- 09:42 PM
- 04/08/20
| Name: | Holden O. |
|---|---|
| Location: | Chicago |
| Member since: | February 11, 2002 |
| Last visit: | March 26, 2020 |
holden has posted 53 links and 2,505 comments to SportsFilter and 8 links and 268 comments to the Locker Room.
The Great Heist: How Fox Paid for and Changed Football Forever: A long, but excellent oral history from Bryan Curtis at The Ringer on how Fox went big for the NFL and ended up becoming the fourth major broadcast network in the process. Lots of fun nuggets in there, including the facts that (1) at the time John Madden signed with Fox for the 1994 NFL season, he was paid more annually than the highest paid NFL player, and (2) at the time it was introduced, people hated the "Fox Box" (the box containing the running clock and score at the top corner of the screen).
posted by holden to football at 02:08 PM on December 14, 2018 - 5 comments
Are You Ready for Some Football?: The World Cup draw was conducted earlier today. An Iberian showdown in Group B, while Groups D and F look, if not quite Groups of Death, at least Groups of Moderate Discomfort. The U.S. is in Group I.
posted by holden to soccer at 12:41 PM on December 01, 2017 - 6 comments
The Premier League Season Kicks Off Tomorrow: After a short post-WC break, the season in England's top flight begins tomorrow. The first manager to quit or get fired has already left the building, in the form of a man who seems almost unrecognizable minus the hat. Don't forget to join the SpoFi Fantasy Premier League mini-league (anyone know the SpoFi league code?). Post your season predictions inside.
posted by holden to soccer at 11:30 AM on August 15, 2014 - 9 comments
Euro 2012 Confidence Pool (Final Standings): Congrats to our winner, goddam, who narrowly pipped second-place finisher owlhouse (and apologies to those of you whose entries the software ate). Full standings inside.
posted by holden to fantasy at 11:43 AM on July 05, 2012 - 1 comment
Euro 2012 Confidence Pool (Standings Post-Group Round): Standings after the group round inside.
posted by holden to fantasy at 02:59 PM on June 22, 2012 - 1 comment
This is great (and makes me sad).
posted by holden at 11:18 AM on July 21, 2019
Between the cricket final and Wimbledon, must be something in the air in England today.
posted by holden at 02:51 PM on July 14, 2019
Looks to me like he was going for a headfirst slide and ended up putting up his arm as an act of self-preservation. But because he throws himself headlong into Lucroy, also looks like he was trying to bowl him over. Tough one to call.
posted by holden at 12:16 AM on July 13, 2019
Thanks for this, Bill (although surprised you're enough over the Champions League celebrations to post). Great read.
posted by holden at 01:12 AM on June 05, 2019
All of this is just a reminder of how old we all (or at least some of us) are. I'm at the stage of life where when I go into a gas station or C-store and see "You must have been born before this date to buy tobacco products" and think to myself "That can't be right, can it?" Basically my unknown love child from high school can now rent a car without paying the extra "under-25" fees.
posted by holden at 11:33 PM on March 30, 2019
Not sure why you'd taunt the refs in that situation (or any situation, for that matter). They can screw you that game (maybe was the case here) or in future games.
posted by holden at 11:29 PM on March 30, 2019
Great read.
Watching Lakers-Rockets last night made me wonder if the refs in that one were on the take.
posted by holden at 09:31 AM on February 22, 2019
Enjoyed this piece from Ratto, which was published at Deadspin yesterday.
posted by holden at 03:09 PM on January 30, 2019
I think Rivera getting unanimous induction is more indicative of the changing nature of the electorate (i.e., the old dudes who would not vote for someone on the first ballot on which he was eligible as a matter of "principle" aging out of the electorate/dying - or maybe just happening to be Yankees fans) than any sort of statement about his place in the pantheon. Also does not hurt that he played for the most visible team in the sport, won multiple World Series, has never had a whiff of controversy around him, and exhibits humility, selflessness, philanthropy, etc. Kind of just a perfect storm of features.
The Matt Stairs comparison is kind of fun in the sense of two players that did a very good job in somewhat specific/limited role, but Rivera has a career bWAR higher than 17 starting pitchers who are in the Hall of Fame (including Koufax), whereas Stairs' overall value is lacking. (And I know (think?) grum was just using that comparison as a rhetorical device.)
And here's echoing the hope that Larry Walker gets a big bump in his last year on the ballot. Although if Tony La Russa (together with Jerry Reinsdorf, apparently) could get Harold Baines through via the Today's Game Era Committee (successor to the Veterans Committee), hopefully La Russa managing Walker for his last season plus in MLB provides enough juice in that room to put that Committee in a position to actually get one right.
posted by holden at 11:50 AM on January 23, 2019
Indy by 3
Seahawks by 7
Chargers by 4
Bears by 8
Passer: Wilson
Rusher: Carson
Receiver: Hilton
INT: Fuller
Points: Indy
posted by holden at 03:58 PM on January 05, 2019
The Henry run gets discounted in my estimation because of the lack of effort of some of the Jags players (I'm looking at you, Leon Jacobs and Myles Jack).
posted by holden at 02:15 AM on December 28, 2018
A belated Merry Christmas to this cast of degenerates.
posted by holden at 02:12 AM on December 28, 2018
I saw that a week or two ago. Great story.
posted by holden at 03:46 PM on December 27, 2018
An interesting point made is that TV executives at rival networks hated the idea of the Fox Box the most and thought it was a horrible thing for the networks because it would drive viewers away if the game was a blowout. Basically better to keep channel flippers in the dark as to score than to have them move on (which ignored the fact that disinterested viewers would probably flip before getting to commercials in any event as the networks already showed the score as the game cut to commercial).
posted by holden at 02:53 PM on December 14, 2018
SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle
I do think that the Staples Center likely takes the cake, between two men's basketball teams, a woman's basketball team, hockey, plus a boatload of concerts and then the one-offs like memorial services for Nipsey Hussle and Kobe (probably no more than a couple a year, but still).
And be safe, SpoFites. Wish during this time we could watch a game together and get on the old Campfire site and have a nice running play-by-play/minute-by-minute with snarky commentary and astute social observations.
I love that all these people are all about "I'm binging XYZ on Netflix" or "I've taken up the piccolo" during this quarantime (that's a deliberate portmanteau, by the way). I've got four boys we're allegedly trying to "home school" here in Chicago (9 year-old to me the other day: "If you taught at my school you would have been fired a long time ago." Followed by 12 year-old: "That's harsh, but let's just say you're not winning any teacher-of-the-year awards") plus a job that mercifully is still keeping me busy, and I just fall into bed at midnight most nights exhausted. So hats off to those of you in different life situations for which this is a nice respite to learn/do something different, but keep in mind that there are those of us out there suffering through trying to figure out 8th grade math by watching YouTube videos on the sly so as to not admit to our children that we have basically a 7th grade (or more accurately, something south of 8th grade -- could be 5th or 6th for all I know) understanding of math.