Nerds on Sports

At least one of the Nerds here is a martial artist of considerable renown and skill. But I don’t think even he could handle the flamingo style of a proper KOREAN BASEBALL FIGHT!

Thanks to ArmchairGM & DNL- brilliant.

What’s going on around the blogosahedron?

Couple weeks ago, I mentioned Kyle Kendrick’s “trade” to Japan. Well, last week he got his revenge. [Balls and Sticks]

With the drunkenness of St. Patrick’s Day fast approaching, you should get your eyes adjusted to the disgusting things that you will probably see. The Florida Marlins are starting a male dance team called the Manatees (yup, like the cows of the sea — Dancing Cows of the Sea). [Ump Bump]

Tony Kornheiser is huge fan of the bloggers:

It’s a real, it’s a real mistake, and it happens. And I don’t want to single anybody out in this area, but, you know, some people sit at home and they watch TV and they watch radio and they “blog” about certain “things,” and they think they know what they’re talking about, and they think they have sources. They have no sources. They make stuff up. They’re toads. They’re little toads. Actually, they’re pimples on the behind of the greater body politic in this country and in this city (everyone in the studio cackles for no reason). And because, because they have access to airwaves and three or four people read them, they think, ‘Oh, I’m very important.’

In fact, in fact, if a huge dumpster landed on their mother’s house (cackling), and got all the way into the basement and crushed them (more cackling), nobody would care. Nobody would miss them. They provide nothing good, no service that’s any good at all. They, they are, they are, they are sucking mole rats (more cackling), and that’s the nicest I can be to them. But because, because they have a name, or, you know, because they get feedback from others, you know, they think they’re very important.

[Washington Post][Washington Post Again]

Read more »

There is so much fun stuff out there that I’m going to try to blogroll every Sunday some of what I have been reading during the week. (Feel free to email me things I should be reading — The internets are a big place and I do need guidance.) This week I have some broken keepers, baseball prognostications, RedSox Pictorials, a Philly Prank [umm... that doesn't look right... what do you call someone on the Phillies? (other than terrible)], and more.

• NBC has the options on a sports reality show. Doesn’t that sound cool? And, Hey, The winners could go to the Olympics! But wait, It’s curling. [TheStar.com]
• Some goalkeepers are falling apart while not goalkeeping: Michael Rensing of Bayern Munich hurt himself tying his shoes, and Dida of Milan hurt himself going from sitting on the bench to the locker room. [The Offside]
• I’ve requested entry into the fantasy leagues of the Babes who Love Baseball, because losing to my friends in one league and losing to the people I work with in a second league wasn’t enough. I now want to lose to strange bloggers I don’t even know. [Babes Love Baseball]
• Last year is was Jimmy Rollins. This year it’s Carlos Beltran. Some people just love to make crazy predictions for the Mets winning the season. [We Should Be GMs] [ESPN] [Babes Love Baseball]
• Jacoby Ellsbury has a pictorial and article in the new issue of Men’s Vogue. Our little rookie is growing up fast, and I bet the jerseys with his name on them are selling out fast now too. [Center Field]
• Read more »

Hey. How Y’all doing? I’m in Dallas this week for business (not Nerds on Sports business) but I was able to take in a Mavricks’ game. I shall tell you all about the game when I get home and can upload the pictures. I don’t have the necessary cables to connect my camera to my laptop. Plus I shouldn’t be using too much of this $10 a night hotel internet for non-work reasons. (Of note: if I stayed in a worse [read: cheaper] hotel like Holiday Inn they have wireless internet and it’s free. The only difference between the Intercontinental and the Holiday Inn is the size of the lobby and ballroom.)

Now that I’ve complained about the stupidity of the hospitality business, here are some fun links for you to check out.

• Mental Floss (great magazine – I wish I subscribed) has a story about some odd sports like cheese rolling and tuna throwing.
• Sean Taylor should have been able to defend himself? (I’ve been in Texas for 3 days and haven’t seen a gun.)
• Best Week Ever has a list of mascot domain names that don’t belong to sports team.
• Carl from Aqua Teen chimes in on the whole Mitchel Report fiasco.
• Men’s Health has an article on the drunkest cities. Perhaps we can find a connection with drunk cities and terrible sports teams?

I titled this post as “Boston edition,” but it’s not like there’s going to be another edition. I live in Boston and root for Boston teams. Then again, there is always the hope that someone else here will be a fan of another team and write a competing entry.

New England Patriots
Hey, the team is still undefeated. And peoples around the blogosahedron are waiting to watch the Patriots again when they are 16-0 (Deadspin, Bleacher Report, Blown Coverage, You Been Blinded, ArmchairGM). Now we can add Nerds on Sports to that list becaus: New England Patriots: 16-0 (18-0 if you count postseason).

So, it looks like the Patriots-Colts Pumped Soundgate Noisegate The Skipping Crowd Conspiracies Speakergate was just an issue with the broadcast. But, as a Patriots fan, I can’t believe that this is the truth until I get a bit more closure on the situation. I want a team of investigative reporters to sneak into the RCA Dome and set up some noise meters (like you would find at a terrible talent show to measure who the winner is) and record during games. If that doesn’t work, perhaps some sort of non-football competition between Manning and Brady. Maybe something involving being sexy and making shitloads of commercials. My money is on Manning – Brady may out sexy him, but Peyton’s commercial making prowess is impressive. Read more »

I think having a free taco and giving out free tacos to children only slightly dressed up at my doorstep has ruined my writing energy for the week. So I shall tell you where else you can go for some exciting things. Of course, I will mix in some fun pictures, because Google Image Search is our biggest visitor (by biggest, I mean only – I don’t think anyone gets here without going through Google) and I have to keep them happy.

• Does Papelbon have formal training in Irish Step Dancing?
• Goulet is a ghoul now, but Deadspin helps us remember the funny.
• Fire Joe Morgan has checked the PECOTA predictions for next year – They find that the Chicago White Sox are going to end the season at 0-162. Read more »

So I rolled the ol’ 20-sided Blogosahedron this week and I think I rolled a critical hit, but you should be the one to decide that. We have recently enjoyed some wild card baseball. Some people may think that this wild card thing has been around for quite a while, but that’s not true – it’s only been around for 10 years. Way back in 1993 the owners voted to add the wild card into baseball. There was only 1 dissenting vote…

For a little bit of science, there is the new super-high-tech NHL jersey. And if you think those jerseys are stupid, check out what Dallas considers professional journalism.

Tim McCarver may be professional, but it turns out that it took him until ALCS Game 4 to realize that to get multiple runs, getting 1 run is better than getting 0 runs:

Believe it or not, Joe, in 2007 when a team led off an inning with a home run, it led to more multiple-run innings than when a team led off an inning with a lead-off walk! It doesn’t seem like that would be the case.

Now that the science is out of the way, I can move to the fun stuff. Read more »

I don’t have all the time in the world for my post because Halo 3 is here, and I have to get back to helping Cortana and killing aliens. So I’ll just send you to a few lists I’ve recently read in the Blogo-Icosahedron (or Blogosahedron for short).

The first is a list of sports blogger types from Epic Carnival. Where do you think the NoS writers fit in to that? What are we missing? I know we need another writer, so perhaps I should find someone that helps us round out this list.

The second is a baseball is better than men list from Babes Love Baseball. So I figured I could extend the ‘Women > Baseball > Men’ list thing and say Why Women are Better Than Baseball:

1. Women don’t disappear and exist on rumors for 6 months of the year.
2. Women are much better at fitting dates into your schedule. When was the last time a baseball game was delayed because you had to work late or go on a business trip?
3. Women try to look good for you, Baseball teams keep JD Drew on the roster.
4. Women are sensitive. There’s no crying in baseball. (I don’t know if this is a good or bad thing.)
5. Women listen to you when you’re upset or angry (then they twist those words at a later time).
6. Most women are hotter than most baseball players. (to me anyways)
7. You have a much wider choice when it comes to women. With baseball, you have about 30 choices, with most of those being long distance relationships.
8. Women are unpredictable. Add some excitement to your life.
9. A good women will enjoy baseball with you.
10. Most women don’t give you an 86 year drought without going all the way.

Ok, go enjoy Halo 3, or make me a list that says men are better than baseball (if that is even possible).