Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Saturday, January 24, 2015

High Class and No Class; Sports Edition

First, high class: Ernie Banks has died. If you lived in the Chicago area, even if you weren't a sports fan, you knew about Ernie Banks. He was a great ballplayer who played for one of the worst teams in the history of baseball. Banks was probably the best player never to play in a World Series. He loved the game.
"As I traveled around in baseball then and now, people would ask me, 'Is Ernie really like that? Is he really that happy all the time?'" said Billy Williams, a Hall of Fame outfielder and teammate of Banks from 1959 to 1972. "I always say, 'That was Ernie. He was that way every day.' He's the most positive guy I ever met. He loved playing the game. Maybe it came from playing in the Negro Leagues, where they had so much fun with the game. I just know that Ernie loved being at the ballpark. He was as genuine as they get."
Scott Simon's tribute is worth listening to.

And now, no class:
The [NFL] said evidence shows the [New England] Patriots used underinflated footballs during the first half of the AFC championship game Sunday night against the Indianapolis Colts.
The Patriots seem to have an allergy to playing clean. Cheating is apparently an institutional practice with them. Whatever edge they can take, fair or foul, clean or dirty, you can count on New England to grab it. The term "sportsmanship" means nothing to them.

Sports aren't war. A game isn't a small-unit battle. It's still a game and how you play it still matters. You can ask Mark McGuire or Barry Bonds about that, who will likely not be elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame until sometime after the heat death of the Universe.

Which is why there will be lots of column inches of praise and hours of remembrances on the sports channels for Mr. Cub. But when the Steroid-Sluggers or Coach Belicheat pass away, you'll see little of that.

11 comments:

3383 said...

Mark McGwire did not hide his use of andro in the late 80s- early 90s. When were steroids banned?

Old NFO said...

Cheaters never win in the long run... Period... Ernie Banks was always a class act. May he rest in peace!

Deadstick said...

OK, my football IQ is well below room temperature, so I just don't see how a change in the ball's performance creates an advantage for one side. Do the teams' skills or techniques differ that much?

Comrade Misfit said...

Nobody, other than the Kings of `Roids, has come close to matching Roger Maris's single-season home run record. I submit that, but for their use of steroids, Maris's record would still stand.

Footballs that are slightly deflated are easier to hold onto and catch. how that benefited the Patriots over the Colts, I have no idea.

CenterPuke88 said...

Over here, http://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/blog/?p=2932 , Is a rather fascinating study of the Patriots fumble stats. Something is going on, and maybe not just under inflated balls.

Anonymous said...

It benefitted the Patriots because the Colts' balls were inflated to regulation levels. Each team has their own balls. I doubt that it made much of a difference in that game. I think the fuss is related to the fact that it was the Patriots for the reasons E. B. states. There is more a belief that they "bend" the rules than evidence that they do. But I don't think you'd have to scrape the surface to deep to find other iffy activities.

Deadstick said...

OK, didn't realize they brought their own balls...surprised it didn't happen sooner. Kinda like bringing your own cards to a poker game.

Eck! said...

As some one that has done enough calibration work I can tell no one has the first notion of how
a pressure gage works and how the environment influences it.

First to claim a pressure change you must use the same gage or one that had the same calibration accuracy. then the vessel (football) must be at the same stabilized temperature and atmospheric pressure.

Also every time you measure the ball it takes a small amount of the air to inflate the tube in the gage and lowers the pressure inside a small increment.

Generally during play the ball will change hands if it were such an advantage why did the point spread end up as 38 points. Every time the Patriots made a touch down the ball changes hands and the Colts would hand it back.

Maybe we should lame the pats for rain and cold too!

Eck!

CenterPuke88 said...

Eck, amusingly enought, each team uses their "own" balls. The team has 12 balls that they provide and use during offensive plays. The possession changes, and that ball is taken back to the "owning" teams sideline and the other team now on offense sends in one of their balls.

The one thing the league controls is the "kicking" balls. 8 of those are provided by the league and must be used on kicking plays. The league got tired of hanky-panky with the kicking game balls...

Comrade Misfit said...

CP88, I expect that the rules will change (real soon now) and that the league will provide all of the balls. I wouldn't be surprised if that change is in effect for the Stuporbowl.

CenterPuke88 said...

Actually, the Chicago Bears equipment manager is arranging the SuperBowl ball thing. Should be interesting to see if the Patsies start fumbling. And, yes, the NFL will almost certainly step in, the question will be about ball prep.

MLB has the balls rubbed down with special dirt/mud, the NFL will need something similar. Next marketing opportunity, "Detroit, our mud makes the NFL drive!"