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Nov-17-10
 | | Phony Benoni: <layground player> Looks like the New York Yankees of 2005, with Felix Rodriguez and Felix Escalona, were the only team to have more than one Felix. Here's the first game they played together: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... |
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| Nov-17-10 | | playground player: <Phony Benoni> How did you do that so fast? |
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| Nov-17-10 | | Jim Bartle: When I first became aware of major league baseball (late 50s), my father held up the Milwaukee Braves to be everything a team should be. So I thought everyone who played on that team (not counting real benchwarmers) was by definition an excellent player, including Felix Mantilla. He was the backup at several positions and played a fair amount. Now I see he only hit .221, not anything like I remembered. Mantilla played better for Boston in the 60s, though, after surviving the 62 Mets. |
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Nov-17-10
| | Phony Benoni: <playground player> There are lists of all MLB players available. I did a "find" search for "Felix" (or, more likely, "Félix"), made a list of the players and then checked their teams. There haven't been too many Felixes, even if you include Junior Felix. |
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| Nov-18-10 | | Jim Bartle: I was fooling around with this position I reached in a computer game. Can white get away with playing Rg5, and if he does, can black take it?
click for larger view |
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Nov-18-10
| | Phony Benoni:
click for larger viewTo my fallible eyes, it looks like White might as well play 1.Rg5. He is already behind in material with his rook badly placed and vulnerable to moves like ...Ne2, so he shouldn't be unhappy if there's a draw in the position. After 1.Rg5 Qxg5 2.Qb8+, White has an option. If he wants the perpetual check, I don't think Black can avoid it. For instance, 2...Ke7 3.Qc7+ Ke8 4.Qc6+, or 3...Kf6 4.Qd6+. White can try for more by playing 3.Qxa7+ and trying to fork K+N, then using his own a-pawn, but I don't think that works out. For instance, 3.Qxa7+ Ke8 4.Qa8+ Qd8 5.Qc6+ Kf8 6.Qxc3 Qd6+, and Black plucks the a-pawn. Nor do I think that Black can play for a win by declining the rook. He really has to guard a7, but 1...Qb6 2.Qxb6 axb6 3.a7 loses immediately, and 1...Qxe3 just makes White's perpetual check easier, even if there's not a win. So that's what my brain says: 1.Rg5 Qxg5 would lead to a draw, and both sides should be happy with it. Now I'm going to check with Bozo 0.5 and see what I've missed. ===
Well, I was kinda close. 1.Rg5 should lead to a draw, though not the way I expected. Black should reply 1...Qxe3, when he protects a7 and can force a perpetual check on f4/c1 if necessary. Taking the rook should lose, but the secret is that White checks to win the a-pawn, then gets his queen out of the way and pushes the a-pawn instead of going for the knight. He just needs to be careful that his original queen guards f4 to stop Black's perpetual check. |
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| Nov-18-10 | | Jim Bartle: As I said it, Qxg5 will lose, as white can capture the a7 pawn with check. Then white will queen the pawn, and black has no way to stop it, even by giving up one of the pieces. Qxe3 looks to draw, and Qd6+ is a perpetual check.
It was a fun position to fool around with. |
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| Nov-19-10 | | Jim Bartle: I meant "As I see it," not "As I said it"... |
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Nov-19-10
 | | tpstar: All football fans should see this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEr6...
I love how he falls right on the ball. ;>D |
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Nov-19-10
 | | keypusher: <<Travis Bickle: <keypusher> Thank you.> Now we have to see if we can beat you without a quarterback.> Apparently not. Congratulations again, Travis! |
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| Nov-19-10 | | Jim Bartle: Looks like Miami should have faked more injuries. (Not to the Chads, though.) Da Bears are starting to look a lot better. |
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Nov-20-10
| | Phony Benoni: OK, I can understand that since the platoon system came into college football, most everybody is a one-way player. But this is ridiculous: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/coll... And whaddya wanna bet that every punt gets downed on the 1-yard line? |
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| Nov-20-10 | | A.G. Argent: You're a dais, you're a dais? Don't get it. Heh, heh. Pretty good actually. Question of the season-upon-us, O Czar of All Lion Lore, when and why did the tradition of the Detroit Lions playing on Thanksgiving begin? Never knew. Cowboys too. I'll take your answer off the air. |
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Nov-20-10
| | Phony Benoni: <A,G. Argent> It started in 1934, and was of course a publicity stunt. The team had just moved to Detroit from Portsmouth, Ohio, but attendance wasn't particularly good. So they dragged in the World Champion Bears for a holiday game, got national media coverage--and lost, of course. But it's became a tradition, hiatusing only due to World War II. For the first three decades the opponent was almost always the Bears or Packers, but that changed in the mid-1960s. http://www.detroitlions.com/team/hi... They have now lost six in a row, and with New England coming in this year are a good bet to make it seven. There probably won't be too many scenes like this: http://packerville.blogspot.com/200... |
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| Nov-20-10 | | A.G. Argent: Thanks pal. And any knowledge about the damned Cowboys and their Thanksgiving thing? Ain't sure why I ask because, of course, I detest them but I never knew why they're always there on Thanksgiving. |
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| Nov-20-10 | | A.G. Argent: And is "hiatusing" a word? Hope so, I like it. |
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Nov-20-10
| | Phony Benoni: Oh, who cares about Dallas? They just started because they're supposed to be "America's Team", and couldn't stand the thought that on Thanksgiving Day they were not the center of the football universe. OK, OK. It turns out that in 1966 the NFL realized how important television revenue might be, and had asked other teams to host an additional Thanksgiving Day game to help boost it. The Cowboys were the only team desperate enough to take them up on the offer. http://www.associatedcontent.com/ar... Warning: Do not read if allergic to Cowboys propaganda. Having had to put up with Lions drivel for years, I'm immune. |
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| Nov-20-10 | | Travis Bickle: <keypusher: Apparently not. Congratulations again, Travis!> Thanks again!
P.S. I realize The Bears game plan was to control the clock and run the ball but I would have liked to have seen a few more points. |
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| Nov-20-10 | | Travis Bickle: <Phony Benoni> Phony they would have had enough room in Wrigley Field had the greedy Tribune company not have put in numerous rows of seats behind home plate a few years ago. |
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| Nov-20-10 | | Travis Bickle: <Phony Benoni: They have now lost six in a row, and with New England coming in this year are a good bet to make it seven. There probably won't be too many scenes like this: http://packerville.blogspot.com/200... > Dr Benoni is that Brett Favre the Lions have gang tackled in 1962? ; P |
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Nov-21-10
| | Phony Benoni: <Travis> I only wish. It was Bart Starr. |
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Nov-21-10
| | Phony Benoni: <A.G. Argent> I make up words from time to time, if they're suitable and easily understood. My personal favorite is an adjective describing a person obsessed with etiquette: <ettiquetical>. Sounds really neat when pronounced. |
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Nov-21-10
| | Phony Benoni: Oh, those Lions. How do they do it?
Up 12-7 against Dallas, and dominating the game. They're about to kill a punt inside the five yard line, but touch the ball without downing it. The ball takes one bounce right into the hands of the Dallas return man, who brings it back 97 yards for a touchdown. Two minutes later, a turnover and now it's 21-12, Dallas. No, when it comes to finding ways to lose you can't beat the Lions. You don't need to. They beat themselves. |
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| Nov-21-10 | | Jim Bartle: I was about to mention that play, seemingly typical of the Lions luck. Then a few minutes later they tackle a Dallas runner by his (very long) hair--perfectly legal--and get called for a personal foul. And THEN a Detroit defender strips the ball and runs 90 yards for a TD, except the refs hadn't even noticed him and called the runner's forward progress stopped. |
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Nov-21-10
| | Phony Benoni: One of the Fox announcers made a good point. When you have as many legitimate penalties as the Lions do, it's easy for officials not to give them the benefit of the doubt on close calls. Yes, the Lions seem snakebit, but they are still shooting themselves in the foot far too often. |
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