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The title of Joe's latest Free State episode might lead you to believe it's about Jim McGuinness, but it's essentially just Joe using Jim as the vehicle to pursue his personal vendetta against Mickey Harte.

Joe spent years making fairly bitter attacks on McGuinness, auccusing him repeatedly of having "destroyed the game". A few months ago he wrote a column blasting the extreme and unfair expectations McGuinness places on players in their personal lives in pursuit of success, and only a few months ago, termed him "the the dark destroyer of gaelic football" who was about to unleash his latest "virus".

One victory from Jim over Mickey Harte later, and we get a podcast telling us everthing that is wrong about Harte as a man and a manager, and how McGuinness is the greatest manager in the game and absolutely lauding how he man-manages his players.

The episode also contains Joe telling us how he told txt a friend before the Derry Donegal game to predict that Donegal would win using "a ploy to go for lobbed goals when the keeper comes to midfield". Weirdly, he never once made that prediciton in public before the game. Just told us about how he predicted it in the aftermath and how obvious it was.

Way to yet again miss the point there gallsman. And way to once again attempt to minimise the examples down to one specific one. What did I say in my last post? It's not about any one specific thing he does, but rather the fact that he regularly does little things purely to entertain. Just because the video was from 2018, so what? Are you suggesting he was a different player in 2018 than every other year of his career? That he only showed personality that one season? Maybe you didnt see him joking and interacting with the crowd just last week? Handing his cue to a lad in the crowd after playing a bad shot? Pretending to sulk on the steps instead of going to his seat? Does that not tell you he has a sense of humour? Is that not a personality trait? In his game Vs Si Jiahui, with Si only needing to win the last frame, Williams took on an outrageous shot given the risk, that most players would have shied away from. Does that say nothing about his personality compared to any equally/more capable player who wouldnt have dreamt of such a high risk shot in such circumstances?

I have absolutely no idea why he does "no look" shots whatsoever. I don't think it's in any way famously a regular feature of his game.

He plays the underarm shot because he (in)famously prefers it to using the rest or the spider. Again, he's trying to win.

Christ gallsman give it up! You don't know why he does "no look" shots? So you are going to dig the heels in and refuse to even countenance that, maybe...just maybe....it's down to him trying to be entertaining/showing a little fun? A little....personality?

And again, you've an awful habit of taking one specific example from a list. The point is, he regularly tries to bring a bit of light heartedness/entertainment to the table when he plays, and he does so in a whole range of forms - not just by closing his eyes taking shots, or turning his head away as he strikes the cue ball, or not just by playing underarm shots when its unnecessary, or not jsut in joking with his opponent and the refs, and no, not just by sharing sweets with the audience (as a single example that you've now twice tried to minimise this discussion down to).

Christ on a f**king bike. He takes on long pots because he's famously good at them, having worked on them for decades and reckons he has a more than reasonable chance of making the shot. He's trying to win.

He doesn't take them on for a laugh, or to see how it goes, or to give the crowd something to cheer about because he's a bit of a lad.

Other players are just as famously good at long pots, but don't take tehm on as readily as Williams does. That's a matter of personality.

But tell me this, does he totally unncessarily sometimes take shots with his eyes closed, or underarm, or with his head turned away, purely because he's just good at such shots, or could it possibly be that he does so because he is also a bit of an entertainer, would you say?

His nickname is the Welsh Potting Machine. It's a skill, not a personality trait ffs

Oh FFS lol!! It's obviously a skill to pull off the shots he does but it's a personaility trait to have the willingness and the balls to pull them off on the biggest stage possible. It's a personality trait to be willing to take risks with long pots where other players with as much/more capability, would rather play safe. It's a personality trait to try to break tension in the room/in the crowd by doing something that gets a laugh, where other players cannot deal with any distractions.

Trump doesn't have flair? He's the most mercurial player since O'Sullivan.

He shared some sweets with someone in the audience?! f**k me, tell the Beeb to get the chequebook out to get the whole shebang back of Eurosport. Are you simple?

I also noted examples of how he played shots with his eyes closed, escaped a snooker then potted the ball without looking at the cue ball as he hit it, and how he cleared the colours playing with the cue underarm. Amazing how you managed to overlook those examples. Do they not show personality at the table? No?

Williams also takes on long pots than other players wouldn't go near. Does that not show something about his personality? No?

(I don't know if you prefer to engage in such discussions though. Maybe personal abuse is the best you can manage when someone disgarees with you).

[During the World Championship in 2018 he made a vow during the competition that if he won, he'd do his first news conference naked. He won the title and lived up to his word.]

This f**king nonsense again about "characters". What you see on the screen in terms of people playing snooker hasn't changed a bit, whether it's Higgins or White or Jak Jones. It's just a lad at a table potting balls. Some do it faster than others. Some are incredibly slow. Same as it ever was.

Rubbish. Some still players show a bit of personality that sets them apart from the rest. O'Sullivan one example. He mightnt be very likable but he still shows his personality with his regular interactions with opponents, refs and the crowd. Ditto Mark Williams except he is more easy to like than Ronnie. He sometimes takes on trick shots unnecessarily and jokes regularly with the crowd and refs. During the World Championship in 2018 he made a vow during the competition that if he won, he'd do his first news conference naked. He won the title and lived up to his word.

Players can have personalities, and while some are happy to show it, just not enough of them are.

Did that in the middle of a frame live on TV, did he? No he potted balls like the rest of them, same as the four lads in the semis will

I also mentioned his interactions with fans/refs/opponents and the frequent trick shots he performs, yet, oddly enugh, you managed to ignore all that in order to pick out the one thing he didn't do in the middle of a frame.

But sure ok, if you want more specific examples of him showing a bit of personality during frames, here's a video of him at the world champinship, amongst other things:
- escaping a snooker and potting the target ball with his head turned away from the cue ball when he struck it
- potting balls with his eyes closed
- clearing up the colours playing with the cue underarm
- Jokingly nudging/shouldering his opponent and the ref
- Sharing sweets from someone in the audience

No interest in following him on instagram, but I'd rather watch someone like him play snooker than watch Trump or Wilson who are averse to the sort of flair and risk-taking and fun that the likes of Williams shows when he's at the table. To say they are all the same is just rubbish. Most of them are the same, but not all.

This f**king nonsense again about "characters". What you see on the screen in terms of people playing snooker hasn't changed a bit, whether it's Higgins or White or Jak Jones. It's just a lad at a table potting balls. Some do it faster than others. Some are incredibly slow. Same as it ever was.

Rubbish. Some still players show a bit of personality that sets them apart from the rest. O'Sullivan one example. He mightnt be very likable but he still shows his personality with his regular interactions with opponents, refs and the crowd. Ditto Mark Williams except he is more easy to like than Ronnie. He sometimes takes on trick shots unnecessarily and jokes regularly with the crowd and refs. During the World Championship in 2018 he made a vow during the competition that if he won, he'd do his first news conference naked. He won the title and lived up to his word.

Players can have personalities, and while some are happy to show it, just not enough of them are.

One of the two killed was a pupil at St Ciaran's Ballygawley.

Only yesterday, the school produced this short video clip about the A5, and a photo from it was the main photo on the front page of yesterdays Irish News.

According to the BBC, she took part in this campaign video. Heartbreaking stuff.

Do you pay for these?

Well I suppose the presenter does get his pay packet from my licence fee but in any case, what does it matter whether or not it has to be paid for? I often have positive and/or negative opinions about things I don't pay for. I think most people do. I'd go as far as to say most of the podcasts discussed in this thread are free, so was it ok to talk about those ones? Or do we have to live in a world where we can't express opinions on media output unless the opinions are about paid content?

All besides the point. I've repeatedly said the podcast, and its host, are top drawer. I was merely stating that his constant attempts to crown each episode as "the most powerful yet" are a bit daft. But chill. I'm not calling for his head to roll over it.

The interviews are top class, and Niblock is a fine interviewer, but he does need to tone it down on the superlatives.

Claims that a podcast is "the most powerful one yet" do tend to become a bit meaningless when the same claim is made on an almost weekly basis, and when, as I say, each episode seems to have it's own dedicated section for talking about how "phenominal the response has been to last weeks episode".

[the best podcast we've created]

OK I really like the gaa social podcast, but can someone please have a word in Tommy Niblock's ear and tell him to tone it down on the self praise for the podcast ffs lol

Prompted by his most recent tweet today, here's more his tweets introducing entirely different episodes in just the past year or so:

• "Some will say this is the best podcast we've created. Considering the powerful people we've had, I appreciate that's big speak."
• "This podcast has everything. Beyond powerful"
• "This is the story of Frank McGuigan. It is among the most powerful podcasts we've ever recorded."
• "Tristan our videographer, turned to me after recording and said "I don't think there's many we've done as powerful". I think he's right."
• "It's probably our most powerful podcast yet."
• "In perhaps the most powerful episode of the GAA Social, former Armagh manager Brian Canavan talks about the 1998 killings of Damien Trainor & Phillip Allen in his Bar. "
• "Probably the most powerful episode of the GAA Social we've ever recorded. Armagh Gaelic footballer Aoife Lennon & her remarkable story.
• "This is the most powerful podcast yet. Richie Power has won 12 inter-county All-Ireland's with ⁦@KilkennyCLG - a hurling icon."

And while you're at it, tell him to stop asking every guest if they listen to this podcast and to stop telling us each week how phenominal the response has been to the previous week's episode.

All that aside, it's still, unquestionably, the no 1 GAA podcast by some distance!

Gaslighting

I remember reading about this fella, Michael Davis, a comedy juggler of all things. The bit I read about him described his mastery of comedic timing as unsurpassed by anyone. Hard to argue when you watch him. If you've never seen him, I recommend you spend 9 minutes of your time to watch him in action as he performed for then US president Ronald Reagan:

another player walks away from senior panel?..

Make sure and don't mention the name anyway 

What is the point in posts like that?