Sport

I think the handwringing over the playoff format resulting in the demise of the Braves, Dodgers, and Mets is both stupid and annoying, especially because the other league produced an LCS with 205 combined wins. I get that short series create a greater chance for randomness to factor in, but also the Dodgers and Mets shoulda just beat the Padres if they were so clearly superior. The Braves shoulda just beat the Phillies if they were so clearly superior. It's baseball and this has been going on since the advent of the LCS. Look at 1973 - the Mets won 82 games, would've been 4th in the NL West, and beat the 99 win Reds in a best of 5. Why's the stink about it been so loud this year? I'm just glad it wasn't some dog**** cardinals team full of boring rando plugs pulling off the upset like usual. At least the Mets got the chance to play more than one game. The 2015, 98 win Pirates didn't get that opportunity. Hell, the 1981 Reds had the best record in baseball and didn't make the playoffs. What I'm saying is all those teams had their chance on the field. 

Also, Padres and Phillies are two of the like 5 ballclubs who actually tried to improve their teams by spending money in the last few years. We should be encouraging that behavior, baseball media. And it's not like both squads aren't loaded with stars. That series is going to be a party, Yankees-Astros, on the other hand? I'm calling that the A***ole Bowl. I'd welcome another strain of COVID just to cancel that series before it gets started. 

Blue Jackets get their first win. Canucks blow a multi-goal lead for the 4th straight game. That's an NHL record.

I'm enjoying the Johnny Gaudreau experience so far. 

Also this happened and they didn't score. 

On 10/18/2022 at 11:16 AM, Kramerica Industries said:

Week 6 results:

 

My dreadful, no good, very bad, 5-9 week. 

 

 

I took some risks to go after first place that didn't work out and got roasted for it. Lesson learned. 

Saints

Ravens

Bucs

Bengals

Cowboys

Giants

Packers

Titans

Raiders

Jets

Chiefs

Chargers

Dolphins

Patriots

On 10/15/2022 at 2:43 PM, Dilbert said:

As always an ugly game against the New York Red Bulls Diving Club. 12 minutes of stoppage time???  I guess when New York constantly has their butts on the ground they need to be rewarded for the time wasted. Cincinnati is the only team Philly has struggled against all year. Should be fun Thursday night.

WOOOOOOO! I watched the game on a TV in my neighbor's backyard and we were astonished at 12 minutes of stoppage time. I'm less educated about soccer as this guy and he was saying he'd never seen that much stoppage time in his life. Conspiracy Hat on - that felt like MLS trying to help out the New York team as much as possible. The 12 minutes felt like 45 minutes and I was certain an equalizer was coming. 

On 10/15/2022 at 2:27 PM, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Congrats FCC on winning your first playoff game on the road in front of approximately 17 people in Red Bull Arena!

Yeah WTF was that crowd at Red Bull Arena? That was half-full, at best. There's not 25,000 people in all of theNew York/New Jersey market wanting to see a playoff game on a beautiful Saturday afternoon? We all should have the conversation about the Northeast corridor's support of Major League Soccer.

1 hour ago, BBTV said:

 

 

But in those cases, both teams played on the same field conditions or in the same park dimensions.  The Dolphins thing - if even true - is a little different, and worse than when one team (I forget who) was opening doors in whatever end zone their opponents were kicking towards just to mess with FGs.  I have absolutely no problem with gamesmanship or even a little cheating.  Deflategate didn't bother me one bit.  Sign stealing doesn't bother me too much.  I wouldn't mind if Lincoln Financial Field had iron spikes that shot up from under the grass and impaled opposing players.  But something that could theoretically result in someone's heat stroke isn't cool.

The urban legend is the Bengals opened the field level gates in the tunnels of Riverfront stadium when the Chargers had the ball in the Freezer Bowl so it was windier and colder when San Diego was on offense. 

Funny this topic came up here because I work with this guy who grew up in rural Alabama and played college football at West Alabama and just last week he was telling me in high school they played a road game at a school who released fire ants on the field and then sprayed themselves with repellent so only the visiting team would feel them. I don't know how truthful that is, but if it's real that's the most dastardly home field scheme I've ever heard. 

6 hours ago, VampyrRabbitDesign said:

That wasn't possible considering the template, so right off the bat it's a uniform thats different from the original. And that had black hem pants trim and this doesn't, so it's not like the Canes haven't changed a part of the uniform other than what would be different due to the Adidas template.

Yeah, but it still looks 97% like the original Hurricanes where black pants wouldn't. Surely you understand the difference between closely resembling the original uniform intended for an anniversary night and wearing something entirely different from what the team wore in 1997? 

23 minutes ago, EddieJ1984 said:

 

These aren't LED boards though. Its literally going the lazy cheaper route.

It's not the lazy route. It's the controllable route. Example: the Flyers for decades have gone into MSG and broadcast road games that give free ad space to Wells Fargo's competitor Chase Bank. Now the Flyers can show Wells Fargo ads and whoever else they want for every road game and don't have to worry about competitor's conflicts or advertising for businesses outside of Philadelphia. 

The thing I don't like about the super-imposed board ads are they cover the lines on the boards. 

Bears

Ravens

Colts

Bengals

Bucs

Niners

Packers

Vikings

Rams

Cardinals

Bills

Cowboys

Chargers

I think this looks better and is an improvement, but it's also weird and will take some getting used to. 

12 hours ago, riccirulesall said:

 those look fantastic. but I never realized how bland those socks were. they need some silver for some pop and cohesiveness

Always bothered me that the socks didn't just repeat the stripes from the sleeves. That seems like such the obvious move and then allows the sleeves and socks to work together in concert while the hem stripe gets to stand out as the star that it is. Instead they used three different sets of stripes so it feels messy. 

18 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

This is the only way Crew fans could find it in our hearts to root for the comet . . . to land in the owners box at Q2 Stadium on national TV. 

 

That is why I chose that as the final. 

55 minutes ago, gosioux76 said:

So you're saying you're optimistic? 

I'm saying I don't know anything and I had a friend win a grand in a March Madness pool because he went to Kentucky and they made the title game as an 8 or 9 seed that year. I think it was the year UConn won as a 7 seed? The lesson there was just be a homer and eventually some year you'll be right. 

I'm also rooting for the two rival matchups in the second round in the West so that's why I picked those games that way. 

Galaxy over Nashville

Dallas over Minnesota

Austin over Salt Lake

LAFC over Galaxy

Austin over Dallas

Austin over LAFC

Cincinnati over Red Bulls

NYC over Miami

Montreal over Orlando

Cincinnati over Philadelphia

NYC over Montreal

Cincinnati over NYC

Cincinnati over Austin in penalty kicks

Maybe the Flames black C isn't more popular, maybe it's just that a lot of fans haven't yet felt the need to drop a couple hundo on the new jersey yet? This is just me, but I still wear a CBJ third jersey from 2004. It has the same primary logo on it as the current unis, but they haven't worn this particular sweater since 2007. I take a "ehh close enough" approach. 

The Blue Jackets are practicing this morning in their blue pants, which means they’ll wear them opening night at Carolina. The red pants with white jerseys looks to be a preseason only thing. 

8 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

Agreed. The "take it out of the refs hands" argument is nonsense, because close games are a thing and you should be able to count on the officials to -- at the least -- not actively interfere.

 

Atlanta was robbed of an opportunity to win.

Nobody ever says the inverse of “shouldn’t have let it come down to the officials.” You never hear a coach/player/fan say “well we were happy to keep the game close so that we could make the game come down to a bad call and luckily we benefited.” 
 

unrelated: starting to think Zac Taylor is the worst coach to ever make a Super Bowl. 

FC Cincinnati Officially clinched a playoff spot! I’m very happy for the diehards who watched every game going back to the USL days and during the back-to-back-to-back last place finishes. I caught a few games in those days (mostly as a quarantine distraction), but I can’t say I was really invested. This was the first year I really keyed in and watched 90% of all games and attended four. If you’d told me after that first game in Austin ended in a bloodbath that they’d make the playoffs I wouldn’t have believed it. 

Triple digit losses for the Reds. Sad, appropriate, but also kind of amazing they only lost 100 considering they were 3-22 in the first 25 games. Hopefully this is rock :censored:ing bottom. 

Tom ruined his marriage for a Bucs team that is a wildcard exit at best. Wild. 

12 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

What's everyone's favorite Blake Bortles moment? Mine's when he beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh in the 2017 playoffs and the Jaguars went to the AFC Championship game, which they should've won. Myles Jack wasn't down. 

Honorable Mention is when he got COVID and the Broncos had to play a practice squad wide receiver at QB. 

13 hours ago, Dilbert said:

The Reds will also have the lowest attendance ever in Great American Ball Parks history. Coming into the final three game series with the Cubs, only 1,358,304 fans have come through the gates this year, down nearly 1 million fans in the parks first year in 1993, and the lowest attended Reds season since 1984 when only 1,275,887  fans came to Riverfront Stadium to see a 92 loss team. Fans have definitely made their actions clear.  "Where you gonna go?", clearly to Bengals, Bearcats, FCC, and even the MLB partner league Florence Y'alls. The Y'alls attendance was up this year compared to last. 107,877 fans showed up to a shorter season minor league team in a smaller park outside of Cincinnati. An average of 2, 158 per game, up last year from 1,555 (ballpark seats 4,500)

Yeah that's what I was getting at. I was not one of those 1,358,304 fans this season and I won't add my 1 for the game this afternoon. First season I haven't been to a single Cincinnati Reds game since I think 1992. Ten years ago I went to over 30. I did go to 4 FCC games and I've already been to 1 of the Bengals games. It's important to me that Phil knows he f***ed up and to do my part to make sure he never tries anything like that again. I don't suffer that sh** he said on opening day. You don't destroy a playoff team and then tell me to be grateful we have a team at all, then declare me a bad fan for not coming to the ballpark. 

I kind of can't believe even that many went to games this season. They out-drew Cleveland, even. I expect a lot of season tickets won't be renewed and next year will be worse attendance if the team isn't markedly better on the field. I feel bad for guys like Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo who won't know Cincinnati as anything other than quarter full and apathetic unless they're part of the team to things turn around, which feels less likely than the likelihood of them getting traded off for prospects in 2025. 

At least they avoided tying the franchise loss mark last night? They can still clinch their second ever 100 loss season with an L this evening and I haven't decided if I'm rooting for that or not. 100 losses has a weight of stink to it that 99 just doesn't. 

That's if you count the COVID NIT, which I do for the Marlins who won their play-in series, but don't for the Reds who were eliminated in 2 games by the Braves without scoring a single run. The Reds haven't been in the real playoffs since 2013, and haven't played in a series since 2012. 

Speaking of the Reds, they're one loss away from clinching only the second 100 loss season in franchise history. Their win last night means they can only tie the franchise record for futility, which was 1982 when they went 61-101. I'm rooting for it, honestly. It's important to me that Phil Castellini is humbled and embarrassed and I feel like he's not so cynical and/or dumb that he won't be humiliated by watching his crowds dwindle to all-time lows thanks to his behavior on Opening Day. In a perverse way I'm proud of the city for sending him the message that we're not going to tolerate that. Remains to be seen whether he gives enough of a care to do anything about it. 

Colts

Packers

Lions

Chargers

Jaguars

Bucs

Bills

Dolphins

Vikings

Titans

Saints

49ers

Eagles

Cowboys

Ravens

Chiefs

I had a very nice time yesterday watching the Browns, Steelers, and Ravens all lose within a few minutes of one another. Can't remember the last time the Bengals won and the all 3 of the Triumvirate of Ass****s lost. I took an awesome nap in my backyard hammock at 4:15 and slept like a baby. 

My take on the uniforms is they look cool and it's also really weird to see them in something other than the classic orange helmets and I don't want to see them again until next season. That they're wearing them once more this year in a road game, which means only one game in their orange jerseys is a weird choice.

14 hours ago, VDizzle12 said:

When anyone thinks of a tiger, the first thought is orange and black with stripes.

Good thing they still have their regular uniforms.  

14 hours ago, VDizzle12 said:

When people think of zebras, it's white and black. Regardless of what color variations can be found in the wild.

I believe the context of a team called Bengals wearing them eliminates any confusion. 

14 hours ago, VDizzle12 said:

This would be like the Arizona Cardinals coming out dressed head to toe in a tan/gold color. Would anyone be okay with that? I mean Cardinals can be colors other than red, why not? 

You mean like the Eagles in green, Colts in blue or Jaguars in teal, etc? The Bengals have always been the most literal about their uniforms matching their animal namesake so it makes sense to base an alternate uniform then on a variation of that animal, no? Not a real far walk. 

If you don't like them that's fine, but it's not an insane reach for this specific team to wear white and black.