- 09:16 AM
- 12/26/24
I still find Buck to be very good, even when working with a tool like McCarver. I think you just identified the major problem in this equation... McCarver. I don't mind Buck as long as he's not trying to crack bad jokes, as he does every once-in-a-while. I do think he is guilty of trying to build too much drama at times with his "what if" scenarios as Venice points out. Since I don't usually watch a baseball game from start to finish, I like when he fills me in on what I've missed. I, personally, like Survivor (guilty pleasure, plus sometimes hot girls in bikinis) and would rather watch that than sit and watch 3 hours plus of baseball. Overall, I would say that Joe Buck is pretty well-liked, even though there are a lot of haters. It's kind of like how A-Rod always gets picked apart for all he does, yet he always is the top vote-getter for the all-star game.
posted by chamo at 02:49 PM on July 03, 2008
I'm just looking forward to the few Tiger-free months of golf coverage we can enjoy for the next few months. It would be nice to see somebody else build some momentum now and actually present a true challenge for Tiger, assuming Tiger can make a full comeback.
posted by chamo at 02:03 PM on June 18, 2008
Why would leadership that picked Bavasi in the first place think to pick someone like Antonetti this time around? I suspect the GM the Mariners finally pick will be another "chemistry and intangibles first" old-schooler who doesn't know how to stock the farm system while building the major league club by simply looking for the best value- runs, getting on base, defense, win shares- for the money. Even without sabermetrics, you'd think someone could find a way to get hitters to take a pitch every once in a while. The M's are full of Vladimir Guerrero wannabes, constantly swinging at bad pitches, only nobody on the Mariners can get away with it like Guerrero has for years. What a waste of a season this has turned out to be. I guess it could be worse; at least nobody is threatening to move the team to Oklahoma yet.
posted by chamo at 10:13 AM on June 17, 2008
There's got to be more to this than just being a coach's decision, whether it was the birthday thing or who knows what. I know Nelson makes some unconventional moves, but this isn't the first time Davis has had a crappy first half. It is the first time he's been benched for the entire second half this season, however.
posted by chamo at 11:59 AM on April 16, 2008
You're probably right, I was just throwing out my first impression.
posted by chamo at 02:57 PM on April 15, 2008
I guess the main thing is whether his career has really been ended because of the injury. The article brings up the fact that Miles can sign with another team upon clearing waivers. The article also states that it is uncertain whether Miles has the desire to play. If Miles does end up playing again, whether in the next two years or after, his injury couldn't really be classified as "career-ending". Maybe the league's intentions for bringing in the third party was to ensure the scenario I described earlier wouldn't happen, but my feeling is that David Stern is most concerned about taking care of team owners. That being the case, finding an outside doctor to proclaim the injury career-ending is very beneficial to Paul Allen.
posted by chamo at 01:47 PM on April 15, 2008
Though Miles has been waived with a "career-ending" injury he can sign with another team once he clears waivers. *knuckles to forehead* "If Miles does sign with another team and plays in 10 games in either of the next two seasons, his salary goes back on the Blazers' books." This sounds like a defense team in a trial going to as many "experts" as it takes until they find one who will agree with their side of the case.
posted by chamo at 12:36 PM on April 15, 2008
I see a whole lot of people attacking Canseco's character, and very few attacking the substance of what he's saying. A denial would be a start. A convincing version of his side of the story would be another. Unfortunately, he's not a very convincing guy, even when he's telling the incontrovertible truth. But unless he's provably clean, he's gotta do something. We've heard for months that Canseco has had something on A-rod. The section of the book about A-rod from the blog doesn't conclude that A-rod really did anything. Canseco introduced Rodriguez to a steroid guy, but what happened after that? I doubt that every single person the steroid guy meets uses steroids. If this is really all the "stuff" Canseco has on A-rod, what's there to deny? I see no crime in being introduced to another person. And unless Canseco can produce taped recordings of A-rod's phone conversations with Canseco's wife, who's to say he was calling her to try to sleep with her? Maybe he just was calling for her recipe for peach cobbler.
posted by chamo at 02:36 PM on March 26, 2008
So wikipedia informs us that a player that reaches base safely after an uncaught third strike is not called out. I've often wondered if a pitcher has ever recorded 4 strikeouts or more in an inning. Anybody know more about that?
posted by chamo at 06:08 PM on March 05, 2008
He's got to be better than what Shaun Alexander gave the Seahawks last year. Alexander showed last year that he's either washed up or doesn't care. It's encouraging to see Seattle listed as a possible destination for Turner at the bottom of the article. I think as long as he goes to a team with a decent line, he could easily gain 1,200 yards next season.
posted by chamo at 03:34 PM on February 27, 2008
Both Yao and T-mac are too fragile. The same thing happens every year. Just when it looks like the Yao/T-mac combo is about to dominate the league, one or both get hurt. And even when healthy, this team isn't good enough to compete with the best teams in the west. Sure, they're on a big win streak, but so was Portland. Last year, both players were hurt, but the team still found a way to win 50 games, only to get beat by the Jazz in a game 7 at home. For me, it sucks to be a Sonics fan right now, but at least I have hope for the future (regardless of where that future will be). With the Rockets, you have two amazing players who get your hopes up, but can't ever get you out of the first round of the playoffs.
posted by chamo at 11:05 AM on February 27, 2008
I agree - David Stern has proven he knows how to get the most out of opportunities like this one. But at least they did something, regardless of what the motives were.
posted by chamo at 11:25 AM on February 26, 2008
I'm in - can't wait to start
posted by chamo at 02:06 PM on February 14, 2008
DDM is definitely a fun style to watch. I thought for sure the article would talk about the Warriors. Monta Ellis is a prime example. He put up about 40 points against the Suns last night by mostly just taking the ball to the rim every time he touched it.
posted by chamo at 12:34 PM on February 14, 2008
Julius, Bird, Magic, Moses, Chambers, Kareem, Zeke, Stockton, Majerle, and who was that fella in Chicago? Chambers & Majerle? Do I sense a Suns fan in the building? Or should Oliver Miller be included as well? Concerning Kidd to the Mavs, I don't think it really will tip the scales one way or another. To me, it's a matter of Dirk stepping up and finishing games. If he can't do that, it won't make any difference who's running the point. Regardless of who the point guard is, at the end of the game Dallas is going to iso for Dirk.
posted by chamo at 12:22 PM on February 14, 2008
(I'm trying to figure out if this is as much work as the other flavor of fantasy baseball, where you constantly have to tweak your roster to deal with pitching rotations and so on.) I think head-2-head leagues are more work than rotisserie leagues. In head-2-head you don't have any 162-game limit per position, or innings pitched limits. So you have to be aware of moving players in and out based on off days. From my experience, head-2-head requires more involvement in that sense. I know I haven't posted as much as others here, but I dig yahoo fantasy leagues. I hope nobody minds if I join up this year.
posted by chamo at 11:15 AM on February 08, 2008
All right, I'm in. I've stated before that I think for American soccer to be successful, we've got to keep our best players here. But the reality is the best players are going to go where the best competition and the best money is. So from here on, I'm a Fulham F.C. supporter. We're going to take down Bolton this Tuesday. They have just as many losses as we do, so there's no reason for us not to beat them. By the by, it seems my new team is in 19th place out of 20 teams. Don't teams get demoted if they finish last? Or was it the bottom 3 teams get demoted? Whatever it is, we've got to get our act together. Go Cottagers!
posted by chamo at 02:57 PM on January 24, 2008
And no people who play soccer are not gay, what about football players like quarterbacks and running backs who look at the offensive blockers behinds. Just thought I'd point out there's a critical comma missing in the first part of that sentence. I doubt Scars believes all soccer players are gay. US soccer is doing ok and extremely talented players have migrated into the sport. During the recent past (10 years ago), only a couple members of the US team played in elite European leagues, now something approaching 1/2 - 2/3 the men's squad play in elite or second tier leagues across Europe. I don't feel there's anything wrong with top American players going to Europe to play in the best leagues and making the most out of their talent, but I think that is one of the main reasons that soccer isn't popular here. Soccer is played by more youth than any other sport in America, but when the elite of those youth are ready to go pro, they head to Europe. From there, the only live events we can see them at is if their club tours the states, or national team matches. We don't generally support foreign pro leagues. Japan has proven to have highly talented baseball players, yet not many people here care about Japan's pro baseball league. Same thing goes for Euro basketball leagues. Even with the added exposure to Euro league soccer on Fox's soccer channel, I don't believe support for those leagues will catch on here. I agree that the quality of MLS has improved over recent years. As it's reputation grows as a viable professional league, so will soccer's popularity grow.
posted by chamo at 11:50 AM on January 18, 2008
But the thing is that well, mostly all the games that are live on the nfl network during those six weeks,,,, aren't really that good. If you were to look at most of those games before the season started, they probably wouldn't have seemed to be so bad. Atlanta with Vick; Chicago at Washington is a game featuring two large market teams; Cinci & San Fran were two up-and-coming teams a year ago; St. Louis has been killed with injuries; Carolina with Delhomme would be better than 5 and 8. Going into the season, I thought the NFL network had a pretty good lineup. Since they're Thursday games, they can't really use a flex schedule like NBC.
posted by chamo at 02:19 PM on December 11, 2007
Yes, please take the Hornets back to OKC and leave my Sonics alone.
posted by chamo at 03:43 PM on August 28, 2007
At a point where all baseball player begin to show signs of age, Bonds hit a career high in HR in 2000 with 49 and the next year broke the single season HR record hitting 73 followed by seasons of 46, 45 and 45. That is 258 artificial HRs. I think Barry's biggest mistake was hitting the 73. If he had only hit 48 that season, for example, he would still only be 25 HR's away from the record. A lot of players have hit 40+ home runs in a season. If Bonds broke the record without ever having a season of 50+ home runs, would that change how people felt about him?
posted by chamo at 01:45 PM on August 08, 2007
But the problem is KG has never had the game to be a #1 option. This is news to most of the 4s in the Western Conference. 4's in the West are probably relieved that they won't have to be defended by Garnett as much with him in the East now. But throughout his career he's never looked comfortable as Minnesota's go-to scorer. With Boston, though, he'll be happy to defer to Pierce and Allen. just remember that you are one injury away from disaster Just like basically any other team in the league. They are older, though, and they all have had histories of injuries, so I guess they would be at a higher injury-risk.
posted by chamo at 12:52 PM on July 31, 2007
If I'm the Celtics I make this trade every time and don't think twice, so I can't fault it from their side. Minnesota... If you're going to give up KG for that do it 3 years ago and get more. Maybe I haven't seen Jefferson enough but I don't see myself pulling the trigger on this one if I'm Minnesota. I think the Celtics can win 46-48 games easy. This trade will be perfect for KG. He's always had to be the #1 scorer, except for maybe when the T-Wolves had Cassell. But the problem is KG has never had the game to be a #1 option. He's put up numbers because he's all Minnesota had. Now, as the third option, he's going to be more dominant than ever. He's a player that doesn't need to score to be effective. I remember watching him two seasons ago when a game was on the line and Minnesota went to him for the final shot and he chucked it off the backboard. It wasn't even close. This big 3 is much better than what New Jersey has. Carter and Jefferson are both soft and afraid to take a hit. Boston should win 50+ games this season, barring injury, which can affect any team. As someone on CelticsBlog said, "If you don't like this deal, just think of the excitement a few years from now watching the ping pong balls." It won't be that exciting when those ping pong balls are for Minnesota as a result of this trade.
posted by chamo at 10:15 AM on July 31, 2007
According to Wikipedia, the Phillies didn't need him right away because of Jim Thome. Thome didn't join the Phillies until 2003, by which time Howard was already 23. Bishop makes it sound like it was more than just a player being ahead of him as the reason he started so late. In my limited time I have to research, I haven't been able to find anything. Just wondering...
posted by chamo at 11:51 AM on June 28, 2007
but you should read up about him. There is a reason he started so late. By the way, why did he start so late?
posted by chamo at 09:46 AM on June 28, 2007
I'm glad I'm not a Philadelphia fan, although my Seattle teams aren't any better as far as winning championships are concerned. And if the Mariners had been around as long as the Phillies, they probably already would have reached 10,000 losses.
posted by chamo at 01:43 PM on June 14, 2007
By the way, in response to the "pickup game" observation - you are looking at the future of the NBA. It may be the future of the league, but that style still has yet to translate into a championship. I love watching it, too, but to me it looks like we're heading to a re-match of the '05 Finals with S.A. and Deeetroit Basketball. Two "boring" teams that focus on fundamentals. I think the Dallas - G.S. series proves how little the regular season actually means. Of course home court advantage is important, but aside from that, Dallas' regular season dominance didn't get them much. As a Jazz fan, I don't know that I'd rather see them play the Warriors in the second round as opposed to the Mavs (that is, assuming they get by Houston tomorrow night, fingers crossed). I have to think Utah (or Houston) will play the Warriors more physically than what proved to be a soft Dallas team.
posted by chamo at 12:49 PM on May 04, 2007
I'll take my turn now for the "I hope Keyshawn goes to my team" line. The Seahawks just traded away Darrell Jackson (to a division rival, no less - dumb move in my opinion). Even with Jackson, Seattle didn't have a big receiver like Keyshawn. I think they could be ok with Branch and Burleson, but I'm sure Hasselbeck wouldn't mind a bigger target to throw to.
posted by chamo at 10:25 AM on May 02, 2007
isn't this crossing the line a bit? It may not be illegal but is it moral? This seems to be another example of how far teams in the NFL are willing to go to get a competitive advantage. It reminds me of the Dolphins purchasing tapes of Tom Brady's signal calling. Also not illegal, but what about ethical?
posted by chamo at 09:59 AM on April 27, 2007
I saw one curve ball (I think in Drew's first at bat) that appeared to start in the vicinity of Drew's forehead, ended up at ankle level, and still managed to be in the strike zone as it crossed the plate. It was almost like his stuff was so good that the umpire didn't know what he was seeing. I watched pretty much the entire game and I couldn't really get a hold of the ump's strike zone. Usually after a few innings, you kind of get an idea of what the strike zone will be. It seemed like several of the Boston batters didn't agree with calls at times, also. His stuff was nasty. I hope El Carteluo can keep it up this year. If he can, and if a few other players step up, the M's may actually compete for the division.
posted by chamo at 02:43 PM on April 12, 2007
I think the Mariners are actually headed back in the right direction. I'm not predicting a 116-win season or anything, but regardless of whether Ichiro "step's up" as a leader, I think the team will be much better this season. (On a side note, I'm getting a little burnt out of articles such as this one where the author addresses the athlete. That's one of the main reasons I don't like listening to Rome - he always addresses athletes as if they had nothing better to do than to listen to him, and as if everything would be right in the world if they just followed his advice.)
posted by chamo at 09:49 AM on April 12, 2007
I didn't know Eddie Jones had so many fans here in the SpoFi realm. When I first saw he had been waived, I thought, "how great would it be if he signed with the Jazz - he's just what they need." Utah's in need of a two-guard that can play good perimeter defense and can still knock down the 3-ball. Just before being waived, he put together three consecutive games of double figure scoring, not to mention 5 steals in those games. It's too bad it looks like he'll be going back to Miami, especially with Kapono and Posey both playing well lately.
posted by chamo at 09:32 AM on January 31, 2007
I like Arenas. He was trained by Lute and knows how to carry himself. There could be hope for the NBA yet! I think Gilbert Arenas is good for the league. He's fun to watch and always has a chip on his shoulder, whether legit or make-believe. Statistically speaking, his first 6 years are far superior to Kobe Bryant's. But so far, for all of his stats, he hasn't been part of a team that has had success in the playoffs, kind of like a former Washington player before him - Bernard King. Hopefully Arenas' stats will amount to something more than just stats. What I did in the playoffs is not a fluke. As for that comment, I assume he wasn't referring to choking at the free throw line to let Lebron James and the Cavs eliminate them last year.
posted by chamo at 10:40 AM on December 26, 2006
Will he get to 100? Lord willing, Vince Carter don't move & the Nets don't start sucking, I wouldn't bet against it. Aside from the last two games against even suckier opponents, the Nets pretty much have been sucking all year, and Kidd already has 5 triple doubles. His knees have been shot the last couple seasons, yet he's still averaging almost 9 boards a game - a career high. Even on a team that sucks, he should be able to reach 100, unless he retires because he can't stand playing on a team that sucks.
posted by chamo at 03:36 PM on December 14, 2006
I hope he goes. Staying in the MLS too long will eventually hamper his progress as a player, which in turn will decrease team USA's chances of success in international competition in the future.
posted by chamo at 02:00 PM on September 28, 2006
Don't forget the magnificent Isaiah Thomas. PURE GENIUS!!! Look what he did for the Knicks. I think Jordan should have been #1 for one simple reason, he won without a center. No other team in NBA history can make that claim. You name the champion someone can name the HOF center also on that team. Not much can be said for what Isiah has done after playing, but Zeke won championships as a player without the luxury of a HOF center before Jordan. Also, although Isiah wasn't the sole contributor, his Pistons teams were famous for being the Bad Boys. Along with Pat Riley's Knicks teams, the Bad Boys helped to influence an era of ugly, defensive-minded basketball that was a big part of so many games finishing in the 70-point range.
posted by chamo at 02:40 PM on August 03, 2006
I'm mostly in favor of the new pool system, but I'm curious to see what is going to happen when players are left off the team. Coach K said there will be no cuts, just that he'll be taking the players he feels are best for certain situations. With all of the egos out there, I'm wondering how players not selected to participate are going to react. Will they be bitter, or will they buy into the "do what's best for the team" argument?
posted by chamo at 10:39 AM on July 20, 2006
It seemed like for the better part of the 4th quarter Dallas went to their throw-your-body-into-the-defender-and-hope-for-a-foul style instead of working the ball around for a good shot, which has been so successful for them. That style worked against San Antonio, as Dallas was constantly getting the calls and going to the foul line, but last night, the refs didn't bite.
posted by chamo at 01:43 PM on June 16, 2006
I can't wait for game 5. You gotta believe that whoever wins Sunday should be the favorite to take it all. I know the last two are in Dallas, so if Miami wins, there's no guarantees, but 3 in a row would be tough for Dallas to overcome. As good as DWade has bee, I think it all depends on Shaq - the only life Dallas showed yesterday in the second half was when the Diesel went to the bench in the 3rd quarter for a rest. (Has anybody else noticed that for every questionable call, Hubie Brown says, "it all depends on the Ref's angle"? Yeah, we got it Hubie! Find something new to say)
posted by chamo at 11:05 AM on June 16, 2006
Concerning Ty Willingham, I think he's a great coach and I'm a die-hard Husky fan going back to the Don James days, but I remember that in his first year at ND that that team had more balls bounce their way over consecutive games than I've ever seen - as can be seen by their 3 takeaways on 3 straight plays against Florida State: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/recaps/2002/10/26/903_recap.html Everybody was talking about how good their defense was and then USC ran up 44 points on them in the final game of the regular season to expose the defense as not as great as everybody thought. ND would go on to be embarrassed in the Gator Bowl by NC State, but that game was quickly excused because of the way Willingham had "revived" the ND football program. We all saw how long that resurrection lasted. I know 2 games isn't enough to make any real conclusions, but based on how ND has won those two games, it makes me believe that Weis has a better chance of making ND national championship contenders than what Willingham was able to do. That said, I just want to say again that I fully support Willingham at U-Dub and hope that he can go on to great things there.
posted by chamo at 11:32 AM on September 12, 2005
After watching this past series and throughout his career, I gotta question Rasheed Wallace's passion for the game and desire to win. Did it seem to anybody else like Rasheed could score on Duncan whenever he wanted? Whenever there was a situation that involved 'Sheed and Duncan 1 on 1 Rasheed always seemed to be able to get a good shot off. On the other hand, Duncan seemed to have a harder time scoring on Rasheed at the other end of the floor. Whenever I watch R. Wallace play, he always makes shots that just make you shake your head, but then he does something stupid like get into foul trouble or just won't look to get the ball.
posted by chamo at 04:39 PM on June 24, 2005
I was looking forward to South America's biggest rivalry this past weekend between Argentina and Brazil, but Argentina totally dominated, although Brazil was missing a few key players - Brazil will qualify again and be one of the favorites in Germany. The USA team looks as strong as any in recent years.
posted by chamo at 04:32 PM on June 15, 2005
Sonics are Oklahoma City-bound
They were bad in Seattle they will be bad in OK city I believe that some teams are just not meant to be champions. like the bills browns astros rangers kings Kobe without shaq. Hey now, the Sonics were champions before. http://www.nba.com/sonics/history/1979champs.html It sucks that they left Seattle, but I'm glad that weren't forced to stay through the trial. Once the team was sold to Bennett, it was obvious they were gone. I agree it was part-Schultz and part-Stern's fault. Schultz for running the team into the ground (Wally Walker ?!?!?!?!?!) and then selling to an out-of-state group and Stern for permitting the sale to the out-of-state group. I doubt he did much to try to convince Schultz to keep the ownership local. I don't blame Bennett, though. He put up the money for the team, so he should be able to do what he wants with it. He's done so pretty ruthlessly, but also legally (as far as I can tell). As a Seattle Sonics fan, I have a real bitter taste in my mouth - for now, I wouldn't even want a new team in Seattle.