- 03:28 AM
- 11/21/09
| Name: | David Wertheimer |
|---|---|
| Homepage URL: | http://www.netwert.com |
| Member since: | May 29, 2002 |
| Last visit: | November 16, 2009 |
werty has posted 13 links and 20 comments to SportsFilter and 0 links and 0 comments to the Locker Room.
Don Koharski off to quieter pastures.: The longtime hockey referee's 32 solid seasons are overshadowed by the doughnut incident with Jim Schoenfeld in 1988.
posted by werty to hockey at 01:45 PM on April 10 - 0 comments
Bill Walton flies coach: "The seat that I absolutely must have in order to be comfortable: The right-side, aisle seat. No bulkhead."
posted by werty to basketball at 09:05 AM on May 30 - 13 comments
Despite constant innovation, golf scores remain unchanged.: Interesting expose in the NY Times about golfers--pro and amateur--whose relentless pursuit of distance and technology hasn't cumulatively lowered handicaps.
Choice pull quote: "'They watch golf on TV and then they all want to hit it far, like Tiger Woods,' said Dr. Bob Rotella, golf's best-known psychologist and a best-selling author. 'Well, good luck. They should be going to their teacher and saying, "I want to hit it like Fred Funk." Physically, they are much more like him. That would make a lot more sense.' Mr. Funk is a 5-foot-8, 48-year-old PGA Tour pro who ranks first in driving accuracy and 186th in driving distance. He is also seventh on the PGA money list this season with more than $1.9 million in earnings."
posted by werty to golf at 01:14 PM on May 24 - 6 comments
"If steroids are cheating, why isn't LASIK?": The basic answers to this one are fairly obvious (legality, medical intent, theoretical limits to what can be achieved, etc.) but an interesting essay on Slate highlights a big question for the future. Will we reach a point where even genetic modification is a normal occurrence, and sports stars are formulated rather than trained?
posted by werty to culture at 08:30 AM on April 19 - 40 comments
Jose Canseco, Hero: A fascinating op-ed piece by Michael Chabon, who finds much more to appreciate than one would superficially expect.
posted by werty to baseball at 08:41 AM on March 18 - 13 comments
Remember, too, that Steve Phillips had a different, and equally public, consensual affair in 1998 with a Mets employee while employed as the Mets' GM.
posted by werty at 04:17 PM on October 21
There's a lot more to being an elite athlete than raw talent. Ask Stephon Marbury.
Mickelson has some unbelievable skills that make him a terrific talent and personality. Does he not always focus on the right things? Sure. Does that make a shot like this any less awesome? Definitely not.
JJ: Winged Foot the way you played it is much different than the course the pros play. The greens are far faster and trickier, the rough thicker. Oh, and there's the whole on-the-cusp-of-winning-the-U.S-Open thing. Doesn't take away from his poor decision-making, but don't think your experience matched his in any way.
posted by werty at 10:22 AM on July 02
Glanville's been writing for some time. He's a University of Pennsylvania grad and one of the more literate and eloquent baseball players of our time.
See also: http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/documents/bh04-penn-glanville.asp
posted by werty at 02:27 PM on March 05
As a longtime tinnitus sufferer I've known this for years. A well-hit drive makes quite a crack. I often came home from a round of golf with a louder ringing in my ears than before playing. For awhile I was wearing earplugs to tee off, although I'm not playing enough these days to worry about it.
posted by werty at 11:41 AM on January 05
Last night NBC profiled a softball player who "defected" to Russia to play in these Olympics, too. She's 31 and didn't make the US team. Other athletes have done it as well.
On the one hand, dyams is right--if he's not good enough to play for Team USA, the US shouldn't care if he plays elsewhere. From a patriotic angle, though, it's quite a contrast from, say, Lopez Lomong or Bernard Legat, who are proudly competing as US citizens after coming to America to pursue their dreams.
posted by werty at 01:47 PM on August 18
Signing Damon isn't the most impressive move of the winter, but it is a solid maneuver for the Yanks. In all seriousness, Bubba Crosby--a 29-year-old with a .221 career batting average--is not the kind of player the Yankees put in center field. The team had to find someone more substantial, and a four-year deal (rather than Scott Boras's overreaching seven-year request) is not outrageous. Damon's stats are still solid; his batting average has increased three years in a row. I'm not sure I understand what makes him a great leadoff hitter, though, given that he's trending toward 15 stolen bases next season. Jeter has roughly equal speed and a better OBP, although he tends to hit better in the 2 slot. Still, I like the signing. As a Sox fan I think this sucks. And therein lies the extra money George paid.
posted by werty at 08:46 AM on December 21
I felt like complaining about the late start times, but the 14-inning game had a peak audience in the ninth, which was midnight Eastern. So that wasn't the culprit. Part of the decline comes from the lack of Red Sox fever this year. The White Sox are a lower draw even in their home town. Had it been the Cubs, we might have seen higher ratings. No doubt marketing and positioning have an impact, but it's hard to gauge. Personally, I wouldn't wait until Saturday for Game 1 of the World Series, but that's a baseball fan's opinion, not a TV planner's.
posted by werty at 10:28 AM on October 28
Does this now make Palmeiro a perjurer in Congress, and if so, what is the punishment?
posted by werty at 12:22 PM on August 01
Ah, I take that back. Games are still listed but the actual seats are unavailable. (Thank goodness.) Interesting that the games were still "scheduled" in the NHL's mind.
posted by werty at 01:21 PM on February 16
Interestingly, you can still buy tickets to this season's NHL games on Ticketmaster.com.
posted by werty at 01:19 PM on February 16
A big problem is that hockey has high costs. Much of the USA is warm most of the year, meaning ice hockey must be played indoors at rinks with expensive ice time and 24-hour bookings. Then there's all the equipment. Baseball, football, basketball--all lend themselves to pickup games and back-alley throwarounds, which let kids play and develop and enjoy the sport at an early age. Without committed parents and some disposable income, hockey doesn't become much of a concern to children, which lessens the interest of the nation as a whole. Until Tiger Woods came along, golf suffered from much the same problem. On a macro level, I'm not sure the NHL can solve its most crucial ill, which is kids who don't play ice hockey and as a result don't develop an interest in the sport. It had better fix everything else, though, so the league doesn't fall apart.
posted by werty at 12:53 PM on March 18
the fact that they will race today highlights just how dedicated both brothers are Or: the fact that they will race today highlights just how cold-hearted both brothers are Interpret at your leisure.
posted by werty at 01:50 PM on April 21
How bad must your leadership be for the kicker to go public with his complaints?
posted by werty at 12:31 PM on January 29
As my coworker said, "28 is really young to be running anything." Hey, if he screws up, my Yankees benefit.
posted by werty at 11:40 AM on November 25
Can the Yankees Be Stopped?
It will be interesting to watch what happens to the Yankees when their mid-90's personnel core finally retires. Jeter has said he wants to play for awhile yet, which ensures the team's top-level identity. But the combination of Jeter, Posada and Rivera is the homegrown soul, not to mention three of its best players. Who are the Yankees when they go?
For all the Joba jabber, none of the new guys has reached top-tier status (and I say this as someone who repeatedly points out Cano's top-10 AL batting average and Melky Cabrera's walk-off knack). At least one of the callups has to be ascendant to get a little organizational continuity.
The Yanks were a half-step from turning into the circa-2001 Orioles the past two years--lots of free agents and few wins. CC and Teixeira have been good enough to hold that off. But for how long?