12/04/24
May 26, 2015
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.
WAT
posted by ursus_comiter at 08:53 AM on May 26, 2015
Houston, where the fans are dumber than a chicken.
posted by ursus_comiter at 08:54 AM on May 26, 2015
.
posted by yerfatma at 09:16 AM on May 26, 2015
The Houston tic-tac-toe fans can take solace that it happens to the professionals, as well:
Physical activity + public performance = almost flubbing a simple task
posted by grum@work at 10:28 AM on May 26, 2015
Tic Tac D'oh
Now I understand why von Braun's group weighed their options and decided to take their chances in Huntsville. I had always thought it was the mosquitoes.
Back in the pre-orbital days, they had locals like these available and sent dogs and chimps up into space instead?
posted by beaverboard at 10:35 AM on May 26, 2015
Truly, this is all about the Xs and Os.
Huntsville was picked by the army (NASA had nothing to do with it at first) because of the real estate available at Redstone Arsenal. The place is huge, and it has several miles of frontage along the Tennessee River that serves well as a heat sink for the testing of rocket engines. The base itself was once quite remote from settled areas; not so any more. I spent a total of about a year down there over the course of about 7 years, and it's one of the few places in the South I would consider living in. The influx of professionals into the area for the space program meant that the infrastructure developed strongly. There are 3 universities in the city, some really good restaurants, and Nashville is just a little over an hour away.
Dogs and chimps were used originally because they couldn't trust the locals in Houston not to screw up the rocket flight.
posted by Howard_T at 12:10 PM on May 26, 2015
There is still a lot of German bloodline legacy in Huntsville from what I can tell. Families from there would vacation in So. Florida when I worked odd jobs near tourist "destinations".
As an 18 year old boy, after the third or fourth stunning blond girl who was taller than me and looked like she was ready to do a decathlon said that she and her family were from Huntsville, that just about popped the squatchee off of my Castrol cap.
"Yes ma'am, we'll have this tire fixed in no time. After I get the rim sealed, the durn thing's liable to pump its own self up for all I know. And once it gets up to the right pressure, it'll stay there, I gare-on-tee it."
posted by beaverboard at 01:01 PM on May 26, 2015
On the redesigned ESPN home page, is Soccer always the first sport link alongside the main site logo? It seems like the sport is getting considerably more play on the new ESPN site.
posted by rcade at 01:27 PM on May 26, 2015
No, it lists "NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAAF, NHL, Soccer . . . " for me. I think it may be powered by your Favorites* if you're logged in and have any listed.
Though my working theory is the redesign is a random text generator designed to maximize the space for Listicle ads.
* Given Everton's theory, they should either pick a better name than "Favorites" or I need to remove them to be honest with ESPN.
posted by yerfatma at 02:11 PM on May 26, 2015
I spent about a year in Huntsville one summer back in the '90s, and it amazes me that anything around it could ever be considered a heat sink.
posted by Etrigan at 02:26 PM on May 26, 2015
Swiss Precision: Several FIFA officials were arrested on corruption charges at their luxury hotel in Zurich in a well coordinated surprise operation.
posted by beaverboard at 12:45 AM on May 27, 2015
Houston Rocket Scientists.
If you can watch that without shouting at your screen, you're a better person than I.