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Perhaps you are just trying to save face and I should simply let this go and let the thread go back to the intended subject matter.
But I fear, instead you are also being hard headed.
If you were a musician and, say, you played Jazz guitar, and some old timer told you: [because burnt-man wasn’t really asking]: “how could you like that crap when Vivaldi’s Four Seasons exists!” [Yes, hopefully you can see that not everybody loves Vivaldi’s Four Seasons].
First off, the premise of berndtjgmann’s question is that WE NEED a reason to like modern table tennis. We don’t. If you like it, that is enough. If you like something and someone is asking you: “why on earth would you like that, when you could like this instead,” they are not asking you a question. They are mocking you.
Second, berndtjgmann is presenting the idea that too many equipment choices are a problem. They aren’t. And when you understand equipment, there really aren’t so many choices as burnt-mann makes out. All, All+/Off-, Off, Off+, Defensive & Hybrid. Smooth, pimples, antispin. A moderate variety of surface playing options adds to the variety of play styles that can be successful. I would say this adds to the sport rather than how berndtjgmann is presenting that it is a problem.
The third thing is, in his trolling, there is this implicit idea that you can like hardbat OR you can like Modern Table Tennis but you can’t really like both. You have to choose. This is not true. The slower pace of the old timer hardbat leads to a totally different kind of chess match. And there doesn’t need to be a choice between the two.
However, if I was going to make the choice, it would definitely be modern TT. And here is why for me:
I love to spin the hell out of the ball. I love to make topspin loops that arc and kick so hard that my opponent hits the return 4 feet over the table. I love the feeling of the ball on the topsheet and sponge when you can feel the topsheet and sponge distort and compress while you are making tangential contact. I love how it feels when the topsheet really grabs the ball hard. I love when I do a sidespin hook shot, that I can aim the ball wide of the table and have it curve around the net and land four feet to the left or right of its original trajectory. I love that I can aim a hook shot at my opponent’s BH and have it curve so much that it ends up exiting the FH side
of the table before the end line. I love what I can do with spin to get the magnus effect to warp the flight of the ball.
You cannot do any of that with hardbat. And while I can admire that hardbat requires totally different skills than modern TT and I am fine with berndtjgmann enjoying hardbat, when it really comes down to it, if he is saying we have to choose between what we like and what berndtjgmann likes, I CHOOSE MODERN TABLE TENNIS every time.
Jawein, you also should know that what berndtjgmann is doing is a learned behavior that is practiced and exhibited by MANY MANY hardbat ZEALOTS.
It was learned and modeled from some of Marty Reisman’s less likable antisocial behavior.
You see, in 1952 Marty was favored to win the WTTC. It would have been HIS YEAR. And in 1952 sponge was introduced. Marty not only lost, but got wiped out and totally embarrassed in an early round. And with the introduction of sponge, Marty was never able to REALLY compete at the top level again.
So for the rest of his life, Marty went around talking about how, without the cheating-sponge that these guys used, none of them would stand a chance against him. It was jealousy and vitriol of the highest order.
Now to me, seeing Marty come to a club in the 1990’s and take HUNDREDS of dollars from the club players who all wanted to bet they could beat him after he hurled all his insults at them about hardbat being for real men and sponge being a game for cheaters....well, there was something entertaining about it. But make no mistake, it was slimy and mean.
And berndtjgmann is really trying to keep that hardbat tradition of insulting modern TT players alive. And the question he asked NextLevel was not a question. It was an insult.
You can pretend it was something else. But it wasn’t.
Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy
The premise of the question I put to Next Level, summarized, was what is there about modern table tennis that would be so attractive to a novice who has never played it or seen it played to make him or her want to take it up?
The question thus was directed with reference to a hypothetical novice, and not to those of you who already play table tennis competitively and presumably are satisfied with the status quo.
If you honestly believe that the number of equipment choices presently available do not pose a problem, then perhaps you can come up with an explanation for the numerous threads and posts by players asking is this setup right for me? Am I using the best combination of racket and rubber to suit my style? What should my style be anyway? Please help. Confusing to competitive players with varying degrees of experience? I’d think so. Confusing to the beginner about to encounter a metaphorical tropical rainforest of choices he/she has never heard of? Most definitely. Confusing to the equipment junkie looking for the rig that will cure his table tennis woes? Oh yeah.
And now to Marty, Satoh and sponge. I’ll ignore your cheap shot pertaining to MANY MANY hardbat ZEALOTS.
(Watch out, those hardbat zealots are armed with hardbats. And they’ve come to shoot your sponge outta your spongeslinger hands).
You posted (thank you) the snippet of the Barna/Reisman final of the 1949 English Open. There is also a snippet on YouTube of Satoh defeating Koczian to win the 1952 Men’s World Singles Championship. Satoh did not cheat; he took advantage of the rule in place at the time, Rule 4, which stated that a racket may be of any size, shape or weight and its covering of any material as long as not white or reflecting like a mirror.
I have viewed both of those videos. And there is no way in Hell that Satoh could have defeated Bergman, Reisman, and Koczian without recourse to that foam rubber sponge racket.
With the introduction of sponge, none of the top level hardbat players after 1961 were able to compete at the top level again.
Hardbat tradition of insulting modern tt players alive? Hoo boy. Hey, we’re spindle shanked fossils with 5 mph forehands, slow and unathletic pushfesting chislers with 5 mph forehands compared to the superbly ripped Hurricane boosted energized Tenergized tigers of today.
The question I asked Next Level was just a question. Now calling a poor old superannuated hardbat zealot not by his given name but by the mocking epithet burntmann well that’s just plain mean. Ooh.
I’d like to pretend that it was something else. But I can’t.