blonde poker forum

My submission

- Speedway

Four riders on thin motorbikes get drawn into one of four gates at the start. Two from each team

By the first corner the order does not change for the four laps of the race. Or I have never seen it change

If there is a crash, the thing starts again.

This happens for 15 heats and then team A beats Team B


What am I missing?

The overtaking

there is overtaking?

I watched six heats last night and got bored, they went round corner 1 then finished in that order 4 laps later.

Cricket.

Granted it's not the entire sport, but I've never got the 20k/50k Walk in Athletics. I'm not doubting the athletic ability needed to do it, but it's always seemed a bit pointless. And the judging of when someone doesn't have at least one foot on the ground a bit arbitrary.

got to explain why please.

As illogical as it might be ;-)

Why games don't get played to a finish. Why one team can score 400, the other scores 125, and it gets called a draw.

that wouldn't be a draw.

I don't get how people can enjoy watching test cricket. 20/20 is just about tolerable but I can't stand watching test cricket.

But on the flip side I enjoy watching golf which I know lots can't stand.

Basketballl.

I've even tried playing a Fantasy League to try and get into it, but even that didn't do it.

Ok, a simpler way, England finished 21? Runs behind Australia the other day? Draw.

I remember games in the past spanning 5 days, being dragged out so they could claim a draw despite being xxx runs behind.

I don't get American football either, but I know I'm in the minority here.

Motor Racing.

Loads of ridiculously over paid prima donna's driving round and round a track, when realistically only one or possibly two teams can win any given race.

Why not give them all the same equipment and then we see competitive racing and the best driver will come out on top?

F1 or any motorsport

Basketball even though i used to play it to a fair level

American Football (get it just dont enjoy it)

Athletics.  Mystifies me when the BBC radio interrupt commentary of Barnsley v Wigan to go and cover some poxy race which isn't even the Olympics.  And they go to the event 30 minutes before the start so we have to listen to the pundit guys talk about it as well.  

And to top it off they all seem to get knighthoods just for winning one race where they are massive odds on favourite.  That doesn't happen to the bloke that opens the scoring at Oakwell.

  

Oh aye, motor racing too.

"Why not give them all the same equipment and then we see competitive racing and the best driver will come out on top?"

To be fair they tried that with A1 racing and nobody bothered to watch.  

Damn, beat me to it, any motorsport.

Fishing.

Fishomania. Lets catch a big stupid fish that's really hungry and wants to eat the bait, then declare myself a great fisherman.

Cycling.

Guy on a bike pedalling. So exciting.

They do it in NASCAR, & it works, to a degree, the races are closely contested, & no car or driver dominates. Shame the "Ovals" are so bland though. 

I didn't, until I caved and watched a game (Obv betting on it helps :))

Vinni, you have listed 4 or 5 sports you don't get - but you are a Scot. Scots don't really do sport.

I enjoy cycling generally, but BMX racing is pretty lol, can't include it though as it does make me smile if I catch a bit - big legs pumping like crazy on a comedy bike.

Speedway is a great shout, but I am not a fan of motorsports in general.


Lol, you could simplify every sport to this pretty much.

But it takes time, you have to get to know the characters and people involved.

A bunch of no names driving round is of no interest to anyone.

Put Alonso, Hamilton and Webber in the same type of car and let them race.

You don't think people would watch that?

We do. Shinty, curling, haggis hurling, tossing a caber, and smoking. Bingo too, if we have any of our giro left at the end of the week.

Poker
Scotch football
Cycling

I don't know if it is still kicking about but they tried this a while back, no idea what it was called, probably Formula something.

there we go

The case rests.

I think some of the "charm" of F1 is the technical race to develop the best car within the regulations, and the fact that some cars will work better on some tracks than other.  And indeed the best car at the start of the season might not be the best car at the end.

Personally, I think the drivers kind of like to hide behind the fact that the cars are different to a certain degree.   Vettel is going to be 4 time world champion, but Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen can all argue that they are the best drivers in the world.  Similarly the guys at the back can argue that they are as good as Webber/Massa/Rosberg/Grosjean.  The truth is it is a travelling circus - would you really want to risk being the dunce at the back every race when you have identical cars!?

Its been done several times (pretty sure indy car has significant restrictions).

F1 has always been the pinnacle and worked as it does

Motor sports, Cycling ( I mean what is the point in standing halfway up a mountain to watch some guys on a bike go past you once)

Rugby Union, Italian football, TBLITW football.

A man after my own heart.

Agree with all these apart from cycling. But live spectating on road cycling must be the most pointless thing ever. Can only watch the Tour on the telly.

I would add international football. Most pointless thing ever. Just gives a load of BNP and EDL loonies have the chance to be nearly respectable.

And three weekends per season we have to go without proper football.

World Cups and Euros do not compensate fully for 3 Saturday's and Sundays where we have to find something else to do with our sad lives.

More specifically test cricket. Twenty twenty and limited overs makes much more sense and just seems fairer

fairer?

the shorter formats are a lot more random, skill plays out much more over a test match

Wait what? There is a lot more luck in limited overs games than tests.

I must admit this is pretty common the dislike for test cricket among people who otherwise sports fans, but surely this has more to do with how long it takes.

Definitely basketball.

Man gets ball.
Man with ball starts bouncing it and shoulder charges man without ball.
Foul called against the guy who was just stood there.
Some fella get a chance to throw the ball in the basket while the other team have to stand around and watch.
Repeat a million times, final score 500,002 v 500,000.

Never got into (field) hockey, ice hockey, hurling, gaelic football, Aussie rules, either kind of volleyball, fishing, surfing, Xgames (with the exception of the X fighters motor cross acrobatic stuff), biathlon, triathlon or dressage.

Pretty much anything else I'll happily watch.

Basketball is a borderline for me. Used to follow it and can happily watch a game if it is on, but wouldn't go out of my way to watch it.

Test cricket, Rugby Union, Pub games and fishing as a spectator, MMA, Baseball, Polo

Just don't get the excitement of rugby league either.

 

Sailing as a spectator sport seems pretty brutal, when I have watched at the olympics. Though I am not sure anyone really watches it, so presumably the vast majority don't get it.

I love lots of sports that people don't get (test cricket, rugby, F1 etc)

but


Drag Racing

Two aeroplace engine powered cars line up side by side

The driver presses the accelerator

Five seconds later he presses a button to let out a parachute to slow him down

That's it


Repeat all day

and people pay to watch it at Santa Pod and other places?

Deal or no deal (ok, I'm expanding here) its a game that should take 5 minutes that last for 45 and nobody ever finishes the game properly, they just call it off halfway round when it suits  and then everyone claps and opens the unopened boxes.

Actually that last bit is a bit like Italian football too.

I agree with Longy re Sailing too.

I understand the attraction of UFC.

But it is the only sport I actively despise.

golf

If you haven't seen this, well worth a watch.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gPjMvTmE2g

Mr tomtomclub, you have to explain why, as illogically and cantakerously as possible. ty

American football. Just find it boring to watch, but partly due to the fact I do not understand the rules.

Never stopped you with football.

Eastenders (ok, I'm expanding here) - it's a game where a load of Cockneys just shout at each other every night. I can't work out the scoring or when it's supposed to finish - this game seems to have been going on for over 20 years and nearly everyone has been substituted at some point. There do seem to be rolling subs though - the player Sharon Mitchell seems to be brought on every now and then as an impact substitute.

Yeah, just followed what my dad has only ever watched which is why. I.e. football, cricket, golf, tennis etc...

She appears to have taken he Steven Gerrard role of going down too easily to create controversy, tbf they have both had a long career on the back of it.

New Tricks

James Bolam did his bassett hound face for years and Dennis Waterman still yearns for Minder theme tunes whilst Amanda Redman simpers in the least convincing portrayal of a police officer in celluloid history. After 60 minutes the person everyone least expects to have done it has done it and each time

There's no psychological profiling here, or crime-scene investigation – it's about hunches and leads, plodding along, working it out with a pencil, and making Lego boats.

It gets 9m viewers who presumably don't realise that the whodunnit is done to a set formula each week

haha

My fav show of the week( until a touch of cloth started again that is) but it does have more red herrings than a John West factory

Man hits ball with stick towards hole, man walks after ball, man hits ball with stick again, and so it goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on...........  Any prize money is then spent on ridiculous trousers, more sticks and a man to carry sticks.  Oh, and occasionally hookers, of which I approve, obvs.

Great thread. F1 for me- maybe because I went through a period of laying people who just made all everytime but I just am not that bothered about it. Went Silverstone on hospitality freebie and bet the winner who overtook to hit the lead in front of me and was still underwhelmed. It's odd because my Dad loved it, he even went every year to Le Mans and had mates round each week to watch the Indy racing on sky the era when Mansell was in it

Although Monte Carlo Grand Prix was amazing when went and defo in a bucket list of sporting stuff to do

Ok if we are expanding it -

Poetry.

Why try and describe something, whether it be a place or an emotion, in forced rhyming couplets when you can do a far better job with prose.

And my Mrs has had her poetry published! (hope she doesn't see this post).

What?

Monaco Grand Prix, please.

Tsk.

Haha. I have seen it before but not for a while, good stuff.

rugby union just always seems a mess of a game to me

i dont mind rugby league

Ha didn't even realise I had wrote that. I called a throw in a throw on yesterday. Might be losing my brain cells quicker than I thought

Good Lord. Never seen that before - wonderful!

I intend to steal it (like you stole my Bet365 Password) & use it elsewhere.

RL is too structured

Run straight ahead 5 times, get tackled, kick it on the sixth

Other team has a go

If you are close to the line you can't get through very often so have to kick it in the air and hope you win a 50-50 catch, or a grubber kick and a different 50-50 chance

I am a Union fan, which is a game hamstrung by its current rules but exhiliarating at best

*looks up exhilarating in the dictionary ;o)

Because (if it's good poetry) you can't do a better job with prose; it's the juxtaposition of metaphor and rhythm which evokes the emotion more precisely than just basic description.


Of the sports I agree that all of them can be deconstructed into pointless repetition and I think appreciating almost any sport is only down to how much you understand it (or with sports like F1 understanding the wider context).

Apart from fishing - fishing is ridiculous.

I'm not a fan of either rugby's, but how anyone could prefer union to league is beyond me.

American Football - All the stopping and starting and changing players every two minutes.    And the season only lasts for about 3 months.

Baseball -  It's tolerable live because of everything else that goes on - 7 innings stretch, wandering off around the stadium, long hot dogs etc, but even the fans only turn up for a few innings then disapear off home.  Playing 5 nights in a row doesn't help.  200 odd games a season is just silly.  That said, I think I'd enjoy playing it.  Tried a batting cage once and whilst I missed most balls it was fun and is something I'd do again.  It doesn't look hard once you've got your eye in but I may have left it too late to turn pro.

Yep, F1 is just tilting.

Men's Hockey is also lame. It's just a women's game for blokes who can't play football.

Rugby Union > Rugby League. Ooooh I just got tackled so I'll wriggle around like a fish thats just been pulled out of water and then give the ball for my team mate to do the same.

LOL also handball. How ridiculous. This is way worse than men's hockey.

Not too keen on baseball either

Yeah - handball is dreadful.

You might like going to watch baseball- sit in seat and they just come round with beers every 15mins and different types of food!

Im absolutely certain that you show any individual a game of league & union who has never watched rubgy and they would never chose union! It is one of the worst spectator sports there is.  The "pleasure" in the game tends to be in the nuances of the rules and therefore the plays taken. It is so unbelievably dull  it hurts.

A game finished 18-21 and there hasn't been a try! So wait..................... the idea is to run with the ball across the line, but nobody did that today and the score was 18-21! errrrrrrrrr ok!

All you need in Union is a world class kicker and you will win!

Technically the idea of the game is to kick the ball over the bar. Historically, the only way you could do that was to put the ball down over the line, following which you were allowed to have a go at kicking the ball over the bar; hence, this putting the ball down was called getting a try.

I prefer union tbh, but am more than happy watching either code.

seriously?

I only watch internationals so it might be different, but surely the entertainment value for the casual viewers is the tackling?

Occasionally there might be a fantastic long run for a touch down, but passing, try scoring and kicking aren't that exciting - for the casual viewer it has to be the tackling; how would anybody think the league version of tackling is more interesting than the Union version?

Football- Partly because I find boring, and partly because most of the guys that played it at school and Uni were just total nobs who caused me to lose the little interest I had in it already.

Darts- Not sure I should even include it here as I don't think its a sport. A bunch of unhealthy overweight slobs doesn't really seem right at the top end of a 'sport', at least with sports like sumo the size/weight is there to help them win.

Im going to do a "camel"

I actually actively dislike Union as it shows up everything that is terrible about this country ! It is a sport based on the class system. It has to be one of the few sports where the grass roots are terribly supported but the International level of the game has a disproportionate following (and for all of the wrong (corporate) reasons).

The number of people who I hear "love rugga" but cant tell you the most basic of rules is simply embarrassing, and especially moreso when sat underneath "Twickers" having a corporate lunch awaiting kick off.

The number of professional people who "love rugga" because they feel they have too is even more painful.

Its the embodiment of our antiquated class system still trying to play itself out through sport.

There are deffo some nobs who like to do 'twickers', but I think the vast majority a just normal middle class blokes like myself. I think the term 'rugga' is dying out as the old crew die off, don't know anyone below 50 who says that fortunately.

I had a boss who would watch the Union highlights show every week simply to give him a conversation topic at various business meetings/get together's he went to. Would drop in a few ' that try by William/Henry at the death was real quality wasn't it' and then let a load of posh guys talk thru their take on the weekends action as he nodded along.

Edit..    He did give me a cracking bit of advice tho, if there is someone you fancy in the office always buy the same newspaper as them as it is easier to converse when you know what they have been reading about. His nut advice tho was go round the office and tell a few of the girls you need a new aftershave as you are bored with the one  you are using. Then buy the one that the girl(s) you fancy suggest so you know they will love the way you smell when near them.

Winnerz 

Smart bloke if it got him in with the right people for work, I do the same with footy if I had to deal with a bunch of chavs lol, needs must and all that.  :P

Alright, Billy Bragg ;)

I think it's a game more schools should play instead of football, having done so myself. Wasn't a huge fan when the opposition started getting much bigger tho...

It is funny how there is such a divide between middle class south and working class north in rugby. Can't think of any other sport like that

Used to hate rugby at school when I was 10 or so.  When they don't let you kick penalties any kind of infringement results in a scrum so you get about a hundred per match.  I used to be hooker, and just spend the game suspended in the middle of the scrum held up by the two rhinos who played as props hoping for the best and aiming not to end up in the massive puddle a few feet below me with all the rhinos on top of me. 

Bleak memories.

Poof  :P
















I might have been one of those props  :D

Yep - how I celebrated a frozen pitch when I could get on with my flower arranging in the warmth ;)

League > Union and I grew up in a middle class family down south.

Union just doesn't flow enough and is dogged by penalties that the vast majority of fans couldn't give an opinion on whether the ref was right or wrong to give it that way. These penalties then decide a lot of tight games, farcical state of affairs for a spectator sport.

I think any sport that involves regularly having a man's head near your arse crack/ putting your head near a mans arse crack deffo has issues.

I hated playing second row, but loved playing prop or back row.

Not a Greco-Roman wrestling fan, then?

.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWgg20IqibM

So good!

Au contraire my friend, at least we are secure enough red blooded heterosexuals to not have to sweat whether we might end up liking it! I worry about some of those footballers that fall over at the touch of a feather though  ;)

conversly, MMA is the only sport I actively look forward to.
I'll enjoy a good game of football if it's on, and can happily take in a n hour or two of lots of sports, but MMA is the only sport I'll set the Sky+ for and set aside several hours to give my full attention.

Two great events this week, Thursday and Saturday nights :)

and I hate Rugby of any kind.
don't 'not get it', but I associate it with horrific school games lessons :(

that, and cross country running obviously

haha, thread is getting better and better.

Union >>>>>>>>>>> League, and I grew up in the middle of Rugby League heartland.

For some reason the stop-start nature of League pisses me off massively.  However, I'm not averse to stop-start games in general, as I adore the NFL, which is as stop-start as it gets.  It's just that Rugby has an alternative version that doesn't suffer from this.

I understand Tikay watches Big Brother purely to be able to converse with Chompy on a mutual topic of interest.

Don't get me started.

I don't "get" cricket. I don't understand the scoring or terminology or how the game is structured. It seems to be very slowly paced so watching it is pretty boring and it looks like the players aren't great athletes, especially compared to almost any other sport so it feels like I'm just watching a bunch of punters that could be anyone playing it

fwiw I'm a massive Union fan but I'm not bothered about league, the game is just too one dimensional for me. Many of my mates can happily watch both though.

I can understand why people don't like test cricket, its an aquired taste. What about 20/20 though, that's pretty fun no?

can understand people thinking cricket is boring e.t.c but try bowling more than 2 overs on a hot summers day and tell me it is not athletic!

(i bowl spin so above does not apply)

I haven't tried to watch cricket for years hence, I've never watched 20/20, I don't know what "20/20" means or how it differs from standard cricket. I'd guess its shorter so maybe it makes scoring more important but it's still cricket and I know nothing about it

Think we debated this before and you couldn't provide any good reasoning.

Wednesday night sir.

UFC. Done some you tube research.

Seen better fights in the playground in Glasgow.

yep, got it :)
Sky+ set this time

questionable research then :)

Watched some form of fighting in a cage once and it was brutal, wouldn't watch again, too much for me.   Certainly don't get that, I just don't understand why you'd want too.

Would you have preferred it in a ring?

I'd rather not watch people kicking the shit out of each other at all.   It looked horiffic. 

I have no idea what you've been watching but there isn't really any kicking the shit out of each other. It's not 'no holds barred'!

to be fair, I do understand it being too brutal for some people.
Sure there are technical ground fights or sometimes clean and clinical KOs with no blood or Ground and Pound.

However, sometimes it does get bloody, or the sound of elbow against head against canvas comes through clearly, or a limb will get broken.

If you  don't like combat sports, of any kind, you certainly won't like MMA.

What I don't get is people who will happily watch boxing, but not MMA.

I'm the other way round with rugby.  I find union too stop-start, and too many interruptions in the play.  The ball is in play 75% of a league game, 50% of a football match, and 33% in a union game (can't remember the source for those stats, but they seem pretty accurate - stand to be corrected though).

A good game of union is good.  A bad game is bloody awful.  A poor game of league is still entertaining and worth watching for me though.  Guess it's often what you're brought up watching.

This, its so technical and tactical now and its shifted massively towards good athletes with excellent technical skills are just way better than crazy tough guy brawlers.  I think it makes it more watchable, like you dont have to be 7 foot tall, 20 stone, be able to bench press a bus and be completely crazy to learn how to compete effectively and with the weight-classes anyone could learn and compete.

Also loving the evolution of it as certain styles used to dominate other styles and now people are getting more well balanced and its showing which parts of different martial arts are effective and which are completely useless.  Like hey Karate blackbelt, you know all that stuff you spent your whole life learning? Well only around 20% of it is useful against another skilled fighter.

MMA has completely revolutionized combat sports and just combat in general

Golf. 

You could be really good in general but on any day you could hit bad shot after bad shot.  How frustrating is that, when practicing seems utterly pointless.  I hated it after I tried to play a round (twice).  Never again will I pick up a club.

Will happily watch the Ryder Cup though!

All Motor Sport.

Round and round and round and round.........dull dull dull.  Only a couple of teams/drivers can win.  Pointless.

Baseball.

The batsman does really well and hits a great shot, only to be caught in the deep easily 'cos he's wearing a FOOKIN GLOVE FFS!.  If they didn't, I'd actually watch it as it would be good to see the fielders use their skill to try and catch them out in the outfield.

Isn't that only necessarily true in a ring/cage, when fighting according to specific rules?  Obviously, in the cage you're not allowed to stamp on the knee, attack the throat or eyes, etc., that are all valid targets when I was doing karate (not karate merely for sport).  The mixing of the different disciplines is definitely one of the interesting aspects to me though, and it takes the debate away from 'this' martial art is 'better' than that one.

Agree with everything said about Rugby union.  I simply don't get it.  Also cannot really watch basketball although I do bet on it a lot.

On Poetry - So you don't like If by Kipling Keith?  Or are impressed by the way Wilfred Owen is able to express the horrors of war so succinctly?  I don't sit around reading poetry but it is a lot more than simply rhyming couplets.  At its best it can express ideas using language better than almost anything else imo.

In terms of a spectator sport, I find swimming very unappealing.  I get that they're fantastic athletes, and the dedication and training they put in is immense - I just don't find it exciting to watch.  Maybe it's of limited appeal to those involved in it, like many sports - not one for the uninitiated?

Interesting article with some stats:
http://www.voxy.co.nz/sport/nrl-vs-super-14-differences-game-and-players/971/28136

Its really down to what you are brought up watching with Rugby

For me RL is start, run straight ahead, tackle, stop, start again, kick it away on the 6th tackle

RU is phases of play these days, but has learnt much from RL defences

RU definitely is affected as a spectacle by a baffling rulebook, not the game it was to watch when I first got into it. for example 5 minutes to reset a scrum three times is a nonsense. then again the RL "scrum" is an affront to manhood. Makes me cringe every time I see it

 

Not a big fan of Matball.

Bowls

People stand on a lawn/carpet and throw big balls to try and get close to a little ball at the other end.

After they throw, they run down the length of the hall gesticulating watching their ball curve next to the little ball at which point the audience cheers.

At the end of all the intricate throwing the other person lobs a ball down as hard as he can and whacks all the other balls into the little ditch at the end. Swap sides, and go again.

Pointless

Curling

Teams of 4 have two giant Ice hockey pucks each with a handle on

Whatever the first three in the team do is completely irrelevant, as the only goes that matter are the last stones thrown by the skips who curl last

Particularly pointless are the "guards" thrown by the earlier players about half way down the rink, which do nothing to guard the "house"

Might as well just play singles, two stones each, closest to the bullseye wins

Look at what a scrum does to your ears, is that not a clue that there's something far wrong with it before you even begin to think about heads up arses!

Excellent choice in MMA imo, watching 2 blokes beating the livin crap outta each other - totes ridic

I didn't watch any rugby until I went to university so I don't know where that would stand with Tightys pretty reasonable description of it depending on what you were brought up with.

But obviously stats don't tell the whole story, for example a lot more tackles in rugby league doesn't really relate to the entertainment factors as Greekstein already suggested



I'd class all kinds of racing in the same boat - running, cycling, swimming, rowing... - if you don't care about the results or the individuals or teams involved there's nothing much to get excited by. If somebody comes from a long way back it's mildly interesting and overtaking is mildly interesting but any sport involving two or more objects moving along a line can only really be made interesting by external factors like whether you support one of them for whatever reason.  Or crashes - crashes always makes racing interesting  :D

The stats are pretty interesting though, in particular the question of why Rugby league 'feels' like it's more stop start when the ball is in play for so much of the time.

It's hard to find a big set of data to look at but I found something interesting from Australia.

Last year a Rugby Union game was massively criticised for being deathly dull and part of that was 50 stoppages.
But somebody compared it to a Rugby League that Australia played around the same time - which the League fans had no problem with - that had 600 stoppages.

There might not always be that big a difference and it would be handy to find a data source covering a number of games but I think that seems like the basic problem with it; it doesn't matter if they can restart the game within a few seconds the point is that the game gets continually interrupted. If you 'see over' those tiny stops it seems like the game flows smoothly but if you notice them all it's often just a bit dull.


- - happy to re-assess if a data source comes to light which contradicts this theory :)

They're not 'stoppages' though, there's still something going on when someone is tackled (the defence wants to wrestle them to slow them getting up, the attacker often wants to play the ball ASAP so that when the ball is played there are gaps in the defensive line where defenders haven't got back the 10m and markers aren't square, etc.

If you're not a fan of league, you're not going to understand what's going on - so you see it as stoppages.  Obviously though, the game hasn't 'stopped' as if the player drops the ball, knocks on, etc., then they are penalised - so the game is continuing.  A stoppage should surely only be when the ball is not in play?

Basebell seems a good pick , I mean I've been to baseball games and I will probably go again but it is really just rounders for druggies isn't it?

Hehe. I am the polar opposite of this. I can watch any day or session of a test match yet don't even watch ODIs or 20/20 s on telly let alone go along.

Rock-climbing, what a waste of energy.

A good round of golf beats that hands-down.


Me too.

I used to go and watch the Red Sox a bit when I lived over there and it wasn't bad actually. I found NFL the worst to watch live, it all happened so quick with breaks in between each play that is was easy to miss so much, especially as they are quite good at concealing the ball, its deffo better on TV with the benefit of replays etc.

I would never watch basketball on telly, but live its pretty exciting to watch actually, probably the best of the US main sports. Went to watch a couple of college games too and they were still excellent quality.

Here's a question for union fans.  Do you enjoy watching Sevens?

Only when read by Mike Bassett.

Yup yup, can watch the others but test is what I want to watch.

As an alternative its ok for a change, but its a bit like 20/20 cricket really, 15's is the true test of the full all round game and what I really enjoy.

I was trying to figure out where 600 stoppages would be in a Rugby League game, but I'm assuming it counts tackles, and wriggling around like a fish.  Which quite clearly aren't stoppages.

er.....yes that most definitely is stop/start.

pretty much all sports I'm looking as from the recreational - don't really know the game in depth - point of view.

When there's a tackle in league it certainly looks from a casual viewers point of view like the game stops and starts again - it stops therefore, a stoppage.

But it pretty much comes back to confirming the principle that any sport is more interesting the more you understand it.

at each play the ball the player stands up, stationary, and hooks it to the man behind him

Dull as dishwater, especially when so few attempt hand offs

its a stoppage

No it's not.  As pointed out above.  That's like saying a footballer passing the ball backwards to a defender or the keeper is a stoppage.

That's like saying when a union forward runs into his opposite number falls down and rolls the ball back is a stoppage as well.

Meh I see it differently, which they quite clearly aren't stoppages.  I see it as a fast moving exciting game.  While watching 10 min scrums, penalty after penalty, to maybe inch out a chance for a drop kick isn't.  But guess that's why we have two codes.  Each to their own.  

Give me that over a ball in being somewhere in between a bunch of blokes for 2 minutes and then the ref gives a penalty for god knows what. Then the team who is lucky enough to get this pen is forced to kick for the posts in the majority of situations as that is +ev thing to do.

Tbh the league/union argument could continue forever and neither side will agree. I know I have had enough times!

Playing the ball isn't a stoppage just like rucking (or whatever its called when they recycle in Union) isn't a stoppage. There is no ref interference at playing of the ball.

League is so much faster than union the 2 really aren't comparable.

I accept League scrums might as well not occur, but its just a way of restarting the game. And if the alternative is the rugby union farce of a scrum Ill take league any day

Tell ya what though, the birds that go and watch league could deffo take down the ones that watch union  :D

Obviously, I prefer league to union, but I do prefer union to a host of other sports - including NFL.

Yeah, but you get to sing songs.

That is very true, it's great if you like singing the same song every day ;o)

You get to do Sweet Caroline at a lot of ballparks as well!

I have been to quite a few games in the US and I think it is a great night out. I think as a tourist going to a baseball game is one of the best ways to get an idea for American culture that isn't right wing politics and religious nutcases!

I agree with that.  :)

In a tackle or in a little black dress?

The league ones aren't getting into anything little  :o  :D

Oh, and all their tattoos ;)

 :-X

There are quite a few sports I don't really get, and I'm not interested in watching. However, fire up Victor/Sidney/Ladjokes beforehand and they all become a lot easier to watch ;D

Didn't fred have a bet on ladies' water-polo last summer?

Try John Cooper Clarke, genius.

Quite probably, but I likely would sneak a look at that without a bet...

I find the water gets in the way.

That would be me. I just don't find MMA entertaining, I've watched and tried to like it but I can't take to it at all.

Just caught up. That's the best shout for Camel, I reckon.

Here's my favourite:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-aVtKEhpO0

About as removed from rhyming couplets of ABAB or Shakespeare's iambic pentameters as it gets.

It's not a sport, but I just don't get 'professional wrestling'.

Take me down to the ballparkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

The League/Union argument will never be agreed on as generally a person is one or the other.

I grew up in a town where this was not the case though, most clubs played Union AND League but did not play League AND Union if you understand what im saying there... anyone guess the town? Anyone who knows me thats cheating.

For me personally, I enjoyed playing Union a lot more, i gave up with football at age 11 and my dad gave me the option of both sports to play and i choose league as thats what i had played in school, but after about 3 months of give fat boy ball and fat boy run with ball i was fed up considering i was tiny i never got a touch and hated it. My dad than took me to play Union where in the first training session the ball got fizzed out to the backs and the team played fast running rugby and i loved every minute of it. I was probably lucky as i played for a very good union side who happened to have a very quick winger so they had grown up trying to get him the ball. As we got older though it meant the games were enjoyable to watch and play in and im very glad i played League first as i then never wanted to return! My dad got lucky as deep down he always wanted me to play Union but thought he would let me play League first to decide i would hate it as much as i did Football which eventually i did! ( I still played football/League in school while i played Union out of school)

To watch i have generally said the lower the standard of rugby the more i would rather watch league than union. Union can get very boring when the standard is low in my opinion but at the top top levels like Super League Grand Finals/Internationals (league) and Heineken Cup Finals/Internationals (Union). Union wins hands down for me, probably would be right up there for my number one choice of sports if i could only watch that sport for the rest of my life. Lions/Six Nations/Late stages of world cups are some of my favorite sporting moments in my life. I do definitely think though that Union is a sport you have to "get", a lot of the bits people find boring are the bits Union addicts love. This is where i think League is strong though as its a game you can pick up very earlier and "understand" whereas Union can take a little longer to grasp!

Sports i don't get - Any form of fighting/wrestling/boxing - never got it don't understand the skill element plus im much more of a team kind of person and these sports dont have much of a team element.

Most American sports i don't get - NFL/Baseball just seem like worse... much worse versions of Rugby/Cricket.

Aussie Rules also but i would love to understand that game looks pretty fun to play!

Another one for consideration - televised 9 ball ball.  The pockets are masssive and they hardly ever miss.  The only deciding factor seems to be how the balls fall off the break?

It looks deceptively easy but the way they control the cue-ball is amazing.