12/18/24
November 22, 2010
SportsFilter: The Monday 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.
Ooh cool post, even if it does slander Jim Ed. He was my favorite player growing up and it always made me mad to read the Bill James preview which every season mentioned how many double plays he hit into the previous season. One thing about the lack of doubles though is he always said the green monster cost him extra base hits cause he would hit balls SO HARD off the wall that he'd be held to singles on balls that would have left some parks and been doubles in others.
How abut BJ Penn beating the shit out of Matt Hughes? Anybody see the fight?
posted by vito90 at 11:41 AM on November 22, 2010
Report: Childress finally fired by Vikings
posted by BornIcon at 12:19 PM on November 22, 2010
How abut BJ Penn beating the shit out of Matt Hughes? Anybody see the fight?
Yeah, it was a great 25 seconds...
Not much in the way of great moments on the whole card, sadly. I have no idea how Rampage got his decision - looks like Machida is being penalised for his lean-back countering style by judges who like "aggression."
Machida appeared intent first on not taking a shot to the chin, which is understandable, so he was leaning back as per usual for him, but also not putting everything into his kicks. In non-title matches you only have 15 minutes, so you need to do more and he seemed to be fighting to not lose first.
I still thought he won though, because of the end of the third and Rampage lifted his arm at the end of the fight, so apparently he scored it for Machida too. We should see a rematch now though.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 12:31 PM on November 22, 2010
Dunno if it warrants a FPP, seeing there's almost no interest in NASCAR here, but Jimmie Johnson won his 5th consecutive Cup title yesterday...
posted by MeatSaber at 01:17 PM on November 22, 2010
Mr Bismarck, how did Penn look at that weight? I know it ended too fast to be able to glean much but can he carry that much weight around with him and compete with the guys who have passed Hughes on his way down? Apparently he's planning to stay in this division.
posted by vito90 at 01:23 PM on November 22, 2010
One thing about the lack of doubles though is he always said the green monster cost him extra base hits cause he would hit balls SO HARD off the wall that he'd be held to singles on balls that would have left some parks and been doubles in others.
Would hold more water had he not hit more doubles (207) and home runs (208) at home than on the road (166 and 174, respectively) over the course of his career.
posted by holden at 01:40 PM on November 22, 2010
We should see a rematch now though.
No thanks. From the perspective of fairness it might be best but who wants to see that again? For some reason Rampage seems to draw out the most cautious side of fighters and Machida is already is about as cautious as they come. I'd rather we just move on, there's more intersting fights out there for both of these guys.
posted by tron7 at 01:46 PM on November 22, 2010
Johnson and HMS also joined three other pro teamsthe Boston Celtics, New York Yankees and Montreal Canadiens to win five consecutive titles.
I like the way they compare NASCAR to other sports with the consecutive title thing. Also, didn't Johnson take Jeff Gordon's team the last month in order to improve his chance of winning. I wonder if both the old and the new team get rings. They do give rings in NASCAR, don't they?
posted by graymatters at 03:56 PM on November 22, 2010
"Mr Bismarck, how did Penn look at that weight? I know it ended too fast to be able to glean much but can he carry that much weight around with him and compete with the guys who have passed Hughes on his way down? Apparently he's planning to stay in this division."
There was really no way to tell in 21 seconds.
Going up in weight a single class isn't a terrible stretch for Penn, but it really tells against a good wrestler and I think regardless of how good he looks this is St Pierre's division. Short of a puncher's chance Penn can hang around at Welter all he likes without holding the belt again unless St Pierre gets bored and decides to go up and fight Anderson Silva.
A serious problem for Penn, I feel, is that he can't go back to Lightweight either, because Frankie Edgar clearly has his number. We'll see when Edgar fights Gray Maynard, but Penn's best hope at Lightweight might be one of those situations where Edgar can't beat Maynard, Maynard can't beat Penn and Penn can't beat Edgar, so the belt "hotcakes" its way around.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 07:14 PM on November 22, 2010
"No thanks. From the perspective of fairness it might be best but who wants to see that again?"
I don't. I like Machida - he seems a genuine and respectful fighter who wants to improve - but his natural Shotokan style mixed with being a southpaw means he's very awkward for people to close down and after the pair of fights against Mauricio Rua he seemed to be leaning back and back-footing it even more against Rampage.
I hope Rua beats Evans, so we can fast forward straight to a Machida-Evans rematch with the winner facing the winner of Rua-Jackson.
The good news is Dana White has said he sees no need for a rematch.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 07:28 PM on November 22, 2010
Rick Reilly on Michael Vick. I know there are a few in here who will vehemently disagree with Mr. Reilly.
posted by boredom_08 at 12:53 AM on November 23, 2010
The hidden cost of double plays in player analysis (in re: Jim Rice).