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Post by Old Hag on Jun 14, 2012 13:14:02 GMT -5
Royalty nonsense makes me feel bad for the majority of UKians that don't care to be serfs.
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Post by lexpretend on Jun 14, 2012 13:22:32 GMT -5
It made me a bit sick to see people queuing up to pledge their allegiance to a hereditary monarchy, and all too resigned to the fact that we'll never fucking get rid of it at this rate.
On the...not plus side, exactly, I realised that the plethora of Union Jacks plastered all over shops and papers and TV and everywhere you looked, so much that if I closed my eyes I could swear there were Union Jacks on the inside of my eyelids, weren't so much expressions of patriotism as commercial branding. Basically people trying to sell us shit and using the topical logo for it. Capitalism rendering the unhealthy symbolic power of the flag totally hollow. Albeit leaving us with just, you know, hollowness, which isn't that much better.
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Post by DBBN on Jun 14, 2012 14:47:12 GMT -5
That's still the case. Luckily, this year ITV4 (a Freeview digital channel that most people have) had daily coverage. For an actual newspaper article to happen about tennis, either there has to be a Serena-grade upset, or Murray needs to do whatever. No other player exists. Don't you guys get Eurosport?
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Post by janie on Jun 14, 2012 16:14:12 GMT -5
You need cable to get Eurosport. Just like ESPN here.
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Post by Edna Krabappel on Jun 14, 2012 16:21:28 GMT -5
I still vividly remember the joy I felt the day my cable operator included Eurosport in its package, just before RG '01.
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Post by DBBN on Jun 14, 2012 17:32:39 GMT -5
You need cable to get Eurosport. Just like ESPN here. Everyone HAS ESPN on basic cable here. So it can't be just like here.
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Post by janie on Jun 14, 2012 17:55:42 GMT -5
But not everyone has cable, whether basic or non-basic, in the UK. Or here. Why do you think anyone needed a converter box when all tv signals went to digital? Those govt. coupons to buy a box were for people who still watch tv through an antenna. Such people do indeed exist.
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Post by janie on Jun 14, 2012 17:56:52 GMT -5
In fact I have a sister who is trying to save money to buy a house. She watches antenna tv only.
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Post by Old Hag on Jun 14, 2012 19:39:56 GMT -5
I only have an antenna now, I despise what TV has become. But, I watch all my live sports online.
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Post by DBBN on Jun 14, 2012 21:30:06 GMT -5
In fact I have a sister who is trying to save money to buy a house. She watches antenna tv only. If you have cable, you have ESPN. But if you have cable in the UK, apparently you don't necessarily have Eurosport. So it's not a valid comparison. It sounds like it's a pay-extra thing.
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Post by Old Hag on Jun 14, 2012 21:31:15 GMT -5
And ESPN is raping anyone who has cable and doesn't care to watch it constantly.
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Post by lexpretend on Jun 15, 2012 1:50:04 GMT -5
Is digital the same thing as cable?
I guess some people still have the basic package of the 5 terrestrial channels. Most people have a Freeview digital box, which is free (you have to pay a one-off cost for the box itself, which is pretty cheap) - we have that, it provides tons of digital channels including ITV4, but not Eurosport.
There are various digital packages above that through which you can get Eurosport, Sky Sports etc, but they're pretty expensive and if all I want them for is tennis that I can stream, it's not worth it.
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Post by janie on Jun 15, 2012 5:30:57 GMT -5
Ahh! So Eurosport is more like HBO or other premium channels here.
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Post by janie on Jun 15, 2012 5:41:15 GMT -5
I only have an antenna now, I despise what TV has become. But, I watch all my live sports online. We did this for a month, ditching Verizon FiOS tv, but keeping their phone and super-fast internet package. But then Verizon made us a fantastic offer including "free DVR for life", so we're back on for 2 years. Of course in BCTT I have only internet for watching sports. The great thing is that I read that Wimbledon will be 100% on ESPN this year. Tennis Channel is only allowed to do highlights packages or some such, and NBC is out. So there should be tons of matches for livestreaming on the excellent ESPN3.
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Post by Wagasi on Jun 15, 2012 8:27:19 GMT -5
The Diamond Jubilee the other weekend here was the most disgustingly OTT example. Indeed the entire deluge of royal propaganda we've been subjected to this year. It makes me think this nation is addicted to servitude in a horrible, self-loathing kind of way. Though not as obsessive, the Canuckian press were pretty bad about this stuff too. Lots of editorials in the papers breathlessly listing all the reasons we have for "loving our queen." The only thing the monarchy's ever given us is a fake head of state who's repeatedly proven completely useless when it came to making actual decisions.
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Post by Edna Krabappel on Jun 15, 2012 8:37:15 GMT -5
Ahh! So Eurosport is more like HBO or other premium channels here. Not here! Everyone has Eurosport and Eurosport 2 in their basic cable package. That's good. We also have Serbian commentators. That's not as good.
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Post by DBBN on Jun 15, 2012 9:16:17 GMT -5
Ahh! So Eurosport is more like HBO or other premium channels here. Not here! Everyone has Eurosport and Eurosport 2 in their basic cable package. That's good. We also have Serbian commentators. That's not as good. Yeah, I mean I know Eurosport is everywhere. We had it in Ireland for free. Which is why I'm surprised Alex in the UK didn't have it
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Post by Old Hag on Jun 15, 2012 10:33:48 GMT -5
The great thing is that I read that Wimbledon will be 100% on ESPN this year. Tennis Channel is only allowed to do highlights packages or some such, and NBC is out. So there should be tons of matches for livestreaming on the excellent ESPN3. True, TTC has zero live coverage of Bimbly now, in the trade-off that they got most of RG. ESPN3 is pretty good for the other 3 slams now, except for Labor Day Weekend. And just having a digital antenna is much different than it used to be. It gives you the best picture and least delay of the network channels, and some extra channels that cable doesn't give.
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Post by janie on Jun 17, 2012 14:47:46 GMT -5
New WCs:
GS: Josh Goodall, Grega Zemlja.
LS: Melanie Oudin.
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Post by Old Hag on Jun 17, 2012 15:02:01 GMT -5
Oudin, booooo.
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Post by janie on Jun 17, 2012 16:22:59 GMT -5
She did earn it, though.
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Post by janie on Jun 17, 2012 16:47:12 GMT -5
MD WC to Ashleigh Barty.
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Post by DBBN on Jun 17, 2012 18:27:04 GMT -5
She earned it too.
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Post by DBBN on Jun 17, 2012 21:06:20 GMT -5
So...what did Zemlja do to get the MDWC?
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Post by Paean on Jun 18, 2012 1:13:17 GMT -5
He earned it, too. Won the Nottingham Challenger yesterday.
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Post by lexpretend on Jun 18, 2012 2:23:57 GMT -5
Karin Knapp got the final MD WC as the next in. Definitely preferable to upgrading South. I presume if someone pulls out before the QD is made (BAG? Krajicek?), the WC just goes down the next-in list...funnily enough, the next two after Knapp are Lucic and Doi, ie the only other players you could actually make a vague deserving case for.
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