COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY - MIKE IN DA - FEBRUARY 4, 2011



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COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY  (X-RATED)

Written by: Mike in DA
Date posted: 2/4/2011

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE: BEST PICTURE

COOLEST SPORTS NICKNAMES: "OLD BOOTNOSE"

Today’s sports nicknames are terrible, such as A-Rod, L.T., and K-Rod. They are nothing more than a combination of a player’s first and last name. But nicknames haven’t always been so bad.

Here is another cool one from the past: “Old Bootnose”

Sid Abel, a center, played for both the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Black Hawks during a pro hockey career that spanned from 1938 to 1954. He won the Hart Trophy in 1949 and hoisted the Stanley Cup three times en route to the Hall of Fame. He also got hung with one of the least flattering nicknames of all time.

Abel got the nickname following a fight with NHL legend Maurice “The Rocket” Richard. Abel struck first, knocking Richard to the ice, but Richard quickly jumped back up and broke Abel’s nose with a crushing blow. Abel then lived out the rest of his days with a boot-shaped schnoz. The lesson, as always: don’t pick fights with guys named Maurice. They’re just too tough.

THE MOST ILLEGAL WRESTLING MOVE: HYPNOSIS

WHO WANTS TO BUY A PIECE OF THE NEW YORK METS?

Fred Wilpon, owner of the New York Mets is looking to sell 25-30% of the team if he can find a partner who will make the purchase. Wilpon and his family made about $48 million through the Bernard Madoff "Ponzi scheme" and as a result, they need to raise cash because of the financial uncertainty created by the lawsuit filed against them by the trustee in the Madoff bankruptcy case.

The partner(s) would own a piece of the Mets but not a piece of either SNY (SportsNet New York for the acronym-challenged, the regional sports network centered on the Mets) or CitiField; moreover, the partner(s) would have no role in the day-to-day running of the Mets.

A spokesperson for the investment bank that is looking into the possibility of finding a “strategic partner” or two said that he expected a lot of interest in the opportunity and that the piece of the team up for partnership could be worth $200M.

Word on the street in the hood is that Martin Luther King III might be interested in becoming a “strategic partner” here. My question is: "How did MLK III get access to $200M that he could plunk down in a transaction such as this?" I guess the answer is that he and his family commercialized on MLK Jr.'s legacy.

With no access to the cash-cows of CitiField or SNY and no role in any of the operating decisions related to the Mets, my other question is: "Other than 'bragging rights' or a chance to 'jock sniff", exactly what benefits does one get from being a minority owner of a baseball team run by Wilpon and his family?"

MAYBE SPIKE LEE SHOULD LEGALLY CHANGE HIS NAME?

Speaking of "jock sniffing", HMW reader, Phil M., suggests that Spike Lee legally change his name to:

JACQUES SNIFFA


ARE THESE CONSIDERED "HOME" OR "ROAD" GAMES FOR THE MARLINS?

From June 24-26, the Florida Marlins will host a three-game series with the Seattle Mariners during the interleague portion of the MLB season. The only problem is that the Marlins will host the Mariners in Seattle. Somebody booked a U2 concert into the Marlins’ stadium on June 29 and they need more than a couple of days to get the stadium ready for that event. So the Marlins got the boot. So much for the Marlins’ place on the pecking order in Miami.

The Marlins tried to get the games moved to Puerto Rico, but that did not work out. MLB has played a few regular season games there with the former Montreal Expos as the home team. The Marlins also looked at playing in Vancouver, but that did not work out either. The Vancouver Canadians are the minor league team in town and they play in Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium, which seats 5,132 fans. That would be a small crowd even by Marlins’ standards.


How about attendance figures? Will the Mariners get 84 home dates to calculate their total home attendance or will the fans who show up go into the mix with Marlins’ fans in Florida?

In addition, imagine you are one of the few Marlins’ season ticket holders who goes to all the games. Do those folks get a refund for those three “home games” or do they need to see if they can get a flight or hitch to Seattle?



"KOBE, I DON'T KNOW, I JUST FEEL WEIRD GIVING YOU MY MOM'S NUMBER. WHY DO YOU WANT IT?"

ANOTHER MLB SCAM ON ITS SHEEPISH FANS!

The Chicago Cubs, depending on the dates and opponents, now sell bleacher seats for a low of $20 to a high of $72. Of course, the Cubs can't guarantee the quality of the game or the weather.



Several years ago, a Cubs' executive established an "independent" ticket agency to which the Cubs funneled tickets to its most in-demand games, including interleague games and those against their biggest rival, the St. Louis Cardinals. From there, the prices were jacked up far above the tickets' face values.

What did the Office of the Commissioner do about such price gouging and racketeering? Absolutely fuckin’ nothing. The day the team owners appointed Bud Selig commissioner, the "steal sign" was put on, and it remains on, as there is no need to check with the third base coach or the manager.


ODDS AND ENDS:

1. Urban Meyer has signed with ESPN as a college football analyst. That's one of the nicest things about ESPN: No matter how dubious the coach and the state of the program he leaves, he's always welcomed at ESPN!

2. Does it bother the NFL that one of the Steelers' team doctors, Joseph Maroon, is also the WWE's doctor?

3. With regard to Super Bowl wagering trends, the favorites in the previous 44 games have won 32 of those games. However, the favorites are only 24-18-2 against the spread and underdogs have covered seven of the last ten games. Please note that those historical data have precisely NOTHING to do with whatever the outcome is this Sunday, but they are sort of interesting.

4. As usual, there are proposition wagers all over the place for people to try. One of the more amazing streaks has to do with the prop bet every year as to which team will win the coin toss. Clearly, that is a 50/50 proposition. Interestingly, the NFC representative has won the coin toss in each of the last 13 games. The odds on who wins this weekend are still precisely 50/50, but the NFC has been on a roll for a while here.

5. The conference championship games drew an average audience between the two games of 53.4M people. The only time the average audience for those two games was higher was all the way back in 1982 when 51.6M people tuned in to see the Bengals beat the Chargers in the famous “Freezer Bowl Game” (above) in Cincy where the wind-chill was like 40-below. That same day, the Niners and Cowboys played to an audience of 68.7M in the game that produced the iconic moment known as “The Catch” (below). Average viewership that day was 60.2M fans.

6. When the Jets won Super Bowl III over the Colts and the next season, the Chiefs won Super Bowl IV over the Vikes, it demonstrated that the teams from the AFL were on a par with the older NFL franchises. Those were historically significant NFL events and “statement games” in the Super Bowl. Interestingly, since the Jets and Chiefs made those historical statements, neither team has been back to the Super Bowl as the AFC representative.

7. Barring a major change in NFL rules and the geometry of NFL playing fields, there is a Super Bowl record out there, which will never be broken. Jim Turner (Jets) and Mike Clark (Cowboys) both kicked field goals in the Super Bowl of nine yards, the shortest on record. Now that the goal posts are in the back of the end zone, which happened at the start of the 1974 season, it is not physically possible to kick a 9-yard field goal. Turner and Clark’s joint record should stand for all time.

8. If Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers win this weekend, it will be the Steelers' 7th Super Bowl championship and no other franchise has even won six times. In addition to that, Roethlisberger will move into very elite company himself with a win there. That would give him three Super Bowl championships and the only QBs with three rings or more makes for a very short list: Terry Bradshaw (4), Joe Montana (4), Troy Aikman, (3) and Tom Brady (3).

9. The last time the Washington Redskins were in the NFC Conference Championship game, it was 1991 and the Skins won that game and went on to win the Super Bowl. In the following 19 seasons, only the Redskins and the Detroit Lions have not played in an NFC Championship game. In fact, 12 of the 16 teams in the NFC, including expansion Carolina who has been to that game three times, have been to the NFC Championship game two or more times since the Redskins were there last. The Lions have never been there.

KID DUNKS HIMSELF THROUGH THE HOOP!

CRIER’S CORNER (SR CREW)

SUPER BOWL

The following is an excerpt from the complete write-up on the Super Bowl that was posted here on 1/31. You can read the complete write-up at: (http://sheltonmedia.blogspot.com/2011/01/criers-corner-criersr-crew-january-31.html)

Sunday, February 6


Cowboys Stadium - Arlington, TX (Artificial Turf)

SUPER BOWL XLV (45)


GREEN BAY (-2.5) over PITTSBURGH


Last season (2009), the Packers’ only loss in their final eight regular season games was at Pittsburgh, 37-36. Green Bay was a +1.5 road underdog in that game, so nobody should be surprised that the Packers have opened as a -2.5 favorite in this Super Bowl match-up on a neutral field, just like Green Bay being favored on the road at Chicago was nothing to be surprised about.


In last season’s Packers at Steelers game, the lead changed five times in the final nine minutes, and Pittsburgh won it on the final play of the game on a 19-yard TD pass. Pittsburgh’s offense registered 11 big-chunk completions of 16 yards or more. Packers’ defensive coordinator Dom Capers had to think long and hard about how to defend better against three- and four-wide sets with which Pittsburgh had killed their personnel grouping.


Things have changed since then, for the better: Says head coach Mike McCarthy: “When you have the flexibility to put your corners out there and play man-to-man, it really gives you all the options because you're not trying to cover up anybody. Everybody that's watched us play on defense, we don't really hold anything back schematically.”


Some points to ponder for what they may be worth:


a) The Steelers are 0-3 ATS on artificial turf this season, Green Bay is 6-2 ATS on artificial turf this season.


b) Green Bay safeties’ coach Darren Perry was the Steelers defensive backs coach from 2004–2006 under Bill Cowher. Prior to that, Perry spent the 2002 season as Cincinnati safeties coach under his former defensive coordinator from when he was a player, then-Bengals head coach Dick LeBeau, now the Steelers’ defensive coordinator.


Each defense led its conference in sacks, but Green Bay’s quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, gets the ball out quicker. Score, then keep Big Ben in the pocket, and increase winning chances. GREEN BAY, 28-17

THANK YOU FROM THE CRIER!

For the handful of HMW readers with balls who believed in us this football season, thank you for being a football friend.



This will be the last Crier's Corner on the HMW website. However, you can still enjoy all the College Hoops and NBA coming up, and don’t forget about the introduction of baseball forecasting beginning on March 31. You should be pleasantly surprised on all fronts and all this is free! Contact the Crier if you want to continue getting the winners at: crierscorner@aol.com)

HOT AIR FROM A SPORTSBOOK

This is from a sportsbook last Friday (1/28) on one of the local stations: “Let’s break down the Super Bowl line, and where it may go with over a week to go…” As somebody who breaks things down that have yet to happen, I call that a bunch of bullshit. “Here’s the bottom line. If you like the Steelers, you better be walking up to the window and taking care of your business in the short-term.”



"Bottom lines" are results. "Bottom lines" are not somebody employed by a Las Vegas or online sportsbook telling you what people who have yet to contact them or give them money are going to do. Yet, the guy says something like: “Every indication is, that as the days go by leading up to kickoff, a lot of Pittsburgh money will be coming in.”


Are people texting, e-mailing, and phoning sportsbooks with promissory notes on Pittsburgh? “Hey, I’ll be sending you $500 on the Steelers.” I don’t think so. Guess what? As the days go by leading up to kickoff, a lot of Green Bay money will be coming in, too! It’s all a bunch of hot air!

MORE HOT AIR

It was time for the annual Super Bowl visit to a website that re-circulates a lot of hot air from sports bettors with opinions. Instead of picking on an obvious nut-job trying to claim value on guessing the resulting choice of the toin coss (defend or play offense), let’s present a typical back-and-forth. In its own weird way, it might shed some light on the game (hopefully it does). Maybe it won’t. We’ll see.


“Do you realize that Pittsburgh has played one game this year against a Top 10 offense? I don’t know about anyone else, but that really caught me by surprise. I still think their defense is good, but their numbers start to look a little skewed…”


Sounds interesting, but my response to it was:


“Well, your stats and facts are wrong, pal. Pittsburgh played three teams ranked in the Top 10 in Total Offense. Look it up!… Also, who gives a shit, really? Five of the Top 10 offenses did not even make the playoffs. What does it prove to beat the Houston and the Cowboy types of teams? This Steelers defense is going to its third Super Bowl, and you believe their stats are skewed?...”


Which, upon lookup, you see that the Steelers did, in fact, play New Orleans, New England, and Oakland, all ranked in the Top 10 in total offense. But does ranking in the Top 10 in Total Offense mean anything? Only 92 yards separated #10 Oakland from #13 Denver. So, what does “Top 10” signify, other than playing into TV and magazine hype: “Top 10 List, Top 25 Teams, Top 50 Greatest of All Time!” What a crock of shit it can all be. By the way, the Steelers lost two of those three games, to New Orleans and New England, offenses that moved the ball well through the air. Just sayin’. GO PACK, GO!

BASKETBALL ACTION

Yesterday’s Record ATS: 6-1-1
Cumulative Season Record ATS (excludes “pushes”): 312-205

Today’s Action (for reading purposes only):


NBA

ATLANTA* (-7) over LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
The Hawks have had a day to rest since playing the Raptors at home, while the Clips start a grueling away trip of 11 straight games, eight in a row before the All-Star break. ATL won the first meeting of the season in L.A. despite losing the glass war and getting 0 points from center Jason Collins. It’s about time for Blake Griffin to hit the wall. ATLANTA, 110-94

BOSTON* (-6) over DALLAS
The Beantowners have not played for three days and that’s good news for all the old legs. It’s a totally different situation than when they lost in Dallas early in the season after they had to battle the high-octane Thunder the night before. Despite the back to back, the Celts hung tough with a slight edge on the board and the ability to force five more turnovers. The Celts have to do a better job of stopping Jason Terry off the pine. BOSTON, 109 – 96

MEMPHIS* (-13.5) over CLEVELAND
The Cavs only won three of their first 26 on the road this year. Since the infamous in-flight fisticuffs between suspendee O.J. Mayo and Tony Allen (thanks for the minutes, O.J.), the Grizz have played well, with wins over Utah, Dallas, and Houston. The key to success for Memphis is when they do what they do best and that’s pound the ball down low to Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol and get into the open lanes. MEMPHIS, 110 - 90

COLLEGE HOOPS

PRINCETON* (-2) over HARVARD
Tommy Amaker’s done a great recruiting job for the Crimson, but the Tigers have the sustained tradition, the talent, and Princeton HC Sydney Johnson, who’s doing the best job at Old Nassau since Pete "the Master" Carill moved on to the pros. Expect market will offer a bargain, and we’ll gratefully accept it. PRINCETON, 68-59

MIKE IN DA

HMW

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