.
But no, it seems to have come as a surprise to them that any countries would be a tad upset at this, and also at the ‘back-up plan’ of playing it in Winter rather than Summer. Because well, playing it in Winter means that the football seasons for many of the countries in question will be spectacularly disrupted for a couple of months.
I don’t get the thinking behind it – assuming there was any – although I have to also point out that I don’t much care one way or the other anyway. It just seems pretty stupid to organise a sporting World Cup in the middle of summer in the Middle East. It’d be like awarding the Olympic Games to the region. But then, what would I know?