Recent Locker Room Comments by tieguy

Happy Iron Anniversary, Sportsfilter.

Somebody (#1? #2?) emailed me because they'd found me discussing sports on mefi. And now here I am. Wish I had more time to comment here anymore...

posted by tieguy at 01:18 PM on January 25, 2008

Presented without comment,

rcade: I guess I don't expect the place to be news-spofi. The biggest NFL game of the year didn't get posted because, well, I didn't see anything particularly interesting about it. 'Final score' doesn't pass my bar. But maybe I'm too picky.

posted by tieguy at 09:45 AM on November 08, 2007

Quality of Links Decreasing. Discuss.

internetfilter: an endless supply of new crap artists.

posted by tieguy at 08:20 AM on May 11, 2007

Respect for the dead

+1, grum.

posted by tieguy at 04:09 PM on May 03, 2007

What are SpoFites' favorite books?

How could I forget Death Race 2000.

posted by tieguy at 07:00 PM on April 29, 2007

What are SpoFites' favorite books?

There are other sports movies besides Bull Durham?

posted by tieguy at 12:58 PM on April 28, 2007

NFL Draft Day

And I have turned on guest access; just click on this link to access the chat room directly.

posted by tieguy at 12:42 PM on April 28, 2007

NFL Draft Day

I'm in campfire (have sworn off IRC through the end of law school :), though I'll be in and out as con law brutalizes me.

posted by tieguy at 12:34 PM on April 28, 2007

What are SpoFites' favorite books?

Yowch. As much as I think Joe should go, the situation at Arkansas is spectacularly crazy. A whole different level. You should do a FPP on it.

posted by tieguy at 02:44 PM on April 27, 2007

What are SpoFites' favorite books?

If you enjoy the ACC, Tela, you should definitely read Four Corners. (I'm also looking forward to finally reading Friday Night Lights this summer.)

posted by tieguy at 01:59 PM on April 27, 2007

What are SpoFites' favorite books?

nomich: yeah, I didn't bother to add that it was not just boring but spiteful and grating to my Duke ears; to Carolina ears the spiteful and grating will probably make it at least a little entertaining, instead of rubbing salt in the wounds of the boredom. More neutrally, if they are into the history of basketball in the Triangle, I can strongly recommend Four Corners: How UNC, N.C. State, Duke, and Wake Forest Made North Carolina the Center of the Basketball Universe. It is probably not for the casual fan who only watches Duke-Carolina every year, but if they are the types of folks who watch every ACC basketball game they can, then they will absolutely love Four Corners. (More generally, it is a must-read for anyone who is a fan of college basketball history. I didn't recommend it on my first list because I figure there aren't many readers here who fall into that category :) mbd1: have you read 'Tobacco Road' yet, by Featherston? I have it on my shelf for summer reading but after last season and G's departure (fire alleva now) my appetite for things basketball is temporarily diminished.

posted by tieguy at 12:27 PM on April 27, 2007

What are SpoFites' favorite books?

I second 'Among The Thugs' and 'Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer' (if you're interested in fan psychology) and 'Moneyball' if you're interested in the irrationality of management- sports or otherwise. Feinstein's 'A Season On The Brink' is probably worth reading for any sports fan; his 'A March To Madness' is definitely worth a read if you're an obsessive college basketball fan, but if not, probably worth passing. Things I don't recommend: * Faithful, by Stephen King and some other dude. I'd figured that if anyone could capture the madness of the Yankees-Sox ALCS, it would be those guys, but nope, they failed. Still looking for that. * Feinstein's The Last Amateurs. I wanted to like it, I really did, but god... it was dull. * To Hate Like This is To Be Happy Forever. Could have been great if it weren't so autobiographical. The stuff about other people is very interesting; the stuff about the author and his family alternates between merely dull and completely uninteresting.

posted by tieguy at 07:06 AM on April 27, 2007

Cheers To Pleasant Danger!

Sigh. Can we do this again some time that is not a week before my con law exam?

posted by tieguy at 03:35 PM on April 20, 2007

Thanks for closing the Hardaway thread...

(Tangent the last: I'm terribly amused that there is an Amaechi-flavored google ad on this thread. The almighty dollar may yet save us from bigotry.)

posted by tieguy at 11:21 AM on February 16, 2007

Thanks for closing the Hardaway thread...

If some FNG wanders in and spews a bunch of "u must be a FAG hyuk snurk" crap, I don't think that really hurts the community, because said FNG isn't part of the community by any reasonable definition. It hurts, insomuch as most of us have limited hours in the day, and I'd guess most of us have to deal with idjits at work, school, etc. When I'm doing something for fun (and spofi is definitely one of those things) I don't want to have to deal with more idjits in my precious, limited time. It also scares away new blood who may be confused and think that the idjits are part of the community. Had that thread been my first exposure to spofi, I'm not sure I would have come back.

posted by tieguy at 11:20 AM on February 16, 2007

Thanks for closing the Hardaway thread...

FWIW (not much) I'd much rather ban the idjits than the topic; the topic is something that is real, important, and frankly much more interesting than, say, what team is on a big winning streak this week. (I keep meaning to write on why I'm perfectly happy clamping down on idjits on the web when in real life I'm all for their rights to say whatever they want, but it is way, way down on my priority list, sadly :/ (Also, for anyone who thinks that arguing with the idjits 'sharpens blades', I strongly recommend this (slightly offensive, but on point) piece of internet advice.)

posted by tieguy at 11:15 AM on February 16, 2007

Happy slightly belated fifth birthday!

chico: blahblahblah ;) (And I agree apples are delicious.) (Especially when they are American apple pies, with a crust made of the sugar of civil liberty and the flour of equal justice for all.) (God I miss fafblog.)

posted by tieguy at 08:57 PM on February 02, 2007

Happy slightly belated fifth birthday!

Those of us down here in the teens don't get distracted by apples.

posted by tieguy at 03:26 PM on February 02, 2007

Happy slightly belated fifth birthday!

Should have used the Ron Mexico name generator for a new nickname, dude. ;)

posted by tieguy at 11:59 PM on February 01, 2007

Happy slightly belated fifth birthday!

dusted: HFSNW. Kudos to those who refuse to be afraid. mrfrisby: recently.

posted by tieguy at 05:02 PM on February 01, 2007

Happy slightly belated fifth birthday!

You just want to skip me in line, Hal. Sore loser. ;)

posted by tieguy at 09:24 PM on January 30, 2007

Sportingo is Gone, Gone, Gone

Erstwhile, SpoFi's 5th birthday goes unnoticed. Five years? Seriously? Holy fuck. That is five years of my life I'll never get back... :)

posted by tieguy at 06:44 AM on January 30, 2007

Uh, I was promised I would have 3 minutes to rebut myself.

now I want to change my nickname to punch_to_the_crotch_with_awesomeness. Damn you spofi and your limited software.

posted by tieguy at 08:54 AM on January 24, 2007

Images of the 20th Century

Pretty awesome; I didn't see it the first time. Two details: the shot of Holdsclaw crying at 5:24 was after she fouled out in her final college game, a loss to Duke in the NCAA elite eight in Greensboro Coliseum, breaking a string of three straight national titles. (date 3/22/99). (I was there; probably my all-time personal sporting moment.) I believe the Grant Hill dunk at 5:02 was during the Duke-Kansas NCAA title game on 4/1/1991- the game after the upset of UNLV. Shame spofiwiki has been abandoned; this would have been perfect for that.

posted by tieguy at 09:14 AM on January 17, 2007

Action dump ver 1

Lindsey Harding cutting to the basket (And I think this is a great idea for a thread. Can we inline imgs here?)

posted by tieguy at 10:46 AM on January 14, 2007

The Hell with the Weblog Awards.

Slacker. :)

posted by tieguy at 01:01 PM on December 16, 2006

The Hell with the Weblog Awards.

(And wha... seriously? Someone complained about self-linking on MeTa two days ago? I didn't even look at the date of the post- assumed it was 2001/2002. Jeez. Grow up already.)

posted by tieguy at 05:24 PM on December 15, 2006

The Hell with the Weblog Awards.

First they came for the three digits and I did not speak out. That's fine, as long as they only make it part way through the two digits. (Yes, I'm boggled that I seem to be the "oldest" poster here...)

posted by tieguy at 05:22 PM on December 15, 2006

Be True to Your School!

bst: I was going to say 'who wants to stay indoors at USC', but then I remembered the smog.

posted by tieguy at 01:30 PM on December 03, 2006

I Won't Stand for That

I'd like to see arenas experiment with designated sitting/standing sections. I'd certainly always opt for standing...

posted by tieguy at 01:29 PM on December 03, 2006

The Thin Red Line

Loser. :)

posted by tieguy at 10:27 AM on October 28, 2006

Profiles:

oh, uh... I'm an idiot. Thanks, rcade.

posted by tieguy at 11:56 AM on October 15, 2006

Profiles:

Pretty sure it has been there since day 1, or thereabouts ;) But yes, it is nice.

posted by tieguy at 10:19 AM on October 15, 2006

Volleys of the week.

GoalMine deserves a FPP if it hasn't had one already.

posted by tieguy at 11:43 PM on October 02, 2006

post booted

So while we've got a spelling/punctuation/etc. thread going on, what is current best practice by which to lart someone like devildog37, whose signal/noise ratio is currently 0? Email the pantheon? Lart them publicly with link to the Standards? Some other mechanism?

posted by tieguy at 10:06 PM on September 18, 2006

Take a Look at Our RSS

I was about to take them to feedvalidator, but then I remembered who was posting this... terrapin: you're a terp, but I like how you think ;)

posted by tieguy at 11:50 AM on August 27, 2006

Ask SpoFi

Pretty cool collection. On (1), smithers, I believe that (at least when the practice started) the overhead shots were taken as still photos/polaroids by the coaches themselves from the offensive coordinator's box seats. No idea if that is how it is still done.

posted by tieguy at 02:40 PM on August 24, 2006

Alternately, we could just replace the whole thing with the last image in The Black Hand's profile.

posted by tieguy at 07:41 AM on August 17, 2006

I think I agree with JG- I'd rather see a concrete 'caps, exclamation points, etc.' list, than a euphemism ('aol-speak'). More likely to, you know, get read ;)

posted by tieguy at 08:34 PM on August 16, 2006

Hell, after seeing a comment just now where the poster mis-spelled Jordan, I'm in favor of an essay exam instead of a quiz. (boggles) On a sports board, that's like mis-spelling God.

posted by tieguy at 01:36 PM on August 15, 2006

Forced scrolling doesn't do anything- people still ignore it. I'm totally in favor of a quiz during signup. Otherwise, looks great.

posted by tieguy at 01:34 PM on August 15, 2006

SpoFi Field Trip

I'd go, but at some point I'd probably refer to Diana Taurasi as 'ol' horseface', and then things might go downhill from there...

posted by tieguy at 08:54 AM on August 12, 2006

Political Feuds of SpoFi

/me stands quietly in the back, applauding chico

posted by tieguy at 09:43 PM on August 07, 2006

Soccer for the non-trolls

DrJ: the limits were fine over the weekend; if we can't hit the cap the first weekend of WC, I'm sure we're OK.

posted by tieguy at 02:44 PM on June 13, 2006

Soccer for the non-trolls

I'm looking forward to seeing folks in campfire today. Get up, lazy bones! :)

posted by tieguy at 07:02 AM on June 10, 2006

Soccer for the non-trolls

Ah, cool, great to hear that campfire is still there. I'd pitch in to upgrade it if we wanted to pimp it during WC games.

posted by tieguy at 01:37 PM on June 08, 2006

Summer Reading List

I got 'Futebol: Soccer, the Brazilian Way' for Christmas, and it was excellent. Probably should have been subtitled 'Brazil, the soccer way' instead- much more about explaining Brazil (geography, identity, politics, economics) through soccer-based vignettes than it is about explaning soccer through Brazil-based vignettes, if that makes sense. Either way, a great read that I highly recommend. Other things on my sports shelf that I recommend, some of which I've pimped here before:

  • Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, by Warren St. John, about following 'Bama football
  • Moneyball (duh)
  • Among the Thugs by Bill Buford, scary book about soccer hooliganism in the UK in the 80s
  • A March To Madness, by John Feinstein- About a single ACC basketball season. I love it, but partially because the season chronicled was my freshman year at an ACC school so I'm biased. Probably not enjoyable to anyone who isn't a basketball junky.

posted by tieguy at 08:18 AM on June 08, 2006

Soccer for the non-trolls

Hrm. I'll start a separate thread for that! :)

posted by tieguy at 08:12 AM on June 08, 2006

soccer trolls

squealy: please don't stop posting the s. wells links- they are great.

posted by tieguy at 07:27 AM on June 08, 2006

soccer trolls

I don't want to have to 'just move on'. There are too many things in my life with a crappy signal-to-noise ratio; I don't want my entertainment to have crappy signal-to-noise too.

posted by tieguy at 11:13 AM on June 07, 2006

I want my MTV

jg: certainly we'll never have editors, but we were funny and snarky and informative before deadspin was, well, anything. And presumably we'll never be cross-linked in their network, but that is fine. I just... well, I just want better signal-noise. In their comments, they've done this by making membership invite-only; maybe that's what we need to do. Dunno.

posted by tieguy at 01:54 PM on May 26, 2006

I want my MTV

jg: you're great; a spofi with more you and less, well, some others :) would be (was) great. What I'm lamenting is not so much that deadspin is funnier than spofi, but that deadspin is more interesting; part of that is the humor at deadspin, but most of it is that the uniformly high quality of linkage, commentary and discussion here has mostly gone away, or at least been drowned in the noise. yg: I don't want to skim/scan, I want to say 'I don't need an editor, I have spofi'. (And that doesn't solve the low quality of the commentary around here of late either... :/ (sigh) I wish I had something more concrete to suggest, though, other than to throw up my hands and give up on what was once the best sports site on the internet, without question.

posted by tieguy at 09:09 AM on May 26, 2006

Pattern Language for Moderation Strategies

More interesting, probably, is the discussion wiki/archive of patterns that is here.

posted by tieguy at 04:51 PM on March 08, 2006

Ask SpoFi: Blog Censorship

If you want to look at some deep thinking along these lines, that might scare you even more, check out the first link in my blog post last night. My personal take: yes, it is easier to censor a specific site, but since everyone is now a publisher, countering censorship is also easier. Not sure how the balance really works, exactly, but it is clearly not one-sided.

posted by tieguy at 12:45 PM on March 15, 2005

roid rage

Heh. And of course on this page, all the ads are for steroids.

posted by tieguy at 01:03 AM on March 03, 2005

Typical men...

Uh, three years? That's where they went...

posted by tieguy at 07:39 AM on January 27, 2005

Sp_rtsfilter

dusted: <guiness_voice>brilliant!</>

posted by tieguy at 07:18 PM on December 23, 2004

Calling all ESPN outsiders

Because of a bookkeeping error on ESPN's side (I paid only once, and they never unsubscribed me) I was an Insider from late 1996 or early 1997 until this winter. I liked it; lots of quality writing, as kareem/lew says, and some information you can't get elsewhere (Neyer comes to mind.) I too dislike the creeping commercialism of the web, but I pay for several magazines I like, and I figure espn.com falls under the same rules- at some point, these folks have to get paid, and I realize ads aren't necessarily enough. All that said, I refuse to resubscribe for a simple reason: I get enough junk mail already, and ESPN the Mag is the biggest, shiniest, junkiest junk mail there is. If I could easily get a subscription without getting physically spammed by The Mag and/or giving my address to ESPN, I'd be more than happy to. But I can't seem to find an option to do that.

posted by tieguy at 10:29 PM on November 28, 2004

Ask SpoFi

Have to second what mdb1 said; I've been to some big football (national title NCAA in one team's home state) and baseball games, but the Duke-Carolina atmosphere in Cameron is just another level- passion, hate, and a closed roof. A tiny closed roof. Very crazy. Of course, for most readers of this page, it is too late to get the best seats, but... topside isn't that much worse :)

posted by tieguy at 06:56 PM on November 11, 2004

slight link breakage

Seems it was fixed? Or I was completely hallucinating?

posted by tieguy at 07:56 AM on October 19, 2004