12/03/24
September 19, 2016
SportsFilter: The Monday 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.
How many WTFs can you count in this video of a play during the Texas/Cal game on Saturday night?
posted by NoMich at 09:06 AM on September 19, 2016
How many WTFs...
This drives me nuts. Oklahoma's KR did the same thing against Ohio State, though no one noticed until after the next kickoff. Why are guys in such a hurry to drop the ball?!
That said, I do not understand how the refs came to the decision to give Cal the ball at the 1 yard line.
posted by bender at 09:18 AM on September 19, 2016
Anyone else see Adrian Peterson hopping through a restaurant on his way to the locker room?
posted by rcade at 11:49 AM on September 19, 2016
Must be a Five Guys joint.
posted by beaverboard at 12:41 PM on September 19, 2016
Watching the Rams game flashed me back to seeing games as a kid.
That's how pro and college football looked on the Magnavox back in the 1970s: a giant sea of people with no aisles and no luxury.
And we liked it.
posted by rcade at 03:13 PM on September 19, 2016
And the uniforms - are the Rams going back to their great old color scheme? I sure hope so. The newer "St. Louis" colors have always looked like the lobby of an office building by comparison. Muted brushed bronze, drained of all vibrancy and personality - corporate vanilla. Ugh.
posted by beaverboard at 05:34 PM on September 19, 2016
corporate vanilla
I don't want to nitpick here, but I think the other color is some shade of blue, and not "corporate vanilla," a lovely eggshell-esque shade that I just painted my entire house with last weekend.
posted by tahoemoj at 05:47 PM on September 19, 2016
Pardon the ramblings of an old man, but I felt like throwing this into the discussion to see what happens. One of the benefits of retirement is having entire afternoons with nothing really constructive to do. Today I killed the afternoon by watching the NBA Channel's broadcast of the 1976 Finals between Boston and Phoenix. Game 5 was the triple overtime thriller. It's not the first time I had seen this, and a study of this game is required in order to pass Celtics Fandom 101. (Trick question on the midterm: Identify Glenn McDonald and write a short essay on his contribution to the season.) Game 5 was one of the standout games in Celtics' history, and game 6, the series clincher in Phoenix, had its moments as well, so watching the games 40 years later was still a lot of fun.
As good as the games were, what piqued my interest today was the play-by-play work of one Brent Mussberger. As I said, this was 40 years ago, and at that time, Mussberger was actually pretty good. If fact, his work during the triple-overtime game could be called outstanding. He yelled loudly when he should have, delivered a calm commentary when needed, and was pretty close to spot on with his calls.
My point in this whole thing is that Mussberger has become something of a joke as a play-by-play announcer. This is really sad because he once was right at the top of the game. So it is with the ravages of time, and the moral (if there is one) to the story is that we should never run a guy down when his abilities begin to slip. This is also true of those who still perform as well as they ever did, but whose style is considered out of date. When you are tempted to do this, take a look back at what these guys once did and marvel at it.
posted by Howard_T at 10:04 PM on September 19, 2016
You'll have to do some scrolling to find them all, but Bryan Curtis, late of Grantland, has been doing a number of articles on announcers for The Ringer. I have no idea why he got interested in talking to announcers, but there's some meat in there for discussing Musburger's fall. He certainly was a great one. I think sometimes announcers good enough to last get too comfortable in a gig and start letting their facade fall away.
That or they bite a woman in the back during sex.
posted by yerfatma at 08:54 AM on September 20, 2016
Anyone else see Adrian Peterson hopping through a restaurant on his way to the locker room?
Years ago, I had a private tour of Sporting KC home stadium, which has a restaurant for VIP season ticket holders that "doubles" as the tunnel between the home team's locker room and the field. When I saw that clip of Peterson, my thought was U.S. Bank Stadium has the same feature.
posted by prof at 10:17 AM on September 20, 2016
I think sometimes announcers good enough to last get too comfortable in a gig and start letting their facade fall away.
I definitely see this in Musburger. I have watch a few games where one moment you hear a glimpses of greatness which is followed a minute later by a WTF moment
posted by prof at 10:43 AM on September 20, 2016
I think sometimes announcers good enough to last get too comfortable in a gig and start letting their facade fall away.
That's certainly one possibility. Another one is that they are never comfortable with what they are and what they can do. They start trying to come up with something new or better, and when it falls flat, they begin to look vulnerable. It snowballs from there.
Somehow I've never been tempted to take a healthy bite out of some lady's back. It might be because I do not prefer the position required to execute the maneuver. Of course lately I have no opportunity to use any position. It's hell to get old.
posted by Howard_T at 10:20 PM on September 20, 2016
Could someone bring a Box O' Joe to Pats OC Josh McDaniels. Poor man was up all night designing a Gronk-Edelman-Troy Brown-Mike Vick wishbone package in case Houston puts the hammer to Brissett this Thursday.