- 08:22 AM
- 11/23/24
I didn't see the matches as some of you have but I'm willing to bet you'd see a much different result if Federer could meet Sampras in the next 4 Grand Slams. Roger had to be holding back a bit in the interest of an exhibition series with a revered former player. When Federer wins the French - and a Grand Slam with it - we can talk about him over Laver. Did Laver ever have to play such a dominant clay courter as Nadal at the French?
posted by 1959Giants at 11:07 AM on November 26, 2007
Thanks for starting this post as a workaround to the administrator closing the last Vick thread. I was getting tired of scrolling all the way through that one anyway. Bishop, why don't you get the jump on this one and tell us that this whole Vick thing is just another example of persecution of innocent blsck men?
posted by 1959Giants at 04:23 PM on July 18, 2007
It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. I seriously doubt that. People will naturally align along any differentiating features that are readily discernible, i.e., race, gender, etc.. No surprise there, it's called human nature, has always existed and always will.
posted by 1959Giants at 07:55 AM on July 17, 2007
Corporate lawyers usually insist on adequate warnings on products that often result in ridicule for all the "may cause ...." scenarios that they cover. This results in a general lack of credibility by the public and they disregard the warnings. A fundamental tenet of toxicology is that everything is lethal at some dose (including water) or "the dose makes the poison". The specific chemical, the route of exposure and length of exposure all factor into this and product warnings usually are conservative when taking this into account. Very unfortunate for the victim in this case but the only general lesson I can see from this is the time-worn (yet true) expression, "everything in moderation".
posted by 1959Giants at 04:39 PM on June 12, 2007
I'm suspicious that MGDADDYO might have been sitting on the bike backwards to get his left testicle caught in the rear derailer which is on the right side of the bike. EVERYBODY knows you shouldn't ride backwards, it requires shaving your back. Which is hard to reach.
posted by 1959Giants at 04:06 PM on May 19, 2007
Well said TBH. The trend seems to be for open wheel racers wanting to come to NASCAR, and they often struggle to succeed when they do, not the other way around. But they seem to be OK with trying to keep up with all those rednecks that don't understand what real racing is all about.
posted by 1959Giants at 05:08 PM on May 16, 2007
If they let Steve get away with this, what will he do next - jaywalk? C'mon and be serious, on the scale of crimes committed by professional athletes, I gotta put this one at the very low end of the scale. Much bigger fish to fry out there.
posted by 1959Giants at 08:13 PM on May 11, 2007
Since hybrid playing surfaces are being discussed around here, I would love to see something set up wherein Federer hit tennis balls in the direction of a catcher and major league hitters would have to try to hit them. I bet Federer would shut down a lot of big leaguers. If the proposal allows use of the service box as the strike zone, the 130 - 150 mph fastballs are hard for tennis pros to hit with a tennis racket, let alone a baseball bat. And with current technology they don't need an ump guessing if they were strikes or balls.
posted by 1959Giants at 01:19 PM on May 03, 2007
I'd like to have them play a match on grass, rest a day, and then play a match on clay. Highest total games wins. Wait a minute, they did that last year at the French Open and Wimbledon. Both went 4 sets and Federer won the overall by 42 - 36. I'll take Federer in Holden's tri-set proposal also. He's not #1 in the world by such a large margin by accident.
posted by 1959Giants at 11:52 AM on May 03, 2007
In spite of the results of this match, I think Federer has a better chance of winning the French Open (albeit a slight chance) than Nadal has of winning Wimbledon.
posted by 1959Giants at 09:06 PM on May 02, 2007
A novelty that will prove no more than having Billie Jean King play Bobby Riggs.
posted by 1959Giants at 11:34 AM on May 02, 2007
Perhaps there is a bias against white players if, in fact, black players are committing 10% more fouls and they are only being called 2.5 - 4.5% of the time. Not unreasonable to consider that players from urban America could have a more aggressive playing style than European or South American whites. How does the study account for this possibility? And on and on and on....
posted by 1959Giants at 11:32 AM on May 02, 2007
I say let's give the COT a chance to work out the bugs. The same teams whining about the COT also whined about aero push ruining racing which help lead to the COT. I guess whining is an integral part of the sport.
posted by 1959Giants at 08:01 PM on April 29, 2007
I don't know exactly when NASCAR transitioned from racing real stock cars of Chevy, Ford, Dodge, etc. but I do know that the cars they have been racing since the 90's have as many parts in common with your Chevy, Ford, or Dodge as your lawnmower does so it's a bit of a joke to associate with a make/model of car. They just put up money to stick their name on the car like the sponsors do. NASCAR wants to do whatever it can to keep the races close (including "debris on the track" yellow flags with 20 laps to go) for fan interest and those all-important sponsorship $$$. So enjoy it for what it is and if you want to see the good old fashioned racing, there's always your local Saturday night track.
posted by 1959Giants at 07:48 PM on April 16, 2007
I'm sure the Rutgers team was listening when he made his comments I'd be quite willing to bet that no Rutgers players were tuned into Imus when he made those comments but they sure heard about them when the media frenzy began. Imus is history now, we can only hope that all leaders take this dialogue opportunity to squelch all sources of bigotry and ignorance.
posted by 1959Giants at 05:45 AM on April 13, 2007
To avoid the things you listed just requires proper home training. No amount of home training will help the Black community avoid people like Don Imus. We just have to learn to live with it. Thanks for making the all-important point: it begins at home and is rooted there. Avoiding Don Imus is easy, just tune him out and not all that many people have tuned him in. Much harder to avoid your family.
posted by 1959Giants at 07:19 PM on April 12, 2007
OK, CBS has now canned the old white guy so we can put him to rest and hopefully the black community will use this open dialogue (excessive publicity) to take on their biggest threat - the gangsta rappers, "street cred" athletes, and thug drug dealers as role models. Kids should be encouraged to admire and emulate people like Colin Powell, Condi, Shaq, the Williams sisters, Tiki Barber (to name a few celebs), and many nameless others that exist in every community. Then Imus could take the short walk to his grave having [unknowingly] done a great service to the black community.
posted by 1959Giants at 05:20 PM on April 12, 2007
You'd think the Aussies would have the good sense to play in the middle of the night to beat the heat and accomodate our Americentric time schedule.
posted by 1959Giants at 09:58 AM on March 21, 2007
My point isn't Serena bashing so I won't selectively link to pictures that are much less flattering. I believe the original subject was "Is women's tennis equal pay justified on equal athleticism / physical effort or based on marketability". All I'm saying is that the first case isn't true and I asked if there are data to support the latter case? Thank you for addressing the issue by commenting that the financial bottom line is not easy to measure. Since this subject seems to be tiresome for some, I will end with one last position statement - if marketability is the justification of equal pay, then drop men's tennis back to 3 sets, they just aren't popular enough to justify the extra screen time.
posted by 1959Giants at 06:35 AM on March 20, 2007
lbb, Now that I've apparently plucked a nerve with you, let me continue to clarify some points: 1) Comparing Roddick to Kournikova?? Roddick has won tournaments including a major title and is still in the men's top 5. Kournikova'a claim to fame? Not tennis. If you don't agree it's her sex appeal, you're deeply in denial. 2) Back on original subject, the equal pay / marketability issue - I started by asking a simple question, is it true that women's tennis brings in more money? Many of us believe subjectively (including myself) that it probably does. But does anyone have any facts to support that? 3) A bit off the main subject but inflammatory enough to raise your ire - I still maintain that the physical attributes I cited for 3 women tennis players are factual, not subjective. Can you name one male tennis player of any era that was fat, flabby, or slow? OK, I'll conceed Renee Richards but he/she switched teams.
posted by 1959Giants at 08:33 PM on March 19, 2007
lbb, When was the last time you saw an ad with Roger Federer in it? I addressed this in my initial post - the ads are based on sex appeal, not tennis talent. Remember Kournikova? Come again? You say "[b]ased on pure athleticism" and then offer a completely subjective and personal appraisal of the appeal of three female vs. three male players? Are your subjective tastes the arbiter of "pure athleticism"? I don't really agree that my comments were subjective, they are based on observable fact (the gut, the big ass, the sluggish movement). Watching the women's finals (Kuznetsova/Hantchukova) at Indian Wells and then watched Nadal play Roddick in the men's semi, the difference in athletic abilities were sooo apparent. Am I being subjective here? Who's "we" and what "this"? I'm not calling the shots at Roland Garros, and I expect you aren't either. "we" = this discussion board, "this" = this discussion thread I thought that was the point - to present opposing views as a form of therapy to deal with our utter lack of real authority.
posted by 1959Giants at 07:28 PM on March 19, 2007
I'm not so sure I buy this assumption that women's tennis generates so much more revenue than the men. Are there facts out there to support that? Granted that Sharapova has more endorsements than others but I don't think it's because of her tennis accomplishments. Based on pure athleticism, I don't think the jiggling body parts of Serena or Kuznetsova's gut or Lindsay Davenport's lumbering grace quite match up to Nadal, Blake, Federer, etc.. But I forget that we are supposed to be basing this on marketability, not talent.
posted by 1959Giants at 04:41 PM on March 19, 2007
I knew a polydactyl guy that did it but that was just so he could get his baseball glove on.
posted by 1959Giants at 09:17 PM on March 06, 2007
If we follow the line of reason that the fair compensation for play is market driven, what's wrong with cutting the men back to best of 3 sets so it will be equal effort for equal pay and we can get them off the court sooner and watch the women's matches.
posted by 1959Giants at 02:54 PM on February 23, 2007
I have no problem with that as the women's matches are often more entertaining to watch. But isn't it reasonable to expect equal work for equal pay, i.e., women should play best of 5 sets? Equal should mean equal.
posted by 1959Giants at 09:40 AM on February 22, 2007
I think most people (myself included) would have liked to see Mark win. I think even NASCAR with all the selective rule implementation accusations, etc. would have liked to see Mark win. But he didn't. We'll all just have to get over it. At 180 mph with the whole matter happening in seconds, I don't think NASCAR strategists had time to hold a board meeting and decide how to manipulate the outcome.
posted by 1959Giants at 06:45 PM on February 19, 2007
Why is this a sin in sports? When was it not so? About 30 years or so ago.
posted by 1959Giants at 11:07 AM on January 24, 2007
I don't know. Can you be scrappy if you are over 6'? Yes, if the other guys are over 6'5".
posted by 1959Giants at 10:52 AM on January 24, 2007
Give Garcia credit for being a tough, scrappy guy who did a good job when given the chance. But I think it is doubtful that he could survive a season playing that way at his age. And he won't get the chance unless McNabb has a few bad games in a row and the Philly fans boo him off the field. I really want to like McNabb, he seems like a nice guy, but he hasn't yet shown the ability to retain his composure under fire (referred to as "choking" by some). It's on him to prove that he can do that and I hope he can.
posted by 1959Giants at 10:00 AM on January 24, 2007
Racism isn't a mental disorder, it's a fundamental human trait like all the other "isms" (sexism, nationalism, etc.). Whenever any 2 human groups can differentiate themselves from eachother by any means, they will label that group and consider them "different". It will always be a part of our primal selves that we have to deal with intellectually to allow peaceful coexistence. In the meanwhile, it does make for lively, often inflammatory, discussion. Oh, this thread is about TO! Yeah, he is a great athlete and a troubled person that makes for a crappy teammate. Better enjoy the limelight while he can, his days are winding down. Those skills don't last forever, ask Jerry Rice.
posted by 1959Giants at 09:53 AM on January 24, 2007
It's a big world, let's all live in it. I don't mind staying up or TIVOing to get my tennis fix. Besides the great tennis, it was worth it to hear sweet Miss Sharapova utter an obscenity at the umpire. Sounded funny coming from her.
posted by 1959Giants at 10:00 AM on January 18, 2007
canes09- I think you missed the joke
posted by 1959Giants at 09:29 PM on January 17, 2007
Let's not forget our lesson from the Duke lacrosse case - maybe the victim will withdraw the charges
posted by 1959Giants at 05:44 PM on January 17, 2007
Hawk attacks 13-year-old at Fenway Park
I saw the heron at Lincoln Financial Field in Phillie when he got Koy Detmer.