September 23, 2013

SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle:

A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 22 comments

Looks like you can add the Steelers to yesterdays list of bad teams. How do you turn the ball over NIIIIINE times(said with the voice of the principal from Ferris Buellers Day Off)? Last night Ben took it upon himself to call plays and get the ball deep. I would bet a lot of those plays were not Haley's calls. He threw the ball well but I think just fumbled again. They have a chance to get better i think but i also think they will be lucky to win 5 or 6.

posted by Debo270 at 07:56 AM on September 23, 2013

How do you turn the ball over NIIIIINE times(said with the voice of the principal from Ferris Buellers Day Off)?

Nine times?

posted by grum@work at 08:50 AM on September 23, 2013

I heard something wrong. It was only 5 turnovers. They fumbled 4 more that they got back.

posted by Debo270 at 09:12 AM on September 23, 2013

It was five times, not nine.

The big problem for the Steelers right now is that they've got such a limited set of ways to move the ball - their run game is somewhere between atrocious and a liability (and losing Pouncey did not help the line at all) and their receiving corps isn't good enough to compensate.

The Giants and the Steelers got along for a long time with a really solid, evolving core of players - both look like they're at the end of the rope and in need of a culling.

posted by dfleming at 09:24 AM on September 23, 2013

The big problem for the Steelers is bad drafts the last 3 years so they have NO depth. They had guys starting week one that should not have even been in the league, then guys got hurt and they go to their backups. 3 of their starters last nights were sitting on their couch week one.

posted by Debo270 at 11:09 AM on September 23, 2013

The big problem for the Steelers ...

Don't follow the Steelers closely, but every game I've seen them play Maurkice Pouncey completely dominated the center of the line. He was the Steelers MVP, and his injury is a huge reason Ben and the offense looks so brutal this year.

posted by cixelsyd at 12:09 PM on September 23, 2013

What sport was Bo Jackson better at, baseball or football?

posted by NoMich at 12:26 PM on September 23, 2013

Baseball. Had he not got hurt, I think Bonds would be a long way back. It just made a different sound when he hit the ball.

posted by Debo270 at 12:50 PM on September 23, 2013

Check out this video of a Rice onside kick where the kicker does a Rabona. Someone has been playing a lot of FIFA 2013 or watching Ronaldo highlights on YouTube. The greatest part is not that he had the balls to kick it that way but that the kick itself was absolutely perfect (although the Houston guy on the return team closest to the ball should have moved up to try to attack the ball instead of retreating to receive it).

posted by holden at 01:02 PM on September 23, 2013

Is there any requirement that the kick has to go 10 yards before the receiving team touches it, or is that just before the kicking team can touch it? Cuz Houston guy wouldn't have been able to get too much closer, although he definitely could have done better.

posted by LionIndex at 01:06 PM on September 23, 2013

Baseball. Had he not got hurt, I think Bonds would be a long way back. It just made a different sound when he hit the ball.

Whut?

A .309 OBP before he got injured suggests that he had barely a fraction of the pitch recognition skills that Bonds had.

I'm not suggesting that Jackson wasn't a player you'd want to watch have an at bat, but his power alone wouldn't get him close to Bonds.

I think an athletic version of Dave Kingman is more like it.

And to answer the original question, football.

posted by grum@work at 01:10 PM on September 23, 2013

Is there any requirement that the kick has to go 10 yards before the receiving team touches it, or is that just before the kicking team can touch it? Cuz Houston guy wouldn't have been able to get too much closer, although he definitely could have done better.

The ball must either travel 10 yards or be touched by the receiving team before the kicking team may touch it. The receiving team has to be 10 yards away at the kick, but they may touch it as soon as they reach it. Houston guy just wasn't expecting to be making a play.

posted by bender at 01:12 PM on September 23, 2013

Jacksonville Punter Bryan Anger landed a couple of nice coffin corner kicks yesterday, which I'm sure will make the Jags feel better, as they drafted him a couple places before the Seahawks picked Russell Wilson.

posted by Mr Bismarck at 02:27 PM on September 23, 2013

Baseball. Had he not got hurt, I think Bonds would be a long way back.

Bo Jackson's most powerful year had him hitting a homerun every 16.2 plate appearances. Bonds' career average was one ever 16.5 plate appearances. Keep in mind that 2,500 of Bonds' 12,000 plate appearances were walks.

He didn't hit the ball enough to do what Bonds did for the better part of 22 seasons.

posted by dfleming at 02:29 PM on September 23, 2013

Does anyone know if there's an API to get the football pick 'em data out of Yahoo? I'd like to post an automatic story on Tuesday mornings about the latest results.

Picking against the spread is brutal. I feel so much stupider than when I pick games to win.

posted by rcade at 02:42 PM on September 23, 2013

Just watched Manny Machado being carried off the field on a stretcher due to a knee injury. If Orioles had any hope of crawling into the post-season, it just disappeared. Machado was legging out a ground ball to 2nd base that was misplayed by the Tampa 2nd baseman. Machado seemed to pull up a step or 2 before the bag, then twisted his leg as he stepped on the bag. He went down immediately in obvious pain. The stretcher was called for, and after a lengthy preparation he was carted off. Hope he's not injured seriously enough to derail what to this point appears to be a very promising career.

posted by Howard_T at 05:54 PM on September 23, 2013

Jeez, watching Peyton Manning play this year is like watching an artist create a masterpiece.

posted by Joey Michaels at 10:02 PM on September 23, 2013

Not gonna look real graceful, but I'll try this:

Rank Pick Set Name Total Pts W-L
1
A Prison Riot With A Ball
26 26-20
2
Karen Carpenter's Drums
24 24-22
3
Basement
24 24-22
4
Delicious Again Peter!
23 23-23
5
Rose Bush Renegades
23 23-23
6
cincybulljags
23 23-23
7
Mornhinweg's Friends
23 23-23
8
I suck at these picks
22 22-24
9
Addai late Amendola short
22 22-24
10
Atheist
22 22-24
11
RG3PO
21 21-25
12
Dirty Twerk
21 21-25
13
Maplewood Town
21 21-25
14
The Sport Futility Vehicle
20 20-26
15
No Danny No!
20 20-26
16
theUNIT
20 20-26
17
Goddammit
20 20-26
18
Tim's Unkind Cut
19 19-27
19
cixelsyd
18 18-28
20
Hernandez's Angel Dust Fantasy
17 17-29
21
MEGAtron7
17 17-29
22
Shouldabeen
17 17-29
23
Gecko
16 16-30
24
Etrigan's Demons
16 16-30
25
Soul on a Roll
16 16-30
26
Outlaws
15 15-31
27
ElGuapo
7 7-39

Oops, lost the columns.

posted by Scottymac at 01:26 PM on September 24, 2013

Just watched Manny Machado being carried off the field on a stretcher due to a knee injury.

A top athlete in the prime of his career at 21 suffers a grotesque knee injury barely jogging to first base. I'm in my 40s, out of shape, and covered worst terrain walking my dog yesterday. Sometimes I just want to curl up in bed and not leave the house.

posted by justgary at 01:50 PM on September 24, 2013

Valiant effort though, Scotty.

Only three people above .500 after week three. Is the NFL that unpredictable this year or are the odds makers just really good at what they do?

posted by MrFrisby at 07:20 PM on September 24, 2013

Clearly, the leader knows what he is doing, and has an intimate knowledge of the NFL.

posted by owlhouse at 09:25 PM on September 24, 2013

I, for one, welcome our new Aussie overlords.

posted by MrFrisby at 11:16 PM on September 24, 2013

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