NFL pre-game shows don't offer much. There's the occasional funny moment. There's an occasional funny moment at a funeral, too, but that doesn't mean it's a good time. Ostensibly, the former NFL coaches and players hired are supposed to have some insight that everyone else does now. Today, however, I officially determined they know nothing more than me.
On CBS's The NFL Today, the panelists were asked to give their "Upset Specials," picks of underdogs they expect to win on Sunday. Dan Marino and Boomer Esiason picked Jacksonville over Tennessee; Shannon Sharpe picked the Jets over New England.
Those are upsets? Going into Sunday's game, Jacksonville (6-5) had a BETTER RECORD than Tennessee (5-6). The Jets and Patriots are tied at 9-2, and currently the Jets hold the tiebreaker. Why not pick 8-3 Chicago over 2-9 Detroit as your upset special? I mean, the game WAS in Detroit. To me, it hardly counts as an upset when the Jaguars post a 17-6 win over a Tennessee team that has The Version of Randy Moss That Doesn't Care and a quarterback who hasn't started regularly in two years (Kerry Collins).
Too many people in America settle for mediocrity. It's too bad the NFL's pre-game studio hosts have settled as well.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
The Worcester Phillies
Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a repository of useless facts, a function of my addiction to Wikipedia and other sites where you can find obscure information. Recently, I was doing some mindless surfing of 1880s Major League Baseball, and found that, from 1880 to 1882, Worcester, Mass., the town I currently call home, was home to a National League franchise.
This franchise is fascinating to me for several reasons. One, this franchise pitched the first perfect game in major league history, on June 12, 1880. Because it hailed from Worcester, it gave Bay Staters a choice for their baseball rooting interests. You didn't have to root for the Boston Braves (the Red Sox were still two decades away from inception). I mean, come on, if you're from Pittsfield or Springfield and you want to go to a major league game, would you rather drive to Worcester or Boston? It's a no-brainer.
There's also an amazing amount of mystery shrouding this team. For starters, there seems to be a heated debate on such basic matters as the team nickname. Baseball-reference.com, a pretty reliable source, says the team was called the Worcester Ruby Legs, which is either a 19th-century or an incredibly wussy way of calling them the Worcester Purple Sox. Other sources call them the Worcester Brown Stockings. Yet Wikipedia says the team had no nickname. Now, Wikipedia is hardly the final arbiter -- I mean, there's nothing stopping me from vandalizing the Wikipedia article on the team and renaming the team the Worcester Porn Stars. But there's some credence to the Wikipedia article, which I will get to shortly.
The other mysterious thing about the team is what happened to it. Seems the Worcester franchise was, perfect game notwithstanding, pretty fucking bad. The team posted a 90-159 record in three seasons, including a wretched 18-66 in 1882; many sources maintain the team folded after that year. But another theory is that the Worcester franchise is alive and thriving today, under the alias of...the Philadelphia Phillies.
If you look at the 1882 and 1883 National League seasons, you'll notice there's only one change of venue between the eight teams -- Worcester leaves, and is replaced by the Philadelphia Phillies (though they were originally called the Quakers, the Phillies became the de facto nickname and eventually it became the official team name). Yet that's where the mystery begins. While it seems logical that the Worcester team moved to Philly, Wikipedia claims this did not happen, that the Worcester team folded and the National League simply awarded another, unrelated franchise to Philadelphia. And here's where Wikipedia has some credibility: Wiki cites none other than baseball-reference.com itself, which notes that none of the players on the 1882 Worcester team played for Philadelphia in 1883.
However, it gets better. The Phillies themselves claim the Worcester team was purchased by a new owner, who then moved the team to Philadelphia. As for the Wikipedia question of why nobody from the Worcester franchise played for the Phillies, well, I can see how an owner inheriting an 18-66 team might be inclined to fire the whole team. I mean, that's a .214 winning percentage; even the worst team in the majors rarely has a winning percentage of less than .400.
So, while I can't say for sure, it seems there's a legitimate case can be made that the Phillies were originally the Worcester Whatevers.
It doesn't affect my loyalties. I've been a Red Sox fan my whole life and will continue to be until the day I die and beyond. Boston is the cultural capital of New England and its pro sports franchises are essentially New England's teams (except for those traitors in southwestern Connecticut who root for New York, and those traitors in northern Vermont who root for the Montreal Canadiens). I mean, Worcester's great, for the time being it's a good place for me to live. But I don't expect to live in Worcester forever.
And, as I was saying earlier, I spend way too much time enthralled by useless facts.
This franchise is fascinating to me for several reasons. One, this franchise pitched the first perfect game in major league history, on June 12, 1880. Because it hailed from Worcester, it gave Bay Staters a choice for their baseball rooting interests. You didn't have to root for the Boston Braves (the Red Sox were still two decades away from inception). I mean, come on, if you're from Pittsfield or Springfield and you want to go to a major league game, would you rather drive to Worcester or Boston? It's a no-brainer.
There's also an amazing amount of mystery shrouding this team. For starters, there seems to be a heated debate on such basic matters as the team nickname. Baseball-reference.com, a pretty reliable source, says the team was called the Worcester Ruby Legs, which is either a 19th-century or an incredibly wussy way of calling them the Worcester Purple Sox. Other sources call them the Worcester Brown Stockings. Yet Wikipedia says the team had no nickname. Now, Wikipedia is hardly the final arbiter -- I mean, there's nothing stopping me from vandalizing the Wikipedia article on the team and renaming the team the Worcester Porn Stars. But there's some credence to the Wikipedia article, which I will get to shortly.
The other mysterious thing about the team is what happened to it. Seems the Worcester franchise was, perfect game notwithstanding, pretty fucking bad. The team posted a 90-159 record in three seasons, including a wretched 18-66 in 1882; many sources maintain the team folded after that year. But another theory is that the Worcester franchise is alive and thriving today, under the alias of...the Philadelphia Phillies.
If you look at the 1882 and 1883 National League seasons, you'll notice there's only one change of venue between the eight teams -- Worcester leaves, and is replaced by the Philadelphia Phillies (though they were originally called the Quakers, the Phillies became the de facto nickname and eventually it became the official team name). Yet that's where the mystery begins. While it seems logical that the Worcester team moved to Philly, Wikipedia claims this did not happen, that the Worcester team folded and the National League simply awarded another, unrelated franchise to Philadelphia. And here's where Wikipedia has some credibility: Wiki cites none other than baseball-reference.com itself, which notes that none of the players on the 1882 Worcester team played for Philadelphia in 1883.
However, it gets better. The Phillies themselves claim the Worcester team was purchased by a new owner, who then moved the team to Philadelphia. As for the Wikipedia question of why nobody from the Worcester franchise played for the Phillies, well, I can see how an owner inheriting an 18-66 team might be inclined to fire the whole team. I mean, that's a .214 winning percentage; even the worst team in the majors rarely has a winning percentage of less than .400.
So, while I can't say for sure, it seems there's a legitimate case can be made that the Phillies were originally the Worcester Whatevers.
It doesn't affect my loyalties. I've been a Red Sox fan my whole life and will continue to be until the day I die and beyond. Boston is the cultural capital of New England and its pro sports franchises are essentially New England's teams (except for those traitors in southwestern Connecticut who root for New York, and those traitors in northern Vermont who root for the Montreal Canadiens). I mean, Worcester's great, for the time being it's a good place for me to live. But I don't expect to live in Worcester forever.
And, as I was saying earlier, I spend way too much time enthralled by useless facts.
Going Against the Grain
Yesterday was the earliest sunset of the year. Some people get depressed when the sun sets so early. Not me. To me, a 4 p.m. sunset means that NFL football games that start at 4 are a big deal, with playoff implications. It doesn't get much better than that. I love early sunsets. I say bring 'em on. I wish the sun would set at 3 p.m.
This may make me weird, or a vampire, or something. But I've gone against the grain my whole life.
This may make me weird, or a vampire, or something. But I've gone against the grain my whole life.
Yesterday was the earliest sunset of the year. Some people get depressed when the sun sets so early. Not me. To me, a 4 p.m. sunset means that NFL football games that start at 4 are a big deal, with playoff implications. It doesn't get much better than that. I love early sunsets. I say bring 'em on. I wish the sun would set at 3 p.m.
This may make me weird, or a vampire, or something. But I've gone against the grain my whole life.
This may make me weird, or a vampire, or something. But I've gone against the grain my whole life.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Bachelor, Part 2
According to ABC's recent commercials, Brad Womack, the guy who famously picked neither of the final two contestants in the 2007 season of The Bachelor, is back at it this season. Once again, he'll be picking from 25 eligible bachelorettes in the hopes of finding true love.
Now that's a much better gig than sitting at home, playing The Bachelor video game.
But what's his motivation? If you're Womack, why not just diss all the girls again and lobby to keep coming back for more season after season? You get to hang with 25 beautiful women over and over again. There's no downside -- some of the girls are gonna be mad at you no matter what.
Seriously, how do I sign up for that?
Now that's a much better gig than sitting at home, playing The Bachelor video game.
But what's his motivation? If you're Womack, why not just diss all the girls again and lobby to keep coming back for more season after season? You get to hang with 25 beautiful women over and over again. There's no downside -- some of the girls are gonna be mad at you no matter what.
Seriously, how do I sign up for that?
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The Bachelor, Part 1: The Video Game
I was doing a little research for a blog (see tomorrow) when I came across this:
The Bachelor: The Videogame
· Chris Harrison is your host in the game and will take you through the single player mode that is structured like the TV show
· Compete against your "frenemies" in multiplayer mode
· Sabotage your opponent's dates to prevent them from receiving a rose?or they may sabotage yours!
· Features real-life The Bachelor and The Bachelorette contestants
· Take personality tests and view your dating profile and compatibility results
The quest for love doesn't have to end after the show's final rose. Now, you can experience the excitement of the TV show in your very own adventure and compete for the affections of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette! It's up to you to make an impression that will leave your suitor with only one option...to offer you the final rose!
The Bachelor is my guilty pleasure reality TV show, so I get a kick out of it. Not sure I understand the concept of a Bachelor videogame, though. Clearly they don't have me in mind, since you can only play the role of the female suitors and not the role of the bachelor/-ette. The only role I would play is that of the one who's handing out the roses. But I'm not sure why women would play this game either; it seems silly to be vying for a fictitious version of a guy who was on The Bachelor three seasons ago and already picked someone who 1) wasn't them and 2) unceremoniously broke up with the woman he picked two months later.
I guess I'm onto something, as I went onto Amazon and found this review, from a jilted woman who gave The Bachelor video game only one star:
I love the show, hate the game. After seeing the trailer I thought it looked really cool, I went to buy it the next day. After playing for about half an hour I got bored. The only thing your doing is playing mini games, thats it. The only way you can "sabotage the other dates" like it says on the back of the wii box is by beating them in a mini game. I really really want to return this game.
Good stuff. ABC needs to get this woman as a contestant next season.
I Knew I Was Forgetting Something
Last night as I was drifting off to sleep I kept thinking I was forgetting something.
As I woke up from a dream in which I was told by Meredith Vieira that I failed everyone, it occurred to me. I forgot to blog.
I've posted some wicked long blogs lately, and maybe I just ran out of gas last night. Anyway, if I left anyone hanging I apologize.
I think the world will survive, though.
As I woke up from a dream in which I was told by Meredith Vieira that I failed everyone, it occurred to me. I forgot to blog.
I've posted some wicked long blogs lately, and maybe I just ran out of gas last night. Anyway, if I left anyone hanging I apologize.
I think the world will survive, though.
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