- 07:51 PM
- 01/08/09
| Name: | Holden O. |
|---|---|
| Location: | Chicago |
| Member since: | February 11, 2002 |
| Last visit: | January 08, 2009 |
holden has posted 31 links and 1147 comments to SportsFilter and 8 links and 203 comments to the Locker Room.
Walking His Way to Cooperstown. Joe Posnanski takes a look the impressive numbers of a man who, among his many on-field exploits, arguably did more than anyone else to legitimize references to oneself in the third person.
posted on December 12, 2008 - Go to the detail view for this result
MLB MVPs Announced Albert Pujols wins the NL MVP; Dustin Pedroia takes the AL honors. Rob Neyer makes a pretty compelling case that it could have been Lance Berkman in the NL and Joe Mauer in the AL, King Kaufman weighs in on the voting, and Baseball Prospectus takes a look at the AL candidates.
posted on November 18, 2008 - Go to the detail view for this result
Some Athletes’ Genes Help Outwit Doping Test. Studies suggest that about 2/3 of Asian men and nearly 10 percent of Caucasians lack both copies of a gene used to convert the testosterone into a form that dissolves in urine, calling into question the efficacy of certain drug tests.
posted on May 01, 2008 - Go to the detail view for this result
2nd Annual MLB Disabled List Fantasy Pool Where have you gone Carl Pavano? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you...
posted on March 31, 2008 - Go to the detail view for this result
Lenny Dykstra, Financial Planner to the Stars? The fascinating post-baseball career of a man called Nails.
posted on March 25, 2008 - Go to the detail view for this result
BC coach fired for Jets' interview The coach of Boston College reportedly has been fired because he interviewed for the New York Jets' head coaching position.
posted by jjzucal at 03:40 PM on January 08
Does the BCS violate antitrust laws? Utah's AG is investigating the possibility of a suit against the BCS
posted by tahoemoj at 10:34 AM on January 07
Really good article by Dan Wetzel here about the joke that is the BCS system in the context of Utah getting jobbed.
posted at 02:22 PM on January 07
Photos from the Wimbledon men's final, 2008 Marc Aspland is the multi-award winning Chief Sports Photographer for the Times. This is his collection of photographs, and some of his comments on them, from what he considers to be "possibly the best men's final I shall ever see in my lifetime". If you need a quick reminder, there are highlights of the match here, and some terrible poetry reading from the main protagonists here.
posted by JJ at 10:19 AM on January 06
Excellent set of photos and very good accompanying commentary. I especially appreciate the change in the light quality over time -- just shows how much of a marathon this was. Fitting also that he got one of Rafa picking his arse, which happens multiple times per game.
posted at 11:53 AM on January 06
Raymond van Barneveld comes up with a 9-darter in the PDC world championship. The crowd and commentators go wild. (Him, not so much.)
posted by etagloh at 12:03 AM on January 04
Prior thread highlighting Mr. van Barneveld pulling this off previously (although not in a world championship), courtesy of JJ.
posted at 09:22 PM on January 04
Off with their heads! The NFL's Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns and New York Jets fire Rod Marinelli, Romeo Crennel and Eric Mangini, respectively, from their head coaching positions. Who's next?
posted by wfrazerjr at 02:33 PM on December 29
Fraze -- you owe me therapy bills and reimbursement for the salve I had to put on my burning eyes.
posted at 06:04 PM on December 29
Greatest Catch of the Year ... University of North Carolina wide receiver Hakeem Nicks uses his big hands to make one the greatest of the year if not ever. [YouTube Video]
posted by terrapin at 10:53 AM on December 29
This one from Div I-AA (or whatever they call it these days) Morgan State is pretty great too.
posted at 05:56 PM on December 29
Eagles Make Playoffs in 44-6 Rout of Cowboys Philadelphia Eagle fans received a late Christmas miracle with a blowout of the Dallas Cowboys and losses by playoff hopefuls (Thank you, Al Davis!)
posted by jjzucal at 10:24 PM on December 29
Jets fans can take solace in the fact that missing out on the playoffs means the draft pick going to the Packers is going to be a third rounder instead of the second rounder that would have been surrendered if the Jets had made the playoffs.
With respect to the Chargers, they are not truly an 8-8 team. They legitimately got robbed of one victory in Week 2 at Denver on a call that the league admits was wrong. So they should be a 9-7 team at worst. Should the rules be changed so that division winners are not automatically in at the expense of superior teams in other divisions? Perhaps, although I tend to think these things will be cyclical over time, with the weakest division in each conference rotating around a bit.
As opposed to expanding the playoffs to 8 teams per conference (16 overall) -- I'm not a big fan of half the teams getting into the playoffs (except in hockey, where this adds to the long slog and ultimate payoff of the playoffs) -- I would prefer to see the league go back to three divisions per conference (one of which would have to have 6 teams compared to 5 for the other two) with three wild cards. That makes the 8-8 division champ less likely and also makes it less likely that an 11-5 team such as this year's Patriots would miss out.
posted at 01:06 PM on December 29
Greatest Catch of the Year ... University of North Carolina wide receiver Hakeem Nicks uses his big hands to make one the greatest of the year if not ever. [YouTube Video]
posted by terrapin at 10:53 AM on December 29
It's hard to tell on that video (which isn't of the greatest quality), but it appears that he outright snags the catch with his left hand and has possession one-handed from the get-go (fella must have really big hands) and everything after that is simply re-positioning the ball -- it looks like he actually tries to put (or thinks about putting) the ball through his legs but then switches to the other hand it around his back. The catch was great, but a lot of the post-catch hoodoo seems to have been more discretionary, as opposed to a matter of necessity. So a great play and display of coordination/athleticism overall, but not sure I would give it the crown of greatest catch of the year or ever. Not that anyone asked.
Greatest catch for me this year (combined college/pro division) is probably Polamalu's interception against the Chargers earlier this year.
posted at 12:48 PM on December 29
Mark Teixeira is a Yankee. The three top free agents are now members of the Yankees and Manny rumours have started (although, they may stop now). Finally, fans can watch an all-star game played 162 games a season.
posted by dfleming at 05:20 PM on December 24
Folks, when CC's body has broken down 3 years into his 7 year contract and after Burnett blows out his elbow halfway into his, then we'll see how these signings look. Teixeira is the only safe bet of the three. I don't think this means a whole lot in terms of the Yankees winning World Series, as the playoffs remain somewhat unpredictable. What this is bad for are the other teams in the AL East, because with this much talent, it is unlikely the Yankees will not be a playoff team. And that is a sad thing for the Rays and a sad thing if you are an Orioles fan (don't laugh -- they actually have some very good talent in the pipeline). It is perhaps a less sad thing for the Red Sox, who have the money and the front office smarts to be somewhat competitive. If you are Blue Jays fan, you can take solace in your team being the best fourth best team of all time in the divisional era this past year.
posted at 09:19 AM on December 24
I will break you! Evander Holyfield, 46, will seek another heavyweight championship against the 7-foot Russian Nikolai Valuev.
posted by jjzucal at 07:56 PM on December 18
Actually, upon reading the article in full, looks like the purse for Holyfield is only $600-$750k, which is relatively meager compared to Holyfield's heyday.
posted at 10:53 AM on December 18
I will break you! Evander Holyfield, 46, will seek another heavyweight championship against the 7-foot Russian Nikolai Valuev.
posted by jjzucal at 07:56 PM on December 17
This will not end well. Except perhaps for Evander's bank account.
posted at 11:20 PM on December 17
Latest Fighting Injury another Warning for NHL It was a hockey fight that started the way thousands of others have over the years, but it ended with a 21-year-old fighting for his life in a Hamilton hospital. Because of a hockey fight, the parents of Don Sanderson of the Whitby Dunlops are sitting by their son's bed wondering when, or if, their son is ever going to wake up. After one surgery and some 60 hours after his fight with Corey Fulton of the Brantford Blast last Friday night, Sanderson was still in a coma. "It was nothing....just a tussle,"..."Under normal circumstances, the 2 guys would have just skated away."
posted by tommytrump at 10:30 PM on December 16
Not sure I really follow the logic or point of this piece, at least as it pertains to the NHL angle. Because some kid tragically was injured (potentially fatally) in a fight in a semi-pro league (and one that ejects players for fighting no less), the NHL should do what exactly? Suspend players for fighting? Fine them in a way that will truly hurt their pocketbooks? All I see here is that this should serve as a wake-up call to the NHL, but without any suggestion of what the NHL should do and whether we can or should really drive NHL policy based on a freak occurrence in a league that bears little relation to the NHL.
I'm not sure what prescriptive/predictive value this incident has for the NHL. This type of injury is arguably more likely to happen in lesser leagues, with less skilled players. I appreciate that NHL players are stronger, faster, etc., but they are also better balanced and perhaps, accordingly, less likely to take a fall of the kind this player in the Ontario league did. I think it's probably more likely that an NHL player would die as a result of a hit or other action that takes place in the run of play than in a fight.
posted at 09:44 AM on December 16
Pulling together: Blackhawks support their G.M. The story that's been dubbed "Millionaires behaving properly" was written in a small town a few hours north of Toronto. It might have remained nothing more than local lore if not for the efforts of a few persistent e-mailers and fan message boards. In an era when it seems we can't get enough news about athletes, when every bar brawl, strip-club visit and parking-lot scrape merits a headline, the best story of the NHL season somehow managed to fly below the radar for nearly three weeks.
posted by tommytrump at 12:06 PM on December 15
This made an appearance in Peter King's football column this week.
posted at 02:14 PM on December 15
Greg Maddux to retire on Monday Maddux has been my favorite pitcher of the last 20 years. He never had dominating stuff in the traditional sense, but he was just so dang smart in choosing his pitches that he could oftentimes seem unhittable. I will miss seeing him against my Rockies in the NL West.
posted by drumdance at 06:22 PM on December 08
From Baseball Prospectus' Unfiltered blog:
Neglected to mention this earlier today but Greg Maddux made an interesting comment when he officially announced his retirement earlier today. When asked what he was going to miss, the first word out of his mouth was "fun," which almost gets forgotten anymore in all sports.
Maddux also said that if he was granted the power to change the game, he would not any.
"It's pretty much the perfect game already," he said.
posted at 06:33 PM on December 08
Greg Maddux to retire on Monday Maddux has been my favorite pitcher of the last 20 years. He never had dominating stuff in the traditional sense, but he was just so dang smart in choosing his pitches that he could oftentimes seem unhittable. I will miss seeing him against my Rockies in the NL West.
posted by drumdance at 06:22 PM on December 07
I predict that in 15 years, when the remake of The Graduate comes out and the lyrics of Mrs. Robinson are updated, we will be seeing something to the effect of:
"Where have you gone, Greg Maddux, a nation of decapitated hobos turns its lonely eyes to you."
And the irony is that the decapitated hobos won't have eyes because Greg Maddux will have ripped them out to do unseemly things to/in their ocular cavities.
Kidding aside (I promise, Greg, I didn't mean nothin' by it, we were just some kids playin' around, honest), this man is probably my favorite pitcher of my lifetime. I know some dickhead BBWAA writers have found it incumbent upon themselves to rewrite Hall of Fame eligibility rules and, accordingly, have said they will not vote any players into the Hall from the "steroid era," but I would guess that Maddux has as a better chance than just about anyone of making it in unanimously for the following reasons: (1) not named "Roger Clemens"; (2) not a total douchebag (arguably redundant in light of no. 1); (3) presumably pissed off very few members of the press; (4) 355 victories, 3.16 ERA, 4 Cys, 18 GG, buncha strikeouts v. not so many walks, etc.; and (5) no real hint of controversy ever (until some enterprising SpoFite gets airtime for a sign held up in the teeming masses on College Gameday or the Today Show that says "Maddux is a Whore Slayer" or "Ask Greg About His Collection of Hobo Teeth" or somesuch).
Prior Maddux threads on SpoFi:
3K Ks. Maddux bound for HOF? (back where it all began, incidentally)
"I call him 'The Silent Scumbag.' "
"Greg Maddux? I bet you could catch him with your eyes closed."
Maddux becomes ninth pitcher in MLB history to reach 350 wins
posted at 10:16 PM on December 07
I suspect this will be handled through some sort of buyout paid by the university for the last three years of the deal, at a discount compared to what would have been paid in the aggregate over the remainder of the contract. The university gets the advantage of a smaller payment and a clean break of the relationship, while the coach gets the certainty of a one-time payment (rather than relying on the university to make periodic payments over time) and freedom to seek other employment without worrying about the university withholding payments based on his income from a new job. And both parties get to go their separate ways without the specter of litigation hanging over their respective heads.