- 04:09 AM
- 11/21/09
| Name: | Holden O. |
|---|---|
| Location: | Chicago |
| Member since: | February 11, 2002 |
| Last visit: | November 20, 2009 |
holden has posted 36 links and 1318 comments to SportsFilter and 8 links and 224 comments to the Locker Room.
US Striker Charlie Davies Injured, Woman Killed in Car Accident: Charlie Davies, a striker for the U.S. Men's soccer team, was injured at 3:15 a.m. Tuesday in a DC-area car accident in which one woman was killed and another person was injured. Davies has undergone surgery for "non-life threatening" injuries, according to the Washington Post. Ashley J. Roberta, 22, died at the scene.
posted by holden to soccer at 05:43 PM on October 13 - 5 comments
Steven Wells: a few memories of a unique and acerbic voice: Steven Wells, the Guardian columnist whose biting British-observer-of-U.S.-sports-culture pieces provided fodder for some lively SportsFilter threads (see, for example, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) and has to be the most-linked author in SportsFilter history, passed away on Tuesday after a battle with cancer (the treatment of which is chronicled here).
posted by holden to other at 03:21 PM on June 25 - 9 comments
Baseball Tickets Too Much? Check Back Tomorrow: The San Francisco Giants experiment with dynamic, demand-based pricing.
posted by holden to baseball at 01:25 PM on May 18 - 4 comments
The end of the line for America's most hated soccer commentator?: No more Champions League color commentary or "analysis" from the man referred to affectionately by some as "the biggest tit on the air."
posted by holden to soccer at 02:02 PM on April 15 - 8 comments
Working for Lenny Dykstra: An inside look at working for Nails -- Wild and wacky antics! Racism and homophobia! Shady business practices! Borderline lunacy!
Most meetings are simply extended hang-out sessions, with Lenny cracking up at his own jokes or asking us to watch the Real Sports segment over and over, especially the moment where Lenny points to his seat on his private plane and says, “This is where the Big Man sits.” He also seems to relish letting go a long, leisurely fart for the amusement of his employees or showing off his silk tie and saying, “You see this tie? I paid $500 for it” as he rubs it on his crotch and laughs at our embarrassed expressions.
posted by holden to baseball at 05:53 PM on March 18 - 7 comments
I do not see anything in the linked articles that suggests that Henry admitted he cheated, Dunne's characterization notwithstanding. (If you look at what Henry allegedly said, Dunne recounted it as "He just said he handled it, he didn't mean it" -- but then goes on to make his own conclusion that "Looking at it, it's quite obvious he did mean it.") Henry clearly has admitted that he handled the ball and that the goal should not have stood, but my personal definition of cheating (and I know we had a big semantic argument over this on SportsFilter some months or years back) requires intent. I am not sure he intended to handle the ball -- although, personally, the second bit of handling (where he played the ball off of his hand after it glanced off of his forearm) seems like it may have been intentional. But Henry seems steadfast in arguing that his handball was an instinctive/inadvertent action (or reaction).
posted by holden at 11:54 AM on November 20
The next best season on that list from 2009 belongs to Chris Carpenter at #82.
I call New Hampshire bias.
posted by holden at 11:18 AM on November 18
Good for the voters for getting it right and not just going for the guy with most wins.
posted by holden at 08:47 PM on November 17
You don't know what you're talking about. Romo didn't trash the coaches or play calling after that 44-6 loss last year, and I can't recall ever hearing him do it. You've said that a few times here, but absent a source, I think it's BS. If Romo had criticized the playcalling in a game the Cowboys lost by 38 points, it would have been widely ridiculed.
Owens, Romo Point Finger at Garrett for Failed Offensive
posted by holden at 09:31 PM on November 16
but, again, you're adding in the odds that Pittsburgh could convert the 4th and 2 against the Chiefs into the equation. I personally doubt the Pats would convert that play 60% of the time against the Colts in this situation.
But you are also adding in the odds whether the Chiefs (or Raiders or whoever) could convert against the Steelers (or Ravens or whoever), which is presumably lower than 60%. Fact is, the Patriots offense is much better than average, with a top three QB and two very good passing-game weapons in Moss and Welker plus another (Faulk) who excels in short-yardage situations. The Indy defense is above average, but not elite, and is missing two key pieces of the secondary as a result of injuries in the past few weeks. So, overall, I would say the 60% number is either a n on-target approximation or perhaps even a bit low.
I also believe that the call of "bobbling" on the first down attempt was very creative.
It appeared to me pretty clear that Faulk bobbled the ball; what was not clear was whether he really failed to establish possession after the bobble at or past the 30. It seemed to me he had possession at the 30, but I doubt it would have been overturned on replay (it appeared inconclusive on NBC's replays at least).
posted by holden at 04:29 PM on November 16
There's no inherent right here that's violated by taking the Redskins mark away from them. Trademarks are a privilege.
While it's not been litigated or argued to my knowledge, one could make an argument that stripping trademark protection in such a case constitutes a government taking of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment, thus violating an inherent (constitutional) right.
posted by holden at 02:41 PM on November 16
Cliff Lee has never been started on three days' rest in his entire career. He has thrown 265 innings this year, which is only surpassed by four other pitchers this entire decade. Cole Hamels is a much stronger choice for the final game.
Good point. Not to mention the fact that if Lee pitched Game 7, he would be doing so on 2 days rest. Based on normal pitcher routines, Thursday (the day of Game 7) would be Lee's "throw day," so he could get some work. But to throw him out there expecting anything more than a couple innings is a highly suspect approach.
On edit -- the point about Gibson and Koufax is well-taken, but pitchers back then regularly pitched complete games, pitched in 4-man rotations, etc. In other words, their bodies were used to more stress. Today's pitchers just are not suited to that. To suggest that this is purely a mind-over-matter, mental type of thing ignores the fact that there are physical limitations based on players' routines, repetitions, etc. Gibson and Koufax each had multiple years of over 300 innings pitched and 20+ complete games. Today's pitchers don't even come close.
posted by holden at 05:57 PM on November 04
If Jeter (who is not one to GIDP in the 9th inning of a playoff game) had simply grounded out, there would have been a much bigger threat.
Jeter ranked 15th in the AL this year in GDP this year, so it should not be surprising that he grounded into a double play there -- here is DP-prone. And he is just as likely to ground into a DP in the 9th inning of a playoff game as he is to ground into a double play in the third inning of the 20th game of the season.
posted by holden at 08:11 AM on November 04
owlhouse -- I am not familiar with the way odds are described on horses in Australia. What does it mean that a horse is at $10 (or some other amount)? Anyone else who knows can chime in as well.
posted by holden at 07:48 AM on November 04
Especially impressive that 4 of the 5 homers have come off of lefties, considering that many left-handed hitters struggle against lefty pitching (I'm looking at you, Ryan Howard). Of course, Utley has actually performed better against lefties in his career, so it should not be too surprising to anyone who has been paying attention.
posted by holden at 02:08 PM on November 03
Girardi got away with Sabathia on short rest where he's always sucked. . .
Sabathia's regular season line with 3 days rest:
3-1 in 4 GS, 1.01 ERA, 0.825 WHIP, 26K/6BB in 26.2 IP, .413 OPS against.
So no, not always sucking. In fact, quite the opposite.
In the postseason (can't find an aggregated line and too lazy to do the math), he did poorly last year with Milwaukee against the Phillies in Game 2 of the NLDS (he had pitched the last day of the regular season) but did not too bad against the Angels in Game 4 of the ALCS this year.
posted by holden at 06:04 PM on November 02
Looks like Manuel made the mistake of taking a results-oriented view of Lidge's post-season performance to date and ignoring the much larger body of work Lidge built up over the season. Too bad, as I (as a neutral) was hoping for a 7 game series. Pretty good chance of it at least getting back to New York with Lee pitching tonight, though.
posted by holden at 10:21 AM on November 02
I heard on Deadspin that huddle is doing Telemanjaro.
posted by holden at 01:22 PM on October 30
Huddle is a straight prick whose only goal in life seems to be to get up the first post of the day.
posted by holden at 12:49 PM on October 30
AP Columnist: 'Soccer Players Can't Be Trusted'
The article says that Dunne confirmed that Henry said the words "I cheated" to him and it was shown by TV cameras. Other press accounts make the same claim. What he meant by the word is open to interpretation, but if he used the word it's good enough for me.
Somehow I overlooked that stretch of the article; comment(s) rescinded.