A free-for-all thread

Put the world to rights here (off-topic discussion)
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Gandalf the Red
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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby Gandalf the Red » Sun Dec 18, 2016 10:44 pm

Won by the bloke with no personality again. :lol:

Had to turn over though, the programme itself was terrible.
“He likes having the ball, playing football, passes. It’s like an orchestra. But it’s a silent song. But I like heavy metal more. I always want it loud.” - Jürgen Klopp

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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby houston4044 » Sun Dec 18, 2016 10:56 pm

Gandalf the Red wrote:Won by the bloke with no personality again. :lol:

Had to turn over though, the programme itself was terrible.


Never understand why they call it sport personality of the year, if that were true Sol Bamba or Joey Barton should of won it this year; not very good at their sport but man, they are far from boring :lol: half the winners are just boring recite speech about how i'm happy to be here etc etc :thud: At least someone like Barton actually makes me want to hear news about him regardless of the results just to see what crap he's said or done :lol:

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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby Gandalf the Red » Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:08 pm

My views on Joey Barton would likely get me banned from the internet. He might come over as a comedy figure, but him and the rest of his family are total scum.
“He likes having the ball, playing football, passes. It’s like an orchestra. But it’s a silent song. But I like heavy metal more. I always want it loud.” - Jürgen Klopp

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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby houston4044 » Mon Dec 19, 2016 2:34 am

Gandalf the Red wrote:My views on Joey Barton would likely get me banned from the internet. He might come over as a comedy figure, but him and the rest of his family are total scum.


Still a memorable personality though, half the sportsmen I hear interviews of are so boring that they seem to blend into one.

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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby Matty_the_Emo_Slayer » Mon Dec 19, 2016 12:28 pm

At least they got it right with RTE Sportsperson of the year. Conor McGregor is both the best in the world at his sport, a true superstar personality and his winning of it has pissed off every establishment sports pundit in Ireland who would rather it had gone to some family friendly GAA player or an average at best mid-table Premier League "star." Well deserved for The King and all the MMA haters deserve to be shown up as the tools they are.
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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby Gandalf the Red » Mon Dec 19, 2016 1:26 pm

Who? Never heard of him. :lol:

It's always been a debate for as long as I remember whether it's sports personality or sports person that they actually want. I can think of about two people that have won it that actually have a personality. The rest have been a bunch of bores.

People like Nigel Mansell, Steve Davis, Nick Faldo, Michael Owen and Andy Murray. You wouldn't invite any of them to a dinner party. :lol:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Sport ... Year_Award
“He likes having the ball, playing football, passes. It’s like an orchestra. But it’s a silent song. But I like heavy metal more. I always want it loud.” - Jürgen Klopp

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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby Matty_the_Emo_Slayer » Mon Dec 19, 2016 2:21 pm

Gandalf the Red wrote:Who? Never heard of him. :lol:


First ever 2 division champion in UFC. In fairness MMA is still quite a niche sport and the dinosaurs who reject it as a bloodsport or who write fighters off as thugs tend to shout the loudest in Ireland, but he's been instrumental in growing the sport over the last 2 and a bit years, and his personality as much as his fighting ability has been a big part of it. He makes world class fighters look like they don't belong and trash talks better than Muhammed Ali while he does it.

The height of the hilarious resistance to his nomination came when some football pundit suggested that Shane Long had achieved more in the last year. Apparently scoring 10 goals in the Premier League (3 below the top 10 goalscorers of the season), failing to score in Euro 2016 and Southampton coming 6th in the league and only qualifying for Europe because Man United also won the FA Cup is an achievement.
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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby Gandalf the Red » Mon Dec 19, 2016 3:13 pm

I don't agree with an average footballer winning it. But isn't there any good jockeys, golfers or boxers anymore? Things that Ireland usually excel at.

I certainly don't think that MMA is a proper sport. Probably something more akin to wrestling and cage fighting in that it's entertainment for youths.
“He likes having the ball, playing football, passes. It’s like an orchestra. But it’s a silent song. But I like heavy metal more. I always want it loud.” - Jürgen Klopp

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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby Jobdone » Mon Dec 19, 2016 3:13 pm

I fucking love McGregor. We need those cocky fellas that actually back it up.

I dip in and out of boxing and MMA, and it's only personalities like his that keeps me coming back. Same reason I'm so sad Fury's been such a fuck up recently, I want more press conferences from him.
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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby Matty_the_Emo_Slayer » Mon Dec 19, 2016 4:35 pm

Gandalf the Red wrote:I don't agree with an average footballer winning it. But isn't there any good jockeys, golfers or boxers anymore? Things that Ireland usually excel at.

I certainly don't think that MMA is a proper sport. Probably something more akin to wrestling and cage fighting in that it's entertainment for youths.



The WBA Featherweight champ Carl Frampton was nominated. He should have been on the BBC list too being that he's from North Belfast, but I imagine it would've created quite an incident if he'd have won Irish Sportsperson Of The Year. Even if he does see himself as Irish the majority in his community don't and a lot of very dodgy loyalist types would have pressured him to reject it. Meanwhile all of Ireland's amateur boxers got screwed by the corrupt judging in Rio so none of them were worth nominating.

As for golfers Rory McIlroy has won it twice before, both in years that he won major tournaments though, which he didn't do this year. Horse racing I don't know anything about, but none were nominated so I'm guessing no Irish jockeys won anything substantial this year.

I'd argue that MMA is actually the purest combat sport there is. The multi-disciplinary skill it takes to succeed at the top level is unparalleled. McGregor brings the entertainment side of it to a level nobody ever has before and is the biggest PPV draw, but he's also an elite athlete. In the space of eleven months he knocked out a 10 year undefeated champion at featherweight in 13 seconds, went up to welterweight for 2 fights (1 win and 1 loss), and then back down one weight class and utterly dominated and knocked out the lightweight champion to win that belt too.

Not just in Ireland but simply worldwide, has any athlete or team dominated their sport to that extent in the past year?
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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby houston4044 » Mon Dec 19, 2016 4:54 pm

I just disagree with the name/implied achievement of it, if your going to award someone for having the best Personality they could achieve nothing in their sport but should still win SPOTY award if they have a personality.

Gandalf the Red wrote:I don't agree with an average footballer winning it. But isn't there any good jockeys, golfers or boxers anymore? Things that Ireland usually excel at.

I certainly don't think that MMA is a proper sport. Probably something more akin to wrestling and cage fighting in that it's entertainment for youths.


I'd say it's a sport as much as Boxing is a sport, a regulated fight with rules that requires strategy, discipline, athleticism and skill in order to beat (in this case literally) your opponent. Both reach the same conclusion in that one person managed to defeat someone else in combat, the only difference is how they managed to do that (one just uses their hands while the other uses other means).

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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby Gandalf the Red » Mon Dec 19, 2016 5:06 pm

I think I'll beg to differ. To me it's just Friday night drunks in the carpark fighting over a kebab.
“He likes having the ball, playing football, passes. It’s like an orchestra. But it’s a silent song. But I like heavy metal more. I always want it loud.” - Jürgen Klopp

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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby Fjar » Mon Dec 19, 2016 7:38 pm

There was a golfer and a boxer among the nominees though. :?

I voted for Nicola Adams.
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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby Matty_the_Emo_Slayer » Mon Dec 19, 2016 7:56 pm

Gandalf the Red wrote:I think I'll beg to differ. To me it's just Friday night drunks in the carpark fighting over a kebab.


For some of the heavyweights like Mark Hunt and Roy Nelson, maybe. For 95% of top fighters though it's all about technique.

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Re: A free-for-all thread

Postby Gandalf the Red » Mon Dec 19, 2016 9:25 pm

That just makes me go dizzy. I mean what's with all the writhing around on the floor? :lol:

Whatever floats your boat, but it's not something I would have any interest in.



Fjar wrote:There was a golfer and a boxer among the nominees though. :?

I voted for Nicola Adams.


We had moved on to the Irish version. :P
“He likes having the ball, playing football, passes. It’s like an orchestra. But it’s a silent song. But I like heavy metal more. I always want it loud.” - Jürgen Klopp