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dy156 · 04-22-2005, 09:09 PM

This weekend is full of annoyance for me in the sports world. Here are but a few examples:

1) professional football scouts have a job to do, and they're better at it than anyone else. It's their livelihood. Yet they are wron about 2/5ths of the time. Therefore many people expected to be good in the NFL turn out to be terrible. Remember Tony Mandarich, Ryan Leaf, etc... Yet sportscasters, who have even less of a clue than these people that specialize in evaluating NFL talent, feel compelled to offer their opinion on the draft and every prospect of the draft. Give me a break. I actually respect Mel Kiper, he has found a niche and capitalizes on it. Just about every other broadcater or radio personality that analyzes the draft annoys me.

2) The NBA playoff system. First of all there are too many regular season games. Who actually starts watching the NBA before mid-December? Seattle vs. Sacramento is pathetic. Both squads are so banged up, they've limped into the playoffs based on their performances of months ago, and everyone knows that even the winner of that series is likely to get clobbered in round 2. Houston/Dallas pits two of the three hottest teams going into the playoffs together. I don't deny that I'm a Mavs fan. I stayed up and watched them get beat by the Lakers in game 7 of the Conference finals back in the day. (the Dick Motta, Donaldson, Aguirre, and Blackmon vs, Pat Riley, Magic, Worthy, and Jabbar day.)
Nevertheless, I always dislike division based playoffs in a league where everyone plays everyone. It's arbitrary and, frankly, stupid. Pit the 4 best teams from each conference, if you must divide it into conferences against each other. Better yet, have a six team playoff with the six teams that actually have a shot of claiming the title, even if Dallas is the fifth of those six teams. (Spurs, Miami, Suns, Pistons, Mavs, and Rockets)

3) Show me sports with people moving fast. Even if it's women's basketball,soccer, rugby, or college baseball, rather than a weekend of the NFL draft. Please, one pick every 15 minutes the first two rounds?!! It's one thing to miss it and have to see the scoreboard on ESPN the next night or read it in the paper, because you missed the game. You miss seeing what actually happened, and missed watching a spectacular pysical display. On the other hand, whay can't we all just sit back and do something non-sports related this Saturday and read about what happenned in the draft in the Sunday paper? It will be just as informative, and will not have sucked a day out of our lives having done nothing more than watch a man in a suit talk about potential NFL players that might make it, but very well might not..

3)[QUOTE=guthmund]I would take Aikman/Buck any day of the week over Simms/Gumbel.

Simms is such a bandwagon waffler (sometimes switching sides mid-game)and instead of calling him on his shit, Gumbel eagerly kisses his ass in between "CBS Mondays" plugs.
[QUOTE=guthmund]

Yup. I'd rather listen to Aikman, Johnston, and Theisman, who are opinionated, but have an actual basis for it, anyday.

4) Draft gurus that talk about, and put too much emphasis on, the combine. Watch Film! How good was Jerry Rice, Emmit Smith, Walter Payton, or Joe Montana at the combine?! Remember the guy named Mamulka a few years ago that absolutely blew everyone away at the combine? He played a couple of years for the Eagles, had an unspactacular career, and that was it. So what if Maurice Clarrett and Cedric Benson had a slow 40 time, and Matt Jones showed he was a stellar athlete?! Look at their college careers and remember former draft darlings and NFL busts. Matt Jones can't hang onto, much less throw the ball, and has never played defense. mark my words, Maurice Clarrett will show up on Sportscenter after making plays as a back-up in the NFL. Aprt from the names everyone hears about, I really wish NFL people would look at guys that are "too small" or not athletic enough but somehow still seem to get the job done. I know the big XII, and just as examples, Dat Nguyen of the Cowboys and Zach Thomas, Dolphins, fit this example.

5) Watching sad teams make sad decisions. I know that San Diego, Cleveland, San Fransico, Washington, Minnesota, and Dallas are going to screw it up, I just know it. Even though any of them could really help themselves.

Okay, enough ranting.

04-22-2005, 09:09 PM	#32 (permalink)
dy156 cookie Location: in the backwoods	This weekend is full of annoyance for me in the sports world. Here are but a few examples: 1) professional football scouts have a job to do, and they're better at it than anyone else. It's their livelihood. Yet they are wron about 2/5ths of the time. Therefore many people expected to be good in the NFL turn out to be terrible. Remember Tony Mandarich, Ryan Leaf, etc... Yet sportscasters, who have even less of a clue than these people that specialize in evaluating NFL talent, feel compelled to offer their opinion on the draft and every prospect of the draft. Give me a break. I actually respect Mel Kiper, he has found a niche and capitalizes on it. Just about every other broadcater or radio personality that analyzes the draft annoys me. 2) The NBA playoff system. First of all there are too many regular season games. Who actually starts watching the NBA before mid-December? Seattle vs. Sacramento is pathetic. Both squads are so banged up, they've limped into the playoffs based on their performances of months ago, and everyone knows that even the winner of that series is likely to get clobbered in round 2. Houston/Dallas pits two of the three hottest teams going into the playoffs together. I don't deny that I'm a Mavs fan. I stayed up and watched them get beat by the Lakers in game 7 of the Conference finals back in the day. (the Dick Motta, Donaldson, Aguirre, and Blackmon vs, Pat Riley, Magic, Worthy, and Jabbar day.) Nevertheless, I always dislike division based playoffs in a league where everyone plays everyone. It's arbitrary and, frankly, stupid. Pit the 4 best teams from each conference, if you must divide it into conferences against each other. Better yet, have a six team playoff with the six teams that actually have a shot of claiming the title, even if Dallas is the fifth of those six teams. (Spurs, Miami, Suns, Pistons, Mavs, and Rockets) 3) Show me sports with people moving fast. Even if it's women's basketball,soccer, rugby, or college baseball, rather than a weekend of the NFL draft. Please, one pick every 15 minutes the first two rounds?!! It's one thing to miss it and have to see the scoreboard on ESPN the next night or read it in the paper, because you missed the game. You miss seeing what actually happened, and missed watching a spectacular pysical display. On the other hand, whay can't we all just sit back and do something non-sports related this Saturday and read about what happenned in the draft in the Sunday paper? It will be just as informative, and will not have sucked a day out of our lives having done nothing more than watch a man in a suit talk about potential NFL players that might make it, but very well might not.. 3)[QUOTE=guthmund]I would take Aikman/Buck any day of the week over Simms/Gumbel. Simms is such a bandwagon waffler (sometimes switching sides mid-game)and instead of calling him on his shit, Gumbel eagerly kisses his ass in between "CBS Mondays" plugs. [QUOTE=guthmund] Yup. I'd rather listen to Aikman, Johnston, and Theisman, who are opinionated, but have an actual basis for it, anyday. 4) Draft gurus that talk about, and put too much emphasis on, the combine. Watch Film! How good was Jerry Rice, Emmit Smith, Walter Payton, or Joe Montana at the combine?! Remember the guy named Mamulka a few years ago that absolutely blew everyone away at the combine? He played a couple of years for the Eagles, had an unspactacular career, and that was it. So what if Maurice Clarrett and Cedric Benson had a slow 40 time, and Matt Jones showed he was a stellar athlete?! Look at their college careers and remember former draft darlings and NFL busts. Matt Jones can't hang onto, much less throw the ball, and has never played defense. mark my words, Maurice Clarrett will show up on Sportscenter after making plays as a back-up in the NFL. Aprt from the names everyone hears about, I really wish NFL people would look at guys that are "too small" or not athletic enough but somehow still seem to get the job done. I know the big XII, and just as examples, Dat Nguyen of the Cowboys and Zach Thomas, Dolphins, fit this example. 5) Watching sad teams make sad decisions. I know that San Diego, Cleveland, San Fransico, Washington, Minnesota, and Dallas are going to screw it up, I just know it. Even though any of them could really help themselves. Okay, enough ranting.