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uberman21

Listed below are comments made by uberman21 between Thursday, 29th January 2009 and Tuesday, 30th June 2009.

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Video Bay: A young YouTube? 11:12am on 30 Jun 2009 Well Rory, with the news that TPB is selling out to a corporate entity, maybe the outcome about TPB becoming all law abiding is more likely.

Dubzgrubs, copyright infringement dear boy, you must listen properly. I'd also point out the bigger picture of the debate here but it would clearly be a waste of time.

Mrshields2u - i'm fine with complaining about MP's expenses. It was Public Money spirited away with no care, attention or thought about the tax paying public by people who are elected to public office to serve the people. They are expected to put the public's interest first.

This discussion is also almost always taken in the context of illegal file sharing but this is actually about filesharing. It's the same way we are corrupting thought of what a knife is. A knife is a knife, it's the intent of its use as a weapon which becomes a matter of concern.

cynicaleng - jailed, but not in jail. Think you did your shoelaces wrong too....

TPB is likely to go the way of Napster now and that's a shame because it's part of an anarcho-cyberscape that has come about because the Internet has been the greatest democratising tool we have seen in our lifetimes.

By the end of our lifetime it is likely to be a tool for governments and big corporations and we can have a few message boards here and there, rich media though they may be, where Big Brother sees all.

Stay Pirate!
Glover stands tall to overcome sentimental hopes 10:37pm on 22 Jun 2009 Well congratulations to Lucas Glover for sure. He may be a journeyman winner but he was the last man standing in what was a nail biting run in.

Not quite 20/20 hindsight but Thomas Bjorn on Sky predicted Glover to win at the end of round 3, of course there was a gap for Barnes/Glover then though. Feel sorry for Phil though. Feel like he deserves a US Open and the story was definitely there for him.

Only thing that marred the coverage for me was TV commentators insistence on focusing on Tiger Wood as being THE threat even with 2 holes to go and all he'd done was play like........a journeyman. Can forgive those who caught choke-itis on the back nine - hadn't seen anything like Ricky Barnes' 'chicken wing swing' since I played off 24 but generally Ross Fisher came out well and should do well in the future, unless he's also caught 'putt-like-Garcia-itis'. And David Duval.....welcome back.

So with the weather getting out of the way, and in spite of the USGA, the US Open gave us some great back 9 drama. Roll on Turnberry.
Piracy: Did someone blink? 2:49pm on 15 Jun 2009 There are many complexities to all of this and the previous posts are exploring them nicely. For my part as a Virgin customer and someone who uses file sharing sites i'll be voting with my feet if i get any grief from Virgin.

I'll side step the complexities of the issue but would just point out that the Internet has changed the playing field for so many things. Record companies are not about creativity they are a self serving special interest group interested in making money out of others creativity so they need to adapt or die to the new playing field.

Aside from that we need to stay Pirate because the Internet has simply been the greatest leveller for people around the world we have seen in our life time. To have it totally corporatised and incorporated into the Big Brother state - which make no mistake is the bigger picture that the fight over file sharing is part of - would be another notch in the long and tragic list of things inflicted on we the people by big corporations and governments.
Ramsay's trial by video 6:21pm on 07 Jun 2009 Agree, video usage in golf is more likely to be counter productive. In football it would be useful to have goal line technology and maybe some way of getting a quick decision on key events such as whether a penalty is merited but these are occasional, game turning events in a team sport.

With all the TV coverage you'd actually have an inequality as top players (see Tiger) garner the most coverage and video usage is simply not applied equally to all players. Conversely Tiger put his ball into some rough a tournament or two back and the TV coverage was replayed and the commentators radioed their man on the ground where the ball landed and the ball was found within the time limit. Tiger gets the benefit of video there.

TV coverage is there to provide coverage for a viewing public, it is not there as a game refereeing mechanism and should not be used on an ad hoc basis as such. Its up to the players, spectators (dubious imho) and tournament officials to spot and deal with incidents. If they don't then its gone. Challenging Kenny Perry's integrity at a big tournament some months after an incident which did not register at the time can't be right.
Stars to face Tour appearance orders 12:35pm on 01 Jun 2009 George: 'Sergio, look, it's not me, well of course the European Tour would love you to play our flagship event, but the sponsors and that Wentworth bloke are saying that all the top players need to be there for the wedge they are putting in. But you know them they are just amoral corporate types who just think about what is good for them and their pocket and Golf is about an honourable sporting.....Sergio no wait ...please.....Sergio....SERGIO.....sorry...Sergio......oh never mind you'd choke if you were in the final pair on Sunday anwyay.'

Sergio (from down the corridor): 'I heard that'

'Ian....Ian, Ian, Ian'

Ian: 'George, i know what you're going to say but you know these days its all about the golf, not the clothes....it's about just me and Tiger. Does Tiger play at Wentworth? Well then?

George: 'Damn, if it weren't for those pesky golfers......now I just need a good committee to come up with the proposal to require participation and i'm off the hook'.
New Irish hero faces pro dilemma 1:55pm on 19 May 2009 Shane Lowry, Irish, wins the Irish, Open, Danny Lee, New Zealander, wins in Australia and Pablo Martin, wins in Portugal. There may be something to be said for talented amateurs taking comfort from home (or very near home) courses and support, which along with a lack of tour grind and/or professional expectations enables them to elevate themselves for a week above their professional peers. But then what?

If the goal was to try and make it on tour anyway then the tour exemption and access to good support is a golden opportunity not to be sniffed at but it just has to be remembered that a win in one tournament does not make you the new Tiger Woods and that tour life is different. Pablo Martin is making a living this year, (currently 100th on the money list) but Danny Lee is finding it a bit harder out in the US and while he was the no.1 Amateur he's still in his teens. And Rory knows the value of these 'exhibition' tournaments :-) in the context of an individual career so his advice may well be the best.

If you ever wanted to make it then this is the opportunity to take.
Does Monty really need a third pick? 4:42pm on 14 May 2009 Well the 4 Wildcards, 3 of whom were rookies, did no harm for the Yanks with a very respectable 8.5 points between them and Hunter Mahan, their 'controversial' pick being their highest points scorer. The only weak spot was Steve Stricker, a very good player, who came up against the on fire Poulter twice in the three matches he played in.

Imagination is working overtime here. Monty will overcook things but he'll make sure the yanks go home empty handed i'm sure although, as i've commented before, Corey Pavin is a very astute choice and his charm offensive really begins when he plays the Wales Open.

Monty will know that this is new and he will look at whoever is in that 5th spot very hard before choosing someone else over them knowing he will have to justify it.

I just want it to be a great event. I'm only afraid at this point of the opening speeches and hope that I'm only nodding off cos Monty doesn't know how to be brief. That's better than the flipping the channel and hiding my face in a cushion which is what happened when Faldo gave his opening speech.
European pair set sights on majors 10:00am on 12 May 2009 Don't think it helps to view this as a European thing or whatever. Golfers are individuals who work in an international environment so how much do golfers think that whatever they are doing they are doing for their country? Maybe when there's only a few of them it means something. I'd put money on Stenson winning a major before Garcia but you probably asked the same question last year when Sergio won. He will be the best player never to have won a Major.

Poulter deserves credit. You're right, the golf is doing more talking now so good luck to him. A few of the players are not so keen on Wentworth. Shame for me as I live close so i'll be going but it goes back to the first point that loyalties to country and to home tour can be down the list.

As for Tiger, with a win and a decent position at the Players you'd say not too shabby but clearly he still needs to get his game back. He might be driving all over the place but that only makes him twice as bad as usual :-) Let's hope that he doesn't do an Ernie and never be quite the same again.

And John Daly, bless him, but does that show the weakness of the field or of the European Tour that he can muster up a 2nd place after a few months out? And where will his loyalties lie when his PGA Tour ban expires?
Mickelson whets Augusta Appetite 11:24am on 18 Mar 2009 Straws, grasping at......Carter, just the beginnings of talking up a big event the BBC actually covers methinx.

Mickelson hasn't stepped up with Tiger being out of the frame, Harrington did and I think Harrington has got the makings of someone who can partner Tiger on a Sunday in a big tournament and not wilt. Mickelson has the ability to do it but it hasn't been there yet so no reason to think it will be now.

With global golf developing as it is wouldn't be surprised if the next person to seriously challenge Tiger is from outside of the US. Would be nice if it were someone like Rory. Talent is clearly there but the issue of challenging Tiger is more mental than technical is it not? if it were all about talent Sergio would not be destined to succeed big Colin as the best player never to win a major.
Monty the right man for job 10:55am on 29 Jan 2009 Ok, my two cents:

Monty will do fine as Captain. I'd have thought he will be too busy being full of himself and enjoying it and that will be good but hopefully he'll have learned from Langer on how to impose your own level of attention to detail on your fellow pros with good grace and succeed.

Carter - bland but then journos always know more than they say and where #16 thought that journalists do not prevaricate I don't know, I thought facts not getting the way of a good story was the journo rule.

Lyle, overlooked for sure for his contribution to golf. Two Majors in that era for a Brit. Exceptional.

Corey Pavin, well you'll have to watch him. He's astute, will have appreciated Zinger's approach and he's a guy who has maintained a career at a high level despite being one of the shortest (length) guys on tour. So while Zinger set up Valhalla to let his troops bomb it with little risk, Pavin will be very studied in his tactics to navigate his team's way around a Celtic Manor course which should be set up to penalise the birdie oriented drive, pitch and putt so favoured by our 'merrican friends.

But as for who is the right Captain, there seems to be two sides here with, bizarrely there being no right answer.

Perhaps someone (Carter) could actually provide some in depth exposition of what the Captain's role is so that we, the great unwashed, could make a better insight as to whether the role is ceremonial/nominal and could be awarded to those who are deserving or whether it is of strategic importance and akin to the England football manager's role where he has to have a special way of fashioning a team out of the best individual's on offer?

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