- 07:30 PM
- 04/19/24
""He wanted to get Milton boiling for some reason. Milton, he held his cool." If that's him holding his cool, I'd sure hate to see him flip out.
posted by deadcowdan at 09:04 PM on September 26, 2007
Yeah, I can't see how the Raiders made this list and the Lions did not. The Lions have won a total of 1 playoff game during my lifetime (39 years). They are 55-105 for the last ten seasons. Their total club record is 479-540. The last time they had something resembling resounding success was in 1957, when they won the NFL championship. Very few pro sports teams can even come close to this record of futility.
posted by deadcowdan at 05:02 PM on January 19, 2007
NoMich, check this out.
posted by deadcowdan at 05:50 PM on January 24, 2006
Today's Japan, that ran basho highlights each night. I'd kill to watch these matches There is nothing like watching this stuff live (the highlights just don't give you the sense of tension and drama generated by the pre-bout ceremony, which gets longer and longer as the rank of the sumotori gets higher and higher).
posted by deadcowdan at 01:54 PM on June 20, 2005
Yeah, this may not look like much to Americans, who are after all regularly treated to public feuds like Kobe/Shaq and Russell Crowe/Rest of World, but this is pretty unusual in sumo. But then, the two of them seemed more tabloid-prone than the average sumotori. And in any case, these two pale in contrast to my man Chiyonofuji . And I would pay good money to see Eli and Peyton get into a slapfest over Archie's body. Couldn't happen to a nicer family.
posted by deadcowdan at 08:20 AM on June 20, 2005
Just how far back from the basket do you have to be to make a 22-point shot????
posted by deadcowdan at 07:51 AM on June 13, 2005
Disclaimer: I do not follow baseball very closely, I definitely don't follow individual players' stats, and I have no opinion on Mr. Bonds' worthiness as MVP, so you can disregard what I'm saying here (which I'm sure you're going to do anyway). That said, this award is inherently subjective. Most Valuable Player: how do you define that? If it were simply stats, we wouldn't need voters to begin with, we could just set up some complicated equation to make the determination. But of course, that's inherently subjective as well, as those who follow the BCS could tell you. Those who set it up must make determinations as to what stats to use and how much weight to give to them. Most Valuable Player, to me, would be influenced, but hardly determined, by numbers. It wouldn't be surprising to me that those who voted someone other than Bonds did so because they consider his intangibles (leadership, ability to fire up teammates) to be lacking, and also because he's got this steroids thing hanging over his head. You can disagree with their conclusions, but saying their voting privileges should be yanked is unwarranted. Or perhaps you want a system that removes the votes and goes solely on stats? How would you set that up?
posted by deadcowdan at 09:38 AM on November 16, 2004
$36.7 million??? That's all? I dare say that employers lose more productivity to employees using the restroom during working hours, and just try and stop that. Go ahead. I dare you.
posted by deadcowdan at 09:00 AM on September 22, 2004
When Kobe *leads* a team to a few championships, yeah, I think this is the biggest difference between Mr. Jordan and Mr. Bryant. In all the series that the Bulls won during the '90s, when things were not going the Bulls' way, Jordan just Took Over. He in effect grabbed his team by the scruff of the neck, and said, "This is how you do it, boys." (Allen Iverson tries to do this as well, but it doesn't work quite the same way.) It didn't always result in a victory, but if it didn't, it was hard to blame him. Kobe is obviously a good ball player, but he's done little to show me that he can move up from the Club of Really Good Players into the Pantheon of Greatness. I suppose it could be because the Lakers have long had other outstanding players who would resent any overt grab by Kobe of the "leader" mantle, but his lack of ability to fire up his teammates, and his regularly questionable decisions on the floor, lead me to believe that he will never dominate a team (let alone the league) the way Jordan did. That said, a big and heartfelt "yay!" to the Pistons. This is the definitive group of overachievers, who showed the country some of the best team play I have ever seen.
posted by deadcowdan at 10:17 AM on June 16, 2004
This from a boxing non-fan: Why would you consider being left-handed an unfair advantage? Shouldn't a well-trained boxer be able to deal with lefties as easily as righties?
posted by deadcowdan at 09:31 AM on May 17, 2004
You may commence looking for another reason to crawl up my ass. Knock yourself out, Jeff. Let me know if you find any corn. Game, set and match to rcade. Last post. Thought about trying to "crawl up your ass," but I couldn't get around the stick. I'm sorry, sir, but the match is over. Perhaps at the next tournament?
posted by deadcowdan at 09:21 PM on April 26, 2004
I'm seriously creeped out, because just yesterday my mind was wandering as it often does, and out of nowhere the thought "I wonder how that guy from the Cards who enlisted in the army is doing" came to me. At the time of his enlistment, he seemed a little out there to me, but he obviously put his money where his mouth was, and props to him for that. I feel for his family. I just hope the Cards don't cynically turn this into a jingoistic circus. I don't know the Cards organization, but I hope they handle this with more dignity than is often the case when patriotism and sports intersect.
posted by deadcowdan at 11:11 AM on April 23, 2004
since Danton signed a confession, I guess there won't be a trial That's not a sure thing. Confessions have a way of being denied after the fact. The only way to avoid a trial would be either the prosecution dropping the case or a guilty plea at the arraignment. I think.
posted by deadcowdan at 03:47 PM on April 17, 2004
Note: the Silverdome in Pontiac, MI (former home of the hapless Lions) is still standing, although it has no tenants currently and it wouldn't surprise me to see it come down. I don't think Tiger Stadium fits the description of "cookie cutter" design, it was replaced mainly so the Tiger organization could sell more luxury suites, not because the fans wanted to see it go.
posted by deadcowdan at 12:28 PM on March 21, 2004
I don't buy any of these "Activity X hurts American workplace productivity by [ridiculous amount of money]." Even if the person/organization doing the figures is not hopelessly biased, the numbers they're coming up with are based on really soft information, because it's not something that's really quantifiable. So what if x number of hours are spent by Americans per year working on betting pools? Who's to say they wouldn't have wasted the time on something else if there were no pools?
posted by deadcowdan at 11:09 AM on March 19, 2004
Not being able to follow the puck is a big complaint of people who are new the game It's not just newbies. I remember watching hockey broadcast on the CBC just across the border in Washington, and it was really frustrating to watch because the picture was not perfect. I had to constantly infer the position of the puck from how the players were moving, and shots on goal were just impossible to follow. If they didn't score, I would spend a second or two pick the puck back up visually. Really annoying. I tried watching the glowing puck, and I guess it did help a little, but it was just as annoying in a completely different way. A black puck on white ice is a hell of a lot easier to follow than a pop-fly/homerun white ball on blue sky in baseball This may be true, but even if it is, it's not constantly happening. In golf, the cameramen will zoom in on the shot as it's airborne, and follow it through its trajectory until it lands, making following the shot pretty easy. Pop flies and hits to the outfield in baseball may be a bit harder, but they make up very little of the game, and most people watching at home can deal with that. In hockey, it's pretty much constant.
posted by deadcowdan at 11:02 AM on March 19, 2004
Fans can buy their own jersey retail, they are sure to be popular with Boston's heavy Irish population What, they're only making them in 2XLarge?
posted by deadcowdan at 02:29 PM on March 17, 2004
For the record, my earlier comment was intended as sarcasm. Just so we're all on the same wavelength.
posted by deadcowdan at 11:20 AM on March 02, 2004
Barry Bonds received steroids and human growth hormone from a nutritional supplements lab implicated in a steroid-distribution ring, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday, contradicting denials by the Giants slugger that he ever used performance-enhancing drugs. Wait! Just because Bonds received these items doesn't mean he actually used them!
posted by deadcowdan at 10:22 AM on March 02, 2004
I'd rather run than race walk any day. It's far easier. That's exactly why we do run. At a certain speed, it becomes more efficient for a human body to change strides and begin running. Trying to maintain the walking stride while moving at running speed is considerably more energy-consuming than just breaking into a run.
posted by deadcowdan at 11:11 AM on February 25, 2004
Yup, I'd like to see anyone reading this site walk at 8 mph for an extended length of time. Hell, most of us would probably have trouble jogging at that rate.
posted by deadcowdan at 03:09 PM on February 24, 2004
In another unfortunately phrased sentence from the Page 2 article, the writer mentions "the allegation of rape levied by a former female kicker for the Buffs." I believe she is still female and a kicker, no? Anyway: this situation is exactly why I have stopped supporting college ball (Div. IA, anyway) in any way shape or form. I have become convinced that the situations at universities and colleges across this country are unhealthy for both the athletes involved and for the schools as a whole, but the schools are too addicted to the money and PR that a winning program brings, and the athletes, especially in football, have no other realistic means to reach the big leagues. The result is lots of wink-wink nudge-nudge between program officials and employees and school boosters, sanctimonious pronouncements from the NCAA itself, and several schools a year being implicated in very unsavory behavior from both athletes and school officials and employees. Each school administration holds their noses and hopes their athletic department doesn't end up in the headlines like Colorado at the moment. The underlying problem as I see it, however, is not the collleges and universities themselves; it's the people outside the schools that seem to put so much emphasis on these programs. This applies doubly (is that a word?) to alumni, who seem to care more in many cases about how their football team is doing than whether the school that is dunning them for donations is actually doing its job educating its students. In my not-so-humble opinion, schools should do one of two things. 1) Remove the basketball/football teams entirely from the school and have them play as a semi-pro team wearing the school uniform. For every year of play, an athlete would get vouchers for two years of full-time college education at the school, along with any pay negotiated. 2) For schools who don't want to go that route, make the teams function much like Div. III teams do: no scholarships, no admissions based more on athletic ability than scholastic ability, no segregated athletic dorms or special classes for athletes. By choosing one of these paths, the schools could decide how important the visibility of a winning program is, and remove all the outmoded and antiquated NCAA regulations about "amateur status." Okay, done with rant. Going home.
posted by deadcowdan at 03:54 PM on February 19, 2004
What da hell is a "permanent suspension?" Isn't that an expulsion?
posted by deadcowdan at 04:26 PM on February 06, 2004
In the US runners paid £185 to purchase theirs [Olympic Torch], and so taken with the solemnity and honour of it all hundreds then ended up on Ebay being traded for thousands of dollars! Capitalism is just the coolest thing.
posted by deadcowdan at 08:11 PM on January 25, 2004
In dunno, jerseygirl, Manning looked pretty good in the game last night. Oh, you mean Peyton Manning.
posted by deadcowdan at 07:22 AM on January 19, 2004
no.
posted by deadcowdan at 07:20 AM on January 19, 2004
Now is it my imagination, or has "going for it" on 4th down become much more popular in the last few years? It seems that ten years ago it was rare to see, except in situations where the team was pretty much forced to because of the game situation. Now it seems to be a standard tactic if you're within three yards or so. And yes, I think that while I wish that Sherman had gone for it, I can understand why he didn't. Martz, in my book, does not have a good excuse. I was rooting for Carolina, and I was elated when the Rams elected not to try to score in a situation where, barring a turnover, they had nothing to lose. Laying aside the fact that field-goal attempts are not without their own forms of risk, the things he was scared might happen to his offense if they tried for a touchdown were just as likely in overtime (and, indeed came to pass; Bulger was picked off, setting up Carolina's game-winning touchdown). Even if St. Louis got the ball first in overtime, they had not been able to move very consistently against the Carolina defense (except on that last drive in regulation, where I still think the defense was looking so shaky the Rams could have easily scored). So even if Martz was going for the "safe" course, I don't think he picked the right one.
posted by deadcowdan at 02:36 PM on January 12, 2004
It really depends how badly Snyder wants Gibbs. Given Snyder's reputation, I'm sure Gibbs would want full control over the team, including personnel decisions, and will want Snyder to fade into the background (as I think he should, if he knows what's good for his team). If wannabe Wünderkind Snyder wants to win bad enough, he'll swallow his pride and agree. (As rcade mentioned, it can happen.) As to whether Gibbs would be able to turn the team around, who knows? Of course, this is only if Gibbs decides he wants to give up watching cars drive around in a big circle and come back to watching men in tights fight for possession of a piece of leather.
posted by deadcowdan at 07:55 AM on January 07, 2004
and - AND - he committed a pet peeve of mine: the unapologetic apology. "I apologize if I offended anyone." Argh. If you believe what you did was wrong, say so: "I apologize. I was wrong." No caveats, no ways out, no blaming the listener. Sorry, back to your regularly scheduled program.
posted by deadcowdan at 08:08 PM on December 16, 2003
dusted, I expect better out of someone in the position Millen is in - after all, a good part of his job is dealing with the press and with PR issues. The only reason Millen still has his job is that the Fords seem to have a hard time firing under-performers. (Exhibit 1: Wayne Fontes.) Millen has been an unmitigated failure since arriving in Detroit. Of course, part of his problem might just be the Curse of the Lions (there, I invented a meme. Pass it on.). He hired a coach that had the charisma and leadership of Walter Mitty, he has lost any rapport he once had with the players, his acquisitions in the off-season have been largely ineffective. I hope that this stupid little incident is the proverbial straw on the camel's back, but knowing the history of the Lions, I think we're stuck with this blockhead for awhile yet.
posted by deadcowdan at 07:57 PM on December 16, 2003
I'm not sure if this quote is apocryphal or not, but I remember something about an old-school college coach calling a star receiver on the carpet after an endzone celebration. The coach told him, "Son, act like you've been there before." I don't mind a little spontaneous display of emotion any more than anyone else, but most of the celebrations the NFL is trying to put a kibosh on are anything but spontaneous. The dancing can disappear yesterday for all I care, and the hidden sharpies and cellphones need to go away as well. It makes it look as if the player(s) involved is/are more interested in setting up a televised prank than in the playing of the game. Haslett may not care, but I bet you nothing like this would happen on today's Cowboys team.
posted by deadcowdan at 09:30 AM on December 15, 2003
from the article: Martin, a retired management consultant from Hull, can barely suppress his mirth. "This was the perfect chance for me to get Paul to stop backing the Blues. "We made a great joke of the contract but he still agreed to sign it. I just hope now that the operation will save his life." Paul, from Co Antrim, may yet manage to wear blue again. "This is clearly torture," he said, "and torture is banned under the Human Rights Act." I think that, at least judging by this article, the younger brother is not quite the prick some of you think he is. It sounds to me that neither one of them is taking the contract as legally binding, nor that the younger brother would have refused to donate the stem cells had older brother not signed. Just a case of one of them yanking the other's chain.
posted by deadcowdan at 06:19 AM on December 03, 2003
more of a quitter than many already think he was I don't get this. I've never heard anyone (reputable) accuse Sanders of quitting. If he was a quitter, he wouldn't have stuck out a decade on a team that, as he says, just didn't have it together. Through a few decent seasons and several lousy ones, he kept going out on the field and churning out yard after yard, regularly breaking out runs that sent shivers down my spine. I gave him the benefit of the doubt on the way he left the game. Now I don't have that, so he goes down a few pegs on the respectability meter This story changes nothing in my estimation of him. I have always assumed that this was the way he felt at the time of his retirement; this story just confirms it. I'm not sure how lying about how he felt at the time would make him more respectable. I would loved to have seen him play a few seasons more. As much as it would have hurt, I would rather have seen him go to another team (even one in the former NFC Central) than retire outright. He deserved a better team than he got. He tried and tried, going week in and week out with very few injuries. I think his retirement when the rushing record was clearly within his grasp said two things: 1)he just didn't care about the record, he wanted to win, and 2) since the Lions organization didn't show him that it had a serious commitment to winning, he felt a few extra years would be an exercise in futility. In his usual style, he didn't air his dirty laundry in public, he didn't demand a trade, he just walked away. And as far as Walter Payton goes, it seems to me that about the time he reached the point in his career when Sanders retired, he was no longer on a team that was going nowhere; in fact his next season was the year they took the Super Bowl. And if I remember correctly, the reason he did not end up elsewhere is that the Lions had no intention of letting him play elsewhere. If they didn't have him, nobody else would either.
posted by deadcowdan at 06:50 AM on November 17, 2003
Will it solve the problem? No. Not. Nyet. Nein. However, it does seem that the college athletics system in this country (at least at the Division I level) has a hypocrisy problem - it tries very hard to convey the message that underage and binge drinking is bad while at the same time indirectly benefitting enormously through the advertising and sale of beer. I'm not sure how much it will hurt the networks - probably some. It will probably also sting the Anheuser/Busches of the world, since a good part of their ad budget is spent on college games. Of course, it won't sting nearly as much if this ban falls apart, which it probably will.
posted by deadcowdan at 07:22 AM on November 13, 2003
Man, I have to wonder what is wrong with the Bucs this year. It takes a fan taunting them from the Jumbotron to get their defense pumped up? I guess being down a touchdown but still in the game isn't enough these days, you gotta have your manhood challenged before you get motivated.
posted by deadcowdan at 08:54 PM on November 12, 2003
Lions Stun Bears With Record 4th Quarter
It was a good game. I was just waiting for the Lions to come up with a way to self-immolate, but they were unable to pull it off. They're not looking bad on offense, but judging by the game yesterday, they really need to get their act together on defense and special teams. Too many stupid penalties, including the inexcusable one at the end (which didn't really affect anything)—offsides on the kickoff. They've really got to work on that.