Rugby World Cup

With an offensive line and some discipline (100 yards of penalities? In the Super Bowl? Really?) the Cardinals would be unstoppable.

Their small-and-speedy defense is proving itself in the 2nd half, looking more energetic than they did in the 1st half, with a (double) goal-line stand to their credit. Real small. I mean, Dockett is their nose-tackle... the Steelers have a safety bigger than he is. Vince Wilfork or Ted Washington could eat his weight in Happy-Meals. On a Tuesday. For lunch.

But. It. Works.

Edge is one left-tackle away from being as good as any 30yr old back has ever been. Serious.

I think the Cards will be a team that will tool-up this off-season with undervalued D lightweigt speedsters and big fat-fatties to sit on blitzing LBs, and do it on the cheap. So long as they keep Warner and the receiving corps in tact, they can make another run at it next year.

(Harrison won the game for the Steelers... and this penalty may have lost it.)

He he

Damn, what a fine Superbowl! Now Brady needs to win three more to bring us even.

Roethlisberger at 6'5" and some 340lbs is a fraking tank! Whoa.

This was actually a great game.

He's like McNabb mixed with Brady - On the one hand, you don't want to have to be the one who has to sack him, because he'll sack back. On the other, if you try anyway, he runs away from you like John Cleese in the Silly Walks sketch, and your coach yells at you for being unable to tackle a fat QB who runs like an idiot, unaware that =everyone= is unable to tackle the big, goofy bastard.

Oh, yeah, the rocket arm and eye for an open receiver, that's important, too...

A brilliant finish by Liverpool to take all three points from Chelsea at Anfield, thanks to a timely return to form by Fernando Torres. The win preserves Liverpool's title hopes and leaves Chelsea's season in disarray.

What, was there some other sporting event yesterday?

Thought you geeks would get amusement out of this story.

So my friend (as I do and others) DVR their games, so we can skip most of the commercials. Done right, we catch up about 10mins left in the 4q, and miss 90% of the commercials. Of course, this doesn't work as well with the Superbowl, as the womenfolk don't scatter like they normally do, so we were about 20 mins behind in the 4th quarter. My friends wife goes off to do stuff (the good ads are over, and I dont like football. *gasp*!) Well, she went downstairs and ended up seeing the end of the game while we had about 7 minutes left in the game. She proceeds to come upstairs and essentially give my buddy condolences (we're big stiller fans). Of course, she's been known to joke about this before, so we just say... yeah, whatever. She persists however and says, (while the score was 14-20) "the score ends in 23-20! And we think to ourselves, there's no way they score 9 points that fast. That'd have to be a safety. You're just yankin' our chain. About then the Cards down the ball at the 1yd line. And we start to sweat. Then there's a hold and a safety! We're all bummed out, the stillers are gonna win, and his wife just ruined the superbowl for us. Then Santonio Holmes scores a touchdown, and we go, AHA! you lied. To which she says "He didn't get his second toe down!" and we once again want to throw something at her. Then the ref upholds the call, and she gives us the biggest Shit-Eating grin of all time.

Man... I don't know if Wayne Brady's ever been closer to chokin a bitch... if you will.. Of course, we won, so that was ok... but still...


Morg "Thought you'd all enjoy our suffering" anti

Great story!

I am sure the spouse felt so "redeemed" that it almost makes it worth it.

Man United is out in the Champion League, Barcelona wins! Very deserved tho.

Sort of sad to see the Olympics won't be coming to the US in 2016. But with the summer games taking place in Rio, it should be amazing for beach volleyball.

Have there been any topless beach volleyball games in the Olympics? I think it's time for women's lib.

Most beach volleyball players aren't exactly Racquel Welch. But if you are an assman, you shouldn't have any problem.

A bit disappointed--I would have driven up I-65 to see something.

QOTD from a friend: "Bill Belichik, I'm laughing at the superior intellect."

I turned off the game last night thinking Colts had NO CHANCE, and I had to get up at 5 am to prep for my procedure today. I was a bit surprised to see Colts won it.

That sort of not giving up is what makes the Colts winners.

So, do we miss Dungy at all?

I turned the game off when Peyton threw a hideous interception in Colts territory with about 5:30 left in the fourth quarter and the Patriots winning 31-21. I figured there was no point in watching the end. Silly me.

I learned of the result by seeing my friend's quote on Facebook this morning. Wasn't sure I was awake yet.

Well, Bellichik doesn't like conventional wisdom and even though I think he is an arrogant prick that is *very* full of himself, I can't fault him for that decision. Sometimes you go with the odds and it bites you in the ass, but their has been statistical analysis that a good offensive team (like the Patriots) who go for it on fourth down instead of punting would score more points.

Is Gregg Easterbrook still writing Tuesday Morning Quarterback? He was a big advocate of going for it more often on fourth down (based on the statistical analysis you reference, Mokers). I'm curious what he'll write about this game.

I understand the stats, and this could have worked. It almost did. But this is a situation in which, if it doesn't work, the penalty is severe--you give Manning and the Colts a short field, with (in all likelihood) no possibility of getting the ball back if the Colts score, rather than making the Colts go from within their own territory with one timeout and just over two minutes on the clock. I prefer the latter option. Of course, I don't have three Super Bowl rings.

ha. I was referencing some of what easterbrook says. he still writes for espn.com and is one of the only columnists I find palatable there.

I don't know if I can call it the correct decision or what I would have done, but I don't think you can fault his reasoning. The problem with this sort of stuff is that you aren't trying to win 74.9 % of 1000 games, but rather just one. I also think that advanced metrics for football is way behind what you can do in baseball. It may always be behind baseball because there is just too much variation right now to be able to parse all of the data.

It looks like statistical analysis backs up Belichick's decision. You know what? I'm still going to laugh.