Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

[Sean of the Shed]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

It's obvious that Hearn, being the eternal opportunist that he is, is milking the Olympic afterglow for all it is worth, nobody would have considered it otherwise. It's the same reason that ITV, purveyors of some of the most brain-dead television there is, has come up with a show like this one.. A fucking celebrity diving contest hosted by Tom Daley. What kind of fucking numbnuts thought that would make good television? A dive into a pool takes no more than a couple of seconds, so God knows how much fluff and padding that is going to require.

[Sundeporino]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

I played TT to a decent standard as a junior until pubs appeared on the horizon. This coincided with the introduction of the long pimpled bats Hearne mentions in the BBC article. So I was off down the pub.
These new "rubbers" then known as "grass" combined with the similarly game spoiling "anti-loop" rubbers were the final straw for my interest in the game.
It went from an entertaining sport to a form of physical chess with non-players unable to appreciate what these new "rubbers" were doing spinwise. Opposing players likewise. This resulted in laws requiring differing coloured rubbers on both bat sides as a "gimme-a-clue" measure.

The TT industry hasnt helped itself for years. A simple rule of requiring the same rubber on both sides of the bat is the only way to reignite TT as a TV sport. Anything else is rearranging the decks on the Titanic.

I predict Hearnes PP tournament will have a lot of long defensive rallys as the worlds top TT players have been playing with the same type of rubber since they were of a single digit age. Changing will result in them displaying only half of their game.......the safe, take no risks, defensive half.

If Hearne wants entertainment then make em put any rubber they want on BOTH sides of the bat THEN Jazz the presentation up with double point balls etc.

[Janik]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

But won't long defensive rallies look quite impressive to non-TT players? The ball will stay alive for much longer, so people who don't know the nuances will regard them as high skill. It's only the people who know the technicalities who will realise it's dross (see Twenty20 cricket).

Squash has a greater global spread than I think ursus realises. Britain and Egypt (in particular) are strong, with Australia, Malaysia and France also highly thought of, but there is a good geographic variety behind those.

The current World top 25 rankings (Men's and Women's) features the following countries;
Egypt (11 players)
England (11)
Australia (4)
Malaysia (3)
France (2)
India (2)
Ireland (2)
Netherlands (2)
Hong Kong (2)
Botswana
Colombia
Denmark
Finland
Germany
South Africa
Spain
Switzerland
Mexico
New Zealand
USA

20 nations represented, with at least one player from every inhabited continent on the planet. It's not at all bad.

edit - I should indicate I'm not making a Britain/England are synonymous error here. Squash regards the home nations as seperate entities. The highest ranked non-English Briton is Alan Clyne (Sco) at #28.

[Janik]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

Harry Truscott wrote: I see Squash is trying a similar Hearnification.

It seems they are playing best of three, as opposed to be best of five...
Given that it's already PAR-11, that is going too far in keeping things short, I think.

[Sundeporino]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

Ive been viewing the entries to Hearnes PP tournament. Seems theres none of the top TT players entering.

Denis Neale the former England No1 prior to Desmond Douglas's peak in the 1970s is entering.

John Hilton who was European Champion back in the late 70s thanks to his early adoption of the Chinese "grass" rubbers I mention upthread will be there. One year after being crowned EC he was back to playing County stuff for Cheshire iirc after the top players figured "grass" out.

Graham Sandley who I think was an England junior player in the mid 1970s is another.

Its basically not top level Table Tennis at all.

Hearne seems to me to be using it as a challenge to the real ETTA and WTTA to show how much more interest he can generate in whats nearly their "product" than they can. If it works expect him to attempt inroads into real TT.

[Janik]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

That is his modus operandi, isn't it? Try and take complete control of a sport.
However, Table Tennis is in the Olympics, so the IOC might have something to say about an alternative governing body/world championships appearing. And whilst Hearn might put together something with more exposure (in the west) than the current World Championships or European Championships, he cannot hope to compete with the Olympics, so the current governing bodies will always hold a trump card if he tries to form an alternative tour; join Hearn and be banned from the big show.

[Bored Of Education]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

Is this, perhaps, why he is doing ping ping, to seperate it?

[Sundeporino]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

The World Table Tennis Championships is the WTTAs copyright. Theres a separate hard-bat WPPA with their own WPPC that was held in Vegas last time. Hearne has taken it over this time around, no doubt promising increased exposure.

Theres a whole WPPA hardbat culture that didnt exist in my playing years as they were banned by the WTTA a few years after I quit for the pub.
Back then the hardbatters were old school players who'd developed their skills in youth clubs, church halls and national service/miltary naafi clubs.
They were bloody good players whose game was all about the opposition losing the point, attempting very few winning shots themselves. They were bloody boring to play against.
When two clashed it was a nightmare to umpire as it lasted for three times the length of most "normal" games.

They WPPA try to level their WPPC playing field by having all players receiving their bats a few days before the tournament starts.
The Russian winner in Vegas apparently received his three months prior to the tournament and one UKs entrant the day he arrived in Vegas.

Ill watch it on TV on Saturday and maybe pop along on Sunday if it looks interesting.

[Ray de Galles]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

This background info is great, Sundeporino. I quite fancy tuning in on Sunday too, I might even try and watch the Squash as well.

Going back to the new sport for 2020, I didn't quite realise that the IOC are going to boot a current one out to accomodate it. Apparently Modern Pentathlon is the favourite to go.

[ursus arctos]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

If they dressed modern pentathletes as Napoleonic Era spies it would have a shot.

[alyxandr]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

Please pardon my abject ignorance of History, but... Napoleonic-Era spies dressed in a particular way? Wouldn't that make their job rather more difficult?

[Sundeporino]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

Just started watching.

Theres a lot more attacking play going on than I expected. The balls travelling a lot slower than in TT. As Janik predicted the rallies are a bit longer.
Theres a lot of empty seats.

[Sundeporino]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

Best game so far on now.

A "battle of the sexes": Lithuanian girl v American actor from Keifer Sutherlands "24" show!!! Hes called Maropis and played the terrorist leader in series ?.

First game to the actor.
Second game to the Lithuanian.
Third set to the lithuanian girl 11-9.

Actor chappie eliminated in best game so far. Earns $500.

[Gawpus]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

alyxandr wrote:

Please pardon my abject ignorance of History, but... Napoleonic-Era spies dressed in a particular way? Wouldn't that make their job rather more difficult?

Good point! Got a laugh from me, anyway. More like scouts or soldiers behind enemy lines, I think.
Modern spies always dress in tuxedos though, and that doesn't seem to cause them any problems.

[Ray de Galles]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

Sundeporino wrote: Just started watching.

Theres a lot more attacking play going on than I expected. The balls travelling a lot slower than in TT. As Janik predicted the rallies are a bit longer.
Theres a lot of empty seats.

I presumed this weeks's publicity was to try and drive walk-up. What kind of capacity does the venue look like holding? I imagine they are using a small sectioned/curtained off section of one of the Ally Pally's rooms?

When I went to the World Series Boxing at Earls Court 2 the other week they had sensibly made a tight 1000 capacity arena in the main hall which worked well, though I think the recently announced decision to stage the remaining matches at the York Hall is the right one.

.

[Sundeporino]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

Forgot all about this on the Sunday which may say a lot.
Apparently Shmyrev the Russian reigning champion who I mention upthread receiving his bat three months before the Vegas championships regained his title.

[Ray de Galles]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

I watched a couple of matches featuring a UK player Chris Doran on Sunday afternoon.

It was diverting enough but he was clearly playing up Matchroom's instructions to be a "character"' falling to the floor after winning crucial points, punching the air a lot and high fiving the crowd. All a bit forced.

.

[Ray de Galles]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

Modern Pentathlon fights (and runs, swims, shoots and rides) back.

[Janik]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

Almost all the Olympic participants seem to be people who had tried to become an elite athelete in another sport and hadn't quite made it, so got re-directed by the sports administrators in their countries to trying Modern Pentathlon instead. Does anywhere have an amateur framework of clubs and so on that generates atheletes whose main sporting ambition was an Olympic Modern Pentathlon gold?

If not, then it would really only be a loss to the handful of current competitors if it got dropped.

[Ray de Galles]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

I'd be sad to lose it but only now that I just found out Patton competed in 1912.

[San Bernardhinault]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

It was one of the most entertaining things that I went to see at London 2012. As sporting spectacle, I'd say it is certainly worth its place amongst far drearier sports to watch.

[Sundeporino]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

At the Olympics you wer watching Table Tennis. Hearnes Ally Pally shindig was Ping Pong. The Olympic Table Tennis was one of maybe half a dozen events Id like to have seen.

[Ray de Galles]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

He was talking about Modern Pentathlon, wasn't he?

[Janik]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

That is how I read it.

If that is the case, what in particular was it that grabbed you?
I know some people enjoy it for the randomness of the show jumping, when some competitors essentially got eliminated because they couldn't get on with their horse. Personally, I enjoyed the run and shoot bit, but then I think biathalon is a great sport because it is such a difficult athletic challenge to change your heart rate from high to low rapidly.

[Sundeporino]

Wiff Waff for the Riff Raff?

Apologies.
I somehow missed the previous pentathlon post.