The Grand National 2015 (and the boat race)

Well just about. 2nd place for Saints Are. Got most of my money back at least.

Now watching the boat race and can't believe Jonathan Ledgard is commentating :rolleyes:
Round the bend, past the duck, it's Oxford leading cambridge.
 
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FB are you having a bad day?

Not particularly Titch, I have serious problems with the relevance of the 'Varsity boat race in 21st century Britain, especially as all the bell ends paddling the boats are only there because they can paddle, not because they are the best and the brightest attending two of Britain's premier educational establishments.

Horse racing only exist for gambling, which I am not a great fan of but each to there own, the only people who make money out of gambling are bookmakers and casinos. Horse racing is also incredibly cruel, especially National Hunt. A horse dies for the sake of gambling roughly every other day.

http://www.horsedeathwatch.com/

Anyway, this is my last comment in this thread as others enjoy this sort of thing so that's up to them.
 
A bunch of chinless wonder paddling followed by a bunch of chinless wonders carrying out animal cruelty, I'll think you will find FB that will be be topped off by a bunch of chinless wonders trying to convince everyone that fox hunting is/was there to control the fox population and that badger culling is jolly good sport and stops the spread of TB.

Upper class bullshit...
 
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As someone who grew up in Cambridge, it might shock the nay-sayers to know that the rowers aren't all rich chinless wonders, at least for Cambridge. I looked into Cambridge as an option because my grades were very good, and looked into the rowing team because I was really quite good at that too. If you can get into Cambridge, and can row well, you'll get a chance on the rowing team. Simple as that. To even get into Cambridge at all, rowing or not, you're among the best and brightest. Are the members of the rowing teams the brightest at Cambridge? Probably not, but they're still brighter than most of the kids in universities across the country.
 
Sorry Dash Racing but rowers are given scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge because they can row not because they are the sort of people who should be at our top two universities and happen to be able to row. These people are, effectively, professional sportsmen who attend university. Not one of the crew (apart from the cox) is of an age where they would normally be attending university, even if studying for a PhD. One of the Oxford men's crew is 27 and one of the women's 32!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...ews-for-the-April-11-event-on-the-Thames.html
 
A dislike of Universities that cater for the truly gifted, whether that be sporting or intellectual perhaps?
 
Oxford an Cambridge are not there to develop sports men and women Jen. No dislike of Universities offering places for those that are gifted, that's why they have entrance exams and take in to account the previous exam results of the students. These places have produced and nurtured some of the greatest minds this planet has seen, they are not there to chuck out elite sportsmen and women.
 
I believe that 'chucking out elite' sports people is now part of the UK uni system - another American import and/or progress.

However, to dismiss them as 'rowers only' is to do a disservice to them personally - they are all there to attain first degrees, Masters or PHDs as well. They may well be brawny, but they certainly aren't stupid.

Both Oxford and Cambridge were crucified for picking only the best intellectual minds, so adapted their criteria to cover the 'all rounder'. A bad move, as the UK needs as many focussed nerds, geeks and intellectual giants as we can muster - as does the rest of the World.

PS/Edit: my eldest daughter was 27 when she did her Masters in London and 30 when she picked up a teaching degree. She was just short of 21 when she attained her first degree.
 
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I have no problem with the boat race, in fact I quite enjoy it, well normally, it was a bit of a whitewash this year. But it's harmless.
I can't say the same for the Grand National, I hate all steeplechasing, it is cruel. So I'm with FB on that one.
However Flat racing is not just for the chinless aristocracy, almost the entire Irish nation are passionate about it, and they can't all be chinless wonders. Can they?
 
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