Apparently he has been cleared by VAR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJKIbq2FuG8
World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating
331–340 of 601 posts
Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating
#332Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the assumption is more that someone who's offended that the Guardian didn't explain a mainstay British playground game to their readers... Is probably from the USA.
Mainstay? First I'm hearing of it. I thought it was an onion article at first. It's really hard to tell when British people are serious sometimes. "Conker King"...like, WTH?
>Mainstay? First I'm hearing of it.
You say this as if you were British, but then the rest of your comment seems to suggest that you're not (in which case it's not surprising that you might be unaware of some aspects of British playground culture).
Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating
#333Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't really visualize the amount of momentum involved, or how sharp the chestnut is. Is that specifically about eye injuries, or could it hurt someone some other way?
After writing the above comment, I watched videos of people playing conkers and now I understand how it could, in theory, cause an eye injury. It was hard for me to visualize how close the defender's conker is to the defender's body before seeing the video. I was somehow wrongly imagining that it was being supported on a much longer string or with the help of other objects somehow.
Literally the first video I watched, 2:28 min in, kid gets knocked in the teeth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egBjZaKNLuc
Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating
#334Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the assumption is more that someone who's offended that the Guardian didn't explain a mainstay British playground game to their readers... Is probably from the USA.
Mainstay? First I'm hearing of it. I thought it was an onion article at first. It's really hard to tell when British people are serious sometimes. "Conker King"...like, WTH?
I honestly can't believe you're British and have never heard of conkers.
It is a part of our culture, like pubs, pooh sticks, morriss dancing or cheese rolling.
It would be a totally valid citizenship question.
Maybe you're a city child?
Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating
#335Earlier quoted context omitted.
So the bit about UK food being attrocious is unfortunately true from my limited experience but the country itself has a lot of beauty, I think, as long as you look in the roght places.
There's this quote from Andy Warhol that I think has great explanatory power: > What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca-Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca-Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca-Cola, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amo…
> The UK has the exact opposite of this. Everything that's for sale here is finely graded according to the buyer's budget and taste. Where someone chooses to do something as innocuous as their grocery shopping in the UK says an awful lot about them.
Just sayin', I went shopping in... Denver? Let's just say that there was a mall with a bunch of shops and further down the street another bunch of shops.
The public at Nordstrom was wildly different than at the Gap which was also different than the one at Ross.
Similar story for stuff like Walmart versus Whole Foods.
The US has a lot of social stratification, too. They just like to ignore those parts, especially in their advertising.
Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating
#336Earlier quoted context omitted.
The commenter asks if the game is well known in Britain / Ireland itself. I don't see the commenter expressing displeasure but rather only curiosity
The Dutch are direct. In Britain you’re not allowed to be.
> Or are you expected to have to google it?
It's clearly the implication that you shouldn't have to Google for it. That isn't directness, it's passive aggressiveness, which the Dutch are not stereotypically known for.
Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating
#337Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the assumption is more that someone who's offended that the Guardian didn't explain a mainstay British playground game to their readers... Is probably from the USA.
Mainstay? First I'm hearing of it. I thought it was an onion article at first. It's really hard to tell when British people are serious sometimes. "Conker King"...like, WTH?
“That’s an odd name! I’d a called em fuzzwozzers.”
It certainly is a mainstay. A yearly treat which children love. In Ireland I was taught this song in school: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bhebvq0O4GY (and I still remember all the words)
Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating
#338I wonder if we'll find it's related to the infestation of gambling in sports these days
Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating
#339Is this game well-known enough in Britain and Ireland that readers will know what on earth is being alleged just from reading this article? Or are you expected to have to google it? Apparently it’s a game where you take turns swinging a chestnut on a string and trying to hit the opponent’s chestnut and break it. Yes, I can see how a steel fake chestnut would be an advantage here, though I’m amazed it wouldn’t be inst…
Yes it is, everyone I grew up with in Ireland played conkers.
Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating
#340VAR evidence leads judge to say that it would have been "impossible for him to cheat at that point".
Dang, please update the link title to reflect that.