Why I don’t hate the Olympics

July 8th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

I have not been combing the sports blogosphere anywhere near the frequency I usually do as of late, something I hope corrects itself in the coming weeks. (I’m really getting sick of the shakes.) But from what I’ve seen, the general sentiment on the Olympics — and please correct me if I’m wrong in this — has been it sucks balls. It sucks balls because as Will Leitch wrote in God Save the Fan:

“I’m not sure any real sports fan like the Olympics anymore … Why is it that we have to pretend to care about the discus throw every four years? Never mind the fact that no team sport has anything  resembling the motivation Olympians bring to injecting his/her body with every undetectable performance enhancer. Olympic sports appeal only to those single-minded enough to devote their entire lives to them. Have you ever attended a track meet in person? There are thirty events going on at any time.”

Now, I think there is a ton of validity to Leitch’s overall thesis on the Olympics: there’s a lot that isn’t very appealing or exciting or jaw dropping about fencing, and Americans just latch on to whatever athlete is on their screen and start putting every ounce of energy into cheering for that athlete without having any real good reason. (Other than that is what we are supposed to do. I suppose these are the people that are not “real fans.”)

This is a theory Chuck Klosterman largely backed up in a 2004 Esquire article:

“… the Olympics are designed for people who want to care about something without considering why. In order to enjoy the Olympics, you can’t think critically about anything; you have to root for America (of whatever country you’re from) and assume that your feelings are inherently correct.)

Again, these are not outlandish claims: they make a considerable amount of sense and I agree with them … to a point. Because they are generalizations and observations; they obviously have exceptions and people that don’t quite tie in with the overall argument. I am one of these exceptions.

Get this, I happen to follow competetive running. And I’m excited to see it on its grandest stage in Beijing. I know Bernard Lagat is America’s best hope to medal in the 1500 and 5000 — though I’m not sure how legit I’ll equate a victory, considering he was a Kenyan citizen till 2004  — and I’ve enjoyed the human interest pieces the New York Times has been rolling out on a consistent basis leading up to the games. I’m by no means a hardcore follower of the sport, but the Olympics give me a reason to get swept up in it all for a few months.

For me, the Olympics — particularly the running — reminds me of my past, of the miles upon miles spent on the track and out on the path during my high school years. Following names I remember from five years ago — Alan Webb, for instance — is fun for me. Sure, I may be rooting blindly with some events I watch — actually, I doubt I’ll watch too much other than the running events, maybe the figure skating, that’s always fun –but setting aside that and focusing on the nostalgia that competitve running brings out in me: I don’t think it makes me single-minded or a faux sports fan. I don’t think it makes me someone devoid of critical thinking skills.

It just makes me human. And I am more than comfortable with that.

Reasons lefties in baseball rule

July 8th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

Being left-handed has held many advantages in my life. For instance: when I am involved in icebreaker conversations — I imagine hell to be one long icebreaker conversation with ice cream with nuts in it as our treats — one of my three interesting facts is: “I’m left-handed.”

And sometimes people treat you like you are really special or different: “Look at how all the ink is all over the side of his pinky after taking notes!”

It’s a cherished life I’ve led.

But I will say this: playing baseball left-handed had many advantages growing up. And thankfully, an aircraft engineer decided to compile all these reasons succinctly on the Internet. Below is a copy and paste job on some of them.

Getting going: After a right-hander connects with a ball, his momentum spins him toward the third-base side. He must regroup to take even his first step toward first base. A left-hander’s momentum carries him directly toward first. “The left-handed batter has a 5-foot advantage over the right-handed batter,” Peters calculates. “And that means the lefty travels the 90 feet to first roughly one-sixth of a second faster than the righty. That translates to more base hits for the left-hander, whether singles or extra base hits because lefties are getting to the bases more quickly.”

And if you drag bunt, you can get there even faster!

Pitching: The left-handed pitcher generally is much more difficult to steal off. From his stretch, he peers directly at the runner; the right-hander must look over his shoulder and wheel to first base, giving the runner more of a warning of the pitcher’s intent.

One time I picked the same dude off twice in one game.

Fielding: First base and right field favor lefties. The favorable angles lefties allow them to throw the ball more quickly across the diamond to second, third and home.

I always thought I played right field because I was the worst fielder.

Sadly, I have yet to find an advantage to left-handed blogging.

{HT: BBTF.}

Who are these Magic dudes, and why don’t I know about them

July 7th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

Listening in to the streaming feed of the oh-so-important Bulls-Heat Summer League matchup has been revelatory, but not because of the basketball. The two dudes providing play-by-play have been everything I need in basketball commentary: laughter. I like to think I understand most of the major tenets of the game, so while I like to have Jeff Van Gundy’s brand of wisdom, I don’t need it. What I need are the following:

– Repeated references to how horrible Aaron Gray is. For example: “Aaron Gray makes a slow, awkward move. Not surprisingly, it’s rejected.”
– Being willing to admit that “Tyrus Thomas has been known to eat souls.”
– A dumbest email of the day feature. (For the record, the email asked if Dwyane Wade would get a lot of playing time next year. That is really dumb.)
– “Everything Joakim Noah does looks very awkward to me.”
– A debate on the merits of Kobe’s sneakers.
– “Jamesoff Curry.”

And so on. It’s brilliant stuff. I will struggle to justify watching the rest of Summer League, but Dante and Galante might do the trick. Whoever they are.

Slightly irritated New Zealanders treated to porn during rugby match

July 7th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

As I’m a 22-year-old male sitting right in the prime of Flight of the Conchords’ demographic, I imagine everyone from New Zealand to be much like Bret and Jermaine: polite, existentially friendly, slightly idiosyncratic, and impossible to anger. These things are probably not true. But what better way to test my hypothesis than this story about rugby and hard-core porn? Sssh. Look! They’re interacting in their environment:

A full-blown “sixing”? Tehehehehe! Listen to their funny accents!

{HT: Steady Burn}

Hey, the Bulls are on today

July 7th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

The NBA summer league is not all that important to anyone. I doubt even Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley will deem it important tonight, though maybe they will. Who knows. What I do know is that while most teams sit almost everyone of interest while the most marginal of NBA players get 35 minutes a game, the Bulls are different. They have a new coach with no experience, a team full of young athleticism, and oh yeah, Derrick Rose.

In other words, the Bulls’ summer league is going to be pretty cool.

Today — the game starts at 4 p.m. central, streaming here — I’m predicting four things:

1. Derrick Rose will look every bit as fast as he did in college.
2. Tyrus Thomas will do one amazing thing, and one incredibly stupid thing.
3. Joakim Noah will scream at least five times.
4. Vinny Del Negro won’t even try to call a play.

If those four things happen, we might have Nadal-Federer-level genius at hand. Or not.