Can't remember if we've already covered the new scouting section at Diamond Mines; either way, Chad Finn provides a nice primer on it. </RedSoxDay>
posted by yerfatma at 04:16 PM on May 23
Not sure if he's known for this nationally, but in addition to being a great reliever, Koji Uehara's enthusiasm is hilarious. He just needs to be careful with guys who have recently come off the DL for back problems.

posted by yerfatma at 09:04 AM on May 23
There are many alternatives on my Direct TV package
In a way, I think you've made Leitch's point though:
NESN - owned by the Red Sox and Bruins
CSNNE - Comcast-owned, beholden to the Celtics
NFL/ NBA/ NHL/ MLB Network - belong to their respective leagues
Big Ten Network, et al - belong to their conferences
While those networks may offer lots of detail and some (very sanitized) "behind the scenes" access, which ones do you trust to break a story that makes their sport look bad?
posted by yerfatma at 04:56 PM on May 22
Brain Urlacher retires. Where does he rank on the All-Time LB list?
posted by yerfatma at 04:53 PM on May 22
Pulse + LH + reasonable velocity = LOOGY at worst
I feel like I'm living proof that's not true. Though I suppose it depends on your definition of "reasonable velocity" and whether it has to violate local speed limits. In my defense, I've only just discovered what a doctor said was most likely just some spikiness on my shoulder blade when I was 16 was actually a partial tear of my rotator cuff. So 55mph is about where I top out.
posted by yerfatma at 03:35 PM on May 22
Dunno about you grum, but my wife was unwilling to make the gender announcement like this:
Apologies for the repeat if you follow me on Twitter.
posted by yerfatma at 01:40 PM on May 22
Congrats!
Just found out today we're having a girl as well!
posted by yerfatma at 06:48 PM on May 21
If NBC keeps gobbling up English football rights, beIn Sport might be forced to air Barnet games by 2015.
posted by yerfatma at 06:47 PM on May 21
If you're ever near Portsmouth (NH), I highly recommend the curry fries (and pretty much everything else) at Street 360° The Coat of Arms does a decent job as well and is the de facto gathering place for football fans in the area.
posted by yerfatma at 12:12 PM on May 21
There was an . . . unusual Twin killing in yesterday's Sox game.
Pun stolen shamelessly from here.
posted by yerfatma at 01:42 PM on May 20
Bellicheck FTW!
I am in no way defending the Patriots here as it's distasteful no matter what the reason they give, but this isn't Belichick gaming the system. This is the system screwing athletes. The fact the NFL wore patches honoring Gene Upshaw for a year tells you all you need to know about the strength of NFL labor. Think baseball owners are trying to find a way to honor Marvin Miller?
posted by yerfatma at 12:22 PM on May 16
Just "being on the Jaguars" killed what could have been a really good career.
Crohn's Disease didn't help either. Pretty impressive he got on the field at all.
posted by yerfatma at 10:06 AM on May 16
Howard, I think this will at least begin to answer your question.
posted by yerfatma at 04:21 PM on May 14
I don't know how you can say that, given where he was drafted
By that logic the guys Belichick insists on drafting each year that cause ESPN to scramble for footage or notes because they weren't invited to the combine and aren't on anyone else's draft board should be solid starters. For God's sake people, we're letting this man tear Sportsfilter apart. Look what's happening to us. Maybe he's not a savior but the Anti-Christ.
Or maybe he's Jesus and we're self-separating into lambs and G.O.A.T.s.
posted by yerfatma at 10:13 AM on May 14
An explanation of why Falcao will be moving to Monaco. The bigger question is will Monaco have to pay to move back up to Ligue Un.
posted by yerfatma at 11:15 AM on May 13
But there are plenty of bad QBs on NFL rosters, and I don't think their skills or ability are that much better.
I appreciate a Devil's Advocate as much as the next guy, but you're taking it a bit far. Putting aside his Jeter-like intangibles, which starting quarterbacks in the league would you prefer Tebow over? I think there are a few, but we must have different definitions of "plenty". I say that as someone who wants to see Tebow get a fair shot to succeed or fail, but out of your list of "plenty" of quarterbacks you'd prefer him to, which ones would you think Tebow would beat out in that lame Pro Bowl competition for quarterbacks? I know the NFL isn't all throwing footballs through truck tires, but have you seen his throwing motion? It looks like a guy having a stroke mid-toss. Even during his wins in Denver, a highlight package of just his throws would look like a pre-success music montage from a Major League-style sports movie where the coaches all start covering their eyes with their clipboards and saying, "It's gonna be a looooong season."
posted by yerfatma at 09:30 AM on May 13
And Man U announce he's arriving.
posted by yerfatma at 11:58 AM on May 09
Everton announce Moyes is leaving.
posted by yerfatma at 11:41 AM on May 09
Google Spreadsheet listing all 10+ WAR players teams have drafted in the first round since 1965.
posted by yerfatma at 09:53 AM on May 09
it'll be a heartbreaker for Everton fans
Pretty much so, but I wish him the best. It has the potential for a bit of Greek Tragedy though: "Thought you could compete if you just had the money? Well here's everything you could want, now go do it." I'm come to grips with losing Fellani, but if Moyes nicks Baines I'm going to hide under the covers for a few years.
posted by yerfatma at 09:01 AM on May 09
Can someone who played hockey explain to me how you cheat at faceoffs (in re: the Bruins and Maple Leafs)? I don't doubt that it's done, I just want to know what to look for.
posted by yerfatma at 12:59 PM on May 08
But now I'm left wondering if Everton missed out on Europe this year in part because Moyes was playing footsie instead footy.
posted by yerfatma at 12:58 PM on May 08
Just remember Matt Harvey next time some ex-player tells you how important Wins are as a stat to judge pitchers.
posted by yerfatma at 10:58 AM on May 08
Sad news from last night's Islanders game.
posted by yerfatma at 10:05 AM on May 08
Moyes in, apparently. No idea how to feel as a fan of Everton and Moyes.
posted by yerfatma at 09:27 AM on May 08
Reviewing that patent, it appears he's trademarked the Goatse maneuver.
posted by yerfatma at 08:36 PM on May 07
You better stop ripping off Gareth Bale's celebration.
posted by yerfatma at 07:24 PM on May 07
I knew it was going to be a thing when my wife saw it on a social network in the middle of the game. I just can't see getting fired up about it. Trash talk is trash talk and whenever there's something notable people start talking about lines you can't cross. For better or worse, the whole point of trash talk is crossing lines.
And I like anything that leads to ill feeling during a hockey series. That leads to hate. And hate leads to the Dark Side. Which will lead to Jack Edwards producing some crazy metaphors.
posted by yerfatma at 08:32 AM on May 07
The Twins' Glen Perkins knows his stats.
posted by yerfatma at 02:00 PM on May 06
The bottom of this Red Sox minor league round-up includes a list of all players to submit an MLB season of at least 100 plate appearances wherein their OBP was at least 2x their batting average.
posted by yerfatma at 01:22 PM on May 06
Dallas Braden is going to be one of those names that kids 20 years from now ask you who the hell that guy thought he was pitching a perfect game. The perfect game list should now come with a record scratch noise.
posted by yerfatma at 08:57 AM on May 06
Wow, cool coverage and video. Plus I always wanted to hear Kerry Fraser speak.
posted by yerfatma at 01:36 PM on May 03
Holloway doesn't have much to say about Ipswich Town's use of a seeming army of loan players
I think his complaint is about using teams in other leagues as farm teams for your "real" club(s), but given the financial set up of football leagues around Europe, what is the problem? That's the reality of it anyway and at least partially the point of loans even when teams aren't owned by the same person.
posted by yerfatma at 01:34 PM on May 03
"Mark it down, you fookin' eejit!" At one point, youtube mentioned something about a racist washing machine. I feel like the captions might be transcribed from a madman's notebooks.
posted by yerfatma at 09:19 AM on May 03
Dying here, though it would be funnier if youtube's captions didn't look like a random Markov generator reading marketing pamphlets throughout.
posted by yerfatma at 09:13 AM on May 03
Have you seen The Eck on NESN? Doubly so when he fills in in the booth, he's a madman who says whatever he feels and it is fantastic. Nothing will ever beat him calling up 'EEI years ago to scream at Dick Radatz though Radataz was doing his anti-pitch count schtick for the zillionth time when they took a call from "Dennis in the car" who proceeded to shout at Radatz that not paying attention to workload was such a good idea Radatz's arm fell off.
A less charitable interpretation would be he's cooked his brain in the sun as he's a permanent beet red.
posted by yerfatma at 08:08 AM on May 03
Now Morris is sure Tazawa is doing it too.
posted by yerfatma at 10:43 PM on May 02
Blue Jays announcers vs. Red Sox announcers in the case of whether Clay Buchholz is throwing spitballs. Not clear to me why actual Jays' players aren't complaining.
The only take away for me from this episode is something I already knew: I love Dennis Eckersley.
posted by yerfatma at 08:12 PM on May 02
In case you still needed convincing, Sage Steele is an idiot.
posted by yerfatma at 04:09 PM on May 02
Interesting look at whether Clay Buchholz's increased K rate is sustainable (written before last night's 8 Ks in 7 innings).
posted by yerfatma at 02:54 PM on May 02
Zach Lowe has another great piece on the NBA and the increasing value of wing players who can score and defend since the change in the illegal defense rule.
posted by yerfatma at 01:07 PM on May 01
Wish I could make some insightful observation about the consequences of ratcheting up levels of competition and anger in America
How about in Russia where the reverse occurred and a linesman attacked a player?
posted by yerfatma at 11:19 AM on May 01
Well, at least the Jets finally have a level-headed, drama-free quarterback prospect.
posted by yerfatma at 02:25 PM on April 30
That's not a bad thing to add if he's in the mindset not to just be a QB.
I agree with what you said, but anonymous, totally unsourced reports on ESPN's ticker last night said at least one team had contacted him about playing a role other than QB and he turned them down. I think he's a viable offensive weapon in the NFL, but, if that report is true, he needs to meet teams halfway if he wants to make it in the league.
posted by yerfatma at 11:33 AM on April 30
And Sirhan Sirhan had just turned 4.
posted by yerfatma at 08:34 AM on April 29
Such a sale assumes anyone wants those players at anything close to those prices.
posted by yerfatma at 10:42 AM on April 28
Apparently it's nice in the Twin Cities today.
posted by yerfatma at 09:46 AM on April 26
I don't even know how relevant the violence of the hits are: there's some thought the danger from football might be the receptiveness of the collisions causing micro-concussions.
posted by yerfatma at 06:06 PM on April 25
From the article . . . Rate implies that it's not just about volume.
From my previous comment explicitly referencing that: it says nothing about whether football's injury rate is way higher than all other sports. It just says what football's injury rate is compared to basketball. I bet it's even worse when compared to chess, but I'd like to know how it compares to hockey.
Sorry grum, but I turtled as soon as I made my comment, so you hit nothing but air.
posted by yerfatma at 04:16 PM on April 25
Yes it does
No it doesn't.
Oh, still here? Unless I missed something in my totally cursory glance at the article or I'm not seeing something in your comment, there's no adjustment for the number of players/ games/ etc. More people have passed out at Justin Bieber concerts than at the local bar band's; doesn't mean it's safer to attend one over the other. I'm not defending football or organized violence (at least, not right now), I'm just being an annoying stick in the mud about stats, just like always.
The stuff we did when we started playing would probably get us kicked out of most games today
Oh, it should have gotten me thrown out then too, I was just sneaky. I offset my complete lack of talent with an Ulf Samuelsson skillset. My garage may or may not still contain an aluminum shaft with a 45° bend in it from where I speared some pony-tailed prep school hot shot.
posted by yerfatma at 02:00 PM on April 25
the only sport, hockey aside, where outright piling into your opponent as hard as you can is encouraged
With all this Canadian pride in the thread, aren't you forgetting your national (summer) sport? That was the only reason I played.
It is the youth sport where the most injuries occur -- at twice the rate of the next sport, basketball
Not quite: "nearly twice the injury rate as the next most popular sport, basketball". It's entirely possible that football is much more dangerous than every other sport, but that doesn't say so. It compares the injury rate to a fairly low-contact sport simply because basketball is the next most popular and there's no information about how they defined "popular" because the article simply cites "previous studies".
posted by yerfatma at 10:38 AM on April 25
"What do you do with a problem like Alfredo?"
posted by yerfatma at 01:04 PM on April 24
Cooke just confronted an Ottawa Sun reporter who suggested it was intentional.
posted by yerfatma at 12:37 PM on April 23
Bill Barnwell on the end of Revis in New York.
posted by yerfatma at 04:59 PM on April 22
blew a .08 and a .09 in two breathalyzer tests
Leading one of the officers to shout "SO CLOSE!"
posted by yerfatma at 08:58 AM on April 22
destructive harmonics created by Rex Ryan and Tim Tebow.
What a media power couple that would make though!
posted by yerfatma at 06:44 PM on April 18
SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle
"DA CHAM-YEONS!" Goddamn I can't stand that thing. Not because it's bad, because they play it in and out of every break during a game on Fox Soccer. And the ads. And when I'm sleeping they come to my house and play a muted, minor key version. Unless it's already in a minor key and then they're just banging pots and pans together and that might be raccoons.