- 11:05 PM
- 01/09/09
| Name: | Chris Harrington |
|---|---|
| Location: | Sterling Heights, MI...birthplace of Derian Fucking Hatcher... |
| ZIP: | 48312 |
| Gender: | Male |
| Member since: | January 17, 2003 |
| Last visit: | January 09, 2009 |
MeatSaber has posted 26 links and 358 comments to SportsFilter and 7 links and 93 comments to the Locker Room.
Kevin Duckworth, ex-Trailblazer, Dead at 44.: I'll be the last to say I liked him as a player, but it's still sad to see anyone stricken down at such a young age...
posted by MeatSaber to basketball at 02:03 AM on August 28 - 3 comments
Nique, Joe D, and Auriemma to be elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame: Worthy recipients all, I say...although I think Barkley and Dantley deserve to go in ahead of Joe D...
posted by MeatSaber to basketball at 04:16 PM on April 01 - 4 comments
Fans win battle with NHL over Stanley Cup.: Two fans settled their suit against the NHL out of court, which included such provisions as the Stanley Cup is awarded at the trustees' discretion in the event of another NHL lockout.
posted by MeatSaber to hockey at 01:42 PM on February 07 - 24 comments
NASCAR and Harlequin Books team up for racing-themed romance novels.: Think there will be any "alternative-lifestyle" titles starring Jeff Gordon? via Off Wing Opinion:
posted by MeatSaber to auto racing at 09:03 AM on February 01 - 23 comments
Firefox rendering problem.: Since the last round of updates, I've noticed a small rendering problem in Firefox. Sometimes the Post Reply box is missing, sometimes the Preview and Reply buttons are unresponsive or non-existent, and sometimes the button appear inside the text box for replying. Hitting refresh usually solves the problem, but I thought I'd let the Pantheon know...I'm using FF 1.5 by the by...
posted by MeatSaber to bugs at 03:05 PM on January 11 - 0 comments
Fighting, like it or hate it, is part of high-level North American hockey. It serves many purposes...it lets the players dictate what liberties will or will not be tolerated when the officials look the other way, it can wake up a lazy bench and swing the momentum, and it excites the fans. You can think we, as a society, should be beyond such barbarism, but we're really not. Sports of today are little better than the coliseums of Rome - we pick a side, root for our side to "kill" the other, and we scream for blood. Sure, it's all metaphorical, but I defy you to find a hockey fan that doesn't smile just a little when a guy gets beaten and bloodied after a dirty hit on a skill player.
Injuries happen, sure...and Sanderson's death was a tragedy, I'll never deny that. But if you eliminate fighting, that opens the door to harder and dirtier hits, which will cause way more injuries. Obviously, the league's punishment of dirty hits isn't a deterrent, because it still happens. But if you know that if you take a run at Saku Koivu, that Georges Laraque will be taking note of your number, you just might think twice.
Now, if you, as a fan, don't like the fighting, please, go elsewhere with your viewing habits and entertainment dollars. Don't ruin it for the rest of us.
What the hell is it with me lately and the page-long diatribes? Must be the economy... =D
posted by MeatSaber at 09:07 PM on January 08
Woulda liked him in a winged wheel, but the Hossa signed kinda made that impossible. Now I'm glad the Wings and Canucks are done for the year, barring a playoff match-up...
posted by MeatSaber at 08:09 PM on December 18
The Red Wings of today are a bad example of locker room discord, given that at least one high profile free agent passed up millions in long-term security just to take a crack at playing here.
I never represented my questions as facts, and I know there are no answers to them. At least, none will be forthcoming. My confusion of this whole matter is surrounded by those very questions, though. Given what I know as fact, the Stars come off looking bad in this situation. Past free agents are irrelevant, because none of us knows whether they integrated seamlessly either. Who knows, maybe Avery is just that antisocial. But there is a possibility that the Stars right now are hard for new acquisitions to play for, and Avery snapped. Again, I'm not a fan of his, and he sure as hell isn't blameless. But if I'm a free agent in the NHL, watching this debacle unfold, I'd be asking myself if that's a worthwhile destination given the facts that have been released.
posted by MeatSaber at 08:36 PM on December 16
You can't get rid of fighting in sports, especially a sport as intense and physical as hockey. Emotions run high, tempers flair, fights start...it's a logical progression. I honestly don't know why there aren't more fights during the playoffs, since the pressure is amped up a thousandfold. Get rid of the stickwork, the hooking, the holding, the real interference, lay out to referees what is a penalty and what isn't. Black and white...miniscule gray areas. Make them call penalties consistently, so that what is a penalty on Monday is a penalty on Friday, and what is a penalty in the 1st period is a penalty in overtime. Hold those refs to a standard, and get rid of the ones that don't measure up. We don't need new rules...enforce the ones in place.And for God's sake, get rid of the stanchion-less glass that is like a wall of death around the rinks. Standardize ice conditions, and come down on teams that can't meet those standards. Relocate them if you have to. I would guarantee a significant drop in injuries in the NHL, and as a trickle-down result, hockey as a whole.
Yes, this story is tragic. I feel bad for the kid, his family, his team, and the poor sap that caused the injury. I'll being pulling for him to make a full recovery. But major injuries are rare in a hockey fight. The kneejerk reaction is to ban fighting instantly, but you won't solve the "problem" any more than you can stop flooding by banning rain.
posted by MeatSaber at 04:40 PM on December 16
I've had more than my fair share of experience of running into people in the professional world who dislike anyone who isn't an "easily led automaton" (to quote Clerks), and would rather just see those types run out of their happy little capsulized world...yet don't have the balls to just confront the problem, lest they are exposed as rigid, stuffed shirts with stick firmly implanted in their colons. I'll accept that there's possibly a ton of crap the Stars have had to put up with regarding Avery, and most of that was behind closed doors. It's highly possible that this was the last straw, and they're being forced into this...I can get that. But The story, as I understood it, was that Avery was cut loose from the team for his remarks. When people started questioning how he could get that stiff a punishment for a momentary lapse of reason (and let's face it, Avery is better known for momentary lapses of idiocy), the story changed to "oh, he's a locker room cancer, he has anger issues, and he doesn't want to play in our system." So I'm not saying this was unfair, if they've been pushed to the brink. I'm saying their behavior explaining it has sounded like every case of Vanilla Corp. wanting to weed out everyone that doesn't march to their beat. They complain that he was surly and closed in to teammates, but do we know if anyone on the team tried to get to know him? Did the coaching staff try to mesh his style of "play" into their system, or was it instantly "our way or the highway?" Did Modano, Morrow, Turco, or anyone else meet with him and have a "Tom Berenger going to Corbin Bersen's house in Major League" moment? None of this is known, or at least, not reported, so I can only go off what I've been told. So, given the facts, it does look classless and gutless.
When Avery signed with Dallas, my first reaction was "4 years/$16 mill? For Avery? That's the kind of deal I thought Bettman was trying to squash with the lockout, the cap, and the "New NHL."" I thought the days of Martin LaPointe and Bobby Holik were over. But here they are, overpaying for an AHL middler who's made a name for playing one way, and expecting him to conform to their way. Woner why that didn't work. But again, my opinions on this are based on what I know, not what I assume. Don't tell me "this could've happened, or that might've happened, or Avery was kicking puppies at the petting zoo, or he went on a hooker-killing spree with Greg Maddux after a road game in LA" because without proof, it's all hearsay.
And Bo, as a Wings fan, I am honor-bound to hate the Stars, and Modano in particular, as he's a traitor. Do I think the Stars are inherently gutless and classless? No, that's was a baiting move on my part that didn't really pan out. I don't have an opinion on them as a franchise, other than I felt sorry for Minnesota when they moved. But Modano has always been a soft leader, in my eyes. I thought naming Morrow the captain over him was a good move because Morrow doesn't look afraid to make waves in the locker room to better the team, whereas Modano always seemed to be trying to keep everyone happy. A leader doesn't need to scream and curse every minute, but dammit, get in guys' shit when they need it. Maybe I'm jaded given the leadership my teams have had over the years, but I just don't think Modano is the leader type.
posted by MeatSaber at 04:15 PM on December 16
If I'm reading right, the Stars had a problem with Avery as a "team" player. Normally, I assume, the coaching staff or "leaders" in the locker room would sit a player like that down and tell him what's what. If the situation doesn't change, then he gets traded, sent down, or given his outright release. Instead, the Stars waited for Avery to do something, anything, for him to be strung up. And worse, they let the league get involved. That's class? They're not "standing up for their beliefs," they are cowering behind trumped up charges and using that to do their dirty work for them. That's classless AND gutless, which sounds about right for that franchise, given my opinion...
posted by MeatSaber at 09:57 PM on December 15
Now see, that I guess I can understand. If Avery skated up to Phaneuf that night and said "hey Dion, [insert crude reference to the flavor of a certain body part]," maybe this never happens. But still, 6 games from the league, and banishment from his team? Hate to be a homer, but is this 3 times worse than Claude Lemeiux's hit on Kris Draper back in 1996?
posted by MeatSaber at 08:19 PM on December 15
Bo,
I did read the article beforehand, and it did absolutely nothing to help my confusion. Give me a break...Modano feels his franchise has been "tarnished?" Dave Tippett was "directly insulted" by his comments?? Anyone want to stand up and tell me that neither of these grown men has heard far worse in the locker room or during a scrum in the corner? And Brett Hull feels "disappointed" and "frustrated?" Avery stayed with him during their time together here in Detroit. Did they never talk? Hully didn't know who they were signing? Puh-lease...
Or, I don't know, maybe the Stars realized that they threw 4 years and $16 mill at a guy who, underneath his mouth and elbows, isn't that good a hockey player...and just waited for the inevitable "Avery being Avery" moment to blow out of proportion, and cut their losses...
I don't know the guy personally, but given his behavior throughout his career, he doesn't look like the kind of guy I'd want to have a beer with. But in a sport where players try to kill their agents, union heads bilk money from the players, and junior coaches molest young players, calling Jack Bauer's daughter your "sloppy seconds" isn't a reason to potentially ruin a guy's career...
posted by MeatSaber at 07:20 PM on December 15
Can anyone tell me how what Avery said justifies the actions of the NHL or the Stars? Seriously, I am dumbfounded by the severity of his punishment. Sure, what he said was classless and tasteless...2 words that are usually synonymous with "Sean Avery." That's well established, and the Stars organization had to know that going into signing him. I just cannot wrap my brain around this situation. He didn't injure anyone...hell, he didn't even name anyone. Whether we figured that out on our own is irrelevant. Phaneuf can't even make a case for a slander lawsuit out of the facts of the matter. So why is the hammer dropping so hard? The only logical answer is there is more to this story that we'll likely never hear. Frankly, I side with Avery on this one, and I feel sorry for him...
posted by MeatSaber at 04:21 PM on December 15
What guys will do to get close to Erin Andrews...
posted by MeatSaber at 07:12 PM on December 05
Noone will ever call me an Avery fan, but I honestly don't see what all the stink is about. He's surely said and done things a lot worse than this, yet they suspend him for this? Sounds like a witch hunt to me...
posted by MeatSaber at 10:47 PM on December 02
This is a cap move. AI's and Sheed's contracts are up after this season, and that leaves the Pistons with $30 million+ in cap space to go after King James, DWade, Bosh, or whomever else is available this offseason. But I've always liked Iverson, so I'm glad to see him in red and blue, if only for this year...
posted by MeatSaber at 07:00 PM on November 03
Hell has officially froze over!
The Lions won the Superbowl???
Seriously, congrats to the Phillies. I was pulling for Tampa, as they were an AL team not from Boston or New York, but I have no ill will towards Philly. Enjoy it, fans...
posted by MeatSaber at 06:57 PM on October 30
Total homer - Wings, Pistons, Tigers, Wolverines, all from childhood. I've given up on the Lions pending new management and/or ownership, so I'm not really an NFL fan right now. Like steelergirl, I was a big NASCAR fan, until the Bettman-esque stupidity of late, but I never was a big fan of one driver or team...
Outside those teams, I've found myself following individuals rather than teams. When I was growing up, I had deep hatred for anyone that played for my teams' rivals, so I didn't pay attention to the careers of the likes of Jordan, Payton, Roenick, Bird, Magic, or even Favre as much as I could, and I don't want to miss the best parts of the new guys' highlights...
posted by MeatSaber at 11:09 PM on August 25
I fight because it's my job, not because I like it.
Howard,
As far as the use of enforcers, I'm with you 100%. I'm all for players giving payback on a dirty hit, or a teammate stepping in to give said payback if the victim is unable. Enforcers aren't needed, but since they are there, now, my pointsin my earlier post stand. Would I like to see an enforcer-less NHL? Absolutely. However, the league will have to come down a lot harder on dirty hits, especially when it's, say, Bertuzzi or Chara on a guy like Crosby or Datsyuk. Not because those guys are "dainty superstars" or "pansy-asses," but because of the size disparity. Clean hits are clean hits, and warrant no punishment if the recipient happens to get hurt. But if a huge hulk of a man must resort to dirty play, then throw the book at him if his victim is injured. My idea...if a hit is ruled dirty, and the victim gets hurt, then the offender sits out as long as his victim. End a guy's career, you end yours as well. Guys like Rob Blake and Niklas Kornwall can level you with a crushing, clean hit, and they're not that big. If you have to play dirty, you don't belong in the NHL.
I blame the Oilers for the enforcer, though. Sure, there were goons in the NHL before then, but they almost made it a requirement. Would guys like Brown, Semenko, or McSorley have even had NHL careers without Gretzky?