oliver_crunk’s profile

jez...tough crowd! what do you want the guy to say? people are saying that federer is the greatest sportsman of all time. in the new sports media age, press conferences where an athlete is honest and doesn't stick to the same tired cliches and PR blah blah, is a refreshing change in my book. Unfortunately sometimes the media can't handle that.

posted at 08:47 AM on January 26

horse racing is in danger. it is losing out on the gambling dollar and the casual player which was a big part of it's success long ago. problem is that the new look of racetracks are like casinos or las vegas sports books. a place like saratoga will never die. charlestown, delaware and soon philadelphia and aqueduct will just be slot havens that happen to run horses now and then. relegating the horse player to an upper level so the slots can run 24-7. good horse racing will never die. full fields, smaller takeout and treating the betting publics winnings the same the casinos are treated. ie lower the takeout and players will come back. eliminate a lot of tracks and shrink the amount of live racing days. less is more. saratoga, del mar, belmont, churchill, santa anita, keeneland et all are still huge handle draws. they don't race all year round like a philadelphia or mountaineer would. but there'd be more interest if these tracks didn't run 250 days a year. say 50 days instead. i love the track. it's good fun. a lot better than playing lotto or scratch offs. good people too, if they are not degenerates (which unfortunately is all that's left at some tracks these days as simulcasting and internet playing has left some of the smart players home). there's still nothing like a cold beer in the paddock looking over the form and speculating with a couple of dollars who's going to win. it's the casual horse player that's being pushed out....and if it continues, then with the exception of a very select amount of tracks then there's not going to be much good left in any of it.

posted at 10:16 PM on August 02

worth noting as the note at the end points out: The sexual harassment allegations are even more laughable when you consider that he is being replaced by Steve Phillips -- a man who has never met a skirt he wouldn't chase and who was caught in one of the more embarrassing front office sexual harassment scandals in MLB history." kinda interesting to think about. even more interesting is the idea thrown out just before that line that says he had a meltdown because of ESPN's coverage of arod. which is kinda believable to me since, sportscenter, baeball tonight et al would cause my ass to meltdown if i had to deal with it on a daily basis. espn teevee sports news coverage in general has pretty much sucked ass for quite awhile now. maybe harold just woke up to it.

posted at 08:58 PM on July 25

barbaro looks like he can run all day. will be interesting to see who draws into the preakness, as he appears to be more vulnerable short than long. of course, there's no 5 week layoffs for matz to sit on now, what with 3 races in 5 weeks, barbaro does seem capable though. would think if he can get to the wire in the preakness....we'll have a triple crown winner. there isn't a 3 year old in the country right now that can look barbaro in the eye at a mile and a half in the belmont.

posted at 01:20 PM on May 07

littlepage is right about what? that the media should be tossing him softball questions about the process? forget about the talking heads here or why cbs should 'work better together ' with the committee. if 'better information and accurate information [should be] out there', then littlepage should start telling everyone what that is instead of worrying about what billy packer has to say.

posted at 11:13 PM on March 13

end of day. no matter how you slice it, there are always going to be those 4 or 5 teams where a solid case could be made. although this elicited a little laugh: Littlepage, the athletic director at the University of Virginia, praised the 10-member committee for its dedication, thorough evaluations and ability to work under a challenging deadline. i mean c'mon. how hard is it fuck up picking the best of the rest and you get 30+ tries at it? is the ad @ george mason making a 'thorough evalutaion' when his team gets slammed twice in 10 days by hofstra and still putting his squad in the tourney? either open up the system for all to see or let the computer pick them. this way these knuckleheads don't get the oppurtunity to act like they're 'dedicated' to getting it right.

posted at 08:56 PM on March 13

I'm not sure where some of you are coming off with statements like this: Steriods will finally take a toll on the body. LOL. He's 41 years old. How many 41 year old non-pitchers have a shot at starting 100 games / 400 PA? Not many. if not for steroids Bonds would have gotten 50 carreer homeruns LOL. Even if you throw out his suspected use years. Hell, throw out his last 10 years, he's still got 250+ homers & 3 MVP's. Hall worthy before any of that. He is no better than Conseco Gratned, Bonds is an asshole, generally. Granted, he's been on the juice for some time. He's still a hell of a ball player.

posted at 06:41 PM on February 19

posted at 08:46 PM on August 10

posted at 08:02 PM on August 10

((met fan zone)) I've really enjoyed watching this guy pitch all season. It's like he focuses more when runners are on base. Adjusts when he doesn't have his best stuff. Just an absolute tremendous pitcher, even today. Probably the smartest pitcher I've ever seen. So stating the obvious here...but I wouldn't have a problem with him sitting out at all. That's just another inning he throws in a real game. Though he deserves it, I think there's something to the idea that he has nothing to prove. Just look at some of his seasons a couple years ago. No one out there today could touch those numbers and probably not anyone anytime soon either. Love of 'em or hate 'em, and that sure is the case with the guy, I think he's *earned* the right to sit one out.

posted at 05:54 PM on July 01

I never played anything more advanced than high school ball and the base of my index finger would be bruised all season long. Funny thing is I was a catcher and a second baseman and I always wondered how much more it would hurt catching a hard throwing 98mph fastball. I couldn't have been catching anything harder than the low 80's. I'd be interested to know the percentages of non-catchers. Playing second base I had a really small glove. Catching the ball in the same spot is the only way to catch the ball with these type of gloves. I never took to padding, just couldn't get the same feel for catching the ball with it...although if I was a big leauger Im sure I'd reconsider.

posted at 05:43 PM on July 01

^who let you in? gotta say though 'ass backwards crackbaby' is sort of funny. Steroids do not ruin the integrity of sports at all. you know what...i kind of agree with this. for every bonds or sosa...there's some idiot testing positive who has 10 career homers and a .210 average. though they may be bad for your health, i've yet to see real live evidence that says PED's actually live up to their name, specifically in the game of baseball. and what's this i'm reading about minor league pitchers testing postive for steroids...wtf? that said, the people have been speaking with their wallet. baseball attendance has been on a steady rise for quite some time. if it's the home run or not is up to debate. but for sure, congress isn't seeing that smoke signal. in the end congress is probably going to be the one that wind up looking like big mac getting grilled, if they haven't already.

posted at 07:38 PM on May 19

i'm in.

posted at 05:48 PM on February 20

great link. Huckaby: I think it's important to understand that a lot of people have overclaimed what you can do by statistical analysis. It's a tool. A car is a tool as wellyou can use it to drive to the store, or you can use it to drive into a tree. Very interesting. Hughes comes off like a huge ass and basically makes the argument for the pro stat postition by himself by being such a numb skull for his own pro scout postion.

posted at 01:33 AM on January 09

smithers- sweet. i'll be away for the weekend starting now, but i'll throw a couple of mixes together on sunday and email you for your addy. they'll be in the mail monday. fb- austin city limits is a tv show. i acquired the show via lossless BT trading. here's the text file that came with the fileset: ---- This Tom Waits show was treed on Rust Christmas 2000. I got my copy from Bob C, who recorded the show off cable TV, administered the tree and created the cool coverart jpegs. Thanks, Bob! I think the source would be: cable TV>Marantz CDR-630>cdr>EAC>shn EAC with V0.9pb7 & Shn with MKW V0.96f by Steve G Text below is taken from Bob's info on the tree. Description: The show is from a recent rebroadcast of Tom Waits' appearance on the "Austin City Limits" television show that was originally recorded on 5 Dec 1978 in Austin, TX. It fits on one CDR, with a total time of approximately 53 minutes. I think the performance is nothing short of amazing, but I'm a long-time Waits fan, so I may be slightly biased. Sound Quality: I ran the cable straight to my audio cdr burner (a Marantz CDR-630 pro model), so the sound is about as clean as a television signal gets. The sound quality is in the A to A+ range, perhaps depending a bit on how finely tuned your ear is. Track Listing: 1. Burma Shave (11:17) 2. Annie's Back In Town (2:25) > 3. I Wish I Was in New Orleans (5:17) 4. A Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue Gun(7:42) 5. On The Nickel (6:11) 6. Romeo Is Bleeding (5:07) 7. Silent Night (0:43) > 8. Christmas Card From A Hooker in Minneapolis (4:04) > 9. Silent Night Reprise (1:04) 10. Small Change (9:40) Final Word: Remember, the purpose of this tree (or any tree, for that matter) is to spread the music around. No one should profit in any way (cash or blank discs) from this endeavor. Keep on keepin' on, Bob Gotta Turn Up the Sound --- i also have an incredible 5 CD tom waits collection called 'tales from the underground'. it's a must have for tom waits fans. here's the info on that. i'd be more than happy to spread these bootlegs around for free. they deserve to be heard.

posted at 04:08 PM on June 11