04/24/24
April 04, 2012
SportsFilter: The Wednesday 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.
"However, the Ravens were 12-4, won the AFC North and were a Lee Evans dropped pass away from representing the AFC in the Super Bowl against the New York Giants."
I like that article, apoch, blamed the right guy for the loss instead of pinning it on the usual kicker scapegoat.
posted by scully at 09:03 AM on April 04, 2012
He's definitely a good quarterback, but number 1 in the league?
posted by apoch at 09:04 AM on April 04, 2012
There were times where he was plain awful this season. I wouldn't place him in the top 1/3 of the league.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 09:11 AM on April 04, 2012
Last year Eli came out and said he thought he was on par with Brady and a similar concussion joke was made.
So clearly you should bet your house on Baltimore.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 09:26 AM on April 04, 2012
Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson fully support your position.
posted by apoch at 10:07 AM on April 04, 2012
clearly you should bet your house on Baltimore
Eli had a few years where his team was poor collectively that made him look average. Last year the Giants were a good team (not great) that Eli carried to a Superbowl victory.
Since the day Flacco arrived at Baltimore they've had either the best or 2nd best defence in the league. They've been strong everywhere except their passing game. Flacco is a good fit in Baltimore and a decent / servicable QB. With the Ravens I'd place him in the top 1/3 - he controls the ball and wins games. In a passing oriented offense he'd rate significantly lower.
posted by cixelsyd at 10:09 AM on April 04, 2012
Tyler Seguin has fans like no one else.
posted by yerfatma at 10:33 AM on April 04, 2012
Tiger Wood's half-brother Kevin could use some help.
posted by yerfatma at 10:45 AM on April 04, 2012
So i guess family dinner isn't at Tiger's for Easter.
posted by Debo270 at 12:00 PM on April 04, 2012
Where are my high school sluts when I show up at hackathons!?!
posted by billsaysthis at 12:04 PM on April 04, 2012
Tiger Wood's half-brother Kevin could use some help.
Ugh. In the last 10 years or so, I've had a complete 180 degree view point on Rick Reilly. I used to love his back-of-the-issue pieces for Sports Illustrated.
Then I suddenly realized how biased, manipulative, and deceptive he can be when he wants to craft a story for a specific point of view.
This is one of those cases where he takes only one side of the story and forces the reader to assume the worst about the other side.
Since Tiger doesn't defend himself at all, we have to assume everything his half-siblings say is true.
posted by grum@work at 01:35 PM on April 04, 2012
Yeah, I felt really scummy posting a link from Reilly and I agree with what you say. It would just be nice for someone else who actually cares about journalism and ethics to follow up on the piece.
posted by yerfatma at 02:31 PM on April 04, 2012
Maybe Rachel Nichols can go camp out on Tiger's lawn until he reacts.
posted by feloniousmonk at 03:22 PM on April 04, 2012
Tyler Seguin has fans like no one else.
That's an interesting photograph. There are 3 people standing behind the sign. The one in the middle appears to be of an age where she might have done the deed for which the sign claims credit. The person on the right seems to be a bit too old to have done the deed unless she was a teacher or had to repeat more than a few grades. As for the person on the left --- IT'S A GUY! It leads to some very interesting speculation regarding Seguin's fandom (and other things about Tyler Seguin).
My son just walked in and told me that the sign was photo shopped. The original said something to the effect of "I wish I only got 2 minutes for hooking". Either way, it's funny.
posted by Howard_T at 05:27 PM on April 04, 2012
In Reilly's defense, I don't think there's a way to write that story without it seeming emotionally manipulative. A massively wealthy athlete is doing nothing to help a half-brother with MS, according to his siblings.
posted by rcade at 07:11 PM on April 04, 2012
In Reilly's defense, I don't think there's a way to write that story without it seeming emotionally manipulative.
He could, you know, not write/publish it until he gets an actual response from Tiger Woods.
What if the true story is that they treated Tiger like shit when he was a kid, since he was the offspring of the second wife? What if they crapped all over him until they realized he might be famous/rich? What if the only reason Tiger ever kept in contact with them was because his dad told him to, and hated doing so? Maybe Tiger isn't telling anyone this because he doesn't want to talk publicly about private family matters.
posted by grum@work at 07:17 PM on April 04, 2012
He could, you know, not write/publish it until he gets an actual response from Tiger Woods.
Then that would mean never writing the story at all, because Tiger is never going to comment. If I had that story I wouldn't sit on it forever. I don't know that I'd run it right before the Masters, though. That's pretty cold.
Stories that predate Kevin Woods' MS claim that the half-siblings were close through Tiger's college years. Kevin wrote a book on Tiger in 2001, so perhaps that's a reason for the falling out.
Considering the lengths my family of average means has gone to helping stricken relatives, I think it's pretty sad Tiger doesn't help his half-brother financially even if he doesn't want anything to do with him personally. But as you said, the back story here could explain why there's such an enormous rift.
posted by rcade at 07:35 PM on April 04, 2012
What if the only reason Tiger ever kept in contact with them was because his dad told him to, and hated doing so?
Given Earl walked away from the family and never looked back (at least according to some hazy memory I have of an article back in the '90s when I stil had an SI subscription), you're in danger of pulling a muscle trying to contort like that.
EDIT: I guess I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope, since CNN asked Tiger about this two years ago.
posted by yerfatma at 08:27 PM on April 04, 2012
Henry Kissinger and the 1978 World Cup.
posted by etagloh at 09:28 PM on April 04, 2012
Check out the title of Reilly's article:
We take care of our own
That quote is NOWHERE to be found in the article.
So that's Reilly's commentary on Woods, and he leads the article with his opinion. Which is what he's allowed to do, but starts to tilt the column towards being a hit piece rather than news.
Then there is this bit that he states in the middle of the article.
The three have stayed almost entirely out of public view. None of the three have written a book, and they are rarely quoted.
Except, as rcade pointed out, Kevin has written a book.
So Reilly is not only manipulative, he's straight up lying to the reader about the situation.
posted by grum@work at 09:45 PM on April 04, 2012
Typically, writers don't create their own headlines. He might be lying about the book, he might not know about it, or -- here's where it gets interesting -- it might never have been published.
I can't find a copy of that book anywhere, not even on the used bookseller ALibris. I can't find a review of it either.
posted by rcade at 11:20 PM on April 04, 2012
There aren't many circumstances under which I would welcome the mention of Dr. Kissinger's name here at SpoFi; this would be one of them. I was glad to have the opportunity to see the linked content.
Being filmed gladhanding with a figure as influential as Kissinger brought Argentina's violent right wing regime kudos and respect.
Hardly, I would say. Actually, the scenario should be interpreted the other way around: being seen with a figure such as General Videla furthered the image of Kissinger as a nefarious luminary who wasn't content with the works he had previously wrought in Allende's Chile, and couldn't keep himself from visiting the other side of the continent for further encounters with darkness.
posted by beaverboard at 11:58 PM on April 04, 2012
I miss having a real Opening Day in baseball, when there's a full slate of games and the first ones start early. The staggered start with two Japan games, one night game tonight, seven games Thursday and nine Friday is a meh way to start a season.
The Marlins and Cardinals didn't even start a series tonight. The Marlins have a game in Cincinnati tomorrow afternoon and the Cards play in Milwaukee Friday.
posted by rcade at 12:01 AM on April 05, 2012
The games in Japan were ridiculous. Absolutely stupid to start a season there at all, then wait days until the next regular season game even takes place? Yeah, baseball has really messed up what used to be one of my favorite days of the sports year (opening day).
posted by dyams at 08:05 AM on April 05, 2012
I miss having a real Opening Day in baseball
Agreed. The Japan thing doesn't bother me so much (as a fan, it was cool the year the Red Sox were involved) because if it's not your team, it doesn't even register, but the Opening Night thing feels a lot like an attempt to ape the NFL. Baseball is not football and it doesn't need or lend itself to that kind of spectacle: it's the start of a 162 game marathon, not a 16 game sprint, so a single game isn't particularly interesting.
And who the hell picks their opening game based on a garish new stadium and then jams their champions in their for a schedule-busting one-game series to try to justify it?
posted by yerfatma at 08:54 AM on April 05, 2012
I miss having a real Opening Day in baseball
*Cough* Bring back tradition *Cough*
I think that if I beat that horse dead enough, it might make a difference.
posted by tahoemoj at 11:09 AM on April 05, 2012
*Cough* Bring back tradition *Cough*
Perhaps we could have a William Howard Taft re-enactor to throw out the first ball (from the stands, please, not the mound), while a Greg Maddux impersonator prowls the outside of the stadium looking for victims.
I think that if I beat that horse dead enough, it might make a difference.
You have your opening days mixed up, maybe you were thinking of this one?
posted by Howard_T at 03:12 PM on April 05, 2012
I just heard back in email from Kevin Woods' coauthor on My Brother Tiger. The book was never published because the publisher went bankrupt.
posted by rcade at 04:20 PM on April 05, 2012
Head injury situation worse in the NFL than previously thought.