- 06:13 AM
- 01/09/09
| Name: | Arthur Coddington |
|---|---|
| Homepage URL: | http://www.shrednow.com |
| Location: | San Leandro, CA |
| ZIP Code: | 94577 |
| Member since: | February 04, 2002 |
| Last visit: | November 03, 2003 |
neuroshred has posted 2 links and 20 comments to SportsFilter and no links and no comments to the Locker Room.
Sampras, Agassi and Safin all lose at Wimbledon The #2 (Agassi), 3 (Safin) and 6 (Sampras) seeds are all gone early. It's been two years without a tournament title for Sampras, and now a second round defeat at his favorite Grand Slam. Time for Pete to retire?
posted on June 26, 2002 - Go to the detail view for this result
Did top speedskater Apolo Ohno deliberately lose a race at the US Olympic Trials so his friend could make the Olympic team? Almost everyone except the arbitrator seems to think so. I saw the Trials on Outdoor Life Network, and the race looked fishy. Are they letting him get away with race fixing because he's a gold medal favorite for the US?
posted on February 06, 2002 - Go to the detail view for this result
"I hope she misses the cut. Why? Because she doesn't belong out here." So says Vijay Singh, on Annika Sorenstam playing in the Colonial next week. Evidently he isn't the only player that thinks this, just the most vocal so far.
posted by corpse at 03:52 PM on May 13
Is Pete Sampras the best ... Is Pete Sampras the best ever? Please, give me a break. How can a guy be considered the best when he can't win on clay (no French Open)? That tells me that his game is limited. Pete is the Ben Affleck of tennis. A lot of ooh and ahh, but his range is limited. Sure he's an excellent serve-and-volleyer (which explains his many Wimbledon championships), but he is hardly the best. You have to give it to a player who has won all the Grand Slams. First choice: Rod Laver. (BTW, how can Agassi not be in the top eight?) Don't even get me started about the ridiculous claim of Steffi Graf being one of the greatest. [more inside]
posted by jacknose at 04:49 PM on September 14
Laver was amazing and probably would have won many more Grand Slam titles had he been able to compete from 1963 to 1967 after he turned pro. However. When Laver won his Grand Slams, 3 of 4 of the Grand Slam tournaments were played on grass, and there were not legions of European clay court specialists priming their whole year toward the French. Current players run a much greater gauntlet on their way to a Grand Slam. In return for tons more money, they have to beat better players and survive a more grueling schedule. That Sampras was able to end the year at #1 six times in a row tells me he is one of the best if not the best ever. Having a checklist of tournaments a "greatest" player has to win doesn't work. Sampras never won the French but made the semis. Lendl, one of my favorite players ever, made it to the Wimbledon finals but never won. McEnroe never won the French, neither did Connors. Borg never won the US Open. All of them had other superior accomplishments that outweigh these flaws in their resumes.
posted at 03:36 PM on September 14
[ spoiler! spoiler! ] Let's talk about today's stage of the Tour de France. As soon as you've watched it in your timezone. Because it's worth talking about. (more inside)
posted by etagloh at 10:08 AM on July 18
Armstrong's stage win is cool but not surprising. The press has been trying to make the Tour more exciting by questioning Armstrong's readiness. There's no evidence that Armstrong's riding has waned. There's no reason he should have been leading until today, yet the press has been predicting the end of his reign because he was not wearing the yellow jersey. Pretty absurd.
posted at 12:39 PM on July 18
Sampras, Agassi and Safin all lose at Wimbledon The #2 (Agassi), 3 (Safin) and 6 (Sampras) seeds are all gone early. It's been two years without a tournament title for Sampras, and now a second round defeat at his favorite Grand Slam. Time for Pete to retire?
posted by neuroshred at 02:26 PM on June 27
Many athletes in lower profile sports are successful at older ages. Of the elite players in my sport, I'm one of the younger ones at 36. Last year I won two world championship titles. It can be done, but there are lots more aches and pains. With Sampras and other aging tour players, the grind of playing year-round wears the body down. In the June 27 print edition of Tennis Week, ATP trainer Bill Norris said there were no tour players who were free of injury. Agassi had the luxury of a few mental breaks from the sport, and he's still going strong. Sampras drove himself for years, and he's lost the edge.
posted at 02:32 PM on June 27
Sampras, Agassi and Safin all lose at Wimbledon The #2 (Agassi), 3 (Safin) and 6 (Sampras) seeds are all gone early. It's been two years without a tournament title for Sampras, and now a second round defeat at his favorite Grand Slam. Time for Pete to retire?
posted by neuroshred at 02:26 PM on June 26
Well said, somethingotherthan. I was shocked at Agassi's loss and that it was in straight sets. At least Agassi's still a player to be feared. Pete is an almost guaranteed win for those who go up against him early in tournaments. There's something to be said for a great player preserving his myth of invincibility. Pete needs to get out before it gets embarrassing.
posted at 04:20 PM on June 26
"I'm going to play ... "I'm going to play aggressive. If they call (Game 7) like they're supposed to call it, the outcome will be the same it was (on Friday). You've got to foul me to stop me. Period." -- Shaquille O'Neal, promising to do a bang-up job when the Western Conference decides tonight which team will cut down the Nets.
posted by rcade at 01:02 PM on June 03
Well said, jacknose. Bad officiating goes both ways. All the players can do is make their shots.
posted at 09:51 PM on June 03
"I'm going to play ... "I'm going to play aggressive. If they call (Game 7) like they're supposed to call it, the outcome will be the same it was (on Friday). You've got to foul me to stop me. Period." -- Shaquille O'Neal, promising to do a bang-up job when the Western Conference decides tonight which team will cut down the Nets.
posted by rcade at 01:02 PM on June 02
I'm glad the Lakers won, and I feel the Kings' pain. This was a thrilling series. The Lakers winning in overtime was a perfect ending for me.
posted at 11:38 PM on June 02
The drought's over! USA wins silver & bronze in the 4-man bobsled. Maybe NASCAR is good for something after all.
posted by PeteyStock at 01:52 AM on February 24
For info on getting involved in bobsled, go to USA Bobsled if you're in the US. There is a general email link at the bottom of the homepage, and there are email links to each of the coaches in their bios in the Coaches section. If you go to Lake Placid, you can pay to take a bobsled run - but you don't get to drive. You'll probably be able to do the same in SLC once the Games are over.
posted at 11:43 AM on February 24
Where are the new sports? ... Where are the new sports? With the X-Games a full on corporate event, snowboarding an Olympic sport, and Hollywood using the "extreme" lifestyle as a movie device - are there any underground sports about to break through? Extreme Frisbee? Hacky sack? My money's on Xtreme Basketball.
posted by owillis at 06:27 PM on February 22
There are dozens of "new" sports out there, if by new we mean not covered often by the media. My favorite is freestyle flying disc (sorry for the crappy-looking website), but I'm very biased because it's my sport. The road to the Olympics is a long one, and since the Olympics want to eliminate sports the road just got a lot more bumpy. Ultimate took its first step this summer when it was added to the World Games, a lower-profile international sports festival.
posted at 06:19 PM on February 22
Jayaram Khadka, a Nepalese cross-country skiier, raised by an eccentric English computer millionaire, finished 82nd in the 10km classical race. Isaac Menyoli, who came in 83rd and last is from Cameroon, via Milwaukee.
posted by liam at 02:44 PM on February 14
I saw the piece on Khadka this afternoon. When I see these heartwarming stories, my first question is "which world class athlete didn't get to go to the Olympics so this guy can be here?" In Khadka's case, it sounds like he actually met some qualifying standards, but limiting the number of competitors per country means contenders get left out every time, while less talented athletes from obscure countries get to participate. I would much prefer to see all the best athletes going at it for the gold than seeing some terrified guy snowplowing down the downhill course.
posted at 03:37 PM on February 14
NBC's use of SimulCam ... NBC's use of SimulCam technology is a reason to catch one of the remaining skiing or figure skating events. It superimposes a ghosted replay of one athlete over a replay of another, providing an amazing comparative look at the event. (Via RC3)
posted by rcade at 01:30 PM on February 14
I love the SimulCam footage. They had one last night that showed Bode Miller passing another top skier in the second slalom of the Alpine Combined. It showed very clearly just how good Miller's run was.
posted at 01:56 PM on February 14
Enrique Iglesias' new video "Escape" features the greatest tennis player to never win anything, yup, Anna Kournikova
posted by owillis at 06:23 AM on February 14
She may not have won a singles tournament, but she's won a few grand slam doubles titles and had earned her way into the top 10 before her injury last year.
posted at 11:03 AM on February 14
The Russian Pairs Skating Dynasty lives on in 2002. The decision proved to be a controversial one, as a flawless performance by Sale and Pelletier seemed to lock a gold medal win for Canada when compared to a couple bobbles by Russians Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. But they ended up with the silver after a tiebreaker by the Chinese judge.
posted by evixir at 12:19 AM on February 13
The head of the International Skating Union is giving a press conference right now on MSNBC. He is VERY defensive. His answers are very evasive. He's hardly even admitting that there have ever been judging issues in the sport. He's the wrong spokesperson for their sport. He makes it sound like they are hiding something.
posted at 01:09 PM on February 13
The Russian Pairs Skating Dynasty lives on in 2002. The decision proved to be a controversial one, as a flawless performance by Sale and Pelletier seemed to lock a gold medal win for Canada when compared to a couple bobbles by Russians Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. But they ended up with the silver after a tiebreaker by the Chinese judge.
posted by evixir at 12:19 AM on February 12
I'm not claiming any of the judges cheated. I'm claiming that they botched the job last night. The NBC commentators are no slouches. An Olympic gold medalist. A choreographer of Olympic medalwinning performances. If you listen to their remarks before the judges scores were revealed, there was no doubt in their mind who won. There are serious flaws in a system that ranks teams rather than scores them, and figure skating's system is worse than that. It's supposed to rank teams, but they add in mandatory deductions as though the performances are scored. Which is it, scored or ranked? It's a seriously flawed system. It needs to be changed, but the sport is so set in its ways that it won't happen.
posted at 10:41 AM on February 12
Did top speedskater Apolo Ohno deliberately lose a race at the US Olympic Trials so his friend could make the Olympic team? Almost everyone except the arbitrator seems to think so. I saw the Trials on Outdoor Life Network, and the race looked fishy. Are they letting him get away with race fixing because he's a gold medal favorite for the US?
posted by neuroshred at 04:42 PM on February 11
If he were just skating to avoid disqualification, he would have lurked behind the other skaters to stay out of traffic. He didn't. He was in the pack, pretending to compete, and he began cheering for his friend even before the race ended. Keep in mind, at the time Ohno had a winning streak of something like 16 races. He could have won it on a whim. I don't know whether he should be disqualified, but I'm not rooting for him. Maybe he should have to give his gold medal prize money to the guy who didn't make the team.
posted at 09:40 AM on February 11
It's not about whether men should play in the LPGA. The LPGA is a gender-protected division. By separating itself from the main tour on the basis of sex, the LPGA is saying "we can't compete on an equal level." If the PGA wants to claim to have the best golfers in the world it should redefine itself as an Open division that welcomes men and women. Coming from a sport with no men's division - everyone competes against one another unless they choose to enter a women's division - this is a no brainer. If everyone can earn their way onto the tour, the tour winner gets to call him/herself the best golfer. They've taken the first step - inviting Annika to play the Memorial, which makes a high profile statement that everyone is welcome as long as they compete on the same tees. Now the male pros just have to stop getting freaked out over the possibility they'll lose to a girl.