Subject: Interesting sports tid-bits:
Date: Tue Jul 3 08:29:52 2012
User: Snowguy
Message:1) The Pittsburgh Pirates hit back-to-back homers yesterday. But what made them unusual is that both hit the foul pole, 320 feet away. It's the first recorded time that back-to-back homers hit a foul pole (admittedly only 12 years of keeping track of foul pole homers.)
2) Dave Palone, who is based at the Meadows Race Track in southwestern PA but races practically everywhere, is about 8 wins shy and closing on Herve Fillion's all-time total of 15,180 (sulky) races won.
Link: Foul pole homers
Date: Fri Jul 6 09:04:24 2012
User: Snowguy
Message:Dave Palone is now the record holder in harness racing driving (at least in North America.) Just thought I would follow-up on the first post.
Link: 15,181 races won and counting
Date: Fri Jul 6 09:20:06 2012
User: firenze
Message:Is he any relation to Peter Resone?
Date: Sat Jul 7 10:45:47 2012
User: Snowguy
Message:You mean of the French family of some note? The Reson d'Etres? I doubt it.
Date: Sat Jul 7 11:14:03 2012
User: BuzzClik
Message:I'm pulling for your Pirates, Snowy. They do not have as many decades of futility as the Cubbies, but they have sucked horribly since the departure of Barry Bonds.
Date: Sat Jul 7 11:20:43 2012
User: firenze
Message:The departure of Barry Bonds from anywhere is an improvement.
Date: Sat Jul 7 12:52:16 2012
User: BuzzClik
Message:True enough, but my dislike for Bonds started only when his steroid use because ridiculously clear. Bonds probably started using performance enhancers in about 1990, just about the same time the Pirates were playing in the NLCS. However, Bonds didn't become an obnoxious, self-possessed, human-growth-hormone-afflicted diva until he moved to San Francisco.
Date: Sat Jul 7 13:39:40 2012
User: Klepp
Message:...I remember that '79 team...Parker, Stargell, Oliver, Garner, Foli, Moreno, Candy Man, Tekulve, Tanner...dang but I did love watching Weaver witness that Series slip out those chubby little hands of his...
Date: Sat Jul 7 19:59:09 2012
User: Punster
Message:I'm still bummed about the steroid guys. It was so much fun watching Sosa & McGuire in the home run chase, then watching Bonds eclipse both of them.....only to find out that they used steroids to help them. I don't believe any of those three guys belong in the Hall Of Fame...because of their steroid use. And that goes for any of the other players that used steroids.
Date: Mon Jul 9 15:25:18 2012
User: Snowguy
Message:About the 2:00 mark of this "Rookie if the Year" clip shows what Bonds looked like back in the Pirates hey-day. Skinny, perhaps wiry ,actually. A lot like Andrew McCutchen today.
In his last years in organized ball he didn't exactly look like that any more!
Link: Barry Bonds at about 2:00
Date: Tue Jul 10 11:03:39 2012
User: SMIDDY
Message:"we are family" was their theme song back in the day if memory serves me correct
Date: Tue Jul 10 11:23:33 2012
User: firenze
Message:"We Are Family" was also associated with "The Birdcage" involving transvestites. I wonder if there is any connection to "talking like a pirate"?
Date: Mon Jul 13 12:38:21 2020
User: BuzzClik
Message:This isn't about Pittsburgh sports, but I grew weary of sifting through Snowy's multitude of Pittsburgh fanboy threads trying to find the proper context:
The Washington Redskins NFL team is, at long last, going to change their name. Their hideously offensive name will be a thing of the past. The owner, Dan Snyder, has been stubbornly entrenched with the name, clinging to a bogus poll showing that 90% of Native Americans actually like the name. Snyder wants a new stadium (that he won't pay for), and his sponsors are threatening to drop his team if the name doesn't change. So, money talks and Snyder finally listened.
The Washington Post (source of Snyder's polling info) also conducted a fan poll about favorite names, and the two leading contenders are Redtails and Warriors. The Redtails (in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen) would be awesome. The Warriors would be Snyder giving a finger to the world (at some risk).
We'll see how it goes.
Date: Mon Jul 13 13:04:41 2020
User: Oded789
Message:Why is Warriors considered giving a finger?
On a previous article I've read that "Presidents" was also being considered but it's quite silly for a sports team imo.
Date: Mon Jul 13 13:28:02 2020
User: jamesblackburn-lynch
Message:Buzz,
I think the name should have changed years ago and Dan Snyder is a racist.
But...I don’t think those polls are so obviously false. As people have said, even if the polls are right that doesn’t mean the name shouldn’t change. There is plenty of research to say it should.
But people (and issues like this) are complicated and it’s okay that there is ambiguity in the facts. The poll was done twice and both had the same result, many years apart. The self reporting of being Native American or not is not ideal but hardly completely invalidates the result.
The wiki page has a nuanced discussion if anyone cares to read it.
Link: Go to the end for specifics on Native American polling
Date: Mon Jul 13 13:50:53 2020
User: firenze
Message:The Washington Bonespurs.
Kind of has a nice ring to it.
Date: Mon Jul 13 13:58:50 2020
User: BuzzClik
Message:James --
I agree. It's complicated.
I also agree with the rest of your sentiments about the subject.
Oded --
"Warriors" can mean any sort of soldier or fighter, so Snyder choosing "Warrior" would be defensible. But, the history of "Warriors" as a team name in the U.S. is dominated by Native American imagery. As far as I know, the only current "Warriors" pro franchise in the U.S. is the Golden State NBA team. The team has its roots in Philadelphia in the mid 1940s. A search of the Warriors' logos shows that the "Indian" imagery was abandoned in the 1960s. Snyder only needs to appease his corporate sponsors.
FYI. Nearly 1000 sports teams across the US are called Warriors, mostly high schools. They are nearly 100% Native American mascots, not generic soldiers. In 2001, the NCAA asked 18 college teams to change their names from something not based on Native American references. Half refused.
Date: Mon Jul 13 14:07:50 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:Not that my opinion matters.....................but the reason, WAAAY back when I was a kid, that I chose the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Braves as my favorite teams was because of the Native American nicknames. And I still feel that way. Also when I was a kid, I used to root for the Indians in cowboys and Indians movies (*very* rarely successfully). I feel the same way towards the Redskins, but much less so. I've heard that Snyder has racist tendencies, but haven't researched it. Is he as bad as Marge Schott? (In any event, the nickname FAR predates him, originally being the Boston Braves (same as Beantown's baseball team) for those who don't know that history.)
In high school, my senior thesis was about how the European settlers ruthlessly and callously (in almost all cases) stole this country/territory from said first peoples. I see those nicknames as celebrating noble characteristics of said peoples - altho admittedly emphasizing their 'warlike' or 'warrior' aspects. (Which in many cases, but far from all, was an accurate representation - especially among the plains and desert SW tribes. But Native Americans, being human, were no strangers to historical warfare going back as far as we can know.) And I know I'm in a minority of progressives in the stance of such names being ones of honor and admiration, but so be it. And yes, I've had conversations with some, and my experience fits with what those polls that james posted indicate. I'm sure that people with much more invested in it than I do will decide this, but in these particular cases I think it's misguided to make it such a cause celebre. Why the big stink about the Redskins and not the Indians, Braves, or Red Hawks? I guess *some* could put a more pejorative connotation on "Redskins", but that was not in the initial choice. In fact, as my research taught me..........Native Americans themselves were the first to apply the tag "red" to their skin color - likely even prior to the coming of Europeans, altho that evidence is not well-documented. They certainly used it for themselves throughout colonial and post-colonial troubles. With not the least bit of shame or negativity.
It's very, very difficult to evaluate historical motives and all that from a 'modern' perspective. Point being...........I think original intentions and motives get lost or muddled amidst political correctness issues. Which should predominate? Personal choice, I guess, but as someone who's *always*, from literally almost my first cognitive memories, valued, celebrated, and sympathized with Native Americans, I feel that these symbols and icons are valuable banners celebrating that heritage. I believe a lot of the pejorative connotation comes from some of us imputing negativity where none at all is, or was, intended. Again, just my opinion, for what it's worth - which isn't much, admittedly.
I'll probably wish I hadn't posted this, and will NOT get embroiled in a controversy about it, but there it is.....
Date: Mon Jul 13 14:20:58 2020
User: BuzzClik
Message:@TN: "a lot of the pejorative connotation comes from some of us imputing negativity where none at all is, or was, intended."
From the historical perspective, I agree. Teams named themselves after Native Americans because they were fearsome fighters that scared the crap out of just about everyone. My high school team was the Terrors, which kept to that "fearsome" theme, but the mascot/logo was a comical stereotype called Eagle Beak (not exactly flattering).
btw, TN, there's been plenty of stink about the Braves and Cleveland Indians. Just not at the moment.
Date: Mon Jul 13 21:34:06 2020
User: mrbuck
Message:Some possible names:
The Washington Dan Snyders (his ego, his team).
The Washington Afterthoughts or the Washington Irrelevants because,
#NatsNatsNatsWoooooo!
mrbuck
Date: Mon Jul 13 22:53:23 2020
User: redberet
Message:I kind of like the Washington Hogs. That's for the pork barrel.
Date: Tue Jul 14 21:42:50 2020
User: Klepp
Message:@TN's above post:
I'm figuratively much on the same page with your feelings there.
Date: Mon Jul 20 18:18:35 2020
User: BuzzClik
Message:Q: Guess who is throwing out the first pitch of the Washington Nationals season?
Hint: He isn't orange and knows a lot about infectious diseases.
A: Anthony Fauci
Date: Mon Jul 20 18:49:34 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:Gee.....that's tough to start with him on the mound. Since Washington is NL these days.....he'll have to bat, too, unless they pinch-hit for him early on. I actually saw mango man touring some plant a week or so with a baseball bat in his hands, and was pretending like he was about to take a swing. He clearly felt comfortable doing that and honestly, he seemed like he could wield it effectively. Do the Nats need some extra wood on the bench (non-cognitive or baseball bat-wise, as per each reader's own inclination.)?
Taking that further.........maybe that would solve the bigger problem of him and his current 'day job'. Put him in a (X-Large) Nats uniform, feed him *real* softballs he could maybe get out of the infield, stroking his ego, etc., etc., etc. Letting him schmooze around in the dugout and so forth. TV interviews. Yes - it would be a huge conspiracy ("public service initiative"), and the Nats players, et al, would have to buy into it. It would absolutely hurt the integrity of the game of baseball - but maybe getting him out of his 'office' would be a worthy trade-off.
I could probably run with that a bit.....but you all get the idea.
Date: Tue Jul 21 00:05:26 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:He actually looks more natural with the bat than with a golf club.
Link: Batter up
Date: Tue Jul 21 00:34:59 2020
User: mrbuck
Message:Smoke him inside.
Sal Maglie
Date: Tue Jul 21 10:57:16 2020
User: BuzzClik
Message:Guaranteed he will not be wearing a helmet.
Date: Tue Jul 21 12:14:25 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:LOL! Good one!
Date: Thu Jul 23 13:33:28 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:Looks like Faux is continuing their dishonesty even into baseball coverage..........
I say that quite a bit tongue-in-cheek.........but a bit not, too. Seems pretty silly - much like how ESPN began playing metal music in the background with their highlights, etc. - and it caught on to what we have today. Virtual this, virtual that..........
And I had to look up "CGI". I of course knew what it meant, just didn't know the "I". The article should have spelled out that acronym with first use. I keep seeing that editorial error creeping into various media all the time lately.
Link: No tickets available!
Date: Sun Jul 26 00:12:10 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:That's very cool. But he *really* needs to stretch that stride out, and get more push off his back leg. And that release point is *awfully* high. Was that his Eephus pitch?
Date: Sun Jul 26 00:26:15 2020
User: mrbuck
Message:Dr Fauci was keeping the ball and home plate within social distancing guidlines.
mrbuck
Date: Sun Jul 26 00:44:50 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:That's quite clever of him. Who knows where that ball has been?
Date: Sun Aug 2 16:09:27 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:Date: Tue Jun 21 22:55:11 2005
User: mrbuck
Message:
smoke him inside
(In reference to mercury's ping-pong skills.)
Date: Sat Aug 15 09:23:58 2020
User: BuzzClik
Message:The St. Louis Cardinals just emerged from their long quarantine after 10 players tested positive, some of the symptomatic. The Cards have played only 5 games this season compared to 19 for the rest of the league. In an attempt to catch up, they will play 53 games in 43 days, including 11 double headers.
Meanwhile, a player on the Cincinnati Reds tested positive. They are contact tracing and testing to determine to extent of the outbreak on the team.
Date: Wed Aug 19 14:30:14 2020
User: BuzzClik
Message:From the "Excuse Me? You Cannot Be Serious" department in college sports. And let's keep in mind that NCAA athletes are students:
University of North Carolina pulled the plug on face-to-face classes because of a high number of clusters of Covid-19 postive tests across campus. When asked if the football season was in danger because of this choice, he was "confident that we will play." He also said his football players would be safer now that the students were leaving.
Sweet jeebus, Mack. You're a class guy who loves his players, but that was amazingly tone deaf.
Date: Thu Aug 20 03:27:51 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:Are you sure that the statement "NCAA athletes are students" applies to UNC? Remember, they have a long and illustrious background of trying to prove that that is *not* the case in Chapel Hill.
Date: Tue Aug 25 19:16:59 2020
User: BuzzClik
Message:From the What Fantastic Luck! department:
"All 77 false-positive COVID-19 tests came back negative, NFL testing partner cites 'isolated contamination'"
"The NFL went through one of its biggest COVID-19 scares of training camp after there were 77 positive tests that came about on Saturday. Upon further examination for this spike, however, it was revealed that these were false-positives as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports that all of the original tests were rerun on Sunday night and each of them came back negative for the coronavirus. Those 77 individuals also underwent additional testing and all of those tests came back negative as well.
"On Monday, Jon R. Cohen, M.D., the Executive Chairman of BioReference Laboratories, the testing partner of the NFL, released a statement explaining that these false-positives were due to an isolated contamination in the New Jersey lab.
"'On August 22, BioReference Laboratories reported an elevated number of positive COVID-19 PCR test results for NFL players and personnel at multiple clubs. The NFL immediately took necessary actions to ensure the safety of the players and personnel. Our investigation indicated that these were most likely false positive results, caused by an isolated contamination during test preparation in the New Jersey laboratory. Reagents, analyzers and staff were all ruled out as possible causes and subsequent testing has indicated that the issue has been resolved. All individuals impacted have been confirmed negative and informed.'
"Off the heels of this incident, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reports that the league is working with the lab on ways to re-test personnel immediately so there is no lag time, as was the case this weekend. Having speedy turnaround times on these re-tests will be pivotal for the league in the event that something similar occurs during the regular season. Having the ability to get instant results could help prevent games from being postponed or delayed."
Seventy seven false positives. What are the odds? Well, actually, the rate of false positives is about 5%. So, had this been a random event, the likelihood would have been about 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. NFL sure dodged a bullet this time!
Date: Tue Aug 25 19:28:36 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:If they "were due to an isolated contamination in the New Jersey lab"............but all the "reagents, analyzers and staff were all ruled out as possible causes", then what *was* the cause? "The issue has been resolved" sure doesn't answer much.
Date: Tue Aug 25 19:30:42 2020
User: Oded789
Message:You sure know that coming from the same contaminated lab, these false test results are not independent variables.
Date: Wed Aug 26 14:58:34 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:Couple of interesting golf hole-in-one stories lately. Not sure which one of these is the most remarkable. Probably the 4-yr. old getting one.
Hole-in-one with a putter (by a girl!):
https://www.golfchannel.com/video/watch-amazing-hole-one-putter
Hole-in-ole by a 4-yr. old:
https://www.cnn.com/videos/sports/2020/08/25/four-year-old-hole-in-one-orig-spt-intl.cnn
Date: Wed Aug 26 22:37:36 2020
User: BuzzClik
Message:Around a dozen professional sporting events were cancelled/postponed/boycotted today because of the Jacob Blake shooting. The reason for this is explained in the video. (Yes, it's political. Names are named. So don't click the link if you are a bit sensitive about "narratives.")
Link: The son of a policeman speaks up.
Date: Fri Aug 28 03:39:26 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:An eloquent plea.
Date: Sat Aug 29 15:33:53 2020
User: FilthyMcNasty
Message:College football is back!
Austin Peay takes on Central Arkansas on ESPN at 9 PM EDT.
Date: Mon Sep 7 03:13:46 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:Man..........................I kinda don't want to post this in a thread entitled "Subject: Interesting sports tid-bits:"..........but I couldn't find another spot for it. The great Lou Brock has passed at age 81. Always hated the Cardinals (sorry, you several Cards fans here), but loved me some Lou Brock. Can't believe he was 81. When he was half that age, 40, he hit 304. And then retired. A class guy, playing the game the way it was supposed to be played.
Date: Mon Sep 7 12:03:23 2020
User: mrbuck
Message:Brock was an all time great, the best base stealer ever until Rickey Henderson came along. TN is right, he played the game the way it was supposed to be played.
mrbuck
Date: Thu Sep 24 12:08:08 2020
User: BuzzClik
Message:Sports trivia question:
Which is greater: a) the number of University of Houston's football games that have been canceled due to the other teams having positive cases of Covid-19 or b) the total number of positive Covid-19 tests reported by all teams in the NFL since the beginning of the season?
Date: Thu Sep 24 17:46:06 2020
User: Oded789
Message:I guess it's option A.
If this is the thread for deceased sports greats, youngest HOFer ever and Bears legend Gale Sayers passed away yesterday aged 77.
As a fan of return specialists, even though he was before my time, he was as good as it gets, maybe only rivaled in that aspect by a more recent Bears returner, but of course for Sayers this was in addition to being an elite rusher.
Post follow-up