From the Bowels of YouTube: We Miss Football

3.10.10 8:05 pm by Alex and Pat

If you’re like me, you’ve certainly experienced a “YouTube loop” – that is to say, a time when you find yourself on YouTube for much longer than you’d planned, having clicked on video after video, and wondering, “How did I get here?”. This is our weekly segment where we share some of our favorite sports highlights that you may not have seen (or haven’t in a very long time). Feel free to share your favorites in the comments or tweet us and we’ll consider them for next week. Check back every week for the latest edition.

It’s March already, and Spring is on the way. College basketball is in full swing, opening day is right around the corner, and although we’re in the midst of free agency and the draft is coming up, we’re still almost six months away from meaningful football action. We miss it, and have decided to make our beloved football the subject of this week’s FTBOYT post. These two clips will remind you why we love football:
Read the rest of this entry »

Fan Interference

3.05.10 9:33 pm by Pat

Home field advantage is the result of one of three things:

1)      The stadium itself has some physical property that makes it difficult to play in for opponents (ie- lower levels of oxygen in high altitude stadiums, the architecture of the stadium itself alters the environment of the playing field, etc.)

2)      The fans themselves create a lot of noise and distractions for the opposing team

3)      A combination of the two (the best option for a team)
Read the rest of this entry »

From the Bowels of YouTube: An LSD No-No and the Cocaine Super Bowl That Wasn’t

2.24.10 3:02 pm by Alex and Pat

If you’re like me, you’ve certainly experienced a “YouTube loop” – that is to say, a time when you find yourself on YouTube for much longer than you’d planned, having clicked on video after video, and wondering, “How did I get here?”. This is our weekly segment where we share some of our favorite sports highlights that you may not have seen (or haven’t in a very long time). Feel free to share your favorites in the comments or tweet us and we’ll consider them for next week. Check back every week for the latest edition.

This week, we’ve completed a not-so-extensive study of the effects of drug use on the performances of professional athletes.
Read the rest of this entry »

Spin the Globe w/ Brian

2.20.10 5:22 pm by Brian

Been awhile.  Sorry.  I got stuff to do.  I’d say, “you do too”, but clearly you don’t, as you’re most likely avoiding any actual work by reading this column.  Time spent doing work is a pretty valuable thing, yet you’ve deemed reading this even more valuable, and I appreciate that.  With these lofty expectations in mind, I’ll try to match your demand with some decent supply.

I can usually stomach Colin Cowherd’s radio show for about 10 minutes at a time.  I’m a big fan of talk radio (mostly sports, with a bit of politics mixed in as long as it’s not idiotic), and he tends to be my only option around 12:30-1:00ish, which is usually when I’m heading back to the office from my lunch hour.  When the divorced egomaniac isn’t busy giving life advice or kissing the very ass he verbally kicked three days ago, I love his “Spin the Globe” segments, where he tries to hit most of the relevant sports in season for a few minutes at a time.  It’s quick, intelligent, informative, and easier to digest than a long winded rant.  With this in mind, I’ll try to keep a few of these mixed in during the spots between the full length features.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fallacy

2.18.10 7:13 pm by Matt

The Winter Games opened in mourning as Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died in a training accident in the days leading up to the Opening Ceremony.

Another person died at Vancouver on Friday: a straw man. The Vancouver Olympic Committee issued a statement blaming Kumaritashvili’s accident entirely on human error, concluding there were no “deficiencies” of any kind with the track.

Forget for a moment your disgust for these officials blaming a dead man’s “inexperience” before he’s even been buried. (He’s an Olympic athlete, how inexperienced can he be?)

No one said he didn’t make a mistake. The Vancouver Olympic Committee was stomping down a weak argument – a “straw man” argument–which no one was making, ignoring the crux of the opposing position: the track is too fast, which denies athletes the split seconds they need to save themselves from mistakes. Merely saying that the rider made a mistake doesn’t address the real argument.

(Note: Olympic officials backtracked from their early announcements and shortened the course, added walls, and added padding.)

Sportstalk is rife with logical fallacies such as the straw man. These statements lower the debate, prevent progress, insult fans, and occasionally, launch disgusting attacks on the dead. Let’s examine some less serious violators:

Read the rest of this entry »

The Many Faces and Emotions of Jim Caldwell

2.08.10 8:17 pm by Alex

If you’ve watched any football this year, you’re well acquainted with Colts coach Jim Caldwell. I decided to commemorate the year with this photo. I mean look at him; this guy wears his emotions right on his sleeve.

jim caldwell, faces, emotion, lifeless, colts Read the rest of this entry »

« Older Entries