04/26/24
March 04, 2010
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.
Pound For Pound: UFC Signs James Toney
posted by BornIcon at 03:33 PM on March 04, 2010
I'm pretty excited to see James Toney fight MMA. Even without training against kicks, I have to imagine he's going to be on another level of standup with just using his hands. I can't see why anyone would actually stand and bang with him though.
posted by tron7 at 04:59 PM on March 04, 2010
Controversy at a women's basketball game
Found this link on Yahoo as a front page article, so I am sure others have seen it. She really did wind up and nail the other girl in the face. If it is true that the other girl is done for the year, than I agree that Griner should be out just as long. In situations where the inflicting of injury is as flagrant as this I do believe that the league needs to step in and force the athletes to realize the consequences of their actions. A season ending suspension maybe severe, but Jordan Barncastle's season may have just been ended for a hip check. Barncastle deserved to be called for a foul, but Griner's reaction was more than over the top.
One item that I do find interesting is that if you follow the link at the top of the story to Griner's profile on the Baylor website, her position is listed as P. Not sure what position is a P in basketball unless she is the team's designated puncher, but Baylor has 2 of them!!
posted by Demophon at 05:07 PM on March 04, 2010
The Giants' Barry Zito responded today to Prince Fielder's home run bomb dance last September.
posted by rcade at 08:12 PM on March 04, 2010
"I've always said, 'I play the game hard. I run hard. And after that, I don't care what anybody thinks,' " Fielder said. "If that's what they've gotta do, that's what they've gotta do. Let them hit me once, and if that makes them feel better, that's awesome. Now we can just play baseball."
Fielder just moved up a bunch of slots on my respect list.
posted by grum@work at 08:42 PM on March 04, 2010
Barncastle deserved to be called for a foul, but Griner's reaction was more than over the top.
Barncastle deserved to be called for a hard foul! But yeah, the punch was, and always is, over the top in this game.
posted by Spitztengle at 10:01 PM on March 04, 2010
Amazing she only gets a 2 game suspension for that swing, imho. Should have been the rest of the season at least.
posted by jmd82 at 11:00 PM on March 04, 2010
I agree that the suspension should be longer than two games, however, I wouldn't expect Baylor's coach to go higher than that due to the playoffs coming up. The Big 12 is still looking into it, so we'll see. The girl from Tech may be done for the year, but would only be a 2 game suspension as well...one regular season game, and one playoff game.
Demophon, I believe the P stands for post.
posted by dviking at 11:50 PM on March 04, 2010
Harry Pearson in The Guardian. The comments section is good, too, if only for the Arsenal joke.
If you haven't read The Far Corner, his book about football in the Northeast of England, you are missing some great laughs.
posted by owlhouse at 11:51 PM on March 04, 2010
The Giants' Barry Zito responded today to Prince Fielder's home run bomb dance last September.
Probably safe to put away the baseball players forget anything myth.
In the article it said he was 'miffed' about being hit. Either he's lying or completely clueless.
posted by justgary at 02:48 AM on March 05, 2010
If it is true that the other girl is done for the year, than I agree that Griner should be out just as long.
Amazing she only gets a 2 game suspension for that swing, imho. Should have been the rest of the season at least.
Uhm, what? This feels just like the women's soccer player from last year all over again, except even sillier. At least the soccer player was all over the field meteing and doleing out rough justice. This was one . . . punch/ forearm/ whatever in the heat of the moment. If the other girl is out for the season, I demand either an investigation into medicine around the Texas Tech campus or for Texas to turn in its state reputation. Because Barncastle is sitting and laughing on the bench afterwards. At worst it's a broken nose. You can play with a broken nose.
The commentary in what's theoretically a game story is similarly over-the-top. How is the comparison to LeGarrette Blount germane when his sport plays about a third of the games and his action came after the end of the game? There hasn't been another suspension in all of NCAA-sanctioned sports since then that might have been a better comp?
posted by yerfatma at 07:50 AM on March 05, 2010
If the other girl is out for the season, I demand either an investigation into medicine around the Texas Tech campus or for Texas to turn in its state reputation. Because Barncastle is sitting and laughing on the bench afterwards. At worst it's a broken nose. You can play with a broken nose.
I personally was interpreting the line that she could be out for the remainder of the season to mean that it was more than a broken nose, perhaps damage to the bones around her eye. If it is just a broken nose than I agree that the a remainder of the season suspension is not in order because the player could return from that.
My question becomes, do we further tier this because she swung at a bench player from a weaker team in the conference? What if it had been a starter, she gets 4 games? If it was a starter from a conference power she gets a 6 game suspension?
posted by Demophon at 08:20 AM on March 05, 2010
do we further tier this because . . .
Sorry, 12 years of Catholic schooling has blinded me to anything but intent. And I don't see a lot of intent in her actions.
posted by yerfatma at 09:03 AM on March 05, 2010
Uhm, what? This feels just like the women's soccer player from last year all over again, except even sillier. At least the soccer player was all over the field meteing and doleing out rough justice.
I feel to see what this has to do with that situation. Any player in any sport and any sex who throws a punch should be suspended for longer than 2 games. Take the Blount situation: Instead of just getting him a) back on the field asap or b) kicking him entirely off the team (which a lot of the media wanted iirc), it was used as a teaching tool to learn form your mistakes. In this case, all a 2 game suspension shows is there's no need to learn because if you're stud, you can be back on the court in no time. Not a good life lesson.
posted by jmd82 at 09:12 AM on March 05, 2010
In the article it said he was 'miffed' about being hit. Either he's lying or completely clueless.
I don't follow. Zito's got one of the slowest velocities in baseball. Fielder's got more padding than most hitters. Perhaps he really was just miffed, rather than perturbed, annoyed or displeased.
posted by rcade at 09:15 AM on March 05, 2010
Any player in any sport and any sex who throws a punch should be suspended for longer than 2 games.
That's fine as a hard-and-fast rule. I have no problem with it, though hard-and-fast rules usually fail because they allow no room for nuance. It's the tone of it all, that it's shocking a basketball player would take a swing at another player. I made the mistake of stopping on ESPN last night and you would have thought Kennedy had been shot.
posted by yerfatma at 10:28 AM on March 05, 2010
Perhaps he really was just miffed, rather than perturbed, annoyed or displeased.
Maybe so. But in the audio it also says that Fielder seemed 'emotional' about it. Strange. This is one instance where I'd rather hear is words than read them.
As far as Zito being the one to hit him, I don't think it mattered. They're not going to hurt him; that's not the intent. They're sending a message. Hitting him in his first at bat of the season, on the first pitch leaves no doubt that it was a purpose pitch. Zito just happened to be the guy on the hill.
I think he handled it well. I believe him when he says it was worth it, and I'm curious if he'll do it again. I'm guessing only if the team is out of the race.
posted by justgary at 10:42 AM on March 05, 2010
I don't think Fielder will do another stunt like that. He caught a lot of flak, as did his teammates.
posted by rcade at 10:50 AM on March 05, 2010
Fielder might not be so quick to forget. He said he didn't expect to be hit, but was irritated by what occurred.
posted by justgary at 03:38 PM on March 05, 2010
Tampa Bay Lightning sale to Boston Red Sox minority owner finalized