BBC Blog Network

User Profile

eye360

Listed below are comments made by eye360 between Friday, 27th June 2008 and Saturday, 10th October 2009.

«Newer
Older»

New sports, same concerns for Olympic family 7:49pm on 10 Oct 2009 I've got a feeling Olympic competitors from NI are free choose to represent either Eire or GB. I'm sure there was a boxer from Belfast competing for Eire in the last Olympics.

I'm not a big rugby fan, but I do find sevens far more watchable than the full game. Another advantage is that the games are quicker, so more teams can compete in the tournament. The rugby World Cup only really has 6 or so teams which are competitive, so this is too narrow for the Olympics. I think sevens would be a much more level playing field over many more nations, making it a far more competitive event.

As for golf, I enjoying playing rather than watching, and it certainly requires a lot of skill but not much fitness (by athletic standards). It is still a little too elitist (I only pay on cheap public courses which we need more of rather than expensive private clubs), but less so than the equestrian and sailing events which are well established in the Olympics. In fact, GB do rather well as the elitist sports, so we shouldn't complain too much. Golf's main achilles heel is that a gold medal would still rank below the 4 majors and the Ryder cup, much like tennis. That's not to say those competing wouldn't try their best to win it.
FA Cup never loses magic 11:09am on 05 Jan 2009 Those who say the big 4 don't take it seriously, just look at the winners and finalists since the Premiership started in 92. Only Portsmouth last year and Everton (95) have won it outside of the big 4. But if you look at winners going back before then, they were much more often outside the top 4 teams. Liverpool in the 70s and 80s were notoriously poor in the cup when winning all their league titles.

So to say the big teams don't take it seriously is a bit of a myth.

There's also a myth that the Premiership is so much stronger than the rest of the league. Last season, IIRC, 9 teams went out in the 3rd round, and 3 of the 4 semi-finalists were Championship sides. Even in the depths of non-league football the quality and professionalism has improved a lot.
On and off the (metaphorical) bench 09:24am on 17 Nov 2008 We've recently started playing 5-a-side (well 4 to 6 ish!) football at lunchtimes at work. A few of the guys aren't really football followers, and there's a couple of foreign lads. So when I started calling out "one-two!", "square ball" or "down the line" they were utterly confused. It's not helped by having no lines marked on the pitch, so there aren't any line to go down. So it's not only 8 year old who haven't learnt these expressions.
A tactical masterpiece 8:41pm on 19 Aug 2008 1welshbloke, if she had tested positive and chosen to miss the third test to try and get a short ban, the positive tests would have still been reported. She has never tested positive.
A tactical masterpiece 8:38pm on 19 Aug 2008 I agree with NitramNella and lostinmaine, Christine missed three tests due to poor planning on both the testers and her part. I'm sure we've all missed the gas-man coming to check over the house as they specify vague times. These things happen, particularly given the UK's 3rd world transport system where appointments can often slip. The majority of athletes have missed tests in the past, she just happened to tot up three within a year. She's never failed a test, and has been tested many many times. Chambers did fail tests, and has admitted taking drugs, so should be and has been treated differently.

We should be proud of her achievements, particularly with our gutter press making every opportunity to put her down. Few people would be mentally strong enough to overcome these things to go on to what she has achieved.
Food for thought 11:59am on 12 Aug 2008 Why don't they sell good quality Chinese food rather than making a bad attempt to try and please everyone by a poor attempt at American food? Chinese food is loved the world over and there's always something that someone would like. If I went to Beijing I would expect to be eating Chinese food, not hot-dogs and pop-corn. If the visitors don't like Chinese food, then tough! It's a shame the hosts have forgotten what they are good at (great food) and have not made the most of showing the world that.
Gay removes flash from 100m dash 11:50am on 12 Aug 2008 I'm sure there is data available somewhere for the 10m splits for the 100m of Bolt and 200m of Johnson to make a comparison of top speeds. Given that Bolt starts like a giraffe in treacle I guess his top speed would have been quite a lot more than any other 100m sprint before. Whether is compares to Johnson's top speed is difficult to say. It might be possible to look at the footage and work it out. Also the bend in the 200m can slow the first 100m of that race.

As for the 100m at this Olympics, I really hope all three avoid getting injured in the heats, so we see all three at their peak. Gay's hamstring must be a worry, once pulled they can always be a weakness.

He's one of the few American sprinters you can warm too due to his humble attitude and lack of ego. Bolt and Powell also come across without too much ego, though I would like to see them smile more!
From Twenty20 back to the Tests 2:23pm on 28 Jul 2008 Dougie Brown has played for England, though only in ODIs, not in Test matches. He made his ODI debut in 1997 against India, plus a long first class career. So he's hardly a no hoper in cricketing experience; and certainly no less experienced than many of the TMS team.

The football analogy is a poor one, you would expect someone like John Motson to commentate on Brazil v Italy; but to what level did he play to? He probably wasn't even first pick in his back garden.
The gender gap 11:34am on 27 Jun 2008 Due to my position I have access to my company's salary details. It is an engineering company, so the majority of staff are engineering on various grades of seniority. A small proportion of the engineers are female, and so we can compare male and female average salaries at each grade. On average the women get around 5% higher salary then the men at each of the grades. In terms of performance there isn't much difference, plus many of them have had time out for maternity leave. So the women in my company are doing rather well in terms of pay.

OK, this is only one example. But if you really check for gender pay differences for IDENTICAL jobs I expect they are minimal. The differences occur because there is a large gender difference in the types of job done.

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

eye360