Subject: Recent sports oddities
Date: Sun Jun 6 21:05:49 2021
User: 82nd_Airborne
Message:That feat is a thing to behold. The world stage is where legends are made and Mary didn't get it done. Watching Frank Shorter, Gable win their golds live, even then I knew it was special.
The next one is fast approaching and I'm looking forward to seeing the newest legends.
I prefer the middle distances, 800m-3k. Strategy and luck gets it done there. Weightlifting and wrestling are also at the top of my list of things to watch.
ATW!
Date: Sun Jun 6 21:30:18 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:There have been several studies now on the Vaporflys, and, imo, properly banned - at least his version. It's such a 'race' for technological superiority in all sports - as it has always been since mankind became bipedal. I'm glad they banned those hi-tech swimsuits, signal stealing, steroids, and decks of cards - among all sorts of other advantages. So now everyone is on a level playing field, right?
And pacing lights just don't seem legit.
Date: Tue Jun 15 18:30:49 2021
User: BuzzClik
Message:In the middle of a round of golf, a hockey game broke out:
"Let's Get Ready to Rumble"
"The 8:10 tee time at Sand Creek Station Golf Club in Newton, Kansas would provide a story unlike any I’ve ever heard at a Monday qualifier. Austen Dailey and Derek Fribbs were paired with Luke Smith, who plays collegiately at the University of Tennessee-Martin. Luke’s father, Oliver, President of Memphis-based Capital Prime, was caddying for his son. The group struggled early and fell behind the pace of play. "
<snip>
"It is not uncommon for groups to fall out of place on the golf course. Play is typically expedited in an effort to catch up. A common courtesy in any round, especially from a slow group, is for players to help each other look for wayward shots. But according to Fribbs, the Smiths would not help in the search for errant shots. Furthermore, the Smiths failed to put the pin in the hole after they putted out. The situation came to a boil on the Par-3 seventh hole. Dailey hit his tee shot left of the green. .... Allegedly, the Smiths did not help in the search for Dailey’s ball. ... After Dailey completed the hole he said something to Smiths about how helping to look for shots might help speed the group up. This was apparently a bridge too far for the Smiths. According to Fribbs Luke and Oliver Smith started yelling at Dailey about his quality of play and how it was affecting the group. Oliver went on to make it clear that his son Luke, 'wasn’t here to look for balls.'
"Dailey then turned his back and walked away towards the eighth tee. Little did he know that in a matter of seconds all hell would break loose. It was at this point that Luke Smith allegedly jumped on Dailey and started to throw punches. Fribbs, who was standing on the eighth tee, ran back to try to and play peacemaker. But Oliver Smith had other plans. The elder Smith allegedly waved a putter at Fribbs- and anyone else with an eye on jumping into the fracas. (Oliver Smith’s putter-waving was was later confirmed by another PGA Section official on site.)"
Luke Smith was arrested and taken to jail for misdemeanor assault. Daddy Smith and his putter escaped.
Link: A Good Walk Wasted, indeed.
Date: Tue Jun 15 23:49:53 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Let the record show.........Martin is not *remotely* near the mountains. It's ~450 miles away - much closer to St. Louis and Indianapolis, for example. And probably nearly as close to Kansas City and Chicago, for that matter. Just sayin'..........
Date: Fri Jun 18 10:48:21 2021
User: mrbuck
Message:Copied from a Jason Stark article:
BURNS NOTICE – I live on the East Coast. The Dodgers, as you’ve probably detected, play on the West Coast. Which is why I woke up Saturday morning to a bunch of messages that basically said: Check out Andy Burns’ game last night!
So why was that? Just because he …
Got his first career start (at second base) for the Dodgers even though he debuted five years ago and played in 10 previous games, as a Blue Jay.
Got his first career hit – a single off Texas’ Kolby Allard.
Later got asked to pitch — when a 9-1 game broke out.
Then allowed the first career home run to another rookie, Jason Martin, turning that 9-1 game into a 12-1 game.
So who the heck has ever crammed all of that into one Weird and Wild baseball game? Since Ned Colletti said on the Dodgers’ postgame show that “Jayson Stark will figure this out,” I had no choice but to figure this out. And according to STATS, that answer is …
Nobody! Andy Burns is the first player in the modern era to pitch and get a hit and give up a home run on the same day he started his first big-league game at a position not known as “pitcher.” So there you go, Ned Colletti. I hope I passed the audition!
Date: Mon Jun 21 04:19:49 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Yankees turned their third triple play of the season tonight, tying the record.
And what's up with the Yankees and their funky socks?
Link: Yankees turn 3 - again
Date: Mon Jun 21 10:42:41 2021
User: BuzzClik
Message:Well, I'd been itching to post that story for several days, and finally managed to get in front of a computer. And posted it on another thread without seeing your post first.
blah.
Date: Mon Jun 21 12:16:14 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Well.....actually mine should have gone here, but (as I'm sure you know) I just lumped several tidbits and oddities together since they were so closely spaced, time-wise.
Date: Mon Jun 21 12:31:47 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:So now.................what's the record for shortest time between any team turning any 2 triple plays? I would bet that this incident, with only 3 days between the last two, is the record. Purely a statistical-type guess.
Date: Mon Jun 21 21:38:29 2021
User: mrbuck
Message:On July 17, 1990, the Minnesota Twins became the first (and to date, the only) team in MLB history to turn two triple plays in the same game. Both were 5-4-3 triple plays, executed by fielders Gary Gaetti, Al Newman, and Kent Hrbek in a game against the Boston Red Sox.
So less than one day.
mrbuck
Date: Tue Jun 22 01:31:05 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Thanks. Amazing.
Date: Tue Jun 22 04:34:40 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Relative occurrences of various kinds of triple plays....
Not surprisingly, more than half are of the 5-4-3 variety - which I was guessing and why I searched for this.
"There have been 719 triple plays in MLB history. Here’s how they break down (players in bold recorded outs on the play). 5–4–3’s account for just over half of them, and 6–4–3’s for another 30%. This [see link for list] is all of them that have happened more than once. There are 172 unique triple plays that have only occurred once."
There have been only 15 unassisted triple plays in history - making those more rare than perfect games. Two of those have ended the game: in 1927 and 2009.
Link: frequency of triple plays for all of history
Date: Tue Jun 22 09:17:03 2021
User: BuzzClik
Message:I like one of the comments immediately below the rundown of the frequency of triple plays:
"Terry Bowden, former Retired"
"It has been many years since I have seen a triple play, (I stopped following baseball about 20 years ago) but I would say a 5–4–3 triple play is nearly impossible unless the batter is so slow that the infielders can play catch before throwing the ball to first base. Of the triple plays I have seen, the first infielder to handle the ball has always made the first two putouts and went on to throw the batter out at first base. Few if any MLB players run that slow."
I guess this board is not the only one that struggles with this sort of thing.
Date: Tue Jun 22 12:25:45 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:I read that, too, and was similarly surprised/aghast. My theory is that he wasn't taking into account the times when the 3rd baseman was hugging the line (which is sometimes done for various reasons), gets a hard ground ball, and immediately steps on the bag for out #1 - then proceeds to do the around the horn thing. And/or having a hard line drive that can similarly result in 2 more outs by getting the runners who had started running too soon (which isn't hard to do since there *is* still such a thing as hit-and-run). It was pretty obvious to those of us who thought about it that the 5-4-3 would be the most frequent.
I was mildly surprised that there have been only 15 unassisted triple plays. I would have (strictly) guessed somewhere between 30-40 and 75 or so.
Date: Tue Jun 22 16:55:40 2021
User: Klepp
Message:I wonder how an unassisted triple play by the catcher might possibly *not* look like a little league error-fest...something to do with an utterly failed suicide squeeze? But a suicide squeeze with none out? Bad idea.
Date: Tue Jun 22 17:16:44 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Of those 15 unassisted triple plays, 13 were (not surprisingly) by the middle infielders, and two by first basemen. None by catchers or pitchers, and apparently none by 3rd basemen - which I find surprising.
Link: unassisted triple plays
Date: Wed Jun 30 20:22:27 2021
User: Oded789
Message:The Cubs scored 7 runs in the top of the 1st inning today... and lost 15-7.
They are the 2nd team in modern MLB history (since 1900) to score 7+ runs in the 1st inning and lose by 7+ runs.
On April 26, 1976, the Giants scored 7 in the 1st inning and also lost 15-7.
Teams since 1950 to win a game by 8+ runs after trailing by 7+ (at any point of the game):
MIL vs. CHC, today
MIA vs. PHI, 8/23/19
NYY vs. TB, 6/21/05
CLE vs. TB, 5/7/99
MIL vs. LAA, 7/8/90
Date: Thu Jul 1 03:43:54 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:I thought you didn't follow baseball, Oded. LOL. But that's a bizarre occurrence. For which I've now been blamed.
This very day, during this game, I had some stops to make at two friends' houses. At the first stop, I encountered a small goat in the road as I was leaving. And there were some chickens nearby, too. This was *not* way out in the middle of nowhere, nor at or near a farm, but in a non-busy residential area. So I thought it pretty odd. So...............from that point, I go directly to another friend's house maybe only 1.5 km away, if that far. Likely not more than 1 km as the crow flies. This friend is a HUGE Cubs fans, born in IL, and usually makes at least two trips up to Chi-town each season just for games. She has two flagpoles hanging flags from her porch. One is a large Cubs flag; the other is a large "W" (meaning "Win") which is displayed at Wrigley Field (Cubs home) when the Cubs win a game, to alert the neighborhood, and she follows that tradition. And so my first words to her were, "Did the Cubs win already?" (It was only about 3:30 PM or so (2:30 PM where the game was being played.)) And she said that the Cubs were up 7-0 after the first inning, so I guess she just went ahead and put it up there. By the time I left, I think it was 7-6, and she was getting worried. I didn't realize 'til much later how it turned out. We were texting each other back and forth some tonight, and I mentioned the goat, which I had not done earlier. She immediately recognized the problem, and it was me bringing the goat 'essence' (and thus curse) to her house with the "W" flag already up. You likely don't know about the "goat curse" against the Chicago Cubs, but it's a pretty fascinating story. So......................that's what led to that astonishing and dramatic turnaround. It's nice to know (I guess?) that I can still be a "difference maker". I think it was just the karma of it all, but 'scapegoats' are easy to find after a loss.
As Paul Harvey would say......................."Now you know *the rest* of the story"..............
Date: Thu Jul 1 04:34:12 2021
User: Oded789
Message:Nice story, lol, but wasn't the curse broken a few years ago?
Generally I don't follow baseball, but when I see a curious scoreline (the one linked below comes to mind) I might catch some highlights, and as noted elsewhere, the one and only full game I ever watched - live - was game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
Link: Speaking of odd baseball scores...
Date: Thu Jul 1 04:56:32 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Yes, that's true - and that's why she was so adamant about my actions. She didn't want to have to overcome another, or revived curse. But I pointed out that that was a very severe curse, and so winning once may not be enough to fully exorcise it.
And yes, that 2007 game is a crazy one, and the Braves hanging 20 on the Mets tonight seems tame by comparison.
Date: Thu Jul 1 05:19:33 2021
User: Oded789
Message:Are baseball fans a wee bit more superstitious than in other sports?
I knew of this one and the Bambino.
Okay, the int football (Soccer) list seems to be longer, but most of them are so esoteric and not interesting.
Link: Sports curses
Date: Thu Jul 1 09:55:12 2021
User: BuzzClik
Message:I'd be curious what the filter looks like to separate "esoteric" curses from the rest.
The only curse of any consequence was that against Mayo AAA (Gaelic Games). All the rest are real eye rollers.
Date: Thu Jul 1 14:48:15 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Without traipsing thru those, in my experience, baseball fans are WAAAAY more superstitious than fans of other sports, in general. Baseball has such a lengthy, nuanced lore, and there are sooo very many 'opportunities' for curses and/or superstitions to develop. The pace of the game, in which players on one team largely sit around in a dugout, waiting for something, or for a situation to develop, encourages conversation, for another factor. This factor can be amplified by the tendency for the human mind to want to be active whilst the action is slow. Far less opportunity for an "idle mind" to churn away during a hoops game, footie match, or tennis match, for example.
Still further............the game of baseball (not uniquely) became a 'thing' well before "the scientific method" became a 'thing' (for practical purposes), so that accentuated the perception of cause and effect as it was perceived in those times. Somehow, altho I can't put my finger on the relation........it seems to me that the 'hobby' of collecting baseball cards (nearly 150 years old) adds yet more to this mystique. (Opening a pack - wondering who's inside.)
All that said...........the SI jinx IS obviously real. ;)
Date: Thu Jul 1 14:53:01 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Addendum: while I said "fans" above (in response to the way Oded phrased it), as I was writing my post I was mostly thinking about players - as is probably obvious. But the two intertwine, as most(?) fans were once players - at least in my demographic and the ones coming shortly after me.
Date: Thu Jul 1 17:06:25 2021
User: Oded789
Message:Buzz: the curses themselves can all be described in that way, of course. I meant that the soccer list includes many small and relatively little-known teams.
For comparison, I'm not sure that a little-league baseball team "curse" merits inclusion in such a list.
TN, in your bottom line you meant most of them picked up a ball/bat/glove at some point and played in school and/or with friends?
Date: Thu Jul 1 18:27:42 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Yes. In the U.S., "back in the day"...........boys playing baseball was almost ubiquitous. Some girls, too, but a far, far lower percentage. One could go to almost any "field" (a playground so designed), or *real* field out in the country, say........on almost any summer day (from April 'til the W.S. was over, with school getting in the way, of course), and see the game being played. Mostly unorganized - meaning you chose up your teams and had at it. And that would be for most of the day. Then........3 or 4 or 5 or so nights of a week, there would be organized games of all sorts, ages, and some being softball - just everywhere. TV watching had not yet become the be all/watch all it later became. No, some boys didn't "make it", and were resigned to watching, or reading, or hobbies, or whatever. But most played baseball, a lot of the time, and for a significant number of years.
Same for (American) football and basketball, and up North, hockey, but all those to a much lesser extent than baseball. It's designation as "the national pastime" truly was accurate.
But things, obviously, have changed. If I go to watch a Little League (the main section of it being for ages 9-12) game now, for example, it's mostly horrific. I mean, it's sad. The kids not only have much, much lower skill levels because they don't play it every day, but they haven't learned strategy, technique, detailed rules, etc. I truly feel sorry for them. (But on the other hand, they could teach me more about how to work a computer or modern phone!) All that said.................at the *very* top of the skills set, the top is still as good as it ever was. Maybe better, because there's this whole infrastructure called "travel ball", that selects the top talent, and goes on the road to compete with other top talent. Sort of like AAU basketball, if you're familiar with that. But that's maybe 1% of all the players, and most of them don't bother to participate in the regular Little League-type stuff, because it's beneath them - and that's not a wrong assessment.
Date: Thu Jul 1 18:39:13 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Postscript --- So...........because the playing of the game was so deeply inculcated into my being...................also being a fan was totally second nature. They went together. The strikes and steroids, tho, soured me on the professional game (kinda like the cheating here, as we all know). It became much more a business than a 'game'/sport. I still follow it obliquely, but only that. I will sort of watch the playoffs and W.S. - as they are still history in the making.
And altho I didn't play as much hoops and football as baseball, I still played both A LOT. And I played hoops a LOT longer. So being a fan in those sports also was second nature, and was just part of life.
Date: Wed Jul 7 14:56:39 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Federer just lost in the quarters at Wimbledon. Straight sets............and the third one was 6-0. And that's only the second time *this century* Federer has lost a 6-0 set anywhere in the world. Previous incident was to Nadal in the 2008 French final. Today's loss was to the Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the 14th seed. Federer was the 6 seed, I think.
Date: Wed Jul 7 19:49:24 2021
User: Oded789
Message:Also, Fed only lost once in straight sets on grass since 2002 (first round loss vs Mario Ancic), and that was the London 2012 Olympic final to Murray.
Date: Fri Jul 9 01:41:29 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:The San Diego Padres have been behind 8 or more runs 480 times in their history. Tonight was only their 3rd time overcoming those loooong odds to win, 9-8, over mrbuck's Nationals.
Oh wait - that's not even the most remarkable part......
Trailing 8-2 in the forth, San Diego's pitcher Daniel Camerena - JUST CALLED UP FROM THE MINORS *TODAY* -- AND FROM SAN DIEGO -- batting for himself (his first-ever at-bat in the majors), went after a very low, well-out-of-the-strike-zone offering from one of baseball's best pitchers, Max Scherzer (1-2 count), and deposited it in the right field seats for a GRAND SLAM. Check out the location on this video.
Not clear on this............but maybe first pitcher to hit a grand slam in his first major league at bat since 1898?
Will be one of the best highlights of 2021.
In the meantime..............the Suns stroked 20 3-pointers in downing the Bucks. That *may* be 2nd-most ever. I'm sure Oded can clarify and/or confirm that.
Link: Welcome to the Majors, Mr. Camerena
Date: Fri Jul 9 17:51:10 2021
User: Klepp
Message:He hits the ball like Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s father used to hit the ball.
Date: Sat Jul 10 00:00:52 2021
User: mrbuck
Message:Regarding Daniel Camarena's grand slam...
I don't want to talk about it.
mrbuck
Date: Sat Jul 10 02:14:42 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:But................I should publicly apologize to Mr. Camarena for misspelling his name above when recounting his grand salami - in that game noted above. And while I'm at it, I'll also apologize for misspelling "fourth" - referring to that identical game against the Nationals.
Date: Mon Jul 19 02:47:50 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Mets vs. Pirates Sat. and Sun........
Mets blew a 6-run lead Sat. to lose (with a walk-off grand salami by the Pirates). Pirates returned the favor today (being up 6-0 in the first). Only the 4th time in Major League history teams have swapped such turnarounds consecutively to each other in the same series. The first was in 1886(?)(1889?), in a game between the Kansas City Cowboys and the St. Louis Browns (the originals, who became the Cardinals, not the ones who moved there from Milwaukee in the early 1900s); the other two games were of much more recent vintage. Can't find that detail, but seems like in the last 20-30 years.
But wait - of course there's another quirk. The *second* (considerably behind #1) most birdbrained defensive lapse of this year happened in today's game, which helped get the Pirates their big lead in the first. Hard to describe, but just watch the video........
Link: Mets pitcher knocks roller towards dugout, thinking it foul
Date: Mon Jul 19 02:56:59 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:Meanwhile...................over the pond at Sandwich, at Royal St. George’s, Collin Morikawa became the first person to win two separate major championships on first attempt - a rather staggering (and nearly, if not completely, unfathomable) accomplishment. He earlier won the PGA last year in San Fran.
Link: Collin Morikawa is pretty good, it appears
Date: Mon Jul 19 11:47:19 2021
User: BuzzClik
Message:The video was great. I love it when a player starts a heated argument with the ump while the ball is still in play. And then Mets manager Rojas blew a cork and bumped the umpire in anger. He'll have a game or two off to think about it. And, the ump was correct: the Mets pitcher did not knock the ball into foul territory until it had rolled onto the foul line. Three runs scored, an ejection, and an upcoming suspension all for the sake of arguing a correct call.
Date: Mon Jul 19 12:20:01 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:It brought to mind a time back in my umpiring days. A batter hit the pitch off the *very* end of the bat, and it was a very short pop-up towards the first base dugout, landing several feet in foul territory. But because of the absurd amount of English on the ball, it hopped right back towards fair territory, and then one more hop and it was a fair ball. Mild chaos ensued, as there were runners on base. I honestly don't remember the outcome, as that was a long time ago. I *think* the batter was out, as he had no idea what was going to happen and thus had not started towards first base. May have even ended up as a double play. I just don't remember the details, but it was one of those crazy things a baseball can do.
Date: Mon Jul 19 22:22:02 2021
User: BuzzClik
Message:That Mets played was nagging at me as being reminiscent of a similar goofball blunder. This was we in a World Series game…
Link: https://youtu.be/k8WXdHzvAdc
Date: Sun Nov 7 15:57:07 2021
User: BuzzClik
Message:In an early NFL game today between the Denver and Dallas, the Cowboys partially blocked a punt the crossed the line of scrimmage in the air and the first player to touch the ball was a Cowboy just one yard beyond the line of scrimmage. The Cowboy player was unable to control the football and a Bronco grabbed the ball and advanced it about 3 yards short of a first down. However, because the punt crossed the line of scrimmage, it became a "muffed punt" that was recovered by the Broncos.
In the link below, scroll down to the second video embedded in the Tweet.
Link: https://sports.yahoo.com/broncos-have-punt-blocked-but-keep-ball-following-bizarre-cowboys-touch-200122013.html
Date: Mon Nov 8 02:17:12 2021
User: TNmountainman
Message:That's bizarro. I'm sure it's happened before (somewhere), but it's a new one on me.
Date: Mon Nov 8 14:07:02 2021
User: Klepp
Message:Above reminds me of this...
(Pretty quick for a kicker.)
Link: Chester Marcol's glory
Date: Sat Jan 8 19:03:03 2022
User: BuzzClik
Message:Antonio Brown.
The Bucs cut him. He's threatening legal action. In the meantime, he is insulting everyone on the team.
Anybody need a wide receiver?
Link: Last weekend's tirade
Date: Sat Jan 8 19:50:24 2022
User: Klepp
Message:Boy's mama need kick his behind...(psychiatric assessment to avail as well)...
Date: Sat Jan 8 21:20:53 2022
User: mrbuck
Message:meanwhile, baseball is being played in Straya, and my favorite team there, the Melbourne Aces, had a player make some big news.
Link: Genevieve Beacom
Date: Sun Jan 9 21:24:55 2022
User: mrbuck
Message:The Yankees also make history.
mrbuck
Link: Rachel Balkovec
Date: Sun Jan 9 22:08:10 2022
User: TNmountainman
Message:Spending a lot of time on that trade rumors site, are ye, buckaroo? Hope "Spring"s eternal?
Date: Mon Jan 10 12:43:28 2022
User: mrbuck
Message:I visit it daily, TN. As far as the Spring hope is concerned, I have bet on March 15th as the day the lockout ends. Not a big bet, but a great payout if I win.
mrbuck
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