04/23/24
July 19, 2012
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.
I was looking to get me a Ripper's hat before they went out of business. It would go well with my London Monarchs ball cap from a few years ago.
posted by grum@work at 09:45 AM on July 19, 2012
Going up the final "Hors Categorie" climb of the tour the leading pair were joined by a spectator running alongside who was wearing a polka dot handkerchief on his head and a tiny green thong.
So one head was King of the Mountains and the other was the points leader. Apparently.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 09:53 AM on July 19, 2012
Brett Lawrie avoids major injury after fall
posted by tommybiden at 10:01 AM on July 19, 2012
Philly Throws a Monster Offer Sheet at Shea Weber. This, in the same week that the league told the NHLPA that they want 5 year maximum length contracts, with all 5 years having the same pay.
posted by NoMich at 10:07 AM on July 19, 2012
That should be the tour settled today then, barring accidents.
Nibali's Liquigas team kept the peloton pace consistently high today in the hope of testing certain rider's mettle and it turned out to be Nibali who paid for it, as a late break a couple KMs from the top of the final climb dropped Nibali off the back and allowed Froome and Wiggins to escape.
The two British riders finished second and third and gained about 18 seconds on Nibali with a Time Trial coming up and those are Wiggins' meat and drink.
Last year's winner Cadel Evans broke yesterday, but he seemed to be doing a good job of staying nailed to the Yellow group today, until an attack from Team Lotto just broke him and he ended up losing another couple minutes.
Froome could probably have had a stage win today, but he chose to hang about and stick with Wiggins, even though it looked like Wiggins was telling him to go for it. I expect Froome to bank this karma and turn it into a leader spot and a chance to win the tour for Sky next year.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 12:07 PM on July 19, 2012
NoMich, was thinking the same thing after seeing the headline. Not the players job to protect the owners from themselves, as many others have argued over the years--before the unions and CBAs no one protected the players from the owners after all.
posted by billsaysthis at 01:08 PM on July 19, 2012
After being on a European cruise for 12 days, I've come to realize how easy it is to get disconnected from North American sports when 90% of it happens after you go to sleep. The only things I could watch live (on ESPN or ESPN2, when I had down time) was Wimbledon and Tour de France.
Early afternoon baseball games (1:00pm ET) would be on at 7:00/8:00pm (depending where the ship was at that time), and anything after that was simply too late to start watching.
So what about watching the highlights the next morning?
Fuck. That.
As I've mentioned before, ESPN Sportscenter is both Asperger-esque in it's concentration on just one subject (Jeremy Lin & Dwight Howard every 5 minutes) and ADHD for everything else (20 seconds of baseball highlights, but never more than 2 games in a row).
What was the European afternoon filled with? North American morning sports talk shows! I can't believe how much air time they give to Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless. They are seen/heard almost all morning, either as a guest on some other show, or their own "Concentrated Shit Sandwich Show". I'm surprised the "host" of that show (First Take, I think?) doesn't have a wind-burned face from those blowhards going off all the time. I couldn't watch more than 30 seconds of it each day before I'd turn the channel.
The most galling moment I saw on ESPN was the day after the MLB All-Star Game. One of the Sportscenter anchors mentioned how there weren't any meaningful games to talk about. "No grown men, being paid to play sports, at all." Except, he said, his producer found something to show highlights for: an MLS game between Toronto and Vancouver. "Wait a minute? There are Canadian soccer teams? When did that happen? Who let them in?"
Is the ignorance real, or is it possible one of their talking heads on ESPN doesn't even know the basics about one of the sports leagues?
posted by grum@work at 06:18 PM on July 19, 2012
Froome could probably have had a stage win today, but he chose to hang about and stick with Wiggins, even though it looked like Wiggins was telling him to go for it.
He was, but Froome thought that if Wiggins could get a second wind, they both had the chance to reel in Valverde. Judging from the live pics and the press conferences, once they'd dropped Nibali on the final climb, the immensity of it all hit Wiggins and threw him off his stride a bit. In any other year, he'd be a lock for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year; I still hope he gets it, regardless of the Olympics.
Is the ignorance real, or is it possible one of their talking heads on ESPN doesn't even know the basics about one of the sports leagues?
I'm never sure if it's just house style for a dumb jock audience or genuine jock ignorance; either way, the ESPN Deportes anchors must think their colleagues are idiots.
posted by etagloh at 07:48 PM on July 19, 2012
I can't believe how much air time they give to Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless
Good god ...
I hope the cruise was otherwise enjoyable.
posted by cixelsyd at 08:11 PM on July 19, 2012
Now you know how the rest of the world regards ESPN.
posted by owlhouse at 09:09 PM on July 19, 2012
Maybe I'm stating the obvious but, um, grum, you're on a vacation cruise and watching TV, WTF???
posted by billsaysthis at 09:28 PM on July 19, 2012
I'm never sure if it's just house style for a dumb jock audience or genuine jock ignorance
As Orwell put it:
"But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts."
posted by JJ at 07:40 AM on July 20, 2012
Maybe I'm stating the obvious but, um, grum, you're on a vacation cruise and watching TV, WTF???
I'm not a sun worshipper (fair skinned), and during the down time between shore excursions, meals, evening swims, and other on-board activities, I'd be in my cabin relaxing. I'd watch about one to two hours of TV a day.
posted by grum@work at 07:51 AM on July 20, 2012
London Rippers fail to pay rent, an update on a story from last November