Second Captains

Ken was an awful pain in the hole on today's CL pod. His inability to acknowledge that Pep has some sort of problem in the latter stages of the CL, the fact that he couldnt really give Ronaldo any credit, and so on. Eoin really rang rings around him in the little debate they had.

Ol' Donie wrote: »

What the story with the Dunphy business?

When they had him on, it was so bland I didn't even listen to all of it (and I even listen to the rugby coverage).

But when they were covering his recent nonsense, they seemed to think he was a f*ckin eejit, and weren't exactly shy about it.

All very strange.

Didn't have the balls to say anything to him

While I agree with a lot of the episode yesterday about Paddy Jackson but it's hard to agree that you should be able to stand over every whatsapp message you send in private in a public setting imho. Katie Liston tried to make the point that every interaction with another person is public, think that's stretching it a bit.

I have been a subscriber for quite some time now, and generally love the podcast (andre the giant was brilliant, brought back a lot of memories!). Like a lot of others, I thought the initial piece they did after the verdict, with Ritchie and Sinead, was really good. It offered some insight both into what kids are thinking/saying/doing and into the world that a professional sportsman might encounter in terms of the women who hang around trying to bed a footballer etc.

Unfortunately, the sequel did not come close to the original. I could only listen to about half of it, I found it very dry, very heavy on generalisations and gender studies talk and very light on actual debate, just a lot of nodding and agreeing. Maybe it livens up and actually goes somewhere, I will try the second half and see.

dulpit wrote: »

One thing I think is curious is that nobody questioned the defence strategy that was employed by Jackson, Olding et. al. I think a lot of people's concerns and anger about this case stemmed from the way that the complainant was treated on the stand. While I appreciate that the strategy would be to win at any cost, and it would be devised by the solicitors, it's still something that the defendants should stand over...

Hard to agree with that I'm afraid.

The defence's job is to represent their client. If that means an accuser gets a hard time then that's just what has to happen. As distressing as that may be.

Rape is neither a trivial crime nor a trivial accusation and a jury has to be convinced that the accusation is valid.

What is it that you believe the defence should be expected to do differently?

Whatever they did was done in full glare of both the prosecution and the judge...

Thought that Kate Liston spoke a lot but I didn't think she said very much..

Lots of generic claims and platitudes but nothing really specific.

Thought it was a bit of borefest personally

dentaku wrote: »

Agreed. If the IRFU are really serious about this they'll be monitoring all of their staff's communication from now on, right? Email, WhatsApp, Tinder...

I'm glad the general vibe is that Katie Liston was crap, but I'd feel better if she wasn't teaching young people to think like her.

Yeah, I went back and listened to the second half to be sure I wasn't missing out on something useful or insightful and the only thing that I got excited about was her ridiculous proposition that you don't say anything in private you would not say in public, I couldn't believe my ears. Nobody, NOBODY communicates in such a way that it would be appropriate for public consumption at any time. They were very deferential to her, making token efforts but not kicking that firmly to touch, as a silly, unrealistic ideal.

Also the conversation was billed as something to do with the trial/sacking of the rugby players but large parts of it were about sportswomen... eh ok, but nothing to do with the subject at hand.

I think their discussion about the sponsors was about the most rational aspect, the sponsor is paying to be associated with good things, not a toxic mess like this, and they are perfectly within their rights to put pressure on.

CiaranW wrote:

What was today's pod like about Wenger? As an Arsenal fan, I regret cancelling my subscription as I wanted to hear what Ken thinks.

Excellent. The audio montage at the start was one of their best to-date

Pete Moss wrote: »

Found it to be a great week for their pods. Highlights for me were:

Loved the Andre The Giant pod, a real novelty for me in hearing about 80s/90s wrestling on SC. The Belfast Trial one wasn't terrific, but still held my attention. The Wenger one capped it nicely.

It's a shame that they don't have more passions outside the usual sports, like the WWF from the 80s. I have never watched wrestling, but I enjoyed that podcast. Due, largely I think, to Eoin's knowledge and fondness for the subject matter.

There are so many other sports and stories out there. Usually they are covered with a critical slant. That's not why or how we follow sports. We enjoy the spectacle, the exploits and the talent on show in the sports we like.

For example, personally I'd like to listen to something positive about cycling. Everyone knows the issues with the sport, so no need to bring them up everytime. Get someone on with a passion for the sport and it would make for a great podcast.

Just listen to US Murph every week talk about baseball. I've absolutely no interest in the sport, but I like listening to him get excited about something. Also, the woman who came on before and during the Winter Olympics (forget her name) had a love for the sport and it came across very clearly.

I enjoyed the Arsenal chat yesterday, but I thought they went overboard with the audio clips from Arsenal Fan TV. It's funny in small doses, but they seemed to be shoehorning them in every twenty seconds. It got old fast.

CiaranW wrote: »

What was today's pod like about Wenger?
As an Arsenal fan, I regret cancelling my subscription as I wanted to hear what Ken thinks.

I didn't really enjoy it, although as an Arsenal fan the whole thing is still pretty raw.

As a massive Ken fan since him & Gilroy used to do OTB, I'm finally getting tired of the snarkiness. The constant smart arsery about anything anyone says or does is wearing me out. Johnathan Wilson does the same schtick (along with, as I've mentioned before, Dion Fanning). I want to hear a conversation about football, not just a constant stream of bitching. I can do that myself.