Off The Ball Official Thread <Mod Note - Post #1, #533, #6651>

cms88

Talking about GAA All-Stars etc this morning and once more Ger makes a fool of himself becasuse someone dares to say something he doesn't agree with him :rolleyes:

gluppers

Anyone else finding Joe is becoming that bit posher? His pronunciation of 'ball' for starters is sounding like 'baul'. It must be a private school thing

Felexicon

Joe was certainly not loving Richie during the Newsround this evening.

siblers

Felexicon wrote: »

Joe was certainly not loving Richie during the Newsround this evening.

Why so?

Felexicon

Felexicon wrote: »

Joe was certainly not loving Richie during the Newsround this evening.

Richie definitely seems to rub Joe up the wrong way regularly. The fact that he is an insufferable pain in he arse might be the main reason.

Does Joe Molloy actually like sport?

Felexicon

Edz87 wrote: »

Does Joe Molloy actually like sport?

I'd say he loves it yeah. That's why he is so concerned about the direction certain sports e.g rugby are going.

Golf definitely his favourite

LletiRed

John Giles, whats the point anymore? It's like they don't wanna break the news to an old man that he's not a good pundit anymore.

NM: "Coming up, we have John Giles where we'll be discussing Caoimhin Kellehers debut for Liverpool"


NM: "So John, great night for the Irish lad in goals for liverpool, what do you think of him?"

JG: "Haven't seen much of him to tell you the truth Nathan, but he did well. He's a big strong lad and it's nice to see the young lads take their chance

NM: "It must have been a very proud night for him, do you remember your debut?"

And then a whole chat on his debut and his dad going over for it etc.

LletiRed

I like listening to the show with Molloy. Turned over when they talk about womens sports and often when the in depth gaa ones come on. Couldn't be arsed with the small talk about who's the best singer in the Limerick hurling panel. Yawn

Abel Ruiz

LletiRed wrote: »

John Giles, whats the point anymore? It's like they don't wanna break the news to an old man that he's not a good pundit anymore.

You signed up just to abuse Giles.
He is what he is, and he is popular whether you like it or not.
What pundits do you like??? Clown

What is supposed to say about a young goalkeeper with only 3 appearances?

Edz87

Edz87 wrote: »

Does Joe Molloy actually like sport?

I like Joe and think he's a good broadcaster, but you do get the sense that he could take or leave most sport, golf and football (at a stretch) aside.

I also have a feeling he is starting to outgrow OTB and could see him moving on very soon, possibly to something outside of sport.

I think he probably sees how limited and narrow what he is doing at the moment is and I would imagine the TV work he has done has given him a taste for more.

When you see what Mark Horgan from Second Captains has done with the George Gibney series, you can see how far off the mark OTB has fallen. It's all quantity over quality at the moment.

Feenix

Abel Ruiz wrote: »

You signed up just to abuse Giles.
He is what he is, and he is popular whether you like it or not.
What pundits do you like??? Clown

What is supposed to say about a young goalkeeper with only 3 appearances?

I’m not quite sure that is considered abuse really. Directly calling someone a clown for not liking the same football pundit as you is however.

There is literally nothing Giles could have said about him. Going by his track record I doubt he knows his age, where he’s from or that he’s been in the Ireland senior squad for the last year or so. I think the casual sports fan might like listening to him but he offers no insight whatsoever.

Tell me how

There's a nostalgic element to Giles, no doubt, but, he has earned this sentiment towards him through 30 odd years of decent punditry.
There are few pundits who are universally applauded and even Gary Neville who significantly upped the punditry game when he started on Sky has shown himself to be slow to critique his former team mate correctly and the same could be said for several other former Utd players.

I still maintain Giles ability to see the strong foundations players should have (attitude and technique) is still relevant rather than talking dramatically about patchy moments of brilliance or the influence a managers comments in the media the day before a game can have.

gormdubhgorm

Tell me how wrote: »

There's a nostalgic element to Giles, no doubt, but, he has earned this sentiment towards him through 30 odd years of decent punditry.
There are few pundits who are universally applauded and even Gary Neville who significantly upped the punditry game when he started on Sky has shown himself to be slow to critique his former team mate correctly and the same could be said for several other former Utd players.

I still maintain Giles ability to see the strong foundations players should have (attitude and technique) is still relevant rather than talking dramatically about patchy moments of brilliance or the influence a managers comments in the media the day before a game can have.

"Giles ability to see strong foundations players should have attitude and technique" = moral courage, demanding the ball etc etc?

It just ends up seeming like a visitor to a nursing home trying to draw chat out of an elderly relative, which can be long and drawn out. Did you have tea to today? what did you have what was it like in your day? Elderly relative gets names mixed up etc. "Ah he was/is a good lad".

Higgins5473

Tell me how wrote: »

There's a nostalgic element to Giles, no doubt, but, he has earned this sentiment towards him through 30 odd years of decent punditry.
There are few pundits who are universally applauded and even Gary Neville who significantly upped the punditry game when he started on Sky has shown himself to be slow to critique his former team mate correctly and the same could be said for several other former Utd players.

I still maintain Giles ability to see the strong foundations players should have (attitude and technique) is still relevant rather than talking dramatically about patchy moments of brilliance or the influence a managers comments in the media the day before a game can have.

Can you set up a separate “Giles is not past his sell by date pundit and remains an all time great and pundit and is just the best thing ever” thread or just a Giles appreciation thread?

This off the ball thread is just about how **** or good Giles is. Says a lot about the show.

gormdubhgorm

Higgins5473 wrote: »

Says a lot about the show.

I actually accidently clicked the first page of this thread. from 8 years ago. Had it zoomed in (so I did not realise the date) and it was positive comment, followed by glowing comments and joy about the show. I was baffled.

Then I realised what happened, a lot has changed in 8 years!

Felexicon

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

I actually accidently clicked the first page of this thread. from 8 years ago. Had it zoomed in (so I did not realise the date) and it was positive comment, followed by glowing comments and joy about the show. I was baffled.

Then I realised what happened, a lot has changed in 8 years!

I think the show has been a victim of it's own success.
There isn't really enough happening in the sporting world to have 2, 2 hour shows 5 days a week and 2 longer format shows at the weekend.
I know they throw in a match commentary at the weekend but its probably not enough.

What they're left doing is filling space with power rankings and pressure rankings along with Monday night rugby, Wednesday night rugby and Rugby AM on a Friday. I love rugby but there is only so much you can talk about the 5 teams that interest people on this island. It's probably why Joe seems so fixated on the dementia case being brought against world rugby, it's just something to break the monotony of the usual "Leinster are class aren't they" discussions.

I used to be an avid listener but now find myself listening to the newsround in the evening while cooking the dinner and I'll download golf weekly and I always get the paper review on a Sunday but even that is becoming a little weak due to the guests they are getting. I want to hear journalists on it giving their take on a piece of writing. Not Hector blathering on or Bernard Jackman bringing everything back to a rugby view.

I really can't remember the last interview they did that was must listen for me. Might have been Lance.

Tell me how

Felexicon wrote: »

I think the show has been a victim of it's own success.
There isn't really enough happening in the sporting world to have 2, 2 hour shows 5 days a week and 2 longer format shows at the weekend.
I know they throw in a match commentary at the weekend but its probably not enough.

What they're left doing is filling space with power rankings and pressure rankings along with Monday night rugby, Wednesday night rugby and Rugby AM on a Friday. I love rugby but there is only so much you can talk about the 5 teams that interest people on this island. It's probably why Joe seems so fixated on the dementia case being brought against world rugby, it's just something to break the monotony of the usual "Leinster are class aren't they" discussions.

I really can't remember the last interview they did that was must listen for me. Might have been Lance.

Agree with a lot of this. I feel a lot of what they do, they do well, but they do stay within pretty strict margins and effectively wear these topics out.

Think there is a lot more scope of what could be covered without it being excessive or expensive to do so. I'd like to see more frequent coverage of other sports including cycling, motor sport, athletics, tennis etc.
Their top sports stars of each county was a great idea and very interesting throughout the summer as well and think there is scope for more interesting focus pieces than simply more of what they are already covering such as with the Bernard Brogan podcast.

Would love to see them do more of Irish amateur sports and think there is scope there which might still look at soccer, GAA, Rugby but at the non-top rank level which might be interesting.

Felexicon

Felexicon wrote: »

I think the show has been a victim of it's own success.
There isn't really enough happening in the sporting world to have 2, 2 hour shows 5 days a week and 2 longer format shows at the weekend.
I know they throw in a match commentary at the weekend but its probably not enough.

What they're left doing is filling space with power rankings and pressure rankings along with Monday night rugby, Wednesday night rugby and Rugby AM on a Friday. I love rugby but there is only so much you can talk about the 5 teams that interest people on this island. It's probably why Joe seems so fixated on the dementia case being brought against world rugby, it's just something to break the monotony of the usual "Leinster are class aren't they" discussions.

I used to be an avid listener but now find myself listening to the newsround in the evening while cooking the dinner and I'll download golf weekly and I always get the paper review on a Sunday but even that is becoming a little weak due to the guests they are getting. I want to hear journalists on it giving their take on a piece of writing. Not Hector blathering on or Bernard Jackman bringing everything back to a rugby view.

I really can't remember the last interview they did that was must listen for me. Might have been Lance.

Very similar to my experiences with OTB of late. Newsround, catch an odd football piece via podcast and then the paper review. I almost never listen to it live anymore but do scroll the podcasts for anything interesting.

They had great pieces with Cathal McCarron, David Walsh and Lance a few years ago but there has been very little edge of the seat radio since. It's all very bland and formulaic, which it probably has to be if you are churning out that much content.

bike2wkr

John giles is probably one of the only guests I listen to on OTB. He still a good judge of a game . Can't understand a word Pat Nevin says plus he hates Liverpool so I don't listen to him. They seem to have a lack of high quality guests. A regular Tim Vickery slot would be good.

Why not cover Athletics and cycling a bit more? And other sports.

Also is there even an Irish soccer league slot on? Seems to be constant premier league.

The guy from Dundalk Vinny Perth fairly good on football show last night. I rarely listen to OTB in evening anymore.

Abel Ruiz

Feenix wrote: »

I’m not quite sure that is considered abuse really. Directly calling someone a clown for not liking the same football pundit as you is however.

There is literally nothing Giles could have said about him. Going by his track record I doubt he knows his age, where he’s from or that he’s been in the Ireland senior squad for the last year or so. I think the casual sports fan might like listening to him but he offers no insight whatsoever.

Are you the mod?
Dry your eyes.
Its okay if you dont like giles.

gluppers

Felexicon wrote: »

I think the show has been a victim of it's own success.
There isn't really enough happening in the sporting world to have 2, 2 hour shows 5 days a week and 2 longer format shows at the weekend.
I know they throw in a match commentary at the weekend but its probably not enough.

What they're left doing is filling space with power rankings and pressure rankings along with Monday night rugby, Wednesday night rugby and Rugby AM on a Friday. I love rugby but there is only so much you can talk about the 5 teams that interest people on this island. It's probably why Joe seems so fixated on the dementia case being brought against world rugby, it's just something to break the monotony of the usual "Leinster are class aren't they" discussions.

I used to be an avid listener but now find myself listening to the newsround in the evening while cooking the dinner and I'll download golf weekly and I always get the paper review on a Sunday but even that is becoming a little weak due to the guests they are getting. I want to hear journalists on it giving their take on a piece of writing. Not Hector blathering on or Bernard Jackman bringing everything back to a rugby view.

I really can't remember the last interview they did that was must listen for me. Might have been Lance.

There's no other media in the northern hemisphere which puts so much emphasis on rugby. I swear it's a status thing. It's almost there to humour the corporate types. Also there's little banter around the rugby discussions, it's taken too seriously, like the business world. Oversaturation and pretentious

Did you smash it

gluppers wrote: »

There's no other media in the northern hemisphere which puts so much emphasis on rugby. I swear it's a status thing. It's almost there to humour the corporate types. Also there's little banter around the rugby discussions, it's taken too seriously, like the business world. Oversaturation and pretentious

I’m not a rugby fan but I can admit it justifies interest in it because the Ireland team and it’s clubs lift trophies and beat the best.

On the other hand the Irish soccer team gets huge interest and has being almost exclusively dismal for over ten years on account of having dismal players.

CatFromHue

There's not really that much rugby on the night time show.

Half an hour on a Monday and Wednesday and then maybe an extra slot on a Friday if there's a big game.

Compare that to a full hour of horse racing on a Friday and a full hour, at least, of football every show.

Did you smash it

I see Johnny Ward has left Twitter.

Brock Turnpike

Did you smash it wrote: »

I see Johnny Ward has left Twitter.

No idea how that list has manner to carve a career giving opinions on football..

JeffKenna

Did you smash it wrote: »

I’m not a rugby fan but I can admit it justifies interest in it because the Ireland team and it’s clubs lift trophies and beat the best.

On the other hand the Irish soccer team gets huge interest and has being almost exclusively dismal for over ten years on account of having dismal players.

Since when have Ireland beaten the best? They continue to fail at every world cup. Let them go and win the world cup and come back with that comment then.

Did you smash it

JeffKenna wrote: »

Since when have Ireland beaten the best? They continue to fail at every world cup. Let them go and win the world cup and come back with that comment then.

They’ve beaten every notable rugby country on earth in the last 5 years.

Brock Turnpike

Brock Turnpike wrote: »

No idea how that list has manner to carve a career giving opinions on football..

I know Johnny well, and he knows football very well. But I'm not sure he's all that interested in the Premier League and it probably shows. He's great on LOI football and horse-racing, two things he's genuinely passionate about. With regard to Twitter, he's not suited to the medium and I'm glad he's closed his account as he was always getting himself in trouble on it.

JeffKenna

Did you smash it wrote: »

They’ve beaten every notable rugby country on earth in the last 5 years.

In a friendly.