English sports to the non-English! | FerrariChat

English sports to the non-English!

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by rob lay, Jul 4, 2018.

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  1. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,402
    Southlake, TX
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    Rob Lay
    This couldn't be better. :D

     
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  2. killer58

    killer58 Formula 3

    Jun 30, 2010
    1,189
    CA & DC
    Looks like an old Monty Python skit.
    How did they keep from laughing?
     
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  3. Ferrari27

    Ferrari27 Formula Junior

    Jul 5, 2010
    866
    Monty Python was a comedy show! These gentlemen are serious sportsmen competing at the very highest level. I do not recognise the venue but think these chaps went on to become 3-time English champions. Unfortunately there was no world championship for them to compete in (how could there be?:)). If there had been, I suspect they would now be global superstars rubbing shoulders with the Kardashians, driving Lamborghinis and putting on demonstration matches in Las Vegas.
     
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  4. rdefabri

    rdefabri Three Time F1 World Champ

    Jun 4, 2008
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    It is from a comedy show called Jiskefet. It's funny how the commentators talk - I do think some of it is pure gibberish!
     
  5. killer58

    killer58 Formula 3

    Jun 30, 2010
    1,189
    CA & DC
    No, I now see Robert’s point - they are serious sportsmen in what is obviously the thinking man’s cricket.

    Although he’s pulling my leg regarding demo matches in Vegas. There are no grass pitches there.
     
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  6. tomc

    tomc Two Time F1 World Champ

    Apr 13, 2014
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    Some South African friends got me a book years back so I could follow along. Alas, cricket test matches are way too long for my attention span. ODIs and 20/20 matches I can handle. The similarities/differences with baseball are interesting to me...T
     
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  7. Ferrari27

    Ferrari27 Formula Junior

    Jul 5, 2010
    866
    Volleyball led to beach volleyball and there must be a version of this that can be played on sand. And in a bikini. :)
     
  8. Ferrari27

    Ferrari27 Formula Junior

    Jul 5, 2010
    866
    Most of it is total gibberish! There are only a few bits that make any sense: just like cricket commentary during a test match. All sports have their own terminologies and to the uninitiated it can sound like gibberish. A cricket test match lasts for five days and during much of that time very little happens. Talking about nothing for five days is challenging for the commentary team and so inevitably they tend to wander off topic, in addition to talking gibberish. On the BBC, commentary during a test match is often as much about pigeons, cake or someone's hat as it is about the cricket.
     
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  9. Patrick Dixon

    Patrick Dixon Formula 3

    Mar 27, 2012
    1,083
    UK
    We call 'Baseball' Rounders, and it's a game for school children and families to play. Maybe if the US played it without the steroids and in bikinis, it would actually be worth watching.
     
  10. wax

    wax Five Time F1 World Champ
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    Jul 20, 2003
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    "The pheasants are beneath me." - SoCal to az
     
  11. tomc

    tomc Two Time F1 World Champ

    Apr 13, 2014
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    Lol. I'm not sure I want to see too many MLB players in bikinis. Without steroids, definitely!
    T
     
  12. SimCity3

    SimCity3 F1 Rookie

    Very good.

    Ofcourse the real test when attending an England Test Match is surviving the Champagne tent followed by the Gin tent for 10 hours straight. Requires stamina, skill & discipline :D
     
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  13. tomc

    tomc Two Time F1 World Champ

    Apr 13, 2014
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    When I was in the UK some 20 years ago, they gave me a copy of this book. Pretty funny as I recall.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Lot_of_Hard_Yakka
    T
     
  14. Ferrari27

    Ferrari27 Formula Junior

    Jul 5, 2010
    866
    There is probably a Pimms tent too. Does the rest of the world have Pimms or is this just frightfully English too?

    Not just stamina, skill & discipline but a pre-determined way to get home too. Especially when one is short of the discipline part.
     
  15. tomc

    tomc Two Time F1 World Champ

    Apr 13, 2014
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  16. Ferrari27

    Ferrari27 Formula Junior

    Jul 5, 2010
    866
    I know that the rest of the world have their own views of English sport and that we are not the world's greatest sporting nation but, despite what I am about to say, I am very proud of our achievements.

    We achieve far more in the Olympics than we ever did when I was younger (I will come back to the Winter Olympics) and we are the only nation to win a gold medal at every Olympic Games. Obviously it does help that we are one of the few nations who have bothered to turn up to all of them! We are actually fairly good at quite a few sports other than the bizarre ones. For example soccer is going much better at the moment for us than for many far more illustrious nations. I will not name them all as this list is too long. And getting longer with Brazil!

    But...

    ... during the Beijing Olympics in 2008 (the first time I remember us doing well) an Australian made this point:

    "Trust the Brits to only be good at sports you can do while sitting down."

    I really hate it when someone says something that is really funny but at the same time is at the expense of my nation.

    He had a point though. At Beijing we won 49 medals. 30 of these were while sitting down. These events were cycling, rowing, canoeing and the Cavallino stuff.

    At our own Olympics in 2012 we won 65 medals and 35 of these were while sitting down.

    Things were a bit better in 2016 in Rio on the medal front but not in the sitting down events. We won 67 medals but only 27 of these were while sitting down.

    These figures include sailing (which has a bit of moving around between sitting on the port side of your little boat, and sitting on the starboard side) but do not include triathlon or Modern Pentathlon which only involve sitting down for some of the time.

    Clearly some English folk envied our sitting down Olympians and looked to other events where they could do even better. These people are called Winter Olympians. In 2010 we won a single gold medal but this was achieved whilst lying down. Yes! Lying down! In 2014 there were five medals (one sitting and one lying) and by this year's games we were really good: five medals, three of which were achieved while lying down. Many other British Winter Olympians have tried to join in with the lying down medal attempts but unfortunately they have yet to realise this does not work in events like skating and skiing. Lots of other nations are trying to win this year's World Cup by lying down but they too have yet to realise that this does not work in football (soccer).

    If Great Britain is ever going to top the Olympic medal table, we need more sitting down events. However, if sitting down cricket ever becomes an Olympic event then the rest of the world should not even bother to turn up. A bit like the World Series I guess.

    All these numbers are from Wikipedia so could be total baloney!
     
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  17. tomc

    tomc Two Time F1 World Champ

    Apr 13, 2014
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    Tom C
    ^Great post!
    T
     
  18. SimCity3

    SimCity3 F1 Rookie

    Yes there is certainly a Pimms tent, but that is more the preserve of family afternoons out.

    A safe transit home these days is usually coutesey of Uber, if they can correctly intepret the Satnav, via the Groucho club ofcourse :)
     

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