BBTV

I totally understand any dissatisfaction with the new MLB post season format, but another way to look at it is that teams know going into the season that they don't have to exert themselves to win 115 games in order to make the playoffs - they just have to be in the top 6 in their league, and if they're a 115 win team in disguise, then they have a great advantage over a team that just snuck in. Also, if having the bye turns into a disadvantage, then a team can ensure they don't get it. I'm not in any way advocating that a team tank to avoid the bye, or that great teams took their foot off the gas to save themselves for the playoffs, but it's also not necessarily fair to assume that since a team is a 5 or 6 seed that they aren't worthy. That being said, the Phillies have been incredibly fortunate to be able to line up Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola to start each of their series' so far - and that's something that the format was supposed to make harder on the lower seeds, since they'd just be continuing to play the whole time. It just happened to work out for them.

that’s a good question. I noticed that with the Celtics too. Perhaps it’s only when they get a new physical floor, and not simply change the center logo? According to google searching (I know), physical floors are replaced around every 10 years, though one team (didn’t say who) has received waivers and has had the same primary physical floor for 19. I’m sure Conrad or AH would know more.

Do they really need to interview these guys in the dugout after home runs? What are they going to give you? 'Yeah, good swing, gotta keep it up". That's for that great reporting, Ken.

How does the pitch-box work? They just showed a pitch that hit the corner of the box - so technically a strike - but then when they showed the overhead view, it was off the plate by maybe 3 inches. Enough that it should have been a ball. It was a makeup call for a botched foul ball call that Soto should have been out on anyway so I don't think anyone can complain, but I'm just talking about the technology. I'm 100% in favor of robo-umps, but if the bot uses the same tech as the pitch-box, I now have my doubts.

that’s exactly what it is. I recall years ago that the league said that any new court designs couldn’t have the college lines. But just new ones. I am surprised it applies to throwback designs but I guess it does.

Why is the inside of the circle dashed instead of solid?

They basically left Parsons unblocked half the time so they could read off what he did, which worked really well. They were worse off when they tried to block him than when they just let him go free. Would never have expected that, but it might be a blueprint.

That may be true now, but it used to mandate that if two players shared a surname, they had to have their first initial added. If two players had the same first initial, they had to have their first two initials. If they shared the first two, then they had to have their full first and last name on the back, which looked completely awful. .

On his official bio on the Eagles website, he says he prefers simply Slay or Big Play Slay, and only his grandmother has permission to call him anything else. So then why would he want Slay Jr on the jersey, when that's inviting people to disobey his wishes? Seems like he's locked in to the Slay brand, so it's just odd.. Whatever - this isn't the hill I'm dying on.

Are those championship rings on the sides? I actually kinda dig that. I don't think the Celtics should ever change or ever have alternate uniforms, but those are pretty cool.

You guys are starting to soften me up on it. I suppose to be consistent with other things I've said, I should be supportive of the player being able to choose how he's identified - but - it should be consistent. So if he goes by Johnson XVII everywhere possible, then cool. But if he's just like "hey cool, they're letting us put crap on our jersey so I'm going to add whatever 'decoration' I can" then I have issue*. It's SFSS (suffix for suffix' sake). RG3? Cool. But for someone like Darius Slay (who not only said to not call him Slay Jr, but to not even call him "Darius" and just use "Slay", as if he was Madonna) it seems silly to request SLAY JR as the NOB. *by "issue", I simply mean that I think it looks dumb, not that I'm losing sleep over it or kicking puppies.

The last I read, the team itself said that the change wouldn't occur until 2024 given the "two-year rule" (which matches the timeline you referenced for the patriots). But it wouldn't shock me if they were able to wiggle around that.

How is it possible that it's part of your legal name? You're not a SR when you're born, so SR wouldn't appear on any legal document unless you changed it when you had a kid, which I doubt anyone does. You can add it informally to documents in cases where there's potential for confusion, but in most cases, it's not your name. There's zero chance for confusion on an NFL team. That said, I'd have no problem with "SAUCE" on a jersey, because it's just fun, and more fun is better than less fun. If every player did it, even jabronies that nobody has ever heard of, it would defeat the point, which is to help identify players. Unrelated question - does Sr. only apply if you were a Jr? Like, if you're a Jr, are you "promoted" to Sr if you're father dies? And in that case, does your son go from III to Jr? Or can you be Sr. and your son III? Not being a Jr., I've never really thought about any of this. And does it "bother" me? No, I'm not losing sleep over it or throwing things through my TV screen. But I do think it's silly that they do it when it's completely unnecessary given the whole point of 1) what a uniform is for and 2) what a generational suffix is for.

Many analysts had them in the top 3 after their roster overhaul. Some of the national guys said they "may have the most talented roster in the NFC" before the season, but I think they were consistently ranked behind TB and someone else in the conference, and many had them neck-and-neck with Dallas. Dallas' defensive front is so much better than I thought - with or without Parsons creating havoc. Eagles have one of - if not the best - OL in the NFL, and while their All Pro RT suffered an early concussion which created a major weakness, they didn't push around the Cowboys like they usually push around everyone else. I don't think the Cowboys offense is elite, even with Dak, but good enough to win them some big games if their defense can consistently do what they did last night. It's not often Hurts gets sacked or has to throw it away, and he was running for his life a few times yesterday (and even when that does happen, the Eagles can flip the switch to run mode, and drop 200 rushing yards on you in a second. They couldn't do that against the Dallas defense.) That's obviously going to be the matchup, which really sucks. I think Eagles and Bills fans should be friends, not enemies, and I genuinely want the Bills to win one and would hate to root against them (but obviously, I would.) 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.

thanks sports update anchor man. Guess I don’t need to watch anymore, I’ll just check back here. Sucks that someone’s own surname is too offensive for the internet. I can’t believe the league would actually put such a heinous word on his uniform. All time great Eric Dickerson should change his too. Along with at least 8 MLB players just off top oh my head. edit: Dickerson is fine but the other isn’t?

Testing the Ned Flanders filter: Week 5 NFC Special Teams POTW was Eagles substitute kicker Cameron :censored:er. LOLOLOLOLOL

Reminds me of how someone recently hacked one of the Flyers blogs and used it to show porn and up-close foot-fetish pictures for around 48 hours. If Rex Ryan was still coaching, I'd totally have digital feet pop up wherever I could.

Darrius Slay has corrected people numerous times and said "just call me Slay". Yet he has Slay Jr on his jersey. Is a suffix technically part of your legal name? Or is it just an accoutrement? It's 100% unnecessary unless your dad or son is on the same team, and even then, you can be IDd because one of you looks older than the other.

I would hire the top hackers in the world to F with the league and put whatever message I choose back there. I'm not sure about "Start Racism", but maybe display the active charges against or actual convicted felonies that the player who just scored has. Or maybe hack the midfield logo and have it be a gif of Antonio Brown waving his wang around helicopter style in the pool in Dubai.

Damn. I thought it was an LED scroll thing. I guess they did a really good job if I couldn't tell based on the gif in the OP. Usually green-screen ads are super noticeable.

Not true. They're 3-0 in green. 1-0 in white over green. 1-0 in white over black.

That's 100% all this is. There's no practical reason for it. The NOB is for identification only, and I don't need to know that you're Smith IV. I can tell who you are by your number and the fact that there's not 4 other Smiths that you're related to, You think it was a coincidence that "RG3" was such a big brand? It's just doing something because you can.

Yeah that was a hell of an incomplete pass.

This is a professional athlete? LOL.

Watch yourself...