Messages

Nice to see galway motoring again. I hope we get meath in the qualifiers.

I felt sorry for Schweini. He bottled it after Neuer did so well.
but Bayern had the penalty to win it in XT AND  they scored after 82 mins and still only got the draw.

chelsea cost abramovic in excess of GBp 1 bn. Something seriously wrong there.

I think I was first on the board about 2000...heyday was probably up to about 2005 imo. You do get to a stage where you are all talked out though ...twitter seems to have finished a lot of boards.

Stages in the IMBL - Internet Message Board Lifecycle

1. Start up with an elite clique of personal/email friends. Discussions are very tight.
2. New people join and discussion is strictly on-topic and helpful. Lots of good information is passed around. Message board is in its prime.
3. Newbies arrive and post questions that have been answered before or are stupid questions. Some old-timers are helpful, some flame.
4. Flame war erupts because of off-topic posts or personal insults. Different expectations create conflicts of interest that cause even more flames.
5. People post messages to the effect they are leaving, maybe hoping for sympathy. "And I'm taking my ball with me" They don't actually leave, though, and remain to read the responses to their goodbyes, some returning briefly to flame people. (Go to stage 4) People compete for the most heart-wrenching goodbye. Some people just leave with no goodbyes. Some of them are missed, some not.
6. Things quieten down and the flames stop. Old-timers appeal for calm(!). People who 'left' come back and begin discussions again. Go to stage 2
7. People leave to start their own message board, splitting membership of the original board. The two new boards go through a period of insulting each other and either go to stage 2, 4 or simply cease to exist through lack of subscribers

i think this one is different because the GAA season comes around every year without fail and there are so many stories
that continue from one season to the next . 
The guardian pulled the plug on all of their discussion boards but I think it was over a legal or a price issue rather than anything about running out of steam. Some boards are self renewing and i think this is one.

[Not a dig btw but Mayo 3 All Ireland's is a poor return from all those Connacht titles]

Well, a Rossie is going to lift the cup either way..

It's a big assumption that'll be either Mayo or Roscommon, but if it does eventuate that Mayo win, the roll of honour will still show us over 20 titles ahead of the Rossies, and nobody will give a monkeys w**k about who captained the victorious side.

Not a dig btw but Mayo 3 All Ireland's is a poor return from all those Connacht titles.

Like last year's it's Mayo's Connacht title to lose but Mayo have a poor record in the championship after reaching a league final & i wouldn't be surprised to see the winner to come from the other side of the draw.

I totally agree. Worst strike rate in the country. What can we do, just keep on soldiering on after them and hope we can add number 4 before/after the next Connacht title. It's so frustrating looking at that stat though.

i think once #4 is clocked up it won't take on average 15 connacht titles to win each of the ones that follow. The Croke Park final head thing is a huge load on the county and once it is broken everything will be different. They are just football matches for Kerry.

I expect Israel to renege on the deal over some "security" bullshit . The history of settler colonialism is written in broken treaties.
The treaty of limerick didn't even last 10 years. the US broke every treaty it signed with the native Americans. Israel is no different.   

Roberto Martinez
6/4

Rafael Benitez
13/8

Jose Mourinho
10/1

Martin O'Neill
10/1

Frank Rijkaard
12/1

Andre Villas-Boas
12/1

Paul Lambert
14/1

Brendan Rodgers
14/1

Unai Emery
18/1

Didier Deschamps
20/1

Fabio Capello
20/1

Carlo Ancelotti
20/1

Laurent Blanc
20/1

Jorge Jesus
20/1

Pep Guardiola
20/1

Steve Clarke
20/1

Banty 200/1

Theres a great bond between all you older guys as well, a sense of belonging and ownership of the online community, not my thing but certainly not a bad thing.  The most interesting point made there is how the quality has dropped of GAA online conversation has dropped.  Id widen that out though, I think thats the case in any pub, paper, match or online discussing board, the craic and chivalry of crafty wind up and smarter debate to do with GAA matters has been on the wain for years now.  We are "talked out", the games have been "over exposed" we see more on TV, we take on board the opinions of the Spillanes and Brollys and that does us for our opinion which we rehash back to someone who agrees with us, and we all do it so many times theres little room for a robust argument.  And you are right we are more informed oursleves but its not the same craic.  In fact I admire what O Neill, Fiontamhnach and hardy arse try to do when they open up a controversial topic on the board,  they are only stimulating new debates and arguements because for the most part the board lacks the crack it would have had in the early days, ie before man landed on moon.

The board back in the late 90s was like a street and now with 4500 users is more like a medium sized town so it's obvious there is going to be a different buzz
But I don't think that's a bad thing.

One of the best things about discussing GAA online is the interaction between the wee 6 and the rest of Ireland.
i don't have the impression there was much of that sort of discussion going on say 15 years ago.

For the paper of record it's sad they got their results stats wrong. We beat Westmeath in 2007 in Leinster 

The arse fell out of the property advertising market and I  think they cut a lot of journalist jobs as a result
but it was an interesting article anyway

The last 10 minutes should be interesting if it is a close match

I presume Paddy Heaney will be there but what he says will not be available online

Longford are even getting long feature articles in the Irish Times.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0516/1224316192782.html

Thejuice

I saw in the FT over the weekend that the markets don't think Greece will leave the Euro this week
and that some deal will be cobbled together so the exchange rate should be stable enough.

The way the Rossies were talking upthread the maroon jersey could be worth a few points. 

People get very excited about paedophiles but white collar crime is grand.
So where would you draw the line? Who lied to Lenihan about the guarantee and sank the country ?
Is that an executable offence?   

This has been ruining me recently. Does anyone else suffer from knowing about it? It sort of means that everything has the ability to experience. Even objects. It's a branch of philosophy that takes the view that all things have a mind or a mind-like quality

I have found myself writing a lot more gently on my writing pad. Even as I type this I'm going really softly. The worst thing is the toilet or bathroom. The toilet takes an awful lot of crap from us whether it's number one or two or the flushing etc. It's making my life a misery. I gently drive me car and even talk to/caress it. My heart breaks for shoes.

I wish I never read about it. If you haven't yet, please don't.

i think that musical style from peru is nice