Random Sports Thread

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

So this happened in stage 1 of the Tour de France….

https://youtu.be/fi7rJfSrW58

I mean...what the actual fuck?  Let's pack 150 guys on bikes into a tiny little space and let "fans" stand on the course with signs?  Who runs this event?  The makers of Jackass?

I instantly think of Rally but I guess in that instance the public isn't really a threat to the cars. 

[Anguyen92]

So this happened in stage 1 of the Tour de France….

https://youtu.be/fi7rJfSrW58

I mean...what the actual fuck?  Let's pack 150 guys on bikes into a tiny little space and let "fans" stand on the course with signs?  Who runs this event?  The makers of Jackass?

I instantly think of Rally but I guess in that instance the public isn't really a threat to the cars. 

I would be concerned on a lot of levels if there are spectators that's like inches from the cars for so many reasons.

[Cool Chris]

I am stuck on wondering why anyone would want to be a spectator at a bike race.

[Stadler]

I was up late the other night and I ended up watching the US National Club Cornhole Championships.   I don't know whether to be impressed or what.   It's always fascinating to me the "terminology" that rises up around things when they get popular.  The announcers had so much jargon that I had to adjust to, it was ridiculous.  "Cutters" (when the bag slides on an angle around a "blocker", a bag that is blocking the hole), "air mails" (when the bag goes through the hole clean), "cleaners" (there was another word as well; when a second bag goes though the hole and brings the first bag through with it).   Each of the players seems to have their own custom bags; I would assume there are size and weight restrictions on them but I didn't get that from the broadcast.

It was fun though; I thought I was decent at the game, but no dice.   There was one couple - this older, tall heavy man that looked like he knew his way around a Dungeons and Dragons game and his wife, this very attractive Vietnamese woman who couldn't have been more than 5 feet tall - who were on fire.  I mean, they didn't miss, especially her.  There were a couple rounds where she airmailed - see above - all four of her bags.  The men's doubles round - all four guys looked like they just came from the frathouse - was an excellent contest.  Back and forth, and with some amazing throws.

[pg1067]

I was up late the other night and I ended up watching the US National Club Cornhole Championships.

Come on, man...this is a sports thread!   


At some point last year, I happened upon competitive tag on TV.  I thought, "how stupid!" and then proceeded to watch for about 45 minutes.

[TAC]

Watching corn hole on TV is awesome!!

[dparrott]

Was that Ultimate Tag?  I loved that show. 

[pg1067]

Was that Ultimate Tag?  I loved that show.

WCT (World Chase Tag):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea_Mkmj92PY

[Anguyen92]

Does anyone find themselves not caring about this year's Summer Olympics?  I mean I'll watch the opening ceremony whenever I can because it's in Tokyo and I'm sure they got a good presentation lined up that will highlight Japan's interesting culture, but as the events itself?  Not so much, at least, compared to the Winter Games.  I always like the Winter games (even outside of hockey).  Curling's great.  Short-track speed skating are always a nice chaotic event to watch.  Luge and bobsledding are fun events as well.

I really hope the NHL can send their players to the Winter games in 2022, but Bettman and co. seems really hesitant to do it for a lot of reasons.  I think the main reason, this time (last time they didn't send players in 2018 was due to organizations not coming to an agreement on who will cover players' insurance I think), is due to quarantine time when the players come in and come out and the idea to put the league on even a longer pause than two weeks (which is just a no bueno for the league to consider doing it)? 

[TAC]

My wife will be glued to the gymnastics.

[KevShmev]

I always love watching the swimming events.  Can't say I will watch much else, but if there are swimming events going on, I am staying on that channel.

[pg1067]

Does anyone find themselves not caring about this year's Summer Olympics?  I mean I'll watch the opening ceremony whenever I can because it's in Tokyo and I'm sure they got a good presentation lined up that will highlight Japan's interesting culture, but as the events itself?  Not so much, at least, compared to the Winter Games.  I always like the Winter games (even outside of hockey).  Curling's great.  Short-track speed skating are always a nice chaotic event to watch.  Luge and bobsledding are fun events as well.

My problem with the Olympics -- and this has been true for the better part of the last three decades -- is that they focus on events I couldn't give a rip about.  What's the big event in the summer games?  Gymnastics.  What's the big event in the winter games?  Figure skating.  Neither fits my definition of a "sport," and I couldn't care less about either.  I like the parade of nations at the opening ceremonies (and the corresponding flood of athletes at the closing ceremonies), but I have zero interest in the rest of the thing.  The track events that are less than a mile are interesting, but I don't want to watch 93 heats and preliminaries leading up to the finals.  I think the field events are cool, but we almost never get to see those.  In the winter, I dig bobsled, luge, biathlon, but those are events that get very little exposure.  The other thing I can't stand are the "human interest" stories that seem to dominate the prime-time coverage.  I almost never care.  Just show me the damn event!

I really hope the NHL can send their players to the Winter games in 2022 

No!!!  The best sporting event of my life was the 1980 men's Olympic ice hockey tournament.  Not a single NHL player in sight.  Possibly the worst was the 1992 men's Olympic basketball tournament.  United States 108 - Angola 32.  Wow...what fun....

[dparrott]

Oh yeah I know WCT, I've watched a few clips.

I love the Olympics.  Team handball, baseball is back (!), swimming and diving, track, USA should dominate women's soccer, gymnastics, I'll watch as much as possible.

[jingle.boy]

Back on corn-hole championships ... wow.  And here I am wondering what the hell that is, as I always associate "corn-holing" as a euphemism me and my buddies would use as teens/20-somethings.  I honestly never heard bean-bag toss called cornhole before.

[Cool Chris]

I hate the Olympics. There is nothing I find enjoyable about them. Other than the ~10 seconds of the 100m, I cannot stand to watch any of it. The overblown opening ceremony, the endless stories about how each individual athlete overcame a mountain of obstacles, I find it all beyond dull.

[pg1067]

I hate the Olympics. There is nothing I find enjoyable about them. Other than the ~10 seconds of the 100m, I cannot stand to watch any of it. The overblown opening ceremony, the endless stories about how each individual athlete overcame a mountain of obstacles, I find it all beyond dull.

Ever watch American Ninja Warrior?  Pretty much every other contestant has overcome SOMETHING, and the run two minute puff pieces before these folks' runs.  It's always, "I'm here to prove that [fill in name of group of people] can do [fill in thing that no one thought these people couldn't do]."  Or, as my wife says (in a mock half-crying tone of voice), "I'm here to prove that people with feet can walk!"

[Cool Chris]

At least on a show like that, they need it for padding, otherwise the whole episode would last, what, 7 minutes?

I assume some of these Olympians are silver spoon trust fund brats. I want to see a bio segment on one of them.

"Timmy never felt settled at home, with his family spending summers in the Hamptons and winters in the Cayman Islands. Schoolwork was never a challenge due to the assistance of his private tutors, so to alleviate the boredom his parents had an Olympic size swimming pool put in on their estate. 'He proved adept at the sport' said one of his private instructors. There was a question as to if he would be able to attend the Olympic time trials, but his father was able to reschedule the trials so as to not coincide with his Lacrosse tournament."

[Anguyen92]

I hate the Olympics. There is nothing I find enjoyable about them. Other than the ~10 seconds of the 100m, I cannot stand to watch any of it. The overblown opening ceremony, the endless stories about how each individual athlete overcame a mountain of obstacles, I find it all beyond dull.

Ever watch American Ninja Warrior?  Pretty much every other contestant has overcome SOMETHING, and the run two minute puff pieces before these folks' runs.  It's always, "I'm here to prove that [fill in name of group of people] can do [fill in thing that no one thought these people couldn't do]."  Or, as my wife says (in a mock half-crying tone of voice), "I'm here to prove that people with feet can walk!"

The original Japanese version that G4 used to show was so much better.  Not as much fluff pieces, just have these guys go and probably fail on the first obstacle or have the Warp Wall claim many victims.

Fun fact, in the intro of the G4 coverage of Ninja Warrior, the guy that ripped his shirt off was a well-known pro wrestler in Japan.  He sadly wiped in the first obstacle in that appearance.

[jingle.boy]

I record ANW, and can watch a 2-hour episode in about 30-40 minutes (I'll watch the occasional back-story).  If you want to talk about puff/filler pieces, nothing tops Battlebots - 4 matches per hour that have a 3-minute time limit.  I think I spend more time fast-forwarding than actually watching!

As for the Olympics, I'm closer to Chris than anything else.  And it's not like many in NA will watch much live when the Olympics are in Asia.

[hefdaddy42]

I much prefer the Summer Olympics to the Winter Olympics.  I can kind of buy into the Summer Olympic games as a continuation of the original Olympic games, because it features many events that date back to then (many of the track and field events, running in general, wrestling, whatever).  The Winter Olympics are Olympic in name only, and definitely feature a lot of sports with which I have no affinity.

[T-ski]

The Olympics were important, then tv advertising ruined it.

[pg1067]

At least on a show like that, they need it for padding, otherwise the whole episode would last, what, 7 minutes?

I assume some of these Olympians are silver spoon trust fund brats. I want to see a bio segment on one of them.

"Timmy never felt settled at home, with his family spending summers in the Hamptons and winters in the Cayman Islands. Schoolwork was never a challenge due to the assistance of his private tutors, so to alleviate the boredom his parents had an Olympic size swimming pool put in on their estate. 'He proved adept at the sport' said one of his private instructors. There was a question as to if he would be able to attend the Olympic time trials, but his father was able to reschedule the trials so as to not coincide with his Lacrosse tournament."

 

I hate the Olympics. There is nothing I find enjoyable about them. Other than the ~10 seconds of the 100m, I cannot stand to watch any of it. The overblown opening ceremony, the endless stories about how each individual athlete overcame a mountain of obstacles, I find it all beyond dull.

Ever watch American Ninja Warrior?  Pretty much every other contestant has overcome SOMETHING, and the run two minute puff pieces before these folks' runs.  It's always, "I'm here to prove that [fill in name of group of people] can do [fill in thing that no one thought these people couldn't do]."  Or, as my wife says (in a mock half-crying tone of voice), "I'm here to prove that people with feet can walk!"

The original Japanese version that G4 used to show was so much better.  Not as much fluff pieces, just have these guys go and probably fail on the first obstacle or have the Warp Wall claim many victims.

Fun fact, in the intro of the G4 coverage of Ninja Warrior, the guy that ripped his shirt off was a well-known pro wrestler in Japan.  He sadly wiped in the first obstacle in that appearance.

It's changed a lot.  I think we started watching around season 4 or so, and yeah, making it up the warped wall was a huge accomplishment.  But now these folks can seemingly train year-round for this stuff without holding a real job, so the warped wall is a total joke that NO ONE fails on.  I randomly caught an old season on NBCSN over the weekend and people were just running in sweats and generally looking like if I tried it.

[pg1067]

Not really applicable this year or last year, but I always found it interesting that, the two days of the calendar year that you could be guaranteed that none of the four major North American pro leagues would be playing would be the day before and the day after the MLB All-Star Game.

Also, I was watching the home run derby last night, and I kept seeing on the crawl that some golfer wasn't going to play at "The Open."  Ummm....which one?  U.S.?  British?  Phoenix?  Aren't most of the golf tournaments called "The ___ Open"?

[Cool Chris]

The British Open is traditionally called The Open, or the Open Championship.

[pg1067]

The British Open is traditionally called The Open, or the Open Championship.

Never heard of that (not that I pay any attention to golf).  I always remember as a kid who would watch pretty much whatever was on TV on the weekends that it was the U.S. Open, the British Open, the Masters and (I think) the PGA Championship that people cared about.  Referring to "The Open" would be ambiguous as to whether the reference was to the U.S. or British Open.

The above is more thought than I've devoted to golf in the past quarter century combined, so I'll be shutting up now.

[Cool Chris]

Those are the four major championships, so yes those tournaments get the most coverage and viewers, and the ones the players covet the most so will always feature all the big names.

[crazy climber dude]

As a golf fan (though I am inverse, I ENJOY watching it on TV....but don't play), while Cool Chris is not wrong in his assessment, I would add....

Since Tiger Woods burst onto the scene back in the 90's, the tournament that got the most coverage was the one he was playing in next.

There have been a couple of other "characters" that temporarily moved the needle, most prominent of those being John Daly....when he won the PGA as a freewheeling swinger of the driver, a chain smoker, a ubiquitous drinker, and sporting a mullet. 

And Phil Mickelson....because of the kind of Cold War rivalry with Tiger (which early in their careers wasn't much of one)...and that he was often more characterized as a relatable "everyman" (except that he's a multi-millionaire) that still had crazy skills.

Today, there is the somewhat contrived rivalry between big hitters Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. Koepka is the too cool for school guy with a relatively quiet demeanor (but is blunt when interviewed) and a clutch gene accordingly, and the more flamboyant DeChambeau being a freakish hitter off the tee (400 yard drives not out of his realm)....but is still young and hasn't really carved a substantial niche in winning multiple big tournaments (yet). They can't "carry" golf like Tiger did (does?), but they are legit talents who are fun to watch play (though a lot of people who really follow golf might say Spaniard Jon Rahm is better than both of them)....and who do seem to dislike each other to some extent. The PGA powers that be are on the fence with promoting that divide, as it flies in the face of the comradery ethic of golf....in addition to not wanting to embrace the somewhat disingenuous origins.


But Tiger is (still) king (no pun intended)....even if just as a specter of sorts right now.

Yes, the majors are the most coveted and talked about/covered/watched. However, there is what they call the "5th Major"....the Players Championship. Though I would say most of the prestige associated with that tournament is among the players themselves (so the title fits).

There's also this thing called the World Golf Championships...a cluster of 4 tournaments that get all the best players in the world together for BIG dollars and overall season bragging rights. Most casual fans of golf may not even be aware of this relatively new event(s).

Finally, the Ryder Cup is still kind of a big deal. It's a longstanding rivalry with patriotic overtones between European countries and the US. It's little cousin, The President's Cup, similar....but not with the same esteem (and has a larger mix of different countries MINUS Europe that tends to dilute down the intensity of the rivalry somewhat).

[Cool Chris]

Well, that was a great summary, but I imagine pg1067 stopped around "inverse." 

[crazy climber dude]

Well, that was a great summary, but I imagine pg1067 stopped around "inverse." 

He's probably not the only one. 

[pg1067]

Well, that was a great summary, but I imagine pg1067 stopped around "inverse." 

Once he wrote "golf fan," I skimmed to the end just to make sure there wasn't any non-golf stuff.   

I sort of feel like golf should have been an elective at law school.  Almost since I started my current job eight years ago, one of my golf-playing colleagues has been talking about us going and playing sometime.  Back in the '90s, I had a buddy who had golf clubs, and he and I would occasionally go to a driving range after work some Fridays.  I got to the point where I could hit most of my shots vaguely straight, but I never actually played a round of golf until sometime in 2019 when a few guys at my office (not the one mentioned previously) invited me to play with them at the crappy course out behind our office.  I don't mind tooting my own horn and telling you that I was downright awful!  I wouldn't mind playing more regularly, but any time golf has ever shown up on my TV, I've been bored to tears.

[pg1067]

With the Bucks having won the NBA championship earlier this week, we have now seen 18 title droughts of at least 40 years broken in the last 20 years:

- 2016 Chicago Cubs (108 years)
- 2005 Chicago White Sox (88 years)
- 2004 Boston Red Sox (86 years)
- 2017 Philadelphia Eagles (57 years)
- 2010 San Francisco/New York Giants (56 years)
- 2017 Houston Cheaters (56 years)
- 2019 St. Louis Blues (52 years)
- 2019 Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos (51 years)
- 2020 Kansas City Chiefs (50 years)
- 2021 Milwaukee Bucks (50 years)
- 2010 Chicago Blackhawks (49 years)
- 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers (46 years)
- 2012 Los Angeles Kings (45 years)
- 2002 New England Patriots (44 years)
- 2009 New Orleans Saints (43 years)
- 2018 Washington Capitals (43 years)
- 2002 Anaheim Angels (42 years)
- 2015 Golden State Warriors (40 years)

[jingle.boy]

"Houston Cheaters"   

So, the Leafs have the longest NHL drought, at 51 years now.... what's the longest in each of the other sports (I'm too lazy to look it up - I'm sure someone can fill in the blanks for the other three leagues).

[Anguyen92]

^^ 51 years?  I thought they are longer than the Rangers were (which was 54 years before they won it in 1994).

[Anguyen92]

So Opening Ceremony of the Olympics is today (well, the ceremony is probably already over in Japan at this time).  It's going to be quite awkward seeing a limited crowd, and people are rightfully upset that the games is still set to go, but I hope the presentation is top notch.

[pg1067]

"Houston Cheaters"   

So, the Leafs have the longest NHL drought, at 51 years now.... what's the longest in each of the other sports (I'm too lazy to look it up - I'm sure someone can fill in the blanks for the other three leagues).

MLB:  Cleveland Indians (72 years - last World Series win in 1948 -- will be at least 73 years even if they win the Series this year)
NFL:  Arizona/St. Louis/Chicago Cardinals (73 years - last NFL title in 1947 -- will be at least 74 years even if they win the next SB)
NHL:  Toronto Maple Leafs (54 years - last Stanley Cup win in 1967 -- will be at least 55 years even if they win the next Cup)
NBA:  Sacramento/Kansas City Kings/Rochester Royals (70 years - last NBA championship in 1951 -- will be at least 71 years even if they win the next title)