New balls please!

[Gordon McIvor Wilson]

We invented tennis and the Davis Cup: How is it that British lawn tennis gets £25m pa from the Championships, £30m over 5 years from Aegon**, and they tip out this heap of damaged or immature codswallop to represent the mighty Great Britain on the world stage? They knew there was a problem - why else stage it in a blue-carpeted barn on Merseyside?

So we are now in the bottom league (sound familiar?) and the only redeeming feature is that it contains Denmark, home of the blessed Caro Wozniacki, the tasty Danish pastry, aka the Delectable Dane - maybe they'll allow the girls to take part, more than a match for our bunch!

[**I hope Aegon's investments in their policyholders' funds are better placed than in sponsoring this cringingly dreadful promotional tennis garbage]

[Gordon McIvor Wilson]

Sorry, Adonis, crossed wires indeed - quaint misunderstanding last night after an hour on the Fasthosts 'help' line in the Phillipines!
I dont happen to think typos are quaint or necessary, spellcheck would be valuable - you could write your post in Word and check it, then paste it across? Or take a typing course? That would be quite American - self reliant, self help; thats whats behind the healthcare issue.
Selfish yes, partic in business. Tolerant of business failures, bankrupts, yes, but they have a much higher pain threshold in 'ventures' and expect big bath write-downs - seen as a good try, high risk, high reward; not as a wimpish incompetence.

Betfair: there is a move to allow internet betting in the US, there's a blog somewhere in here about it; but the vested local interests are pretty powerful.
And Betfair seems set fair for a float soon.

[Adonis First]

Crossed wires?
I'm English. I used the USA as an example of foreigners finding us "quaint"... we really are!
Maybe typos are just part of our expanding quaintness then?

Americans don't adore losers, correct, but they forgive them quickly. For example, spending a few years as a bankrupt in the USA is sometimes seen (retrospectively) as a solid grounding in business acumen!
I have spent some considerable time Stateside on business, and reinforce the phrase "we are two Nations separated by a common language". Americans think entirely differently to us, and are driven by very different motives. Not necessarily or always bad, but definitely different!
One horrid trait (I feel) is their solid denial of full medical care to those who don't have any money. It seems so "un-American" at first, but when you've analysed the typical US psyche, you find that it's unsurprising, really. They are very selfish (or seem that way to us) in some aspects of Life. You wouldn't want to fall ill on the road to Damascus and rely on an American playing Good Samaritan... Unless, of course, there was a TV crew around as well.
I think that betfair will do very well indeed in the USA if only they can find a way in.....
Maybe "quaint" isn't all bad?

I remember Christine Truman, BTW, and Andy Pandy on a 405 lines x 12 inch black and white screen too... Adverts on TV was a pipedream, once....it was BBC or nowt!

[Gordon McIvor Wilson]

But you guys over there can and do breed potential winners in the first place; our media have to be content with grasping a prospect and killing him/her (you wont remember Christine Truman) with pressure to win.

Not so sure the Americans I have worked with adore losers (well, other than their opponents, that is!)

Typos make the posts more human, our techxpert member says it looks more realistic (sorry Mooders). I'll ask him about your new NDsyndrome too, I'm surprised at the New Scientist tangling with such stuff - Mooders knows everything about everything but is shy of revealing this to The Sports Exchange pages.

[Adonis First]

er, NOMINATIVE DETERMINISM
(why can't we fix typos in comments????)

[Adonis First]

But in the USA, they LOVE this "quaint" aspect of British life!
We ADORE being the loser. As soon as we breed a potential winner, our media unite to discuss how long it will take for his/her bubble to burst.
And burst it usually does...."self-determining demise".
Anyone seen the New Scientist prizes for "Nimnative Detrminism" which highl;ights such names as Mrs Bun (the baker's wife) and R. Suppwards (the prone-posed sunbather)?
Our next Wimbledon "champ" might be of Anglo-Spanish descent, Dennis El Bow.....or another wide-awake Scotsman, Courtney Napping?