Wimbledon

[gurnemanz]

Played a couple of sets tonight. More fun to do oneself than watch others at it (as with many other activities). Arnold Schönberg was a very keen player. Larry Adler remembered playing with him and Groucho Marx in LA.

[Nick Armstrong]

Arnold Schönberg was a very keen player.

Famously he would go round for regular games in the 1930s with neighbour George Gershwin on the tennis court at George and Ira's place on North Roxbury Drive, Beverley Hills (controversially demolished a few years back http://articles.latimes.com/2005/aug...l/me-beverly12 )

Dmitri Dmitrievich wielded a mean racquet, as did Frank and Ben...

[P. G. Tipps]

I beg to differ, it may have been a different era, but until Murray has at least come close to the record of Fred Perry in the 30's, he can not be considered the best we have ever produced. Perry is still the only Brit to have won the Grand Slam and that is something that Murray can only dream about.
He is very good indeed, but not quite "Carling".

You may well both beg and differ but you'd be quite wrong to do so, I most humbly submit ...

The amateur Mr Perry played in a quite different era and, to all intents and purposes, played a quite different game. Even top tennis players who were around only a decade openly admit they would be very ordinary today, The world has changed and sport in general is no different.

Andy Murray is a flawed genius but a genius nonetheless. The Celtic races tend to produce such types whether it be a Rory McIlroy, Denis Law or Gareth Bale. The Anglo-Saxons can bore the rest of the world to death about the wonderful Sir Bobby Charlton and David Beckham but such otherwise excellent professional sportsmen never really earned the title of 'genius', even amongst their own admirers.

The trouble is that other countries sometimes produce even greater geniuses who seem to swat away lesser geniuses like flies.

Roger Federer is such an apparently flawless genius. Physically and mentally he seems to be the perfect specimen. He is rich, good looking, intelligent, well-spoken and multilingual, and a complete master of his craft. Being Swiss he never seems to get involved in any controversy or messy wars, that's for lesser mortals.. He doesn't seem to lose his cool and swear in public and even has a comic-strip hero's square jaw. Frankly, to those who dare to challenge him, he must be ****** maddening!

Andy Murray is such a brave and often unsuccessful challenger, yet he was wholly accepting and gracious in defeat. His main problem with some seems to be that, unlike the thoroughly admirable but much less accomplished Blessed Timothy Henman, he was not born somewhere between Cardiff, Carlisle and Calais.

Let's be brutally honest. One could hardly imagine pre-match media talk of there being 'evenly-divided support' on the Centre Court today if Murray had originated from Dunstable rather than Dunblane?

Never mind, such is the unenviable fate of flawed multi-millionaire geniuses like Andrew Barron Murray, OBE!.

[Dave2002]

So was HvK.

On his day ....

[Richard Tarleton]

Beautifully put, Mr PG.

Talking of Mr Hamilton, Cali, I find it difficult to reconcile
this and this

as belonging to the same category of activity (sport).

[ardcarp]

Personally I don't see what's entertaining about spoilt overpaid people banging a ball over a net and trying to stop their opponents banging it back

If nothing else, this raises an interesting socialogical point, SA, in respect of the spectators. Personally, I find football similarly ridiculous.... spoilt, overpaid 'men' chasing a leather bladder up and down a field. But I think on balance I'd choose an over-privileged, stawberry-guzzling Wimbledon crowd as my afternoon company than agressive, baying hooligans at a football match. Mrs Murray excepted, of course.

[MrGongGong]

Played a couple of sets tonight. More fun to do oneself than watch others at it (as with many other activities)..

Wagner & Cricket?

[teamsaint]

ah yes, the aggressive braying hooligans.
Kind of puts me in mind of Susy Kleins snobs.

They exist, but in much smaller numbers than the media would have us believe.

Vast football crowds can be characterised in other , very positive ways too.

[MrGongGong]

Vast football crowds can be categorised in other , very positive ways too.

[teamsaint]

Pointless and rude.

[Nick Armstrong]

Beautifully put, Mr PG.

Talking of Mr Hamilton, Cali, I find it difficult to reconcile
this and this

as belonging to the same category of activity (sport).

What about this, Richard?



Team sports and individual sports, innit? I don't see a problem.

[Richard Tarleton]

Team sports and individual sports, innit? I don't see a problem.

Hmmm....in F1, a lot of the result appears to be determined by mechanics, technicians, the team manager deciding which of their drivers is going to win....not by the actual performer....but I suppose you could start arguing about racket technology.....just think what DSCH could have done with a graphite racket

[Nick Armstrong]

Hmmm....in F1, a lot of the result appears to be determined by mechanics, technicians, the team manager deciding which of their drivers is going to win....not by the actual performer....but I suppose you could start arguing about racket technology.....just think what DSCH could have done with a graphite racket

True!

I just see it as a more complex team sport, with those individuals being further, unseen members of the team (c.f. in other sports, off-pitch trainers, coaches, physios etc) - doesn't make it 'not a sport', for me.

[Nick Armstrong]

Gone are the days when the BBC's 'build up' to an event like the men's final was worth watching: it's afflicted by the same 'drivelitis' that infects e.g. R3. A poll for twits to say 'who's going to win', closes at 1.55. A definition of 'pointless'...

[Dave2002]

Gone are the days when the BBC's 'build up' to an event like the men's final was worth watching: it's afflicted by the same 'drivelitis' that infects e.g. R3. A poll for twits to say 'who's going to win', closes at 1.55. A definition of 'pointless'...

I just sent an email to a friend commenting on the Wombledon coverage. I'm afraid I included words which began with 'b' and ended with 'cks'. There's about an hour of utter drivel beforehand, and a fair bit of speculative rubbish throughout each match, and yet more post match drivel.

If I get told that "X is just 4 points away from winning" yet again I'll consider smashing the TV in!

Also, at Y 6-5 third set, at 40-15 "Y is just 1 point away from a historic win, can X hold ..." to be followed when the match has almost been equalised to 6-6 - "we seem to be heading into a tie break" - for heaven's sake - that's in the rules - talk about spelling out the obvious. This is sometimes then followed by yet more drivel for another two sets as the supposed underdog (or not, in some cases) breaks through equalises, then forces play through into the 5th set.

Perhaps this is an attempt to justify the license fee.

Am I alone in finding a lot of this trivial? This is not to detract from some amazing play, on occasions.