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| Nov-21-10 | | Jim Bartle: I think the pulling-the-hair penalty was ridiculous. These guys keep their hair really long and hanging out of their helmets, so it can be grabbed. One of the first guys like that, Polamalu of the Steelers, said "No problem, grab my hair, that's fair play." I was watching Nebraska at Texas A&M last night before falling asleep with a few minutes left. The Nebraska coach was constantly going crazy on the sideline, as his team got hit with penalty after penalty. In the end Nebraska had 16 penalties vs. 2 for Texas A&M. In that case I really think the rabid home crowd had an effect on the officiating. |
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| Nov-21-10 | | Travis Bickle: <Jim Bartle: I think the pulling-the-hair penalty was ridiculous. These guys keep their hair really long and hanging out of their helmets, so it can be grabbed. One of the first guys like that, Polamalu of the Steelers, said "No problem, grab my hair, that's fair play."> JB I've heard football announcers and football players state that pulling a guys long hair hanging out of his helmet for a tackle is perfectly legal! I can't believe they called a penalty on that play!! |
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| Nov-22-10 | | playground player: <Travis Bickle>, <Jim Bartle> First there's crying in the locker room, now hair-pulling... What the heck is going on with football? They'll be getting into leg-waxing next. |
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Nov-22-10
 | | Phony Benoni: Those big sissies? No way are they going in for something really painful. |
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| Nov-22-10 | | Deus Ex Alekhina: Suh is getting a rep as a dirty player (as are the whole Det team). Suh is so grabby he should be "playing" for the TSA at the airports. |
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| Nov-24-10 | | crawfb5: CG has processed another batch of uploads, so you might want to check whatever you had in the pipeline. My stuff from Atlantic City finally made it through and I now should have what I need to finish Bradley Beach. I took your suggestion about early US championship matches, and started pulling together some stuff. A lot of it is still under construction, but it can be found through the meta collection: Game Collection: US Championship matches (meta) |
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| Nov-24-10 | | Nightranger: Wow. I played at the Livonia CC in the mid 70's. I recall your name, but I couldn't place it anywhere. |
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Nov-24-10
 | | WannaBe: I think it's always placed on the score card. =) |
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| Nov-24-10 | | Deus Ex Alekhina: <Nightranger> David Moody (Phony) played in several hundred tournies in Mich starting in the 70's and contributed to, and later became editor of, Michigan Chess. |
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Nov-24-10
| | Phony Benoni: <Nightranger> Ah, yes, the Livonia Open in June 1975. Interesting format: 4 rounds at tornado speed (40 moves/60 minutes), followed by two 5' speed games (we didn't have 5' blitz games in those days). I went 3-1 in the "slow" portion, but 0-2 in the fast games including one of my more embarrassing moments. In a lost position, I pulled off a swindle to leave myself stalemated, then forgot I was stalemated and moved anyway. |
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| Nov-24-10 | | Nightranger: < then forgot I was stalemated and moved anyway. > LOL! I hate when that happens.
I didn't start at the club until September of that year. The best game I had that I recall (have record of?) was beating Expert Arselen Guella (I think the spelling is right) in a simul there. I was trying to remember people from the club. Many of them were just there to play, and never got into any sanctioned competition. The only names that come to mind were Alan Balkany, Steve Andrews, Alan Yu, Ken Harma and Eddie Verda. Did you happen to know any of them? |
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Nov-24-10
| | Phony Benoni: Defeating Arselan Guela under any circumstances is an accomplishment! Balkany, Andrews and Harma I remember. Balkany attended UM-Dearborn while I was still working there, and played on our team for a while. Harma drifted in and out of chess over the next decade or so. Steve Andrews went on to become a Master, though he spent most of this time in Florida as time went by. |
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| Nov-25-10 | | Nightranger: < Defeating Arselan Guela under any circumstances is an accomplishment! > I was beside myself when he offered his hand and said good game. Did you know him as well? < Steve Andrews went on to become a Master, though he spent most of this time in Florida as time went by. > Interesting, because now that you mentioned it, I ran into Eddie Verda about 2 years ago. I was walking and he was waiting for a ride. He told me Steve had hit master level. You probably also remember Bill Groeller then too, yes? |
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Nov-25-10
| | Phony Benoni: Bill Groeller and I also met at UM-D in the mid-70s. That formed a connection between us and we traveled to a number of tournaments together, but were never very close. He eventually made Master too, but dropped out of chess around 1990 or so. Never met either Guela brother. I was not very active in the mid-1970s when they were around. Remember Brad Drake at all? If you met him, you probably wouldn't have forgotten him. |
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| Nov-25-10 | | Nightranger: < Remember Brad Drake at all? If you met him, you probably wouldn't have forgotten him. > Was he a big guy? If he was, I think I remember him hanging around with Bill. At least at the club. |
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Nov-25-10
| | Phony Benoni: <Was he a big guy?> Kind of. 6' 4", about 400-500 pounds. Drove an orange Volkswagen Beetle, generally on two wheels. I am not exaggerating.
It was interesting watching Brad Drake play table tennis. Absolutely no mobility, but if he got behind one of his backhands you were well advised to just go on to the next point. If the ball survived. Again, I am not exaggerating. |
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| Nov-25-10 | | Nightranger: < Kind of. 6' 4", about 400-500 pounds. Drove an orange Volkswagen Beetle, generally on two wheels. I am not exaggerating. >
I know you aren't. He's the one I'm thinking of then. Also, usually had a scruffy beard. I remember watching him play and telling myself to keep an eye on my pieces when he moved. I think if he wanted to, he could have moved a knight to the center and palmed a couple of pawns on his way out.
:-) |
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| Nov-25-10 | | Nightranger: And this STILL cracks me up:
< Finally, I must confess that I once played a positional move, back around 1982. I'll try not to let that happen again. > |
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Nov-29-10
| | Phony Benoni: Don't you just love athletes who take responsibility for their actions? http://www.ajc.com/sports/nfl-recei... |
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| Nov-29-10 | | Jim Bartle: I swear, when players have time to think about doing something simple is when they often screw up. Johnson dropped the perfect pass when wide open, but I bet he would have caught it if the DB was closer. Knoblauch and Sax made the tough plays with good throws to first, but threw away balls where they had all the time in the world to get the runner. Jana Novotna had Wimbledon won in 1993, leading Steffi Graf 4-1 in the third and serving. Then she started thinking, "Don't choke," and started hitting more balls into the stands than into the court. These athletes just don't trust their long-term natural training. Or maybe God just decides to punish them. |
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Nov-29-10
 | | keypusher: Closers are ineffective. It's science.
<The truth is that all the bullpen advances have had ABSOLUTELY ZERO EFFECT on how much more often teams win games they’re leading in the ninth inning. Zero. Nada. Zilch. The ol’ bagel.Teams held 95.5% of their ninth-inning leads in 2010. Teams held 95.5% of their ninth-inning leads in 1952.> http://joeposnanski.si.com/2010/11/... |
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| Nov-29-10 | | Jim Bartle: Standard use of relievers has changed many times over the years, but not much since Bruce Sutter with the Cubs in, I guess, the end of the 70s. How strange that today's closer strategy was first used by Herman Franks, who was far from a deep thinker as Giants manager when they came in second to the Dodgers or the Cards every year in the second half of the 60s. But as Posnanski notes, relievers in general did as well as the anointed closers do today. I think the next change might be to use the best reliever (the closer today) at whatever point seems the crux of the game, any time after the starter is out. I think managers could still make good use of the best pitchers this way, without wearing them out. |
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Nov-29-10
| | Phony Benoni: Just looked at a few of the RetroSheet box scores from 1911, the first year they have available. In the first 20 games, only one team blew a ninth-inning lead. That's 95%. Sound familiar? It seems there is a constant here, regardless of conditions. What seems to be really different today is the way in which pitching staffs, particularly starters, are utilized. What might be interesting would be a study of whether starters actually have longer and more productive careers with the kinder, gentler philosophy that dominates today. |
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| Nov-29-10 | | Jim Bartle: In 1911 everyone was a starter and everyone was a reliever. The best just pitched more. That would be a complex study, PB. It certainly seems as if starters (and all pitchers) lasted longer in the past, but maybe we're ignoring a ton of Gulletts and Nolans going way back. I'd also be interested to know if this constant switching of relief pitchers, 3 or 4 per team, helps at all. A few years ago I saw a pitcher come in, hit the batter with his first pitch, and be taken out. That's short relief. By the way, what's the rule? I know the manager or coach can make one visit without taking out the pitcher, but is that one free visit per inning or per pitcher? |
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Nov-30-10
| | Phony Benoni: One visit per pitcher. See rule 8.06:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/rul... |
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