Posts Tagged With: Sports

Call Me Crazy…

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I don't really have the stats to back this up, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Nuggets don't suddenly become a great team with Iverson. He misses too many shots and turns the ball over 4 times a game. We'll see if Karl can get them playing well.

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Thanks Jay Bilas

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Just finished watching Southern Illinois vs. Indiana on ESPN, a good game in which Indiana finally pulled away by putting on a 1-3-1 defense and forcing Southern Illinois into turnovers. Both teams played pretty solid defense - the score was 42-39 with 6 minutes to play before Indiana pulled out a 10-0 run. Thank you Jay Bilas for providing solid commentary throughout the game and for putting up with the shit you get from the co-commentators, who have no idea what they're talking about. Thank you for refusing to fill the 10 seconds before commercial break with inane yelling, as Dick Vitale and the guy next to you love doing. You are the only commentator on ESPN I can stand.

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On A (Somewhat) Related Note…

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Ivy League

Athletic directors in the Ivy League are meeting to discuss the possibility of a postseason tournament. This is a terrible idea. Might as well make the results of the league season null. One-bid leagues should want to send their best team to the NCAA Tournament. The best team is the one that demonstrates consistent mastery against its opponents (e.g. the LEAGUE champion), not one that rides the hot hand of chance for three games, gets a 16 seed, and loses by 30 to Florida. The problem, however, boils down to money, money, money - a conference tournament generates revenue for its member schools, and that's hard to ignore. Unlike the BCS, where a postseason tournament would help determine the best team among football teams that have not necessarily played each other, the Ivy League is a competition where each team has played every other team twice and the best team is well-defined. If we have to have a tournament, and I get the feeling the lure of money may be too strong to resist, hopefully Ivy ADs will have the sense to model it after the West Coast Conference, where the league winner has to win fewer games than the other competing teams.

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This is Too Funny

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlTvSUCCqPo] This video is hilarious. The green A's jacket is priceless. Keep the A's in Oakland, please. Don't make these guys ghostride their Volvo any more than they have to. It's a shame teams couldn't care less about its fans, who they know will always show up. The A's fans are just gonna turn into the Giants fans, showing up late, sitting in corporate boxes, and then leaving in the 8th inning of a one-run game. Full disclosure: I scored on Nate's brother (the guy in the black shirt) in a soccer game to win a PK shootout that won my team the league championship. Both Nate and his brother go to Harvard.

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Most Global Sports?

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No one would doubt that soccer (properly, football) is the world's most global sport. All you need to play is a ball and a flat space. After soccer, what are the most global sports? The ones that have the most appeal and the most even amounts of talent around the world? American Football - Almost all the top players are American. Hockey - Limited to cold countries. Cricket/Rugby - Almost exclusively the domain of former British colonies. Baseball - Europe, Africa, and most of Asia still haven't caught on. NASCAR - Please. Which leaves basketball, whose world championships are being played right now in Japan. The championship features 24 teams from every continent, and while USA is the dominant favorite, there are plenty of contenders including Argentina, Germany, and Spain. Plus, a number of international players star in the NBA and the first draft pick was an Italian.

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Liverpool @ Sheffield United, Bramall Lane, 4:45 AM PDT

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First game of the Premier League season and I'm excited. No TV in the US, but available via streaming video here (tip: use Internet Explorer on a PC). I expect the full three points and a complement of goals, especially if I'm gonna be up watching at 4:45 AM. Liverpool just signed Dirk Kuyt, the third Dutch Benitez signing behind Agger and Kromkamp. It's funny that England is again imperialising - Liverpool claim Spain and Holland talent, Arsenal claim France, and Chelsea claim Portugal. I'm sure Kuyt will be great, but doesn't it seem like we sign a lot of strikers? Cisse, Morientes, Crouch, Bellamy, Fowler...I'll put my faith in Rafa as he's done great things so far.

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Building an A’s Scoreboard Widget

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Oakland A's I want to create an A's scoreboard widget. Ideally it will have an A's logo on the left, the linescore (all 9 innings), current pitchers' jersey numbers, runs hits errors, and then player at bat, count and runners on base. When the A's aren't playing it shows only the logo and current standings. I can draw you out what my widget will look like. Unfortunately I have no idea how to make one. So I will be trying to learn through trial and error and hands-on. The best way to learn programming must be to write programs. I wrote Ryan Inselmann who has a widget called Scoreboard, which has roughly the same information as what I want in mine, only his covers all MLB and doesn't have linescore.

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