04/18/24
November 20, 2014
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.
**golf clap**
posted by bender at 11:46 AM on November 20, 2014
Bravo Ontario.
Christina Aguilera...Roseanne Barr...Josh Groban...Carl Lewis...Steven Tyler...
Your voices just took one hell of a beating.
(Apologies to Lillelien)
posted by beaverboard at 12:20 PM on November 20, 2014
MLB Roster Lineage -- surprised grum did not get to this first.
posted by holden at 02:59 PM on November 20, 2014
Ha! I tried something similar with NHL teams. I wasn't looking for the longest link on a specific team, but the longest chain I could find in the NHL. Is there a player in the NHL right now that can be linked through trades/traded picks all the way back to the 70s? Or further?
It's tough to do because hockey-reference.com doesn't have complete transaction history, especially for things like expansion drafts and supplemental picks.
Example:
I know that Guy Lafleur* was picked in an Sharks/North Stars expansion draft by the Minnesota North Stars in 1991, and then traded back to Quebec by the Stars for Alan Haworth. Except, Haworth's page doesn't make any mention of that deal, so what else might be missing?
*I use Guy Lafleur as an example because he was picked by Montreal with a traded draft pick in 1971, played for a long time (retired, came back), was in a deal for a player (Sergei Zubov) that played for a while (until 2009). So I have a link of 1971-2009 (38 years).
posted by grum@work at 03:35 PM on November 20, 2014
Here's one that I got just dicking around with Wikipedia for the Washington Caps (started by looking at Shanahan and the Devils, as he was involved in some notable transactions, but ended up with Scott Stevens as an earlier entry point):
Washington Capitals: 1982 (Scott Stevens) to 2014 (Michael Latta)
Transaction History:
- Caps selected Scott Stevens 5th in 1982 draft --->
- for whom they received draft-pick compensation from St. Louis due to his restricted FA status, one of which (Sergei Gonchar was one of the others) they used on Brendan Witt --->
- who was traded in 2006 to Nashville for Kris Beech and a 2006 first-round pick, which they used on Semyon Varlamov --->
- who was traded in 2011 to the Avs for, among other picks, a 2012 first-round pick, which they used on Filip Forsberg --->
- who they traded to the Predators in 2013 for Michael Latta (has played in 14 games for the Caps this year) and Martin Erat (who they subsequently traded to the Coyotes for Chris Brown, who has played 5 games for the Caps this year, plus Rotislav Klesla (currently playing in the Czech League) plus a 2015 fourth-round pick)
You can get some better ones in the NHL than MLB I think because of the trading of draft picks. Sure there are longer ones than this.
posted by holden at 04:25 PM on November 20, 2014
I never heard this Bill Cosby story before. It's unrelated to the current allegations, but doesn't speak well of his character at all.
posted by rcade at 05:51 PM on November 20, 2014
There is some text missing in the Scott Stevens lineage above, namely that he left the Caps for St. Louis as a free agent in 1990, which should have been noted in the second bullet.
posted by holden at 06:28 PM on November 20, 2014
Cricket, like baseball, seems to bring out the best in sportswriters. Although I think cricket does humour mixed with atmosphere better.
/Maybe I'm just missing Australia, with summer on the way and the thwack of leather on willow...
posted by owlhouse at 08:50 PM on November 20, 2014
The Jack Johnson story is sad. How could parents do that to their kid?
Owly: don't tell us, you're in Buffalo right now. Are you going to be home in time for the World Cup? Speaking of which: can any of our resident billionaires spot me a few bucks so I can spend a few months in Australia and New Zealand for said World Cup?
posted by NoMich at 09:32 PM on November 20, 2014
Nice read, owly. My 'Bajan mom would not be happy about a thrashing of the West Indies team, but then it's still cricket. While I should not be, I was a bit surprised that the women's game is popular in Australia. Is this true in the rest of the world?
posted by Howard_T at 10:26 PM on November 20, 2014
NoMich: I'll be looking for my local cable provider (Lao Digital TV) to get me Star Cricket, but I don't hold out much hope. There are a couple of Indian guys who run a curry house here, so they might have something lined up for diners and guests.
Howard: The women's game is getting more popular in Australia and New Zealand, but doesn't get much media coverage. Ellyse Perry (mentioned in the article) is probably Australia's greatest living sportsperson - she also plays in the women's national football team, the Matildas. She'll be at the World Cup in Canada next year.
posted by owlhouse at 11:42 PM on November 20, 2014
MLB Roster Lineage
Ken Ryan → Heathcliff Slocumb → Derek Lowe → Craig Hansen → Jason Bay → Brandon Workman/Anthony Ranaudo
And I had such high hopes for Ranaudo. Someone needs to do a George Washington and chop that tree down before it poisons the Fenway bullpen permanently.
Man, Ken Ryan was The Next Big Thing: local kid from Pawtucket who dominated AAA like no one I can remember (he had some amazing scoreless streak where he went like 30 innings, as a reliever, without letting the ball out of the infield). Ah, who am I kidding, I can remember Tomo Okha and a bunch of other Never Wases.
posted by yerfatma at 11:20 AM on November 21, 2014
At least something good came out of the thrashing the Leafs took on Tuesday night: