[Bones McCoy]

While I'm here and grumbling....

* Our beloved unbiased BBC announced its "News star of the summer" (I may have mangled that title).
* Shock winner, Nigel Farage for being at the focus of several leading news stories (Hotels and Flegs).
* Stories that the BBC cherrypicekd to lead in advance of Epstein, Palestine and Ukraine (among others).

[The Weeping Angel]

Fuck off Mason.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Fucking hell. Fascinating?

I'd suggest "Farage struggles for fiscal credibility", which they chucked at Ed Miliband for wanting to reduce the deficit more slowly than Osborne.

[kreuzberger]

It gets worse.

This morning he teed up the feather-weight Anna Foster to lead him in to revealing the well-rehearsed factoid that the UK has had more Home Secretaries since 2010 than Chelsea have had managers, implying that it is all Labour's fault.

Mason, a professional whippet fancier, shed some interesting light and shade when he was promoted, chiefly by not being Laura Kuenssberg, but is now comparably dreadful, if not worse.

Foster used to discuss period pain on Five Lice and then was suddenly reincarnated as a thoroughly decent foreign correspondent, who was matchless for her coverage of the last big quake in southern Turkey. She was actually pretty refreshing when she joined the Today programme, I thought, but has recently been trying to fall in to line with her Partridgian zingers and gotchas which mark her out either as not having her heart in it, or, quite possibly, a blithering idiot.

I don't know why I put myself through this at sparrow-fart every morning, rather than cranking out Ramones playlists on Spotify.

[Bones McCoy]

I come to praise the BBC, just this once.

A long preamble that you can skip at little cost.

I've been following the Women's Rugby world cup at arm's length.
Late August was a busy timer.
Rugby World Cup group stages include a lot of "Giant Haystacks defeats a midget" activity.
One sided games fail to entertain me.

I was finally able to settle in front of a screen for Wales Vs Fiji and England Vs Australia.
Two relatively close games that showed a variety of playing styles.
Good stuff all around.


Much credit to the commentary team: Brian Moore and Maggie Alphonso (Two former internationals).

My problems watching usual rugby coverage fall into three categories.
* The ball is frequently hidden behind a mass of bodies.
* The handling is often so slick and fast that I (and sometimes the camera crew) can't follow the point of attack.
* The commentators rabbit on in "rugger jargon" and make little or no effort to explain the laws, interpretations or tactics.

The this one is a real bugbear, since Rugby Union is a complicated game with a lot of baroque laws.
* All manner of excuses why a forward pass isn't a forward pass that fly in the face of the laws of physics.
* Precisely when a player is offside.
* What the hell is going on in those scrums and mauls.


So props to Brian and Maggie on the microphones.

They adopted the classic "BBC women's sport mode"; everything described positively.
They avoided crossing over to the frequent fault where everything (even the mundane) is awesome, world class and brilliant.

Even better, they made a real effort to explain the laws of the game following an example of that law being applied.
* There's this new thing called a 50-25 (25-50) nicked from Rugby League - a way to kick the ball out and then get the throw in. They explained this - which no commentator in men's internationals ever has.
* There were a couple of head clashes - during the talk between officials, they went into great detail on what might be considered accidental, dangerous or mitigating.
* Obscure laws govern how and when a player on the ground can reach out an arm to score a try. Always dismissed as a good or bad "second move" in men's game coverage. Again, the team explained what the laws say, and therefore why the try was awarded.


So a big plus for the Women's Rugby Union World Cup coverage.
Well explained, entertaining, and covered with an appropriate level of positivity.

[Andy McDandy]

My issue with rugby commentary is that Welsh twat who bangs on about "building up pressure" and "going through the phases", just before some flanker or fly half breaks out, runs 40 yards and plants the ball between the posts.

Also, whenever John Inverdale starts banging on about how everyone respects the ref, none of that prima Donna behaviour you get in football, you just know a massive brawl is about to kick off.

[Bones McCoy]

My issue with rugby commentary is that Welsh twat who bangs on about "building up pressure" and "going through the phases", just before some flanker or fly half breaks out, runs 40 yards and plants the ball between the posts.

Also, whenever John Inverdale starts banging on about how everyone respects the ref, none of that prima Donna behaviour you get in football, you just know a massive brawl is about to kick off.

"Everyone respects the ref".

Check out any "rugby chat" show that assembles 2 or more ormer greats.
It'll last about 3 minutes before it dissolves into anecdotes about different ways we conspired to fool the ref.


I used to think that American Football's horde of 6 or 7 on-field officials was typical american overkill.
I wonder whether top Rugby could use one extra official; a retired forward to keep an eye on the far side of the scrum.
Several "expert" commentators on the television have suggested this.
But I've diverged from BBC themes.

[Youngian]

BBC is broadcasting baseball. Never watched a game before despite knowing a number of baseball metaphors; slam dunk, curve ball, born on third base, home run, do you pitch or catch?
Guess I prefer American turns of phrase more than their sports.

[Boiler]

I have watched precisely one baseball game: the Atlanta Braves (in Atlanta), 4th July 1996. Can't get more American than that.

It seemed more an occasion for drinking 'beer' and eating fast food than participating in the sport.