- 03:41 PM
- 05/19/12
| Name: | Howard Titus |
|---|---|
| Location: | Nashua, NH |
| ZIP: | 03062 |
| Gender: | Old Alpha Male, hoping no young stud steals the herd. |
| Member since: | April 08, 2006 |
| Last visit: | May 18, 2012 |
Howard_T has posted 29 links and 2099 comments to SportsFilter and 3 links and 242 comments to the Locker Room.
Looking Back at 100 Years of Baseball: From The Christian Science Monitor comes a look back at 10 seasons, every 10 years from 1912. If you have the time, look through all of it. Links to each of the covered seasons appear at the top of each page, so selecting a single season is easy. Lots of fun facts about the highlights of each season, such as the season long pitching duel in 1912 between Smoky Joe Wood and Walter Johnson, or pitcher Jim Tobin of the Boston Braves hitting 3 consecutive home runs in a game an 1942.
posted by Howard_T to baseball at 05:16 PM on April 05 - 0 comments
Cross Country Skiers, Don't Try This at Home.: 75 years ago a 2-man cross country ski race covered the 100 miles from Portland, ME, to Berlin, NH. That neither skier was seriously injured, and how the race was run is chronicled here.
posted by Howard_T to other at 02:00 PM on February 03 - 0 comments
400 for JoePa; How Long Will He Go?: Joe Paterno's 400th coaching victory came in a 35-21 comebacker over Northwestern. Paterno was hoisted onto the shoulders of his players and briefly carried before being met on the field by his wife and a mob of reporters and well-wishers. The milestone having been achieved, the question remains; when will JoePa decide he's had enough?
posted by Howard_T to football at 02:31 PM on November 07 - 7 comments
Does Bad Behavior Cost Athletes Big Bucks?: In a blog from forbes.com, the financial news magazine's web site, Kurt Badenhausen looks at the highest paid athletes and their popularity. Less than stellar behavior has already cost some, but others seem to "get away with it".
posted by Howard_T to general at 05:06 PM on September 17 - 0 comments
The Players Won't Be the Only Ones Scoring at the World Cup: Despite the link title, this is a very serious problem. I pulled liberty in Kenya some years ago, and we were warned that the HIV rate among prostitutes there was as high as 90%. Add to this the victimization of the women, and you have a first-rate disaster on your hands.
posted by Howard_T to soccer at 02:46 PM on May 13 - 2 comments
...half the asshole John Tortorella acts like?
I don't believe it's acting, he really is an asshole. If NJ pulls the upset in this series, I do believe Mr. Tortorella might be looking for other employment.
Belichick would not be burned in effigy. That means that some sort of representative stuffed dummy is burned. In Belichick's case, there would first be a vote over whether to burn him at the stake or to have him hanged, drawn, and quartered. In BB's case, he only fails to respond to stupid questions (or stupid questioners), while Tortorella fails to respond to every question.
posted by Howard_T at 03:41 PM on May 17
This does show the fallibility of umpires' judgment, but when I was in my apprentice year of umpiring, one of our instructors gave us a nice hint. This instructor was very experienced in amateur baseball, and he was good enough to have umpired at international championships. His tip was that if the catcher moved his glove toward the strike zone after the ball hit the glove, unless the pitch was clearly a strike, call the pitch a ball. I used this all the time I was umpiring, and very few catchers ever complained. To the few that did, I asked them if the pitch were a strike, why did they try to fool me by moving the glove? I never had one reply to that with anything but silence.
posted by Howard_T at 03:28 PM on May 17
"Liverpool sack manager Dalglish"
They brought him to Boston to give him the bad news. This reinforces the idea that Boston has been a bad place for citizens of the UK since the middle of the 18th century.
posted by Howard_T at 06:36 PM on May 16
Wow, you're a broken record.
jg, you are correct, but I do feel rather passionately about Fenway's inadequacies. In most cities, one is able to walk up to the ticket window on the day of a game and have some surety of getting decent seats. Not so with Fenway. The club advertises that it has seats available from turn-backs of season tickets and the like, but you are taking a chance that there will be anything left in your price range. I live about an hour by car from Fenway. Parking is limited and expensive, so public transportation is preferred and still requires some driving to get to it. Ticket availability on line for advance sale offers only the worst seats in the park, if any are available at all. I'm not about to make my way from NH to Boston, get to Fenway, and find out that I can not get a seat in my price range or one that actually offers a view of the field rather than the bullpens.
I used to live in Baltimore in the days of Memorial Stadium and really good Orioles teams. Even that relic was a better place to see a game than Fenway, especially considering that my current wife and I used to date there. (She's the best thing that has come out of Baltimore in a long time.) I've not had the opportunity to visit Camden Yard, but the next time my wife and I visit our friends in southern PA, I will try to get there early enough to get some of the good food at the Inner Harbor. Mediocrity is just fine, as long as the team is playing hard. The other side of the coin is that the visiting team will have one or more players worth watching.
My point is that I am a baseball fan first and a team follower second. There are 2 professional minor league teams within 30 minutes' drive from my home (a AA team and a short-season A team) and a 'wooden bat' summer league (college players) where I live. It's all good baseball, but comparing it to major league level ball is like comparing hot dogs or a bowl of chili to a gourmet dinner. I'll take in a few games this year, but unless some strange event happens, they won't be at Fenway.
posted by Howard_T at 06:33 PM on May 16
Can we get a package deal rate if we include Fenway?
yerfatma, I agree the problem (at least in Chicago) lies somewhere other than the park, but in Fenway's case, it is the park. Do we need the litany of poor seating, high prices, and on, and on? Boston management has been trying to sell tickets based on the age and supposed history of the park rather than on the performance of the team. I might add that the history is one of 6 successful years followed by 89 years of frustration and poor play. Only the past 8 years have shown success, and those days appear to be in decline. I for one could do very nicely with a more modern, more comfortable park housing a competitive, not necessarily championship team. I'm a Red Sox fan, but not one who sees the team as the be all, end all, of the world. I'm far more a baseball fan than a fan of any team.
posted by Howard_T at 03:05 PM on May 16
Having been fired, Shyam Das must have a sad, shy ma.
Damn you, Beaverboard, why do you start these things?
posted by Howard_T at 05:29 PM on May 15
Considering the results of the first 2 rounds, I have no idea how I am even within shouting distance of the top 5, let alone part of the cluster in 5th place. Is there any such thing as form in this year's Cup playoffs? So I guess I am not alone in my total befuddlement. Fully expecting to be so incredibly wrong that I am barred from predicting anything more than whether or not I will get out of bed tomorrow, here are my picks:
Rangers over Devils in 6. Since the tolls between NYC and New Jersey are 1-way inbound to NY, Devils' ownership will try to skip a game 7 in a cost-cutting measure.
Kings over Coyotes in 6. How Phoenix has managed to win 2 series is completely beyond my comprehension. They have, and I still refuse to believe it. They will not do it again, but I am trying to trap one of the back yard crows for my pre-finals meal.
posted by Howard_T at 01:19 PM on May 13
he can go fuck a cactus
I tried that, Weedy, and now I'm stuck on her.
Being fat can be the result of many things. Genetics and reaction to medications are a couple of them. Bad diet and lack of exercise are the most common, but even these might be the result of circumstance rather than bad behavior. Think of those who cannot afford a special diet or who are pressed for time and have to use convenience foods. I do not frequent fast food places, but on those occasions that I do, I rarely see anyone whom I would characterize as obese. I myself am not exactly slim nor am I obese - probably about 20 pounds above where I should be, but I consider it a return on a 71-year investment in good food and beer.
posted by Howard_T at 02:22 PM on May 11
As the kid starts toward the referee, the coach says, "Good call, Alex." Judging from the expression on the coach's face, he's thinking, "Man, I better get my resume up to date. This little SOB is about to cost me my job."
This commercial, as well as several others from the Foundation for a Better Life (the annoying kid playing chopsticks at a concert comes to mind - as does the sudden idea that I really watch way too much TV) has been airing for a number of years. I used to umpire with a guy who also refereed high school basketball. I asked him what he'd do in such a situation. He said that if he were unsure of the call, he'd check with the other official, and if he agreed, then the call stood. If the other official could not make a call, then he'd stay with his decision, knowing that sooner or later there'd be something to prove him right or wrong, but that all but the most uninformed fans would understand that in the heat of the moment, you can't get them all right. When the kid approached him, he'd tell the kid exactly what he had seen, what the other referee had said, and that the call had to stand. If the kid kept after him, he'd tell the kid he was a great sportsman, but one more word would be T time.
posted by Howard_T at 02:07 PM on May 11
The first time I heard the term "Eephus Pitch" it was used in reference to Rip Sewell. In the 1946 All Star game he threw one to Ted Williams, who promptly deposited it over the fence for a home run. This was the only time Sewell had that pitch hit for a home run.
posted by Howard_T at 04:39 PM on May 09
To use the jargon of Dennis Eckersley, this post 'went bridge' on a nice 'do drop in'.
Stealing paperclips? Hell, I stole a whole career. I am one of the very fortunate few who actually enjoyed his work. If my former employer had any idea that I thought what I was doing was more fun than work, I would have been fired. An adult lifetime spent playing with some of the neatest military toys ever built can not seriously be considered work.
posted by Howard_T at 04:34 PM on May 09
Fact: 70% of comments above this one in The Huddle, deal with statistics, and are within 1 standard deviation of being wrong.
There are liars, damned liars, and statisticians.
posted by Howard_T at 02:19 PM on May 08
Cole Hamels says he's old school? He's the polar opposite of old school.
There is no 'old school' any more. Old school was Sal Maglie. He earned the nickname of 'The Barber' with his penchant for throwing high and inside with the count in his favor. It was said that he would knock down his grandmother if she stood in with 2 strikes on her. Brushing batters back is generally accepted. Throwing at a hitter with intent is accepted so long as the 'rules' are adhered to. That is, below the shoulders, above the knees, and try not to make it so obvious that you throw 2 feet behind the hitter's back. Good on Harper for not making an issue out of it, then showing Hamels up on the bases with his steal of home.
posted by Howard_T at 10:45 PM on May 07
That the game is inherently unsafe is an easy statement to make, and it is one that is seemingly backed up by evidence. I won't argue with that. College players still try to make it to the NFL or CFL, high schoolers try for college scholarships, and the youth leagues are populated with kids who believe (or whose parents believe) that it gives them a leg up when they get to high school. Under the current sets of rules at the various levels, it would appear that these people can not be protected any better than they are now. Rules changes seemingly can help only marginally. Equipment probably won't get much better. Perhaps the best method is to place a warning label on each and every piece of protective equipment. It might say: CAUTION! This piece of equipment will offer only marginal protection against serious or possible fatal injury. Fractures of bones, ligament damage, and damage to internal organs are still possible. Concussions have been suffered by participants in this sport, even while wearing this equipment. The effects of multiple or serious concussions include dementia, loss of memory, depression, and early death. USE THIS EQUIPMENT AT YOUR OWN RISK!
posted by Howard_T at 06:21 PM on May 07
Why Wrigley Field Must Be Destroyed
Sorry, real fans, it just ain't about you any more.
Thanks, l-b-b. In 10 words you've most eloquently framed what I've been trying to say all along.