I’m assuming you are saying the Cardinals and Dodgers won American Association pennants and the Reds won a National Association one?

Yes, exactly. With the exception of NFL QB, there probably isn’t a bigger developmental step up in sports than the one from college basketball to the NBA. Even the greatest players have to rethink their game (mentally and physically) for the simple reason that what worked well against college competition simply…

Well, something good has come out of the player’s protests and Kaepernick’s martyrdom.

As with about 90% of the “political” issues in the US today, the people who have twisted protests about the documented and pervasive (alleged) mistreatment of people of color by police into something against patriotism fall into one of two categories: (1) idiots and (2) cynical political manipulators.

“Yeah, I mean Superman stopping that nuclear bomb looked cool and all, but, c’mon; it isn’t that amazing. He wasn’t going anywhere near as fast as the Flash can and we all know that nuclear bombs are waaaaay lighter today than when they originally came out. Yeah, sure; mad props to Supes for saving humanity and all,…

“I can’t get over how superheroic she looks in that above still.”

I am not sure if you’re being facetious or not. The “football = CTE” logic, while not unassailable, is supported by a lot of research from a variety of non-biased, reputable medical organizations. The “vaccines = autism” logic is supported by one faked study and years of anecdotal confirmation by emotional parents…

Those pictures aren’t high quality; maybe the Pistons have an inordinate number of very square shouldered fans who wear only red or blue t-shirts?

Organized youth sports in America and Europe has existed for maybe a 100 years (probably less). Certain pockets of the country have taken high school sports waaaaaaay too seriously for a long time, but that is really caused by inbreeding in those areas. And, sure; there’s always been horrible Little League and Pop…

I’m a 49er fan who hates the Yorks’ management of the team. I think Jed York is as bad a Tommy-boy owner as there’s been. While his comments are “brave” in the context of the NFL’s fucked-up self-interest on the issue of player protests, he’s hardly staking out controversial ground here (say, the way Gregg Popovich…

I have a smart friend who is a huge soccer fan. He thinks the USMNT is on track (despite recent setbacks) with its plan to build through the MLS. He points to the Sounders drawing 40K+ as evidence that MLS is on the right path and that it will be able to provide Serie A or Ligue 1 level competition within a decade.

Maybe 20 years ago, I read an article that alleged that there had been a huge increase in the number of certified 300 games, which the article attributed to alley owners waxing the lanes to turn the ball into the center (the idea being that the publicity around a 300 game was good publicity for the alley).

I understand your point about sunk costs. I also understand that no one has seen Hundley or Callahan operate an NFL offense as much as McCarthy has, so you have to kind of assume he knows what he’s got better than we do. But does anyone truly believe Hundley/Callahan is remotely likely to replace Rodgers better than…

“A knock on top-level European prospects is that they’re harder to grade than their American counterparts since they aren’t tested by the best available competition. That’s laughably untrue in Dončić’s case[.]”

Weah’s at PSG; Sargent will be at Werder Bremen. This is what US soccer needs; we can not wait for MLS to catch up to the world. Against T&T, a must win game, we started 3 European players, 2 Liga MX players, and 6 MLS players; we substituted 3 more MLS players (with two European players still sitting). While the…

Not to switch contexts too roughly, but this is exactly how the 49ers became the dominant team of the ‘80s: develop internally well, scout for solid trade values that other teams don’t recognize, create an attractive, winning atmosphere to attract free agents, and spend money to win.

See, this is why football is going to eat itself. Tackling is an essential skill in football and it is an inherently violent act. However, due to ESPN and morons, “effective tackling” has been replaced by “big hits!”, to the detriment of the game. How many times a game do we see a defender whiff on a tackle because…

I thought it was only turtles beyond the void?

I’m a Cal guy and watched the game with another Cal friend. We missed the first field goal, so when I saw the 3-0 score I said, “Jeez, we’re up 3 on the no. 8 team in the country. Hell, I’m calling this a moral victory; we should go home now.” Glad we stayed.

Yeah, but UW needed to not shit the bed before the Apple Cup. Oops. Bad weekend for the state.