- 10:38 AM
- 03/18/10
| Name: | Hal Incandenza |
|---|---|
| Gender: | Manly-man |
| Member since: | January 29, 2002 |
| Last visit: | March 18, 2010 |
hincandenza has posted 39 links and 1120 comments to SportsFilter and 4 links and 19 comments to the Locker Room.
Barry Bonds offers to play for free.:
My opinion on Bonds is no secret, however I noticed this tidbit in the paper yesterday and have been meaning to post about it. Barry Bonds' agent has offered his services to all 30 teams, at a pro-rated salary of the league minimum (at this point, about $200,000 total), even offering to play for free by donating that salary to buying tickets for the game; his trial date isn't until next March, so he would not be prevented from playing.
Despite this, apparently Barry's agent has received no interest, bolstering claims that the league is colluding to prevent him being hired.
posted by hincandenza to baseball at 09:32 PM on June 27 - 78 comments
Seattle Mariners (finally) fire GM Bill Bavasi.: For weeks the indisputable worst team in the majors, the $117M Seattle Mariners have finally made a major personnel change by firing General Manager Bill Bavasi today. Many in the media predicted such a shakeup should the Washington Nationals, who came into Seattle with worst record in the NL, complete the sweep of the Mariners in Seattle this weekend.
In his 5 years as Seattle GM including 2008, Bill Bavasi guided the Mariners to a last-place finish in every single year but 2007, where the 88-74 Mariners finished 2nd. The fervent Mariner blog community, who have demanded front office firings for a long time now, are already advocating for his replacement.
posted by hincandenza to baseball at 08:44 PM on June 16 - 5 comments
Sportsfilter Technology Refresh?:
Sportsfilter was founded back in 2002 using a mimic of the Metafilter site code as I understand it- back then, sports posts seemed too "newsfilter-y" back when that was actually frowned upon at Metafilter, and this site was spun up as a dedicated place for that kind of content.
In the intervening years, Metafilter has added a number of features- big and small- that make that site very functional and usable. I'm curious if there is any possibility of having a "technology refresh", in which Sportsfilter gets an update of some of the site code to enable things like live preview, tagging, favoriting, etc.
posted by hincandenza to feature requests at 12:04 PM on June 09 - 48 comments
Patriots advance to their 4th Superbowl in 7 years. : Despite his second worst QB rating of the season, Tom Brady and the Patriots advance to the Superbowl thanks to a second half running game and a defense that held the Chargers to only 4 field goals on the afternoon. The Patriots take their 17-1 unprecedented 18-0 record to Arizona in two weeks, facing the Ravens winner of the Packers/Giants game, in the hopes of completing a truly historic season.
posted by hincandenza to football at 05:25 PM on January 20 - 131 comments
Seattle edges Dallas in a wild, wild 4th quarter:
One of the most nail-biting fourth quarters I've ever seen! Dallas looked poised to waltz into the end zone for an easy 2 or 6 point win in the final two minutes of the game, until an incredible goal line stop by Tatupu and an improbable drop of a FG snap led to a wild finish to Saturday's football action.
posted by hincandenza to football at 10:28 PM on January 06 - 75 comments
There were times when I was watching the US dominance in several Olympic sports that I got kind of a rough taste of what it must be like to be a (gasp) Yankees fan.
We're the third largest country in the world, and the two larger nations don't have anything approaching our middle-class largesse. Even though we have short attention spans the other 3 years and 11 months- for example, had the US won Hockey Gold the public wouldn't much care about it a month later while the Canadians I think cared a lot more- the US public is very competitive and "wants to win" and we manage to have a hugely funded Olympic committee and training system. For example, when I read that Finland as a hockey loving nation that was pretty stoked to pull down a Bronze, and they were pulling from a pool of about 5 million people, it hit me that they were medaling while pulling from something like the Atlanta, Miami or D.C. metro areas.
Our ability to draw from effectively the by-far largest pool of healthy, well-fed athletes with the best training and equipment at their disposal is insane- and that Gold or off-cycle competitions and endorsements can result in beaux coup buxx (Wikipedia says Shaun White earned $9m in 2008 alone) which means a fair number of our athletes have an additional advantage as independently wealthy contenders, more so than many other nation's representatives who won't have that sort of payoff. That is coupled with as noted the predominance of new events that lean towards US specialties (like the various snowboarding medals), which I have to imagine come about in part because the US has to be the largest single source of funding for the Olympic activities.
This is not to say that at the end of the day, the individuals winning these medals are not stupendous athletes, or that the US athletes didn't do a fantastic job. After all, the best _____ in the world could have been born anywhere without respect to national borders. But considering Canada won 14 golds to the USA's 9, and only 7 fewer medals overall, in a nation that is 1/9th the size of the US, I'd say that Canada did in fact "Own the Podium".
posted by hincandenza at 01:50 PM on March 01
John Napier sounds like a decent guy, but Rick Reilly is as douchey and jingoistic as ever.
Sorry, but why should it be reversed? Shaun White is about the best in the world at what he does (he's earned $30M? Really?!), whereas John Napier is not. There were other ways to pay off a debt, such as a second job.
He's not the only Olympian who isn't rich or famous, and who has to hold down a regular gig in between Olympic appearances- that's the norm, not the exception. Olympians who are schoolteachers or firefighters 'serve' their country as much or more than military personnel. It's a crummy and unnecessary war, and Napier chose to join. I can't applaud that, even though I can applaud service men and women who work hard and are honest and decent, because it's their job to follow orders. Even if those orders were misguided at best, criminal at worst.
posted by hincandenza at 10:52 PM on February 22
Saints by 10And I hate to disillusion you, boredom_08, but technically you're still on the bottom when it comes to the Costanza: the only people who qualify are those who play all the rounds (otherwise, you'd "win" by not playing). billsaysthis, cl, and tnelson all DNP last week.
Over
Saints scoring first via Offense
Colts with the most 3rd down conversions
However, be proud: The Costanza is an honorable achievement, and one that only one person can win every year, just like the "winner". :)
posted by hincandenza at 12:42 AM on February 04
The buzzfeed version of this story included another link that's just as amazing: the Fox affiliate reporter covering the story takes a shot of his own...
posted by hincandenza at 04:05 AM on January 27
AFC by 14, AFC.
Or, the opposite of whatever boredom_08 picks. :)
posted by hincandenza at 12:17 PM on January 25
Wow, apparently boredom_08 is some kind of Super-Costanza!
posted by hincandenza at 05:55 AM on January 25
Jets 3, Saints 14, Jets 41 solo tacklesCall this one an absolute lock!!!posted by boredom_08 at 09:53 PM on January 18
I vaulted into contention- 2 points off the lead- by mimicking lil_brown_bat last week. Well, boredom_08 is a serious Costanza contender with 1 point total over both weeks- which is why I'm just copying their picks, which are sure to sweep the weekend and put me solidly in first place! :)
posted by hincandenza at 04:03 AM on January 20
It's like a big kid punching some little kid in the head and saying "if you don't like it, just stop it".Yeah, that's a totally legitimate analogy when discussing competitive teams in a competitive league populated by some of the most gifted athletes on the planet paid six, seven, even eight figure salaries to play.
The Viking are not the Cowboys big brother, and have no moral, ethical, legal, or economic reason to "go easy". Fuck that! This isn't the Special Olympics, everyone doesn't get a trophy for playing, and the goal isn't to make all the players feel good about themselves.
If you're not good enough to stop a team from outscoring you by 31 points in a second round playoff game, then you either shouldn't have been in the fucking playoffs to begin with, or you were just severely outgunned. Good lesson to remember next year, so you don't get humiliated again: review the game footage, look at your weaknesses, and spend the offseason training, drafting, trading, and planning to be a better team next year.
And as dviking hints at above, the alternative to "Continuing to play, and apparently running up the score" because you're just that much better than the other team is "Make a mockery of the sport, and especially the losing team, by blatantly throwing away downs". I think as mad as the Cowboys were to lose by that much, they'd have been livid if say Favre had run on the field and started throwing the ball in the opposite direction because the lead was so big, or if receivers immediately dropped to a knee on every play.
posted by hincandenza at 10:34 PM on January 17
For the second round, I'm just going to flat out steal lbb's predictions, and use them for myself:
Okay. Done fooling around with you people now.Colts by 20 Bolts by 13 Saints by 7 Vikings by 3
The most punting will be done by the Jets, who will punt for 210 yards.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 01:22 PM on January 12
posted by hincandenza at 12:55 PM on January 14
Not the whole city... just its weakest, most vulnerable citizens. Everyone else should be fine!
posted by hincandenza at 10:43 PM on January 11
I thought Aaron was hopped up on amphetamines, or "greenies", as were players like Maris and Mantle.
*
posted by hincandenza at 05:39 PM on January 11
Interesting point in the article, of how in the 30's players who worked out were seen as cheaters, but they'd eat monkey glands for that extra burst. Now we consider working out to be the norm, but how dare anyone use anything, even nasal spray, that might give them an "advantage".
I agree with the writer's notion that we should really lay off the arbitrary divisions of "clean" versus "cheating" when it comes to drugs, or suits, or equipment. The article makes a good case that really, all athletes are becoming more and more freakish just by their existence and their dedication to training. Why should suits, clubheads, and the like, along with PEDs that repair the damage they do through the ungodly stresses of training or playing, be seen as some unholy barrier that should never be crossed? They aren't much freakier than their chromosomal advantage or years of training in unusual conditions, except I guess when we can't deny it- such as Castor Semenya or PED-taking ballplayers.
And even in those cases, over time it becomes the norm. Used to be shortstops were 5'6" and hit .240, until players like Cal Ripken made the 6'2", 225lb, high average and power shortstop the expectation. It's the rarity now for a baseball player who isn't both well above average in size- and overall exceptional athletes- and highly muscular from year round training. Heck, shortstops today are built like linebackers were 20 years ago. This is the normal course of things, the evolution of the athlete.
All that said, I'm not sure I got the ultimate point of his article: is it that sports becomes boring because players will be so insanely good that there will be zero drama, such as with Tiger Woods? Or that eventually, things will correct such that everyone will be equally freakish again and the drama of the sport will prevail, such as in the rugby example he gave (or of how players get continuously larger, fitter, faster, but stay competitive)? Or that we get hung up on arbitrary definitions of what should be allowable and what's beyond the pale?
posted by hincandenza at 05:13 PM on January 10
Yeah, that was disappointingly lopsided, but in tune with the season where they were so inconsistent (and injured). It seems like the whole team has been off since that Giants victory in the Superbowl two years ago, with the lost Brady season and inexplicable 11-win non-playoff appearance, or this season where they were worse than useless away from Foxborough (only to lose handily in the wild card game at home). Just didn't feel like they were going to do much this year, although I still had hope they'd some how tune it up for the playoffs, losing Welker and Brady's rib issues were too much of a sign of their minimal chances.
It's been my great fear that after so much success, all the Boston teams would start crapping the bed at the same time, either missing the playoffs or just getting knocked out quickly. And sure enough, after the Patriots were 50 seconds from perfect season, they've been ill-fated since then: losing Brady last year and missing the playoffs as an 11-win team, to a quick exit this year. The Sox looked like they were going to repeat their October magic against the Rays two years ago, and then sputtered out in Game 7, followed by a quick first-round exist last year against an Angels team they've dominated, to the Celtics having an injured Garnett in trying to repeat, etc.
I'm worried that this decade will be the return to earth decade, and the schadenfreude brigade will be out in force. I can't really complain: I've seen an improbable 3 Superbowl wins, 2 World Series wins, and an NBA title in the span of 6 years; by Simmons' metric, Boston can't complain about not going deep into the playoffs for a good 10 years. And lord knows that when pitchers and catchers report, the Sox have a pretty amazing lineup... I guess hope really does spring eternal.
posted by hincandenza at 05:00 PM on January 10
I thought you were a Yankee fan, lbb, but I'm surprised to see on your profile you root for the Patriots. I'd forgotten you've posted on past Patriot threads.
A dishearteningly lopsided loss, but in tune with the season where they were so inconsistent (and injured). It seems like the whole team has been off since that Giants victory in the Superbowl, with the lost Brady season and inexplicable 11-win non-playoff appearance, or this season where they were worse than useless away from Foxborough (only to lose handily in the wild card game at home). Just didn't feel like they were going to do much this year, although I still had hope they'd some how tune it up for the playoffs, losing Welker and Brady's rib issues were too much of a sign of their minimal chances.
posted by hincandenza at 04:58 PM on January 10
71 and counting
Okay, that was funny. :)