12/21/24
Archives for December 2008
December 30, 2008
NFL Confidence Pool XLIII: Time to dust off the ol' crystal ball (or other object of prognostication) and place your bets. As always, the deadline for making picks is the start of the first playoff game, January 4, 2009 1:00pm ET.
posted by MrFrisby to fantasy at 07:17 PM - 20 comments
Broncos Fire Shanahan After 14 Seasons: No head coach is safe! If Mike Shanahan can be fired as head coach of the Denver Broncos, is any NFL head coach immune from being voted off the island?
posted by jjzucal to football at 06:59 PM - 12 comments
Is US High School Basketball Really Behind the Times?: The author, a high school and youth basketball coach in England, thinks that high school basketball in the US needs a significant change in the rules. I think his argument makes sense. (I also wish I'd been around to see that tournament game he writes about.)
posted by Howard_T to basketball at 04:42 PM - 5 comments
December 29, 2008
The MLB Network: Visibility and credibility are crucial to the MLB Network's success. Some cable systems have been running the channel for several weeks to give viewers a sneak peek at loops of World Series recaps and other highlights. The official launch is New Year's Day at 6 p.m. ET when a daily one-hour Hot Stove show debuts.
posted by BoKnows to baseball at 11:04 PM - 8 comments
Getting more (or less) for your money: Canadian Business Online has put together a list of the National Hockey League who offer the best (or worst) value for their salaries last season. Anaheim centre Ryan Getzlaf makes the list of cheap gems, while Los Angeles defenceman Rob Blake gets nailed for poor production.
Off with their heads!: The NFL's Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns and New York Jets fire Rod Marinelli, Romeo Crennel and Eric Mangini, respectively, from their head coaching positions. Who's next?
posted by wfrazerjr to football at 02:33 PM - 28 comments
Skijoring anyone?: It sounds like the ultimate extreme sport, but for Ryan Lakovitch, a rider from Jackson, Wyo., (pop 8,647) who won the sport's national championship in 2000 with his partner, skier Cody Smith, there's more to skijoring than sheer adrenaline. It's also about teamwork, cooperation, and skill of the horse, rider, and skier.
posted by BoKnows to extreme at 01:27 PM - 3 comments
Fastest Red Card Ever ...: Chippenham Town striker David Pratt lives up to his name by setting the world's record for the fastest red card ever, being sent off only 3 seconds into a match against Bashley.
posted by scully to soccer at 11:01 AM - 5 comments
Greatest Catch of the Year ...: University of North Carolina wide receiver Hakeem Nicks uses his big hands to make one the greatest of the year if not ever. [YouTube Video]
posted by scully to football at 10:53 AM - 12 comments
December 28, 2008
Goal of the Year?: Showcasing spectacular hand-eye coordination, John Tavares may have ensured himself as the number 1 pick next summer.
Eagles Make Playoffs in 44-6 Rout of Cowboys: Philadelphia Eagle fans received a late Christmas miracle with a blowout of the Dallas Cowboys and losses by playoff hopefuls (Thank you, Al Davis!)
posted by jjzucal to general at 10:24 PM - 34 comments
December 27, 2008
When Punters and Kickers Attack: Some NFL kickers and punters are starting to make tackles, Judy Battista of the New York Times reports in a story with a lot of great anecdotes. "Before a preseason game against the Chiefs in the 1970s, the returner George Atkinson of the Raiders joked with Kansas City kicker Jan Stenerud ... that he was not a real player because he never tackled anybody. Stenerud tackled Atkinson twice during that game. Stenerud said an angry John Madden, the Raiders' coach at the time, was said to have asked this about Atkinson, 'How could you get tackled twice by a Norwegian skier?'"
posted by rcade to football at 03:32 PM - 3 comments
December 23, 2008
Mark Teixeira is a Yankee.: The three top free agents are now members of the Yankees and Manny rumours have started (although, they may stop now). Finally, fans can watch an all-star game played 162 games a season.
posted by dfleming to baseball at 05:20 PM - 47 comments
Rally Driver Ken Block's Insane Driving Video: In a popular viral video, rally car driver and DC Shoes founder Ken Block practices the automotive version of gymkhana, an obstacle course sport more commonly associated with horses, in a 530-horsepower Subaru Impreza. He's the same driver who hit the mountain with snowboarders and jumped his car 171 feet for the Discovery Channel.
posted by rcade to auto racing at 01:37 PM - 4 comments
December 21, 2008
Let's Make NFL Extra Points Interesting:
Instead of having allowing the place kicker to kick all extra points in the NFL, imagine if the player who scored the touchdown had to kick the extra point. If the player who scored is injured or completely incapable of making an extra point, then you have to go for two.
posted by pjb3 to football at 02:34 PM - 31 comments
Some NFL stadiums now accepting tattling via text message.: Fans in some cities can now text stadium security the location of drunken, rowdy fans.
posted by captaincavegirl to football at 10:29 AM - 6 comments
December 20, 2008
The Hoser's NFL Picks, Week 16 2008: NFL picks that hope Yule enjoy this week's games ... ha!
posted by wfrazerjr to football at 07:41 PM - 6 comments
Holyfield, in a shocker.... loses?: SI.com's Graham scored the fight at 118-110 to Holyfield, but the judges speak otherwise, giving the win to Valuev by majority decision.
posted by boredom_08 to boxing at 05:57 PM - 5 comments
December 19, 2008
Do You Believe in Miracles!?: With Chanukkah starting at sundown on Sunday, perhaps its time to flex those spinning muscles and get ready for year-round competitive dreidel!
Bargain-basement league: Several NHL clubs are slashing ticket prices and throwing in all kinds of freebies to haul in fans, any fans.
The Panthers are similarly generous, offering a regularly priced $42 ticket for $17. Fans also receive free parking, a combo meal and a $5 gasoline card. Parking is usually $10 at the Panthers' arena, which means that if the other amenities are subtracted from the ticket price, you could make a case that the club is actually paying the fan to attend the game. Happy holidays!
posted by tommytrump to business and law at 07:15 PM - 3 comments
I will break you! Part 2: Ouch! Evander Holyfield weighed in nearly 100 pounds lighter and will give up 8 to 9 inches on 7-footer Nikolai Valuev in their heavyweight title bout.
posted by jjzucal to general at 04:04 PM - 2 comments
Dallas Cowboys: America's (Most Watched) Team: Two graphs generated by the Nielsen TV ratings company demonstrate that 12 years after their last playoff win, the Dallas Cowboys are the most watched team in the league. "NFL games airing in primetime are breaking records this season, and they share one common denominator: the Dallas Cowboys," Nielsen states. Cowboys games this year have become the most-watched cable TV program in history and Sunday Night Football's most-watched game. Another record's likely when they play the Baltimore Ravens Saturday on the NFL Network.
posted by rcade to football at 03:44 PM - 6 comments
Shaquille O'Neal's 5,000 misses.: An analysis of the greatest free-throw bricklayer of all time.
posted by mr_crash_davis to basketball at 10:06 AM - 3 comments
Manning makes MVP case in playoff clincher: If, like many Americans, you don't get the NFL Network or weren't tuned in Thursday night, you missed a couple of special moments.
December 18, 2008
Mats' current mood: bashful.: Finally: Mats Sundin signs with the Vancouver Canucks. I felt like the Canadian media read like a Mats Sundin twitter feed for the past six months and it's nice to see him back on the ice where he belongs.
posted by dfleming to hockey at 06:26 PM - 3 comments
Boatmen lose all-time great: Considered by some to be the greatest Toronto Argonaut ever as well as the greatest player of his era. The nickname said it all.
Joe Krol, known as King, was the supreme ruler of the Toronto sports world more than half a century ago when he passed, ran and kicked the Toronto Argonauts to five Grey Cups.
posted by tommytrump to football at 12:42 PM - 2 comments
Sammy Baugh, N.F.L. Great, Dies at 94 : In 1994, the N.F.L. named Baugh as one of four quarterbacks on its 75th-anniversary team. Baugh was among 17 inductees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame's inaugural class of 1963.
Baugh was taking the field for his first practice session with the Redskins when his coach, Ray Flaherty, handed him the football.
"They tell me you're quite a passer," Flaherty is said to have remarked.
"I reckon I can throw a little," Baugh replied.
"Show me," Flaherty said. "Hit that receiver in the eye."
To which Baugh supposedly responded, "Which eye?"
posted by tommytrump to football at 09:15 AM - 3 comments
December 17, 2008
I will break you!: Evander Holyfield, 46, will seek another heavyweight championship against the 7-foot Russian Nikolai Valuev.
posted by jjzucal to general at 07:56 PM - 10 comments
Billy Ripken: I Wrote 'Fuck Face' On That Bat: Billy Ripken's 1989 Fleer baseball card once sold for more than $500 because of an obscenity written on the bat. He said at the time he was a victim of a prank, but has now admitted the truth - he marked the bat so he could find it for batting practice each day. "When people recognize me, I see the look on their face. They think of the card," he said. "I don't know if it happens daily, but, to this day, it still happens a couple of times a week."
posted by rcade to baseball at 05:16 PM - 7 comments
December 15, 2008
Latest Fighting Injury another Warning for NHL: It was a hockey fight that started the way thousands of others have over the years, but it ended with a 21-year-old fighting for his life in a Hamilton hospital. Because of a hockey fight, the parents of Don Sanderson of the Whitby Dunlops are sitting by their son's bed wondering when, or if, their son is ever going to wake up. After one surgery and some 60 hours after his fight with Corey Fulton of the Brantford Blast last Friday night, Sanderson was still in a coma. "It was nothing....just a tussle,"..."Under normal circumstances, the 2 guys would have just skated away."
posted by tommytrump to hockey at 10:30 PM - 8 comments
December 14, 2008
Dallas Stars Break Up with Sean Avery: The Dallas Stars have told Sean Avery he'll no longer play for the team now that his suspension is over. "We do care about Sean and want what is best for him," said Brett Hull. "We've agreed to do what we can to help find him a place to play hockey once he addresses his personal issues."
posted by rcade to hockey at 04:29 PM - 38 comments
December 13, 2008
Pulling together: Blackhawks support their G.M.: The story that's been dubbed "Millionaires behaving properly" was written in a small town a few hours north of Toronto. It might have remained nothing more than local lore if not for the efforts of a few persistent e-mailers and fan message boards. In an era when it seems we can't get enough news about athletes, when every bar brawl, strip-club visit and parking-lot scrape merits a headline, the best story of the NHL season somehow managed to fly below the radar for nearly three weeks.
posted by tommytrump to culture at 12:06 PM - 12 comments
December 12, 2008
Walking His Way to Cooperstown.: Joe Posnanski takes a look the impressive numbers of a man who, among his many on-field exploits, arguably did more than anyone else to legitimize references to oneself in the third person.
posted by holden to baseball at 03:54 PM - 7 comments
December 10, 2008
"If the old guy scores, we're walking home.": Expelled from Lees College in 1956 for a shaving cream incident, 73-year old Ken Mink makes good on remaining years of eligibility.
"I used to be 6-2," Mink said.
posted by Hugh Janus to basketball at 10:32 AM - 2 comments
New York Post: Sabathia Will Sign with Yankees: "C.C. Sabathia is going to be a Yankee," the New York Post reported in an exclusive this morning. "There are still minor hurdles to finalize, notably that Sabathia must pass a physical." Sabathia will reportedly get a six-year, $140 million deal that's the largest pitching contract in league history.
posted by rcade to baseball at 09:15 AM - 32 comments
December 09, 2008
Kevin Garnett makes Big Baby Glen Davis cry: After the Boston bench starts to blow a 25 point lead, KG chews his teammates out during a timeout. Glen Davis' response? Sit and sulk on the end of the bench. KG's response? Cough up the ball on the first play after the timeout.
posted by HATER 187 to basketball at 07:16 PM - 15 comments
Vikings Tight End Suffers Wardrobe Malfunction in Locker Room: "How'd it look?" -- Minnesota Vikings tight end Visanthe Shiancoe, after learning that the starboard side of his mainmast, which had been exposed briefly in some postgame locker room footage Sunday, was now being viewed all over the web.
posted by rcade to football at 11:18 AM - 11 comments
Writer: Oscar De La Hoya 'Never Truly Great': "Oscar De La Hoya was a very good fighter, but throughout his career he has never lived up to the hype," John Rawling argues in The Guardian. "He was a great interviewee, photogenic and, to his credit, he never ducked anybody."
posted by justgary to boxing at 01:17 AM - 6 comments
December 07, 2008
Take the skinheads bowling, take them bowling: The college football bowl games have been announced. Some goof over at Fox Sports breaks down the five BCS bowl games.
posted by NoMich to football at 09:44 PM - 11 comments
December 06, 2008
OU Fans Launch Air Attack on Texas: The text of a banner that was flown over the University of Texas campus in Austin on Thursday: "Hey Mack, Quit Whining U Knew the Rules."
posted by rcade to football at 10:17 AM - 15 comments
December 05, 2008
Greg Maddux to retire on Monday: Maddux has been my favorite pitcher of the last 20 years. He never had dominating stuff in the traditional sense, but he was just so dang smart in choosing his pitches that he could oftentimes seem unhittable. I will miss seeing him against my Rockies in the NL West.
posted by drumdance to baseball at 06:22 PM - 30 comments
Video: Rutgers Running Back Tackled By His Hair: In Rutgers' 63-14 demolition of Louisville Thursday night, a play occurred that doesn't happen as often as it probably should. Rutgers' running back Jourdan Brooks was caught from behind on a breakaway 62-yard run by tackler Travis Norton, who pulled him down entirely by his dreadlocks. When asked by sideline reporter Erin Andrews how much it hurt, on a scale of 1 to 10, Brooks said "8." See the video
posted by rcade to football at 12:09 AM - 12 comments
December 04, 2008
Honda to leave F1!: Autosport is saying Honda will announce on Friday that they plan to leave the sport. Other avenues are reporting the decision is already made and done and Honda are finished in Formula One.
posted by Drood to auto racing at 06:59 PM - 10 comments
December 03, 2008
A Little "Hometown Justice": A Minnesota judge blocks the NFL's suspensions of Pat and Kevin Williams.
posted by TheQatarian to football at 08:23 PM - 8 comments
Tuberville Out At Auburn: One bad year at Auburn was apparently one too many.
posted by TheQatarian to football at 08:16 PM - 6 comments
"Coach of the Year" doesn't hold much water in Toronto: Sam Mitchell, the National Basketball League's Coach of the Year in 2006-07, has been fired after a 132-93 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday. Jay Triano, one of Mitchell's assistants and the longest-serving member of the coaching staff, takes over on an interim basis, becoming the first Canadian-born head coach in NBA history.
posted by wfrazerjr to basketball at 06:10 PM - 2 comments
Paul Maurice takes over as Carolina Hurricanes head coach: The Carolina Hurricanes fired coach Peter Laviolette on Wednesday and brought back former Leafs and Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice to replace him on the bench. In 2006, Laviolette led the team to its only Stanley Cup, and last month he became the winningest American-born coach in NHL history. Maurice, 41, returns to Carolina as the winningest coach in franchise history. He recorded 268 wins in 674 regular-season games during his eight-plus seasons with the team from Nov. 6, 1995 until Dec. 15, 2003.
posted by tommytrump to hockey at 05:57 PM - 2 comments
College Student Starts University Football Program: When Doug DeLuca enrolled as a freshman at the University of Vermont in the fall of 2006, the school hadn't fielded a football team since 1974. DeLuca changed all that by starting a club football team, raising $35,000 for equipment, negotiating a million-dollar insurance policy and finding 50 players, coaches, trainers, opponents and a place to play and practice. Now they're the school's official team. Go Catamounts!
posted by rcade to football at 12:06 PM - 9 comments
Very sloppy indeed: How do we stop Sean Avery's mouth? Stop enabling him.
posted by wfrazerjr to hockey at 11:41 AM - 15 comments
December 02, 2008
NHL Suspends Sean Avery Over Crude Comment: Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery, whose ex-girlfriends include the actress Elisha Cuthbert and model Rachel Hunter, has been suspended indefinitely by the league for the last two words in this comment: "I'm really happy to be back in Calgary; I love Canada. I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds." The AP report on the suspension considered the words too crude to repeat, describing it instead as a "crass term to refer to ex-girlfriends now dating other people."
posted by rcade to hockey at 07:56 PM - 23 comments
Knicks Tell Stephon Marbury to Go Away: "After meeting with Stephon and his representative this afternoon, we have directed Stephon not to participate in practice or attend games until further notice. We want to continue to meet with him to discuss a long-term resolution." -- Knicks President Donnie Walsh
posted by habitz to basketball at 12:55 PM - 7 comments
Mario Williams is a hoss in a bull helmet: This is just the wire service wrap-up on last night's Jags-Texans game. As a way of noting that after all the abuse that the Texans took for drafting Mario Williams ahead of Bush, Young, and Leinart in 2006, at this point, it sure looks like they made the right choice.
posted by beaverboard to (Choose one) at 11:13 AM - 5 comments
December 01, 2008
Spofi H2H Basketball Update - Weeks 3 & 4: ...and the gaps begin to form. Three teams put up 7 this week. Yours truly lays in wait at the bottom of the table.
posted by yukongold to fantasy at 08:20 PM - 2 comments
Bernie Ecclestone loses mind.: Ecclestone says Formula One will use a medals system next year to decide the title. "When asked if it was fair that someone who wins six races but doesn't finish any others beats someone who had finished every race in second place, Ecclestone replied: "He'll have to try harder next year."" Eddie Jordan remains unconvinced.
posted by Drood to auto racing at 11:31 AM - 7 comments