Cup of Coffee

February 19, 2014: Swing and a Miss

98 Comments

As good as I am with this sort of thing, last night I realized I'd missed my stepbrother's birthday. Maybe I should get Jeff A to add everyone I know to his lists, just to be safe.

98 thoughts on “February 19, 2014: Swing and a Miss”

  1. Anyone have a video of that winner by GB lady night in curling? I've tried but it appears the Olympics don't want people to enjoy highlights

    1. Yeah, I noticed. I actually had to go to another country to watch the last end of the Men's Curling tiebreaker.

        1. Nope. If USA wins, they play Canada in Semis (assuming Canada wins too). Semis will be rival heavy: Sweden-Finland; Canada-USA.

        1. Pretty sure AMR wasn't referring to the Miracle on Ice. The 2010 gold medal game was an absolute classic. The US beat Canada in the group stage to set up the rematch in the final, which went to OT with the host country victorious. Considering those two teams were likely actually the two best teams in the tournament, it's hard to beat that.

            1. I have been DVR'ing the Olympics and religiously avoiding any of the interviews and 90% of the backstory segments. It's working out pretty well for me so far. I'll have to look that one up, I guess.

        2. Hooray for pedantry!

          In 1980 the medal round was a round robin among the winners of the group stage, so the miracle on ice was neither a semifinal nor a final. To illustrate the point, USA's final game was against Finland, who didn't earn a medal that year.

            1. It may not have been a true gold medal game, but the US needed at least a tie (and then to win tie-breakers) in order to win gold, since the Soviet Union pummeled Sweden.

          3. That's an interesting way to structure a tournament. If FIFA wanted to make more money, they could use that style of tournament to add games to the World Cup. First round is 3 games for each team, 2 teams advance. (48 games.) Then pair up groups and play the match-ups that haven't yet been played, 2 teams advance from each group. (16 games.) Repeat again to reduce from 8 teams to 4 teams (8 games.) Probably at 4 teams, you just do a knock-out with a consolation game (4 games.) That'd be 13 additional games over the current format. Could be a lot of wear and tear on the players, though (not that the execs would particularly care), and the tournament might lose some focus since it'd be a little longer.

            An advantage of this style of tournament would be that "every game counts." You could lose your first game, and advance out of your group, but that game could continue to haunt you through the subsequent rounds if that team keeps advancing with you. Although, on second thought, it's not uncommon for teams to be even more conservative when the stakes are raised, so maybe this wouldn't be an advantage.

  5. If you want a laugh, go find the tweets @themoscownews as they live tweeted the game.

    The Moscow News ‏@themoscownews
    And we're on. Oh man, the Finns are fast. Russia not looking half bad either. Testosterone level: Orange. #hockey #Sochi2014

    1. Spenser Hall for SB Nation. Specifically he was discussing cross-country skiing, but the game reminded me of this:

      Finland might not even be Scandinavian in anything but geography, and might not be anything other than Finland, a separate dimension of taciturn people born with the ability to steer rally cars on icy roads through dense forests at 120 miles per hour and go weeks without saying anything at all. Finns scare Russians, and I'm not sure if I want to live that far over on the spectrum of personally terrifying nationalities.

    2. I actually got that one! Okay, it was a pretty easy one, but still, it's the first time I got one right!

  7. To spooky and anyone else who'd like their birthday or a relative's birthday mentioned in the birthday post: put a comment there about it and I'll be sure to include it the next year. I almost never check the previous year's COC, but I almost always check the previous year's birthday post.

  8. We have some friends coming over tonight. They don't eat pork, and we've been eating some heavier stuff lately, so I thought it'd be a good opportunity to switch things up and try Doc's Dal Makhani.

  9. From the 4ltr:

    The Lakers and Dallas Mavericks reportedly are attempting to complete a trade this week for Love, who can become an unrestricted free agent after the 2014-15 seasons if he declines a player option on his current contract with the Timberwolves.

    The Lakers are trying to trade for Kevin Love. Of course they are! I would too if I was running that club. One problem, though. Exactly what are they proposing to send back in return? 25 games of Pau Gasol?

      1. They couldn't do that if they wanted. League rules prohibit teams from trading away 1st round picks in consecutive years.

        1. How many years in the future can they go? Could the Lakers send the next ten even years' first rounder?

    2. Color me shocked that ESPN is trying to make a trade to help a big market team better.

      Pau Gasol and a 1st rounder for Love. SIGN ME UP!

      1. And they can't even send them this year's pick because they traded away next year's pick. So a 2016 first rounder and 25 games of Gasol. Hoo boy. But, in fairness, it was someone from CBSSportsline that "broke" that story.

            1. Chris Broussard is on ESPN right now talking about trades and what is a good source and bad source feeding you a smokescreen.
              You cant makes this up.

            1. The Timberwolves all-star forward, in a short piece in GQ Magazine, said, "People think it's so far-fetched that I would stay in Minnesota. And I'm not s----- on the Lakers, but we have the better team, the better foundation. I'm having fun."

              1. Even if he does end up going to LA, sure is great to tamp down most fan strife.

                Take notes, other athletes of small-market teams.

  10. Erik Kratz, logician.

    Blue Jays backup Erik Kratz was even more outspoken, saying that catchers who still want to block the plate to prevent a big run should be allowed to do so.

    "If you're a guy who wants to stay in there and save a run, why can't you?" Kratz asked. "Why would they take that advantage away from somebody who's willing to get hurt?

    "Look, I get it," Kratz continued. "I get why they're doing this. I've been fortunate. I've never had a bad injury like [Buster Posey]. ... If I'd lost a season because of this, I'd probably be all for it. But I haven't experienced that."

        1. Or perhaps he could consult Drew Butera, a catcher experienced in having a job despite not being able to do part of it.

    2. New HBP rules: one base for getting hit by a pitch, two bases for getting hit in the head, three bases for getting hit in the cup, four bases if you lose consciousness. Bases are awarded even if you purposefully attempt to get hit with a pitch, I mean, if you're a guy who wants to stay in there and get some extra bases, why can't you?

      1. I like to pretend it was a jilted Jeter lover who received rabies rather than a gift basket.

    2. "At one point, he instructed Girardi to take his teammate out to do drills." Girardi takes orders from Jeter?

      1. Yes, probably since Jeter started calling pitches from his shortstop spot when Girardi was catching.

        'Spoiler' SelectShow

        1. Right:

          Or will he aim even higher, and try to leave his mark on the game as an MLBPA official or, dare we suggest, as the commissioner of baseball? The odds of any player ever being approved by the owners to occupy the commissioner’s office are slim, but if any player could serve as the perfect front man for the game, it is Jeter. He’s already done it for 20 years as a player.

    1. The third team to drop him in one offseason. That's not to say the Twins were right to leave him out of their plans, but it's also hard to say they made much of a mistake by letting him go.

      1. True. Part of me wishes he'd gotten more of a chance, but he didn't do much with the chances he did get. I suspect he'll still pitch somewhere this summer. I hope he proves everyone wrong, but I'm not counting on it.

    2. I don't know the Corcoran from Adam, but I sure hope they're able to keep the collection, both works and staff, intact.

  19. Watching Sochi slalom - no balloons on the sticks - don't they read the WGOM?
    Also, blue paint on the slopes - Nancies!

        1. No, that's not worse. It's bad, but it's an idea worth trying. At least sketching out. Ditch the pants, do something with the sleeves, and maybe it could still work.
          K State's idea should have stopped when they said "A lighter and completely different purple."
          Only reason to sketch it out is to show others how horrible it would look.

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