Sporting Achievements

[Dingo]

Originally posted by Benny@Jul 2 2004, 01:37 PM
all the good spectator sports pitch man against man in a battle of skill or power or both...

flame on.

Isn't Chess a "sport" pitching man against man....spectator sport though??



I refer to my previous post and still subscribe that the English lose their inhibitions about winning when they are at war


bring back the Empire....hip hip hoorah!! :taz:  :clap:

[Benny]

Sorry Dingo, I'd taken the huge leap of assuming all sports involved physical activity. So chess doesn't count. Added Smilie to stress I was joking.....

On the subject of being mediocre (or coming second) or whatever. Surely starting out aiming at competing but not being the best will inevitably affect your phsyce?

Well done Timmy, you are a nearly man.

Well done Becks, you nearly won it, you'll go down in history as being quite good, but never winning on the international stage.

I'm not saying that winning is everything, it certainly isn't, but the namby pamby, ah well brigade, doesn't encourage competition.

There is a balance, if your child/friend/aunty did their best and excelled against their own limits and came 3rd or 43rd, great. If they came 2nd but could have won with the extra commitment and passion, then 2nd is as bad as last. A miss, as they (the crafty buggers that they are) say, is as good as a mile.  

Without google, name some second place olypians/football teams/tennis players/etc etc. Nobody remembers second.....

Having said all that, I'd agree Smilo, we have become obsessed with winning anmd our losers, for want of a better word pay the price, but is it a case of bad investment/culture/expectations that we just seem to fail to achieve on the big stage, in the major sports. Rugby excused..I appreciate it takes time to build a winning team and things go in cycles, see the premiership, but our down cycle appears longer than others.

In the tennis, we regularly fail to get many players into the second week, plenty of Croations/Americans/French/etc.....what are we doing wrong? This year our juniors are playing well, I'll be interested to see if they too disappear..

(teflon coat this time)

[Dingo]

Originally posted by Benny@Jul 2 2004, 06:24 PM
Sorry Dingo, I'd taken the huge leap of assuming all sports involved physical activity. So chess doesn't count.

 

Not good enough I'm afraid,

Sport
(n.) That which diverts, and makes mirth; pastime; amusement.
(n.) Diversion of the field, as fowling, hunting, fishing, racing, games, and the like, esp. when money is staked.
(v. i.) To play; to frolic; to wanton.
(v. i.) To practice the diversions of the field or the turf; to be given to betting, as upon races.
(v. t.) To represent by any knd of play.


it appears you fall into the trapof assuming that "sport" is only that which is headlined in National newspapers :unsure:

Britain has for a number of years excelled in Olympian events (Shooting (both pistol and Shotgun), Archery, Dressage, Rowing,  Bowls and more recently Curling and yet under your definition these, like chess, would not qualify.

Without being pedantic perhaps you meant to say contact sports??

Onion quite rightly pointed out that Paula Radcliffe has excelled in her "sport" but this too would not qualify under your terms.

I think you yourself have already pointed out that there appears to be a lack of the "will to win" as exemplified by sportsmen of previous eras and I would comment that perhaps the fire in the belly is not so strong nowadays because of the lifestyles afforded us in the Western world.

I would not be surprised in the near future if all major competitions were won by so called second or third world countries whose inhabitants not only see the benefit of winning to their nation in terms of pride but also the financial benefits they "and their families" would derive from it.

They play with a passion that is not primarily money motivated and more importantly their Governments do not attempt to instill "loony left or liberal" ideas upon the populace which inevitably lead to the "it's alright to lose as long as you are a nice guy mentality" as witnessed by the likes of several London boroughs, Hackney being the obvious one.

We in Great Britain are fast becoming a nation that will lose it's individual nature and with it the inventiveness, dedication and passion of the past decades simply because we do not wish to offend ANYONE!!

I note with inyterest that no-one has commented on my previous posts, which although may seem frivilous and lacking in content to some, are a pointer to the true nature of some of the peoples that inhabit this island we call Britain.

We as a nation are always at our best when our backs are up against a wall as witnessed during two World wars and the quarter final against Argentina some years ago when Mr Becham was sent off.

Adversity is our strength and although we may not win major "sporting" trophies you had better bet your bottom dollar that if the s*** hits the fan we, as a nation, will certainly prevail!! :eyebrow:


rant over

continue your happy sedentary lives until it really matters!! :devil:  :whistle:  :devil:

[Benny]

Nice post Dingo, apart from the chess bit (I was kinda joking).

I think you are right, the fire has gone, but in a serious matter, we all stand up and be counted. I think you covered what I was trying to say in starting this thread, do we ease off because we have nothing to prove, no life or death or imoverished lifestyle to try to escape?

I am mightily proud of this country and in being so fall just as badly when by my own design I expect us to do well.

[ChimpBoy]

Originally posted by Dingo@Jul 2 2004, 09:15 PM
Adversity is our strength and although we may not win major "sporting" trophies you had better bet your bottom dollar that if the s*** hits the fan we, as a nation, will certainly prevail!! :eyebrow:

Never been the same since Suez though - the day the world realised The Empire was no more.....

I still think you have to look at (1) the bloody awful facilities this country has; and (2) the fact that kids simply don't do competitive sport within the national curriculum much these days.  When my old man was at school he would play sport for a couple of hours every day.  When I went to school we had "double games" once a week  It doesn't account for all our failures, but it does have some worrying implications.

[Dingo]

Originally posted by ChimpBoy@Jul 2 2004, 09:42 PM
I still think you have to look at (1) the bloody awful facilities this country has; and (2) the fact that kids simply don't do competitive sport within the national curriculum much these days. When my old man was at school he would play sport for a couple of hours every day. When I went to school we had "double games" once a week It doesn't account for all our failures, but it does have some worrying implications.

They play with a passion that is not primarily money motivated and more importantly their Governments do not attempt to instill "loony left or liberal" ideas upon the populace which inevitably lead to the "it's alright to lose as long as you are a nice guy mentality" as witnessed by the likes of several London boroughs, Hackney being the obvious one.


Huzzar for you Chimpy, as pointed out in my post we are so afraid our our children being hurt these days that "competitive" sport is perhaps something to be feared and ashamed of these days....woe betide the school that lets a child fall over these days lest they are sued by some "distraught"(read "I'm going to a solicitor for compensation") parent.

Bring back conscription and toughen the little buggers up....then we will rise as a nation once again (cue the National Anthem and Swing Low Sweet Chariot) to meet all competitive threats in the "sporting" arena!! :blink:  :dribble:  :dribble:


Huzzar for God, King Harry and England!!






not forgetting of course Bonny Scotland, Wales and the Principality of Northern Ireland......come on you beauties!! :wub:  :clap:  :clap:  :dmw:  :clap:  :clap:

[Anonymous]

...and Yorkshire. Don't forget Yorkshire Grommet!

[smilodon]

I think Dingo's been drinking too much coffee  :blink:

[Dingo]

Please don't denegrate a fine sabre rattling speech to the Nation with a flippant remark :eyebrow:  :ph34r:  :ph34r:

[Doorman]

Bring back constipation? I've never lost it! Oh, CONSCRIPTION! What the hell do you know about conscription, whipper-snapper?

Edited cos I couldn't work the italics bit.  

[Benny]

For anyone who is interested there's an article in the Observer Sport magazine today about Free-diving.

[Gh0st Face Killah]

And a brief mention in this weeks Zoo. Something about the world record being broken.

[Rad_Man]

Right ma fine bunch of northern(hemisphere) lads, this is an unbias report into English sporting triumphs and dismal losses.

You guys are the best one day then a complete failure the next and its not about anything other than who you are!!!!!! your identity is your honour and quite frankly who gives a rats TANGO if you win or lose ... you are english...typically english....sometimes painfully english ...which is why you are known throughout the world in sporting circle as the team NEVER to lose to!!! what an honour - down here the skippies are the team NEVER to lose to(followed very fkin closely by da english) but i luv ya's so don't change a thing NEVER lose your identity and if you won everything then i would have to hate you as much as I hate those yellow bellied skippies!!!! so chin held high and "who do ya think you are kidding mr hitler, when you thing old ENGLAND's done"

[Dingo]

Huzzar for radders!!


hip hip Huzzar!!, hip hip Huzzar!!, hip hip Huzzar!!

[A Twig]

I entirely agree with the chappy above. Jolly good show wot!