Archive for April 4th, 2007
Continue Reading April 4th, 2007
Because it’s kind of slow, rainy sports day today, we thought we’d goof off a little bit at the end of the day.
You might remember, a month-and-a-half ago, when we hosted a trivia night here in New York City. Well, the purveyors of that event sent us their visual round from last night, and we thought we’d close up shop tonight by letting you play.
So, after the jump, is the “visual” round, where you had to guess which baseball player was which looking only at silhouettes of each player. We got seven of 10.
Just for fun, by the way, after the pictures, we’re also listing the questions we wrote for the night we hosted last month. As we said: Slow day.
——————
AND OUR QUESTIONS …
1. Last week, the University of Illinois announced it was discontinuing the use of “symbol” Chief Illiniwek at the end of this basketball season. It is not making any changes, however, to the school’s official fight song. What is the name of that fight song?
2. Tiny Eastern Illinois University, located in Charleston, Ill., whose high school is decidedly inferior to local rival Mattoon High School in every conceivable way, has the distinction of being the alma mater of three current NFL coaches. Name all three.
3. As you might have heard, the St. Louis Cardinals, the superior franchise in all of organized sport, won the World Series last year. In their Game 5 victory, at which your humble host was present, who scored the Cardinals’ fourth and final run?
4. Which national baseball broadcaster has the first credited spoken lines of the Woody Allen film Deconstructing Harry?
5. What is the name of the wheelchair athlete featured in the film Murderball and the author of the autobiography “Gimp?”
6. How many inches wide is home plate?
7. The book “The Thinking Fan’s Guide To The World Cup” was released last year and featured several acclaimed writers penning essays about each nation with a team in last year’s World Cup, including Nick Hornby on England, John Lanchester on Brazil and Eric Schlosser on Sweden. What author wrote the chapter on the United States?
8. What is the name of the author of the “Air & Space” column in Sports Illustrated who reportedly resigned from the magazine over the weekend?
9. St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen was a key factor in the Cardinals’ run to win the World Series last year. The Cardinals acquired him from the Philadelphia Phillies in 2002 for three players. Name all three.
10. What sport is “Infinite Jest” author David Foster Wallace most associated with writing about?
11. Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver lead singer Scott Weiland is a loud supporter of which sports team?
Continue Reading April 4th, 2007
In his new book The Cheater’s Guide To Baseball, Derek Zumsteg looks all the different ways baseball players and managers have cheated (or tried to cheat) throughout the years. It’s a highly entertaining book; our favorite part is “Tips For Doctoring Bats For Amateur Players.”
Zumsteg has set up a blog for the book, and he thinks caught Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez messing with the ball a couple of nights ago.
4-2-2007, against the Rangers, K-Rod put something on the ball repeatedly during the 9th inning, and wasn’t even subtle about it. First, I’m going to admit these are bad pictures. … Compare the movement on those pitches to the movement on the fastballs where he clearly doesn’t go to the hat brim. Also, watching the video, it’s a lot more striking than stills can easily convey — it’s clearly not a cap adjustment, but something else entirely.
Honestly, we kind of want to hire Zumsteg to watch all games and pointing out all the little cheats. We don’t really mind cheating — everyone cheats, at everything — but we think it’s fun when someone points out something that we miss but should be obvious.
Francisco Rodriguez Doctoring The Ball [The Cheater’s Guide To Baseball]
Continue Reading April 4th, 2007
Last week, the Denver Broncos held open auditions for women to join their cheerleading team. Two hundred and fifty women tried out for 34 slots. One of them was this woman.
Now, before you say anything: We’d like to call out Reuters photographer Rick Wilking as a potentially bad person. After all, he’s the one who took this photo, with this caption:
A prospective Denver Broncos cheerleader performs a routine on the first day of auditions in Denver, Colorado March 25, 2007. Over 250 women applied for the 34 slots. REUTERS/Rick Wilking (UNITED STATES) ATTENTION EDITORS - MOVING A PACKAGE OF EIGHT PICTURES FOR ESSAY ON DENVER BRONCOS CHEERLEADERS AUDITION
We’re just gonna guess the other seven photos in the essay were more, uh, traditional. Not nice, Rick; not nice at all.
Denver Broncos Cheerleader Auditions [Reuters]
Continue Reading April 4th, 2007
As anyone who understands comedy can tell you, the sight of a small child in pain is the zenith of modern mirth. Which is why it’s such a shame that this Blue Jays commercial with Frank Thomas has been banned by Canadian television.
Basically, Big Frank interrupts a pillow fight among his children by swinging his own pillow, violently and hilariously. And the Canadians aren’t happy about it.
“I think we are taking ourselves a little too seriously if we’re saying a pillow fight cannot air because it’s viewed as too aggressive, or Frank’s too big versus a small child,” said Laurel Lindsay, vice-president of marketing for the Blue Jays. “It’s ridiculous. I can’t shrink Frank and nor would I try to make the child grow. That’s sort of the life of the [commercial], seeing the two interact. It was disappointing for sure. Surprising, I think, would be the ultimate word.”
Personally, we think it would have been funnier if the kid had gone crashing through the window, but hey, you can’t dissect comedy … you just have to let it flow.
Swing And A Miss For Blue Jays Commercial [The Globe And Mail]
Frank Thomas Commercial (VIDEO)
Continue Reading April 4th, 2007
Note to Cincinnati Little Leaguers: You’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and doggone it, people like you. As we mentioned briefly last week, a new rule there for the upcoming season forbids any type of “negative chatter” during youth baseball games. To illustrate, we’ve made this chart.
• OK to say to the opposition:
“Your uniform certainly looks spiffy, Jeff!”
“Hey batter, how about this cray-zee weather we’ve been having?”
“Pitcher wears a dress! Not that there’s anything wrong with that!”
• No longer legal:
“You hit like Ryan Seacrest!”
“Hey Yankees! You can take your trophy and stick it up your ass!”
Dismantling the other teams’ bikes and throwing the parts into the creek.
Will this policy help build children’s self esteem? Or is it just another tool to help the terrorists win? We don’t claim to have the answers, leaving it to this hard-hitting MSNBC interview segment to sort out the controversy. Our favorite part is when the child psychologist says “The ballfield is about kindness and learning social skills.” Totally.
No Chatter, Chatter! [Cincinnati Enquirer]
Continue Reading April 4th, 2007
Filed under: Arcade, Culture, Retro, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports
Did you ever think, wish, hope, or dream that one day the 1994 Amiga game Sensible World of Soccer would be making its way to Xbox Live Arcade? If so, you can rejoice, because this summer the dream finally comes true.
Although this game was announced last year, and promised in the first quarter of 2007, it’ll be just a bit longer before you can run up and down the field, sensibly. It might have something to do with the fact that the game was named one of the ten most important games of all time at GDC this year, so they’re pumping some more content into it.
That includes a multiplayer mode that’ll kick it up a notch (get it?). Codemasters VP David Solari said, “We think it’s important to stay true to the original and we’ll be delivering what fans of the original SWOS have been eagerly waiting for years, SWOS online multiplayer!”
They’re keeping other secrets under the hood, but the press release promises “optional enhancements to bring its look right up-to-date.” Not sure what those are, but our money is on new graphics of some sort. We hope.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
SPONSORED BY: Age of Empires III - Real-Time Strategy Game Control a European power on a quest to colonize and conquer the New World. AOE3 introduces new gameplay elements, as well as new civilizations, units, and technologies. http://www.ageofempires3.com/
Continue Reading April 4th, 2007
Filed under: Arcade, Culture, Retro, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports
Did you ever think, wish, hope, or dream that one day the 1994 Amiga game Sensible World of Soccer would be making its way to Xbox Live Arcade? If so, you can rejoice, because this summer the dream finally comes true.
Although this game was announced last year, and promised in the first quarter of 2007, it’ll be just a bit longer before you can run up and down the field, sensibly. It might have something to do with the fact that the game was named one of the ten most important games of all time at GDC this year, so they’re pumping some more content into it.
That includes a multiplayer mode that’ll kick it up a notch (get it?). Codemasters VP David Solari said, “We think it’s important to stay true to the original and we’ll be delivering what fans of the original SWOS have been eagerly waiting for years, SWOS online multiplayer!”
They’re keeping other secrets under the hood, but the press release promises “optional enhancements to bring its look right up-to-date.” Not sure what those are, but our money is on new graphics of some sort. We hope.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
SPONSORED BY: Age of Empires III - Real-Time Strategy Game Control a European power on a quest to colonize and conquer the New World. AOE3 introduces new gameplay elements, as well as new civilizations, units, and technologies. http://www.ageofempires3.com/
Continue Reading April 4th, 2007
Filed under: Arcade, Culture, Retro, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports
Did you ever think, wish, hope, or dream that one day the 1994 Amiga game Sensible World of Soccer would be making its way to Xbox Live Arcade? If so, you can rejoice, because this summer the dream finally comes true.
Although this game was announced last year, and promised in the first quarter of 2007, it’ll be just a bit longer before you can run up and down the field, sensibly. It might have something to do with the fact that the game was named one of the ten most important games of all time at GDC this year, so they’re pumping some more content into it.
That includes a multiplayer mode that’ll kick it up a notch (get it?). Codemasters VP David Solari said, “We think it’s important to stay true to the original and we’ll be delivering what fans of the original SWOS have been eagerly waiting for years, SWOS online multiplayer!”
They’re keeping other secrets under the hood, but the press release promises “optional enhancements to bring its look right up-to-date.” Not sure what those are, but our money is on new graphics of some sort. We hope.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
SPONSORED BY: Age of Empires III - Real-Time Strategy Game Control a European power on a quest to colonize and conquer the New World. AOE3 introduces new gameplay elements, as well as new civilizations, units, and technologies. http://www.ageofempires3.com/
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