gradioc's profile

gradioc
3263
Location: NC
Gender: swm
Social Media Account: gradioc (AIM)
Member since: October 18, 2005
Last visit: December 25, 2013

gradioc has posted 0 links and 110 comments to SportsFilter and 0 links and 0 comments to the Locker Room and 2 columns.

Sports Bio

b. 1960 SWM in NC. My teams are the Carolina Panthers andthe Orioles, but my PASSION is college basketball and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Recent Comments

Claim: Bobby Riggs Threw the Match Against Billie Jean King

I watched that match, and I'm not buying it. Riggs was not that good an actor. He got whipped, did not expect to, and hated every second of it.

posted by gradioc at 07:58 PM on August 26, 2013

Spurs Take Game 1 Over Heat

I'd probably be pulling for the Heat just to shut up the LeBron haters if it was anybody but the Spurs. But it is the Spurs, I'm a Wake Forest guy, and Tim Duncan is one of the classiest people ever to play any professional sport. One for the thumb for Timmy? Yeah, I gotta pull for that.

posted by gradioc at 08:59 PM on June 07, 2013

Seattle Wins on What-the-Hell Mary

There is one thing the NFL loves more than all others. Boycott that and I really think we can move them. It is our only chance to pressure the owners.

The NFL Network is their baby, their one hope to further enhance their revenue stream. Give the Thursday night game this week a significantly lower rating and the owners WILL notice.

posted by gradioc at 09:17 PM on September 25, 2012

The Greatest Pitcher You've Never Heard Of

What's really heartbreaking about a story like this is how many thousands of lives that could have been extraordinary were just wasted, not just during Jim Crow, but during the 250 slavery years before.

posted by gradioc at 09:18 PM on March 28, 2011

Roethlisberger: 'I Want to Be a Role Model'

Whenever I think of "role model", the next term that comes to me is "whippin' it out". Bill Clinton would be so proud. I can hear him now.

"I like this boy. He really knows how to have a good time. He might be President one day."

posted by gradioc at 08:57 PM on February 01, 2011

8% of Fans Leave Sporting Events Legally Drunk

I always love these things. .08 is too impaired to run heavy equipment like a car or a backhoe. That's hardly the point where people start puking on the steps and yelling "You think you're better'n me?" Too drunk to drive and drunk enough to be a public health issue are entirely different things, but studies like this tend to conflate them. (You like that? Conflate? I don't get to use it much on a sports forum.)

posted by gradioc at 05:30 PM on January 21, 2011

Cam Newton Declares for NFL Draft

This is actually a blessing in disguise for Auburn. It frees up enough salary cap space to ensure a killer recruiting class.

I hear people say the SEC has a recruiting advantage because of the climate. If they mean a climate of corruption, they're right.

posted by gradioc at 10:31 PM on January 14, 2011

The Hoser's NFL Postseason Picks 2010 -- Week 2

Poor old Falcons. They get zero respect, even as the #1 seed. Aaron Rodgers, meet John Abraham. Remove face from fake turf. Repeat. And let's be serious. If I was standing on a playground picking teams, and I just want to win, I want Matty Ice before Aaron. He just wins, no muss, no fuss, no "Oh Mommy, look at me being special. I'm so good!" Rodgers preens, Ryan wins.

Okay, I dislike Aaron Rodgers, but I also think Atlanta is being overlooked. I'm a Carolina fan and have watched them get better and better.

Atlanta 24 Green Bay 17

posted by gradioc at 10:06 PM on January 14, 2011

Terrell Suggs: Brady's Super Bowls 'Questionable'

Suggs is thinking about Brady the week he's playing Big Ben? Get my bookie on the phone ASAP!

posted by gradioc at 07:24 PM on January 13, 2011

LeBron James Taunts Cavs Over Historic Loss

I get that LeBron is still pissed at Dan Gilbert, who was pretty classless himself during the whole "Decision" debacle. And, yes, the haplessness of this team is the proof of LeBron's reason for leaving, that the Cavs had done little to surround him with any other talent.

What hit me, though, is that 8 months ago these losers were his boys, the guys he went to battle with every night. From their point of view he abandoned them for better teammates, told the world they weren't good enough to play with him, and now has the gall to mock them on Twitter.

Head on a swivel, brother. Like someone once said, "Karma's a bitch".

posted by gradioc at 06:58 PM on January 13, 2011

NFL Lockout Looming

Please don't shed any tears for the owners. They have managed to con the TV networks into a contract that pays them every one of those billions of dollars even if they lock out the players, pay them nothing, and deliver 0 games in 2011/12. They have no intention of negotiating. Their intent is to crush the players and impose their will about 18 games, rookie salary caps and dropping the team salary caps (or keeping them the same with a roster expansion).

The owners have all the money and all the cards in this game.

posted by gradioc at 09:52 PM on January 12, 2011

Favre Sued for Sexual Harassment

I kind of had sympathy for Farve over the Sterger deal. He'd hardly be the first fortyish guy to make a fool out of himself over a pretty young coworker. But it seems he drank the Kool Aid of the whole entire Jets jr. high locker room culture experience. People think he tainted his legacy coming back after Green Bay? Try adding creepy old guy laughed at by cool chicks to the resume.

Oh, and creepy old MARRIED guy too. Next time his darlin' daughter that's his whole world asks him to win a Super Bowl for her, it's gonna be on a weekend visitation. Hope dude's got a really good lawyer.

At least when Tiger destroyed his marriage he was actually getting laid, not just acting like 7th grader.

posted by gradioc at 09:48 PM on January 05, 2011

Woeful Panthers Earn First Draft Pick

Here in Carolina we gave up early on and started thinking about the #1 pick. I think Andrew Luck has been mentioned on talk radio more than any single current player except (maybe) Jimmy Clausen and how bad he sucks.

Oh, and speaking of the draft pick we so wisely gave to New England, the Pats have managed to stockpile 2 firsts, 2 seconds and 2 thirds for this year, when there's likely to be a first-time rookie salary cap. Who said life is fair?

posted by gradioc at 08:46 PM on January 03, 2011

Florida hires Weis as coordinator

Charlie might see himself as the new Norm Chow, who is probably the best offensive mind in the history of college ball. Once Chow walked away from BYU and started chasing the money (NC State, USC, et al), he could pretty much write his own check. Some guys just are not cut out to be head coaches and maybe Charlie has had that self-knowledge moment.

posted by gradioc at 08:21 PM on January 02, 2011

Carolina Panthers Fire John Fox

It's been known for a while this would happen and it's probably time for a change. That being said, John Fox is a quality NFL coach who can walk into his choice of open D coordinator jobs and may well go straight to another head coach job. I would not be shocked to see him in Dallas next year as one or the other.

My only gripe about Fox is his handling of some of the personalities on the team. Clearly Julius Peppers was desperate to get away from him. About five years ago Peppers had a bad year and it was clear to me he had an injured hip, but it was never listed on the injury report and Peppers never mentioned it.

I think Fox was trying to keep secret something any damn fool could see on film and muzzled Peppers about the injury. When Peppers started catching crap on talk radio and boos at the stadium he became a very unhappy camper. He wanted out, but the Panthers couldn't figure out a way to get fair value for him.

Long story short, after putting the franchise tag on an unhappy Peppers two years straight, lots of drama, and tying up stupid amounts of money to keep him, he wound up walking away at the end anyway.

Is there a moral to this story? Maybe. Peppers' new team, the Bears, with Julius playing his ass off again, won the NFC North and the #2 seed in the NFC. The Panthers went 2-14 and locked up the worst record in the league.

posted by gradioc at 07:47 PM on January 02, 2011