11/05/24
October 19, 2013
SportsFilter: The Saturday 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 hope the Cardinals kick some AL ass so everyone can continue to hate the Cardinals for things like: Having passionate fans and embracing the franchises history and all that mean, terrible stuff that people seem so pissed about. Guess the new fad here is to couple on to your favorite deadspin writer and pretend its a song you've been singing all along. But the fancy music and words aren't fooling anyone, really. It just boils down to "your team sucks and I hope they lose, because my team isn't playing anymore this season". Funny thing is, the reason for this new found irritation seemingly has very little to do with the actual game of baseball, and more with how the flyover state conducts it's business. Huh. Whatever. I promise if I get to celebrate a 12 th WS in a couple weeks, I won't be considering your feelings at all. It's fucking baseball.
posted by BoKnows at 12:31 PM on October 19, 2013
I just want the Cards to lose because I'm a Rangers fan twice one strike from a World Series championship. That's some bitter beer.
The knock on the Cards isn't that they have passionate fans. It's that they are fans of themselves as fans, sports journalists are fans of them as fans, and there's a tolerable limit of that the other 29 fanbases could be expected to endure before it becomes a good reason to enjoy their misfortune.
If misfortune ever were to befall the franchise, of course. But it doesn't seem to be in the cards.
posted by rcade at 01:33 PM on October 19, 2013
Baseball really can be such an intolerably sanctimonious sport.
posted by feloniousmonk at 01:50 PM on October 19, 2013
I won't be considering your feelings at all. It's fucking baseball.
Not even the teeniest touch of schadenfreude for Albert Pujols? :-)
posted by owlhouse at 04:18 PM on October 19, 2013
Ok, maybe a little for Pujols. But that's it.
posted by BoKnows at 04:34 PM on October 19, 2013
continue to hate the Cardinals for things like: Having passionate fans
Wouldn't it be more accurate to say the hate is for people who think they are the only team with a passionate fanbase? And let's talk about that passion. If Boston gets dinged every time a fan of a Boston sports team says something racist on Twitter after a loss, let's at least acknowledge the torrent of homophobia and racism coming out of a St. Louis win. As a fan of Boston sports teams I'm going to offer a small bit of advice from a coastal state: ignore the haters because they target whomever is winning, but also acknowledge that every team has sub-human shits of fans who spoil things for the rest of the bunch. Don't try to protect the shield, just enjoy the run and don't read the comments.
posted by yerfatma at 04:42 PM on October 19, 2013
Wouldn't it be more accurate to say the hate is for people who think they are the only team with a passionate fanbase?
I agree with that. I personally can appreciate one's individual love for their team - as I have my own. I don't think I've ever heard anyone suggest that the Card's fans are the only passionate fanbase in baseball. I didn't hear that while growing up in StL, and not since I've moved. But having those other fanbases complain because StL loves it's team so, so much, is silly. I love my team and hate yours, but I don't hate your team because of it's fans. There are plenty of other reasons for that. :)
posted by BoKnows at 04:55 PM on October 19, 2013
ignore the haters because they target whomever is winning, but also acknowledge that every team has sub-human shits of fans who spoil things for the rest of the bunch. Don't try to protect the shield, just enjoy the run and don't read the comments.
This.
It use to bother me too. Still does a little bit, but best to ignore it. The Boston fan base went from lovable losers, to hated, in a matter of a few years (04-07). I haven't changed, so that's really strange. Of course, any team that suddenly wins gains band wagon fans, and that's annoying of course. But the base is still the same.
But screw it. I'd rather win. My father spent 50 years rooting for a team that never won. I'm sure he would have traded the lovable loser label for a championship. And I feel lucky to have witnessed 2 world championships. Because I know at any time the Red Sox could go another 80 years in futility. They've done it before.
Look at it this way, any fan that is spending time complaining about your team/fan base is probably a fan of a team that yours has been kicking their ass. Your team is probably in the playoffs, and theirs is probably on a golf course. Rays fans get on my nerves (all 3 of them), but I know that's because they've been a thorn in Boston's side for a while now more than anything else. Every team has annoying fans, winning teams just have more.
I'm getting to watch the Red Sox in some amazingly exciting playoff games. Maybe they make it to the WS, maybe they don't. But the chance and experience is worth a thousand "I don't care who wins the WS, as long as it isn't the Red Sox" remarks. Like the kids say: "Haterz gonna hate" (or something like that).
posted by justgary at 06:18 PM on October 19, 2013
Is this right? Michigan had a receiver with 369 yards today? What th'?
posted by NoMich at 09:04 PM on October 19, 2013
With 63 points on the board, I'm surprised there was only one.
posted by Etrigan at 09:23 PM on October 19, 2013
Ok, maybe a little for Pujols and a little for rcade's bitter brew, but that's all. What do you think I'm some kind of jerk or something?
posted by BoKnows at 09:31 PM on October 19, 2013
posted by grum@work at 11:02 PM on October 19, 2013
You need to do a mashup between that Gif and the Mark Sanchez butt fumble.
posted by jeremias at 11:07 PM on October 19, 2013
Fielder has been awful in the playoffs. He has made a career out of finishing the season in September, regardless of whether his team is still playing in October.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 11:53 PM on October 19, 2013
I watched that gif while listening to LaVern Baker and you know, try it for yourself, it's pretty good.
posted by Hugh Janus at 11:58 PM on October 19, 2013
That play was just absurd- as was the Victorino slam. The announcing for the World Series is going to rough to listen to, with the dim witted McCarver and a homer like Buck on the crew.
posted by hincandenza at 12:31 AM on October 20, 2013
Ignoring the complete brain freeze by Fielder when he was running towards home plate (seriously...he was at least half way there when he stopped), I understand what he was trying to do when he dove there.
He wasn't trying to magically leap towards the bag and failing Willie Mays Hayes-style.
He was hoping to make contact with that Red Sox player standing near third base, and getting the (almost) automatic "interference" call from the umpire.
posted by grum@work at 12:42 AM on October 20, 2013
And some wonder why it's called "The Beautiful Game".
posted by grum@work at 12:44 AM on October 20, 2013
I feel bad for Tigers starters, having to walk off the mound trusting that bullpen to make big pitches.
Thinking about what Fielder will be like as he ages into his current contract is an ugly thought. Pedroia had to be as happy as a defensive player could ever be seeing a 400 pound mass caught between third and home. Smaller guys charge home and plow over the catcher; Fielder, who's the size of a small car, gets in a rundown and slides (?) back to third, stopping 10 feet from the base?
I agree about the World Series announcers. Fans should get to vote for who they'd want to call these games. You might as well bring Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, and Whitey Herzog in as commentators.
posted by dyams at 07:48 AM on October 20, 2013
"And some wonder why it's called "The Beautiful Game"."
I presume that was Wilshire's goal against Norwich. Videos of that are going to be killed by the Premier League every time they find it, so it's gone already. But here's another one. For ten minutes.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 10:40 AM on October 20, 2013
Is anyone else dumbfounded by how some leagues don't provide shareable game highlights, either from the league itself or a game licensee? They're passing up billions in views and likes.
posted by rcade at 12:27 PM on October 20, 2013
Fielder has been awful in the playoffs. He has made a career out of finishing the season in September
I watched Fielder a couple of times when he was playing for the Huntsville (Alabama) Stars in AA. His reputation was one of being a feared slugger, and indeed he could put on a show in BP, but his performance in games, while pretty good, didn't seem to bear it out. With the Tigers he looks like a caricature of the over sized, can't get out of his own way hitter.
Detroit was a 2-dimensional team in the playoffs. Their power numbers were excellent during the season, and their starting pitching was outstanding - and that's an understatement. While Boston's starters were not as good and their power numbers were somewhat overshadowed by Detroit's, Boston had a number of other things in their game toward which they could turn.
posted by Howard_T at 01:14 PM on October 20, 2013
his performance in games, while pretty good, didn't seem to bear it out
Unless we're talking exclusively about his fielding, the numbers don't bear that out. And the "Mr. September" tag only applies for the last two years: he carried the 2011 Brewers in the playoffs.
He still looked like a beaching manatee in that play.
posted by yerfatma at 08:41 AM on October 21, 2013
Now I'm really ready for either AL team, any team, to level the Cardinals in the World Series. I want to see 'em humiliated.
At first, the published drivel painting the NLCS as a battle between the righteous Cards and the undesirable Dodgers seemed like homerism.
Then, it grew to be a more widely bandied theme.
Now, the New York Times has bought into this rubbish by running the following subhead for Tyler Kepner's article on the Cardinals' pennant-clinching win, which appears on the front page of the NYT website this morning:
St. Louis was eager to eliminate the Los Angeles Dodgers for a lot of reasons. Lifting Carlos Beltran to his first World Series was one of them.
In the article, they don't reference any of the other reasons, which is bullshit. They just talk about Beltran. Teasing and hooking their way into what some idiot editor assumes is prevailing national sentiment.
I did not think that the Dodgers-Cardinals series was going to turn into a culture war pitting Frank Zappa and Allen Iverson against Norman Rockwell and Orrin Hatch.