B-dub

As luck would have it, I'm in London for work the week preceding the final. Pushed my flight back to the morning of March 1st. Trying to get a ticket (just need one), but it might still be pretty good to meet up at a pub near Wembley with a big Villa contingent.

He's just trying to get it out of the way before Cardinals spring training begins (mid-February) and they trot him out as their new hitting instructions. I don't feel like typing all night on this but his half-baked confession/apology was disingenuous at best, and he still doesn't fully own up to it and take responsibility for his actions.

Utterly speechless. I've seen lots of bad Giants team in my day, but never seen a team that started 5-0, one year removed from a division title and two years removed from a Super Bowl, become so bad, so quickly. Saw some graphic on TV tonight that said, since the 5-0 start, the Giants allowed an average of 32 points a game. That is absolutely mind-boggling, all things considered.

Money money money. Giants Stadium was built in 1976 and has quickly become an antiquated facility by today's US pro sports standards. The new stadium will, of course, contain a lot more luxury boxes and the personal seat license scheme (PSL's) are going to rake in the cash and price out a lot of people who've had season tickets in their family for generations.

Thanks for pointing that out, I was trying to work out who had the tiebreaker between the Packers and ourselves. On thr 4,000 yard thing, I think Kerry Collins may have had a season where he broke the 4,000 yard mark. Could be wrong though. I worked it out the other day and if the Packers lost to AZ and the Giants run the table, they'd have the same conference records. The next tie-breaker then is record in common games, and the Giants would have the edge there.

I think he's also on pace for 4000 yards. Don't feel like looking it up but I believe Phil Simms in 1984 is the only Giant whose ever cracked 4000 in a season. (Of course the schedule was only expanded to 16 games in the late '70s.) Fortunately we have the tie-breaker over both the Cowboys and the Packers. I think it's a good bet that either the Cowboys will lose to the Eagles, and/or the Packers will lose in Arizona in the final week, which would open the door for the Giants if they win their last two games. Away to Minnesota will be the tough one, but it could very well be a meaningless game for the Vikings by then.

I'll agree with you there. I played the game growing up and still play pick-up after work every Monday night. (There is no better cardio I exercise IMO.) Watching the game, on the other hand, just does not interest me like it used to. Much of that is down to the fact that the Knicks have been a disgrace for the past 7 or 8 years, but I still used to at least get into the playoffs even when the Knicks were not involved. Not any more.

Baseball, Cricket, Croquet, bowls, all facebook games, WOW, hockey, volleyball (excluding beach), polo, water polo, lacrosse, runescape, command and conquer, rugby union, dodgeball and subbuteo. You forgot golf. And if you want to be specific, I'll throw Portsmouth-Wigan in there, too.

Well, I think we already have the answer. There were even more (a lot more) people who suddenly became Chicago Bulls fans when MJ became a household name in the late '80s. The Bulls were just as irrelevant as the Cavs before Jordan came along; and haven't done much since he's left either. How many of those people do you think follow the Bulls now?

Too lazy to search for it now, but if anyone can point me to any video clips of the BBL, I'd be curious to see what they level of play is. I didn't know until recently that there even was a basketball league in Britain.

The Cowboys really controlled the game to be fair (27 first downs to the Giants' 15, held the ball for 38:50), but two big plays (Jacobs and Hixon), a couple of missed field goals and a timely fumble recovery were the difference. But I'll take it. We have the tie-breaker over Dallas now having swept the season series.

Too bad there aren't PKs in the group stage, then you could fantasize on a scenario of Guzan defending penalties against Milner and Ash; kind of like Calvin Shiraldi facing Kevin Mitchell in the 10th inning in '86.

I've noticed a pattern: Whenever I play as the US national team (win, lose, or draw) there are a ridiculous and totally unrealistic number of goals scored. (lost to Cameroon 5-4, beat Russia 6-5, etc.) I'm starting to wonder if they programmed something into the US version of the game thinking that anyone playing as the US national team is a clueless American fan who needs to see a ton of goals scored to find the game entertaining. I say this because when I play as Villa or as other national teams, the score lines are far more believable.

that is too **** funny. btw, that's former Met Rey Ordonez on the upper right. can't name the other two guys.

If there's a 38-year-old starting pitcher with a beer gut and a career 5.75 ERA on that list, the Mets will be in for him.

I played a game the other night as the USA against Russia, as part of a World Cup-style tournament, and I won ... 6-5 !?! This was on "Professional" level difficulty mind. It's hard to take the game seriously when you get a score line like that, although pretty much every other game I've played up to this point had a reasonably believable outcome.

I was there for that, too, and fair play to all the English fans who were there and singing along loudly to their anthem. Needless to say TSV, sitting a couple seats to my left, wasn't singing along.

When the US national team plays qualifiers throughout Latin America, booing of the US national anthem is par for the course, and it's really the least of it in terms of abuse from opposing fans. I think the reasons for Americans not singing along to the national anthem are (A) It's so "over-used" that it's not taken seriously and its meaning is pretty much lost on the average fan in the crowd because we hear it so often, ( I think a lot of people, honestly, don't know all the words and/or are "too cool" to sing along, partly because no one standing next to them are singing along either.

I'm sure it's been mentioned at least a few times deep within this thread, but I saw "The Invention of Lying" over the weekend with the wife and really enjoyed it.

Just started on it tonight. First comment: Would've been nice if they gave it new commentary (and commentators). Seems to be the same sounds bites as in FIFA 08 (I skipped 09). Also seems the teams (by default at least) don't keep their shape as well, with players venturing much farther out of position than before.

You forgot the most important reason: Women think they can get away with it because ... they're women! This is true with most things in life controlled by men (eg, security at sporting events).

It's called an intentional walk and is done for strategic purposes. For example, if the batter that follows is weaker than the one at the plate, the manager might decide to intentionally walk the batter to get to the next hitter. There's a whole load of variables and considerations that go into the decision, which I'm too lazy to explain now, but I'm sure Levi can provide a more detailed explanation, hyperlinks, etc.

What would I do? Find a bar and drink up. Who would I root for? USA ... because freedom isn't free!

If it's what's called a "force", you need only step on the base. For example, if you're a runner on first and there is a ground ball, you have to run to second. Therefore the fielder need only step on second base for you to be out. But if you are on second base (and there is no one on first), then it is not a force (that is, you can stay at second if you wish, or try to advance to third, your choice). In that case, the fielder must tag you out with the ball.

It's not quite that bad in most stadiums, but point taken. My brother and I used to smuggle our own store-bought beer into Shea Stadium back in the day (saved us a ton of money), but ever since 9/11 they search people's bags/backpacks before entering the stadium for security reasons, which makes it far more difficult to sneak in outside booze.