Poll of the Day > Sports Discussion Topic #174: The Big League Boys

(+) Yeah! (+)

Undertaker pulled a Ric Flair retirement and squashed Cena....smh why???
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Watch out for the Shaq attack!

I'm no Harvey Globetrotter

I watched Wrestlemania with friends. Here is my review: It was okay.

Also we should change our title to Sports Entertainment Discussion Topic and then we can all talk about WWE like the big fans we are

Uhh... can you smell what The Rock is cooking?
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Did you see that The Rock recently had dinner with Prince Mohamed bin Salman, the sort of head of state of Saudi Arabia who beheads gay people, and thanked his friend Rupert Murdoch for setting up the date

Edit: in fairness I don't know if SA is still beheading people specifically for being gay but they are definitely still beheading people

I didn't see that, why would he do that? I mean for any reason, even a cool head of state wouldn't make sense.

For some reason people are eating up the Saudi propaganda that bin Salman is some kind of progressive hero when he's actually an oppressor, just because he's young and can give a good interview. Also because the Saudis are our "allies" despite being so god awful.

People like to make fun of Vox for just making these "explainer" type articles but if you're interested this is pretty edifying

https://www.vox.com/2018/4/6/17202562/mohammed-bin-salman-america-visit

SteamedHams posted...

I didn't see that, why would he do that? I mean for any reason, even a cool head of state wouldn't make sense.

He legitimately wants to be the president and cozying up to Saudi Arabia is a good idea if that's your goal, especially if you're a Republican like him

Also people like to legitimize Saudi governors because the US's relationship with Saudi Arabia vs. other middle east countries makes 0 sense outside of the money going both ways.

I'm voting for Trump because Hillary is cozy with the Saudis!

I voted for him because he's the peace candidate and will never start a war

STLCards1991 posted...

I'm better but he's not half bad. He finished ahead of me a few times. We were playing in a group of randoms aside from each other.

STLCards1991 knows how to throw some kart around, to be sure. He definitely got the best of me, but my best moment (bragging time) was right at the finish line of lap 3 where I NO SCOPED him with a backwards green shell to win the race

There is a decent sized chunk of Twolves fans that have the biggest case of ex girlfriend syndrome with Ricky Rubio that I've ever seen in sports.

The 49ers fans who said they should have kept Alex Smith over Kaepernick had ex gf syndrome pretty bad.

Also, the green shell no scope was classic, but what I will say is I've played with online friends in MK before (including former PotD Sports Topic guy ColbyRasmus) and they were all shockingly bad, but you held your own very well. I won a few, you won a few, but at the end of the day there was a mutual respect.

STLCards1991 posted...

The 49ers fans who said they should have kept Alex Smith over Kaepernick had ex gf syndrome pretty bad.

I can confirm; it was annoying

I wish I had a Switch so I could lose in Mario kart

STLCards1991 posted...

but at the end of the day there was a mutual respect.

and that's what the sports topic is all about, ami right fellas?

Mario Kart reminds me a little of texas hold em. You can be an extremely good player, but sometimes the less skilled players are gonna win a few, and occasionally you can make all the right moves, but end up getting effed in the A

oh and if anyone wants to do some #kart today I'll be home around 4pm central

I might roll with you guys tonight. I just want that Smash on Switch man so I can really work you fools

edit: I usually get home around 5:45 central though

Every time the Wild play the Jets, a ton of Jets fans make the trip to St. Paul because they're the closest team to us geographically, and apparently it's expensive/hard to get Jets home tickets. I checked playoff ticket prices in Winnipeg out of curiosity and holy shit I can see why. Cheapest seats for game 1 are $330 in Winnipeg. Cheapest seats in MN are about $100. I also didn't realize that Winnipeg's arena is tiny (~15k capacity)

What's normal for a hockey arena? I think Scottrade Center, where the Blues play, seats around 20,000.

maybe slurpee can help me out here, but I think most are in the neighborhood of 18k-20k

MNTwins1991 posted...

maybe slurpee can help me out here, but I think most are in the neighborhood of 18k-20k

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ice_hockey_arenas_by_capacity

Looks correct.
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By the way I am for sure down to play more MK tonight but 4pm is def too early for me. It would have to be like 6-6:15 or later.

STLCards1991 posted...

By the way I am for sure down to play more MK tonight but 4pm is def too early for me. It would have to be like 6-6:15 or later.

works 4 me

Are there "thankless job" positions in basketball and baseball (or other sports)? I was extremely bored today and was thinking about offensive linemen in football and defensemen in hockey (specifically pure defenseman rather than offensive defenseman), and if they do their job very well, it's very rarely going to make a highlight reel, get cheered for, or even noticed by most fans.

I don't know enough about the other sports to recognize when a player is doing their job versus going the extra mile and making an awesome play that doesn't get noticed by a lot of people

Baseball fans like to lionize the so-called "unsung heroes" in the game too much I think. A guy who doesn't hit much and poorly plays multiple positions can still be reasonably valuable but there are gonna be fans who say he's their favorite player. The best I can think of is a long reliever who comes in in the early innings when the starting pitcher gets knocked around. He can save the rest of the bullpen with 4 or 5 decent innings but everyone has turned it off by then so no one notices.

Maybe like an innings eater starting pitcher, someone who isn't that good but gives the bullpen a break by pitching through the 6th. Mike Leake is the prototypical example for modern baseball. It's a thankless job because people hate watching pitchers who are mediocre

I agree with you guys on pitchers. It's hard to think of an example with position players. As you suggested, some people love super utility men, but they're usually utility men for a reason - because they're worse hitters than the worst regular starter, except for the rare Ben Zobrists of the world. I'd say maybe catchers are a better example, since they're basically expected to not be the hitting MVP of the team by nature of the position. Nowadays, if they are great hitters, teams (understandably) don't want to keep them at that position for long.

I was thinking about basketball and I don't think it happens much since the rosters are much smaller, so if they do their jobs well, they get noticed. Even the guys who set screens or facilitate plays without scoring still get their credit.

The lefthanded relievers who only get lefties out is another one I guess, but that's such a dumb job I'm hesitant to hand out any plaudits for it.

SteamedHams posted...

except for the rare Ben Zobrists of the world.

A funny thing about this is that Zobrist is still basically alone in this category. He's not the first or last utility guy who turned out to be really great, but I can't think of anyone else who hit like him and was still treated like the utility guy. Normally when they're "discovered" they just lock down a starting job somewhere.

SteamedHams posted...

I agree with you guys on pitchers. It's hard to think of an example with position players. As you suggested, some people love super utility men, but they're usually utility men for a reason - because they're worse hitters than the worst regular starter, except for the rare Ben Zobrists of the world. I'd say maybe catchers are a better example, since they're basically expected to not be the hitting MVP of the team by nature of the position. Nowadays, if they are great hitters, teams (understandably) don't want to keep them at that position for long.

Sometimes I feel that catchers get too much credit though. Like a guy who can't hit at all can often start because of his supposedly good defense. I would say a solid backup catcher is a good example, but there's basically no such thing as a solid backup catcher, just rookies who are gunning for the old guy's job. There are like 15 starting caliber catchers and among them maybe 5 are like very good.

in baseball, is it hard to define the line between not fucking up, and making a great defensive play?

I think it's usually pretty obvious. If someone dives for a ball it might be seen by some as a great play and by others as the result of a bad route (took him too long to catch it standing flat footed) or showboating

Not sure if this is exactly what you're asking, but defensive evaluations are terrible in pretty much every sport, I'd say. Traditionally they have been overly reliant on counting stats (errors, interceptions, steals, blocks, etc.) which don't really tell the whole story. I don't think the "eye test" works either because people gush all over stupid Derek Jeter plays, and he's rated terribly in several metrics, and you can also have guys with good metrics who are boring to watch

Eventually most of the world caught on that Jeter was a bad defensive player, but his (admittedly very pretty) jump throws gave him an unearned great reputation that lasted for most of his career.

If Jeter hadn't been a Yankee and hadn't been handsome he would have been playing second base before he turned 28

Also I've never felt more ashamed than when I succumbed to the Jeter standing ovation at Busch in his final season. I really didn't want to participate but it lasted long enough for it to become weird that I was still seated

Just got another call from my college. These people are relentless

(my guess is that it's a different student calling and they probably don't keep good track of how often everybody has been called)

CaptainHammer posted...

Also people like to legitimize Saudi governors because the US's relationship with Saudi Arabia vs. other middle east countries makes 0 sense outside of the money going both ways.

That, and the US has clearly picked their side in the Saudi Arabia/Iran proxy war in the Middle East.

Honestly though, anybody who thought The Rock would be a good politician is a dumbass, for reasons like this. He doesn't really care about picking a side or taking a stand, just looking good.

...in retrospect, this is kind of the extreme version of Justin Trudeau.

STLCards1991 posted...

Baseball fans like to lionize the so-called "unsung heroes" in the game too much I think. A guy who doesn't hit much and poorly plays multiple positions can still be reasonably valuable but there are gonna be fans who say he's their favorite player. The best I can think of is a long reliever who comes in in the early innings when the starting pitcher gets knocked around. He can save the rest of the bullpen with 4 or 5 decent innings but everyone has turned it off by then so no one notices.

fuck you I love Gift Ngoepe and Mallex Smith

I know Mallex Smith is purely an outfielder, but he's a replacement level player who has speed and is super plucky af.
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I think Mallex is probably a little better than replacement level

It would be cool if Gift ended up being good but his projections are really fucking bad

True, but he also didn't push out Denard Span for a starting job out of camp, so *shrug*
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Yeah. If you can't start for these Rays you probably do suck ass.

STLCards1991 posted...

It would be cool if Gift ended up being good but his projections are really fucking bad

Well, he's behind a piece of glass and a dude who can't see the ball, so he's gonna get his shots.
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Yeah, baseball.

Gotta say @SteamedHams you're missing out on all the Mario Kart fun

chewy eventually joined. It was the greatest gaming session in the history of these topics.

Great game "sesh". I don't suck as much as I thought but I still suck at Mt. Wario which is the level where I ragequit the first time because I finished it in 11th or something like I also did tonight