Tag: sports

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

So, my unexpectedly extended run as a starter has finally come to an end. The veterans were in desperate need of reinforcements this season, and we received them in the form of a new keeper, defender, midfielder, and attacker. This has come in handy, as we’ve given up ZERO goals in three of our first four games.

However, this week’s game was against the three-time league champions and we had an almost-full squad with only our starting sweeper being out, so I found myself on the bench at the start for the first time this year. I couldn’t complain, as the new attacker is much better than me, so is the new midfielder, and the other midfielder is for all intents and purposes my equal, only he didn’t give up a penalty to cost us two points last week.

(The call was 100 percent incorrect and the penalty was not awardable, but regardless, it was still on me.)

So, I didn’t disagree with the captain’s call at all. In fact, his starting lineup was precisely what I would have set if I was in charge. Not only that, but when I went in halfway through the first half at left midfield, I found myself entirely outmatched by the Red team’s extremely aggressive right mid. I only gave up the ball twice, but one turnover was an exceptionally stupid pass in a situation when I found myself surrounded by four opposing players, and I think I only managed to get up across midfield to help the attack once.

I did do a decent job of helping out the defense, but it wasn’t exactly a surprise to find myself back on the bench after halftime. Somehow, we were ahead 1-0 thanks to a goal by the captain that was completely against the run of play, but of the 10 field positions, we might have had the advantage of two of them. Fortunately, they kept trying to attack up the middle, where our best player, the defensive midfielder, was more than equal to their number 10 and repeatedly stifled their attacks.

They started to flag a little in the second half, and we actually managed a decent attack or three, but neither team looked particularly like scoring until the referee gave our defensive midfielder a yellow card. In our veteran’s league, that’s a 10-minute penalty benching, but a substitution is allowed. I was called in for him and sent over to the left, while the left mid I replaced moved into the now-empty defensive slot.

Somewhat to the surprise of both teams, they weren’t able to exploit our best player’s absence, and once, after picking up a blocked shot, I managed to beat not one, not two, but three of their players on a long 60-meter run up the left side. I actually got the ball past a fourth and last defender, the sweeper, as well, but he took me down hard to give us a free kick and give me three sprained fingers on my right hand which I can still feel as I type this.

We didn’t get anything out of that, but a few minutes later, we got another free kick on the right. Our number 10 tried to put it on the heads of our two tallest players at the top center of the box, but he hit it a little too hard. As I saw it coming, I thought the second of the two defenders to my right would manage to deflect the ball, but it just skimmed the top of his head, so I ran onto it, brought it perfectly to the ground with my left foot, took three steps, then hit it with my left foot without even looking at the goal.

When I looked up, I saw the ball had cleared the keeper, but it looked like it might be going a little wide right. Fortunately, the right post got in the way and the ball banked cleanly in. 2-0! The captain was the first to congratulate me, then pointed towards the bench as the 10 penalty minutes were up and our defensive midfielder was eligible to come back in. “Supersub!” he shouted and we exchanged a high ten as he came onto the field. My work was done.

“If we need any more goals, let me know. I’ll be right here,” I told the rest of the guys on the bench. They laughed and promptly christened my left foot “the magic left”. You see, I have an exceptionally feeble shot by their standards, and that’s with my RIGHT foot, so the idea that I could possibly score against anyone, let alone the champions, with my left struck them as intrinsically hysterical. Despite the other team’s best efforts, our defense stoned them again and again, and we held on for a 2-0 victory. It was a really good win.

The lesson is this: even when you are playing poorly, even when you’re overmatched, even when it’s clearly not your night, keep trying. Keep fighting. You never know what will happen. Replay that free kick 100 times and I might touch the ball five times, and maybe I score again once or twice at most. More likely, the defender heads the ball away, my first touch is too hard, or I miss the ball entirely. But you never know, so don’t give up. Of the 30 players on both teams who played that night, I was the second-oldest and almost certainly the worst player on the field. But you never know….

Skol Vikings!

UPDATE: Kirk Cousins is the Charlie Brown of quarterbacks. It’s FIRST DOWN. The RBs are running right over the Green Bay defense, which appears to be almost gassed. Your first two reads are covered. THROW THE BALL AWAY!  Whatever you do, DO NOT TRY TO BE THE HERO.

Naturally, he decides this is the perfect moment to throw an off-balance, under-pressure pass to the corner of the end zone, where Diggs is double-covered. Interception.

This is why the NFL doesn’t have guaranteed contracts.

This is your weekly NFL open thread. All gamma whining about “sportsball” or human genetics will be banned.

We’re only one game – not one week, one game – into the NFL season and it’s already clear that Mike Tomlin deserves to be named Coach of the Year for having dealt successfully with Antonio Brown for nine years. This may actually be a more impressive coaching feat than Bill Belichick’s six Super Bowl victories, given that even a Super Bowl-winning coach like Jon Gruden couldn’t keep him in check for nine weeks.

Antonio Brown asked the Raiders to release him in an Instagram post shared Saturday morning.

The request comes shortly after news broke that Oakland had fined Brown $215,073.53 on Friday night for conduct detrimental to the team on Sept. 4, which Raiders voided the $29.125 million worth of guaranteed money in his deal, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. In addition to fining Brown for conduct and voiding the guaranteed money in his contract, the Raiders reportedly sent Brown a letter stating that he no longer will be entitled to termination pay if they release him.

Antonio Brown actually makes Terrell Owens look reasonable in retrospect.

UPDATE: After the Raiders wiped out more than $29 million in guaranteed money under Brown’s contract with the team, Brown asked to be released. And the Raiders have released him.

UPDATE: Antonio Brown is now a New England Patriot.

An omega writes of his experience with team sports and group activities:

You’re right about team sports: as an omega teenager, I was lucky enough to play hockey and football/soccer. I endured the bullying, but I didn’t know why until I read your post.

I was also in the school’s marching band, which was made up of mostly the school’s best jocks with tiny number of lesser boys like me. Getting beaten with a mace by the leader or forced to run with your instrument above your head does kill fear and teach coordination through team-work. In no other context could an omega like me work alongside boys this high up the socio-sexual hierarchy. I hated it at the time but your post made me realise how lucky I was.

Unsurprisingly, the initiations were brutal. I was praised for taking it so well when other boys freaked out and sobbed, so respect can be earned, even as an omega. An important lesson.

I punched the aforementioned leader in the face once, but he let it go instead of ordering the band to tunnel me. The rest of the band followed suit and never brought it up again. A few in the band were younger alpha males, and as he was the oldest and the biggest, they obeyed.

I didn’t leave and they didn’t kick me out. Another important lesson: keep trying hard, and people higher up the socio-sexual rank will admire the effort. They won’t give up on you. When I eventually became good at an arbitrary physical activity then even bullies would spread the word. As you said in one DarkStream, being good at something physical is important, even if it’s just one small thing.

Thanks to your post, I now see that these experiences are why I relate well to other men – except gammas; they openly despise me – and alpha males instead of hating them. It made it easier to accept my station in life as well as some success with women.

This guy gets it. Accept your place, accept the hazing with equanimity, demonstrate your merit through actions instead of words, prove your loyalty, and you will find yourself rising in every male social hierarchy no matter how low you are on the totem pole at the beginning.

Men genuinely like underdogs, even the ugly ones. But an underdog absolutely has to show that he has fight if other men are going to cheer for him and stand by him.

The Duke of Wellington said, ten years after the battle while at Eton: “The battle of Waterloo was won here.” Richard Sherman, the outspoken cornerback, has a similar perspective:

I understand that football teaches you values. It teaches you accountability. It teaches you work ethic. It teaches you how to be a teammate. It teaches you how to overcome adversity. How to deal with loss. How to deal with being coachable. All those are skills that translate to the real world. In just about any job, you have to be part of a team. Don’t go into other people’s lanes. Football teaches you those lessons. It teaches you at a young age. It teaches you to overcome fear. It teaches you, ‘Hey, I’m 190 pounds and he’s 305 pounds. I still have to have to have the courage to go in there and mix it up with him.’ Those are lessons I don’t know how to teach otherwise … There’s a chance you’re getting hurt but there’s also a chance that you learn these lessons, you have a great life, you have a career. If you don’t play professionally, if you don’t even play in college, those life lessons that you learn will translate and elevate you in life in general.

Many of these things are true of all team sports, although football is special when it comes to teaching courage due to its intensely physical nature. Those who mock it as “sportsball” are ignorant fools and physical cowards who would never dare to line up in the trenches, either as children or adults, and will be of no utility whatsoever when the shooting starts.

The servants of the lie don’t care what you say, so long as you don’t speak or stand by the truth:

Israel Folau has broken his silence about his tattered football career, saying he refused the ‘temptation’ to play rugby again and likened Rugby Australia’s offer to that of the devil. The 30-year-old took to the stand of his congregation’s service in Sydney’s Kenthurst on Sunday morning, saying his latest controversy has ‘been really challenging’. 

He told The Truth of Jesus Christ church service that there had been several opportunities to save his $4 million Wallabies contract, but he ultimately refused the ‘temptation’ to take down his homophobic social media post.

‘The way Satan works is he offers you stuff that could look good to the eye and makes you feel comfortable, and if you follow that path all the worries and troubles will go away. (But) it is always the will of God that comes first.’

Folau referenced his refusal to accept Rugby Australia’s recent compromise offer to save his career under the condition he deletes his homophobic Instagram post from April.

This is a true man of principle. May God reward his faith and steadfastness. We are all subject to these temptations to sell out and submit in return for worldly riches. May we all have the strength and the courage to resist them.