The Tennis

[BaggyTrousers]

What a very nice German. You know I'd love to be in a place where we could all be together with such nice people, unlike the scumbegs of little england.

Jizzer, you know about these things. Serena was pretty cut up about the victims in Lousiana and Minnesota ..........has she said anything about Dallas? Too busy????

[Snipe Watson]

What a very nice German. You know I'd love to be in a place where we could all be together with such nice people, unlike the scumbegs of little england.

Jizzer, you know about these things. Serena was pretty cut up about the victims in Lousiana and Minnesota ..........has she said anything about Dallas? Too busy????

Careful now..........

[bazzaj]

She reckoned Kristin did it.

[bazzaj]

Just saw the winners board behind Serena and saw in 1981 Mrs JM Lloyd won it as the last married woman to do so.
Twigged on of course that was Chris Evert but officially that's John Lloyds name there and they are long divorced.
Amazed the libbers haven't latched on to that one.

[BaggyTrousers]

What a very nice German. You know I'd love to be in a place where we could all be together with such nice people, unlike the scumbegs of little england.

Jizzer, you know about these things. Serena was pretty cut up about the victims in Lousiana and Minnesota ..........has she said anything about Dallas? Too busy????

Careful now..........

What do you mean?

I like a bit of consistency.

Did you know that in 5 of the last 6 years, more than 100 law enforcement officers have been killed in the USA whilst on duty? Makes you wonder, are they racists or are they scared shyteless? Almost certainly a combination of factors.

The 5 Dallas policemen killed takes this years total to 58 so far, well on target to reach 100 mark yet again. Funny nobody ever talks about that.............do they?

Here of course we don't often shoot the emergency services any more, though we do love to throw a few halfers, petrol bombs and the likes, and attack ambulance & fire crews. I detest lowlife.

[bazzaj]

I see what you are saying Bagster.
In London fire crews came under attack from Muslim gangs and set up life courses which reached out to the gang leaders.
NI did similar things
.
Seemed to make a difference but the argument was why was bad behaviour rewarded when the good kids didn't get the experience.
Still I suppose the ends helped justify the means.

I think that's the problem in the states is that better efforts need to be made to reach out as each side is suspicious of each other.

They need to do more than wheel out a black copper as a spokesman during a racial incident.
If they are doing outreach programmes then they need to up the anti somewhat.
Banning guns might be a start.

[BaggyTrousers]

I see what you are saying Bagster.
In London fire crews came under attack from Muslim gangs and set up life courses which reached out to the gang leaders.
NI did similar things
.
Seemed to make a difference but the argument was why was bad behaviour rewarded when the good kids didn't get the experience.
Still I suppose the ends helped justify the means.

I think that's the problem in the states is that better efforts need to be made to reach out as each side is suspicious of each other.

They need to do more than wheel out a black copper as a spokesman during a racial incident.
If they are doing outreach programmes then they need to up the anti somewhat.
Banning guns might be a start.

Seppos & their guns, eh?

Of course Jizzer, when the 2nd Amendment got wrote, there was no great proliferation of weapons that could fire dozens if not hundreds of bullets per minute, indeed the ball & musket was in vogue. Then you get tired old farts in the NRA quoting 2nd Amendment every time someone says, "hey, could it be we have too many guns?", waddya think.

It's my day for doling out Seppo facts, here is a beauty: the last survey in 2007 said that there are 112 guns per 100 people in the land of the free. The only country on Earth with more guns than people. Mind you in 1975 there were 50% of households with at least one weapon, by 2007 that number was down to 31%.

Interesting Irish gun fact: in 2007 there were 4.3 guns per 100 peepil. More that Syria or Palestine at that time and I don't think the Ra or Leyist guns were in thon figure.

Lest I'm seen as trying to be a good ole boy racist, I believe the incidents in Louisiana and Minnesota should be prosecuted as murder, it is simply that I only discovered those figures on law enforcement deaths this past week and I was surprised for like I would guess the majority would think, I had considered it's simply been open season on black men.

Interesting Fact: deaths per 100 persons of all different ethnicities in USA in 2016, black people are not the most commonly killed by police officers, top spot goes to Native Americans. Anyone heard talk of now them pesky redskins are being butchered by the police? Me neither. (Fact: in 2015 it was black people)

I give these figures in the simple hope that some might take a wee gleek behind the rhetoric. My eyes have been opened albeit many of the shootings of black men have been scandalous. One irony is that Dallas compared to most big US cities enjoys a very good relationship & actively do not try to engage people for a simple tail light stop.

The unfortunate fact on policing in the USA is that only 14 have ever been convicted of murder. 2 more at least should be added to that number.

The Guardian have a webpage, "The Counted" which catalogues people killed by police in the USA, they have details of every one together with links to news articles on each one. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i ... -database#

[big mervyn]

Gunpolicy.org says the estimated rate of private gun ownership (both licit and illicit) in Northern Ireland is 21.91 firearms per 100 people

[Dave]

Think this tournament has proved that the equal prize money for women is a bit of a joke.
Equal pay yes but since they only play 2 out of 3 sets it's not equal work.
Each of Federer and Murrays quarters lasted twice as long as both women's semis combined and doubled.

Don't get me wrong I won't lose much sleep over it but it does jar when people talk about equality when it clearly isn't.

Spot on Baz. Federer was out on his feet in the 5th set yesterday. Serena will complete the singles final the day and then rock up in the doubles final shortly after, probably without any discernible effect.

Even Claire Curran (ex GB Ireland Fed Cup) was saying she was more excited by the men's final than the women's.

The equal pay argument isn't based upon the amount of work or effort that women put in compared with men. If that was the case then players should be paid equally per set or even games played.

[big mervyn]

I don't see why the weemin can't play 5 sets at grand slams then there would be no argument.

Women are as physiologically capable (some would argue more so) as men in endurance events. It's just another vestige of the sexist SW19 mentality that has Mrs JM Lloyd on the leaderboard.

I'd wager Federer might have more than 17 slams if he only had to play 2/3 sets.

[BaggyTrousers]

Gunpolicy.org says the estimated rate of private gun ownership (both licit and illicit) in Northern Ireland is 21.91 firearms per 100 people

I know a couple of Yokels here who are armed and dangerous, one has a veritable arsenal, the other just a shitload of guns.

[Dave]

I don't see why the weemin can't play 5 sets at grand slams then there would be no argument.

Women are as physiologically capable (some would argue more so) as men in endurance events. It's just another vestige of the sexist SW19 mentality that has Mrs JM Lloyd on the leaderboard.

I'd wager Federer might have more than 17 slams if he only had to play 2/3 sets.

Yeah there is no reason why they can't. Although perhaps nobody should have to watch that. It is fairly brutal.

[BaggyTrousers]

I don't see why the weemin can't play 5 sets at grand slams then there would be no argument.

Women are as physiologically capable (some would argue more so) as men in endurance events. It's just another vestige of the sexist SW19 mentality that has Mrs JM Lloyd on the leaderboard.

I'd wager Federer might have more than 17 slams if he only had to play 2/3 sets.

The number of sets played is not relevant, what is is that Serener as the English call here would beat most in little over an hour to 75 minutes anyway. Even more important, amongst the lesser lights, who would want to suffer 5 sets of a couple of ladies of dubious talent playing baseline tennis and grunting like a heffer in labour?

Let's be clear, it is a different game to men's tennis, just as nearly every other sport is in reality. Doubtless you have all memorised by thesis on ladies golf where the magnificently talented Annika Sorenstam played in 2 men's events and was simply outfaced by the length, yet for most male amateurs, they should attempt to model their game on how the lady pros play for they are a wonder to watch in terms of accuracy and perfect what they are capable of, rather than attempting to emulate the massive striking of McIlroy, Bubba, Dustin Johnston and the likes.

I am not decrying ladies sport, they are just different to what & how male counterparts play in most sports. Then as Merv says, when it comes to extreme endurance, the weemin are hard to beat.

[bazzaj]

Women do play occasioral 5 setters but not at the slams as it's harder to shoehorn into an already packed 2 week scheduling.
Perhaps a compromise might be both sexes play best of 3 in the early rounds and 5 sets from the quarters on.
That way it's all equal.

At the minute the men's game is the bigger draw but its not so long ago that Sampras and his pals were bludgeoning their way round a court and people watched the woman's game just to see a rally.

[bazzaj]

Further to Baggys point I think that mens top level sport tends to be a bigger draw as people enjoy watching the best that sport can be played at.
Womens sport at the a top level would be more or less equivalent to school boy.

Women who play the sport will watch women compete as that's the best they are aspiring to but men generally could not relate to that.

Most people would struggle to name the top sportswomen with Tennis and Athletics being the main exceptions.
I think its possibly because women offer a certain traditional glamour and finesse in those two particular sports that doesnt really translate into the other popular sports.