The reason snooker makes a good televised sport is that you can have an hour long nap and when you waken it's the same set of balls in play in random positions again. It feels like you haven't missed anything.
There are no boring sports, just sports that require more attention to detail than others.
Baseball and cricket look dull on the face of it, but take 15 minutes with someone who knows and enjoys what’s going on and you’ll start to see it differently. I find basketball quite tedious at times, but some of the loudest crowds I’ve ever heard have been at basketball games
The power and beauty of football is that it can be played and understood by anyone, anywhere, with almost any equipment.
Anyone who thinks snooker or darts is a 'game' and not a sport is, with all due respect, a bit of a cretin.
Games like chess, cribbage, go etc, a top player could vocalise the move they want to make, and have a third party take the physical action on their behalf without any detriment to the quality of the move.
With darts and snooker, a pro could tell someone else to hit a triple 20 or cut in a difficult pot in as much detail as they like, once they hand the dart/cue to an absolute beginner, its not going to happen. They are physical games, pure technique.
Got to agree with @eric_plant here...I don't necessarily choose to watch snooker and darts, but if I do come across then on the tellybox I am always drawn in. I saw a lot of excellent televised Snooker as a kid...and yes @OxfordBlue you can tell people to put all the reds in and then the colours in order or just get the darts in the right places ...but watching someone expertly doing it, is another thing entirely.
I assume Golf is just see this ball? It goes in that hole. Hit it with this stick...
Brilliant last sentence. Football is the only true world sport, because it can be played anywhere from the favellas of South America to the streets of Mozambique. It's the closest thing we have to a world language currently!
On a funny note, baseball is by far the most statistically driven sport. I remember when I had not been in the States long and watching a game on TV. The pitcher was a bit wayward and actually hit the batter with the ball. The announcer solemnly said "Mo Smith now leads the league in being hit by the pitch." You have to respect that commitment to everything being measurable! It's no surprise Moneyball came out of that sport either.
I realised as soon as I posted that that might be misconstrued but I struggled for the right words. A prolonged safety exchange when at least one of the players is an exciting player to watch is absolutely fantastic. Or when it's down to just the colours and they're having to get really creative with it. But some players just bore me - ones who'd rather play a safety than take on a slightly risky middle pot that would win them the frame.
Haha. The good point to these statistics is that every player will play hard even in meaningless games towards the end of the season, as they know everything is being measured.
To be fair, baseball can be thrilling. The first World Series I properly watched when I was out here was Diamondbacks 4-3 Yankees in 2001, and that was an absolute barnstormer!
@StrongestTeam the Aussies love basketball. In fact any niche sport other than football. It seems to me Australia is a country made up of people who can't take losing.
Except the original Australians who will be, as always, behind the English this summer
There are so many sports that are boring when the quality is low, the engagement is minimal and the emotional input is non existent.
I would never watch, for example, women’s hockey. Put it in the Olympics, tell me that the ‘keeper lost her sister, give me a background as to adversity some of the player have endured and I will cheer the roof off and cry like a baby at the final whistle.
Went to the MCG on Boxing Day in 2011, with locals rolling in the aieles drunk on cheap spirits. England knocked out the Australian batting order. Attendance 100 thousand. Fantastic.
Very well put, as to the difference between great sports and boring sports - with great sports you don't need that connection. A friend of mine once said that he can be driving by a kickaround in a park with someone about to take a corner, and if he is at a light he will be hoping it stays red so that he can see what happens with the corner. I think that is the beauty of football - no backstory needed.
I once knew of a fairly successful (I think he made world QFs) squash player who lost his fortune trying to develop a sport called Ceiling Ball. Though I feel bad for him, I think the fact that every rally could only have lasted one shot was probably the death knell.
Comments
It's in the name of the betting industry
I love a prolonged safety exchange!
Snooker has absolutely no right to be as good a televised sport as it is but turn it on at your peril, you could be there hours
The reason snooker makes a good televised sport is that you can have an hour long nap and when you waken it's the same set of balls in play in random positions again. It feels like you haven't missed anything.
There are no boring sports, just sports that require more attention to detail than others.
Baseball and cricket look dull on the face of it, but take 15 minutes with someone who knows and enjoys what’s going on and you’ll start to see it differently. I find basketball quite tedious at times, but some of the loudest crowds I’ve ever heard have been at basketball games
The power and beauty of football is that it can be played and understood by anyone, anywhere, with almost any equipment.
Anyone who thinks snooker or darts is a 'game' and not a sport is, with all due respect, a bit of a cretin.
Games like chess, cribbage, go etc, a top player could vocalise the move they want to make, and have a third party take the physical action on their behalf without any detriment to the quality of the move.
With darts and snooker, a pro could tell someone else to hit a triple 20 or cut in a difficult pot in as much detail as they like, once they hand the dart/cue to an absolute beginner, its not going to happen. They are physical games, pure technique.
Isn't that one of the only reasons why people watch it?
Got to agree with @eric_plant here...I don't necessarily choose to watch snooker and darts, but if I do come across then on the tellybox I am always drawn in. I saw a lot of excellent televised Snooker as a kid...and yes @OxfordBlue you can tell people to put all the reds in and then the colours in order or just get the darts in the right places ...but watching someone expertly doing it, is another thing entirely.
I assume Golf is just see this ball? It goes in that hole. Hit it with this stick...
Brilliant last sentence. Football is the only true world sport, because it can be played anywhere from the favellas of South America to the streets of Mozambique. It's the closest thing we have to a world language currently!
On a funny note, baseball is by far the most statistically driven sport. I remember when I had not been in the States long and watching a game on TV. The pitcher was a bit wayward and actually hit the batter with the ball. The announcer solemnly said "Mo Smith now leads the league in being hit by the pitch." You have to respect that commitment to everything being measurable! It's no surprise Moneyball came out of that sport either.
It's the only reason I occasionally watch it 😂
America didn’t feel like home until I knew the difference between RBI and RISP!
Is Operation a sport?
I realised as soon as I posted that that might be misconstrued but I struggled for the right words. A prolonged safety exchange when at least one of the players is an exciting player to watch is absolutely fantastic. Or when it's down to just the colours and they're having to get really creative with it. But some players just bore me - ones who'd rather play a safety than take on a slightly risky middle pot that would win them the frame.
Haha. The good point to these statistics is that every player will play hard even in meaningless games towards the end of the season, as they know everything is being measured.
To be fair, baseball can be thrilling. The first World Series I properly watched when I was out here was Diamondbacks 4-3 Yankees in 2001, and that was an absolute barnstormer!
Yes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu3wyH5FPNk
by @Shev
As a technophobe I can't remove the above.
@StrongestTeam the Aussies love basketball. In fact any niche sport other than football. It seems to me Australia is a country made up of people who can't take losing.
Except the original Australians who will be, as always, behind the English this summer
There are so many sports that are boring when the quality is low, the engagement is minimal and the emotional input is non existent.
I would never watch, for example, women’s hockey. Put it in the Olympics, tell me that the ‘keeper lost her sister, give me a background as to adversity some of the player have endured and I will cheer the roof off and cry like a baby at the final whistle.
And that’s sports for you
Went to the MCG on Boxing Day in 2011, with locals rolling in the aieles drunk on cheap spirits. England knocked out the Australian batting order. Attendance 100 thousand. Fantastic.
The next day..20 thousand
By your definition Tiddlywinks becomes a sport.
Because in your words, a top player couldn't "vocalise" their move to any random, and someone less skilled couldn't do the same move.
Very well put, as to the difference between great sports and boring sports - with great sports you don't need that connection. A friend of mine once said that he can be driving by a kickaround in a park with someone about to take a corner, and if he is at a light he will be hoping it stays red so that he can see what happens with the corner. I think that is the beauty of football - no backstory needed.
Under our friend's approach, almost anything in the world becomes a sport.
Basically anything that you can't do at the same level as the best person in the world. 🤣
I once knew of a fairly successful (I think he made world QFs) squash player who lost his fortune trying to develop a sport called Ceiling Ball. Though I feel bad for him, I think the fact that every rally could only have lasted one shot was probably the death knell.
Could he "vocalise" a move to someone to the same success?
Undressage. Nowadays.
Monopoly is a great sport.
There are competitions and World champions apparently
Lmao
Tennis is up there for me. Some man/woman smashing it down over three hours. Purely a sport created for the upper classes
Squash is an even worse watch
Just smashing a miniscule ball against a wall repeatedly. Noisy and without even the slight pleasure of tennis.
I'd never considered the noise aspect but now you mention it that's bloody annoying
The first paragraph of this should be taught in schools