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ESPN Classic

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  • Posted at 12:14pm
  • 30 November 2007
  • by RhodriMarsden-RT
  • 2 comments

So, it's the very last Dish of the Day. I'd planned to review some programme on the Discovery Channel about ghosts, but after 60 seconds I knew I was probably going to end up dispensing the same supernatural slagging I gave to a very similar show about 10 weeks ago, so at 12 midnight last night I stopped the Sky+ box and just started channel hopping instead.

I'd not adopted this approach before: a remarkable amount of research and planning has gone into this blog. (Well, 30 minutes browsing a copy of the nation's favourite listings magazine each week.) But the thing is, with so much of cable and satellite TV, you run into that problem I had with the ghostbusters: you end up watching something if not completely identical, then certainly remarkably similar to something you've seen before.

After half an hour, I was still dithering as to whether to tackle the thorny subject of selling lingerie on a shopping channel (Ideal World do this every so often, and it's basically two women giggling while a third stands there wearing a fixed grin and some fishnets), or maybe one of those amazing Islamic channels featuring six very stern-looking men sitting in a semicircle. I've no idea what they're doing, but I've narrowed it down to either live footage of a dentist's waiting room in Karachi, or the Iranian version of The X Factor where the researchers have forgotten to invite any contestants.

In desperation I turned to ESPN Classic, where you can see archive sporting moments, 24 hours a day. While watching regular live sports channels doesn't necessarily guarantee you top-notch entertainment - you're at the mercy of the talent of the sportsmen currently doing battle on the pitch, rink or table - you know you're getting a treat from ESPN, because they simply wouldn't bother screening a dull midtable Bundesliga clash between, say, Karlsruhe and Hertha Berlin.

I've seen untold moments of sporting greatness on this channel: full highlights of England's surprise win over Australia at Headingley in 1981; the legendary FA Cup win by Hereford over Newcastle in something approaching a mudbath back in 1972 - including this extraordinary goal; but tonight they were showing the first fight between Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) and Sonny Liston, at the Miami Beach Convention Hall in April 1964.

Now, I'm not a big fan of boxing, which gave me the added advantage of not already knowing who was going to win. While I've occasionally watched American wrestling and been mystified by the roars, screams and air-punching of the crowd (after all, that's basically like an audience getting rowdy and boisterous at a performance of Dick Whittington at the Eastbourne Royal Hippodrome) there's something genuinely thrilling, I'm ashamed to say, about a crowd goading on two men who are beating each other savagely about the face.

Between rounds, Ali would be more interested in gurning to the photographers than receiving treatment from his corner, but after the bell had rung, he'd begin alternately punching and taunting Liston, to gasps from the commentator - at the time Ali was still only 22, and a relative newcomer.

Liston failed to come out for the seventh round; he'd had enough. Which was the cue for 15 minutes of complete chaos, as Ali waded through a sea of people, loudly proclaiming himself to be the greatest, and rendering any attempts to interview him completely farcical.

You see, it is possible to stumble upon incredible television, purely by accident. You just have to put the hours in.

ESPN Classic is on Sky channel 442.

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  • Posted on 03 December 2007
  • at 10:47am
  • by scissorkicks

Ronnie Radford's goal for Hereford against Newcastle deserves a 24 hour rolling channel of its own.

  • Posted on 30 November 2007
  • at 12:34pm
  • by robsoft

Well Rhodri, I've thoroughly enjoyed this blog and hope to see you again in 'print'.

I can't possibly comment on the telly itself as for the past fortnight I've been too busy for anything whatsoever apart from Heroes. Nic has had the Sky+ all to herself - I believe we have a drive crammed full of Charmed, Angel, Town Called Eureka and Bones.

And possibly a Numb3rs or two, which I must confess to being a little partial-to.

'Nuff said. :-)

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