Skins, Nats, ‘n’ Caps! Washington! Woo hoo!
At the start of tonight’s Washington Redskins vs Dallas Cowboys game:
“Alright, the great rivalry! Let’s rock! Go Redskins!”
Halftime:
“Okay so far. What a weird game!”
4th Quarter:
*bites nails*
Midway through 4th Quarter:
“YES!”
Tail end of 4th Quarter:
“NO!”
End of game:
:irked:
He won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Nothing new. They do that all the time.
And they’re off in the Belmont Stakes.
Crap. He got off to an early lead. That’s certain doom.
Around the far turn. He’s still in the lead, but there’s still a ways to go.
There’s one of the horses coming up on him now. Sigh. Oh, well. Another let down.
Wait a minute…
That horse is quitting.
There’s no one gaining on him now.
Oh, my God…
OH, MY GOD!
…
HE DID IT!!!!
American Pharoah [sic] won the Triple Crown! It finally happened!!!! 😀
I’ve been waiting my whole life to see this!!!
Good job, American Pharoah! Who’s a good horsey with a misspelled name? Who’s a good fast horsey? That’s right. You are! 😀
This has been Day 14 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 15. 
I just watched Game 7 of the World Series. Aww, no more baseball until next year!
Did you see the Postseason at all? No? Basically, it was the ten best MLB teams saying farewell to you and to this season until next year. Here’s a recap…
*teams line up side by side in front of a stairway*
All: “So long! Farewell! Auf wiedersehen, goodnight!”
Oakland A’s and Pittsburgh Pirates: “We hate to go and leave this pretty sight.” *both exit*
All: “So long! Farewell! Auf wiedersehen, goodbye!”
Los Angeles Angels and Detroit Tigers: “We’re sweeped, we heave a sigh and say goodbye. Goodbyyyyyyyyyye!” *both exit*
All: “So long! Farewell! Au revoir, auf wiedersehen!”
Washington Nationals: “I’d like to stay and win my first World Series ring. Yes?”
San Francisco Giants: “No.” *Nationals and LA Dodgers exit*
Baltimore Orioles: “I’m glad to go. I cannot tell a lie.”
St. Louis Cardinals: “So you just flit and float and totally let the Royals sweep you?”
Baltimore Orioles: “I’m being sarcastic, you idiot!” *both sarcastically flit and float about and exit*
*Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants back away into the stairs*
Both: “The summer has gone for the year and so must we. So long. Farewell. Auf wiedersehen, goodbye…”
Kansas City Royals: “Goodbye…” *exits*
San Francisco Giants: “Goodbye!” *exits*
So the Washington Redskins just fired all their coaches. Well, after a 3-13 season, something needs to change. This is sucky even by Redskins standards! Are the coaches the problem? I don’t know. This isn’t a sports blog. Go watch SportsCenter or something.
But lately, a lot of talk about the team involves the admittedly if arguably racist name. As far as that issue, I find myself pondering a solution. So here it is…
If the Washington Redskins change their mascot and logo to a potato, can they continue to be called Redskins?
But then again, I think the better question would be…
If the Washington Redskins coaches and players were replaced by potatoes, would anyone notice?
I hereby decree…
Attempting a two-point conversion when merely kicking the extra point would tie the game is fucking stupid.
When a touchdown is scored, two-point conversions have their place. If the six points from the touchdown bring you to only five points down, it makes sense, as a successful one would bring you within three, so a field goal would tie, while with either just the extra point or no extra points after touchdown, a touchdown would be required to get ahead. Similar thing is you’re down by two after the touchdown, whereas missing or making the extra point would still not be enough and both would require at least a field goal, but the two-point conversion would tie. Situations like that are where attempting a two-point conversion is merited.
When it is not a good idea is in the final seconds of the game, you make the touchdown and you’re down by only one. Kicking the extra point would tie it, and you can still win in overtime. Two-point conversion would win right then, sure, but it’s harder and the tie would at least keep you alive. So you go for the tie. This is a no-brainer. Only idiots would decide to go for two, particularly when you haven’t won a game in like two months and your fans are getting restless.
I love you, Washington Redskins, but you’re idiots. :doitnow: 
Now for an inoffensively offensive edition of…
SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!
I am so sick of people complaining about political correctness. No, I don’t mean the people trying to make things more PC. They’re often annoying, sure. I’m talking about the people who are complaining about them, who whine that the slightest suggestion of better word choice is “help, the PC police are attacking!”
I saw this article in Reason a few weeks ago about the recent push for the Washington Redskins to change their name, and it’s not exactly their best work. Throughout the article it’s PC-this, PC-that, PC brigade, blah blah blah. Compared to most libertarian sources I see or read, Reason is usually the most, well, reasonable, in that they tend to do well arguing the libertarian standpoint on things without outright mocking or denying some of the real social issues going on behind their opponents’ arguments. This article is not an example of this.
The article mentions not only the push for the Redskins name change, but also a nickname for a British team (as in, not actually the team’s name) that is also an anti-Jewish slur. In the case of that one, there are cases of legal restrictions on using the term and people being ejected from games for it. In other words, that one is a pretty clear free speech violation. And yet it is talked about in the same “oh noes teh PC police” way as the push for the Redskins name change. The thing is, almost no one is suggesting anyone be arrested or punished in any way for the Redskins team name. It’s simply a matter of strong suggestion. They are requesting they CHOOSE to change the name. At the end of the day, the people in charge of the team and name still have the final say on that, and the people can do the libertarian thing of voting with their wallets on it. Why is this being framed in the same way as another team having their fans and athletes facing real penalties (assuming the above article wasn’t exaggerating this, which wouldn’t surprise me) for continued use of the name?
Continue reading “The PC-Word”
So this past spring, the Washington Capitals got into the NHL playoffs. They usually do. They’re a good team, despite the city for which they play. They were playing against the New York Rangers, for best four out of seven, when we were six seconds from winning Game Six, and therefore the whole thing and going forward. But then the Rangers scored and tied it up and won in overtime. And Rangers won Game Seven. Caps had it… and lost it.
Then the Washington Nationals, who usually suck, had a great year. And, look at that, National League East Champions, got into the playoffs! It was best three out of five against the St. Louis Cardinals. We made it to Game Five, after Jayson Werth’s walkoff homerun saved Game Four for us. We began Game Five with a six to nothing lead on the Cardinals. Then they seemed to be scoring a run each inning… But then it was the ninth inning, we were up by two still, and were just one strike away from winning and going on… we kept walking them and then they hit a couple of base hits, giving them the lead, and we lost nine to seven. Fuck. -_-
And now, the Washington Redskins, having gotten into November having a typical craptastic season, has just won six straight games in a row, in the running to get into the playoffs. Beat the Eagles. Then beat the Cowboys on Thanksgiving! Then beat the Giants. Then the Ravens. Then the Browns. Then the Eagles again. And tonight we have to beat the Cowboys again, so we can get into the playoffs. Otherwise, we don’t but the Cowboys do.
I’m scared. :scared:
Go Redskins!!!!
EDIT: FUCK YEAH!!!!! 28 to 18!!!!! 😀
Wait, shit, we play the Seahawks next week. Our last two playoff berths ended against them. Oy…
Superbowl XLV just ended. Congrats, Green Bay Packers! And thanks for preventing yet another Superbowl from going to the goddamn Steelers.
Anyway, so a lot of us just spent the past several hours watching the game as well as a lot of funny, stupid, and grossly offensive ads that cost many millions to air. And I made cookies, of course. It’s a pastime! It’s the Superbowl!
Then there were the people who just want to bitch and bitch through the whole thing. I don’t mean the people pointing out the misandry, misogyny, and other social ills prevalent in the event, particularly the advertising. Those are legitimate concerns and very worth calling out.
I mean the people who act like they’re hot shit because they aren’t into sports and find the whole thing to be a frivolous waste of time and money. And they must make damn sure everyone around them knows they feel this way. Because they are Very Smart and we benefit from this wisdom. God forbid they should just accept that sometimes that magical glowing box will display something that a lot of people will watch that they personally aren’t interested in, because it’s not like there’s any other way they can use the time!
After the game, I saw a tweet that made me facepalm pretty hard:
OK, 3 hours and about 10 billion dollars later. How is Darfur or Haiti any better off? Enjoy your Doritos. And your Bud.
Really? That’s the card you’re playing? The “there are people suffering elsewhere in the world, so how dare we indulge in our own culture” card? In all fairness, in glancing at that person’s other tweets, he seemed to be watching the game like everyone else, so perhaps not the intention. But it might have been of the crapload of people who retweeted it.
And, yes, I just referred to the Superbowl as a cultural thing. Because it is, consumerism notwithstanding. Yes, we live in a society (world?) that commercializes the hell out of everything even remotely of social importance. Our society is capitalist. This is to be expected. Despite my obvious liberal leanings, capitalism is not in and of itself evil or wrong. It’s just that it oftentimes can be evil and wrong and that should be kept in check. But on Superbowl Sunday, people get together and have parties to watch it, or are like me and watch it alone, there’s excitement leading up to it, there’s other events and activities involved. It’s got all the signs of a cultural event, and just because that culture is American doesn’t make that invalid. Contrary to common stereotype, yes, we Americans have a culture. This is part of it.
Not that those who bitch about the Superbowl because it’s a commercialized cesspool are really worried about that specifically. They just want to bitch about it because, again, they think they’re better than everyone else and want to pretend their stance is because of some sort of real concern rather than annoying others over their personal preference.
As for the “why are we worrying about this frivolous crap?” line, well, do these people listen to music? Watch movies? Play games? Read books? All these things could be considered frivolous. You sound like a damn Puritan.
And of course sports are more frivolous than, say, politics. In fact, it’s sort of WHY we like it. It’s why I can grow really tense watching the last few minutes of a Redskins-Cowboys game, yet secure in the knowledge that regardless of what happens, my life once the game is over will be the same. I’ll still be up the next morning and going to work. There’s a weird sense of fun placing importance, talking trash, feeling intense competition over something that really doesn’t change our lives (assuming no gambling is involved).
But I do have to admit the Puppy Bowl rules. 😀
I maintain that soccer is lame and boring. Seriously, half these games end in like a 1-1 tie or with only one goal the whole match. Been watching some of the World Cup and that’s been about what’s happening.
True, baseball and hockey are also guilty of low scoring games and long periods of nothing really happening. But hockey is on ice and baseball involves bats. That gives them the edge.
Soccer… eh.
But in any case, the USA still better fucking win! :doitnow:
This has been Day 34 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 10.
So I’ve had the NCAA basketball games on to see just how hard I failed at filling out my bracket at work. Yes, I failed hard, but given how this year’s tournament has gone, so has everyone else.
During the ads, they occasionally play some NCAA ads showing the athletes also doing math or working in a lab or dressed all business-like in an office, saying (promising?) that NCAA athletes will end up going pro in something other than sports.
Alright, I know “smart” people (if I count as that is certainly arguable) shouldn’t say things like what I’m about to say, but I’ve seen little real reason otherwise.
Being a professional athlete is still a legitimate career. Just as much as any teacher, scientist, office manager, etc. Therefore, I find it absurd the NCAA has to practically apologize for showing college students, who are apparently supposed to be training themselves to be the next great intellectual leaders, out playing with a big orange ball instead of doing math problems. That playing basketball or whatever other sport isn’t “intelligent” but just a waste of time (that we make ill-fated bets on). Which, of course, is all kinds of bullshit.
Continue reading “Athletic Apologism”