Complainer
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Trust in those who have devoted their personal and professional lives to the sport for years. Trust that they know just a little bit more about it than you or the other armchair experts.
Olympic Games that are not games
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mandelbrot
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Ill stick to a healthy level of skepticism thanks all the same. Officials in sporting organisations are first cousins to politicians when it comes down to it, in my experience. Phrases like "vested interests", "groupthink", "maintaining the status quo", and "threatened by change" spring to mind...
How am I an "armchair expert" - I'm only pointing out a fact, which for some reason you've taken grave exception to! It's not my fault racewalking isn't actually walking, and if you must know I was standing by the ironing board when I became an expert..!
I don't know whether you feel "expert" enough to express an opinion, but how do you feel about goal-line technology for soccer? I hope I'm expert enough to have an opinion... Maybe we should exchange credentials at this point!
Complainer, why continue to question the right of posters to hold an opinion? Why the digs at people on so many threads when you disagree with them?
There are many occasions when I disagree with you but I would never question your right to express your opinion. This time it's sport but on many other threads it's the health service, the public sector, politics etc. You seem to think that people should be experts before they are allowed to express an opinion. That's not the way a free society works, that's not the way democracy works and, on a much smaller level, that's not the way a discussion forum works. Question the opinion but not the right of the individual to hold or express that opinion.
There are many occasions when I disagree with you but I would never question your right to express your opinion. This time it's sport but on many other threads it's the health service, the public sector, politics etc. You seem to think that people should be experts before they are allowed to express an opinion. That's not the way a free society works, that's not the way democracy works and, on a much smaller level, that's not the way a discussion forum works. Question the opinion but not the right of the individual to hold or express that opinion.
Complainer
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I'd share some of your skepticism about officials in organisations, but at least, they have some knowledge of how the thing works. If you had ever run one of these races, or you were a county champion, or one of your kids was involved for a few years, then you might know enough to add something to the debate. If your main expertise is via the RTE commentators and your Sky remote, then I really don't see any value in that expertise. I don't know why anyone would expect to pontificate about something that they have no experience in.Ill stick to a healthy level of skepticism thanks all the same. Officials in sporting organisations are first cousins to politicians when it comes down to it, in my experience. Phrases like "vested interests", "groupthink", "maintaining the status quo", and "threatened by change" spring to mind...
I don't know whether you feel "expert" enough to express an opinion, but how do you feel about goal-line technology for soccer? I hope I'm expert enough to have an opinion... Maybe we should exchange credentials at this point!
Sorry, I wouldn't know the goal-line technology if I tripped over it, so I'll leave it to others who do. Maybe I just don't get the 'sports' thing of why everybody considers themselves to be expert, everyone knows better than Trapatoni or Keane or Ferguson or whoever.