The Zone Virtual Sports Bar, Hamilton.

First topic message reminder :

Hello and welcome to the Zone Sports Bar, a place where you can come in for a sly beverage and discuss whatever's on your mind, or just eavesdrop on the regulars if you fancy a break from all the rugby chat.

This week the pub has set up in Sky City Hamilton, where the Crusaders take on the Chiefs in the Super XV semi final.

The only rule in this pub is one of mutual respect for everyone in it, oh and no tampering with the pictures of Bradley Wiggins, Ernie Els, Irene van Dyk, Sonny Bill Williams and his newly capped All Black team mate Sam Cane.



Previous pub. https://www.606v2.com/t32740-the-dew-drop-inn-virtual-rugby-pub-bridgend

I'll help myself to more then!

Mornin chaps and chapesses. Back on clinicals so I'll probably be on here a lot less during the days. Have a good 'un

Morning lucky. Nice here too this morning

How's the pup?

Enjoy your day, CJ!

The pup was fine this morning, but I'm guessing that she's chewing the lino in the kitchen as we speak. I spray this stuff on it that's meant to deter chewing, but it's not stopping her entirely.

Morning all.

Tipping it down here this morning, as per

Had a nice day out yesterday and managed to avoid the rain. Walked the East Strand at Portrush, visited Ballintoy Harbour (just missed getting some fresh fish), walked across Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge* and had Cod n Chips in Ballycastle for tea.

Spoiler:

Good Morning fellas,

Lucky - is it just the temporary name change you think will upset viewers?

CJ - hope you still are able to follow the events... and pop in here now & again for your comments which are usually a "10.8"... or pretty much spot on.

Rava - is that the bridge the 'bearded Scottish comedian' drove his motor bike up to in his tour of the island? Looks spectacular!

Many folks here are in shock over the 4th place in the 100m freestyle relay... expecting Magnussen to have done better. They now say his ego 'has been destroyed' or he should have been anchor, etc. Nobody expected the French lads to smash 'em all. Reality hurts! JM still has a chance in the individual 200m F/S and I hope all the 'reaction' has a positive affect... there's such huge (OTT) expectations from everyone here.

That 4 x 100m freestyle was a great race, Breaker. I'm a bit of a Francophile so that last leg was great to watch! It did seem to be an upset that the Australian team missed out entirely, though.

The complaints will come because they've given over general news coverage to the Olympics. It wouldn't be so bad if you could flick over to the news channel for real, non-Olympics news, but they were showing Olympic Breakfast there too. They'll have a point, too.

Watched an obscene amount of sport over the weekend, the BBC provides the most biased coverage going!

The commentary on the men’s road race was laughable. Interviewing the winner at the end and asking him 2 questions about team GB would have to be the highlighting of the weekend for me. hilarious!

But they're our Olympics, Mick. If an athlete from another country has the temerity to win, he'd better have a damn good explanation!

Lucky, funnily enough, after doing some ancestral research I'm a bit of a Francophile too (lots of 'connections' from Bretagne, Normandie, Aquitaine, etc)

I actually did my own tour of many of the towns I had references to. I was actually sitting in the main square in Dinan... sipping my latte and munching on a crepe when I suddenly noticed some bloke who looked vaguely similar to me. I knew I was in the right town.

However, I nearly choked moments later when a young lady walked by who also bore a certain resemblance to me! True...

Oh sure, I can understand how it’s easy to get swept into the biased frenzy that they do, Ireland only really have strong chances for medals in 1 event (boxing) so when our athletes don’t win in another sport, we don’t get too excited about it.

I take it all with a pinch of salt, it’s funny.

I'm just glad the Games are underway. They've been plugging them since New Year's Day and it was getting tedious.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I'm just glad the Games are underway. They've been plugging them since New Year's Day and it was getting tedious.

The wait for them to eventually arrive takes ages... a 7 year build-up but the countdown from 500, 365, 100 days seems to take forever.

However, the 16 days or whatever simply flies through.

It sort of hits you at the Closing Ceremony. Some people felt really gutted.

If you're really into it like I am there's that mixture of "wow... that was great!" and "it's going to be a long, long time before they are here again". There will also be talk of the post-Olympic slump (continually reminded of this by the media) - where you suddenly realise how important the Games were to the economy, national pride (in a nice way) and your own sporting memories.

Then, all too quickly, they are history but even 12 years down the track I still have very vivid memories of certain very special moments that occurred within those "16 days of glory". It's definitely a once in a lifetime experience though.

Morning , head is thumping man totally shattered today but have a busy day ahead....

I actually wasn't really excited by the Olympics but now they are on I wish I was in London.

My sister and her family are going to a couple of events next weekend. I think they have tickets for the 100m finals.

Sounds like you had a cracking day yesterday Rava!

If they were being hosted in your home town rodders it might be a different story. I guess you have to experience it first hand to truly understand.

It also depends on the host country's level of sporting fanatacism of course.
I can tell you it was a very big thing for us here but then again we have a large proportion of sports nuts.

In all honestly LB I don't think my hometown is quite ready to host the Olympics....

You know they spread out the events? Equestrian maybe?

I woke up one morning and they had painted the blue line of the Marathon course on the street a few blocks away.
(it was actually the bit near the starting line)

The line is still visible in parts... however most of it has been worn away by vehicles.

We were actually supposed to be developing an elite Judo and wrestling facility here to host a number of the teams but the local council forgot to build it....

I went to the Judo and Wrestling... it was a unique experience for me.
I'll probably never go to either of those types of events again but I'm glad I did go. I kept all the tickets.

rodders wrote:We were actually supposed to be developing an elite Judo and wrestling facility here to host a number of the teams but the local council forgot to build it....

I thought that venue was Guildhall Square on a Friday and Saturday night!

Just had a quick look at my tickets... $45 for the Judo final. Good value really.

However, my 2001 Bled Cup ticket - has faded sadly.

We gotta a medal, we gotta a medal, we gotta a medal.









Probably our only one.

The right colour too! No, you'll get more for sure.

From where my friend?

Rava wrote:

rodders wrote:We were actually supposed to be developing an elite Judo and wrestling facility here to host a number of the teams but the local council forgot to build it....

I thought that venue was Guildhall Square on a Friday and Saturday night!

I don't think they give out olympic medals for what goes on there....

dunno Biltong... Caster Semeyna or small bore rifle shoot?

biltongbek wrote:We gotta a medal, we gotta a medal, we gotta a medal.









Probably our only one.

Must be terrible that Bil, to only win one medal and not know where the rest of them are coming from.

Ireland are predicted to win 1 gold. Think we can manage at least that plus a couple of silver or bronze ones. Why are we only good at boxing, it’s a bloody mystery to me…

biltongbek wrote:From where my friend?

Other realistic medal hopes include javelin thrower Sunette Viljoen, the 4x400m track team, which is ranked second in the world, mountain biker Burry Stander, BMX rider Sifiso Nhlapo, canoeist Bridgitte Hartley, long jumper Khotso Mokoena, a silver medallist at the 2008 Games, and Semenya.

So it's not all doom & gloom, my friend.

Guess I'll venture in here now!! Crazy weekend involving a 4 hour meeting on a Saturday afternoon for work..........working on Saturday's is unheard of for me!! Now trying to stay awake in the office but very happy that the Sharks are in the final!!

Oh and I also met a very drunk Matt (Dr Who) Smith Saturday night which was interesting!!

Linebreaker wrote:

biltongbek wrote:From where my friend?

Other realistic medal hopes include javelin thrower Sunette Viljoen, the 4x400m track team, which is ranked second in the world, mountain biker Burry Stander, BMX rider Sifiso Nhlapo, canoeist Bridgitte Hartley, long jumper Khotso Mokoena, a silver medallist at the 2008 Games, and Semenya.

So it's not all doom & gloom, my friend.

I will poop myself if these guys win medals.

Surely you can find a better way to celebrate?
Van der Burgh wasn't on that list so you're already exceeding expectations.

Mickado wrote:
Ireland are predicted to win 1 gold. Think we can manage at least that plus a couple of silver or bronze ones. Why are we only good at boxing, it’s a bloody mystery to me…

I think that probably ties back to what goes on in the guildhall square on a friday night too Mick.....

It is frustrating though but I think it comes down to a small population size plus a lack of top facilities and coaching to be competitive in a lot of sports. The boxers have shown what can be done with good quality coaching and the right enviroment.

I'd like to see Ireland do better at the water and equastrian sports. Theres always decent cross country athletes but without good facilities its difficult to translate that onto the track I suppose.

Most Irish athletes need to go abroad for top coaching which isn't possible for most.

Linebreaker wrote:Surely you can find a better way to celebrate?

I saw one hell of a face plant in the gymnastics yesterday, a Chinese girl in the vault. She didn't hurt herself, so I didn't feel too bad for laughing at it.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:Surely you can find a better way to celebrate?

I saw one hell of a face plant in the gymnastics yesterday, a Chinese girl in the vault. She didn't hurt herself, so I didn't feel too bad for laughing at it.

Vault is that square bar thingy?

I hate watching that, every time they go "sit" on it, it hurts and my eyes involuntarily tear up.

No. that's the beam, Biltong - but I know what you mean!

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:No. that's the beam, Biltong - but I know what you mean!

Shows you how little I know about Gymnastics.

Talking about that, the follwing sports I can't bare to watch.

Diving, synchronised swimming, Gymnastics, Ice skating or any sport where the "judges" award points.

For the life of me I cannot figure out how you award points when you wtch someone dive off a platform, or jump over a vault etc and based on mere seconds of action you decide how "perfect" the execution was.

I know there are supposed to be difficulty factors brought into it, but how do you judge toes pointing in the right direction, fingers doing whatever they are supposed to be doing, knees are bent or straight etc.

For me it is all subjective. If I was a judge the hottie would win every time.

Here's a beauty...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxk69lSk6m4

I've always liked the gymnastics, Biltong. Synchronised swimming and ice skating I couldn't care less about, though.

Linebreaker wrote:Here's a beauty...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxk69lSk6m4

Ouch.

Hey Biltong... did you or Kiwi have a preference for the next Pub? London, innit?

Also, any suggestions for the wall pictures is appreciated.

Yeah LB, make it London. But put a pic of Cameron v d Burgh there in honour of our only medal.

rodders wrote:

Mickado wrote:
Ireland are predicted to win 1 gold. Think we can manage at least that plus a couple of silver or bronze ones. Why are we only good at boxing, it’s a bloody mystery to me…

I think that probably ties back to what goes on in the guildhall square on a friday night too Mick.....

It is frustrating though but I think it comes down to a small population size plus a lack of top facilities and coaching to be competitive in a lot of sports. The boxers have shown what can be done with good quality coaching and the right enviroment.

I'd like to see Ireland do better at the water and equastrian sports. Theres always decent cross country athletes but without good facilities its difficult to translate that onto the track I suppose.

Most Irish athletes need to go abroad for top coaching which isn't possible for most.

We need to start a campaign to get Hurling into the olympics. We'd probably win, most of the time!

How about a photo of Boris Johnson playing whiff-whaff.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:How about a photo of Boris Johnson playing whiff-whaff.

Against Danny Boyle and the pub could be based with a view of horse guards parade

And a photo of Zara Phillips's horse's @rse.

Wall pictures - Freddie Michalak for his great performance against the Stormers. Lizzie Armitstead and Marianne Vos

Can we put it on top of the Opening Ceremony hillock?

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:And a photo of Zara Phillips's horse's @rse.

Can we leave the horse out of it?

No. It defines her.

She'd have to climb over the fences.