feloniousmonk's profile

feloniousmonk
17533
Member since: September 01, 2009
Last visit: September 26, 2015

feloniousmonk has posted 0 links and 175 comments to SportsFilter and 0 links and 2 comments to the Locker Room.

Recent Comments

IndyCar Driver Justin Wilson Dies After Debris Hit to Helmet

Charlie Whiting, the F1 race director, recently said that they will be moving to a protected cockpit, although I don't think that's necessarily a reaction to this, with F1 having had its own share of safety issues. Indycar needs to rethink their spec for ovals, or cut them altogether. There's too much energy and too little margin for error with their current spec. There's a reason F1 doesn't run ovals, or tri-ovals, or whatever.

posted by feloniousmonk at 02:08 PM on August 25, 2015

New MLB Commissioner: We May Ban Defensive Shifts

Given baseball's sanctimony levels, I am surprised that this hasn't been drowned out with a chorus of shouts that "if you don't want them to shift, learn how to pull the ball!"

posted by feloniousmonk at 02:54 PM on January 27, 2015

NASCAR's Kurt Busch Testifies Ex-Girlfriend is an Assassin

This is one of those stories you laugh at because it is silly, but in the back of your mind you kind of feel bad because it could be the sign of a public meltdown of some kind.

posted by feloniousmonk at 03:59 PM on January 14, 2015

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

Simmons probably has good reason to be in a punchy mood towards ESPN HQ today. Ozzie Newsome either perjured himself or vindicated Simmons' position that Goodell was lying during a deposition today, according to their own coverage.

posted by feloniousmonk at 07:32 PM on November 06, 2014

Why no one wants to host the 2022 Olympics

In the context of LA's bid for an upcoming summer games, I've heard a lot of emphasis on making use of existing facilities. The mayor has been talking about the big investments being in mass transit rather than stadiums. I think it could potentially make a lot of sense for cities in these circumstances where the money can be used for something more than athletic facilities no one wants. Of course, with such a corrupt bidding process, it remains to be seen how that would bear out.

I understand the desire to keep moving these big events around, but building purpose-specific facilities is a waste of money. I think these big games should settle into a pattern of rotating through a set number of cities that are already pretty much ready to host as-is. You can create a new process to allow cities to qualify for the rotation, but the bidding process should be replaced with something that isn't an obvious magnet for corruption and doesn't cause participants to do things like build $>100MM stadiums in remote Amazonian cities which can only be reached by airplane and boat.

posted by feloniousmonk at 02:17 PM on October 03, 2014

Tony Stewart Kills Driver in Dirt-Track Race

It's been many, many years since I've been to a sprint car race and I never much cared for them beyond the spectacle even then, but I do know that they are set up to go fast on slippery dirt and don't handle anything like normal cars so expectations about behavior based on your experience in a normal car don't really apply. You hit the gas to corner in them.

posted by feloniousmonk at 02:05 PM on August 11, 2014

SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle

Wow, this story is going to get crazy if that's accurate. The local news just mentioned a possible arrest upcoming.

posted by feloniousmonk at 01:34 AM on August 10, 2014

Jason Kidd joins Bucks as head coach

This looks really embarrassing for him from the outside. It looks like he overplayed a weak hand in a power grab, lost the bet, and then only landed on his feet because a friend bailed him out via his newly acquired ownership stake in Milwaukee.

posted by feloniousmonk at 04:53 PM on June 30, 2014

Patriots Run Over Colts

Apparently no one bothered to tell Dan that fantasy season's over.

posted by feloniousmonk at 03:58 AM on January 12, 2014

SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle

Shanahan is thinking about benching RG3 for the season. Why not just resign now?

posted by feloniousmonk at 06:10 PM on December 09, 2013

SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle

Seems like the stage is being set for Shanahan to leave at the end of the year.

posted by feloniousmonk at 12:46 PM on December 08, 2013

New England Overcomes 24-Point Deficit to Beat Denver

NE doing a fantastic job of reminding me to go to bed early.

Expect it when you least expect it.

posted by feloniousmonk at 01:13 AM on November 25, 2013

Panthers Edge Patriots, Win Sixth in a Row

My problem with the play is that there is no consistency between the way it was officiated and the way Arrington was penalized on the Panther's drive before. It seems Gronk was fouled before the ball arrived, making the question of whether it was catchable moot because he didn't have an opportunity to be in position in the first place. The NFL has crazy rules, though, and you can't really expect it to make sense.

That said, even as a Pats fan, it's hard to get too worked up over this stuff. Just like with the helmet catch, this is what people remember but it's not necessarily where the game was actually lost.

posted by feloniousmonk at 12:50 PM on November 19, 2013

ROB GRONKOWSKI Mocks Asian Fan WHERE'S THE FRIED RICE?

The fact that the Pats briefly signed and played Austin Collie goes to show how unsuccessful they were at replacing Welker. My primary reaction to that was "wow, I really hope this isn't how the first NFL player dies on the field."

posted by feloniousmonk at 03:48 PM on November 16, 2013

Together We Fear Football: Pop Warner Down 9.5%

I quit Pop Warner 2 years in after the 2nd consecutive coach turned out to be into doing stuff like making you complete your windsprints prior to drinking water in 100+ degree heat and having all of the small kids do one on one hitting/tackling drills with the one kid who was sized like a grown man already. I got the sense that this was pretty much the norm throughout all of the leagues I could've played in and was done with it. This was the 90s and it's hard for me to imagine the culture has changed much. It's not as if the hazards of not letting kids have water when it's hot were unknown until recently. I would advise against it at any opportunity at this point.

posted by feloniousmonk at 12:18 PM on November 14, 2013