Recent Comments by jjohn24680

It's finally happened! Emergency back-up goalie (Blackhawks' Scott Foster) plays in an NHL game.

Not to nitpick, but he's not the first emergency backup to play.

From nhl.com:
Foster played 55 games for Western Michigan from 2002-06. He is the first emergency goaltender to play in an NHL game since Jorge Alves, an equipment manager for the Carolina Hurricanes, played eight seconds in a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Dec. 31, 2016.

I'm not sure you can celebrate 8 seconds of ice time like they did last night.

And, since teams now need to have an emergency goalie available for all games, I'm sure we're more likely to see this happen again in the future.

posted by jjohn24680 at 04:27 PM on March 30, 2018

Saints Trade Adrian Peterson to Cardinals

You thought the Saints were the worst style fit for AP? He's now on the team with the highest pass attempts in the NFL this year. And AP is very well known for his inability to catch the ball out of the backfield. He will see just as much playing time going forward as he saw before.

AP is done. As much as he may have the desire to keep playing, it is clear his body and the game have both moved on. Few teams have a place for a back with his style of running, not being a receiver and his little skill as a blocking back. He should retire while he still has some respectability. If he tries to play the whole year and finds himself seeing so little time on the field (as I would expect in both NO and Arizona), he will be embarrassed.

He had a great career in MN on a team that was built around him. He should leave it at that and move on. Hell, even MN has moved on already. They've replaced their O line with guys that block well for Dalvin Cook. They even cut a guy from their O line, being paid a lot of money, because he was a blocker for AP.

AP, it's time to retire.

posted by jjohn24680 at 12:41 AM on October 11, 2017

United States Eliminated from World Cup Qualification

Tonight I watched a bunch of adult men act like entitled little children who appeared to be thinking to themselves "Why am I out here playing on this shitty field against this shitty team. We're too good for this and we deserve to be in the World Cup. How dare they try to beat us."

No, you don't deserve to be in the World Cup. That was proven tonight. All I can hope for now is that the whole thing gets blown up and someone new takes the lead to build a team that deserves to be there but plays like they still need to earn it.

There is a lot of talent making its way up the ranks. Pulisic is just the beginning. If all goes well, 4 years from now very few of the players you saw on the field tonight will still be playing for the MNT. They will have been replaced by players who can play the international game and also beat the teams they should beat (all of the ones in CONCACAF). I just hope the federation gets the "old guard" out of the way and lets the new generation move up. It certainly can't be any worse than what we saw tonight.

posted by jjohn24680 at 12:25 AM on October 11, 2017

SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle

UEFA considers change to way penalty shootouts are staged: http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/39798344

The idea is to allow each team to go first in alternating rounds. They refer to it as "ABBA".

I have an interesting variation of my own to add: After the first 5 rounds, each subsequent 2 rounds are kicked 1 meter back from the spot. After rounds 6 & 7, go back 2 meters for 8 & 9. Keep going back every 2 rounds until there is a winner. The referee sets the new location when it is moved back from the spot.

posted by jjohn24680 at 02:58 PM on May 03, 2017

MLB *Play of the Year* is pretty much locked up by Chris Coghlan after this bit of insanity.

The catcher should have turned and thanked him for not turning him into a human bowling pin. That encounter had "blown up" written all over it. And the roll at the end makes me wonder if that's not the first time he's tried to imitate Superman.

With the new rules regarding interference at the plate, would he have been safe had he just bowled over the catcher? Not saying that would have been a good idea, but it seems to me that the catcher was in the lane long before he caught the ball.

posted by jjohn24680 at 10:51 AM on April 26, 2017

Yahoo Tourney Pick'em Pool

Thank you for the pool. As for the picks, your guess is as good as mine.

posted by jjohn24680 at 11:39 PM on March 16, 2015

Brazil Faces Germany for Spot in World Cup Final

Someone's gotta say it...

Germany is up by a touchdown in the 85th minute.

Wow. Just, wow.

posted by jjohn24680 at 06:00 PM on July 08, 2014

It's Official

Then again, the Sugar Bowl doesn't look to select the best teams, only what teams present the "most profitable matchup".

There. Fixed it for you.

posted by jjohn24680 at 11:21 AM on December 05, 2011

Oilers' Fedun Breaks Leg on Icing Play

I guess a broken femur every 3 years or so is acceptable to the NHL. Oddly enough, the last one was also related the the MN Wild. Kurtis Foster's broken Femur -- video . The second paragraph of the article is most telling... "NHL officials could spend that long debating whether to enact 'no-touch icing' to eliminate the possibility of catastrophic injuries on races for the puck." Is three years too long to debate? Just put the rule in and move on.

posted by jjohn24680 at 05:36 PM on October 01, 2011

Fan's Knee Proves Asdrubal Cabrera Hit Homer

I've heard the joke so many times "Wow! That's going to leave a mark!" and now I've seen it happen. With the distance the ball flew after it hit her knee, and the mark it left, I'm surprised that her kneecap wasn't broken, or at least cracked.

posted by jjohn24680 at 04:21 PM on August 02, 2011

Dan Snyder, Innovator

They only have to respond with one thing: S.L.A.P.P.

New York (the paper's primary owner's state) has a SLAPP law on the books according to WikiPedia. So, this is a non-story until they file suit. I can't imagine he'd be dumb enough to do so. But who knows, maybe he is considering all the stuff he's done so far.

As dyams quoted, Snyder has never sued a media organization. Maybe it's because he knows he'd get his ass handed back to him and a large legal bill to pay on top of it. Maybe he's hoping that this "little fish" might be too scared to even try and fight it.

And as far as I'm concerned, he's done more than enough to earn that spot in the dictionary. Maybe it's just the dictionary company being scared to put his picture next to the word. He might try to sue them.

posted by jjohn24680 at 11:51 AM on February 02, 2011

High School Uses Trick Play to Win State

That was good execution. But, the entire defense wasn't napping. The corner did try to cover the receiver but the receiver was too much for him by himself. He did give it a good shot.

posted by jjohn24680 at 06:04 PM on December 21, 2010

Bobby Ryan Scores Goal with Opponent's Stick

I was watching the game. The announcers were having fun with the whole situation and they replayed the stick grab a few times. They never replayed far enough back to show why Mikko Koivu lost his stick in the first place. I wonder if maybe Bobby Ryan knocked it out or pulled it out of his hands. That might explain why he grabbed Bobby's stick. It was just dumb luck that Bobby scored.

It's funny how karma works like that. The night before, Mikko scored a goal (video) when the goalie inadvertently passed him the puck in front of their goal . The next night someone scores a goal on his team using his stick.

posted by jjohn24680 at 03:11 PM on December 14, 2010

"Turn Out The Lights, The Party's Over"

.

posted by jjohn24680 at 12:25 PM on December 06, 2010

Vikings Fire Brad Childress

As a hometown fan, I've had to endure Childress for several years. I'm glad he's gone. I never believed that he was a good NFL head coach. He has football smarts, but that didn't make him a head coach.

I've always believed that the best head coaches aren't the ones that put the best lines on the blackboard. They're the ones who get all of their guys working together for the same goals. Some use their willpower and demand respect (which they've earned) or they work to build mutual respect amongst the players and coaches and get them working together. Childress did neither.

The Vikings are a team that has a lot of veteran talent on both sides of the ball. Not just Favre. Steve Hutchinson has been around for a long time, for example. The defense has several veterans as well. A smart coach will work with these guys and let them help build the team. He'll get their feedback and make it a part of the game plan, or explain why they'll go in a different direction sometimes.

I feel bad for the Redskins this weekend. A bunch of guys got what they wanted, and now they have something to prove. Just like Dallas, the Vikings are going to show up for the rest of the season and they may surprise a bunch of people. Whether they make the playoffs will depend on whether the right things happen to help them, but I won't count them out.

posted by jjohn24680 at 05:05 PM on November 22, 2010

Rypien suspended indefinitely by NHL

It was fun to see the over-the-top responses that came out at first (suspend him for the rest of the year), it's just like Ron Artest (yea, just like it) and the myriad of "teach him and everyone else a lesson" postings. Clearer heads are starting to prevail. This will be news until the next person does something idiotic to grab the headlines. As someone said, the best thing to come from this is that Vancouver might actually skate someone worthy of a spot on the ice in his place.

P.S. Take 15 years off and give me a mullet and I'd be the spitting image of Jared Allen. I'm pretty sure I'd hold my own. :)

posted by jjohn24680 at 12:20 AM on October 21, 2010

Rypien suspended indefinitely by NHL

There are numerous posts and blog posts about this. The best one I've seen so far looks at the posts that have been made so far and compares the responses. Puck Daddy on yahoo.com

My take on it is that the guy definitely went way over the line. I think he needs to sit 10 games. The 1/8th of his salary that he won't see will be financial penalty enough to make a point to him and anyone else who may think about doing that.

I attended last Thursday's Wild game and made 10 or so games last year. There is a cover that they can put over the walkway and they normally have it out during warmups. I wouldn't be surprised if they cover the walkway during the games as the Wild's way of showing that they learned from their mistake.

And as was said in some of the blogs, the two guys did not get ejected, rather they were moved somewhere else. They were treated well by the Wild. I'll be curious to see if they decide to take any action. If they're greedy, they will, but if it was me, I'd figure the Wild are going to treat me nice for a while and I'd be happy with that.

I can certainly say that if I was in that seat, I would have been doing the same thing. I would have been standing there taunting the guy. Had he yanked on my jersey like that, I don't think I would have been standing there afterwards. I'm pretty sure there would be some Vancouver players pulling me off of their guy. I give the guy props for standing back up and not doing anything else.

posted by jjohn24680 at 02:33 PM on October 20, 2010

Player Rejects NFL Offers Because He Wasn't Drafted

UPDATED: 3 pm ET: FoxNews.com is reporting that Sicko has changed his mind and signed a free-agent deal with the Dallas Cowboys.

posted by jjohn24680 at 11:28 AM on April 28, 2010

Flames' Langkow Hit in Neck by Puck, Carried Off Ice

I was watching the game on TV and saw this happen. It was weird to see this at first, because it looked like the puck hit him somewhere on the front of his body up high (neck/head). But the replay had a great view of him falling forward and taking the shot in the back of his neck. It was a freak accident and Greg Zanon did nothing different than what happens dozens of times in the slot area during a game. He happened to fall forward at a really bad time.

Kudos to the training staff for recognizing the injury and taking steps right away to immobilize him on-ice. Having worked as an EMT, I know the importance of those actions and it's possible that his prognosis has been greatly improved because of what they did. I hope he suffers no long-term effects.

posted by jjohn24680 at 01:45 PM on March 22, 2010

Also Official: Joe Mauer A Twin Through 2018

As a Twins fan who's been to a couple dozen games in the past few years, I love this. I love the fact that the management decided he was worth the money and that Joe decided that he didn't need to make A-Rod money to be happy.

People are saying that the team won't be able to compete with him taking up that much of the payroll, but the Twins are masters of building from the draft and the farm system. Sure, some good players are going to come and go, but I think it's great knowing that one of the core players of the franchise is going to be sticking around. I'll do my part and watch another dozen or more games this year. I'm looking forward to watching the games in the new stadium, especially with the team they have this year.

posted by jjohn24680 at 01:27 AM on March 22, 2010

Strange that no one's talking about Kelly Kulick becoming the first woman to win a men's Professional Bowlers Association Tour title

As a former par bowler (200 avg over a period of time) I can comprehend the significance of this. It is generally difficult for women to compete with men successfully in professional bowling because of the way they run their tournaments. For example, to win the tournament, she had to bowl more than 50 games in a 5 day period. Also, she uses a 15 pound bowling ball where the men generally use a 16 pound ball (which is the heaviest allowed by the rules). The extra pound does make a difference. In addition, the lanes are set up with their dressing (oil is a more familiar term) in ways that are not commonly set up in other tournaments.

The shame of this is that there are more people who bowl regularly in the U.S. than most of the other participation sports. Only a few sports like baseball/softball can boast the participation numbers. This should be a sport that can relate to the average person and therefore get them interested in watching. It is a shame that the following has gotten to be as bad as it has. Back in the 70's and 80's, bowling had such a following that ABC had it on every Sunday afternoon and had good ratings every week. Some of the bowlers of that era were household names.

She accomplished something that had never been done in bowling and nearly all forms of top level competition. That is a wonderful thing in itself. It is just a shame that it had to happen in a sport that has so small a loyal following. I can only hope that some day bowling will get back to the position it had in the past. That would be great.

posted by jjohn24680 at 11:16 AM on February 26, 2010

Cardinals win epic battle with Packers to advance

As for the facemask picture, what the picture doesn't show is that the defender's hand went through the football (to knock it out of his hand) and then hit him in the facemask. I'm thinking the referee is watching the football more than the hand in his face at that point. Seeing that he was holding the football near his head when it was knocked out of his hand, and the play was to hit the football, it would be a tough call to say it was a facemask or blow to the head. It's possible, but I would say it would be very unlikely.

In any case, if you're a fan of the passing game, this game was a beauty to watch. Combining for 9 TD passes, 96 points and almost 900 yards of offense is great. If you like defense, this was not the game to watch.

posted by jjohn24680 at 12:34 AM on January 11, 2010

WR/KR Harvin is top offensive rookie

FYI, the "Little Phenom" comment above is from the article.

Being a Vikings fan, I'm happy to see that Percy was recognized for this play this year. There was a lot of hype going into the season about how good he was and how much effect he would have on the offense. There was also a lot of talk about is off-the-field issues during his college days. It was a lot of fun watching him play and it was also nice to see that he didn't put himself in situations that gave him issues in Florida.

He was a solid contributor to the Vikings this year. The only thing that slowed him down were the migraines. I hope that he stays around a while and keeps playing to the standard that he set this year.

posted by jjohn24680 at 10:54 AM on January 06, 2010

SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle

The entire Vikings team mailed in the first half last night. Like the week before, they played like they are happy to be in the playoffs and don't care what seed they are. Obviously they don't like the cold and would rather be home in bed sleeping. Just wake them up for the first playoff game.

The offense decided to be motivated in the second half and it was almost enough. One fumble does not make or break a game. They played too much unmotivated football and got the result they deserved. I honestly thought that they learned their lesson last week and that they would care enough this week to try to lock up the bye week, but I was wrong. There isn't a single team in the NFL that is good enough to get by on talent alone. If you don't show up wanting to win, you will lose regardless of how good you are or how bad your opponent is.

Their position in the playoffs is now out of their control. The valuable bye week is no longer theirs to take. Although I expect them to beat the Giants handily in the comfy confines of the Metrodome, they need the Cowboys to hand them the second seed back again. I think the Cowboys will do just that.

Just a thought: The conspiracy theorist in me says that Brett wants to play the Packers again. He figures if they tank enough games at the end, they will get the Packers at home and he can complete the sweep. Unfortunately, the Packers are a different team now than what they were 2 months ago and if the Vikings do manage to play the Packers in the first round, Brett will find out what it feels like to fail at getting revenge.

posted by jjohn24680 at 01:06 PM on December 29, 2009

SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle

Following up...

Kentucky coach John Calipari doesn't agree with Bobby Knight...

posted by jjohn24680 at 05:53 PM on December 18, 2009

SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle

Bob Knight said integrity is lacking in college basketball...

posted by jjohn24680 at 11:12 AM on December 18, 2009

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

As someone who drives on that highway on a nearly daily basis (living 2 blocks away from it), I can tell you that there are many areas where you can reach 109mph (not that I've ever done it). In addition, there are several places that are known speed traps, and I'm surprised that he chose to speed. On the other hand, if sitting still long enough to get a ticket made him late, I can understand why he was speeding in the first place. Now I just have to remember what I was doing the night before the game and see if I might have driven by him while he was sitting there getting his ticket.

posted by jjohn24680 at 07:24 PM on December 03, 2009

Brett Favre Mic'd Up

There's so much good stuff in there. It's like some of the real good movies. You watch it the first time and see the story. The next time you watch it, you start noticing things you didn't see the first time. Every time you watch it, you see something new.

Bevell: Being an offensive coordinator is fricking hard. Favre: You oughta try playing quarterback sometime.

That's some good stuff.

posted by jjohn24680 at 01:53 AM on November 22, 2009

Brett Favre Mic'd Up

That was some good stuff. Sitting in section 227, I was talking to my brother early in the fourth quarter about how many yards Sidney Rice had. I made a guess of about 150. Boy was I off. I mentioned to him how Sidney needed to get a touchdown to put it all together. I'm glad Brett agreed with me.

There aren't a lot of guys in the game who can work a team like he does. A lot of talk and most of it is either right on the mark or meant to motivate. And you see how most of them listen and appreciate it.

It was a lot of fun watching from the stands (since I only go to one or two games a year) and this made it even more fun. Thanks for the link!

posted by jjohn24680 at 07:57 PM on November 20, 2009

Lawyer Sues for Men Excluded from Oakland A's Mother's Day Giveaway

As pathetic as this sounds, there is a very simple way to avoid this.

All they have to do is publish a guideline to the staff before the event that says that any person who asks for an item, who is not in the group that normally gets the item, will be given the item. Then 99% of the guys who don't want the hat don't ask for a hat and don't get a hat. The few buttheads and lawyers (some are buttheads too) who make a stink get their hats.

The ballpark avoids all of these issues. If some butthead lawyer comes back and says he didn't get a hat, the ballpark pulls out the policy letter, asks him if he asked for a hat (which he may not have done, I don't know) and then the judge gives the lawyer a nasty look and sends him out the door.

For the record, I think the guy should get most of the things done to him listed here and in the article. Or maybe he should just get that free mamogram he would have gotten from the ballpark and have one of those fully abledbodied nurses (who plays pro football on the side) "assist" him while he's getting it performed.

posted by jjohn24680 at 01:08 PM on June 16, 2009