The Chicago Cubs Will Not Win the World Series: "There are several rational reasons why the Cubs will not win the World Series. For one, the baseball season is endless and unpredictable. Players get hurt, players come out of nowhere, great players play like absolute dogshit, relief pitching is essentially determined by oracle bones, players change teams, BABIP commands the game like a vengeful god, the banishment of a thirteen-year-old bat boy causes widespread locker room revolt, the playoffs are a completely random confluence of baseball events. Yet, this is not the place for rational thoughts. This is a place for exalted Cubs miserablism unbound by the physical laws of the universe."

posted by ursus_comiter to baseball at 02:00 PM - 4 comments

Texans RB, Arian Foster Publically Declares Himself an Atheist: “I get the devil-worship thing a lot. They’ll ask me, ‘You worship the devil?’ ” he told ESPN. “‘No, bro, I don’t believe there’s a God, why would I believe there’s a devil?’ ”

posted by ursus_comiter to football at 01:04 PM - 11 comments

Boston 2024 is DEAD.: After Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced he would not sign any Olympic contract that required the city to make up cost overruns, it seems that the city and the USOC have gone their seperate ways.

posted by ursus_comiter to olympics at 03:20 PM - 2 comments

Hard hitting preview of the upcoming Cowboys/Lions wildcard game.: Featuring a cameo by Aaron Rodgers.

posted by ursus_comiter to football at 07:09 PM - 2 comments

SpoFi's 2014 Fantasy Baseball League is Active!: So begins my fourth year of running SpoFi's fantasy baseball league. Invites to previous players have been sent out. If you're interested in joining, you'll need to email me so I can send you a direct invite as Yahoo! fantasy no longer provides a way to post a URL and password to let new players join a league. Same thing if you've been playing and you haven't seen the invite in your inbox. We've got keepers this year, as was discussed in the league last season. Existing teams can pick up to three. They'll take the place of your first three draft positions, so new teams will have first pick at the free agents.

posted by ursus_comiter to fantasy at 11:22 AM - 3 comments

Nate Silver's analysis of Canada's 20 year Stanley Cup drought.: Just how unlikely has Canada’s Stanley Cup drought been? And is there anything in the league’s economics that might help to explain it?

posted by ursus_comiter to hockey at 02:44 PM - 3 comments

A collection of baseball writers have gotten together for a different kind of fantasy draft. : All the players are fictional, although some players are more fictional than others.

posted by ursus_comiter to fantasy at 02:54 PM - 0 comments

Fantasy Baseball 2013 is here!: It's time for another year of Sportsfilter Fantasy Baseball!

posted by ursus_comiter to fantasy at 01:59 PM - 7 comments

SpoFi Puckathon 6.5 - Half a League is Better Than None: Well, I'm not sure how many of y'all are willing to follow the NHL after the lockout, but if you're up for it, I've set up a rotisserie league following the setup that SkyDive Dad used in days of yore. I've set the draft to go off the day before the puck hits the ice. The League ID if you need it is: 39210 And the password for joining is: lockoutschmockout

posted by ursus_comiter to fantasy at 01:03 PM - 12 comments

The SpoFi Fantasy Baseball 2012 crown goes to...: bperk's team, Soul on a Roll!

posted by ursus_comiter to fantasy at 03:52 PM - 7 comments

Mark Cuban slashes up Skip Bayless's arguments on ESPN. : Never before has a windbag been under such excruciating pressure.

posted by ursus_comiter to basketball at 04:04 AM - 17 comments

SpoFi Fantasy Baseball 2012: I've renewed the SpoFi Fantasy League with the same settings as 2011. Open to any changes in settings. Tentative live draft time: Sat Mar 24 8:45pm GMT League ID#: 146721 League Name: SpoFi 2011 Password: sportsfilter http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/spofi2011

posted by ursus_comiter to fantasy at 11:08 AM - 14 comments

SpoFi Fantasy Baseball 2011 Results: Congratulations to SpoFi 11 Champion: Salty McGillicuddy's Juan Pierre Chang.

posted by ursus_comiter to fantasy at 03:33 PM - 6 comments

Look Who's Standing Up for LGBT Rights: Tim Hardaway

posted by ursus_comiter to basketball at 12:14 PM - 2 comments

Selig quashes McCourt's Fox TV Deal for Dodgers coverage : "Mr. McCourt has been provided with an expansive analysis of my reasons for rejecting this proposed transaction. Critically, the transaction is structured to facilitate the further diversion of Dodgers assets for the personal needs of Mr. McCourt. Given the magnitude of the transaction, such a diversion of assets would have the effect of mortgaging the future of the franchise to the long-term detriment of the club and its fans."

Before the decision was made, blogger Larry Behrendt laid out in detail how the McCourts used the Dodgers as their personal piggybank.

posted by ursus_comiter to baseball at 06:39 AM - 4 comments

Fantasy Baseball 2011: Yahoo's 2011 Fantasy Baseball is live now. Rather than wait around hoping that there will be a SpoFi league, I'm posting now and volunteering to take over the reins as commissioner, although I'm also happy to defer to previous any previous commish as well.

posted by ursus_comiter to fantasy at 01:17 PM - 10 comments

Who Stole All The Runs In Major League Baseball?: Freakonomics Radio looks at the possible causes of the 18 year low in runs scored during this year's MLB regular season. Possible suspects include the end of the steroids era and a new emphasis on strong fielding skills.

posted by ursus_comiter to baseball at 05:41 AM - 3 comments

The Knuckle Princess will maker her American pro baseball debut this Saturday: Signed with the Chico Outlaws, knuckleball pitcher Yoshida Eri will be the first woman to play pro baseball in the United States since the late 90s. The game will be streamed live.

posted by ursus_comiter to baseball at 02:20 PM - 3 comments

Peter Pascarelli gets the Trotsky treatment: Two weeks ago, Peter Pascarelli, as one of the hosts of ESPN's podcast Baseball Today, made a throwaway comment about how pigeons might improve the appearance of the recently unveiled statue of Bud Selig at Miller Park. The next day an unscheduled episode of the podcast was released that consisted entirely of Pascarelli making an epic mea culpa to Selig and praising his career as baseball's commissioner. Last week's scheduled episode of Baseball Today did not include Pascarelli and the other host and producer made no mention of the previous week's events or of their missing co-host.

posted by ursus_comiter to baseball at 08:35 AM - 13 comments

Greg Maddux Named Special Assistant To Cubs GM, Jim Hendry: Maddux’ responsibilities will include assisting the coaching staffs at major league and minor league spring training, assisting in the development of Cubs minor leaguers during the regular season and assisting Hendry and the baseball operations department in talent evaluation.

posted by ursus_comiter to baseball at 06:06 PM - 12 comments

World Cup of American Football: : First U.S. national football team prepares for trip to Japan

posted by ursus_comiter to football at 01:54 PM - 6 comments

NFL Won't Let Church Show Game: - The NFL has nixed a church's plans to use a wall projector to show the Colts-Bears Super Bowl game, saying it would violate copyright laws.

posted by ursus_comiter to football at 10:54 AM - 89 comments

Rutgers upsets Louisville: and the BCS standings.

posted by ursus_comiter to football at 10:59 PM - 46 comments

True Grit in the Pairs Figure Skating Finals: [spoilers inside]

posted by ursus_comiter to other at 10:48 PM - 14 comments

Hall of Fame Intangibles.: The courage of one player 35 years ago continues to make other players better. [more inside]

posted by ursus_comiter to baseball at 11:16 AM - 21 comments