BaaLocks

7 hours ago, Dimmu said:

No, you don’t have to.

In my experience that logic works 364 days a year

Back on topic - I can't stand Valentine's Day when you are in a relationship. In years gone by you sent a secret card to someone you had a crush on, or to be a little more grown up wanted to show affection. It was anonymous and there was an aura to it. Now you have to not only buy your wife a card but also flowers, chocolates, out for a meal. 

It's another example where "they" put pressure on us to spend money and act in a certain manner, which as an ageing punk rockers (without multicoloured Doc Martens) goes right against my core. Then we're asked to do it again on March 8th now (international women's day), anniversary, Christmas, birthday, Easter, Summer Solstice and about five more in the year.

Don't get me wrong, love my wife and happy to show it. Just get a little riled when someone in a marketing department tells me "you have to do it in this way, on this date or else you are a failure". 

2 hours ago, i-Ram said:

In the USA caving is actually known as spelunking - fact of the day.

If I am spelunking with any current cast member of Silent Witness it definitely is Fox.

 

You know Fox hunting is banned in these parts? I think they do a thing called drag hunting now, where you get to chase the scent of the Fox across a few fields. I think,or it might be chasing someone like this?

2 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

I am not prepared to marry Emilia Fox but if she wants an afternoon where we explore the insides of our bodies I would be happy to oblige.

Not a Caves explorer then

Ah, I thought you meant a different type of Coach - that would have been interesting

40 minutes ago, Chesterfield_Ram said:

For me Wildsmith hadn’t done enough to get dropped. It’s tough for Warne because he probably has the best goalkeeping department in the league.
 

Having seen Vickers the in the last couple of games he looks short of confidence, which could be seen in him trying to punch away catchable balls and dropping a few crosses. Could he potentially be loaned out to another team in League 1, who aren’t promotion rivals, that way he could get game time to build up his confidence / match sharpness and maybe take a point or two off our promotion rivals. We then promote one of our young keepers to get experience being in and around the first team, with the option of recalling Vickers if Wildsmith gets injured or suspended.

Agree that Vickers doesn't command his box like Wildsmith does, couple of punches out last night were ones that Wildsmith would have easily caught. It's a hard one with keepers, you don't get to keep them in place till they c*** up, you have to work out before they make a mistake otherwise they end up shot for ever (Jim Leighton being prime example).

4 hours ago, YorkshireRam said:

I was thinking this, but after chatting at the game last night apparently he wasn't his best v Oxford and admittedly I missed that game so couldn't state he shouldn't have been with any conviction. 

In many ways I think Wildsmith has been one of the best signings we've made post-admin. Remarkably consistent which is rare for keeps below elite-level. On a free, he's been a cracking bit of business so far!

Fair point, I'd agree that Wildsmith did little wrong till the Oxford game. But the first against them and (debatably) the third against Posh were down to him. Keepers get it tough, nowhere to hide when they make a pigs ear of it - Elder made an equally big error for Burton's second last night but might well keep a start even though.

2 minutes ago, YorkshireRam said:

His form hasn't been that bad, been steady all season to my eyes. Not sure Vickers has done enough to keep the starting spot, so I'd have Wildsmith back as #1 for the time being, from Lincoln onwards. Good to have competition.

Put another way, what has he done to deserve being dropped?

1 hour ago, The Running Man said:

He's managed to bulk up again, so pleased for him. 

Bit quick - you don't think he's juicing do you?

On 20/07/2023 at 22:13, ivo_knoflicek said:

Bobby Davison

Seth Johnson 

that’s about it…

I'm not sure Bobby ot Seth were a shadow of their prior selves when they came back. Seth played a good cameo role but his knees were paggered by that time, Bobby played only ten games (OK, he scored 8 but still) before going back out on loan. Steve Bloomer scored at the same ratio for the 100 games when he came back, besides that I'm not sure I can think of many. Which is why I never fail to be amazed at this romantic notion that players age like wine, sorry but they don't - to quote Vicent Vega they sadly turn to vinegar.

Also, just because he was a fraudster doesn't mean he wasn't a potentially good footballer. The suggestion is somehow that Derby were duped but his contract was likely based on footballing ability.

I know that Graeme Sounness got scammed into playing Ali Dia (on reflection, off thread, just how amazing is it that a manager would put a player into a top flight fixture without having seen them kick a ball) but it seems here he was simply a good footballer who happened to be a crook as well.

A bit like the Tinder Swindler, I continue to be astounded at the ability of some people to allow themselves to be parted with their (or in the case of Claire Henry, her husband's) money. It's mad how daft some people can be.

2 hours ago, Comrade 86 said:

God no, if it's anything like in footy anyway! It's kind of part and parcel anyway, I was just surprised to see Fury resort to that against a guy who'd never had a pro-fight in his life. Embarrassing more than anything, really.

Can you imagine the Dubois / Usyk fight getting referred to the monitors and someone in Stockley Park taking 15 minutes to decide whether or not it was a low blow. 

Agree on the Fury bit, he's instinctively a brawler out of the bare knuckle world. He got taken that fight, and probably had realised it by that point so, as I said, the instincts kicked in. Still awful.

Smith had a good couple of rounds but it always felt that it was merely Beterbiev setting him up and checking him out. No shame on Smith to have lost only two to Hall of Famers but not much left for him now other than some domestic fights against the likes of Yarde.

On 08/01/2024 at 14:09, Comrade 86 said:

One thing I did note from the Fury-Ngannou was that Fury got pretty desperate. This shot was absolutely shocking, though Ngannou acted like he'd just been tickled.

 

TIme for VAR in boxing?

9 hours ago, RodleyRam said:

I once threw a scotch egg at Jonny Rotten at a festival. Does that count?

S-Eggs Pistol?

Stripping someone of their CBE isn't going to pay the bills of those who have suffered for years with nobody willing to even listen, let alone do anything.

Potentially this becomes a really strong test case of 'society' against 'the people' and events such as Windrush, Grenfell, Hillsborough, Met Police, Shrewsbury Hospital maternity, PPE, Jimmy Saville, families of serial killers (e.g. Yorkshire Ripper where it is now commonly accepted that he could have been apprehended quicker had policing been more focused) and then even families of individuals such as Steven Lawrence, Sarah Everard.

We have a fork in the road here, either we use this as the wake up call to challenge those in power and to make them accountable for their actions. What I fear will happen is Vennells will lose her CBE, some big number will be quoted (which, when divided by those affected means each person gets a few thousand) and we will go back to our normal lives, when we didn't have two weeks on the sofa to stop and understand just how these bar stewards turn us over time and time again for no other reason than because they can.

Fool Me Once (Netflix*): another of those Harlan Corben dramatizations. I like them for a few reasons - they are limited so you know you're not getting dragged into 146 episodes, the plots are all a bit obvious but it's easy on the eye, they are normally a bit "well that's just ridiculous" in the final episode (I'm not quite there yet) which gives a nice frisson of irritation but at least, unlike Line of Duty etc, you haven't given five years of your life to it. Also, they are normally set in and around Manchester so have a bit of a gritty UK feel to them, even if they are ultimately a bit contrived and "Death In Paradise" silly in the end. Finally, anything with Michelle Keegan in is - at least for me - worth a little bit of investment (and that is not a double entendre in any way).

* - just thought it might be an idea to at least let people know where they can get access to what is being discussed

54 minutes ago, Stive Pesley said:

No - obviously not, but I can look at the situation and have a guess. The women's game has had a lot more success than the men's game in the past few years, and unprecedented numbers of girls are taking up the game at grass roots level as a result. I think we can all agree that as a good thing,

Therefore broadcasters would have to be pretty daft to not want to show a bit more representation in their coverage. Does that make it "box-ticking". Of course not. It is however a bit of a red rag to a bull*

 

*sexist/misogynist

Women's football has not been successful, imho, because some do gooders suddenly decided to level the field. It has been because our terrestial broadcasters got completely squeezed out of being able to afford the men's game and so it was in their interest to promote women's football as the next best thing. Clubs were drawn to it also as it provided another revenue stream, pulled more fans in (from socio-economic groups that can neither afford, nor want to, watch the men's game) and - without a doubt - there was a fair dollop of virtue signalling in there. Inherently, for the reasons you mention about the grass roots element - it's only been a good thing as you say and one would have to be pretty curmudgeonly to suggest otherwise.

As for those suggesting that women shouldn't be pundits or commentate, especially under the pretence of their not being good enough, need to give their head a wobble. The same sort (or at the least, borne out of those) who think that black footballers can't do it on a cold Wednesday in February or women shouldn't drive buses or be Prime Minister (sadly, on the last of those points the evidence they can at least from the UK is less than robust - that's a joke btw).

16 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

But then you still had Jim Crow, and the tulsa massacre. And Rosa Parks and segregation. Some people will never accept a change to status quo, when the status quo benefitted them. 

Even when repatriations equivalent to the value of each freed slave was paid to the plantation owners. In what is not much of a surprise, the slaves themselves were not compensated from being torn from their homeland and made to work in penury - meaning the status quo for them didn't really change and most simply ended up being 'free' but working for the same 'employer' at rates that left them bonded.

Humans are garbage, and too prone to accept the laws and ways of the land even when it is clear to see they are horrifically biased. Sadly, this is still inherently true today.

Bless poor Jeff Bezos' cottons - seem £274m a day isn't enough. I don't know how he keeps it all together.

4 hours ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

I just assumed someone on the staff was secret Geordie?

I seriously doubt there is a Geordie alive who could keep it secret for more than three minutes 😉😉😊

Given it was intended for away fan hospitality I kind of get the general point, something like "we welcome our rivals" or something a bit more generic would have been OK (if still a complete waste of time). But to put up statements that are actually supporting Newcastle is just barmpot crazy - as others have said this must have been signed off by someone. One thing you can be certain of is that more than one person will lose their job over this.

As for my theory, I think someone's Grandma was kidnapped by the Saudis and told they will only be released when the changes are made. Either that or Ant and Dec have bought a graphic design company.

I've been a couple of times, it's a good laugh and suprisingly well mannered considering it is just a reason to get hammered. I wouldn't advise it if you actually want to watch darts but then I often feel that way about live football with some of the twonks I end up sitting near.

That's nothing, last time Leicester played Forest they printed all over the programme that it was a derby game. How embarrassing was that?

On 02/01/2024 at 13:25, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

Saltburn. Solid, watchable film.

Ryan Nyambe / 10.

Agree, much better than I expected - very easy to over egg that plot but the leads play well within themselves and keep it the right side of farce.

Dave Swindlehurst / 10