September 17, 2009

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle:

A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 22 comments

Interesting goalkeeping technique.

posted by owlhouse at 08:34 AM on September 17, 2009

NBA and its referees still haven't reached an agreement, but they're working on it.

posted by Spitztengle at 11:02 AM on September 17, 2009

And in the NHL last night, Sheldon Souray's rocket of a ripper from the blue line broke glass not once, but twice. Kinda like when big men in the NBA make it rain with a glass-shattering dunk, this slows the game down ... but man, the guy has got a shot!

posted by Spitztengle at 12:45 PM on September 17, 2009

The president of the NCAA, Myles Brand, passed away yesterday. Story from the NCAA's website here.

posted by boredom_08 at 01:33 PM on September 17, 2009

OK, so it's not the NFL or futbol, but I like to watch it. There might be a new Arena Football League to replace the AFL and af2 made up of teams from both. Sorry about the local-centric link but it was all I could find.

posted by THX-1138 at 01:50 PM on September 17, 2009

There was a guy in owlhouse's goalkeeping video that had MULTIPOST as the name on the back of his jersey (visible at 0:22)

That seems kind of cool in a meta sort of way.

posted by hincandenza at 01:57 PM on September 17, 2009

Multipost is most likely a sponsor of the team. I believe some teams in the Dutch league place a second sponsor where we'd expect to see a name.

posted by trox at 02:36 PM on September 17, 2009

Where are the Hoser's picks?

posted by bperk at 04:14 PM on September 17, 2009

Or not.

posted by 86 at 04:54 PM on September 17, 2009

The Annual State of the Bruins (Video) "Town Hall" Fasinating inside look at a Ritual Pre-Season Tradition. Livewire from BostonBruinsTV. As a BlackHawks fan I can relate. Oh the B's Winter Classic Jersey is the Bomb! Flyers vs. Bruins Winter Classic that will be something to see. OK all you Bruin Fans take heart the season is almost upon us.

posted by skydivedad at 07:44 PM on September 17, 2009

The warped minds that bring you lolcats and the fail blog have a new sports themed page called Up Next in Sports. It's not all A-material, but I found this one to be scarily humorous...

posted by MeatSaber at 07:58 PM on September 17, 2009

Well Boston fans, have fun with PeteAbe.

posted by goddam at 08:09 PM on September 17, 2009

Also, a fun follow up story on the little girl who tossed the ball back at the Phillies game. The Phillies really come across as classy and the family seems great. Lucky girls to have such cool parents!

posted by Joey Michaels at 08:16 PM on September 17, 2009

Where are the Hoser's picks?

Due to unavoidable three-year-old daughter issues beyond The Hoser's control, picks will be delayed until tomorrow morning.

Editor's Note: The extra day does not mean the picks will be any more accurate or the commentary any funnier than normal.

posted by wfrazerjr at 08:28 PM on September 17, 2009

Notes on being a female sports reporter.

posted by owlhouse at 09:30 PM on September 17, 2009

Well Boston fans, have fun with PeteAbe.

Yeah, that's really strange, isn't it?

posted by yerfatma at 08:52 AM on September 18, 2009

The Impact of One Ohio School District's Decision To Cut Sports

Wow, that's tough all around.

Couldn't this have been it's own FPP?

posted by bperk at 09:13 AM on September 18, 2009

The Impact of One Ohio School District's Decision To Cut Sports

Wow, that's tough all around.

Couldn't this have been it's own FPP?

I live in the heart of this school district and my wife went to the Grove City high school focused on in the article. If SpoFi folks are interested in a FPP post on this, I'll do that with a couple local articles. There's a ton at play here - it's not like levies are abnormal and I'm in favor of it passing, but the school board has approached this ridiculously poorly (ie, as mentioned in the article, the unprecedented act of canceling extra-curricular activities, without even offering a pay-to-play option).

posted by littleLebowski at 01:08 PM on September 18, 2009

The Impact of One Ohio School District's Decision To Cut Sports

Really a sad situation. I read the whole article but have to wonder about the school board's decision making; since this is percentage-wise such a small portion of the budget why are the cuts focused solely on sports/extra-curricular programs?

Also, putting the same levy up for a vote four times seems like another poor board decision if not stretching the bounds of taste/legality. "You can give us what we ask for or we'll keep asking until you do just to stop the hurt!"

posted by billsaysthis at 01:32 PM on September 18, 2009

If SpoFi folks are interested in a FPP post on this, I'll do that with a couple local articles.

It isn't just interesting, but it is also a gray area. When budgets have to be cut, where do sports rank in importance? I think it would be a good FPP.

posted by bperk at 02:08 PM on September 18, 2009

Hey, sdd, the print media here in New England have referred to the video once or twice, but I'd not seen it. Many thanks. It should be another good season. Expectations here are high, but my good New England Puritan sensibility says to tone it down and avoid disappointment.

goddam, Peter Abraham's future colleagues at the Globe are very high on him. I don't know whether or not this is just self-promotion for one's employer, but I'll take it at face value. I understand that Abraham has New England roots and is a UMass Amherst grad.

The situation in NH concerning school funding is similar to that in Ohio. That is, there is really no state aid, all school funding comes from property taxes and lottery receipts, and what state aid there is is passed to the so-called "property tax poor" districts at the expense of the rest of the state. Here in Nashua, middle school athletics have been on the chopping block lately. They have survived, but in the case of football were integrated into the local Police Athletic League program. The school district this year discovered that they had underestimated the budget by over $3 million. The city gave the district enough to cover last year, but this year's shortfall has been made up by leaving teaching and administrative positions vacant. Even with this, they are still $850,000 short. The only solution is to go over every bit of the school budget, even down to the nickels and dimes, and eliminate what you can. I don't wish to come down on the unions (my wife is a union member and an educator in the district), but it would seem that there are some concessions that could be made. I think salaries should not be reduced, but why can't the union take over health care in return for an annual payment from the city? This would insulate the city budget from increases in health insurance costs and place the administrative burden upon the union. In short, there are no easy solutions. When you are struggling to make ends meet, having your taxes go up by $500 bucks per year (assuming a $200,000) house, is pretty tough. I can understand why people are so angry. On the other hand, I am a strong believer in the educational benefits of athletics and extra-curricular activities. I witnessed first-hand my son grow from a shy, withdrawn kid into a confident, outgoing leader, largely due to his involvement in track and football. To deny this opportunity to students is to do them a disservice.

OK, enough. My soapbox is beginning to show signs of structural fatigue. I'll get down before it breaks. As the saying goes, if you think I've gone on too long, you should never have let me begin.

posted by Howard_T at 03:19 PM on September 18, 2009

You're not logged in. Please log in or register.