Football is Better than Soccer: An Englishman Abandons the Beautiful Game for the NFL (via WSJ)

Posted on by
Reply

In its energy and complexity, football captures the spirit of America better than any other cultural creation on this continent, and I don’t mean because it features long breaks in which advertisers get to sell beer and treatments for erectile dysfunction. It sits at the intersection of pioneering aggression and impossibly complex strategic planning. It is a collision of Hobbes and Locke; violent, primal force tempered by the most complex set of rules, regulations, procedures and systems ever conceived in an athletic framework.

Soccer is called the beautiful game. But football is chess, played with real pieces that try to knock each other’s brains out. It doesn’t get any more beautiful than that. … Read More

(via WSJ)
(HT: VC)

Not Every Team Needs Cheerleaders (via WSJ)

Posted on by
2

If the Dallas Cowboys don’t win the Super Bowl this year, owner Jerry Jones should turn his ire to the sidelines. No, not head coach Jason Garrett—the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

Based on recent history, having cheerleaders on the sidelines may be the ultimate championship killer. There are six teams in the NFL that don’t have cheerleaders: the Bears, Browns, Giants, Lions, Packers and Steelers. Those franchises have won four of the last six Super Bowls and have made up half of the Super Bowl participants during that span.

Last year, Green Bay beat Pittsburgh in the first-ever Super Bowl that did not include cheerleaders from either squad. The Steelers won Super Bowls XLIII (2009) and XL (2006), while the Giants stunned the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII (2008). The Bears played in Super Bowl XLI (2007), but not having cheerleaders wasn’t enough to overcome the Indianapolis Colts.

This season is no exception. The Packers and Steelers are once again among the best teams in their respective conferences, while the Lions have clinched a wild-card spot and the Giants remain in playoff contention. (The Browns are in last place, but some teams are simply beyond help.)

Of course, at least one of the six teams that doesn’t have cheerleaders may be wishing it still did. The Bears disbanded their cheerleading squad, the Honey Bears, right after the 1985 season—the last time they won the Super Bowl.

(via WSJ)

Bpbrady’s year in review

Posted on by
4

Top 5 Albums of the Year

5. Everything is Boring and Everyone is a Fucking Liar—Spank Rock: Spank Rock’s sophomore album delivered more of the same electro rock/rap goodness as his debut.  EBEFL is a good album to play at parties if you want music that is suitable for partying but you don’t want to cry after hearing LMFAO for the thousandth time.

4. El Camino—The Black Keys: While not as good as 2010’s Brothers, El Camino is another excellent effort from the Nashville based duo.  The Black Keys maintain their signature sound, while making things feel a little fresh with more upbeat, rock-y sounding tracks.  Plus, the announcement video for the album featured Bob Odenkirk playing Saul Goodman if he was a used car salesman

3. Within and Without—Washed Out: Washed Out’s first LP is going to be hard for him to top in the future.  In a year that featured a lot of good albums by chillwave artists, Within and Without was one of the best.  Washed Out is the chilliest of chillwave artists, and his music is perfect for relaxing.  He also does awesome live shows, so check him out if he ever stops by your town.

2. In the Mountain, In the Cloud—Portugal.  The Man: Portugal.  The Man has been putting out around an album a year for the past six years, yet they continue to fly under the radar.  In the Mountain, In the Cloud is probably not going to raise their profile very much, but it should, because it is an awesome album with a fantastic indie sound.  It even features a track that was deemed good enough to be included in the FIFA 12 soundtrack.

1. Era Extaña—Neon Indian: Neon Indian is also classified as a chillwave artist, at least by Wikipedia, however his (their?—Wikipedia is often vague on whether Neon Indian is a stage name for one person or for a group) music is a little more upbeat than that of Washed Out.  A lot of his music sounds like it could come straight out of an NES-era video game, which is fun.

Top 5 Sports Moments/Things of the Year

5. Dustin Ackley: When you are a fan of a team as crappy as the Seattle Mariners, good baseball moments are hard to come by.  It’s one thing when rookies are struggling to a 70 win record, but when it is a bunch of lazy, overweight vets going through the motions on the field it gets tiresome.  That is why Dustin Ackley was such a breath of fresh air—he was a rookie who came in and instead of struggling, lit up the AL for a couple months.  If he had been able to get a full season under his belt, he likely would have been rookie of the year, but Mariners fans will settle for the four months of excellent play they got out of him, and hopefully many more years to come.

4. The Detroit Lions 2011 season: Like fans of the Mariners, fans of the Lions will take whatever good they can get, and this year there was a lot of it.  Even if the Lions lose out and miss the playoffs, they will have finished with their first winning record in God knows how long.  The best thing about the Lions this season is that the players seem to finally care.  Stafford, Megatron and House of Spears have provided Lions fans with a lot of good times this season (and in House of Spears’ case a few less than good times).  If the Lions make the playoffs, I think I will finally understand what it means to be “happy to be there,” although I hope the Lions themselves aren’t satisfied with that.

3.  Michigan—Notre Dame: The first night game in Michigan Stadium did not disappoint.  Early on it looked bleak, as Notre Dame jumped out to a 14-0 lead.  ND even led 24-7 at the end of the 3rd quarter.  But Michigan would not go away, and came back to lead 28-24 with a minute to go.  The game was not over, however, and Notre Dame marched down the field to take a 31-28 lead, giving Michigan the ball back on their own 20 with 30 seconds to go.  Notre Dame then decided that covering Michigan’s receivers was overrated, and Denard Robinson lead the Wolverines 80 yards in 28 seconds, throwing a touchdown pass to Roy Roundtree to rip the Fighting Irish’s hearts out for the third year in a row.  Attending the first night game in Michigan history was a memorable experience, and I even got to see Little Aldland and  Mr. and Mrs. Aldland.

2. Michigan—Ohio State: It’s tough to lose to your rival, or any team for that matter, several years in a row.  Just ask Vandy fans, many of whom have gone their entire lives without seeing Vandy beat Tennessee.  While Ohio State’s streak over Michigan was not nearly that long, it was still annoying and OSU’s off the field troubles provided the perfect opportunity to end it.  And end it Michigan did, although not without drama, as the Buckeyes put up a fight, falling to the Wolverines 40-34.

1. Barcelona—Real Madrid/Barcelona—Manchester United (UEFA Champions League): Barcelona’s exit in the 2010 Champions League to Internazionale left a bad taste in the mouths of many fans of the club, particularly this writer who will go to his grave thinking that what would have been the winning goal by Bojan Krkic was wrongly disallowed by a handball call on Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure.  Still, commentators and analysts around the word continued to praise the 2011 Barcelona side as potentially one of the best all time if they would be able to win the Champions League twice in three years (Barcelona also won in 2009).  As is often said, to be the best, you must beat the best and “the best” came in the form of Barcelona’s eternal rivals Real Madrid and English giants Manchester United.  The semifinals of the Champions League saw a hard fought battle between Barcelona and Madrid, with the Blaugrana narrowly dispatching the team from the Spanish capital.  Despite the talent level at Manchester United,  the final seemed like a fait accompli, and largely it was.  Barcelona dominated  possession and the run of play in a 3-1 victory over their English opposition, lifting the Champions League trophy for the second time in three years.

Related
ALDLAND’s year in review 

Drew Brees is the farmer in the dell?

Posted on by
Reply

Drew Brees broke Dan Marino’s 27-year-old single-season passing record last night with a game and a quarter to spare. This morning, ESPN.com lead with “[The] Brees Stands Alone.” Hi-ho the dairy-o. In the words of Horatio Sanz (as Joe Bouchard), what does that mean?

With the obvious allusion to “The Farmer in the Dell,” one would assume that Brees, the new record-holder, would play the role of the farmer, but that only leads to more questions. When “the farmer takes a wife,” is that a reference to Brees breaking the record and making Marino his wife? (If so, I’d hate to read the feminist critique, as authored by Marino.)

I’m no Aesop, but I have written about the overlap between sports and folk songs before, and I think that this means what it says: Brees is the cheese.

Fine, but what’s the cheese? Simple. The cheese is an obvious reference to Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who, before Green Bay lost its first game of the season last week, was the unquestionable choice for league MVP. All of that is up for grabs now, though, because the Packers lost to the Chiefs and Brees seized maybe the most important passing record in the NFL. And Brees is no Case Keenum. His Saints are 12-3 and have to be considered one of the favorites to win it all. If Rodgers is the cheese, and ESPN wrote that “[The] Brees Stands Alone,” what they plainly mean is that Brees has supplanted Rodgers and stands alone as the best quarterback in the NFL.

Merry Monday

Posted on by
Reply

Christmas came early for the Detroit Lions, who dominated the Chargers on Christmas Eve and earned their first playoff berth since 1999, giving the team a chance to win their first playoff game since 1991, their first NFL championship since 1957, and their first Super Bowl ever. I’m carried away one sentence into this post, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. In other NFL news, the Packers proved that, if another team is to beat them, they will need their starting quarterback and running back in action. They face the Lions next week, and given the chance that those teams will see each other again in the playoffs, I expect the game to go one of two ways: 1) both teams lay out cautions gameplans, with the Packers particularly careful to protect their starters; 2) the Lions miss the memo detailing option (1) and go all-out in an attempt to knock Aaron Rogers out and get the remainder of their defense suspended in the process. All Lions-Packers games that happen from here on out will be played in Lambeau. Cold weather proved to get the better of Tim Tebow, who got destroyed by the Bills of Buffalo.

The NBA regular season returned yesterday, and most of the games were pleasantly close. Two that were not were the finals rematch between Miami and Dallas, where the visiting Heat handled the defending champs easily, and a game involving Oklahoma City. (That’s all I can say about the latter.) The Knicks won a close one over Boston in the early game, and many have been saying that, despite the win, New York’s weaknesses were exposed. I have been saying that, despite everything and nothing, Spike Lee is so, so tired. By contrast, the Bulls won a close game over the Lakers when Derick Rose blew right past the SAT check-in table to flip in a game-winning floater in the lane, and most people are saying that this close win for Chicago showed their strength. I have been saying that, despite that, it shows that the Lakers are going to have a really long, somewhat bad year. Finally, the other LA team continued its winning ways. This was the only game I watched most of. The Warriors hung around for the first three quarters, but new Clipper addition Chris Paul took charge in the second half of the fourth quarter (known as “the start of the game” in player parlance) and secured a comfortable win for his new team. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, someone said, “basketball?”

On the docket for this week is more bowl game coverage and some looks back at the year that is soon to end (i.e., 2011).

UPDATE:

http://twitter.com/#!/FloydMayweather/status/151326153997688832

Isn’t one of you supposed to be….? Oh nevermind.

Mellow anticipation Friday

Posted on by
1

For some reason, I was having a little trouble selecting a suitable jam for today, but then my unconscious floated me this hip seasonal number. It is advisable to engage the snow machine ignition switch:

If you’d rather go full-throttle, cut to the chase, pop the clutch and drop the hammer, direct yourself over here. Either way, merry Christmas.

The Bacardi Bowl

Posted on by
1

Although we already find ourselves comfortably inside college football’s bowl season, ALDLAND’s coverage admittedly has been on the slim side. With the Outback Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Liberty Bowl sure to receive increased attention here in the coming days, we’ll continue the ramp-up with this story about the obscure Bacardi Bowl, which on all but one occasion featured a meeting between an American college team and some assemblage of Cuban players:

I think the Bacardi Bowl was a great idea for any number of reasons, many of which, as exexpatriate might say, fall under the category of “whimsy!” When I think of Havana, though, I think of two things. In no particular order, they are a) my first visit to Long Island, when I flew into MacArthur Airport in Islip and declared that, although I’d never been to Cuba, this certainly looked like Havana if I’d ever seen it (to be quite clear, I had not), and b) the Trio of Doom, a (basically) one-off post-bop/avant garde jazz super group– Jaco Pastorius, John McLaughlin, and Tony Williams– who played for twenty-five minutes together at the Havana Jam in 1979, resulting in one album. Video footage of the Havana Jam is scarce, but the following clip, while not featuring the Trio per se (I only can spot Jaco and the Mahavishnu for certain), should give you a sniff of the scene:

Should NCAA sanctions against Jim Tressel affect his ability to work in the NFL?

Posted on by
Reply

FOX Sports reports:

The NCAA hit Ohio State with a one-year bowl ban and additional penalties Tuesday for violations that started with eight players taking a total of $14,000 in cash and tattoos in exchange for jerseys, rings and other Buckeyes memorabilia.

Tressel was tipped to the violations in April 2010 but didn’t tell anyone — even after the athletes got caught last December but were allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas if they served suspensions to start the 2011 season. Among those in the group: starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor and leading rusher Daniel ”Boom” Herron.
…
Tressel, who guided Ohio State to its first national championship in 34 years after the 2002 season, was pressured to resign after 10 years with the Buckeyes. The NCAA hit him with a five-year ”show-cause” order which all but prevents him from being a college coach during that time.

”Of great concern to the committee was the fact that the former head coach became aware of these violations and decided not to report the violations,” the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions wrote in its report.
…
Under a show-cause order, any school that hired Tressel would have to present its case for why it needed to employ him, and would risk severe penalties if he were to commit any further infractions after that.

The NCAA also issued a public reprimand and censure, put the Buckeyes on probation through Dec. 19, 2014, and reduced football scholarships from 85 to 82 through the 2014-15 academic year.

The full article is here.

This fall, Tressel, recently hired as the Indianapolis Colts’ in-game video replay consultant, delayed his first day on the job, apparently to comport with the suspensions Ohio State players were facing.

A five-year show-cause sanction is a different animal, though, and Tressel’s multi-week, self-imposed suspension of sorts is not as apt a comparison as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s suspension of Terrelle Pryor. Back in August, I wrote about the Goodell Doctrine and the Pryor Precedent (and the potential Benson Exception), which apparently reflect NFL policy in the context of the relationship between the NFL and the NCAA and situations in which those facing NCAA sanctions seek to avoid them by fleeing to the NFL.

At this point, I haven’t formed any opinion on how Tressel’s five-year show-cause sanction compares with Bruce Pearl’s three-year show-cause sanction except that there’s a two-year difference between the two and the men coach different sports. Right now, my only question in the Tressel matter is for Goodell: Will the NFL impose a five-year requirement on the Colts and all other teams that they must meet the show-cause burden before hiring Tressel for any job starting in the 2012-2013 season?

NBA free agency and state income tax rates

Posted on by
2

From Dr. LIC at The Classical:

“Tax Avoidance: How Income Tax Rates Affect the Labor Migration Decisions of NBA Free Agents” (Journal of Sports Economics, 2011)

As often as we hear about NBA players and other professional athletes going bankrupt, it turns out they are not as financially unintelligent as some suspect. It turns out that surreptitiously, players take state income tax rates into account when deciding where to sign as free agents. As much as we talk about chasing rings, getting max contracts, positional fit, chemistry with coaches, big market versus small market endorsement deals, and weather, it appears there are other rational factors at play in these decisions. Economist Nolan Kopkin looked at NBA free agency from 2001 to 2008 and found that even after accounting for a host of relevant factors such as team wins, player position, or crime rate and student-teacher ratio in a particular city, increases in income tax rates during this time period equaled lower-quality free agents. This data helps explain ”The Decision.“  LeBron James’ selection of the Heat allowed him to purchase $12.34 million worth of purple gingham shirts by relocating to tax-free Miami versus the tax load that would have resulted in New York. Whether agents, players, or some other invisible hand is responsible for this remarkable effect of income tax on free agency is unknown, but perhaps we should take this information into account when formulating our opinions on next summer’s signing period.

While notable, I’m not convinced the “effect of income tax on free agency” is truly “remarkable,” although readers can decide whether I am remarking upon it or simply noting it, and whether that changes the remarkability of the effect. Maybe “unsurprising” is what I’m getting at, particularly when one considers the interests, knowledge, and skill set of agents. Or at least, the contrary result would have been surprising, noteworthy, and very possibly remarkable.

The rest of this edition of what appears to be a regular sports science feature is here.