February 04, 2014

SportsFilter: The Tuesday 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 - 33 comments

One of the best saves of the year

posted by nubs at 10:49 AM on February 04, 2014

I was watching that game live with my father and we both shouted with surprise when he made that save.

I love how Karlsson behaves after the save.

1) His reaction at about 11 seconds, when he drops to his knees in disbelief of the save.

2) You can see him saying something (with a smile) to Fleury while standing to the side of the scrum (around the 33 second mark).

That's the second greatest glove save I've ever seen.

(The greatest being one by Grant Fuhr back in the mid-80s when he was pushed out the side of his crease by a falling attacking player, and then literally dove (glove first) back into his crease to snag a slap shot from the other side. It's on an old "Hockey's Greatest Plays" video tape that I bought when I was a teenager. I don't have a VCR any more, and the tape is probably worn out by use and age by this point.)

posted by grum@work at 10:58 AM on February 04, 2014

Best glove save I ever saw was Kevin Weekes' on John Madden in the 2002 playoffs. Weekes was on his belly, giving Madden a wide open net, but Weekes got that glove up just in time to catch the puck. Good stuff.
(sorry fritsy)

posted by NoMich at 11:18 AM on February 04, 2014

Help me out here, NoMich, I can't tell if this is a glove save or a pad or a stick save.

*snicker*

posted by MrFrisby at 01:26 PM on February 04, 2014

What about these saves?

posted by NoMich at 01:38 PM on February 04, 2014

Maybe we could lower the hostility levels in here by talking about real sports. Football Outsiders looks at playoff quarterback performances.

posted by yerfatma at 01:59 PM on February 04, 2014

Football Outsiders looks at playoff quarterback performances.

So, if I understand this right, Peyton Manning is a pretty damn good playoff QB.

posted by grum@work at 02:13 PM on February 04, 2014

Maybe we could lower the hostility levels in here...

I'm trying to commit suicide by fritsy, here!

posted by NoMich at 02:20 PM on February 04, 2014

So, if I understand this right, Peyton Manning is a pretty damn good playoff QB.

If I were to look at it objectively, it would appear so. Similarly it would appear Tom Brady has benefited from more well-rounded teams than Manning. Peyton could also benefit from going to an MLB spring training camp to learn how to mix up hand signals, at least according to (who else?) Richard Sherman:

"We knew what route concepts they liked on different downs, so we jumped all the routes. Then we figured out the hand signals for a few of the route audibles in the first half."

posted by yerfatma at 08:15 AM on February 05, 2014

Of course the NFL, with its marketing over mercy* strategy, has the Broncos scheduled to play the Seahawks in Seattle this coming season. I already don't want to see what that's going to look like.

If the league is smart, they do not make that game one of those early season Thursday night marquee rematches as they have done in the past.

*or schedule strength over arm strength

posted by beaverboard at 03:54 PM on February 05, 2014

Olympic toilet fun:

Tandem toilets

Toilets that don't accept toilet paper

Toilets with no flush mechanism

Suddenly, after typing it a few times, "toilet" doesn't look like a real word to me.

posted by grum@work at 04:23 PM on February 05, 2014

Toilets that don't accept toilet paper

For the record, this is pretty common once you get east of about the Danube. I thought it was a joke the first week or so I was in the Middle East, and then my toilet clogged like WHOA.

posted by Etrigan at 04:30 PM on February 05, 2014

Yeah, the non-flushing toilet paper story is making journalists look like Ugly Americans. My wife saw them giggling on PTI and immediately noted she'd had a similar situation in her summer abroad in Spain.

posted by yerfatma at 10:01 AM on February 06, 2014

Yeah, the non-flushing toilet paper story is making journalists look like Ugly Americans.

Yep. I know I was kinda mortified the first time I went to Greece, for all of maybe two poops. Then, you adjust and do what the locals do. Continuously bitching and giggling about it just shows how un-worldly so many of us are.

posted by tahoemoj at 11:19 AM on February 06, 2014

Continuously bitching and giggling about it just shows how un-worldly so many of us are.

Well, not really.

It shows how accustomed to high quality sewer systems and plumbing we are. This isn't a "cultural" thing. If you go to the high-end hotels and restaurants in those locations, I'll bet they have "full featured" toilets for their guests.

Given the $50billion spent on the Olympics, you would expect that the areas for the international attendees to be "full featured".
Would Vancouver, London, Tokyo not be mocked if they had any of those toilets shown above?

posted by grum@work at 02:27 PM on February 06, 2014

It's not just the toilets -- the entire sewage system just isn't set up to handle paper. Rejiggering that might well have been part of the $50B price tag of this monstrosity, but in a country that doesn't generally feature that, it really is a "cultural" thing.

It sounds like a horrible, horrible thing, I know. But really, it's not that big a deal. Bathrooms in places like this don't smell any shittier than bathrooms in the West.

Would Vancouver, London, Tokyo not be mocked if they had any of those toilets shown above?

Trust me, we'll be seeing plenty of stories about wacky toilets in six years.

posted by Etrigan at 02:38 PM on February 06, 2014

This isn't a "cultural" thing.

No, assuming the rest of the world either is exactly like where one lives or aspires to be so is pretty much universal.

posted by yerfatma at 04:00 PM on February 06, 2014

No, assuming the rest of the world either is exactly like where one lives or aspires to be so is pretty much universal.

What if it was expecting paved roads?
What if it was expecting working fire sprinklers?

I'm not talking about eating utensils, or how people queue, or "wacky" traffic signs.

I guess it could be the same thing as a rich Saudi prince going to the Vancouver Olympics and sending an email back to his friends, pointing out how his hotel doesn't have a gold-plated toilet, but is a toilet/sewer system that can accept toilet paper really that posh?

posted by grum@work at 04:10 PM on February 06, 2014

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams and expectations of not using my hand to wipe my ass.

posted by rcade at 04:28 PM on February 06, 2014

Well, not really.

It shows how accustomed to high quality sewer systems and plumbing we are. If you go to the high-end hotels and restaurants in those locations, I'll bet they have "full featured" toilets for their guests.

No, they don't. Anyone who has traveled significantly has come across no paper sewage systems as often as those that accept paper. It's a simple matter of infrastructure paired with cultural expectations. I'm not Anthony Bourdain, but I've been a few places, and I generally stay away from the hostels when I travel. If you're in Greece, Turkey, or the Czech Republic, my last 3 international visits, you can expect to put your paper in the trash. It's just really not that ridiculous.

posted by tahoemoj at 04:38 PM on February 06, 2014

I've had the joyful (?) experience of toilets in Asia, Europe, Egypt, and most of the US. None of them were any worse than a porta-potty, in a hot climate, that was long overdue for servicing. I must say that some of those in Egypt showed me exactly why one uses the left hand for sanitary purposes and never uses anything but the right hand for eating.

My introduction to Asian bathroom etiquette came on my second day as a young lieutenant on Okinawa. I sat on one of a row of toilets in my BOQ. Two of the ladies that cleaned the premises walked in, sat down - one on either side of me - and proceeded to have a long, animated conversation in Japanese. I can only guess at the subject.

posted by Howard_T at 05:29 PM on February 06, 2014

What if it was expecting paved roads? What if it was expecting working fire sprinklers?

I'm not talking about eating utensils, or how people queue, or "wacky" traffic signs.

Seriously, grum, throwing your toilet paper in the wastebasket (and yes, they have wastebaskets in every stall when you can't flush the paper) is not really the health and safety issue you seem to think it is.

posted by Etrigan at 06:22 PM on February 06, 2014

Sigh. I'm not making any comment. However, if you agree with me and think everyone deserves access to a functioning toilet, for health, hygiene, female safety and basic rights reasons, then send a few bucks to these guys.

posted by owlhouse at 08:45 PM on February 06, 2014

$25 donated in honor of Ray Guy.

Who's next?

posted by Etrigan at 11:26 PM on February 06, 2014

Sebastian Janikowski?

Donated.

posted by yerfatma at 09:02 AM on February 07, 2014

Seriously, grum, throwing your toilet paper in the wastebasket (and yes, they have wastebaskets in every stall when you can't flush the paper) is not really the health and safety issue you seem to think it is.

Paved roads isn't a "health and safety issue" either, but you'd think modern nations would have those.

Let's see if the toilet paper wastebaskets are cleaned in a timely fashion.

That still doesn't explain the dual toilets or the non-flushing ones.

posted by grum@work at 09:07 AM on February 07, 2014

Paved roads isn't a "health and safety issue" either, but you'd think modern nations would have those.

The infrastructure of every other modern nation was not built at the same time as those in North America.

posted by yerfatma at 09:57 AM on February 07, 2014

I don't think a nation is modern until I can flush toilet paper in it. On this point I'm a hardass.

posted by rcade at 10:05 AM on February 07, 2014

Paved roads isn't a "health and safety issue" either, but you'd think modern nations would have those.

Safe, quick transport of food, medicine and sick people most definitely is a health and safety issue.

Let's see if the toilet paper wastebaskets are cleaned in a timely fashion.

That still doesn't explain the dual toilets or the non-flushing ones.

I agree that Sochi is a cobbled-together jumped-up tiny resort town that isn't up to the task of hosting these Games; I just don't think that the "Don't flush toilet paper" signs are an indication of that. They're just an indication that it's in Russia.

posted by Etrigan at 02:45 PM on February 07, 2014

That still doesn't explain the dual toilets or the non-flushing ones.

I suspect the plans allowed for a bidet, but the contractors didn't have any, so they just whacked another dunny in there instead.

I don't think a nation is modern until I can flush toilet paper in it. On this point I'm a hardass.

This could be a useful indicator in the next UN Human Development Report.

posted by owlhouse at 08:36 PM on February 07, 2014

This could be a useful indicator in the next UN Human Development Report.

One of my personal indicators and my dividing line on being a civilized society or not is the ability for that society to form an orderly line for things.

posted by Bonkers at 10:53 AM on February 08, 2014

One of my personal indicators and my dividing line on being a civilized society or not is the ability for that society to form an orderly line for things.

By that standard, and by the usual behavior of automobile drivers in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, civilization is far away from us.

posted by Howard_T at 03:30 PM on February 08, 2014

You better mean Manchester/ Nashua/ Salem pal.

posted by yerfatma at 08:36 AM on February 09, 2014

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