Field Theory: Athletes and Dicks
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Ah, but you don't have the stump mike dialog:
Chardonnay: so Mr Stanford, what is it you do?
Stanford: I'm one of them billionaire businessmen
Chardonnay: ooo, so you make a lot of money?
Stanford: quite sufficient, thank you
Chardonnay: like my Dazza, he makes heaps of dosh, but Kevin his manager says that if he doesn't watch it he'll be playing for Lesser Snoring next year
Stanford: oh, I'm sure he's got a few years yet
Chardonnay: when do you billionaire businessman have to stop playing
Stanford: well we don't really, unless we get thrown in jail. And then we get to start again after we get out
Chardonnay: oooo, thats nice! [moves to sit on Stanford's knee]. So you've got a few years in you yet then? -
Why is is SIR Allen Stanford ? I thought that he was an american. Did he buy a title?
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Lewis Hamilton becomes the first person to make coming fifth exciting! He passes the Toyota driver, Timo Glock, in the final lap to get the minimum points he needed to win the F1 championship.
I didn't watch it, but saw the story on Breakfast this morning.
Overtake, last corner to win the championship etc. Was thinking - I hate when they do that (e.g.stunning matchwinning try when they're already a few points ahead, or when they get two tries after it) - just because he passed someone late to win the race doesn't mean he needed it to win the championship - stupid news trying to make it sound more thrilling than it was etc.
Oh wait. It wasn't hyperbole. I always liked that Peter Williams :-)
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Chardonnay: like my Dazza, he makes heaps of dosh, but Kevin his manager says that if he doesn't watch it he'll be playing for Lesser Snoring next year
Love it.
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Why is is SIR Allen Stanford ? I thought that he was an american. Did he buy a title?
According to wikipedia (which references The Times) he's a Knight of The Most Distinguished Order of the Nation of Antigua and Barbuda. He has been a citizen for over 10 years and [quoting The Times]:
was knighted in 2006 for services to the community and helping the economic development of the island
having been described earlier in the article thus:
He was born in Mexia, Texas, but became a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda in 1999. Since then his investment in the Caribbean and involvement in the region’s affairs has grown steadily. Outside the government, he is the largest employer in Antigua.
The Caribbean has benefited hugely from his philanthropy. His self-declared mission is to halt the migration of talent to more affluent areas of the world, bolster tourism and protect the region’s culture.
I fairly confident a few of ours have been less well earned.
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Thanks Graeme - why didn't I think of looking on the interweb?!
The Caribbean has benefited hugely from his philanthropy
That may well be true, but it still strikes me as a bit odd that so much money can be put up for the winners of ONE game of 20/20 cricket, and at the same time comments made to the effect that his money is great for the game in the Caribbean.
I realise that he has put in a lot of other money into the game, but I don't believe that the money put up for this game is good for the game as a whole. Perhaps my anti-20/20 bias is showing.
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Mike,
20/20 from its inception has been over-run by venal Godfathers. Sadly, they have also been very wealthy.
There is a huge shift now in that some West Indian provincial-at-best cricketer has now earned more than Sir Richard Paddles ever did in a 20 year career. And we know Sir Paddles was always careful with his earnings.
I've no idea where this will all end but we live in interesting times; that's for sure.
As for the villian in the Sitting-on-Knee incident; surely Emily Prior is not totally lillywhite? -
I did discover that there is a lot of hatred out there for 20/20 and that Stanford is not doing a lot to help it. Also the English papers HATE him will all the bile they can muster (and English papers have a lot of bile).
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Ah, but you don't have the stump mike dialog:
Heh heh, "stump mike"
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I did discover that there is a lot of hatred out there for 20/20 and that Stanford is not doing a lot to help it.
Where were you when the IPL was on?
Not to mention when our second tier players plus Shane Bond was being pimped by the ICL?
Only difference with Sanford is that he’s having an impact on Dear Old Blighty. Although they invented 20/20; so they had it coming.
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Where were you when the IPL was on?
See I thought that was all about "politics". Sort of a "how dare you try and set up a cricket league without our permission" thing. But I didn't think there was any hatred of the actual format.
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The ICL was about the politics.
But the IPL was fully sanctioned and a lot of people hated that too.
Not to mention last year’s world cup which was largely ignored by the print media.
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Hadyn, can I ask what it is/was about Herr Schumacher that excites you more than Hamilton? It was Schumi's clinical dominance of F1 that turned it into a monotonously foregone conclusion, and his arrogance and like of sportsmanship made him a hard chap to like.
Yes, Hamilton does have an arrogance about him, but his own personal backstory, his youth and the fact that he's the first black man to triumph in one of the most racially exclusive sports make him a much more likeable champion than Schumacher, and his rawness as a driver makes him more exciting than the German metronome.
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The Prime All Blacks game coverage was on Saturday night. 10:30pm - 1:10am.
I had my eyes closed for 3/4 of the 2nd half. Would have loved a replay at, say 9am on Sunday morning instead.
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As for the villian in the Sitting-on-Knee incident; surely Emily Prior is not totally lillywhite?
Why does there have to be a villain? Pretty girls flirting with rich guys is a well understood phenomenon. (and a good reason for getting yourself filthy rich)
It's not as if he gave her a good seeing to right there in the stands, is it?
Some of those journo's need to grow up a bit. All it needed was mention of behind the bikesheds or __Allen and Emily up a tree...__and it would have been just like the "tewibbly scandalous" gossip we used to throw around at primary school.
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EY;
Couldn’t agree more actually. I was staggered at the way the UK media in unison came out in such self-important moral outrage about the whole thing. I mean, Texas Billionaire with a penchant for getting his name across everything. What were they expecting exactly?
Personal favourite was from the Daily Mail:
“"The mind boggles at what might happen when Stanford, brash Texan entrepreneur, comes face to face with the MCC and all its history… Will he sit in the pavilion and perch one of the members, complete with bacon-and- egg tie, on his knee? Now that really would be an image to behold."
Um, kind of misses the point I think
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It was Schumi's clinical dominance of F1 that turned it into a monotonously foregone conclusion, and his arrogance and like of sportsmanship made him a hard chap to like.
Agreed, but that is the late Schumacher who I didn't like. But when he was dominating in a Benneton? That was awesome.
I think F1 hit its peak shortly after Senna/Villeneuve left. Since then, costs have risen and manufacturers have stopped seeing it as a viable media for promotion. [Hey, why spend $100m+ when you can just give 5 of your cars to Obama, Hilton and others and have them do the promoting?]
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one of the most racially exclusive sports
Brazilians, Italians, Colombians, Finns, Japanese and Scotsmen not enough diversity for you?
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Brazilians, Italians, Colombians, Finns, Japanese and Scotsmen not enough diversity for you?
Sorry, I had forgotten about Sato and Nakajima, but the rest of them are all ethnically European. Don't see any indigenous Brazilians or Colombians fanging around, do you?
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Yes, Hamilton does have an arrogance about him, but his own personal backstory, his youth and the fact that he's the first black man to triumph in one of the most racially exclusive sports make him a much more likeable champion than Schumacher, and his rawness as a driver makes him more exciting than the German metronome.
Feh. He only won because the FIA has Nascar-wuss-ified the points to reward consistant mediocre placing over winning. Hamilton won less races than Massa and should not be champion.
And he is a Pom. He is a Pom in a race series dominated by Pommy teams, regulated by a kinky Pom and run by a egotistical Pom (Sir Allen Stanford looks like a shy hermit in comparison). That ain't extending diversity.
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And he is a Pom. He is a Pom in a race series dominated by Pommy teams, regulated by a kinky Pom and run by a egotistical Pom
Eh? The only other English team bar McLaren (which is half German) is Williams. And they're shit. And so fucking what if he is English?? The last Englishman to win was Hill in '96, so English drivers hardly dominate the sport.
We've just been humiliated by the Aussies in the league, trounced in the cricket and wasted in the netball, so c'mon - at least give us the bloody F1.
Agree about Bernie though. Megalomania personified.
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Whoa, got some catching up to do:
Hadyn, can I ask what it is/was about Herr Schumacher that excites you more than Hamilton?
He was the greatest driver of all time (in my opinion) and cool clinical - to the point of robotism - attitude. My favourite moment was in his final year when he had just beaten Alonso and was (maybe) a point or two behind him in the overall standings. At the press conference Schumacher said with the tiniest of smiles: "Looks like it will be an interesting season". It was like cheering for the bad guy who always wins.
Hamilton seems a little whiny to be someone I could follow.
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The Prime All Blacks game coverage was on Saturday night. 10:30pm - 1:10am.
Thanks JP, that's what I thought. Growing the game by playing the free-to-air match replay at a time when most kids are asleep.
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Why does there have to be a villain? Pretty girls flirting with rich guys is a well understood phenomenon. (and a good reason for getting yourself filthy rich)
It's not as if he gave her a good seeing to right there in the stands, is it?
Couldn’t agree more actually. I was staggered at the way the UK media in unison came out in such self-important moral outrage about the whole thing. I mean, Texas Billionaire with a penchant for getting his name across everything. What were they expecting exactly?
Sorry, merged two quotes there.
For me the problem was as a player on the field I would be understandably distracted if my other half was sitting on the lap of the guy paying me money to dance for his amusement. Stanford should've been blown up, but it should mainly have come from the players and then the media.
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And my point is that why should Stanford get all the attention / blame over this?
If I knew how to embed vids I would. There is no outward sign of coercion whatsoever.
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