nicotine winning patch's profile

nicotine winning patch
14139
Name: Tom Ziller
Member since: July 05, 2006
Last visit: January 19, 2007

nicotine winning patch has posted 1 link and 8 comments to SportsFilter and 0 links and 1 comment to the Locker Room.

Recent Links

"It's 'Bull Durham'-meets-fantasy-sports come to life.": The Schaumburg Flyers are managed by, well, a few hundred (or thousand) armchair coaches via the internet. "Fans" set the lineups before each game. After starting 31-17 and winning the Northern League's first half division title before the fans took over, the minor league team has gone 14-31 and sits in last place with the democratic managerial style. But those 14 wins and 31 losses have been viewed 500,000 times via the web-reality show based on the team. Still, the manager and some players are not happy. "It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of in baseball, period," says the closer. (This, of course, is to counteract the recent feel-good publicity surrounding the Vintage Base Ball Association, where the mitts are flesh and walks take six balls.)

posted by nicotine winning patch to baseball at 11:54 AM on September 01, 2006 - 8 comments

Recent Comments

When franchises go bad.

The case made for the Knicks is actually pretty strong - I went into it preparing to disagree, but it's to difficult to make a strong case that there are sadder NBA franchises. Nonetheless, I will try. Memphis/Vancouver. Making the NBA playoffs isn't the victory it is in MLB or the NFL, and that Memphis hasn't won a single playoff game in their three trips and has now blown the show up (with possibly Gasol gone soon?) tells me bleakness is afoot. This is all on top of the fact that the team failed to garner an audience in Vancouver and has failed to garner an audience in Memphis. Minnesota. One good (great?) season out of 16. Painful. And unless someone sends them two young All-Stars and a glut of picks for KG, they'll be bad a long time. Philadelphia is pretty self-explanatory. The Knicks still might win this contest, though. Tough team to root for the past six years.

posted by nicotine winning patch at 06:06 PM on January 19, 2007

"I'm not satisfied with things that don't test my abilities..."

I enjoy running, even trail running. But I have no idea how something like this could be even possibly thought of as rewarding in any way. Three months of 50-milers everyday... in the GD desert? No, gracias. Really.

posted by nicotine winning patch at 11:12 AM on September 05, 2006

Greece celebrates stunning upset.

To echo, nemo, this has absolutely zero to do with Battier over Bowen. Battier was far better in the exhibitions, and was on par with Bowen this past NBA season (and Shane didn't have Tim Duncan next to him). There are myraid reasons to select Battier over Bowen for the team - shooting, ball-handling, rebounding, quickness up and down the court (as opposed to Bowen's hand/lateral quickness advantage), youth, up-close knowledge of Gasol's game... Putting a guy like Bowen on the team was a nice thought, but nothing more. The team lost because he can't guard in the halfcourt and it missed more shots than usual. And Greece isn't a slouch, either. It's not a disaster. Championships are not a given.

posted by nicotine winning patch at 03:22 PM on September 01, 2006

Speaking of needing one more team....

I'm also in, with an obvious team name. Thanks for setting this up.

posted by nicotine winning patch at 12:00 PM on September 01, 2006

Seattle Pitcher Stable After Hit In The Head.

Vlad is definitely the batter I'd least like to get hit in the head by. Not that I'd want to get hit in the head by any batter, actually. But definitely not Vlad.

posted by nicotine winning patch at 03:27 PM on August 31, 2006

Witness for the Prosecution?

Weedy's right on this. Completely different scenarios, especially when you add in the race card that got thrown down in Durham. Lake Minnetonka was a laugher from the start (however disgusting and irresponsible it was).

posted by nicotine winning patch at 03:19 PM on August 31, 2006

Back to the Future?

That team needs more than Don Nelson to get to the playoffs. The west is loaded. At the very least, Richardson needs to keep progressing, Davis needs to get back on track, and Pietrus needs to show some improvement. And they desparately need in an interior defender. Nelson will only be around a couple years. I think this begins the grooming of Mario Elie.

posted by nicotine winning patch at 04:30 PM on August 29, 2006

Katrina strikes again

As other posters have said, it's tough to opine when not all the facts are clear from the coverage. If the school singled out good football players and filled up their classes with those kids at the exclusion of other evacuee students needing their education, then yeah, that's shady. But I'm not sure that's the case. And in either case, I'm not sure someone should've blown the whistle on this. What good can it do, really?

posted by nicotine winning patch at 04:19 PM on August 29, 2006

Tears of a Clown

The Golden Goat could easily be split into thirds for England, to be shared by their three strikers: Rooney, for his Nutcracker audition; Michael Owen, for only being able to salvage his disaster of a performance by getting himself injured; and Eric Crouch, for apparently missing his flight to Germany. Landon Donovan and Reyna similarly deserve a piece. And definitely Valentin Ivanov. I think Henry might have his award cinched up. Zizou wouldn't be a surprise either, even if The Blues fall to The Blue.

posted by nicotine winning patch at 12:08 PM on July 06, 2006