General Sports Thread

[Cygnia]

 

[unclevlad]

Shades of Joe Niekro...I love the ump, just sitting there, chin in hand, turning with a whole "...and what have we here, hmm?" vibe....

 

 

[death tribble]

Two cycling races ended today. Paris-Nice and Tirreno Adriactico. Race results as attached

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/68518815

 

And on 2nd March Tadej Pogacar won Strade Bianche (so sue me I was in Reading on the 2nd and had travel time as well)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/68457568

 

The Rugby results are

England beat Ireland, Italy beat Scotland and the France beat Wales. No Grand Slam for any team and no Triple Crown for British/Irish teams.

 

Max Verstappen wins the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68524759

Edited March 10, 2024 by death tribble

[Pariah]

[Cygnia]

 

[Cygnia]

CW: animal death

 

Multiple Dog Deaths At 2024 Iditarod Reignite Pleas To End The Annual Race

[death tribble]

The first cycling Monument of the season has taken place

Jesper Philpsen won in a phot finish with Michael Mathews second and Tadej Pogacar third

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/68583253

Edited March 16, 2024 by death tribble

[Bazza]

The Aussie Rules season has started again. 

[death tribble]

The Six nations Rugby ended yesterday

Italy beat Wales, France beat England and Ireland beat Scotland.

Ireland are champions and Wales got the Wooden Spoon as they lost all their matches.

No Grand Slam as you have to win all your matches but Ireland lost one to England.

[slikmar]

Ok, serious question about Cricket. I enjoyed when I could watch Big Bash from Australia, but sadly don't get to watch much anymore. My brother recently got a channel that shows a lot of cricket and the question is this:

Why does it seem like there are only 2 guys per team that can hit/bat well? You constantly see that the first 2 batsmen score like 100+ between them, yet everyone else behind them feels like they struggle to match that amongst them all.

 

I am sure there must be a reason for this and maybe the perception is wrong, but I have wondered this also.

[death tribble]

Maybe a generational thing. I certainly don't see matches in any format going like that. Ian Botham was never in at No 1 or 2 and he could score like nobodies business. But usually the good batsmen go in first. Boycott and Gooch were at one stage England's openers but one would get out and the pair would not have got that far. Both however were capable of getting centuries  

[Michael Hopcroft]

What to make of the controversy in the Red Bull paddock for their Formula One #1 team? There are reports of a massive power struggle going on within the team, provoked by an investigation of a senior manager that was apparently either botched or suppressed of both.

 

What is at stake is the future of the most dominant team in F1 history -- a team so dominant that other teams can barely sniff the podium, much less the race winner spot.  There are rumors that their ace Max Verstappen might even walk away from the team and join another if the management struggle doesn't come out as he wants. This would be a seismic shift in the sport of Formula 1. While Lewis Hamilton signing as a free agent with Ferrari for '25 made a lot of headlines, Hamilton is a "Lion in Winter" who has not quite regained his former edge, to the point that he is the #2 at Mercedes.

 

Also, there have already been complaints about the 24-race schedule for this season. Drivers and crews are afraid of the toll it will exact, especially since many of the more difficult tracks are late in the season, when most of what drivers and teams fight for has already been decided. Qatar in particular is cited as a race where it was fortunate no drivers were killed in a race that would have little impact on the outcome of the season.

[Grailknight]

It's nearly impossible to judge the relative skill level of the top F1 drivers because of the inequities in their machines and crews. Red Bull figured something out three years ago, and has had a huge tech advantage that other constructors have not been able to approach. And each team gives their top driver the best crews they have so while they have supposedly equal cars, it doesn't work out that way on the track. Hamilton is a lame duck, so he's been demoted to driver 2 and Russel is getting all the love from Mercedes.

 

I give mad props to Red Bull, but not as much to Verstappen (Though he is unquestionably a top tier talent.) His 1st title was the result of one of the most blatant cases of official misconduct I've seen in any sport. Since then, his car has just been better. If F1 went to a format with truly standardized machines or allowed more in season mechanical changes, we might see driver skill become more relevant. As it is this season is Red Bull's, Ferrari is next, Mercedes and Alfa Romeo will fight for third and all the other teams will take the scraps.

[death tribble]

Briton wins overall Gold in Skeleton bob world championship. First time in 16 year

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/68632246

[unclevlad]

Arsenal has banned 3 fans who pled guilty to tragedy chanting...a crime in England.  The BBC describes it as

 

Quote

It's when fans sing deeply offensive songs that reference stadium disasters or fatal accidents involving players or supporters.

 

The applicable law:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/64/section/4A

 

The ban is for 3 years.

[death tribble]

Normally I would not record International Football Friendlies even if England are playing, but when one has one of the fastest ever scored goals, then I make an exception

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68648461

 

Carlos Sainz wins for Ferrari in the Formula 1 Australia Grand Prix

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68649128

 

First woman to finish the Barkley Marathons since it was extended to 100 miles in 1989

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-68651150

 

Cycling news. Pogacar and Pedersen win

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/68650652

 

Tom Daley wins gold in diving World Cup

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/diving/68651129

other diving results

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/diving/68646636

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/diving/68643043

Edited March 24, 2024 by death tribble

[death tribble]

Cambridge win the boat race

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rowing/68699476

[Bazza]

Oh, was hoping Oxford would. 

[death tribble]

Mathieu Van der Poel wins Tour of Flanders

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/68703382

[unclevlad]

SOMEONE...probably some company or service supplier...is up the creek.

 

At the NCAA women's championships, one of the regionals was in Portland.  Whoever set up the floor for this...screwed up.  The 3 point line at the top of the key was at the incorrect distance, on one side of the court.  Several games had already been played;  the error was found about an hour before the game today.  Both teams agreed to play;  for a variety of reasons, it was less disruptive to play, than to hold off until it could be fixed.  

 

But that's horribly embarrassing to the NCAA, which has had multiple issues reported, where the women's teams get *ridiculously* less than the men's teams.  And this is just not acceptable.  Another story reports the vendor is taking responsibility...who the heck else could it be?  Gotta figure they won't be getting much more business along these lines.............  There's one more game to be played, tomorrow...ESPN reported the court's being re-measured and re-painted.

[unclevlad]

Some years ago, one of the more odd situations happened back in 2018, when Vontae Davis announced his retirement...at halftime of the 2nd game of the season.  He offered what I thought at the time was a singularly insightful statement:

 

“But in my 10th NFL season, I have been doing what my body has been programmed to do: Get ready to play on game day. I’ve endured multiple surgeries and played through many different injuries throughout my career and, over the last few weeks, this was the latest physical challenge. But today on the field, reality hit me fast and hard: I shouldn’t be out there anymore.”

 

One now has to wonder if...in some measure...his body really was telling him something.  Because he was found dead in his home yesterday.  Cause of death has not been determined yet, pending a full autopsy, but foul play is not suspected.  Davis was only 35.

[unclevlad]

The Iowa-LSU basketball game...a rematch of last year's title game, drew...you want to sit down for this...

 

Sitting?  Good.

 

12.3 million viewers on average, with a peak of 16 million.

 

From the Athletic, this was

Quote

Higher than any other women’s college basketball game ever. The previous high: 9.9 million average viewers, which came … last year for LSU’s national-title win over Iowa.

More than every NBA game last season outside of Game 5 of the Finals, every MLB game last season and all but five of college football’s matchups. 

 

Bold mine.  Story also notes that the follow-on UConn vs. USC matchup drew a tidy 6.7 million.  These were Elite 8 games, too...not the title game, not Final Four.

[death tribble]

Max Verstappen wins the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68754640

[death tribble]

On 4/9/2023 at 4:03 PM, death tribble said:

Mathieu Van Der Poel wins Paris Roubaix his second Monument race of the season

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/65227445

Der Poel wins Paris Roubaix for the second year in succession. And again this is his second Monument of the season

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/68755399

Edited April 7, 2024 by death tribble

[Pariah]

There's been a lot of chatter recently concerning the instability of the Arizona Coyotes NHL team. They're currently sharing a 5000-seat arena with a college team while trying to secure a better permanent home ... and efforts to secure a netter home in the Phoenix area have not gone well. 

 

One possibility: relocate the team to another city. Like Salt Lake City. 

 

Earlier this week, Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith posted a social media poll asking what fans would like a potential NHL team in Utah to be called. 

 

I read last night that the NHL was preparing two different schedules for the 2024-2025 season: one with the team in Arizona, one with the team in Utah.

 

Now the Athletic is reporting that the NHL has notified owners of a potential sale and relocation of the team—not a done deal, as yet, but in the works: NHL positioning to potentially move Coyotes to Salt Lake City for 2024-25: Sources

 

CBC is reporting similar arrangements: Preparations being made for potential NHL team in Salt Lake City

 

The financial gist seems to be that current Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo would sell the team to the League for $1B, and Smith would buy the team for $1.3B, with the $300M being distributed among existing NHL owners. Meruelo would then get first dibs at an expansion team when/if he's able to get a deal for a real NHL arena.

 

The relocated team would initially play in the Delta Center, which is not a great arena for ice hockey. The sight lines in several sections are wrong. The Maverik Center, the home of the ECHL's Utah Grizzlies, was build for the 2002 Winter Games and is a great arena for ice hockey. (I saw Latvia vs. Ukraine there in 2002.) The Maverik Center only seats around 10K, as opposed to ~14K at the Delta Center. (But 10K is still more than twice what the Coyotes are playing in front of now.) 

 

Where is this going? As Asia would say, only time will tell. 

 

Edited April 11, 2024 by Pariah