Sports!

[Barb Bliss 4,310]

5 minutes ago, LuckyIke said:

I’m sorry, @Konas, @Barb Bliss, and @tgpumpkin but my firm “always root against ‘nova” rule makes me a Michigan fan by default tonight.  @Shamgar can be happy about it at least.

I hate to say it @LuckyIke, but your rooting will probably not be nearly enough.  Loyola was 1-10 from 3 point range.  Nova sunk 13 3 pointers in one half.  Pretty sure it's going to be ugly.

[LuckyIke 697]

9 minutes ago, Barb Bliss said:

I hate to say it @LuckyIke, but your rooting will probably not be nearly enough.  Loyola was 1-10 from 3 point range.  Nova sunk 13 3 pointers in one half.  Pretty sure it's going to be ugly.

As a supporter of a team who plays against ‘nova every year in the Big5 round-robin, I know firsthand how badly they can flay an opponent and put a game out of reach very quickly.  

 

Ugh I remember once when they stuck our student section in the rafters of their horrid ski lodge of a home court, and from on high we watched St Joe’s only manage to put up 39 points. Blech.

[Shamgar 43]

Fingers crossed for a good game and a Michigan win. Villanova is a great team, but if we play a consistent, good game we can hang with them. If we have an off day, we'll get crushed. 

And awaaaaaay we go!

 

[Shamgar 43]

Congrats to Villanova. They were clearly the better team.

Tough night for Michigan giving up offensive rebounds and missing open shots and free throws, but I"m not sure it would have mattered. Great season and tournament for the Maize and Blue.

Edited April 3, 2018 by Shamgar

[Barb Bliss 4,310]

7 hours ago, Shamgar said:

Congrats to Villanova. They were clearly the better team.

Tough night for Michigan giving up offensive rebounds and missing open shots and free throws, but I"m not sure it would have mattered. Great season and tournament for the Maize and Blue.

Nova was clearly the best team this year.  Each game they won this year, they won by double digits.  The games they lost was when several of their starters were injured.  They got a great coach and a group of talented kids and have been able to keep them together for several years.  So Kudos to them.  And it was refreshing to see how much parity there was this year below them though.  But for me, it just points out how much NCAA basketball has gone down hill in the last 15 years or so.  I may be old fashioned, but I enjoy getting to know the kids like Draymond Green, Denzel Valentine, and that Walton kid last year, and watch them develop over 3-4 years.

The B1G, across the board, seems to have institutional restraint/integrity (sans the fab five fiasco), which is great, but it's also caused the league to not have a NC since MSU did it in 2000.  Creeping up on two decades ago.  There's obviously something wrong when over 60% of the "one and one" end up on about 2% of the teams.  I hope the NCAA and the NBA can clean up their mess, and we can sort of get back to the way it used to be.  It also really bugs me to think some kids won't be going to college who really wanted to go to college, but couldn't afford it, while other guys are being forced to spend a year in college, and have no desire to be there.

[Barb Bliss 4,310]

Already 4" of snow on the ground when I got up a couple of hours ago.  Thursday is opening day for the Twins.  Not sure the heated field is going to be enough to keep that game from being called.  Friday with a high of 26 (sans wind chill).  When is it too cold to play baseball?

[Barb Bliss 4,310]

Some questions answered, but others pop up like why schedule teams that will only be in town once all year in the first week or two of the season?

http://www.startribune.com/when-is-it-too-cold-for-baseball-twins-will-have-to-decide-during-chilly-home-stand/478576363/

[Barb Bliss 4,310]

8-9" of snow sitting in the Twins' stadium, and it's not warm today.  I don't envy the people that have to shovel it out.  The field is heated.  I wonder at what point does the field get overwhelmed with snow regardless of being heated or not.

[Barb Bliss 4,310]

Twins closer trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue yesterday (Pittsburgh).  Fox Sports North commentators doing jumping jacks between innings to keep warm.  Opener at home today.  Will be much colder here, but no snow.

[Barb Bliss 4,310]

2-6" of more snow expected on Sunday!  On the plus side, the Twins won yesterday, and a great tradition was experienced this morning.  Back in 1987, Twins fans had suffered for what had seemed like forever with lousy baseball and a stingy owner.  They didn't play great or anything, but they NEVER lost at home (The Metrodome came in handy for something), and managed to make their way into, and win, the world series that year with a bunch of kids.  The local "shock jock" is an extreme die hard Twins fan, and when they first assented into 1st place, he played "light, happy music" while they spent 5 minutes or so talking sports.  In 1991, they added a monkey screech into the mix.  If I remember right, one of the California teams (Angels?) had a rally monkey video that they would play in the stadium, and the Twins beat them on the way to their 2nd world series.  Now whenever the Twins are in first place, that same music is played (though not for the entire sports segment) with intermittent monkey screeches injected.  I got to hear that for the first time this year this morning.  

[Barb Bliss 4,310]

Something really funny/scary happened before the game.  A bald eagle was supposed to do a fly around the field and then back to their handler.  Unfortunately for James Paxton (Seattle's starting pitcher warming up in the pen), he was wearing similar colors and had a mitt on his hand.  The bird mistook the pitcher for his handler, and tried to land on him.  It was a lot scarier looking than it sounds, but Paxton was super calm and didn't freak the bird out.  Basically the eagle came in towards his face.  He bent over and turned a little.  I'm sure if you google, you'll find some video.  If it had been me, I'm pretty sure I would be looking for an ER and a change of undergarments.

 

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--kFqJZzj3--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/kq6wnmpue7t24o03uyal.mp4

"Figured I'm not going to outrun an eagle," Paxton said. "So might as well see what happens."

Rather than soaring to the mound to reach his summoning handlers, the bird took a path straight toward Paxton, causing him to jerk his upper body backward to avoid being grazed. Then the eagle, named Challenger, landed in the grass before circling back to find a perch on Paxton's right shoulder. One of the trainers hustled out to lure the bird safely away and make sure Paxton was all right.

"I kind of ducked it so it wouldn't fly into my face. It was, I think, trying to stand on my back," Paxton said. "And then I thought, 'OK, if I can stand up slowly, maybe it'll just rest on my shoulder. But as I stood up, he kind of fell off my back a little bit and was kind of clawing to try to get back up on my shoulder. But then as I stood straight up, it fell back onto the ground." 

Edited April 6, 2018 by Barb Bliss

[LuckyIke 697]

There are sports, and there are “sports”.  This display of athleticism doesn’t help curling make their case that they belong in the former category.

https://deadspin.com/entire-u-s-mens-curling-team-combines-for-total-of-one-1825051903

 

[Barb Bliss 4,310]

2 hours ago, LuckyIke said:

There are sports, and there are “sports”.  This display of athleticism doesn’t help curling make their case that they belong in the former category.

https://deadspin.com/entire-u-s-mens-curling-team-combines-for-total-of-one-1825051903

 

that was at the same game as the bald eagle debacle.  Though to be fair to the eagle, he had 400 successful missions before that muff.  A much better percentage than the curling team.

[Serge Darveau 1,125]

4 hours ago, LuckyIke said:

There are sports, and there are “sports”.  This display of athleticism doesn’t help curling make their case that they belong in the former category.

https://deadspin.com/entire-u-s-mens-curling-team-combines-for-total-of-one-1825051903

 

The balls are realy lighter than a curling stone.  I've played this sport several years in the 80's.  

[Barb Bliss 4,310]

Joe Mauer just got his 2000th hit!

[tgpumpkin 2,126]

On 3/19/2018 at 7:38 PM, tgpumpkin said:

@Shamgar @LuckyIke @Barb Bliss Let it be known tg changed his avatar promptly last night once the victory was imminent.  Let it also be known I have 29 days left 21 hours 46 minutes and counting .  I’m getting my days credit on this........

4/18/18 @ 4:20 pm cst here I come!  

a pumpkin always pays his bets .....

And time.....

[Barb Bliss 4,310]

"Tomorrow!  Tomorrow!  I can change my avatar tomorrow!  It's only a day away."

[Barb Bliss 4,310]

Twins played Cleveland in PR.  The Twins have two PR natives on their roster.  The pitcher pitched shutout ball for 7 innings, and the other scored the winning run in 16 innings (2-1 final score).  But my favorite tidbit from the game was <snip>The game took so long that Minnesota's Joe Mauer and Zach Duke both aged a year - they turn 35 on Thursday, which meant their birthdays started around the 16th inning.

[Serge Darveau 1,125]

Just see this in a sport review.  

"Pink Hat Guy" Jim Anixter has owned Cubs tickets since 1967, says he wears hat so wife of 46 years knows he's at the game & not cheating

[Konas 2,852]

@Shamgar @Barb Bliss @tgpumpkin How much longer do we have on the bet? I hate everyday this goes on...

[tgpumpkin 2,126]

10 minutes ago, Konas said:

@Shamgar @Barb Bliss @tgpumpkin How much longer do we have on the bet? I hate everyday this goes on...

I started exactly on 4/18 at 4:20pm and as you can see have swiftly changed my picture 1 month later.

Not sure when you changed @Konas  This pumpkin paid his debt.  I saw that @Barb Bliss changed back too thankfully  

[Konas 2,852]

1 minute ago, tgpumpkin said:

I started exactly on 4/18 at 4:20pm and as you can see have swiftly changed my picture 1 month later.

Not sure when you changed @Konas  This pumpkin paid his debt.  I saw that @Barb Bliss changed back too thankfully  

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has gone on longer that it should have!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Konas 2,852]

I am back! I love that it changes the Avatar from every post ever!

[Barb Bliss 4,310]

1 minute ago, Konas said:

I am back! I love that it changes the Avatar from every post ever!

It's going to take a while to get used to that avatar.

[Serge Darveau 1,125]

A girl from my county, who has finished in London and 4th in Peking, finally gets the gold medal for London 6 six later and the bronze from Peking. Positive doping from the other one, give her those medals. She's happy for the medal, first history gold for Canada in this olympic sport. She said that she will never know to be on the first step in Olympic games... and the missing sponsor that could help her to the Peking games.