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#55137 02/08/02 04:25 PM
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Anyone who starts quoting game statistics or 'his' age has "quite clearly" missed the *uprights.

mmm, that brings up a Ferriner's reflections on most American sports - what's with this apparent national obsession with statistics? and to give a *vaguely language related nudge, why are there always two commentators jabbering away to each other ~ is it a by-product of all the statistics they have to marshal, or do all the statistics flow from having to fill vacant airtime with something other than reflective silence?


#55138 02/08/02 05:28 PM
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...why are there always two commentators jabbering away to each other ~ is it a by-product of all the statistics they have to marshal, or do all the statistics flow from having to fill vacant airtime with something other than reflective silence?

It's an *allusion to somehow make all the violence an intellectual endeavor... and the "vacant airtime" thing. One can belabour the obvious for only *so long.

Reflective silence... {insert sound of Homer drooling here}


#55139 02/08/02 05:42 PM
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Y'all've got me wondering: how, then, do announcers of cricket games fill the presumably long stretches of otherwise vacant airtime?


#55140 02/08/02 05:50 PM
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It's an *allusion to somehow make all the violence an intellectual endeavor.

Somehow being the key word here with John Madden yapping...he who gave the English language that "brilliant" phrase go-to guy!



#55141 02/08/02 07:08 PM
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#55142 02/08/02 07:21 PM
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whereas fruit cakes sent in by listeners used to be a favoured topic on rainy days in the English commentary box... let it never be said *we let sport get in the way of important stuff


#55143 02/08/02 07:25 PM
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let it never be said *we let sport get in the way of important stuff

Yes, well... I once heard "Boom-Boom" Madden wax eloquent on the subject of ham hocks for several minutes.



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In the 1930's, radio station far from the bid cities would have "live" real-time broadcasts of baseball games. The station's local announcer would take reports off the wire service and, creating as he went, broadcast out as if he were actually seeing the game before his eyes.

Once the wire-service bore down at a crucial juncture of a Cubs/Cardinals game. The broadcaster, stalling for time, improvised wildly -- "He fouls off another pitch!" "The manager is strolling out to talk to the pitcher. He looks worried, folks." -- and seamlessly filled a half-hour of dead-air time. The young broadcaster's name? Ronald Reagan.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/prz_qrr.shtml


#55145 02/08/02 07:30 PM
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several minutes.

minutes?! MINUTES?!!! MINUTES????!!!!!!!

Test Matches go on for five bloody days.....


#55146 02/08/02 07:54 PM
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Test Matches go on for five bloody days.....

Geez. I think I'd need something stronger than fruitcake to get me through that!


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