Monday, September 29, 2014

ESPN Sports Science: Run or Slide?



I love these ESPN Sport Science features, even though it's really more technology, analytics and cinematography than science.  The conclusion here seems clear enough for base runners:  Run through first base, and don't slide.  But John Brenkus himself points out that for a very short segment, the sliding base runner actually lurches forward faster than the run-through base runner.  Sure, the base runner decelerates and loses time to the bag, if he launches into his slide too soon.  However, if he were to time that slide closer to the bag, he would actually get there fractions of a second sooner than the run-through base runner.  A true scientific study would have experimented with different distances from bag, and determined that at a certain point it would be better to slide than run.

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Saturday, September 20, 2014

Roger Goodell isn't going anywhere


This should be the final straw for NFL's robotic Roger Goodell
Going into Friday's news conference in New York, the question was whether Roger Goodell would resign. Coming out of it, the question is whether he will be fired.

Not likely. This corporate employee served well his corporate bosses, the 32 NFL owners.

They were probably thrilled with his performance. Most of the rest of the free world was appalled. The reviews ranged from disappointment to horror. If this had been a Broadway play, the theater's doors would be closing right now.
I understood better why Goodell was still in office, several days after the Ray Rice fiasco erupted like a volcano that evidently neither he nor the NFL was equipped to control.  Alex Grossman posted the article above, and I commented in response to a telling point from Leo Sanchez:
Even if Goodell leaves his position, which I seriously doubted. That's not going to solve the domestic violence situation..!!
You're right, domestic violence is a much bigger, more complicated problem than even the mighty NFL can handle, with or without Goodell. But I very much agree that he has to go: He has great business acumen, but he is incompetent as a leader and is morally suspect. I am astounded that despite what's obvious to us, owners have not spoken out against him. In fact the handful who have spoken out are supportive of him. What I think is this: He's done a lot of good for these owners (i.e., made boatloads of money), and in the process he's curried personal favors with many of them. So all that said, I just don't see Goodell leaving. The question about whether he was resigning, during the press conference, was a silly one: If your salary was $44 million a year, would you just resign? So the resolution to the terrible mess the NFL created will not come from Goodell, his lame apologies and promises notwithstanding, or anyone from within the NFL. Federal and-or local authorities have to step in with real subpoena and arrest powers. Otherwise how many more women and children have been harmed, or will be harmed, by how many more players we haven't heard about, yet? I mean, if anyone of us did what Ray Rice did to Janay Palmer, we'd have our asses sitting in jail!
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Hope Solo may warrant a suspension


Why Hope Solo should be suspended from Team USA - immediately
Hope Solo should not be playing right now for the U.S. Women's National soccer team.

Earlier this year, the star keeper was arrested for allegedly attacking her sister and 17-year-old nephew. The police report said Solo was "intoxicated and upset," and she allegedly called her nephew "too fat" to be an athlete. Also according to the report, the boy had blood on his shirt, and his mother (Solo's sister) was visibly injured.
At the heels of the Ray Rice fiasco, courtesy of the NFL, Korinne Jackman posted the article above and noted:
Nope...we need to send a message.

If domestic violence is wrong, then it's always wrong, no matter who commits the crime, what they look like, or which sport they play.

This Hope shouldn't float...
Julia Denett commented:
What happened to innocent until proven guilty? We know there were injuries. We see the allegations. But we weren't there. I know sports figures are thought of as role models, but so are everyday Joes, going to work, raising their families, paying their bills. It'd be a downright dangerous situation if we all got suspended from our jobs or entirely dismissed based on allegation. 
Then, I chimed in:

You're right. Maybe Solo could be placed on something like the Exempt List that the NFL created, until due process plays itself out for her case. She won't play, but she'd be paid. Also, I don't know the specific legalities of innocent until proven guilty. But at some point allegations are more than just allegations. If there is clear evidence and if there is a confession from the accused, then I think these are indications of guilt. The Ray Rice case is such a mess, but with him there was video proof of his assault and he admitted to his actions. While nowhere this complicated, the Solo case may be similar depending on what evidence and confession the authorities have. My point is, maybe the allegations against her are more than allegations and, if this is the case, then her case may warrant an outright suspension.
 
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Realizing things about Roger Goodell



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Friday, September 19, 2014

Can't any football team just get it right?


Jameis Winston is the standout QB for Florida State University, and he has a pockmark history of behaving badly:

Jameis Winston to sit whole game

At first FSU suspended Winston for half a game, the first half in particular.  I was, like, Are you kidding me?  It was a mockery of a punishment, and I couldn't believe that ESPN Robert Smith tried to justify it.

So I chimed in:


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A feel-good countdown on athletes


I have several social media profiles, covering key projects, and on Fridays I focus on a theme that I can post about across all my sites.  After hell week in the NFL with all the domestic violence and child abuse cases, I wanted to post on a feel-good theme about athletes behaving well.  So here you go!


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Thursday, September 18, 2014

A Tampa Bay embarrassment in Atlanta


I had finished my work after a good, long day, and I wanted to relax with some Thursday Night Football.  I was in for a disappointment:


Lovie Smith coached the Chicago Bears from 2004 to 2012, and was fired even after finishing the year at 10 - 6.  He struggled in his first year, but managed to be the first African American head coach to reach the Super Bowl in his third season (2006 - 2007).  That was clearly the pinnacle of his career with the Bears, as the next six years brought mediocrity back.  His defensive prowess was matched by his offensive ineptitude, so despite bringing in a franchise QB in Jay Cutler, the Bears couldn't come anywhere near that pinnacle again.

Smith didn't coach for a year, then the Buccaneers hired him to change a losing culture down there in Tampa Bay:

Lovie Smith deserves to be vilified after embarrassing loss to Falcons

Clearly that ain't happening anytime soon.

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Friday, September 5, 2014

Will Dan Snyder Cave on Redskins Name?


Washington Redskins

I posted this note on Google+, and had a conversation with a friend Robert Cooper:

Does anybody else beside me think that it's just a matter of when (not if) Washington owner Dan Snyder will cave on the team name?
Dan Synder will NEVER cave, the reasons why are the Billions in his bank account and the millions the organization makes every year. The piles of money around his ears are two thick for him to hear the complaints of poor people. Until the name begins to take money from his pocket there will be nothing different. 
But it's a pretty marked brand now, isn't it. I imagine sponsorship money, media deals, merchandise sales etc. will soften, if they haven't yet, and Snyder has to cave. I know changing the name and logo is a multimillion dollar process, but he can take a stand and be a part of stemming the tide of discrimination. I'm sure the matter will become more and more of a distraction to his team, and that will be a shame. 
This battle has been going on for more than a decade. Mechandise salea haven't dipped because Synder keeps bringing flashly players who's uniforms fly off the store shelves, the attendance for home games remain sellouts and he likely has a cable contract that rakes in $. If Pepsi wants to stand agaist his name he'll simply bring Coke into the stadium. Bottom line he holds the cards and weilds the power, outside of the NFL league offices demanding the change don't hope for anything differnt to happen. 
Hmm, I see... There is a divide between (a) people who care about the name and its meaning and (b) people who don't and focus on football and the team. 
It seems to me the majority of hardcore NFL fans don't have a problem with the name, the ones that do will go so far as stating the franchise should be renamed and rebranded but these same folks would never boycott a game or demand their team not to play against Washington after change took place.  
Making matters even worse is not even all the native American Indians tribes are on the same page about being outraged, offended or even concerned about the name. 
With recent high profile incidents of discrimination, I was thinking there would be a groundswell of protest against Snyder & Co. But perhaps if a similar incident involving American Indians occurs, then...
in the US people will protest against the procedure to put on a pair of socks. LOL, too many in this nation just want to fight about something. 
lol ... I definitely don't advocate fighting for fighting's sake. 
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Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Super Bowl for Seahawks no More or Less Tough


Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks finish a strong pre-season

Sports Illustrated Peter King speaks with conventional wisdom here (i.e., drawing on history) - Why the NFL’s Best Team Won’t Win the Super Bowl - but it's based on flawed logic.

In general, of course, it's tough for any team in any sport to win a championship. But unlike other major sports, football has one of the longest off-seasons (7-8 months). So removing the argument of wear-and-tear from a deep run in the playoffs, the Seahawks have just as good a chance to win the Super Bowl this year, as they did last year. In other words, just because they won it all last year, it doesn't make it any tougher, or less tough, to win it this year.

But the question remains: Will they win this year? The real answer is: No one knows. Moreover, no one knows that they won't, either (rf. King's flawed logic). But that said, here's another argument: Like any team going into a post-Super Bowl season, the Seahawks have a very effective, very recent "template" for winning. No other team in the NFL has that effective, recent template at their disposal. Can they apply it again this year? Of course they can! The challenge is how they adjust and strengthen that template for a new season, where the elite teams will be gunning for their backs.

By the way, the Ravens underwent way too many changes in their team, and it was too much for them to adjust their Super Bowl template. So they fell easily by the wayside in 2013-2014.

The Seahawks looked pretty strong in the preseason. In that last game, for example, Russell Wilson & Co. made the 2014 Bears defense (so far) look like the 2013 Bears defense. So with their proven template firmly on hand, I'd say they are an odds-on favorite to win this year.
Any team trying to repeat has a hard time, as for many teams playing them their game against Seattle will be their superbowl game, every opponent Seattle has will have their game against them marked well in advance, so dificult to repeat. 
Yep, I think teams will be very motivated to play the Seahawks, but whether they will actually beat the champs is another matter altogether. Again the challenge for the Seahawks is to elevate their game accordingly, which means adjusting and strengthening their championship template. It'll definitely be tough for them to win it all this year, but it'll no more or less so than winning it all last year. 
 
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Monday, September 1, 2014

Caroline Wozniacki Exuberant at US Open


Caroline Wozniacki is exuberant after win over Maria Sharapova

Is it just me, or are Rory McIlroy and Caroline Wozniacki playing better since their heartbreak breakup? 


I was impressed with Wozniacki's range and speed!

Sports Illustrated found Wozniacki's fashion ruffles a miss

Hit or miss, I like the colorful US Open fashion better than the staid Wimbledon white (read: boring).

Wozniacki and her hairdresser must've crossed paths en route to her post-match press conference

Yikes, bad hair post-match for Wozniacki :o

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