12/21/24
January 28, 2015
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.
RIP Bill Monbouquette, a Boston legend.
From the NYT obit, a snippet of Monbo's retelling of how he struck out Luis Aparicio to wrap up his no-hitter. I just about croaked when I got to the historical reference.
"It was Aug 1, 1962," Monbouquette recalled to The Boston Globe in 2008. "I had Aparicio 0 and 2 and threw him a slider off the plate. He tried to hold up, and I thought he went all the way. The umpire, Bill McKinley, called it a ball, and as I was getting the ball back from the catcher, someone shouted from the stands, They shot the wrong McKinley.' I had to back off the mound because I had a little chuckle to myself."
posted by beaverboard at 07:11 PM on January 28, 2015
I'm posting on the NFL Pick 'em post tomorrow. If anyone has bonus categories they'd like to see, fire away.
posted by rcade at 07:58 PM on January 28, 2015
Over/Under Marshawn Lynch Crotch Grabs
posted by tommybiden at 08:21 PM on January 28, 2015
Since it's just the one game, we should add more questions and fun gimmicks (like the weather one you had for GB) that expand the questions, especially in ways that don't rely on a specific winner.
I'm assuming we'll have winner and spread, and some "most" categories for players and team, eg Most rushing yards and amount, Most recieving etc. The reason for the non-team-specific points is with one game, I'm either doing a straight NE or SEA pick, or watering down my score by splitting my choice since if a team wins overall they probably led in several areas as well.
Here's one: in addition to the usual winner and spread, pick the total points scored by quarter. 2 points for each quarter you get exactly right, 1 point for each quarter you're within that 30% range (or maybe lower, since you aren't specifying a team). It's like a modified over/under spread pick, by quarter.
Here's another: time of possession. Pick the team that will have the highest TOP for regulation (1 point), and the margin either way (1 point within 3 minutes, 2 points within 1 minute) preferably without needing to also have specified the team.
Those sorts of things- fun, and varied enough that simply betting everything on a blowout either way isn't a guaranteed victory or loss.
posted by hincandenza at 08:23 PM on January 28, 2015
How about ball pressure at the end of the game -- 2 selections, one for each team.
Another nonsensical option would be the length of the halftime, or at least an over/under.
posted by Howard_T at 10:44 PM on January 28, 2015
Last night was Manute Bol Bobblehead night at Oracle Arena, home of the Golden State Warriors. In addition to the 10,000 10" Bol Bobbles (notably taller than average bobbleheads), they had a life-sized 7'7" version made for fans to pose with.