kirkaracha’s profile

kirkaracha
6
Name: Kirk Franklin
Homepage URL: http://www.magneato.com/
Location: San Francisco
ZIP Code: 94115
Member since: January 23, 2002
Last visit: June 13, 2008

kirkaracha has posted 200 links and 324 comments to SportsFilter and no threads and 6 comments to the Locker Room and has written 3 columns.

Sports Bio

The memorable events I've been at were all by luck.
I'm a longtime fan of the Minnesota Vikings even though I've never lived in or even been to Minnesota (Fran Tarkenton was a formative influence).

Sports I watch: NFL football throughout the season, the college football championship game and other interesting bowl matchups (I didn't go to a real college, so I don't have any emotional investment in college ball), the NCAA and NBA playoffs, and the Major League Baseball playoffs. Basketball and baseball seasons are too damn long for individual games to mean much, although I'll go to most any game if I get the chance.

Sports I play: indoor and outdoor soccer. Even though I love playing soccer and I've played it most of my life, it's not that interesting to me as a spectator sport. I played offensive and defensive line on my high school football team, and we played the school that was in the movie Remember the Titans.

Recent Links

Bombed, boomed and doomed. On November 27, 1966, the Washington Redskins beat the New York Giants 72-41, in the highest-scoring game in NFL history. The Redskins' 72 points is the highest winning score in a regular-season game; the combined 16 touchdowns is also a record. [more inside]

posted on Jan 14, 2008 - Go to the detail view for this result

TVTV Goes to the Super Bowl. Bill Murray and Christopher Guest cover a touch football game featuring Phyllis George, Johnny Unitas, and Pat Summerall in a TVTV behind-the-scenes documentary (full version) about Super Bowl X (1976).

posted on Jan 11, 2008 - Go to the detail view for this result

Patriots are perfect 16-0 with a comeback win against the New York Giants, overcoming a 12 point third-quarter deficit. Tom Brady's 50 touchdown passes in a season breaks Peyton Manning's record; Randy Moss' 23 touchdown catches in a season breaks Jerry Rice's record.

posted on Dec 29, 2007 - Go to the detail view for this result

Most Valuable Position Slate's Robert Weintraub ranks the most important positions in the NFL.

posted on Sep 12, 2007 - Go to the detail view for this result

Recent Comments

Giants Win Superbowl!

posted to Football at 9:07 PM CDT

I think coaches should be able to challenge calls the refs make, but not calls they don't. Otherwise they could challenge holding not being called on every play.

Comment icon posted at 9:59 AM CDT on February 4

The Patriots' being 14-point favorites was ridiculous. The December game was very close, the Giants played better in the playoffs than they did in that game, and the Patriots played worse.

Where was Randy Moss in the playoffs?

Comment icon posted at 10:21 AM CDT on February 4

That wacky play by Eli Manning reminded me of another guy who wore number 10 and played quarterback for the Giants, Fran Tarkenton.

10 points after 3 quarters of play? That isn't very entertaining.

The Patriots averaged 36.8 points per game this season, setting the all-time record for points scored, and were 14-point favorites. The Giants' defense was great, but even during the game it was difficult to think they'd be able to hold the Patriots to two touchdowns over the entire game, and the Giants needed to score somehow, some way. It was dramatic.

I don't think it came close to what Prince did in one of the hardest venues to perform well.

In the rain.

Comment icon posted at 1:35 PM CDT on February 4

18-and-D'oh!

Comment icon posted at 3:45 PM CDT on February 4

The Giants could have scored more points, but they kept screwing up inside the Patriots 30 in the first half. They could easily have had at least two field goals.

The Giants' defense was astonishing. Late in the third quarter, the Patriots had run 41 offensive plays, 19 for 0 or negative yards. The Patriots scored on 53% of their drives during the regular season (pretty amazing); they scored on two out of nine during the Super Bowl.

I think the Patriots' would have won if it had gone to overtime. The Giants D was exhausted during the Patriots scoring drive.

Field position was huge. The Patriots started three drives inside their 12 and two more inside their 21. Going 80-90+ yards is tough for any offense.

McQuarters fielded almost every punt, even when it would have been safer to fair catch, but it paid off and he had decent return yards.

Comment icon posted at 10:33 AM CDT on February 6

Bombed, boomed and doomed. On November 27, 1966, the Washington Redskins beat the New York Giants 72-41, in the highest-scoring game in NFL history. The Redskins' 72 points is the highest winning score in a regular-season game; the combined 16 touchdowns is also a record. [more inside]

posted to Football at 5:42 PM CDT

The Redskins called time out with seven seconds left so they could kick a field goal. (Several Redskins players had grudges against the Giants.)

The Giants threw five interceptions and lost a fumble. Brig Owens had three interceptions, and 62-yard fumble and interception returns for touchdowns. The turnovers killed the Giants: "The Giants had more yards (389-341), more first downs (25-16) and ran 29 more plays. The Redskins led at the half, 34-14, despite having minus-2 net passing yards."

The kickers, brothers Pete (Giants) and Charlie Gogolak set the record for most extra points in a game (14; the Giants blocked one). (They were also the first "soccer-style" NFL kickers.)

This was before the NFL had nets behind the goal posts, so each extra point meant a lost football. The Redskins lost 14 footballs at $22.50 each for a total cost of $315.

WAS Whitfield 5 yd. pass from Jurgensen  (Kick blocked)
WAS Whitfield 63 yd. run (C. Gogolak kick)
WAS Owens 62 yd. run with fumble (C. Gogolak kick)
NYG Jacobs 6 yd run (P. Gogolak kick)
WAS Whitfield 1 yd. run (C. Gogolak kick)
WAS Looney 10 yd. run (C. Gogolak kick)
NYG Wood 1 yd run (P. Gogolak kick)
NYG Morrison 41 yd. pass from Wood (P. Gogolak kick)
WAS Taylor  32 yd. pass from Jurgensen (C. Gogolak kick)
NYG Jones 50 yd. pass from Wood (P. Gogolak kick)
WAS Taylor 74 yd. pass from Jurgensen (C. Gogolak kick)
WAS Harris 52 yd. punt return (C. Gogolak kick)
WAS Owens 62 yd interception return (C. Gogolak kick)
NYG Thomas 18 yd. pass from Kennedy (kick failed)
NYG Lewis 1 yd. run (P. Gogolak kick)
WAS Mitchell  45 yd. run (C. Gogolak kick)
WAS C. Gogolak 23 yd. Field Goal

Comment icon posted at 5:42 PM CDT on January 14

The game probably wasn't especially long because a lot of the scores were on big plays (six touchdowns on plays of 30 yards or more) and turnovers and punt returns.

Comment icon posted at 11:28 AM CDT on January 16

TVTV Goes to the Super Bowl. Bill Murray and Christopher Guest cover a touch football game featuring Phyllis George, Johnny Unitas, and Pat Summerall in a TVTV behind-the-scenes documentary (full version) about Super Bowl X (1976).

posted to Football at 3:40 PM CDT

It took me a while to figure out that the cheesy "200 years old" song at the beginning was about the Bicentennial.

Comment icon posted at 3:40 PM CDT on January 11

Seattle defeats Washington, Jacksonville edges Pittsburgh.

posted to Football at 6:29 AM CDT

Roethlisberger's end around on third and five

Thank you for saying "end around." The announcers almost always call them reverses and it's really annoying.

This sportsmanship stood in sharp contrast to moments like Bill Belichick's unfriendly gesture to Tony Dungy after the Pats-Colts game.

That could be because Belichick's a dick.

Comment icon posted at 7:10 PM CDT on January 7

Patriots are perfect 16-0 with a comeback win against the New York Giants, overcoming a 12 point third-quarter deficit. Tom Brady's 50 touchdown passes in a season breaks Peyton Manning's record; Randy Moss' 23 touchdown catches in a season breaks Jerry Rice's record.

posted to Football at 10:42 PM CDT

The Giants made the Patriots work for it, and the Giants could have won the game, but they made too many mistakes (blitzing and the interception) in the second half.

Comment icon posted at 11:49 PM CDT on December 29

As a Vikings fan, I have to admit I'm bitter to see Randy Moss playing hard (and setting well-deserved records) for the Patriots when he dogged it with the Vikings.

it seemed to me that the calls were really going New England's way

What about the mystery call on the sidelines that went from a 15 yard penalty against the Patriots to a 15 yard call against the Giants?

Comment icon posted at 11:00 AM CDT on December 30

Last minute rally moves Patriots to 12-0 but how much longer can the defense let teams run the ball down their throats?

posted to Football at 10:25 AM CDT

Until the 4th quarter last night, the officials seemed to forget that.

Ideally the refs would call the game by the rules, however, they should not change the way they're calling the game during the game.

they come up against a team with more than one decent running back, it could be a problem

And the Vikings finally win the Super Bowl! (I can dream, can't I?)

Comment icon posted at 2:59 PM CDT on December 6

The Top Ten Obscure Sports in the World. Everything from surf lifesaving to unicycle hockey.

posted to Other at 6:30 PM CDT

No octopush?

Comment icon posted at 7:55 PM CDT on December 3

Barry Bonds indicted on perjury, obstruction charges

posted to Baseball at 4:26 PM CDT

The indictment charges Bonds with lying when he said that he didn't knowingly take steroids given to him by his personal trainer Greg Anderson. He also denied taking steroids at anytime in 2001 when he was pursuing the single season home-run record.

"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes," the indictment reads.
He is also charged with lying that Anderson never injected him with steroids.

Comment icon posted at 4:27 PM CDT on November 15

"and other athletes"

I've stipulated before that Bonds used steroids, but it's in a context where baseball owners, players, and fans turned a blind eye on steroids abuse for years, and I'm opposed to any punishment that singles Bonds out or uses him as a scapegoat for widespread abuse.

That said, if they convict him, he should go to jail.
(Unless President Bush pardons him. According to contemporary Republicans perjury and obstruction of justice aren't that big a deal.)

I'm not seeing how they prove that Bonds lied about knowingly being injected with steroids.

I thought that, too.

Comment icon posted at 5:59 PM CDT on November 15