August 20th, 2010 by Max
Floyd Landis – who steadfastly, passionately, angrily denied doping when he won the Tour De France – recently gave in and admitted that he did cheat.
The strategy is clear. Don’t just deny it. Get pissed off. Angrily, self righteously deny that you cheated, as if you would have if you had not cheated.
Sounds like Roger Clemens to me.
I believe Andy Petitte.
Posted in Politics, Social Commentaries, Sports | No Comments »
July 15th, 2010 by Max
Here are the facts as presented by NPR. If you want a more detailed commentary, check out our upcoming show on Stienbrenner and Bob Sheppard on Countless Screaming Argonauts.
http://www.csapodcast.blogspot.com/
Posted in Changes in the World In My Lifetime, Countless Screaming Argonauts, Sports | No Comments »
July 14th, 2010 by Max
Imagine a kid stepping through the tunnel of the walkway and into the open light of a Yankee Stadium afternoon the second thing you notice after you are taken buy the sheer green of the field, is the cathedral like quality of the immense building.
Bob Sheppard’s crisp godlike voice echoes repeating exactly twice around the blue seats and somehow sounds like God.
A scene of heaven.
Posted in Other People's Theories, Sports | No Comments »
March 9th, 2010 by Max
I was thinking the other day, after the US vs Canada Olympic game, which all tell me was a classic, The three best games that I know off, that one, the US Miracle on Ice, and my NY Islanders game in the 1987 playoffs that I watched for 5 periods and I came in – in the third, all had one thing in common. No fights!
I think the most enjoyable hockey games; the best games; don’t have fighting in them.
Posted in Sports | 3 Comments »
February 23rd, 2010 by Max
Two things.
Sunday night the USA played Canada in what was undoubtedly the most important hockey game in Canada in many years. The USA won.
This is not as big for the USA as the “miracle on ice” game of 1980. No American team filled with professional players can ever capture what was done then, when the USA college kids beat the Soviet Army team, which had already beaten 3 NHL teams and trounced the Americans earlier that year, all against a background of Cold War tensions.
But hockey is HUGE in Canada. Losing to the US, even if it is pro’s against pro’s, is unacceptable for Canadians, most of whom, tend to like America anyway.
But this is hockey.
The NHL stops it’s season for two weeks so that the pro’s can play. And NBC has the contract with the NHL to broadcast NHL games.
So why does NBC put USA vs Canada on the secondary channel, in favor of Ice Dancing?
The Canadians are so unhappy their pulling their best goalie ever in the history of the world, for the next game!
Posted in Economics, Politics, Social Commentaries, Sports | 2 Comments »
February 22nd, 2010 by Max
Ice Dancing outfits
I didn’t watch it.
But people told me about it so I checked out the uniforms (uniforms?) of the ice dancers people were saying are inappropriate because they are imitative of? Reflective of? Inspired by? Aboriginal dress.
I mean, really?
I think they’re ugly.
You can vote here:
http://www.wxyz.com/entertainment/entertainmenttonight/story/What-Do-You-Think-of-Russian-Ice-Dancers/5AuVBFV0ekKcAuG30MggxA.cspx
The LA Times reports that the “Aboriginal people” of Australia were offended.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/23/sports/la-spw-skate-dance23-2010jan23
Posted in Arts, Other People's Theories, Politics, Sports | No Comments »
February 18th, 2010 by Max
I missed last night’s Olympic show. My sister called me before Lindsay Vonn made her run. My sister hung up at 11:46. I had skiing on with the volume down till I had to tether myself to the wall because the battery was dead! As I watched these women fall down the hill at 80 mph I was thinking oooh, aowwwa, eeeach and that’s gotta hurt.
I woke up with a back ache.
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February 14th, 2010 by Max
Is it just me or do the American mogul skiers uniforms look like pajamas?
Its extremely hard to find an image - a simple picture - of these olympics outside of the NBC site which has everything in montage active format. They seem to be controlling the images of the Olympics fairly well.
Posted in Social Commentaries, Sports | No Comments »
January 31st, 2010 by Max
I had an interesting conversation about hockey with a friend the other day. He said Colin Campbell isn’t anywhere near fair in his handing out of suspensions. I’m an Islanders fan (yes, we exist) and he’s a Ranger’s fan. He said Campbell favors the Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and a few others, mostly old school teams. I’d always had a good impression of Campbell but it made me think.
A couple of weeks ago one of my Islanders, Andy Sutton committed a check from behind on Pascal Dupuis of the Penguins. He, rightly, got suspended for two games.
Almost the very next game Colin White made the same hit on Sean Bergenheim of the Islanders. Here’s what resulted, this from The North Jersey Hockey blog.
“Devils defenseman Colin White said he had a disciplinary hearing with NHL officials today for his boarding hit on the Islanders Sean Bergenheim in Saturday’s 4-2 win at Nassau Coliseum.
White told me that he was told that he would not be suspended, but will receive “a little fine.”
Bergenheim had his back to White, who drove him into the glass and boards between the penalty boxes 9:15 into the second period Saturday. White received a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. The game misconduct carried an automatic $200 fine and a review for possible supplemental discipline.”
Naturally the Islanders blogs are all lit up over this. And there were even one or two people in the Devil’s blogs I read who said this should have been a two game suspension.
I don’t have a clip of the Colin White hit on Sean Bergenheim so I’m not going to include the clip of Andy Sutton’s hit on Dupuis. Its available on YouTube if you want to see it.
“The five minutes we deserved,”[NJ Coach Jaques] Lemaire said of the penalty. “It was a thing the defenseman should’ve known. The player had his back turned. I totally agreed with the call.”
Both hits drew blood. Both were from behind. One blog said Bergenheim suffered a broken nose.
This last snippet came from a Devil’s blog.
“Then came Colin White’s huge error. Colin White, who otherwise has been solid all season, hits Sean Bergenheim from behind and into the glass. It was a dangerous play and White knows better (sic) to do that. There was no need to hit Bergenheim was cut from the hit and that led to a five minute major and a game misconduct. Bergenheim came back later with a full face shield, but White was thrown out of the game. The call was absolutely correct, though I doubt he’ll actually get a suspension because who in the world knows how suspensions work in this league.”
If the Dean of discipline for the league is widely understood to be either incompetent or biased – the NHL has a problem!
Posted in Sports | No Comments »
January 12th, 2010 by Max
[from ESPN]
DANIA BEACH, Fla. — The most sought after record in all of fishing has been broken … almost. Technically, Manabu Kurita’s 22-pound, 4.97-ounce largemouth bass from Japan’s Lake Biwa is now tied with a bass nearly 1 ounce lighter caught more than 77 years ago in rural Georgia.
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November 5th, 2009 by Max
Chase Utley now
Chase Utley in 30 years~
Posted in Fun, Sports | 1 Comment »
October 28th, 2009 by Max
I wasn’t a huge fan of C.C. Sabathia. I preferred A.J. Burnett. Turns out I got both. Turns out Brian Cashman had a better opinion of Sabathia than I had.
But I’m on board now. As I sit here watching the bottom of the first inning of this 2009 World Series I’m a huge C.C. Sabathia fan. I think he’s a great team mate and a clutch pitcher. He’s got his work cut out for him against a Phillies team with a lot of really fine hitters.
But Sabathia is up to it.
I say “Go Jodhpurs!”
Posted in Sports | No Comments »
August 18th, 2009 by Max
Now has more hits than any other person who ever played Short Stop in the major leagues.
Arguably Derek Jeter is better than
Lou Boudreau, Barry Larkin, Joe Cronin, Honus Wagner, Arky Vaughan, Ernie Banks, Cal Ripken Jr. Ozzie Smith, Luke Appling, and Phil Rizzuto and Frankie Crossetti.
Yeah, he doesn’t have as many home runs as some like Ernie Banks, but he IS the Captain of the New York Yankees and he does have 4 World Series rings and yes and he has more hits than any other shortstop. Any. Ever.
He’s real good. And the operative word there is “is”.
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July 18th, 2009 by Max
Ken Singleton is the best Yankee announcer since Bill White. Managing the English language is a requirement for being an announcer of any kind, anchorman, weatherman, whatever. Ken manages to speak in complete senteneces, so that’s one thing.
Next, and almost as importantly. He doesn’t talk about himself too much. This is far trickier than it seems because the role of the former professional athlete in the broadcast booth is to tell the viewer the insider knowledge that the viewer wouldn’t know. Tom Seaver was good at this. Keith Hernandez is good at this, however both of them like themselves a little too much to keep it interesting for the viewer. Hernandez especially.
The thing about Ken is that he’s the lead announcer, as well as the expert. Unless Micheal Kay gets there and inserts his bad puns, and asserts his irrelevant and often incorrect opinions. Then he is the lead announcer and the broadcast goes down hill. Surprisingly Kay is good at interviewing. The difference is that when he is an interviewer Micheal Kay is asking about other people.
Bobby Murcer and Phil Rizzuto were fun Yankee announcers, and among my personal favorites, but Murcer had real trouble with sentence structure and Rizzuto … well … we just loved him anyway!
Al Lieter is a great compliment to Singleton. Both measured and modest in their tone and self interest and yet both capable of bringing you insights. I love to hear Lieter talking about pitching. The difference between himself and Hernandez is Al uses second person, Keith, first.
The Yankees seem to be mixing and matching broadcast teams these days. Personally, I love to hear Paul O’Neil in the booth. Again he never seems to get into the “I did it this way” kind of talk, while still bringing you into the world in which he had so much success. “Flash” Flaherty is similarly professional in his manner but Flash seems to avoid the joy that O’Neil brings. Paul O’Neil has fun as a broadcaster and that can be contagious.
David Cone does everything right. Has fun. Still his tenure in the booth is less wonderful. I think its his soft voice, in part, and I don’t prefer the nickname he uses when he works with Ken Singleton. He should call him “Kenny”. “Singy” is just awful. It is a weak and unimpressive way to address someone who was (as were almost all of these guys) a highly accomplished baseball player.
The best group in the booth was – Frank Messer, the consummate professional baseball broadcaster, Phil Rizzuto, the loveable homer, and Bill White the classy insider who never took himself too seriously.
My preferred group of Yankee broadcasters currently would be Ken Singleton, Al Lieter and Paul O’Neil.
Posted in Max's Theories, Sports | No Comments »
April 12th, 2009 by Max
Ok. Baseball is conservative, old, old fashioned. I saw one of the Fab Five talking about how they started the hip hop fashion trend in the NCAA basketball finals some years ago at Michigan.
Hip hop baggy clothes have started to appear in baseball.
I’m old. Conservative. So I put the question to the public. When you see CC Sabathia or Prince Fielder in their pajama looking uniforms – do YOU think they look stupid?
And one more question – you think that clothes that hang so loosely would impede their athletic performance
Posted in Changes in the World In My Lifetime, Sports | 8 Comments »
March 24th, 2009 by Max
The Great Blue Heron is a great blue heron. I kinda like this picture. But the thing that surpised me was that I’d never seen this kind of white goose before. And there must have been a thousand of them. They took off and circled like WWII planes stacking up before a long mission. It was beautiful watching them bank into the sunlight.
Posted in Capsule Reviews, My New York, Other People's Theories, Social Commentaries, Sports, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
March 7th, 2009 by Max
Garth Snow (GM of the NY Islanders) failed to keep coach Ted Nolan for this season, because the Islanders were going with a youth movement. Garth brought up the young coach from the minors, Scott Gordon.
Gordon changed their style.
I’m a big believer in defense in sports. Defense wins games.
Gordon went for offence.
My Ilses traded their caption Bill Guerin this week, and brought up some more young players. They have 5 draft picks in the first two rounds, and two to five young stars already playing on the roster, including Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey as well as Sean Bergenheim. Other young potential stars include Blake Comeau, Jesse Joensuu, Mike Iggulden and a young player who has already (unfairly) had his name mentioned in the same breath with Bobby Orr!
Plus whoever they draft this year and some high quality veterans like Doug Weight and Brendan Witt.
This is the worst team in hockey this year, but people will be talking about a young dynasty, like … like … like … The Islanders, in just three short years.
Posted in Sports | No Comments »
March 6th, 2009 by Max
I’m a Yankee fan.
I was sitting here this morning thinking about why it was, that I kinda felt better that Alex was out of the picture. I think the lack of Alex stress is better than the stress with Alex added. If Cody Ransom can hit like I think he can, we may be better off without Alex!
Posted in Sports | No Comments »
Countless Screaming Argonauts
