Trash Talk – Recession/Depression Era Edition
The economic crisis is starting to really intertwine with the sports world in many ways. For instance, CC Sabathia, a stud workhorse and the best pitcher on the MLB free agent market, can only find two teams, the Yanks and Sawz of course, to even talk to him about the contract he wants. The Padres, not long after opening their edifice Petco Field, appear in worse straits than the automakers (attention Mrs. Randiego, you picked a bad time to throw your lot in with the local sports homeboy). The global financial meltdown/crisis is so bad it is even causing grief and thinning of the ranks in the biggest sporting league in the world, Formula One. And, worst of all, talk about yer depression, today we have to deal with those damn dirt thieves, Freepatriot’s Boomer Sooners. Yep, the Sooners and Tigers are goin to Kansas City baby! They got some crazy little women there I’m gonna get me one!
That’s the low down and dirty, let’s get down to the nitty gritty.
NCAA: First up is the SEC Championship from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Alabama versus Florida. I wonder if Jim White will be watching this one? Barely in the national polls when the season started, Alabama now sits atop them undefeated and untied. Florida, well everybody knows about the chompin Gators and Tim Tebow. Florida’s offense is the irresistible force to Nick Saban and the Tide’s immovable object defense. But, you know, Florida can play some dee-fence this year too, and there is no way the boys from the Tide pool down there in Richard Shelbyland can score with the Gators. The swamp creatures are gonna roll the Tide flat.
Next up, we have some Tigers versus some dirt farmers in the Big 12 Championship from Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. This is a rematch of last year’s game where teh Okies rained on Mizzou’s parade big time. From ESPN.com:
By entering this week No. 2 in the BCS rankings, Oklahoma (11-1, 7-1) beat out Texas and Texas Tech for a spot in Saturday’s game and a chance to win a third consecutive Big 12 title game. All three schools finished tied for first in the South Division and the Sooners advanced on the conference’s fifth tiebreaker — BCS rankings.
Oklahoma moved past Texas in those standings, even though it lost to the Longhorns earlier this season, by putting up 60-plus points against ranked teams in the past two weeks. The Sooners demolished then-No. 2 Texas Tech 65-21 and defeated then-No. 11 Oklahoma State 61-41 last Saturday.
Let’s stop right there a second. Really, is there anything more pernicious in sports that the fucking BCS? If so, I am hard pressed to figure out what it is. It is hard to tell what Obama really has the juice to accomplish in this mixed up, messed up world, but if he can get rid of the BCS and get a limited playoff for major college football, he will be a success. Okay, back to regular programming.
Sam Bradford has torn ligaments in his non-throwing hand against Oklahoma State and will play against Missouri with a soft cast. This might make him more fumble prone and may affect the way he sets the ball for throws. Chase Daniel and Jeremy Macklin are a powerful duo, but are coming off of a very stale performance. If Bradford coughs up a couple of fumbles, and Daniel and Macklin bust out of the doldrums, this could be a close game offensively. Big "if" though, and the Sooner defense is way stouter than Mizzou’s. Oklahoma walks away with a win here.
UPDATE 1: As Gunner reminded me there is also the Duel in the Desert tonight. It may not be as well known as several famous rivalries, but it really takes a back seat to none as far as hatred, rivalry and passion. Arizona and Arizona State. They play for the Territorial Cup, and it is literally the oldest such rivalry game in college football, dating all the way back to 1899. The Devils have had an off year, but they have ben coming on strong as of late, and the Cats have been schizophrenic again under Mike Stoops (Bob’s not particularly bright little brother). The Devils are going to win this one even though the game is in Former Fed’s home turf of Tucson.
There is also the USC- UCLA game. Like ASU-UofA and USC-Notre Dame, the game has just lost a lot of it’s luster in recent years. I think Rick Neuheisel is the right guy for the Bruins and will get them back to prominence soon. But this year, USC is going to hammer em.
YET TO COME: I want to go ahead and get this up so we have a place to banter, I will add in the NFL material and an auto tie in a little later.
Trash it up guys and gals!
Ah the BCS… where there is money to be made in an archaic and rigged system, fair and free competition goes right out the window. Hmmm, where have we seen this before I wonder…
bmaz are you going with the sun devils? I didn’t read anything about this game
Of course, I am a life long Devil. I remember going as a kid to ASU games when they were the only game in town, even before the Suns came to town. There have been periods of success here and there, but it has never been the same since Frank Kush. But against the hated Mildkittens from down south at UofA? Um, yeah, of course I am with the Sun Devils. Despite the disappointing year ASU has had this year, they are playing better of late. A win against the Cats and then again in some minor bowl game would be a good springboard back to life for next season. Dennis Erickson can coach, and the recruiting has been good, so they should be okay for the future.
I thought so, but had to ask
Posted from downstairs…
You guys should have heard the wailing in Austin last week. The Austin Statesman sports section was ‘all Waah, all the time’, all weekend. All they could talk about was the ‘45-35′ signs they kept waving all over the place.
of course, MissDiego had her little ‘39-33′ sign she could wave back at them…
Lotta useless wavin goin on there. Freep and his Sooners are wavin with their thumb from their nose at both Tejas schools sitting at home.
So randiego — how’d it go meetin’ the family in TX?
Howdy phred – the whole thing went really well. The party involved friends and neighbors – most of the family relations are in Iowa – and since it was all the Parentals friends, I was on the spot.
A funny thing happened when The Mom went to pick up the cake. The person taking the order wrote down “Rowdy” instead of my name, so it ended up saying “Congratulations MissDiego and Rowdy”. Only in Texas can someone mis-hear my name over the phone and write it down as “Rowdy”.
At any rate, it seems to be settling in as my new nickname.
Glad to hear you had a good time. FWIW I kinda think Rowdy suits you ; )
Man, you ain’t kidding. What the hell happened?
The owner of the Padres, John Moores is currently going through a nasty divorce. Padres are cutting payroll, bigtime. Before last season, the Padres had won the West two out of three years. Going to be long time before we’re even close again.
MissDiego is down with a cold, poor thing. It’s 80 here, dry and gorgeous.
So he’s paring down the payroll to make his alimony payments?!? I’m guessin’ joint ownership with the soon-to-be-ex ain’t gonna cut it…
By the way, hope the Miss is feeling better soon! I’m sure a day or two of resting on the couch watching the pigskin will perk her up in no time ; )
it could be worse
you could be a victim of moneyball, like me (fucking billy bean)
it’s kinda like what you describe, cept there ain’t no divorce or other jucy details. just a regular cycle of rooting for a team that jerks your chain every few years, and then sells and trades all the talented players
see why I said it could be worse for mrsdiego …
Oakland’s basketball team sucks too, but they’re too chickenshit to admit they play in Oakland, so I ain’t sure how the Ooze works that out
Did Pedroia get caught in a recession-fueled rundown? $40.5M/6 years
Nope, he’s just a regular good guy, giving Boston a home town discount.
According to the Scribes, “Dustin Pedroia could have held out for more. Maybe he should have. But in an age when professional athletes are criticized for making decisions based solely on money, we cannot possibly pass judgment on a deal that seems, in a word, reasonable.”
Thanks for the scoop BSL. I love Pedroia — good to know he loves us back ; )
Good to hear from you.
Uncle Theo has also been busy with high falootin Eastern diplomacy by signing Dice-K’s cousin… Tazawa
As Tazawa said, through interpreter Kerianne Panos, “[Matsuzaka] has a presence which is even more above the clouds, which means he has been a great hero of mine and I hold him in very, very high esteem.”
Thanks BSL, good to be back : )
Wow, that’s cool about Dice-K’s cousin. I don’t generally follow off-season moves in any sport (the Brett Favre soap opera excepted ; ) So is the cousin as good as Dice-K?
That’s a nice, young, lovable, responsible MVP courtesy of the fine folks at Arizona State University thank you very much!
Really?!? Pedroia’s from ASU??? Awfully thoughtful of you to send him up our way instead of keeping him all to yourselves down there with the Diamondbacks ; )
Heh, well we also gave the baseball world Reggie jackson and Barry Bonds, so he may yet turn out to be a handful….
Now now now, don’t give any perfectly nice MVPs any bad ideas ; )
Gotta love to see against the odds chutzpah pay off so brilliantly in any domain.
Surely it is his adopted home, no? It has adopted him but has he adopted us? Does he say Fenway Paak or Park?
Sooner alum/fan here hoping for best tonight. Not sure how the BCS does what it does but the onlyest way to get to a truer result would be a playoff system but would need to shrink the regular season. Would the schools that are not contenders like that? Sometimes life is not fair like when the refs in the OU – Tex game totally blew a possesion call that led to a Texas score.
prime time world series games
the BCS can at least be seen as a part of an evolutionary process
the 8:30 pm east coast start time in the series is killing baseball
when you use them big words I get all serious n stuff …
and in a side note to a comment on another thread, hey randiego, tell the misses it could be worse, she could be misses randioakland (the raiders stink so bad that pickin on the raiders fans is bordering on a violation of the PWDA)
now excuse me while I do a little business here: anybody who bet that Honda would win the F-1 title, pay up now (I know it’s only $4.35, but profits is profits)
and did big 10 football fall off the planet or what ???
Michigan playin BASKETBALL, what’s up with that (good luck, hope you win cuz I hate duke)
BOOMER SOONERS
the best thing that ever came out of texas was the interstate …
Thanks bmaz for talking about Turner Gill the other day … I always wondered what happened to him.
I followed him when he was a Cornhusker and then played for a time in the Canadian Flutie League™ …
And whattabout Toronto hosting the Dolphins-Bills match up tomorrow…
Good Canadian relations…
It’s all about the Moolah … they’re charging an arm and a leg for tickets … pity they didn’t know our Dollar would sink like Bush’s ratings, it’s down to around 76 cents …
Good news for Murkans coming for the game … Canadian Beer is 30% cheaper !
That seals it.
Mr. ew and I have been looking for a frivolous trip somewhere we can fly (but no too far–really, I’m just trying to fly 78 miles to get elite flying privileges). We were debating between Chi-town (which is silly to fly to, on account of the very civilized train) or T-town or maybe NYC.
But golly, I hadn’t looked at exchange rates.
No wonder the outlet mall wasn’t packed with Canucks like it was the last time I was there. Of course, that meant there was no one there. But that made it almost pleasant.
If you hurry, you two could take over Parliament … the hired help are away until Jan. 26th
Seriously, if you are coming, please keep the dates on every thread so we can get your nearby groupies
organized for a meetup.
… oh, and bmaz, Winter’s been cancelled this year …
like anybody in America cares about canada’s parliament. you guys got french people in yer parliment AND you got a Queen (what’s that all about)
short of teaching you guys to shoot redcoats, we can’t help you with that whole government thingy …
we’re coming to take over your football league
I hear you guys only use three downs, your field is too long, and you somehow made doug flutie a professional football star
we need to correct this quick, before you guys fall prey to those european soccer hooligans
we gotta prioritize here, ya know …
Surely they are Quebec people who are Francophone people in their parliament, at least when it is open.
Hmmm. 75 degrees and sunny here. No Canucks at our outlet malls either….
Thanks for paying the Coyotes so well that they don’t have to ply the Outlet Malls …
Seriously, our economy has been hit, but the biggest thing is how the Gov’t has devalued the Canadian Buck to jump start our manufacturing base.
So much for Harper focusing on the Oil Sands to be the engine of growth for Canada …
I told ya he was registerin random hosers in some sort of counterrevolutionary plot
why else would he be crusin for canucks at an outlet mall ???
we’re on to you bmaz, though we wouldn’t notice your plan to help canada invade from the south, didn’t ya ???
and in football news:
10 to 10, looks like those SEC teams are equally bad …
Thanks to Harper, we’re actually ashamed of calling ourselves Canadians, so there could be many around, posing as Alaskans …
Like Alaska has some great leadership to emulate?
… exactly my point … Palin
Part of my comment is missing, meant to say Palin > Harputz
No way
I wonder what he said to the GG and how much of it was truthy instead of truthful.
That’s my presumption … he played on her inexperience and filled her ears with truthiness, determined not to leave until she acquiesced ..
Don’t know which airline you’re dealing with but don’t most of them give a minimum 1k miles for even the shortest trips and don’t worry about actual miles until it’s over the 1k threshold?
I got my status in ‘02 by the number of legs I flew over the year rather than the actual miles flown.
Nah, now they give you real miles (I know, bc DC is only 500–I’d be flying around in the cockpit if they gave you 1000 still). But I’ve gotten the elite level both through miles (this year, if I fly once more) and legs (last year, with near-weekly trips to DC) or just a few hops to Asia (the year before). Then again, who needs it now that we cleaned out most of the Republicans I’d be flying next to in First Class?
Aw come on, you and Debbie Dingell can still have fun!
Florida 7
Alabama 0
7-7, now…!
Florida 7
Alabama 7
Wow, it looks like it’s a shootout in the Georgia Dome…!
Sorry to interrupt everyone’s day of dealing with trash that is not economic.
Bmaz, OT to your ‘HRC as SoS’ thread.
A new to us poster offered a comment that you highlighted about HRC’s value in the DOD/State relationship. IIRC, it included thoughts about a strong SoS reenabling among other things the mobility that DOD had denied them (which is why they had turned to Blackwater). Marcie later diarized about the comment, methinks.
On topic.
Happy to be reading you guys again. If you have gotten around to a post-Pittsburgh postmortem of the Pats and an explanation of the dearth of competency I witnessed (witnessed when not hanging my head in shame) I would be glad to hear your views on said topic.
The Pats played in Pittsburgh ? I thought the opposite was true …
… ducks into missile- proof Igloo …
play they did. the tragic comedic and all the other kinds of play combined. There is some relevant Shakespeare description of plays that are tragi-comical-etc. but it is proven ungoogleable.
an unforgettably forgettable game.
Is that Shakespeare or Stoppard? There is an interesting bit in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, when the players are trying to explain their repertoire to R&G. Is that what you’re thinking of?
Hi BSRH! Gee, it’s kinda like old home week, isn’t it? The Mister (a Steeler fan) wants me to inform you that is was no lack of talent among the Pats, merely an overbundance of talent on the Steelers that led to that delightful final score ; )
No, not exactly like old home week, what with Brett in a new home. How are you feeling about that.
Tell Mister that I have followed his advice in one respect: my laptop was decorated as he suggested. It now bears three decals that are a. absolutely obscure and b. being German-made, absolutely impossible to remove without immersing said laptop in water.
As for giving up Pats for Steelers or what was that team that was your Favre-ite, that will take more effort and some serious negotiations with BSRH jr. (You may remember, the one who send me to my room during The Snow Game [in Pats’ terms] because as a world quality sports ignoramus, I asked which line on the grid was the fourth down.)
ucla 7, usc 0
the only time of the year when i root for a so cal college football team. go bruins!
Jeez, I’m old enough to remember when Trojans V Bruins games actually meant something …
Not many Canucks are visiting the Isles, too! Mainly the Japanese are the only ones visiting these days…
Btw, that FG attempt by Bama fooled no one… They should’ve kicked it…!
At this rate, the final score is gonna look like a Basketball game …
We steer all the hooligans to the NHL
The Gov. General represents the Queen as a figurehead only … someone thought keeping the link with the Queen somehow makes Canada more interesting … and I still can’t understand why the GG made her decision before speaking to the opposition.
Please do take over our Football league … it’s much too exciting for our good …
Florida 17
Alabama 10
Ruh roh, EW’s Wolverweenies upset teh Dookies in college hoops. Looks like stealing John Beilein from Christy and West Virginia was a good move. Maybe teh Mountaineers have a football coach available too.
Oh, wait…..
Drive by …
My picks from yesterday. Had to post before Gator Tide game today, and wasn’t sure I’d get time (would’ve picked Chargers). I would have put them in the Thursday TT thread but there wasn’t one. Anyway
Still worried about the Missouri Oklahoma line being too high but I’ll stick with it. Chase Daniels might have a trick or two up his sleeve.
This
Should be after this
I miss the edit button
L8r
That was an impressive drive by Alabama.
Anyone sense that the momentum has turned in this game?
Florida back on top 24 – 20
Go Gators!
And now 31-20!
So, # 1 Alabama loses. Does this mean JoePa is back in the running for # 1?
And totally OT – Shinseki to head Vets Affairs
It is Florida
Come on Sooners
Gee. I usually come just for the music. bmaz has this preternatural ability to figure out exactly what I need to hear on a Saturday night.
But then we get Canuck jokes in the bargain. freepatriot @ 36: You say redcoats; we say “scarlet tunics.” The redcoats are those other guys.
I’m just glad I don’t have to watch any more Notre Dame football this year. I have high hopes for next year, since our offensive line looked much better, more organized, and more effective. We might be able to find a couple of big freshmen to play on the defensive line, which was getting pushed around late in the season. The rest of the team looked pretty good, and Jimmy Clausen really improved. So, in classic Cub fan language, maybe next year.
Effete literatus here, only rarely known to discuss sport. On the Palin comment, I was impressed to read Iron Dog’s winner one year was Mr. Todd, 2,000 mi over the frozen tundra and snow, solo; talk about two-cycle mechanic reliability. Something about the leading post and financial difficult times reminded me for some reason of a gent called Rafer Johnson, whom I met just before he won the gold medal in the decathlon, image of him 24 years later. Evidently, his principal rival in the summer trials caused Rafer a tad of worry; amazingly, that rival’s highschool decathlon record continues to stand 55 years later; penult at end of list. There is a wierd intersection of politics with international olympiad. To that mix one justifiably could add theism, as those summer decathlon trials also saw a perennial contestant who was a preacher in attendance. It was a little embarrassing to wait in anticipation of some sectarian interpretation of physical culture pursuits from Rev Bob Richards, but evidently he never made a peep about what it was that drove him to remain a challenger, likely some glittering interpretation of Thermopylae.
Wow, wish I could have been in Atlanta today, but I had to settle for my couch. I decided against any distractions, so I didn’t fire the computer up after a short check on things this morning.
The Gators were pretty danged impressive to do that well with Harvin on the sideline. Did Tebow get his second Heisman with that last touchdown pass?
Now I’m going to pull for Mizzou because I don’t want to take any chances that the stoopid computerz choose a Texas-Oklahoma final.
You are incorrect about the Territorial Cup being the oldest rivalry game in college football.
IF you go to this link and read, you will see that Lafayette-Lehigh is both the oldest rivalry game, having started in 1884, and the most played, 144 times. The last time they missed a year was 1896, three years before the Territorial Cup series started.
Please keep your facts straight.
My facts are quite straight thank you very much. I referenced the Territorial Cup, and the ASU-UofA game for the Cup is indeed the oldest sanctioned trophy game in the NCAA. There is a complete listing of the starting year for all of the recognized rivalry games that have an official NCAA sanctioned trophy in this official NCAA Publication. It is all very official you see, and if you had read the link before getting pricky with me, you would have seen that. So there.
Lafayette and Lehigh play football? Go figure. There must be dozens of people who watch such a gridiron classic.
Hold on there. I know of at least one other football rivalry that started in 1884.
Though I guess we missed a couple bc 1987 was something like 101.
Jeebus, now you too. Read the damn text will ya? Oldest with a sanctioned trophy. It is a stupid and meaningless fact that I threw in for trivia purposes only.
IF you had bothered to read the linked article, you would have noted that Lafayette and Lehigh don’t even bother with no stinking trophies. This rivalry predates trophies. The winner takes the game ball, puts the final score on it, and puts it in the case in the school’s respective Hall of Fame.
Besides, if you are going to one of those schools, chances are you will make enough money that you can own your own silver mine and have any trophy you need custom made.
Or, as (IIRC) Rice students are known to chant, while one of the big Texas schools kicks their collective asses on the football field (yet again): “Hey, hey, that’s ok, you’ll work for us one day.”
What a bunch of lightweights in the Big 12. Look at all the empty seats!
And OU can’t even get a touchdown on their first possession?
Call a tow truck for the Sooner Schooner!
Duct tape and zip ties!
That is the same Schooner that was there when I got there in 64. It has made dang near a hundred trips out onto the field this year alone.
Well my school still will have never played in a bowl game in the United States that is. Damn the Candaians are taking everything.
http://www.ubathletics.buffalo…..onal.shtml
Oh and check out Sports Center’s number one play of the day for Friday.
http://sports.espn.go.com/broa…..8;n8pe6c=2
OK, with this second turnover, this is getting dangerously close to being humiliated on national television. The game being over by halftime I had accepted already.
Also we must shout out to Buffalo who won the MAC title last night.
I left to get sunshine some cold meds and the Sooners led 10-7. Jeebus wtf happened?
Please see Bradford, Sam.
Bradford warmed up
I think they said Mizzou’s defense is like 113th in the country. It shows.
And before this game OU had scored 657 points. Every point is anew NCAA record.
Man, you would think it is Thanksgiving day or something. The games tonight just suck. Land thieves are killing Mizzou, and the darn Cats are now eating up the Sun Devils. Bleecchh.
Think I’ll switch to the USF-West Virginia game. Look! Snow!
Two of my ex-roommates are in the front row of that game… Go ‘Eers!
I would like to take the time to say that the rigamarole you have to go thru to get Sudafed these days is freakin’ annoying.
No joke there. It is ridiculous, and for the use intended, the crap is barely above a placebo as far as effectiveness. It is however a common substrate for crystal meth, thus the hassle.
Several years ago, we were running a trucking company in Chapter 11, and one of our drivers got busted stealing cases of sudafed. Who knew running a trucking company could put you in the drug business?
Welcome to the War on Sick People
Boy some of those guys have big binkys.
I would like to officially decree that the ASU Sun Devils suck. They sucked most all year, and they sucked tonight. At least they were consistent I guess.
Oklahoma clearly played a weak opponent tonight…..
Texas Longhorns should be Florida’s opponent in the BCS title game!
Sooners achieve second NCAA record tonight – 5 straight 60 + point games, 3 of them against ranked teams and most points in a season. They can make great teams look weak
You realize of course (I hope) that I was kidding about Texas. Mostly trying to rile up Freepatriot.
In other news, little Manny Pacquio kicked the living crap out of supposed Golden Boy De La Hoya. Won all eight rounds before the referee thankfully stopped the fight.
And there is more football! Hawaii just started a game live on ESPN2.
what a great life story that guy has.
Hey, has anyone noticed? Hawaii is kicking Cincinnati’s butt. 24-10, and Cincinnati’s ranked.
And usually this time of year we’d be talking about which bowl game Michigan would play in. The heck with Michigan’s football team. What about their basketball team? They’ve beat two #4 teams in a row now! UCLA, and now Duke! The new coach is using a 1-3-1, which maybe works because they’ve got an extremely athletic team, with a smart guard running the show. Maybe after the long long winter, Michigan BB is back!
Bob in HI
Well, yeah, I open my big mouth, and while I’m typing, Cincinnati scores 10 straight points. But Hawaii’s still leading.
Bob in HI
OK, so Cincinnati proved why it is ranked and bowl-bound, and Hawaii is not.
[sigh]
Bob in HI
Heh, that kind of sucks, I thought the Rainbows had them; but they just fell apart the last half of the fourth quarter. Bummer, I was rooting for them.
bmaz thanks for the shout out
That may all be true; but you made the audacious statement that my facts were wrong and inferred that I was sloppy in my research and support. I merely pointed out that, as stated, I was not. Certainly may often be the case, but not here. You are arguing a different point, why attack my proper, albeit it trivial one, in the process.
And quite frankly, I don’t believer you have to be a rich snob from some elite little school to properly enjoy football, nor would I find it very rewarding to have to construct my own trophy to commemorate their game. And, despite my wholly inferior status in the eyes of the arrogant, overblown charlatans you describe, my humble little education will suffice just fine; I won’t be working for any of those bellowing clowns.
I really don’t understand your whole take here, but whatever.
Chasing Stiglitz by Michael Hirsh
Obama’s economic team is missing the one guy who’s been right all along. MORE
… not much there about regulation or finance reform.