The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Sports & Leisure => Topic started by: robot_god on March 16, 2007, 02:36:59 am
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When I was a kid on a basketball team, I used to be interested. But nowadays I don't care enough to put in the time. Additionally, ever since I have been in college myself, my school's team has been a train wreck (St. John's).
Have you caught the fever?
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When my alma mater and their disturbing mascot aren't in, it's hard for me to pay attention.
Especially out here where there isn't the... social pressure to care about sports.
Is there some barely-Division-1-A team that won a meaningless conference from the Albany area in? Such as, like, SUNY-Albany or Siena or something? I guess... go them?
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I touched on this in another thread, but college basketball is huge around here and I've been a fan all my life. So, yes, I am following it. (Ha Ha, Duke got beat!)
However, my interest level does seem to ebb and flow. I haven't been as interested the past few years (in fact, my interest in all sports has been waning lately.) This also may be tied to the performance of my teams.
Like basketball or not, you can't beat the NCAA for the sheer volume of dramatic games, especially during this first weekend.
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Wait a minute... didn't your team win the World Series?
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Why yes. Yes it did.
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I never got college sports. I can understand students care, and even alumni to an extent. But I neve got regular people getting into a team that, by definition, will be made up of totally different people in 4 years. Granted pro sports have gotten more transient lately but there's usually at least one player who stays forever and the fans can really be behind. College sports can never have an Olie the Goalie, Michael Jordan, or Darrell Green. So what is there to rally behind other than geographic convenience?
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The team is the continuity. Coaches also stay around for longer than four years -- Indiana is still full of people fanatically devoted to Bobby Knight, for instance.
Also, don't underestimate the geographic factor. UK fans are rabidly loyal, as are Alabama or Nebraska football fans, or Indiana or Kansas basketball fans. What's the common trait? It's the only game in town. No pro teams in my state or Alabama or Nebraska (nor in Indiana until fairly recently). Around here many of the most avid fans are people who've never set foot on a University campus.
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I agree. I have never understood why college sports are what they are in this country. It tends to generate distorted views of colleges - as in people associate a good football team or whatever as meaning that "its a good school" when in reality the quality of the education and the quality of a sports team is disconnected.
(Note this is coming from a dude who goes to an enormous university with no notable sports teams and an outstanding academic reputation)
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as in people associate a good football team or whatever as meaning that "its a good school" when in reality the quality of the education and the quality of a sports team is disconnected.
I can't think of a single instance where I've heard someone conflate an university's athletic programs' quality with its academic qualities. With a very few exceptions (Stanford, Duke and maybe Vandy) athletic and academic quality is usually perceived as mutually exclusive.
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I caught the Madness in a very bad way when my graduate alma mater made its surprising Final Four run. This year, I'm not all that into it. Doesn't help that I'm pulling a late-nighter at work and haven't been able to watch any games.
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I just have regular madness, but that means that I sometimes attend a sports event at my college. Also I was in the band so I kind of got force-fed football and basketball with a freezing cold saxophone shaped spoon.
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yeah, um, my school has no sports teams to speak of. I mean... they do have teams.
But not to speak of.
But lately, I find myself kind of caring. not enough to put in effort to watch games, but, sometimes if I see one on TV I will root for a specific team, and be mad if they don't win. Which is new for me.
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My school made the tournament my second, third and fourth years of college, even managing to snag a number one seed my junior year. Now, in my first year out of college, my school is in the NIT. Between that and having moved two states away, I'm not paying much attention to March Madness this year.
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Like basketball or not, you can't beat the NCAA for the sheer volume of dramatic games, especially during this first weekend.
Actually, I feel uniquely qualified to address this. I don't like basketball at all. I can beat the volume of dramatic games this first weekend with any weekend of NFL playoff games, or a weekend of NHL playoff games, because no basketball game seems patricularly dramatic to me.
Sorry. Continue.
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For me nothing will beat the excitement of six nations rugby. Nothing comes close.
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Six Nations - like the Iroquois near Ontario? Or like six European nations that play rugby?
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The problem with basketball is as follows:
If it is a close game, really only the last two minutes matter and even that will be exciting if you're REALLY into watching people attempt to hit free throws. Something which is mind-crushingly boring to me, people just shootin' penalties and then tagging each other and shootin' more penalties.
If it is a blowout, nothing in the game matters after the blowout is established.
The major advantage to baseball is that it lacks a clock. If a team is winning by six and the other team bats around in the bottom of the ninth, the other team still wins. In football, basketball and hockey, once you pass a certain point in the clock's dwindle, you're pretty much left to a bunch of crappy sloppy free-throw-trading and pulled goalies and lame trick plays and so on.
Blah.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Nations_Championship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Nations_Championship)
England France Ireland Italy Scotland Wales. This year's finale is tomorrow with my team - Wales - playing the evil English. This game has more meaning and more history than any college hoops game could ever hope to achieve.
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The problem with baseball is that it totally blows.
I had a long, well-reasoned discussion here but it boiled down to the above.
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The problem with every sport that I don't like (see: cricket, field hockey, lacrosse) is that I don't like them. They are complete failures and should alter their rules to suit my personal preferences.
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I've always thought of baseball as turn-based combat. Inherently less interesting than, say, anything else.
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I've always thought of baseball as turn-based combat. Inherently less interesting than, say, anything else.
That certainly is worth a can.
It was wrong of me to dismiss baseball like that. The reasons I like hockey and football is because they are more like combat. They were armor, and they deliberately smash into each other. Also, hockey players get weapons with blades on the end, and also knives on their feet.
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That certainly is worth a can.
Seconded. Although nothing beats baseball for radio listening while doing something else.
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It was wrong of me to dismiss baseball like that. The reasons I like hockey and football is because they are more like combat. They were armor, and they deliberately smash into each other. Also, hockey players get weapons with blades on the end, and also knives on their feet.
As opposed to rugby which is so sissy what with all that high-impact large men running into each other and literally fighting each other for the ball all without any pads whatsoever?
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Seconded. Although nothing beats baseball for radio listening while doing something else.
Ain't baseball on the radio a unique pleasure? I consider it one of the higher inventions of civilization.
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Ok, I take back what I said in the thread title.
School got snowed out, so I got some time to watch some games and I'm catching the madness. Bout to go fuckin mad.
Seems that many basketball haters exist. But after football ends, what are you gonna do, watch Gray's Anatomy? And don't even pull that hockey shit, this is America, love it or leave it.
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Oh. Unless you're Canadian. In which case... uhhhh... how's that hockey season goin'?
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As opposed to rugby which is so sissy what with all that high-impact large men running into each other and literally fighting each other for the ball all without any pads whatsoever?
Hold up - I ain't never said there was anything wrong with rugby. But it's not really a sport, because none of those people care about scoring or who wins. They just want to flat-out kill each other.
I would like it better if half of each team were armed with crowbars.
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http://deadspin.com/sports/rugby/for-some-reason-its-not-cool-to-punch-fans-in-the-face-245037.php
Here is a story about a Rugby player banned for life.
http://cubdumb.blogspot.com/2007/03/great-moments-in-gus-johnson-history.html
Here is a link to youtube clips of the greatest moments of Gus Johnson, who is the announcer who always goes fuckin' insane at the end of games during MM.
http://bandmadness.net/
Here is a huge band bracket, voted on by readers.
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http://deadspin.com/sports/rugby/for-some-reason-its-not-cool-to-punch-fans-in-the-face-245037.php
Here is a story about a Rugby player banned for life.
http://cubdumb.blogspot.com/2007/03/great-moments-in-gus-johnson-history.html
Here is a link to youtube clips of the greatest moments of Gus Johnson, who is the announcer who always goes fuckin' insane at the end of games during MM.
http://bandmadness.net/
Here is a huge band bracket, voted on by readers.
Props for the Iron Maiden font.
Built to Spill and Scissor Sisters neck-and-neck? Hm. I do not know how to feel about that. Seems like body of work would come into play.
And it seems like there are no #1 seed vs. #16 seed. It's all #1 vs. #2, and #13 vs. #16. Def Leppard vs. Garth Borrks? Who gives a fuck?
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Fuck! ZZ Top over John Lee Hooker? How strong are those drugs?
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Beatles v Big and Rich?
But I know what you are saying.
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Also, I just realize voting is closed... Bracket C starts Monday.
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Beatles v Big and Rich?
But I know what you are saying.
Good point - that would be 1 vs. 16.
I guess all the ones I was looking at would be 8 vs. 9, except they are really shitty.
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So besides Duke losing the first two days were basically shit.
I am pretty sure that the last hour made up for that.
Also, I will call it now, MSU is winning the game over UNC.
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I dunno if one 6-over-3 in the second round makes up for the least upsetty first round imaginable.
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I wasn't talking upsets, i was talking 3 games that went into overtime, including one that went into 2. I am pretty sure close games is what it is all about.
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I guess this is another sign that I really don't care about college basketball that much:
An almost-upset doesn't count with me.
If it isn't somebody with a two-digit number in the round of 16... eh. I ain't jazzed.
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Again, I wasn't talking about upsets at all. I was talking about good games. Not anything at all to do with upsets.
I fuck*ng hate Roy Williams, anybody that has ever played at duke or unc, and fans of those teams. Fuck you Roy Williams. Nice job you did at Kansas, you fuck*ng prick. (I am talking about the fact that he is a douche bag and always choked.)
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anybody that has ever played at duke ... and fans of those teams.
A-men brother. There's a special place in hell for Christian fuck*ng Laettner.
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YES
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As long as its next to Larry "Chipper" Jones.
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Trajan Langdon went to Duke.
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As long as its next to Larry "Chipper" Jones.
YES
What is this UCLA-Indiana game? The women's NIT?
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Damn, did yas see Georgetown show Boston College whats up? HOOOWEEE. My boy Patrick Ewing Jr. with the reverse jam, Jeff Green coming all the way in for the tip-in and almost tears the rim off with the one hand jam in heavy traffic. It was like watching NBA Jam.
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It was like watching NBA Jam.
Did someone unlock the Bill Clinton character and yell "BOOM SHAKA LAKA" ? Because if they did not then it is nothing like watching NBA Jam.
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My boy Patrick Ewing Jr. with the reverse jam
I never would have guessed that - you're Patrick Ewing? You must be the most famous person who posts here!
What? Figure of speech? How am I supposed to know that?