04/20/24
January 20, 2013
SportsFilter: The Sunday 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.
Consider me baffled when I turned on the TV just after 1pm and there was no football.
posted by grum@work at 01:28 PM on January 20, 2013
November 21st is a pretty special day for Hall of Fame birthdays:
NBA: Earl "The Pearl" Monroe
NHL: Foster Hewitt
MLB: Stan Musial, Ken Griffey Jr.
NFL: Troy Aikman, Sid Luckman
Michael Strahan is probably on his way to the HOF as well.
posted by grum@work at 01:42 PM on January 20, 2013
The NFL does a lot of things that make no sense, so this is really no surprise.
Falcons are dominating right now....
posted by insomnyuk at 03:46 PM on January 20, 2013
Wouldn't it make more sense to have the outdoor game played earlier, with some daylight?
Not if you want to raise the odds of a suitably wintry setting for the outdoor game.
posted by etagloh at 04:25 PM on January 20, 2013
Wow. Atlanta just took San Francisco's momentum and shoved it down their throats.
posted by Etrigan at 04:29 PM on January 20, 2013
*koff*
posted by hincandenza at 06:12 PM on January 20, 2013
Lance Armstrong gave the 49ers a Dodgeball-style pep talk at halftime.
posted by Etrigan at 06:14 PM on January 20, 2013
Hats off to the Falcons for taking an excellent game and managing to completely fuck it up, but honestly, the fact that you can slap a quarterback's helmet and reboot a completely dead drive, meanwhile Matt Ryan is taken to the ground, hurts his arm and no penalty is called - I don't really give a shit what the big picture is, but I loathe this kind of football. I find it literally upsetting.
posted by phaedon at 06:20 PM on January 20, 2013
Let me guess, you like the Falcons?
I thought Frisco played pretty well, and it was a close, tough game. I wasn't surprised to see the 49ers bounce back, and both teams had drives get damn close before coughing up the ball.
Whoever wins the AFL game is gonna have a tough Superbowl, the 49ers are a good team that knows how to win.
posted by Hugh Janus at 06:28 PM on January 20, 2013
Let me guess, you like the Falcons?
I hate Jim Harbaugh.
posted by phaedon at 06:53 PM on January 20, 2013
the fact that you can slap a quarterback's helmet and reboot a completely dead drive
A penalty shouldn't be called based on whether the affected team is playing well. That defender had plenty of time to not slap Kaepernick's helmet.
meanwhile Matt Ryan is taken to the ground, hurts his arm and no penalty is called
Nor should a penalty be called based on whether someone gets hurt. It's football. There are plenty of perfectly legal plays where people get hurt.
posted by Etrigan at 07:00 PM on January 20, 2013
Ha! That's totally legit, I don't much like Harbaugh either. Me, I hate Pete Carroll, so I have a soft spot for the 'Niners, since they made him cry.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave.
posted by Hugh Janus at 07:03 PM on January 20, 2013
Oh wait, no they didn't, now who beat the Seahawks? My short-term memory is embarrassing.
posted by Hugh Janus at 07:05 PM on January 20, 2013
It was Atlanta. So Harbaugh beat the guys who beat Carroll, which is less direct than he usually does.
posted by Etrigan at 07:06 PM on January 20, 2013
Hell, I'm a Skins fan, and I remember seeing both SF and ATL in games earlier in the season and in the playoffs, thinking, man I'm happy we have RGIII and Alfred Morris, and my team is holding together pretty well, considering they're running on fumes and four spare tires, but we never would have stood a chance against either of those teams, Falcons-49ers was a class matchup.
posted by Hugh Janus at 07:12 PM on January 20, 2013
I want Carroll and Harbaugh to be in the same division and torment each other for years to come if possible. It's entertaining.
posted by beaverboard at 07:21 PM on January 20, 2013
Nor should a penalty be called based on whether someone gets hurt.
I can't find the video to see it again, but I think the penalty should've been called because it was a late hit. Defenders don't get to keep driving a quarterback into the ground after the pass is gone.
posted by rcade at 07:39 PM on January 20, 2013
Nor should a penalty be called based on whether someone gets hurt.
I can't find the video to see it again, but I think the penalty should've been called because it was a late hit. Defenders don't get to keep driving a quarterback into the ground after the pass is gone.
It was certainly call-able, but Ryan getting hurt shouldn't have entered into that calculus.
posted by Etrigan at 08:15 PM on January 20, 2013
This Pats game has gotten ugly. Hope I didn't jinx it with my late submission to the pick 'em! :(
posted by hincandenza at 08:52 PM on January 20, 2013
Nor should a penalty be called based on whether someone gets hurt.
Don't let the NHL brass hear you say that...
posted by MeatSaber at 08:56 PM on January 20, 2013
Nor should a penalty be called based on whether someone gets hurt.
Don't let the NHL brass hear you say that...
To clarify, I'm okay with fines being levied after the fact and the severity of those fines increasing if someone got hurt as a result. But if a referee doesn't think something is a penalty at the moment it happens, but then realizes that a player got hurt, he shouldn't throw a flag. That'll lead to soccer-level flopping.
posted by Etrigan at 09:02 PM on January 20, 2013
Bernard Pollard really doesn't like Patriots.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 09:08 PM on January 20, 2013
Run for the first down Brady, you puss. Are you kidding me?
posted by dyams at 09:23 PM on January 20, 2013
I think Ray was shading that play also thinking "please, Tom, try and run this."
posted by Mr Bismarck at 09:24 PM on January 20, 2013
Either protect the quarterback position, or don't. I'm sick of refs dictating the game.
posted by phaedon at 09:31 PM on January 20, 2013
Ridley was knocked out. His mistake was lowering his head into the defender. I don't think Pollard came out of it that well, either.
posted by grum@work at 10:01 PM on January 20, 2013
And I instantly noticed that fencer response that the Pat guy exhibited once he hits the ground, thanks to the video posted here on SpoFi.
posted by Bonkers at 10:08 PM on January 20, 2013
Either protect the quarterback position, or don't. I'm sick of refs dictating the game.
I'm assuming that you are complaining about a call in the Niners / Falcons game because the Ravens blew out the Patriots and any impact the referees could have had was negligible. I'm also assuming it had to do the the fact the Falcons lost. How exactly did the referees dictate the game?
posted by cixelsyd at 10:10 PM on January 20, 2013
Ahem, looks like Boston, or where ever it was, will have to reset the infamous billboard. Great game.
posted by steelergirl at 10:21 PM on January 20, 2013
Ha! Good point Steelergirl. The football gods sup on hubris.
I saw the fencer response too. The refs did a poor job of keeping control of the situation after Ridley suffered what was clearly a rough head blow. They let the fumble pile run into the pile of Patriots staffers attending to their fallen player. One of the staffers shoved a Ravens player.
Football is entertaining to watch but it's just too brutal. I hope Ridley is OK.
posted by rcade at 11:22 PM on January 20, 2013
The Ray's Retirement Party billboards after the loss:
posted by rcade at 11:28 PM on January 20, 2013
How exactly did the referees dictate the game?
Look, maybe you didn't read my comment upthread. I'm not going to beat a dead horse.
posted by phaedon at 11:21 AM on January 21, 2013
If you thought that was bad you should have seen what the 49ers did to Eli Manning in last year's NFC Championship. They beat the shit out of him. Good teams are going to get their licks in on the quarterback.
posted by insomnyuk at 12:51 PM on January 21, 2013
Still confused by NFL scheduling. Why have a west coast team play early, while the two east coast teams play later? Wouldn't it make more sense to have the outdoor game played earlier, with some daylight, while the dome team plays later, where it doesn't matter, and the 49ers fans would benefit from a game later in the day?