Watched a bit of tennis this afternoon with the boss, who abandons many home duties in Wimbledon fortnight.
Azarenka makes a noise like a firework screamer every time she hits the ball. Way beyond grunts. I don't understand why they are allowed to do it - the opposition must feel like beating her into silence with a racket.
I think Djokovic/Federer tomorrow could be worth watching.
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Racket, is that as in noise or...........
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"the opposition must feel like beating her into silence with a racket."
That's exactly what Serena did isn't it?
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I believe that the WTA (the governing body of womens' tennis) are looking at equipping umpires with decibel meters and setting a limit to the amount of noise a player can make. Going over this limit may result in points being replayed, or penalty points imposed. The WTA are also speaking to tennis clubs around the world to attempt to discourage younger players from developing the habit.
About time too as the noise that the player mentioned by the OP made was terrible. I had to turn the match off. I really can't fathom why they are trained to do this.
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Some players grunt audibly with effort on some strokes. Murray seems to let out a moaning sigh from time to time.
But that Miss Avarenka howled like an abandoned puppy, exactly the same with every stroke. Although she's not unpleasant looking I hated the sight of her after a few minutes of that steady howling.
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I reckon the grunting and howling is wholly unnecessary, and it possibly dilutes their efforts? Compare with childbirth, where women are told not to waste their energy on screaming or cussing because it will wear them out and distract them from the job in hand..?!
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"Compare with childbirth, where women are told not to waste their energy on screaming or cussing because it will wear them out and distract them from the job in hand..?!"
No doubt said by a man.
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i expect some people get off on the grunting and groaning?
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>> wholly unnecessary, and it possibly dilutes their efforts?
It may help actually. In Karate as practised by some teachers, an intense yell or cry at the moment a blow is delivered is held to accentuate the force of the blow itself, by stiffening the diaphragm and upper body at the moment of impact. It is called the 'kiai shout' or something of the sort.
It may be tiring though, over a 2-hour tennis match. And monotonous Azarenka-style howling is hideous to listen to and must distract opponents. It should be discouraged.
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>> Miss Avarenka howled like an abandoned puppy, exactly the same with every stroke.
I know the feeling.
I'm sure she was faking it.
$20 abolutely wasted.
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Shades of Meg Ryan in "When Harry met Sally"?
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Hearing Williams's grunt followed by the Azarenka firework reminded me of the first two-thirds of the Morecambe and Wise 'boom-ooooooh- yatatataaaa' sketch.
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Tennis is for wimps who don't play football.
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Football is for wimps who don't play Rugby Union!
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Rugby Union is for men who get off by mud wrestling with other men.
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All rugby players are gay, why else would you want to stick your nose up some other blokes ass
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Strongly advise you against saying that at Twickenham, Murrayfield etc...
No, actually, go ahead, let us know how it goes....
:-)
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Not sure they understand the spoken word, do they?
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They probably do Zero - Generally rugby players are academically better qualified than footballers, Wales 70s boasted at least one surgeon and a doctor in general practice as well as misc. lawyers.
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>> They probably do Zero - Generally rugby players are academically better qualified than footballers, Wales 70s boasted at least one surgeon and a doctor in general practice as well as
>> misc. lawyers.
>>
Pretty similar to the professions of those who appear in court for cottaging. Probably down to their single-sex public school education.
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>> Wales 70s boasted at least one surgeon and a doctor in general practice as well as misc. lawyers.
The surgeon is still working as one I think.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.P.R._Williams
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Surgeons and Doctors on the spot in case of injury, and the misc lawyers for the on the spot claims!
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The irony is JPR was one of the players that used to cause a lot of the injuries. He's a bit brutal as an orthopaedic surgeon according to some I know.
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Like I said, give it a go...They might well slap you heartily on the back and congratulate you on your quick wit. Probably will in fact. More than worth a shot...
:-)
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>> All rugby players are gay, why else would you want to stick your nose up
>> some other blokes ass
>>
To check if he's all there?
I'll get my jock strap..
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>> All rugby players are gay, why else would you want to stick your nose up
>> some other blokes ass
Oh dear, more of the yobbish ignorant bawling.
In jest no doubt. But crap comment is crap comment whatever the motive.
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Great chirps about Rugby from many folk who have obviously never played the game.
I recall when I lived near Twickenham, that there were 60 thousand fans in the area, and about 3 policemen. Why? Because if anyone misbehaved (except the jocks, but that's another story*) their clubmates would pull them back in to line sharpish.
*The Jocks made it a point of pride to get nicked for public indecency - Londoner: 'so, what's under the kilt!' and they were shown! Nicked, ten quid public indecency fine, and another trophy back to the home club!
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SO who trashed the pubs in Richmond after a big game at Twickenham then?
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Not in my day, Zero.
I blame professionalism for the drop in standards.
Oh, back to the medical stuff - at one international, Jean-Pierre Rives went down hurt. There was instantly a mob around him - 4 doctors, one surgeon - from both sides.
You don't get much of that these days!
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Must have been football fans who dressed in rugger jerseys for the occasion, because it can't have been rugby fans, can it?
Or perhaps, when it comes to it, drunken rugby fans are just as boorish, lewd, and yobbish as anyone else.
Mmm, another tough one.
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Zero, I'm not making any excuses. the 'run out' was an infamous move. As was the theft of 'trophies'. However, I found there were very few punch-ups, as I've witnessed at footie internationals.
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NOt denying its "different" aggro, far more drunken stupidity and resulting damage and injury than planned violence and resulting damage and injury.
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Football is a gentleman's game played by yobs.
Rugby is a yobs game played by gentlemen.
Originally said, I believe, as a joke, but there is some truth in it.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Fri 6 Jul 12 at 21:06
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>> Football is a gentleman's game played by yobs.
>> Rugby is a yobs game played by gentlemen.
>>
>> Originally said, I believe, as a joke, but there is some truth in it.
None at all actually. I don't recall Footballers being cited for due gouging, or using fake blood to cheat the rules.
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Everyone Everywhere. That's our man.
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"due" gouging? damn auto spell, EYE gouging.
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Football is a game played by Thoroughbreds.
Rugby is a game played by carthorses.
Originally said, I believe, as a joke, but it is the truth .
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You've got a point, a footballer would probably only last a few minutes on a rugby field. Little Shane Williams could have gone pro on the football but he heard his country's call to the real game...
Please try to say that this isn't the work of a top flight athlete and artist to boot...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGrMJhgvAzE
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Everyone has their personal preferences but surely these pub-style endless circular sniping arguments are futile?
Football and rugby are both team games involving violence and practised subterfuge. They are different of course but surely one is as interesting and beautiful (or the other thing) as the other?
Perhaps I have an advantage in being a lifelong sport-hater and sport-avoider. I was far too idle and wimpish to be really good at either. I played one very little and the other as little as possible, but you had to get bruised, knackered and muddy several times a week in my young day, and perhaps no bad thing.
Now that I don't have to do that stuff I do sometimes in an idle moment watch a top-class game of one or the other, and other dishearteningly energetic stuff too, rowing, athletics...
I would say though that from this dilettante point of view football is better to watch than rugby as often as not. As for comparing the players and athletes, most serious sports stars seemed awful to me when I was the same age as them, and I don't suppose all these life-threatening drugs they have to take now are improving them much. Honourable exceptions of course. Well, perhaps.
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surely these pub-style endless circular sniping arguments are futile?
Yes: if you take them seriously.
I never do :-)
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Not idle or wimpish A.C.To shrewd.) I enjoyed Andy's Murrays performance against the Frenchman.I have taken to the Scot calm sense of humor,I hope he give the Swiss a match on Sunday.Didn't think Bjorn Borg was a wimp or Boris Becker.
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Terrific! 2 players in action who are not howling/screaming/grunting. I can have the sound on, if I want to! I don't think it will last much over an hour though, the lady with steatophygia is duffing up the Polish girl in the first set
Last edited by: Meldrew on Sat 7 Jul 12 at 14:30
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I thought Ms Williams was quite loud? (Haven't been watching it.)
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>> Steatopygia - sorry!
You probably don't need to apologise for using it Mellers. But you won't find many anthropologists using this term nowadays. It is Victorian, and scientistic rather than scientific; applied originally to Hottentots.
Oswald Mosley at one time had a bit of a thing about the Hottentots. He claimed that the Boers and British occupied South Africa before anyone else. At an election meeting of his in 1958 which I attended out of curiosity, his cloth-capped, pre-war supporters a couple of times bawled encouragingly: 'What about the 'Ottentots?'
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>> >> Steatopygia - sorry!
>> Oswald Mosley at one time had a bit of a thing about the Hottentots. He
>> claimed that the Boers and British occupied South Africa before anyone else. At an election
>> meeting of his in 1958 which I attended out of curiosity, his cloth-capped, pre-war supporters
>> a couple of times bawled encouragingly: 'What about the 'Ottentots?'
>>
One of our local 'districts' is known as Hottentot's Holland.
The actual name for them is KhoiSan.
The word hottentot is an onomatopaeic reference to their 'clicking' language.
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>> an onomatopaeic reference to their 'clicking' language.
Must be one of the world's most difficult for a foreigner to speak properly too. Got a record somewhere with a song in it, wow, I mean I'm quite a parrot where pronunciation is concerned but I can't do that without awkward pauses.
Another track on the same album I think is called 'Beautiful rain'. Apposite here at the moment, but not for those well to the south of the adjectival jet stream... perhaps though there's carp coming up from Antarctica or across from the Horn and the Falklands? It would only be fair.
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>> Must be one of the world's most difficult for a foreigner to speak properly too.
>> Got a record somewhere with a song in it, wow, I mean I'm quite a
>> parrot where pronunciation is concerned but I can't do that without awkward pauses.
Ok, three things:
1) attended a wedding a while back, where Miriam Makeba's 'click song' was sung by a lady as the bride arrived. Superb.
2) My mate Zola used to amuse us with the tongue-twister 'the skunk rolled down and ruptured his larynx'
"Iqaqa laqabaleka iqhini latyibalika laqhawula uqhoqhoqho". Every 'q' is a click. Sounds like a bucket of golf balls being dropped onto a 44 gallon drum.
3) the new SA Antarctic vessel, the SA Aghulas, is named after Miriam.
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Ok I had to look it up - but I'm not convinced there's a lot of fat on the duffer-upper!
She's a renowned athlete, and according to the Wimbledon app is 5'9" and about 10 stone 10lb. BMI 22.
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>> according to the Wimbledon app is 5'9" and about 10
>> stone 10lb. BMI 22.
That doesn't sound right - I'm 5'11 and about 10.5 stone, and Mrs F is always telling me to fatten up (you've seen my legs!). Serena looks pretty solid, and assuming it's muscle (which is heavier than fat) I'd have expected her to weigh more than that.
BTW my mistake - no grunting, not in this match anyway.
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According to the same app, Radwanska is 5'8" and 8st 11lb. So Serena would be an inch taller and nearly 2 st heavier.
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And busty substances and seat cushions! Turned out tobe a good match considering the Polish lady is having breathing problems. I thought it looked like an easy 2 set win for Williams
Last edited by: Meldrew on Sat 7 Jul 12 at 16:30
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>> According to the same app, Radwanska is 5'8" and 8st 11lb. So Serena would be
>> an inch taller and nearly 2 st heavier.
Well Radwanska is more my sort of build, so that 2 st difference does make sense - if Serena was male, 12 to 12.5 st would sound about right. I guess women are just lighter, somehow.
Last edited by: Focus on Sat 7 Jul 12 at 16:39
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>> Well Radwanska is more my sort of build, so that 2 st difference does make
>> sense - if Serena was male,
Hmm one wonders at times.
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>> Hmm one wonders at times.
To be fair she does have plenty of curves as well as the muscles :)
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>> plenty of curves as well as the muscles :)
and a pretty face and (when not actually playing) a winsome, feminine demeanour. She may well be stronger than most men but she doesn't really resemble a man.
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>> About time too as the noise that the player mentioned by the OP made was
>> terrible. I had to turn the match off. I really can't fathom why they are
>> trained to do this.
>>
I do wonder what noises some of the women players make in bed....
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Glad it's not just me ST !
:-)
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>> what noises some of the women players make in bed....
Stony silence? Surreptitious glances at watch?
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Swiss Tony, you have just turned car4play into a posh transport cafe with that remark:)
Pat
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>> Swiss Tony, you have just turned car4play into a posh transport cafe with that remark:)
>>
Is that good or bad? ;-)
Anyway... I only said (typed) what others where thinking but didn't dare say!
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That's good! It's what I've seen it as for the last few years and the reason I stick around here:)
Trouble is, you've all got me at it now, I'm training 10 lorry drivers tomorrow and they will so not understand when I throw abuse back at them!
Pat
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>> posh transport cafe
What a terrible thought. Scampi, french fries and mange-tout rather than sausage eggs bacon peas black pudding chips brown sauce wads and char... it's a no-brainer Pat. How could you insult us so?
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Easy AC, you forgot the fried slice!
Pat
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>> the fried slice!
... and fried tomatoes and mushrooms in season and butter on the peas... bread pudding and custard for pudding too... all for 5/6d or less. Those were the days.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sat 7 Jul 12 at 17:55
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We used to go to Wimpeys full breakfust for two ten bob.Those where the days.
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Nowt wrong with mange tout. You can eat 'em all, you know.
'xcuse me, I have to go and cook some sausages. Not sure what gave me that idea.
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Sausages....served with English mustard in every Transport cafe.
Pat
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>> served with English mustard in every Transport cafe.
Or brown sauce Pat, which I liked when young.
It's true that in the rougher transport cafes the brown sauce squeezy thing was often crusty and flyblown and the sauce none too good. It's the same the whole world over. I can remember some pretty manky bowls of harissa in downtown Algiers.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sat 7 Jul 12 at 19:18
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>>
>> Or brown sauce Pat, which I liked when young.
>>
>> It's true that in the rougher transport cafes the brown sauce squeezy thing was often
>> crusty and flyblown and the sauce none too good. It's the same the whole world
>> over. I can remember some pretty manky bowls of harissa in downtown Algiers.
>>
>> Hence the 'brown sauce pat' in the mornings
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Job done. Porky White's Surrey sausages (3), newly mixed English mustard, bashed spuds, savoy cabbage, cauli, and broccoli (penance item). And Bisto Best onion gravy. And still within my daily calorie allowance so I can have a glass of wine tonight after I've seen out the men's doubles which has got interesting.
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Sensational men's doubles final. The wildcard pair have just beaten the fifth seeds and now three time runners up, who must be as sick as parrots.
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Wildcards and they have only played 4 tournaments together, if I heard the blurb correctly - great to see!
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>> Wildcards and they have only played 4 tournaments together, if I heard the blurb correctly
>> - great to see!
I don't either of them has ever won a proper tournament let alone a grand slam. They didn't exactly fluke it either, beating the no. 8 seeds and the no. 2 seeds before beating the no 5 seeds in the final, all 5 set matches.
I guess it's an example of the power of team work. And it made Jonathan Marray the first British Wimbledon doubles champion since the 1930s.
Now I'm condemned to watching Murray / Federer instead of the GP.
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Bread and butter liberally loaded with brown sauce - lovely.
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Very good Desert Island Discs today - Martina Navratilova, classic radio.
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>> Are you kidding Roger?
>>
No!
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Much better with Marmite.
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The final is turning into quite a battle - they've been going nearly 3 and a half hours and only half way into the 3rd set!
Federer has just got a break though...
EDIT: actually they weren't playing while the roof closed
Last edited by: Focus on Sun 8 Jul 12 at 17:21
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I can't quite like Murray but one has to admire his mega-fitness and work rate. He chases everything that crosses the net, even if it looks like a lost cause. It may go to 5 sets but I think Federer will shade it. First time they have met on grass I believe.
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In fact Murray has the edge 8-7 in terms of past results, although as you say they haven't played on grass.
tennis.wettpoint.com/en/h2h/110026-14620.html
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The Scots bloke lost then.
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First time I've seen the Scottish chap show any emotion
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Funny that, he was clearly British earlier today, even scaled the giddy heights of being English momentarily yesterday on Radio 4.
Last edited by: R.P. on Sun 8 Jul 12 at 18:53
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There was a bloke shouting "come on England" at one stage.
Probably unfair to say Murray lost it, he played his socks off.
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>> There was a bloke shouting "come on England" at one stage.
>>
>> Probably unfair to say Murray lost it, he played his socks off.
>>
Maybe the guy shouting confused Murray?
''England??? I'm Scottish and Federer is Swiss... who on Earth does he mean??''
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>> >> There was a bloke shouting "come on England" at one stage.
Almost as hilarious as shouting "come on Tim" (when Murray's playing), although perhaps that's finally died out now?
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'P' poor reporting above. (0:-:0). Great match and probably the right result. Great 'speech' from Murray at the conclusion. Good day.
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I'm sure the cheque for losing will dry his tears.
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A rather miserablist view surely. A great match by two supremely fit players who gave their all and provided an excellent afternoon's entertainment.
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>> I'm sure the cheque for losing will dry his tears.
Bit harsh - I think this was about more than just the money to him.
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>> I'm sure the cheque for losing will dry his tears.
No the money will remind him of the defeat too much. So I will contact him to offer to take the money off his hands ;-) He's not going to miss £500k is he. He gets £5m pa from Adidas for starters.
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rtj - I know you're a newbie but if you click on 'reply to this message' you get the >> and text from the message you are replying to without having to copy and paste.
:)
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I wanted my reply at the end hence copying the text :-) Otherwise I'd have replied to it and not quoted it.
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I think tennis is, in some respects, a very silly game.
1. I cannot think of another sport where the player gets two chances to achieve something, in tennis if the first serve is not successful, the player gets another go!
2. The proportion of officials to players is way out of line with other sports. With a referee, an umpire, line judges and net judges, up to eleven officials apparently. Compare that with, for example cricket with its two umpire and twenty two players.
3. The scoring is illogical. How does it go? 15-0, 30-0. 40-0, game! Why doesn't it go 1, 2, 3, game?
Daft, I call it.
Oh, and another thing. The women get the same money for playing three sets as the men get for five sets!
Last edited by: Duncan on Mon 9 Jul 12 at 05:25
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All sports and games are inherently silly if you examine them in detail and the whole idea of a professional sportsman is decidedly odd if you think about it.
Why should some one be paid millions because they happen to be good at hitting a ball with a stick into a hole in the lawn for example
You just have to put these things out of your mind!
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>> Why should some one be paid millions because they happen to be good at hitting
>> a ball with a stick into a hole in the lawn for example
Because millions of us are prepared to pay money to watch him do it :)
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Yes I know that but it's still an inherently silly way to earn a living as are all professional sports. To devote your entire life to perfecting a skill that is basically of no use whatsoever always seems odd to me .
Not knocking it and I enjoy watching sport and good luck to those who can do it but it is an odd way to earn a living when you think about it
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>> but it is an odd way to earn a living when you think about it
Agreed, and it probably takes the fun out of it when it becomes your livelihood.
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Its use is that it earns one money on which to live and, if one is very good at it, one can earn enough in 5 to 10 years to retire for the rest of one's life.
www.therichest.org/sports/richest-sportsment-in-uk-2012/
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>> Its use is that it earns one money on which to live
...or you could look at it in a more positive way as doing something which makes people happy; it's part of the entertainment industry.
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One of the commentators made a witty remark when Murray dropped a couple of tennis balls during a match.
"He's earned £20m in prize money so you'd have thought he'd have deeper pockets."
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Yes I undertstand its use - its the fundamental silliness of the concept of professional sport that intrigues and amuses me.
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I'm sure we all like to think we achieve more than a living in our professional lives.
But few of us will leave any lasting legacy.
In that respect, all of our endeavours are pointless.
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Just the thing to motivate onself on a grey dismal Monday in er...July
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>
>> In that respect, all of our endeavours are pointless.
Ah, another nihilist.
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I have no desire to leave any lasting legacy whatsoever.
In that wish I will surely succeed. :-)
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For which we are all truly grateful....;)
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 9 Jul 12 at 11:32
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>> For which we are all truly grateful....;)
Amen - and may your God (if he/she/it exists) go with you,
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>> I'm sure we all like to think we achieve more than a living in our
>> professional lives.
>>
>> But few of us will leave any lasting legacy.
>>
>> In that respect, all of our endeavours are pointless.
>>
>>
>>
I don't know. I do my bit to add CO2 to the atmosphere...
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I generate Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Dibackside - double trouble for the Planet
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>> I think tennis is, in some respects, a very silly game.
>>
>> 1. I cannot think of another sport where the player gets two chances to achieve
>> something, in tennis if the first serve is not successful, the player gets another go!
>>
>> 2. The proportion of officials to players is way out of line with other sports.
>> With a referee, an umpire, line judges and net judges, up to eleven officials apparently.
>> Compare that with, for example cricket with its two umpire and twenty two players.
>>
>> 3. The scoring is illogical. How does it go? 15-0, 30-0. 40-0, game! Why doesn't
>> it go 1, 2, 3, game?
>>
>> Daft, I call it.
>>
>> Oh, and another thing. The women get the same money for playing three sets as
>> the men get for five sets!
>>
+1
Tennis is for wimps I said..
You gotta be clever to play it and dumb to watch it...
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>>ou gotta be clever to play it and dumb to watch it...
Well that's me told.
What do you consider entertainment madf? Do you spend your evenings with the boxed set of Eastenders? That might explain your misanthropic disposition.
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>> Do you spend your evenings with the boxed set
>> of Eastenders? That might explain your misanthropic disposition.
...and that's me told! :)
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>> >>ou gotta be clever to play it and dumb to watch it...
>>
>> Well that's me told.
>>
>> What do you consider entertainment madf? Do you spend your evenings with the boxed set
>> of Eastenders? That might explain your misanthropic disposition.
Oy - the post of chief misanthrope is mine!
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Sorry Roger. And what accounts for it in your case?
:-)
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Anyone for tennis? - MD
