We're laughing...

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Australia may no longer be able to beat England at cricket, but that doesn't stop us having a good laugh at your expense. Widely reported in the Australian media today is this make-the-Aussies-fall-about-laughing quote from a hapless BBC Nottingham announcer:

"It's still pretty blazing hot here in Nottingham where it's been a hot, muggy day. Temperatures rising to 28 degrees according to the sensors on top of the BBC building here in Nottingham and the humidity has been up to 50 per cent," he said.

Gosh!

[El Gordo]

What's so funny? We're having a heatwave here at the moment. Hottest day for 3 years yesterday, with temperatures rising to 32 degrees in some unfortunate places.

It's unbearable, and a bit more sympathy would be appreciated.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

It's unbearable, and a bit more sympathy would be appreciated.

*snork*

:RFLMAO::RFLMAO:

[Sweder]

Heard this yesterday on Planet Rock.
Rob Bernie, mid-morning jock, was bemoaning the 'inapproriate support act' on the current AC DC tour of these islands. The Answer are right enough, good journeyman rockers, but the middle act - Subway? - were, apparently, in severe danger of getting canned off (metaphorically of course; you can't take actual tinnies into a gig here in Nanny-state Britain).

Realising he may have dented the expectations of that evening's Hampden Park crowd, Bernie made amends.

'Of course, that's not to say that some time after 8pm tonight you lot in Hampden Park won't hear the monstrous screech of that Runaway Train, and, for the best part of the next two hours, your faces will melt.'

Face-melting metal. Reminds me of SP at the Motorhead soundcheck ...

And, yes, a little more sympathy for your colonial masters would be appreciated

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

And, yes, a little more sympathy for your colonial masters would be appreciated

:RFLMAO::RFLMAO::RFLMAO:
There there, diddums.
:RFLMAO::RFLMAO::RFLMAO:

[El Gordo]

:RFLMAO::RFLMAO::RFLMAO:
There there, diddums.
:RFLMAO::RFLMAO::RFLMAO:

Sheesh. This is a crisis of biblical proportions, and all you can do is walk past on the other side of the road, tittering to yourself.

I hope our boys in white are made aware of this. Another Ashes victory would give you the perfect response.

Man, this heat is so bad I'm considering opening a window and having a glass of cold water.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Man, this heat is so bad I'm considering opening a window and having a glass of cold water.

I hear international aid and emergency response teams are being organised...

[Sweder]

Of course it took years of dithering, endless luncheons, vast sums of wonga and miles of newsprint to get a roof on Centre Court ... what else would you expect weather-wise? Longest blast of continual heat since John Kettley was in swadling clothes ...

Nice to see another Aussie battler fall by the wayside yesterday.
Spares you the ignominy of losing to a Jock I suppose ...

By the way, following Murray's conversion to British Sporting Icon Men's Finals tickets changing hands for GBP 20K a pop. Get your money on Roddick in three ...

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Of course it took years of dithering, endless luncheons, vast sums of wonga ...

That's a strange expression Bruce. What is this wonga of which you speak?

Nice to see another Aussie bottler fall by the wayside yesterday. Spares you the ignominy of losing to a Jock I suppose ...

Well yes. I'm not his biggest fan either, but it was an admirable return to form, and to be fair, I thought he played very, very well. All part of the fun of the Wimbledon fair.

By the way, following Murray's conversion to British Sporting Icon Men's Finals tickets changing hands for GBP 20K a pop. Get your money on Roddick in three ...

Really? Roddick is a strange fish: he can play extremely well and look as though he could battle his way through a brick shit-house; gets to the quarters or maybe the semis and seems to lose interest and goes out in straight sets. Except for that one U.S. Open win, he's invariably disappointing in the majors. But maybe SP has a view on the matter?

As for Andy Murray, I say good on him for getting as far as he has in the rankings, but there's no way he's going to beat Federer. Federer's way too cool to be beaten by a Scot.

MLCM has spoken.

[Sweder]

As for Andy Murray, I say good on him for getting as far as he has in the rankings, but there's no way he's going to beat Federer. Federer's way too cool to be beaten by a Scot.
MLCM has spoken.

As ever your words reverberate with sense and wisdom. However ...

Murray has downed the White Baron on several occasion in recent times. OK, not in a slam, and not for that matter on grass ... but Murray has that most un-British trait in spades: massive self-belief. It might just win him the day.

But first Roddick. Muzzah is 6 from 8 against the American serve-pounder and will expect to beat him, albeit after a struggle. McEnroe says Ferrero-Rocher was 'set up for Murray' - as in played the way Murray prefers his opponents - weak serve, unremarkable pace on the ground strokes. One must remember that Mac has championed A-Rod for the last ten years so there's a bit of kidology there. It was still a pretty damning demolition (by Murray) of a former World No.1 yesterday. Roddick barely got up against a Hewitt playing for the most part on one and a half good ankles.

I like Murray; there, I've said it 'out loud'.
He's petulant, cocky and driven. Rather like that wild-haired New Yorker who caused such a ruccus in the '80's. Yes, I am serious.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I like Murray; there, I've said it 'out loud'.
He's petulant, cocky and driven. Rather like that wild-haired New Yorker who caused such a ruccus in the '80's. Yes, I am serious.

You speak words of wisdom yourself, Mr. Sweder. I too, admire the petulant Scot. But he reminds me very, very much of an Aussie you may know: one Mr Mark Webber of F1 infamy. Consider the similarities: they both have tremendous self-belief; they have both earned an obscene amount of money despite not winning any major event; they both have boring names; they both have obscenely gorgeous females lusting after them despite being gangly (and let's face it) rather dull in appearance; and they both come from the arse ends of the world (albeit opposite ones). They're also both rather tall.

And here I make my claim: neither of them will ever win a major, or my name isn't Osbert Goldfish.

[Seafront Plodder]

Just typed an enormous response on the state of the women's game and their semi's today, the men left to play tomorrow, my opinion of Roddick, why I like Haas, why I've never warmed to Hewitt either and my tips to win......and lost the effing lot when pressing 'submit' :mad:

Well I'm not sodding typing it again, but Serena and Murray to win :o

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Well I'm not sodding typing it again, but Serena and Murray to win :o

Venus and Woger for mine.

Venus because she seems to have the edge over Serena at the moment in terms of fitness and hunger; and Woger because, well, he's Woger, and no-one beats the man with the silly name, least of all at Woger's own Wombledon.

[Sweder]

Welease Woger! And Wodderwick!

Venus & Murray, though Mel Gibson and other consipracy theorists believe 'it's Serena's turn'. As shown in the semi's today, Venus Got Game.

Murray simply believes, and that's enough for me to think he has a fighting chance. If the 'dream' final happens it could be a belter.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Murray simply believes, and that's enough for me to think he has a fighting chance. If the 'dream' final happens it could be a belter.

Well I guess the crowd will be to his advantage. He still has to get past Roddick though, and neither Roddick nor Fedewer are likely to let the crowd bother them that much, so it will indeed come down to how much Murray believes he really is English and not a mangy Scot. I think Roddick does have a good chance of beating him though, and in any case, no-one is going to beat Fedewer - he has to atone for last year, and I believe he will.

As much as I hate the smug bastard. :mad:

[El Gordo]

I don't know what will happen but the form book suggests Murray will squeeze past Roddick and face Federer. From there, the result is unpredictable, though what does seem very likely is that the contest itself will be gripping and full of crazy incident. It looks like a proper gaspfest on the way, and that will do me just nicely.

I'm not a big tennis fan outside the later stages of Wimbledon, and not as knowledgeable as you chaps, but I'm astonished at the improvement in Murray over a year or two. I mean, he's actually.... he's actually a proper tennis player with all the shots, and all the mental toughness of the superheroes. It's an utterly unfamiliar experience for tennis-watching Brits. Henman and Greg (who I spotted in a restaurant in Nottingham recently) were sort of top-of-the-Second-Division players who admirably punched above their weight, and kept us interested. But Murray is the real deal, and it feels great.

I just hope that whatever he does at Wimbledon, he can succeed in at least one other grand slam tournament. England winning the (football) World Cup in 1966 was always faintly devalued by the fact that it was won in England. If Murray can go one better than he did in the US Open last year, he will truly deserve his place in history.

[Sweder]

Murray's change has been based on hard work in the gym - he's bulked up - and his outrageous fitness. He got into that Super-Sauna Yoga stuff (technical term) where you strike alarming poses whilst looking like Sweder 20 minutes into a run on a hot day. Roddick is dangerous but most pundits agree his game matches up well for Murray - big serve where cute returns can work against him - yet we should remember this is sport; nothing is certain.

The other thing that strikes me about Murray is his even demeanour off the court. Listened to an interview with one of his class mates - the current Miss Scotland. She said he's the same as he ever was (if only she'd said it twice in succession ... a great David Byrne moment) and hasn't changed a bit. There's a whiff of IF in that, triumph & disaster and all that, and it bodes well. That's not to say Murray wouldn't chuck his Granny under a bus to win; he just deals with the inevitable bad bounces with an impressive equinimity. Also follow him on Twitter - his character shines through, as does his humility (in publicly thanking Pizza Express in Wimbledon Village for re-firing the ovens after his late-night epic) and his wickedly dry sense of humour.

On 'other slams' the perceived wisdom is he has a cracking chance at the US Open. He's made the final once already and his Mac-like countenance endears him to the NY crowd. Of course on that occasion he was gunned down by the Swiss Grand Fromage ...

Bottom line is Rafa and Woger are at their peak and won't last forever.
Of course we said that about Henman and Sampras. Then along came Goran, and Woger ...

[Sweder]

Just typed an enormous response on the state of the women's game and their semi's today, the men left to play tomorrow, my opinion of Roddick, why I like Haas, why I've never warmed to Hewitt either and my tips to win......and lost the effing lot when pressing 'submit' :mad:

Well I'm not sodding typing it again, but Serena and Murray to win :o

... and the irony is you're probably one of the few people around here who actually know sod-all about it :o

Sorry mate - best watch that ass-grinding BT advert one more time about how awful it would be if your wifi dropped out at a critical moment. It's why we don't carry guns in this country - there'd be a lot of dead second-rate actors about ...

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

If the warm(ish) weather continues, Murray will be in big trouble against Roddick, as I'm not that convinced of his warm weather fitness. Roddick on the other hand looks to be in excellent shape, and Murray will be troubled by that big Roddy serve, especially if it goes to 4 or 5 sets.

I still fear it will be a Fedewer whitewash. Woger and Wafa are so clearly the top two players at the moment, that daylight is third, fourth and fifth. If Murray beats him, it will be an astonishing result, but I can't help thinking you guys are letting the occasion get to you. I really do hope I'm wrong - I find Woger a very boring player to watch (in a similar vein to Sampras and Edberg: so clinical they're dull - whereas I prefer to watch a player with real character) and would love to see either Muwway or Woddick (both gweat pwayers to watch) knock him about a bit.

Even better would be for Tommy Haas to beat the Fed, then we'd have a fantastic final. Don't think that's going to happen tho.

[Sweder]

Naturally enough most of the chatter is about Murray/ Roddick. I wonder if Tommy Haas might not have a say in all this? Haas came within a whisker of downing Federer at the French. He's battle-hardened after some epic encounters at SW19 already ... and whilst everyone says how relaxed Federer looks having bagged the Slam slam that might become a liability if things get tight this afternoon.

The head says Federer knows what to do against any given opponent, but like MLCMan I also find the inevitability of a Federer win slightly tedious. It's just so much fun to able to talk about these great players in relation to a genuine British talent. And Murray's still on the up ...

[SIZE="6"]C'MON!!![/SIZE]