by chris on August 3, 2010
In our 14th attempt at a Sportable revival, we’ve enlisted the help of our friend, Chris Hair. From time to time, you’ll be seeing his wisdom (or lack thereof) mixed in with stuff from Rich and I. Enjoy.
Miller: Welcome back to Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. I’m Jon Miller and with me as always is Hall of Famer Joe Morgan. We are in the 7th inning of tonight’s matchup of the New York Yankees against the Boston Red Sox here at Fenway Park in beautiful Boston, MA. Right now the Yankees lead 4-1 as they set to bat here in the top half of the inning.
Morgan: I’d like to welcome in Chris Hair, the newcomer on the San Diego-based website, Sportable.com. Welcome Chris.
Chris: Thanks Joe, it’s good to be a part of this broadcast.
Miller: Jeter digs in here and Beckett is set to pitch. High fastball for ball one.
Morgan: Good eye by Jeter, he really personifies what it means to be a Yankee Captain. He’s got those immeasurable intangibles that make him one of the greatest players to ever play.
[click to continue…]
by rich on August 3, 2010
Another off season of Favre charades might just be over after reports that Brett Favre will not be coming back for the 2010 season. Well, that only took six months to figure out. But that’s the essence of Favre, isn’t it? Bullshitting everyone and flip flopping on even the smallest decisions like whether to have a soup or a salad with lunch. That’s what got him run out of Green Bay, that’s what landed him in Minnesota, and that’s exactly why I won’t believe it until it’s the first game of the regular season and Favre isn’t the one playing quarterback. For all we know, he might wake up two weeks from now and decide he feels like taking his job back. Or, he might just string us along for a few weeks in anticipation of him coming back only to decide that he’d rather hunt armadillos on his ranch in Mississippi.
Here’s what makes Favre a dick; the manner at which he’s gone about his business yet again. If Favre had retired at the end of the season, the Vikings could have realistically been coming into camp with either Donovan McNabb, Jason Campbell, or Marc Bulger at quarterback. Instead, they laid it all on the line for Favre only to have him wait until August to call it quits. The Vikings just went from Super Bowl favorite to a team that might not even make the playoffs with Tavaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels at quarterback. Thanks Brett!
Like I said, I’m not going to believe he’s actually done until I see it because that’s how this Favre debacle works. But if he is actually done, you can put me at the front of the line to give him kudos for a Hall of Fame career. He’s one of the best ever and, as much as I hate the guy, I’m not going to deny how great he’s been. That being said, the fact that we can all go on with life without the Gunslinger flip flopping on his retirement year after year. I hate drama, and Brett is the King of it. Be content with your Wrangler commercials Brett, it’ll make us all happier.
by ryan on August 2, 2010
Yes, I’m alive. Having responsibility sucks, but this article is me giving it the old college try. Sportable isn’t dead, it’s just on life support.
Fresh off consecutive trips to the NLCS, most baseball observers had the Los Angeles Dodgers pegged for a return trip to the postseason, or something very close. But a once promising season has turned sour, as Joe Torre’s crew has suffered through two different five-game losing streaks since mid-July. They sit eight games out. Season over? Not quite. But they’re well on the way.
Obviously, there’s some extenuating circumstances here. The pending divorce of the McCourts has distracted the club much like the Moores’ 2009 divorce in San Diego. I get that. But there’s incompetence all over the place here, from Ned Colletti all the way down to baseball’s worst situational left-handed pitcher.
What’s weird about the Dodgers is the obvious schism between young and old. Over the weekend, Colletti shipped off Blake DeWitt, James McDonald, Lucas May, Elisaul Pimentel, Brett Wallach, Kyle Smit and Andrew Lambo for a bunch of veterans that won’t be enough to get the Dodgers over the top (sounds familiar). Of course, some stupid ass analysts are going to praise the moves because they’re moves. Not all deadline moves are good moves. The Rangers got an ace, the Padres got protection for Adrian Gonzalez and the Phillies landed Roy Oswalt for peanuts. The Dodgers got older. I prefer words like upside, potential and youth to the journalism cliches of grit, leadership, experience, and winner.
I don’t want to get into Larry Bowa’s senile rant, Chad at Memories of Kevin Malone already did a damn good job at that. The Dodgers’ best players may be young and immature, but their leadership is incompetent and out of teach with reality. The continuing use of Garrett Anderson and George Sherrill is all the evidence you need. So is Don Mattingly’s stupid ass costing his team an important divisional game.
The Dodgers have great, cost-controlled talent all over the place with the likes of Kemp, Ethier, Loney, Paul, Kershaw, Billingsley, Kuo and Broxton. It’s the veterans that have let this team down, from Torre and Bowa to Blake, Anderson, Weaver and Sherrill. When the dust settles on this lost season, ownership should make two moves: Can Ned Colletti and send Joe Torre packing right behind him. The rest of this division has made a commitment to their youth movement, it’s time the Dodgers did the same.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you’re well aware that the World Cup kicks off (pun completely intended) tomorrow morning. It will be a month of waking up at ungodly hours to watch nations you may not know existed battle for the most coveted title in sports, unless you’re one of those purebred Americans who believes soccer is for gays and the only true championship goes to guys smashing each other with pads in late January every year. But for the rest of us, it’s a collaboration of all that’s great in sport and something that happens once every four years. Being that most people don’t even realize soccer happens outside of the World Cup, it’s important that I prepare you to handle this tournament properly given you’ve got one chance to do it right and then you have to wait another four years to do it again.
Bandwagon bandwagon bandwagon. Most of us will be watching anxiously on Saturday morning as the US punks England in a rematch of the Revolutionary War. This one doesn’t involve guns (at least not by the players), so the blood shed will be kept at a minimum which probably works out best for all sides involved. But outside of that, you’ll have to wait another week to watch the US play again. And then another week after that. You may be asking yourself what you’re supposed to do with all this free time in between potential disappointment, and I’ve got the answer. Bandwagon another team. Cheer for an off-the-cuff team that you normally wouldn’t give two shits about. Personally, I’m saddling North Korea. the Pyongyang Pimpin bandwagon still has plenty of room, and what’s not to like about a nation that lies, cheats, and steals on a global basis. They’ve already guaranteed victory against Brazil, which is kinda funny but mostly awesome given that everyone living in North Korea actually believes that will happen and someone will probably die if they lose. We’re doin’ it for the Great Leader.
Stop bitching about soccer being fruity. Alright, we get it, you’re bored because nobody is getting hit sticked on the 40 yard line. That doesn’t make the game uninteresting, it makes you narrow minded. And contrary to popular belief, not every soccer player flails around and wins Emmys for ludicrous dives when a defender breathes on them. And not every soccer player is a greaseball European (the Italians have that on lock down). Take the game for what it is, a free flowing strategic back and forth that results in two, maybe three goals, over the course of two hours. It’s hard to score, that’s what makes it better. And when teams score, people go ape shit. Flares go off, people get shanked in celebration, it’s the soccer way. Which is why you should….
Go watch these games somewhere other than your couch. You probably won’t get stabbed at a bar in jubilation after someone scores, but you’ll probably pick up a round of shots to celebrate. At 8 am. For people you’ve never seen before. If you’ve never watched a match at a place packed full of lunatics, you’ve probably also never lived. Seriously, it’s a riot. For a game that can appear to be in a stalemate for the better part of an hour and a half, the atmosphere of a bar or a pub makes it feel like you’re watching the shootout scene from Heat. Awesome.
Wake up and watch it. Look, I know just as well as the next person that getting up at 4:30 in the morning is one of the last things on the planet that sounds fun. In any other circumstance I’d rather just get decked by a baseball bat. But this is a special occasion, something that comes around less than the Olympics. Get your ass out of bed, make some coffee or take some speed or whatever gets you going in the morning, and watch it. The rest of the world is watching at 4:30, so don’t sell yourself short and settle for some half ass highlights that ESPN puts together later in the day.
There you go. My guide to the World Cup. Follow these rules and you’re guaranteed to have a month of euphoric joy that you’ll probably come back later and thank me for. Once every four years, a ball does the impossible; it stops wars, it brings otherwise forgotten nations to prominence, and it gets my ass going at ridiculous hours of the morning. Enjoy it, because it’s the greatest spectacle in sports.
