04/20/24
October 22, 2013
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.
The post-game crew on ESPN sounded like people who had Blair Walsh on their fantasy team.
I gave up on the game when Freeman came out for the second half. I needed one point from Walsh in one league -- thank you, punt return! -- and around 5 in another, which was clearly not going to happen.
What were the Vikings thinking putting him out there when he couldn't possibly have run their offense? That was a winnable game at the half, with the Vikings trailing only 10-7. There's no way anyone on that sideline thought Freeman gave them their best chance to win.
posted by rcade at 10:54 AM on October 22, 2013
Gruden and Tirico called it a preseason game towards the end, and Gruden declared it over early on in the 4th quarter, once it became clear that Freeman was going to throw in the vague direction of a receiver for the rest of the game.
ESPN ought to get the league to reimburse them for that game.
posted by etagloh at 12:00 PM on October 22, 2013
Awkward news conference begs question if Don Mattingly will return for Dodgers
posted by BornIcon at 01:50 PM on October 22, 2013
grum@work has apparently been reduced to code.
posted by holden at 04:20 PM on October 22, 2013
posted by tommybiden at 08:55 PM on October 22, 2013
I like how Deadspin is all raging at how terrible the name is, and one of the top comments points out that El Paso is on the border, and is a multinational city... sharing land with the state of Chihuahua in Mexico.
I actually really like that logo, I think it's a cool fun name which is perfect for minor league baseball.
posted by hincandenza at 03:38 AM on October 23, 2013
Naming the team the Chihuahuas is a good way to sell gear. A lot of people like those runty little terrors.
posted by rcade at 08:39 AM on October 23, 2013
I really don't get Deadspin's objection to the name. I do love the top comment that explains away the author's objection to the mascot's swing. In general, I like Deadspin, but I feel some of the newer contributors have taken "Over the top" as their starting point. In theory I should love their Foodspin stuff, but it's so agressively antagonistic I leave it to the 20-somethings it's targeted at. In addition, their new soccer writer Greg Howard, while seeming to be a nice guy, has already inspired a novelty commenter account called "Greg Howard Hyperbole Watch". He's the king of G.O.A.T. declarations.
posted by yerfatma at 08:47 AM on October 23, 2013
The smallest of the world's dog breeds was chosen over four other finalists in a "Name The Team" contest that garnered over 5,000 submissions, triumphing over Aardvarks, Buckaroos, Desert Gators and Sun Dogs.
Alright, hold it right there. All of those options are better than the Chihuahuas
Desert Gators and Sun Dogs are terrible names. Aardvarks isn't going to sell merchandise, and unless their mascot is called "Banzai", Buckaroos isn't that good, either.
I can't stand those little dogs, but I agree with people here that it's a great marketing name.
posted by grum@work at 09:23 AM on October 23, 2013
grum, you left out the bit where he undercuts his own point: ". . . and while the Desert Gators and Sun Dogs sound like two animals made up by a third-grader who regularly wears monster truck t-shirts, they are still much better options than the Chihuahuas." Can we also acknowledge the idea of a diminutive for a minor league team name is (assuming it's intentional) pretty cool?
posted by yerfatma at 10:18 AM on October 23, 2013
In theory I should love their Foodspin stuff, but it's so agressively antagonistic I leave it to the 20-somethings it's targeted at.
What, saying that Cincinnati chili is diarrhea sludge and is less preferable than getting hit by a car is aggressively antagonistic? I suppose then that reveling in the reaction of local Cincy television to that characterization is also antagonistic.
I know I'm biased because I was raised on the stuff, but Cincinnati chili is one of life's great pleasures, as soon as you stop expecting "chili." And I'll take the word of Anthony Bourdain, who said that he loved Cincy chili enough to eat it cold for breakfast over whoever that joe blow is any day.
posted by tahoemoj at 11:40 AM on October 23, 2013
In the post-game comments Rick Reilly called last night's Giants-Vikings the worst game of pro football he'd ever seen. I could only watch bits here and there but still have difficulty disagreeing. How bad are the Vikings that AP could only get 28 yards on the ground against an 0-6 team and that Freeman started less than two weeks after signing on, throwing ~50 passes. Most of which were uncatchable.