Wednesday 27 August 2008

To pay or not to pay...


A few weeks into the season and I’m faced with a dilemma. During the summer, at the height of Euro 2008, giddy with daily matches in the company of RTE’s golden television coverage (even the bits with Kenny Cunningham and Trevor Steven), and having just moved into a new gaff, I decided that with the credit crunch in mind I would avoid the urge to get in the sports channels.


My pretty pissy TV package at the moment includes the regular bunch of RTE, BBC, Sky and Setanta News (which makes Sky Sports News look like CNN); and in the run up to the new season I was full of reason, proclaiming that I had given enough cash to Sky over the years to watch a lot of awful football; plus at certain times of the year it can be overkill with the amount of games on Setanta now as well.


But only a few weeks in and I’m wilting. This is despite the knowledge for most of the big games last year (Grand Sham Sundays etc) I watched them from a bar stool anyway. Is anybody else feeling the pressure as well? Even reading reports of what was by all accounts a pretty tepid game between Man U and Pompey the other night, I thought back to halcyon days when I had all manner of sports channels (all of six months ago) and could have watched all the tepidness on display. Including highlights on Sky Sports News.


Going to the pub for the big games is fine; one of life’s great pleasures in fact but last year Spanish football became a full time concern and even the German and French leagues got a look in thanks to Setanta highlights. Maybe it’s the unfortunate lull before the Champions League kicks in. Am I alone, has anyone else jettisoned the channels and getting a little itchy for them back?


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On another note, myself and Mark are podding tonight where we will discuss such banner moments of the season so far as Darren Fletcher: Goal Machine; how is Anton Ferdinand worth so much money; and of course we’ll find some way to take the piss out of Frank Lampard or John Terry... or both of them.


Later folks, JJ


9 comments:

Unknown said...

I've a feeling JJ will be discussing this:
27 League matches without a win for Derby's Paul Jewell, the longest losing run in English managerial history.

Mal said...

When we bought our apt, three years ago, I bit the bullet and decided to bid farewell to the satellite and cable. Only have RTE now but a good broadband connection makes up for it and I don't really miss it now. Still go down to the pub for big matches though. I have some great links if you want them JJ. Drop me a mail if you're interested.

Buckley said...

"(which makes Sky Sports News look like CNN)" - You were struggling to come up with something there weren't ya!?! ;)

I fucked Sky off for a few years now, can't stand the smarmy smugness you're treated to for every single fucking game they show.

Don't mind shelling out for Setanta though, you get LFC TV thrown in, which i great for the youth games, you get the boxing and UFC at no extra charge, while Sky are going to be charging PPV to watch that twat Amir Khan fight, and i'm starting to grow quite fond of the Pat Dolan and Irish Guy's(name escapes me) double act. There's an innocence about it.

Plus, you can get a stream to practically any game you wish these days. I'll post some links if you're interested!

Unknown said...

Savage, cheers mal. Oh and yes i think jeweller will get a mention this evening, the big fat loser. Seriously, 27 games... how can any team do that? Though in fairness to the derby board most people thought it would be a good appointment when he first came in.

Unknown said...

How did you catch me out buckley??? Jesus is there any good news channel out there? Regarding the setanta sports version... it's fuckin horrendous stuff. Even Kelly Dalglish can't save it.

Post up them links if you can boss.

Oh and a fondness for Pat Dolan? Controversial in the extreme.

Anonymous said...

jj my sports channels are gettin shelved at the end of the month aswell for the ol l.c.... sky are even uping the prices by an extra 3yoyos a month so nows a good time to jump ship...

sky sports news should be banned,i know its shit yet i still watch it for the odd breakin news of "berbatov smiled today!"


oh and wasnt a.ferdinand linked with a £4mill move to barca a few years back?how does your value double while your injured??

Anonymous said...

saw arsenal highlights on rte and is their no. 20 spelling his name in binary? tmcg

Buckley said...

Ya Dolan i find amusing because of how over the top he is, and he's just madly in love with the game, which is nice(thats pretty gay i know). Don't find him offensive like i do the likes of Cahrlie mid-life crisis Nicols, Matt hamburger Le Tessier etc etc. The News channel is always good for a laugh too.

I get all my links here
http://www.myp2p.eu/competition.php?competitionid=&part=sports&discipline=football

And this is the software you'll need.
http://www.sopcast.com/ http://www.tvunetworks.com/

Quality isn't always great, but its passable. If you're familiar with torrents i know a great site where you can get all the games afterwards. Sad bastard that i am i like to download all our games and store them away. No matter how terrible the game, speaking of which, how bad was that tonight?!?

Fucking pitiful. Getting a bit fed up now of Rafa promising better football first and foremost, but failing to deliver spectacularly every time. We just have no clue how to control a game and play good football on a consistent basis.

Wasn't sold on Robbie from the off, and I'm less convinced every day. We needed quality on the flanks, the Gerrard Torres partnership didn't need tinkering with. Very odd signing, and dare i say, a waste of money.

Unknown said...

wow - Rafa is a very lucky man after that horror show last night, good game though, plenty of tension. Robbie's air-kick was the highlight for me