Best postseason in sports
Posted by: Aric on 14 March 2005
Let the MADNESS begin!
Anytime you have 9,223,372,036,854,775,808
possible outcomes, you know you're in for a suprise.
Either way, MY bracket simply HAS to win
Anytime you have 9,223,372,036,854,775,808
possible outcomes, you know you're in for a suprise.
Either way, MY bracket simply HAS to win
Posted on: 16 March 2005 by matthewr
The only reason I don't ask you direct questions is becuase I don't understand your posts (or at least I aassume that if I did understand them, then I might have some comment to make or question to ask IYSWIM). Your post in this case was entitely understandable, if a litlle oblique, so I asked the obvious question.
As for not being "able to resist commenting" I commented as soon as I read this thread and didn't realise it was some kind of 'Get Thee Behind Me Satan' style challange, so to speak.
Matthew
As for not being "able to resist commenting" I commented as soon as I read this thread and didn't realise it was some kind of 'Get Thee Behind Me Satan' style challange, so to speak.
Matthew
Posted on: 16 March 2005 by Aric
Matthew
You have come to the right person. My knowledge of Pro Baseball, College Basketball, Pro Football, Pro Basketball, and to some extent College Football is disgusting. If I knew this much about anything else I'd probably be rich.
Maybe we can get a tourney (I've already done like 10 elsewhere) started in the other place.
I'm known by the same name, so it shouldn't be hard to recognize me.
Aric
You have come to the right person. My knowledge of Pro Baseball, College Basketball, Pro Football, Pro Basketball, and to some extent College Football is disgusting. If I knew this much about anything else I'd probably be rich.
Maybe we can get a tourney (I've already done like 10 elsewhere) started in the other place.
I'm known by the same name, so it shouldn't be hard to recognize me.
Aric
Posted on: 16 March 2005 by matthewr
Aric,
My knowledge of Pro Football is disturbing even for me. Its like my dark secret -- you have to understand that in the UK liking NBA is just about ok, liking College Hoops and Baseball is almost cool, but liking NFL is like simultaneously admiting to being catastrophically stupid and that you collect a particualry unpleasant type of porn.
I've followed the Washington Redskins closely since 1982 -- the first Superbowl to air live in the UK -- and know far too much about them. I spent a good deal of yesterday wondering about how a possible free agent signing of Courtney Brown might affect our draft board and the lower end of out DL rotation. And worrying about reports that Mad Danny might be getting his chequebook out and giving Santana Moss far too much money.
I can even explain Salary Cap restrutures and how to covert base salaries into split roster bonuses to create cap room. I have no idea how I have acquired this knowledge other than by not really having enough to do.
Matthew
PS Joe Gibbs is GOD, obviously.
My knowledge of Pro Football is disturbing even for me. Its like my dark secret -- you have to understand that in the UK liking NBA is just about ok, liking College Hoops and Baseball is almost cool, but liking NFL is like simultaneously admiting to being catastrophically stupid and that you collect a particualry unpleasant type of porn.
I've followed the Washington Redskins closely since 1982 -- the first Superbowl to air live in the UK -- and know far too much about them. I spent a good deal of yesterday wondering about how a possible free agent signing of Courtney Brown might affect our draft board and the lower end of out DL rotation. And worrying about reports that Mad Danny might be getting his chequebook out and giving Santana Moss far too much money.
I can even explain Salary Cap restrutures and how to covert base salaries into split roster bonuses to create cap room. I have no idea how I have acquired this knowledge other than by not really having enough to do.
Matthew
PS Joe Gibbs is GOD, obviously.
Posted on: 16 March 2005 by Aric
Matthew, Matthew, Matthew
I grew up about 45 minutes from D.C. So you can guess which team I rooted for. Nope, 'twas the Cowboys! I suppose this makes us arch enemies, although I think we can both agree that our respective owners are MORONS!
I have no idea what Snyder is doing. I don't think Gibbs knows either. I suppose Moss has his head on a little better than Coles (from FreeShoesU), but as for the fat contract, I'm not so sure.
Jones on the other hand is basically at the Tuna's mad disposal. But neither one of them really has a clue. First it was Vinny, and now it's Bledsoe. Both have never been great, and both have been on the wrong side of the sun now for about five years or so. BUT...HENSON is not the answer. The guy started like 7 games in college for Christ's sake.
I'm forced to digress. I'm a huge Red Sox fan, was born in Springfield, Mass. so it was nice to see the Patriots win a few. In fact, secretly I switched allegiances as it's hard to root for a team run by boobs.
I must say I am quite suprised to find a Brit so well informed in all matters relating to US professional sports! I had you pegged for a Midwestener or somesuch.
What about college football?
I grew up about 45 minutes from D.C. So you can guess which team I rooted for. Nope, 'twas the Cowboys! I suppose this makes us arch enemies, although I think we can both agree that our respective owners are MORONS!
I have no idea what Snyder is doing. I don't think Gibbs knows either. I suppose Moss has his head on a little better than Coles (from FreeShoesU), but as for the fat contract, I'm not so sure.
Jones on the other hand is basically at the Tuna's mad disposal. But neither one of them really has a clue. First it was Vinny, and now it's Bledsoe. Both have never been great, and both have been on the wrong side of the sun now for about five years or so. BUT...HENSON is not the answer. The guy started like 7 games in college for Christ's sake.
I'm forced to digress. I'm a huge Red Sox fan, was born in Springfield, Mass. so it was nice to see the Patriots win a few. In fact, secretly I switched allegiances as it's hard to root for a team run by boobs.
I must say I am quite suprised to find a Brit so well informed in all matters relating to US professional sports! I had you pegged for a Midwestener or somesuch.
What about college football?
Posted on: 16 March 2005 by matthewr
Aric,
The key to the Coles deal is his toe. Many who don't watch Washington games closely haven't realised that he is not the same player who played so well in 2001 -- he basically has lost some of his speed and, more importantly, cannot make the hard cuts he needs to run good routes and get separation from the better corners he was matching up against. This is why he ended up catching 90 balls for something like a 6 yd average and 1 TD; they were basically all 8 yard hooks with 0 YAC. Plus he was (at last in private) a ungrateful, moaning, bad locker room sort of guy who blamed the unproductve offence on a HoF coach's "conservative" play-calling (despite Gibb's teams setting all sorts of scoring records in his previous tenure) rather than his inability to get open deep.
His toe has been injured for 2 years and he refuses to get it fixed with surgery as (allegedly) he was told such surgery has a 50-50% chance of making things worse. The consipiracy theory is that he engineering his discontent to get a deal knowing he'd get to renegotiate and get another big chunk of guarnteed money.
Moss on the other hand had fewer catches but averaged about 16 yards per catch and scored about 10 TDs -- and the majority of this production came in the latter half of the season after his dodgy hamstring calmed down. I thik he's an excellent signing although he strieks me as a $3 - 4m a year guy not a $5+ whcih we are rumoured to have promised him.
The media of course sees none of this and just says "Dan Synder's at it again" when in reality the choce was cut him and get $5m of the £13m SB back or trade him and take a massive cap hit next season. All in all I think get rid of Coles and take the hit now is not a bad move as if we had kept him his cap numbers were going through the roof becuase of the idiot contract we gave him (see also Arrington, Samuels and, er, Brunell).
All in all I am convinced that Moss + Patten is better than Coles + Gardner and we can get some excellent production out of a rapidly improving Jacobs, a solid #4/special teamer in Thrash and possibly one more from McCants or a mid - low drafted project WR. Besides lack of a #1 superstar wideout doesn't sem to have been a problem for the Pats...
Draft-wise I am dead set against taking a WR at #9. I think both Edwards and Williams will be good players and maybe great players but everything shows you can get good enough WRs for much less money. I'd trade down out of #9 -- say with Green Bay if one of the QBs drops -- and take either a DE like Georgia's David Pollock or a second tier CB like Auburn's Carlos Rogers. With the 2nd rounder we get from trading down we get some good interior OL help which was our big missing piece last year -- David Bass is the obvious pick. If we have to pick at #9 I say either Rolle or "Pac Man" Jones or possibly a DE if one of them grades out high enough. Basically if you are picking Top 10 you need one of the hard to fill positions (QB, LOT, DE, CB) unless oyu have an absolutel blue-chipper like Sean Taylor last year.
As far as your C*wb*ys go I think you made some good moves and I especialyl like the Jets DT Ferguson who is a solid player. Henry is good but you probably overpaid. Bledsoe only needs to be good enough for a year and if he can produce at average vet sort of level you should be at least as good a team as you were in your first season under Parcells. The again maybe those who say that Parcells - Bellichek = Average Coach are right?
I note Henson played a handful of games but he did manage to keep Tom Brady out of the side. But he's clearly a "project" at this point.
Collage football I only started following in the last 3 seasons as we now get coverage on my cable package -- ESPN's College Gameday programes and 2 or 3 live games a week -- so I don't really have any favourites other than a vague dislike for the Sooners, Ohio State and Miami. I really enjoyed watching the Trojans the last two years and Georgia and Auburn this year and the Texas Vs Michigan Rose Bowl game was one of the best games of football I've seen in years. I really like College Football and my only real problem with it would be the large numbr of blowout uncompetitive games that seem to go on for weeks before we get into things like "Showdown Saturday" and "Rivalry Weekend" later in the season.
Matthew
The key to the Coles deal is his toe. Many who don't watch Washington games closely haven't realised that he is not the same player who played so well in 2001 -- he basically has lost some of his speed and, more importantly, cannot make the hard cuts he needs to run good routes and get separation from the better corners he was matching up against. This is why he ended up catching 90 balls for something like a 6 yd average and 1 TD; they were basically all 8 yard hooks with 0 YAC. Plus he was (at last in private) a ungrateful, moaning, bad locker room sort of guy who blamed the unproductve offence on a HoF coach's "conservative" play-calling (despite Gibb's teams setting all sorts of scoring records in his previous tenure) rather than his inability to get open deep.
His toe has been injured for 2 years and he refuses to get it fixed with surgery as (allegedly) he was told such surgery has a 50-50% chance of making things worse. The consipiracy theory is that he engineering his discontent to get a deal knowing he'd get to renegotiate and get another big chunk of guarnteed money.
Moss on the other hand had fewer catches but averaged about 16 yards per catch and scored about 10 TDs -- and the majority of this production came in the latter half of the season after his dodgy hamstring calmed down. I thik he's an excellent signing although he strieks me as a $3 - 4m a year guy not a $5+ whcih we are rumoured to have promised him.
The media of course sees none of this and just says "Dan Synder's at it again" when in reality the choce was cut him and get $5m of the £13m SB back or trade him and take a massive cap hit next season. All in all I think get rid of Coles and take the hit now is not a bad move as if we had kept him his cap numbers were going through the roof becuase of the idiot contract we gave him (see also Arrington, Samuels and, er, Brunell).
All in all I am convinced that Moss + Patten is better than Coles + Gardner and we can get some excellent production out of a rapidly improving Jacobs, a solid #4/special teamer in Thrash and possibly one more from McCants or a mid - low drafted project WR. Besides lack of a #1 superstar wideout doesn't sem to have been a problem for the Pats...
Draft-wise I am dead set against taking a WR at #9. I think both Edwards and Williams will be good players and maybe great players but everything shows you can get good enough WRs for much less money. I'd trade down out of #9 -- say with Green Bay if one of the QBs drops -- and take either a DE like Georgia's David Pollock or a second tier CB like Auburn's Carlos Rogers. With the 2nd rounder we get from trading down we get some good interior OL help which was our big missing piece last year -- David Bass is the obvious pick. If we have to pick at #9 I say either Rolle or "Pac Man" Jones or possibly a DE if one of them grades out high enough. Basically if you are picking Top 10 you need one of the hard to fill positions (QB, LOT, DE, CB) unless oyu have an absolutel blue-chipper like Sean Taylor last year.
As far as your C*wb*ys go I think you made some good moves and I especialyl like the Jets DT Ferguson who is a solid player. Henry is good but you probably overpaid. Bledsoe only needs to be good enough for a year and if he can produce at average vet sort of level you should be at least as good a team as you were in your first season under Parcells. The again maybe those who say that Parcells - Bellichek = Average Coach are right?
I note Henson played a handful of games but he did manage to keep Tom Brady out of the side. But he's clearly a "project" at this point.
Collage football I only started following in the last 3 seasons as we now get coverage on my cable package -- ESPN's College Gameday programes and 2 or 3 live games a week -- so I don't really have any favourites other than a vague dislike for the Sooners, Ohio State and Miami. I really enjoyed watching the Trojans the last two years and Georgia and Auburn this year and the Texas Vs Michigan Rose Bowl game was one of the best games of football I've seen in years. I really like College Football and my only real problem with it would be the large numbr of blowout uncompetitive games that seem to go on for weeks before we get into things like "Showdown Saturday" and "Rivalry Weekend" later in the season.
Matthew
Posted on: 16 March 2005 by Aric
Matthew
Well, Henson never actually started while Brady was at Michigan. He was between Brady and Navarre. But Jones has some sort of a fascination with drafting ex-baseball players. Hutchinson was the other ex-baseball (Cardinals org.) player who Jones thought was going to be a diamond in the ruff.
Quincy Carter just isn't smart enough to run a pro offense. Kinda like Heath Shuler in that respect.
Personally, I think Washington is making a mistake in getting rid of Gardner. I think he has the talent to be a really good WR. However, I suppose if he stayed in Washington, there's the pretty good chance it would never be realized. He needs a change of scenery.
AFA Coles is concerned, I know he hasn't been the same since his last year with the Jets. He was a head case at FSU and he still is. Cancerous.
One of the linemen Dallas just signed, I think the one from Green Bay, just ruptured a disc in his back on the damn treadmill of all places. They say he will be ready for the start of the season, but the same thing happened to Woodson last year and we know how that turned out.
Did you ever hear anything more about Teddy Bruschi? Sounded to me like he had an aneuyrism.
Well, Henson never actually started while Brady was at Michigan. He was between Brady and Navarre. But Jones has some sort of a fascination with drafting ex-baseball players. Hutchinson was the other ex-baseball (Cardinals org.) player who Jones thought was going to be a diamond in the ruff.
Quincy Carter just isn't smart enough to run a pro offense. Kinda like Heath Shuler in that respect.
Personally, I think Washington is making a mistake in getting rid of Gardner. I think he has the talent to be a really good WR. However, I suppose if he stayed in Washington, there's the pretty good chance it would never be realized. He needs a change of scenery.
AFA Coles is concerned, I know he hasn't been the same since his last year with the Jets. He was a head case at FSU and he still is. Cancerous.
One of the linemen Dallas just signed, I think the one from Green Bay, just ruptured a disc in his back on the damn treadmill of all places. They say he will be ready for the start of the season, but the same thing happened to Woodson last year and we know how that turned out.
Did you ever hear anything more about Teddy Bruschi? Sounded to me like he had an aneuyrism.
Posted on: 16 March 2005 by matthewr
Aric,
Gardner has an apparent concentration problem and drops too many easy balls and despite all his natural talent and athleticism he just never seemed to cross the line from ok to good. He has the knick of 50-50 amongst Washington fans and the satff obviously don't rate him. He's a #2 at best IMHO and if we get a 3rd roudn pick for him I'll be happy.
Rivera should be back for the start of camp I read somewhere. He's not missed a game in a gazillion years and is as tough as old boots so I wouldn't worry too much. Indeed more interesting will be the departure of him and Wahle on Green Bay's outstanding OL and Brett Favre in particular -- this could well be #4's last year.
Teddy had a mild stroke and I have heard nothing beyond he is "considering his future". I think he'll probably pack it in rather than risk some terribly injury seeing as he already has 3 rings and a huge pile of cash. Big shame though as he was one of my favourite players and such a great example compared to idtiots like RAndy Moss, TO, etc (not sure why all the jerks are wideouts?)
Gardner has an apparent concentration problem and drops too many easy balls and despite all his natural talent and athleticism he just never seemed to cross the line from ok to good. He has the knick of 50-50 amongst Washington fans and the satff obviously don't rate him. He's a #2 at best IMHO and if we get a 3rd roudn pick for him I'll be happy.
Rivera should be back for the start of camp I read somewhere. He's not missed a game in a gazillion years and is as tough as old boots so I wouldn't worry too much. Indeed more interesting will be the departure of him and Wahle on Green Bay's outstanding OL and Brett Favre in particular -- this could well be #4's last year.
Teddy had a mild stroke and I have heard nothing beyond he is "considering his future". I think he'll probably pack it in rather than risk some terribly injury seeing as he already has 3 rings and a huge pile of cash. Big shame though as he was one of my favourite players and such a great example compared to idtiots like RAndy Moss, TO, etc (not sure why all the jerks are wideouts?)
Posted on: 16 March 2005 by Aric
Matthew,
You're right, all the prima donnas do seem to be WR's. I think that's probably because they don't really have to be worried about being hit. I mean, when you've got Deion Sanders trying to tackle you, you can pretty much spout off at will. RBs and QBs on the other hand have to worry about getting drilled by LBs and DBs so they tend to keep their mouths shut.
I was just curious if they ever explicitly mentioned what caused Teddy's stroke. It could either be a blood clot or an aneuerism and I just can't see Bruschi having a clot. Must have busted something in the Pro Bowl.
You're right, all the prima donnas do seem to be WR's. I think that's probably because they don't really have to be worried about being hit. I mean, when you've got Deion Sanders trying to tackle you, you can pretty much spout off at will. RBs and QBs on the other hand have to worry about getting drilled by LBs and DBs so they tend to keep their mouths shut.
I was just curious if they ever explicitly mentioned what caused Teddy's stroke. It could either be a blood clot or an aneuerism and I just can't see Bruschi having a clot. Must have busted something in the Pro Bowl.
Posted on: 16 March 2005 by Aric
Matthwe,
I forgot to ask, are you a fan of "football" or as we Americans call it Soccer?
I forgot to ask, are you a fan of "football" or as we Americans call it Soccer?
Posted on: 16 March 2005 by matthewr
I am a huge fan of Football (as in soccer) and am a season ticket holder at West Ham United -- the Acadamy of Football.
Teddy's stroke probably happened from a blow to the head in the Superbowl from what i read. But then they are something of a black art and it could just have happened anyway. He was made a full recovery but I gather he is at increased risk of a repeat so might suffer somethig similar in the future.
Matthew
Teddy's stroke probably happened from a blow to the head in the Superbowl from what i read. But then they are something of a black art and it could just have happened anyway. He was made a full recovery but I gather he is at increased risk of a repeat so might suffer somethig similar in the future.
Matthew
Posted on: 17 March 2005 by Aric
Matthew,
Found out today that Teddy is having surgery to repair a hole in his heart. That's all they said, so I'll let you know if anything else comes of it.
Whatdaya think's going to happen on Capitol Hill today?
Found out today that Teddy is having surgery to repair a hole in his heart. That's all they said, so I'll let you know if anything else comes of it.
Whatdaya think's going to happen on Capitol Hill today?
Posted on: 17 March 2005 by Berlin Fritz
My teddy's stopped breathing !