Pearson Defends The Play-off... Desperate

[Arson fire 4,785]

All football commentators do is reel off statistics to fill in the gaps

[BWitcher 12,453]

Of course but also others that watched with me. All were crying with laughter as Nige wet his pants when nothing was happening

 

Not prompted by yourself of course.

 

They must do a lot of crying with laughter when watching sports.

[mickthemuppet 976]

Of course the play offs are a brilliant way to finish off the season. and anybody who does not think so does not fully understand speedway.

Speedway is a business and as in all businesses you have to make a profit. The play offs generate more money than any other six matches through the whole season. If some of the critics of the play offs were promoters they would soon change their mind.. It might not be the best way to end the season but great for the teams and riders involved

Then all the teams that are in the league know what the rules are at the start of the season . the play off will be here forever , Sky or no Sky unless a huge sponsor comees along or there is a huge injection of money

[The Doctor... 1,478]

Of course but also others that watched with me. All were crying with laughter as Nige wet his pants when nothing was happening

 

Come on..let's not lie now eh. Are we expected to believe this ?

[waiheke1 4,295]

Listening to Pearson on Sky tonight trying to defend the playoff in our Elite League made me wonder if he is a BSPA mouthpiece, rather than impartial journalist/commentator? I mean, how desperate is he for using the stupid comparison of the play-offs in the Championship to somehow justify using it in speedway. The Championship is used for 3-6th for promotion, not to decide who are league champions. Equally, the Premiership in football does not use play-offs to decide the league champions either. The play-offs to decide the league champions is pathetic, not to mention such weak arguments to defend it from the likes of Pearson.

Ok, instead as a comparison. The worlds best basketball competition, the NBL has play offs. So does the best Rugby League compeition the NRL. So does the Super 16 Rugby and the Heineken Cup. So too does Ice Hockeys show piece. The NZ and Australian cricket comps all have play offs, so too the IPL. There's a small event called the Super Bowl which is guess what, a play off final. In fact, I think pretty much all major club sports do except for football, but football also has prestigous knock out events alongside such as the FA Cup, the Champions LEague etc. Also, the qualification for Euro spots and promotion/relegation system means interest is retained to the last day even hen the winner is already known.

So, dislike the playoff system by all means, but don't try to pretend that Speedway is alone in using such a system, nor that it adds interest, as well as commeercial benefit, to the end of season.

[iris123 21,082]

Ok, instead as a comparison. The worlds best basketball competition, the NBL has play offs. So does the best Rugby League compeition the NRL. So does the Super 16 Rugby and the Heineken Cup. So too does Ice Hockeys show piece. The NZ and Australian cricket comps all have play offs, so too the IPL. There's a small event called the Super Bowl which is guess what, a play off final. In fact, I think pretty much all major club sports do except for football, but football also has prestigous knock out events alongside such as the FA Cup, the Champions LEague etc. Also, the qualification for Euro spots and promotion/relegation system means interest is retained to the last day even hen the winner is already known.

So, dislike the playoff system by all means, but don't try to pretend that Speedway is alone in using such a system, nor that it adds interest, as well as commeercial benefit, to the end of season.

 

In fairness i think it would be hard in most of the US sports to actually find a league table wouldn't it?I might be wrong but aren't they usually split up into different regional conferences and then the top teams from each play-off.A bit different imo,although i am no expert on American sport

[waiheke1 4,295]

In fairness i think it would be hard in most of the US sports to actually find a league table wouldn't it?I might be wrong but aren't they usually split up into different regional conferences and then the top teams from each play-off.A bit different imo,although i am no expert on American sport

that's true, but it would no doubt be possible to have a league system if they so desired - but could you imagine American football without a superbowl?

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

Of course they don't want silence ... but equally, are Sky's speedway production team really demanding such excitable nonsense that's all too often well out of proportion to the action the viewers are actually seeing ?

 

You don't hear other long-established commentators on Sky going way over the top in describing routine action ... take football's Martin Tyler, rugby union's Miles Harrison or any of their Test match cricket commentators who all pace their work so much better that it enables them to make their calls of the greatest moments all the more memorable (notably, Tyler's cry of "Aguuueeiirro" for Man City's stoppage-time title-clinching goal in May 2012).

 

Surely if it was Sky's general policy for over-the-top commentaries, Tyler would always be going berserk about the last goal in a comfortable 4-0 win, Harrison would usually be going crazy over the final try in an easy 35-3 win and any of Mike Atherton, Nasser Hussain or Sir Ian Botham would be screaming out loud every time the batsmen strolled an easy single ... none of those actually happens so why does Nigel Pearson or the speedway production team feel it necessary to adopt a different policy ? !!

 

The best tv-commentators always bear in mind that their voice is complementing the pictures rather than dominating them ... all too often, Pearson's radio background means he's doing a radio-style commentary during a tv-broadcast.

 

NO real comparison commentating on speedway races than soccer or cricket. And, yes, Sky (and BSI with regard to SGPs) do want, demand and love their passion and style.

[Starman2006 2,356]

The play off's are good for speedway and good for the clubs involved. But, they should be run on their merits, get shot of all this tactical lark. If you take a 10 point lead to and opponant you defend and 10 point lead, if the home side over turn the 10 points, then they win the tie, simples... Including the final..

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

TO use your Martin Tyler analogy ... virtually the whole time Martin is on air he has action taking place on the pitch. Out of a two hour plus speedway meeting, Nigel (and Kelvin) have only around 15 minutes of action. It is a very different scenario. At the GPs, they are live for three hours, with no breaks, with about 25 minutes of actual speedway.

 

Of course they rev (literally) up the commentary when the races are on.

[oldace 1,678]

Come on..let's not lie now eh. Are we expected to believe this ?

 

Of course it is true. These people are friends of quite a few people on here and their response to certain things (always a pet hate of the poster) is that they "cry with laughter" or on the occasional they visit the track for the "first time" where the love the action but always vow never to return because of "double points" "play offs" or whatever bandwagon the poster is on.

 

It is all true, I know these people exist, I believe they live at the bottom of the garden with the fairies

[Mike.Butler 601]

Go back to one-legged semis if we really have to have them..

[Gavan 5,062]

just winds me up when its the Darcy and Greg show like last night.

 

All the swooning over how well Hancock was riding. He scored 5!!!!!!!!

[Vincent Blachshadow 2,937]

Go back to one-legged semis if we really have to have them..

Or a one legged final at a neutral track. Then we would be somewhere near most, if not all, of these other sports that have play-offs.

[Humphrey Appleby 13,974]

that's true, but it would no doubt be possible to have a league system if they so desired - but could you imagine American football without a superbowl?

 

Although English football had 'test matches' back in the 19th century that were effectively playoffs (so hardly a new idea), the concept of modern-day playoffs probably evolved in American football although there's probably an even longer tradition of them in Aussie Rules.

 

The physical nature of that game and the short season means it's impractical for American football teams to play in traditional round-robin leagues, hence the evolution of conferences and the bowl system. The current structure NFL obviously evolved out of the merger of the former NFL and AFL, but the divisional structure already existed because of the need to have a more coherent schedule in the professional game. Of course, there then needed to be a way of determining the champion, hence the need for playoffs.

 

Playoff systems in traditional round-robin competitions are more contrived. Even baseball eschewed them for years with the exception of the World Series between the winners of the two ostensibly rival leagues. Of course, Aussie Rules has long had them and probably implements the best approach in terms of a double elimination system that gives more advantages to higher placed teams at the end of the regular season.