12/21/24
November 18, 2014
SportsFilter: The Tuesday 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.
Haven't even finished the article yet but I knew I had to link this for the embedded video showing some cool stats related to a Jason Heyward grab. Why can't ESPN's odious "Sports Science™*" be more like this.
* Does not contain actual science but science-like extruded polymer product not shown to cause cancer in most** laboratory rats.
** Before you ask about R or P values, we had our sports scientists handle the study's controls.
posted by yerfatma at 01:51 PM on November 18, 2014
Yeah, I want to turn the lights down low, throw on some Barry White, and get comfortable with those MLB Statcast Player Tracking videos. If I were to somehow get access to the raw data, I'd probably quit my job and just waste away in front of the computer while playing with the info.
posted by grum@work at 03:11 PM on November 18, 2014
Why should an adult fan who has caught a football tossed into the stands feel obligated to give it to another adult fan?
posted by rcade at 07:17 PM on November 18, 2014
Looked to me like an interception. He jumped the route. Footage of that takeaway is being sent to all NFC South secondaries to be used in meetings as a motivational tool. Cue the "U Can't Touch This" soundtrack.
posted by beaverboard at 08:00 PM on November 18, 2014
Who dat steals from who dey. History repeats.
posted by NoMich at 10:45 PM on November 18, 2014
Why should an adult fan who has caught a football tossed into the stands feel obligated to give it to another adult fan?
That's one way of framing the question. Another would be to mention a player from the visiting team was trying to get a souvenir to a fan of his team and this guy jumped between. He shouldn't feel obligated to return it but he should feel like a dick and I feel like the story about his grandson in a different section is a ret-conned Canadian Girlfriend tale.
posted by yerfatma at 09:35 AM on November 19, 2014
The assumption he doesn't have a grandson is framing too.
I can understand the scorn heaped on an adult for denying a souvenir to a child. But here, it's two adults. The people between the Bengals player and the woman didn't owe her the catch.
Would it have been nice to give it to her since she's a Bengals fan and he isn't? Yes. Does the guy deserve to be called a thief and plenty of other things because he chose not to be nice? No.
posted by rcade at 01:21 PM on November 19, 2014
If he'd knocked it out of her hands before she sat down, it wouldn't be a fumble recovery, either. Gresham was clearly giving it to her, not attempting a pass into coverage.
posted by Etrigan at 01:54 PM on November 19, 2014
Gresham was clearly giving it to her, not attempting a pass into coverage.
If you toss a football into a crowd of people, your desire to give it to a specific recipient is open for misunderstanding.
posted by rcade at 02:32 PM on November 19, 2014
The assumption he doesn't have a grandson is framing too.
Right, but that's me being a dick here in the forum and nothing to do with how he ought to feel. Legislate it however you like and I'm open to the idea you're more frustrated with the overblown backlash (Wilbon on PTI suggested his 90 year-old father would have "kicked the Saints' fan's butt" if he'd been at the stadium). My take is completely informed by the warping Catholic school gave me: it doesn't matter whether the woman was "owed the catch". The Bengals fan doesn't enter in to it. All that matters is the guy's intent and what he perceived the situation to be. If he honestly thought a Bengals player was running to that particular space in an away stadium to give a ball to anyone who wanted it, then he's in the clear.
posted by yerfatma at 03:08 PM on November 19, 2014
If "L'avion" is French for airplane, I guess that La'Veon is Yinzer for 18 wheeler.
Wish I cold have gone to Primanti Bros. last night to see if they were running a Roesthlisberger-Mettenberger special. Lord knows how unmanageable that sandwich would be.