I Can See It Coming

The guy above is Ted 'The Count' Hankey, who has just won the BDO World Darts Championship. It's the other one, that Phil 'The Power' Taylor isn't in. The final was a good watch, and he deserved it after 13 sweaty sets, but I can almost see the headlines coming after the BBC reported on him earlier this week thus

'Healthy lifestyle' pays off for Hankey

Ted Hankey puts his 3-0 first-round victory over Brian Woods at the BDO World Championships down to fewer beers before matches - and then heads outside for a cigarette following his chat with Ray Stubbs.

As sneering goes, this snidey comment was up there with the best the righteous can offer. Remember that this is from the BBC web-site, an arm of the organisation that paid out our licence money on this, but still wish to rubbish it with their righteous agenda.

Are the BBC a bit confused as to what their role is supposed to be? Are they there to provide entertainment? Or to spout healthist crap?

Darts is a working man's game played primarily in pubs (the ones that are left after the righteous have decimated them of course). Viewers in their millions would have watched tonight and the rounds that preceded it. A very hefty proportion probably drink and smoke, in fact, the BBC's coverage leaned in that direction as the player interviews were held in the players' bar.

So, does one hand in the BBC know what the other is trying to achieve here? Why bother supplying live coverage of every match if some idealist tosspot is going to rubbish those that play it on the BBC web-site?

The guy won the whole thing along with the £95,000 cheque that went with it, but I can almost see the righteous jumping up and down with glee in anticipation of insisting that it was abstinence that got him there. I hope I'm wrong, but I expect the entirely Government-funded Alcohol Concern to turn up, righteously, in the next day or so.

The BBC don't know what to think. They had good TV tonight, but their IT twats will probably be hacked off that Hankey may have celebrated with a big fat cigar.

Ain't life a bastard when you're a righteous, working for a broadcaster who has to cater for everyone?

BBC privatisation, anyone?