Tag: sports

A Hultgreen-Curie near miss

Frankly, I’m surprised the woman didn’t somehow manage to trip, fall, break her neck, and expire on the field during the tryout:

It was always a long shot that Lauren Silberman would wind up impressing an NFL team so much during a regional combine that they wound up signing her for a chance to compete to become their kicker this summer.  It’s a much longer shot after her day at the New York/New Jersey Regional Scouting Combine, held at Jets headquarters in New Jersey, ended early because of an injury. Mike Garafolo of USA Today reports that Silberman landed awkwardly after her first kickoff, which traveled just 16 yards, and then asked to see a trainer after a 14-yard kick on her second try.

To put those distances into perspective, Ender was kicking 20-yard field goals when he was eight years old. Video of this epic and historic kick, which marks a major step forward in the long march towards Fempire, is below.

She’s doomed

Between all the media hype and the Nationwide at Daytona crash, it appears that Danica Patrick is a prime example of Hultgreen-Curie syndrome just waiting to happen:

It was guaranteed that Patrick’s arrival this year as the first female
to compete fulltime in NASCAR’s premier division would generate a
tremendous amount of attention. She already had developed a loyal fan
following based on her accomplishments in the Indianapolis 500 (two
top-five finishes) as well as her appearances in numerous television
commercials for primary sponsor GoDaddy.  Then she went out and won the
pole position for Sunday’s running of the Daytona 500, and the hype
machine shifted into overdrive.

Suddenly this has become more than just another auto race. It is a
full-blown event, coated with larger social implications. Patrick isn’t
being compared just to Janet Guthrie, the driver who motored past gender
barriers in the 1970s by qualifying for both the Daytona 500 and the
Indianapolis 500. She is evoking memories of Billie Jean King, who won
the famous “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match with Bobby Riggs in 1973,
striking a highly publicized blow for female equality.

Patrick has become a symbol of success for little girls, a high-speed, high-profile example of all that is possible in life.

Patrick seems nice enough and I don’t wish her a fiery death on the track or anything like that.  But I can’t say that I’ll be shocked if something goes very, very wrong at the Daytona 500.  And it should be kept in mind that as a leading symbol of equalitarianism, Danica Patrick has become a totem for the evil that is infesting Western civilization and eating away at its foundations.

Congratulations Cris Carter!

It’s two years overdue, but Cris Carter, the third-best WR of all time in my opinion, finally makes it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  It was a privilege to watch him play, and the Three Deep lineup of Carter, Moss, and Reed may have been the most dangerous receiver set in NFL history.  He may have been a possession receiver who only caught touchdowns, but the man was an artist on the sidelines.

This is your Super Bowl thread.  My pick: Ravens.  The 49ers defense looks shaky, the 49ers kicker even shakier, and the quarterback is a runner and a rookie.  If you favor NFL conspiracy theory, Ray Lewis’s Last Ride is a far superior storyline than 5 Super Bowls, 5 wins for the 49ers.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Randy Moss got a ring.  But doesn’t Moss finishing his career without one fit the NFL narrative a little better?

Rabbits in the NFL

Never give them any quarter.  None.  They never, ever stop trying to exert control over everything you think, say, and do:

Comedian and radio show Artie Lange went from player to player at media day, as we understand it, asking outlandish questions until someone game him an outlandish answer.  That someone was 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver, who expressed strong opinions against the possibility of a gay teammate, creating a major distraction for his team.

But the obvious apologies and retractions shouldn’t be the end of it, in the opinion of Seahawks punter Jon Ryan.  Ryan believes that Culliver should be suspended.

“If Chris Culliver isn’t suspended by Goodell then I am absolutely embarrassed to be part of a league that accepts this type of behavior,” Ryan said on Twitter.

Who cares if Jon Ryan is embarrassed or not?  It’s not behavior, it is free speech and freedom of thought.  Culliver was perfectly within his rights to speak about what he thinks and Ryan should quit the league if he’s such a delicate flower.  Ryan should also be given a lecture by Roger Goodell about who is responsible for the NFL’s disciplinary processes and who is not.

If suspending people from their jobs for expressing their opinions is now the norm, then obviously it is fair for Christians to demand the suspension of everyone who dares to say anything that contradicts the Bible in any way.  It won’t be long before the Muslims will get into the game too, as they already are in London and some of the European cities.  It should be interesting to see how fast homosexuals abandon their public pressure tactics when they belatedly realize they are outnumbered by an enemy far more implacable than they ever imagined Christians to be.

The Ripped Life

An old friend of mine has launched a new business that should be of some interest to the Paleo advocates out there, particularly Supernaut.  It’s called PaleoLife Foods and he describes it as “an ultra-premium, natural nutritional foods company that
was founded on the core, Paleo/Primal Diet-inspired belief that the
foods we put into our bodies should be nothing but the truly
highest-quality, freshest, REAL whole foods as close to nature as
possible — and made up of ingredients that we, as humans, not only
evolved on for millennia but THRIVED on.”

PaleoLife has a new bar out that is available on Amazon and has gotten very good reviews.  I haven’t tried it myself, since my box hasn’t arrived yet, but as my friend is an aesthete of the highest order, I’d be very surprised if it was unpalatable.  If you’re already eating Paleo or are flirting with the idea, you might want to check out their Primal Cocoanut.

Speaking of the Ripped Life, I’ve finally been able to get back onto my 5x/week routine now that the calcio season and the holidays are over.  I’ve learned to take it a little easier, stop when I feel something, and protect my joints a bit, which appears to have helped in avoiding all the niggling little injuries to which I am prone given my distaste for changing my routine.  A minor bicep issue means I still can’t comfortably do pull-ups behind the head, which is frustrating, but the gym has a nice free-weighted rowing machine that, in combination with chin-ups, serves as an adequate substitute for the time being.

And you thought Raidess fans were hard

They’ve got nothing on Egyptian soccer fans.  And by nothing, I mean NOTHING:

Twenty-one men were sentenced to hang over the riot after a game in the city of Port Said between the local club, Al-Masry, and Al-Ahly of Cairo, in which 74 died last February. Visiting supporters were stabbed, crushed and in some cases thrown from the terraces in what seemed from live television pictures to be a premeditated assault.

Al-Ahly supporters and relatives of the dead celebrated the verdict when it was read out in the Cairo court to which the case had been moved.

But in Port Said relatives of the defendants tried to storm the prison where they were being held. Two policemen were shot dead in the melee before the authorities fought back. By late afternoon, local health authorities said a total of 27 people had died, including two football players, more than had been sentenced in the first place.

A real tragedy.  I can only conclude Egypt does not have sufficient gun control.

The Curse of Tebow

The amusing thing about yesterday’s AFC divisional playoff game is that if Tim Tebow had been playing quarterback for the Denver Broncos instead of Peyton Manning, the Broncos probably would have won that game.  Manning’s two interceptions, the first returned for a touchdown, absolutely killed the Broncos.  There is no way that a team that benefits from not one, but two, special teams touchdowns should lose a game at home.

And Champ Bailey’s career as a starting cornerback appears to be all but over in light of his extreme toasting by Torrey Smith.  It’s time to move to the nickle, Champ.  Or safety.  The fifth gear, it is gone.  My condolences.

It is looking like we’ll see a Patriots-49ers Super Bowl, with one last ring for Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.  But this is the NFL, and we all know that anything can happen on any given Sunday.

This should also settle the 2012 MVP question conclusively in the favor of AD.

NFL wildcard day one

AD is the best running back in the league, but Arian Foster is simply a pleasure to watch.  He’s so silky smooth; I can’t believe anyone who saw him run in college didn’t see fit to draft him.  Perhaps it was because he’s in the mode of Marcus Allen or Gale Sayers in that he doesn’t even look like he’s trying.

Ponder sitting isn’t really a big deal.  The Packers were going to stack nine in the box to stop AD anyhow and it wasn’t as if he was going to beat them with his arm.  It should be interesting to see what Webb can do.  If nothing else, he can play-fake to AD and then take off running himself.

Skol Vikes!

VPFL Champion 2012

It gives me great pain to announce that the Bane Sidhe are the 2012 VPFL champions.  I am the Minnesota Vikings of fantasy football.

84 Bane Sidhe
70 Mounds View Meerkats

In other, happier news, best of luck to AD today.  Here’s to him going for 300!

VPFL 2012 Championship

77 Moundsview Meerkats
56 ’63Mercury Marauders

66 Bane Sidhe
63 Fromundah Cheezheads

Despite being favored by nearly 10 points, I thought the championship game was over before it started after Roddy White – who was questionable – scored 19 points and Tony Gonzalez scored 0 in the Thursday Night game.  That put me 19 in the hole versus the projections.  But Aaron Rodgers went for 30, Reggie Wayne defanged Andrew Luck, neither Arian Foster nor Adrian Peterson showed up in their big face-off, so now it’s going to come down to the question of whether Peyton Manning is going to throw to Thomas or Decker, and if the Giants’ Wilson is going to outscore the SF DEF.

Right now, the score is Meerkats 68, Sidhe 67.  It’s far from over.