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    • odd man out wrote:

      rhjanes wrote:

      odd man out wrote:

      having grown up in DC in the '70s, I pretty much route for any team that's playing against Dallas.
      We lived outside DC from 1971 thru 1975. I went to 3 years HS at West Springfield HS. Good times. The Washington Colanders were pretty good.
      I graduated from High Point HS in '77. That's about the same distance from central DC as West Springfield, but in the opposite direction.
      So is that in Maryland?

      It was interesting times. 'Nam was ending. My dad had been over from 12/68 to 12/69. Then he was back doing fighter pilot intercepts of the Russians for a year in Montana. Then we were in DC as he was at the Pentagon 4 years. When the movie "Remember the Titans" came out, I about fell over. That happened the year we moved there. Our HS still played TC Williams in sports. They pounded our team in football. But in basketball, our HS team went to state 2 of the years we were there. Our team lost one of the years because we played in the finals against Petersburg VA, who had a game plan of "Chuck the ball down court so Moses (Malone) grabs it and dunks it". He was the first HS player to turn pro out of HS. Sadly dad couldn't get a year extension at the Pentagon and so he decided to retire with 24 years. So my last year of HS was after he retired and we moved to TX. I'm still in touch with one old HS friend. We both wound up in computer stuff. He told me that with the 20+ percent turnover in students at HS (Due to many students with parents being transferred due to jobs in military, foreign service, government) our senior year was more trouble than it was worth.

      Lead article in the Dallas paper sports page today is about the 'Boys and issue with the GM being the owner. So the GM can't be fired over now 29 years of "Can't get past the first or second playoff game". But just remember, the Cowboys is one of the richest sports franchises in the world........
      Pirating – Corporate Takeover without the paperwork
    • yes. I lived in Beltsville MD from '64 to '77. Beltsville is where US 1 crosses the Beltway between College Park and Laurel. It's main claim to fam is as home of the main research center for the Department of Agriculture. My dad was a research scientist there.

      One connection to Texas sport was in 1965, the designers of the Astrodome contacted the USDA to get some tips on how to grow grass indoors (this was the first indoor stadium). They were put in touch with my dad's lab which specialized in plant physiology, especially grass crops. The met with the Dome designers who explained their plans. The scientists all said it wouldn't work and the grass would quickly die. The Dome people went ahead with their plans anyway. The grass immediately died, so they switched to Astroturf.
    • Well, if team other than my home team had to win the Super Bowl, I guess it stings a little less that it's the team that beat the Bengals to get there. Congrats to the Chiefs.

      And the reaction in Philly (one of my old home towns)? Vulgar chants in the streets. Classy.
      Trudgin' along the AT since 2003. Completed Sections: Springer Mountain to Clingmans Dome and Max Patch NC to Gorham NH

      "The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations...those are pretty good days." Ray Wylie Hubbard
    • StalkingTortoise wrote:

      Well, if team other than my home team had to win the Super Bowl, I guess it stings a little less that it's the team that beat the Bengals to get there. Congrats to the Chiefs.

      And the reaction in Philly (one of my old home towns)? Vulgar chants in the streets. Classy.
      And they BOOd Dak Prescott for doing charity work.......

      hikerboy wrote:

      In spite of terrible field conditions and a somewhat questionable call at the end, it was a great game.The defending cornerback admitted the holding, but said the refs didn't call it all game. Whoever was in charge of the field ahould be fired. It was a miracle no one was seriously injured.
      NFL really needs to look at just what was done to that field and NEVER do that again. Both teams struggled with footing. No reports of ankle injuries but man...... Even the TV showed one of the kickers "Plant Foot" and wondered how he 1) kept his footing to kick 2) didn't break or sprain that ankle.

      Others were sliding down.
      Pirating – Corporate Takeover without the paperwork
    • For some reason ESPN kept coming back to one particular Chargers fan during Monday night's Chargers / Cowboys game.
      I did not know the Chargers even had any fans :)



      Anyway, she is now meme famous, the Internet loved her exuberance.
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • Oh, looking further the story gets better...

      Apparently her exuberance seemed so out of character for a 'Chargers Fan,' that some people suggested that she had to be an actor, plant placed there by the Chargers. She has had to address this and proclaim, no, she really is a Chargers fan :)

      abc7.com/chargers-fan-merianne…-night-football/13942540/
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • I think I have complained about this before, but it was especially bad this weekend so I will rant some more. The NFL pass interference rule is horrible (and College football has the same problem). Several times this weekend I saw the same offending call.

      A receiver runs down the field with the defender running close behind (pretty good coverage). The ball is thrown behind the defender. The receiver stops and collides with the defender who, running at full speed, could not possibly stop in time to avoid the collision. Defensive pass interference is called. In the Dallas game, the announcer even said the best play in football is to throw short pass on a fly route, just to get a PI penalty.

      I also so it work the other way. The defender was running in front of the receiver who had turned to do a curl route. Seeing the ball is thrown over the head of the defender (and out of bounds no less), the receiver turns and collides with the defender, even though the pass was clearly uncatchable.

      The usual defense of the call is that "the defender was not making a play on the ball" or "the ball would have been catchable if the defender had not interfered". While these claims are legit in some cases, they are not in these examples. The could rewrite the rule to say that it is not not pass interference if the receiver collides with a defender who is between the ball and the receiver.

      To make matters worse, the NFL playbook says that examples of pass interference include "Extending an arm across the body of an opponent, thus restricting his ability to catch a pass, and regardless of whether the player committing such act is playing the ball". What the heck? This is done all the time and called good defense.
    • There was also an interesting "Intentional Grounding" call during the Sunday night game. One announcer took exception with it. While the "rules" guy (not one of the two announcers) said in the strict interpretation, it was Intentional Grounding. The receiver saw the offense line collapse and the QB was in scramble mode. So the receiver cut his route SHORT and ran towards the sidelines (game time was a factor). The QB in scramble mode trying to not get sacked, threw the ball to where the play had called the receiver to be at, probably only glancing at where the receiver should have been. About 15 or 20 yards farther than the receiver actually was. They called IG. Well it was a busted play and the primary receiver was short of his route. There was a secondary receiver about 15 yards away also but not where the ball went.
      The main announcer was basically saying the refs need some discretion on this type of thing. And most IG are pretty clear, they toss the ball very hard about 20 feet away and no one, even a defensive player, anywhere near it.
      Pirating – Corporate Takeover without the paperwork

      The post was edited 1 time, last by rhjanes ().

    • odd man out wrote:

      I think I have complained about this before ... A receiver runs down the field with the defender running close behind (pretty good coverage). The ball is thrown behind the defender. The receiver stops and collides with the defender who, running at full speed, could not possibly stop in time to avoid the collision. Defensive pass interference is called. ...
      See my previous post for the complete rant. It just happened again in GA vs AL. Even the announcer says "I hate the under thrown pass interference call. What's a defender to do?" I'm glad others with more influence than me are on my side. If NCAA or NFL fixes this, I will take credit. ;)
    • There are 5 P5 Conferences.

      There are 4 spots in the CFP.

      Every year (at least) 1 team that won their conference and didn't make the CPF will feel the committee made a mistake.

      Should FSU have been the team left out this year?

      This is easy.

      NO!!!

      Michigan should have been banned from the CFP for cheating. If there are no consquences for cheating then cheating is allowable. The committee needed to grow a pair and make the right decision.

      As long as I'm on this topic, given that Michigan was given a pass and is in the CFP, the committee made the correct decision between Alabama and FSU.
      2,000 miler
    • max.patch wrote:

      Michigan should have been banned from the CFP for cheating. If there are no consquences for cheating then cheating is allowable. The committee needed to grow a pair and make the right decision.

      As long as I'm on this topic, given that Michigan was given a pass and is in the CFP, the committee made the correct decision between Alabama and FSU.
      <snip>

      "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized the College Football Committee Tuesday and said he is asking for $1 million in the state’s budget to let Florida State sue the committee over its decision to exclude the team from the Playoff."

      What a great use of taxpayer money. What a bozo.
      2,000 miler
    • max.patch wrote:

      max.patch wrote:

      As long as I'm on this topic, given that Michigan was given a pass and is in the CFP, the committee made the correct decision between Alabama and FSU.
      63-3. The committee was right. This should shut up the annoying FSU fans. It won't though.
      Perhaps, but who did and did not play (dress out) in the game probably a bigger factor in the wide margin of the score of this game.

      Now that is on the coaches and their programs. Just saying this FSU team may not be the same as the one of a few weeks ago.

      I just wish Georgia had beat Alabama in their last game.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • I'm waiting for the Alumni/Fan lawsuits against the NCAA for allowing coach and player transfers prior to the end of the season.

      "I spent my hard-earned cash to attend a Bowl Game and my team sucked because the head coach (or star player) transferred before the game. Someone must pay!"
      Trudgin' along the AT since 2003. Completed Sections: Springer Mountain to Clingmans Dome and Max Patch NC to Gorham NH

      "The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations...those are pretty good days." Ray Wylie Hubbard