March 04, 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.

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 9 comments

Daniel Murphy starts off by saying a weird thing about Billy Bean - "I do disagree with the fact that Billy is a homosexual" - but then actually says something relatively enlightened - "I just think that as a believer trying to articulate it in a way that says just because I disagree with the lifestyle doesn't mean I'm just never going to speak to Billy Bean every time he walks through the door. That's not love. That's not love at all."

posted by dfleming at 09:01 AM on March 04, 2015

I'm glad the Mets and MLB are doing this but as Alderson says there's more to be done. Murphy's comments are odd but then his command of English is apparently not as strong as his ball playing, net net his stance is far more welcoming than I'd have expected. (Example to the contrary: AL county stops issuing all marriage licenses.)

posted by billsaysthis at 11:41 AM on March 04, 2015

... his command of English is apparently not as strong as his ball playing ...

He's from Jacksonville and appears quite often on a local sports talk station here. He's quite intelligent, well-spoken and funny. I'd say his comments here are articulated poorly because his position is so freaking lame. "Yeah, we love you gay people, but we hate that you are gay -- because Jesus! -- and think it is a lifestyle instead of an intrinsic part of your being, but know that we love you and God loves you too but hates all of your gay. K thx bye!"

posted by rcade at 12:26 PM on March 04, 2015

That's more or less making an auction out of bowl and playoff games, which is probably happening on the black market anyways - now it's just the university keeping the money.

You can log in to your loyalty account and see how much of a donation you need to make in order to move up in the rankings - but, keep in mind, someone else might go above you yet again! Better give more just in case!

It irks me the idea that, if this succeeds, in order to go to anything special I'm going to need to create an account that tracks me and rewards me for being a good boy in the future. Maybe I'm not a normal customer (as they claim this is responding to fan desires), but all I want in terms of customer service is to pay a fair price to go to a thing, not to add more game theory to my weekends.

posted by dfleming at 12:27 PM on March 04, 2015

The quote "I do disagree with the fact that Billy is a homosexual" is oddly worded, and out of context I thought Murphy was effectively saying "As a factual matter, I do not believe that Billy is gay."

posted by holden at 12:45 PM on March 04, 2015

"Getting the best seats for University of Texas sporting events will be based on a new loyalty points system tied to how much a fan donates or spends on tickets."

Isn't this effectively how it is already done at most large universities (maybe without the formal/transparent points calculations)?

posted by holden at 12:47 PM on March 04, 2015

Loved the ESPN video montage that ran while the Texas Assoc. AD was spouting his UT loyalty gospel. Mostly a whole lot of empty seats was what I saw. Some of 'em were real high quality seats too. That'll make everybody want to pay up without feeling foolish.

Poor old Texas official never knew what ESPN had done until he watched it on TV later that day and found out he had been made into the junior varsity version of Sarah Palin at the turkey farm.

Give the Horns a dolla and a haif and set way up high, then move down close once the game gets started. Don't go into the middle of a whole empty section by yourself. That'll bring too much attention. Try to sit near other people if you can.

posted by beaverboard at 01:35 PM on March 04, 2015

Never mind the Texas extortionists. Unlike baseball, football is more enjoyably watched on the teevee machine anyway. Just my thoughts on it.

posted by Scottymac at 03:05 PM on March 04, 2015

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