It’s another live show courtesy of donbest.com and whether you love close games or blowouts, this sports weekend had something for everybody.
Topics include wearing cleats to to a wiffle ball game, dreaming of paying for sex, Brian becomes fully domesticated, Dutch takes a sucker punch from Fyregirl, a preview of the battle of undefeated’s, and all of the opening lines in college football and the NFL. Tom, you still there?
Email: Brian Mollica brian@notiowa.com and Tommy Dutch tom@notiowa.com Give us a call 206-203-Iowa
My turn…
This is how the BBC reported the NFL game in England on sunday and speculates on what future the game might have in England…..
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A crowd of more than 81,000 braved wind and rain at Wembley to watch the first competitive NFL game to be played outside the Americas.
Afterwards it was impossible to find a player or official with a bad word to say about the experience, despite muddy conditions that limited the highlights.
The NFL imported plenty of big-game razzamatazz to the UK
Miami defender Jason Taylor, whose 26ft replica appeared in Trafalgar Square at the start of the week, said: “We had a good time, albeit we lost the game.
“It was a good experience for both teams, and I think the league benefited from it.”
But amid all the hoopla of the New York Giants’ 13-10 victory over the Dolphins, many forgot about American football’s mixed history in the UK.
This time, though, America’s most popular sport is confident it has adopted the right tactics to win over more British fans.
Responding to huge interest in the mid-1980s, the NFL sent teams to the old Wembley to play pre-season games from 1986 to 1993.
They began in a similar wave of excitement which ultimately fizzled out.
The same happened with the London Monarchs, who debuted to a packed Wembley in what became NFL Europe in 1991 and quietly disappeared in 1998.
The Scottish Claymores built a fan base of around 15,000 at Hampden Park but it was not enough to convince the moneymen, and the plug was pulled on the entire league earlier this year.
Why should the latest initiative be any different?
“We’ve got aspirations ultimately to be a top-five major sport behind football, cricket, rugby and Formula One,” he told BBC Sport.
You do have to adjust your schedule, there’s no question about that
Giants head coach Tom Coughlin
NFL UK managing director Alistair Kirkwood was bullish before the game but sounded a note of realism.
“Most people close to the NFL would have had high confidence that this game – and the first couple of games – would be a success.
“But you have to ask what happens with the fourth or fifth game?”
Officially, the NFL said Wembley could have been sold out two or three times. London mayor Ken Livingstone claimed there had been a million ticket requests.
In reality there were a few empty seats in a venue reduced from its 90,000 football capacity to eliminate seats behind the team benches.
But how will the NFL judge whether it was a success? Kirkwood says there are three benchmarks.
“The first, in the short term, is whether logistically everything went OK because I know there has been some concerns,” he explained.
“Secondly, you measure it on the day of the game with the level of fan interest, the noise as the teams come out, all of that kind of thing.
“And the third measure is over the next three to five years to look at this game and ask what did it lead to?”
Logistically it would have helped if the game were played in dry conditions on a firm field, allowing players to showcase their abilities without fear of injury.
Muddy conditions stopped the game from being a real showcase
There was also the problem of fatigue as the teams only arrived in London 56 hours before kick-off, and had to cope with a five-hour time difference.
However, both have their sole scheduled week off in the season next Sunday.
Asked about those issues, New York coach Tom Coughlin said: “I know you would like me to answer that in the worst kind of way.
“I’ll be glad to give (NFL commissioner Roger Goodell) my thoughts on some of the issues that came up.
“You know for one day your team is going to be exhausted, but we recovered well on Saturday and got ourselves energised.
“It worked for us because we have a bye week, but you do have to adjust your schedule, there’s no question about that.”
Fan excitement was not in doubt. Most stayed for the duration of a game that looked dead before a late Dolphins drive, shouting and cheering in the right places.
The question now is what next?
NFL owners have agreed to play two games annually outside the US, and there have been suggestions the season could be expanded to include one game per team at a neutral venue – 16 in all.
Reports the Super Bowl will come to London are premature as the schedule is set until 2011.
“I’m lobbying very hard in New York for us to build on the tremendous interest we’ve had,” said Kirkwood.
“We can’t lose the momentum. Now we’ve started something, the worst thing we could do is pull back.”
The most exciting news in the long term seeped out on the morning of the game.
The NFL hopes to announce soon the launch of an international academy for around 80 players, based at the University of Bath.
T-minus 14 days till departure. Across the border, Big Phil, Yo-Time and myself will converge upon Cabo San Lucas to devise a strategy for the Inaugural TAI World Series Wiffle Ball Championship! The battle lines are drawn between Northern Hemisphere vs Southern Hemisphere. It will take many an ice cold Cerveza and the odd warm burrito to formulate such strategies in the harsh sun of Mexico.
But by the time we reach Sin City for the game it may be as simple as making sure we get Dutch to the Cabana before the game, Liquor BMo up with a bit of Manx Rocket Fuel and slip Fyregirl a $50 to dance on the mound to distract Mofobes!
Guys you are not alone Daylight Savings in Sydney (NSW) is Sun Oct 28 to Sun 6 Apr.
correct me if i’m wrong but i think Mike from Don Best picked Mississippi State against West Virginia with a 24 point start and they lost by 25?
The guy who sang God Save The Queen was Paul Potts. He won Britins (not) Got Talent, which is our version of the car crash you call Americas Got Talent.
And as Tommy apologised for the crappy game and the crappy weather (though I think we supplied that) I think it’s only fair that we apologise for Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan.
I know that one burned you JR. I think that one opened at 26 then quickly moved down.
While your working on the web site – it would be awesome if you could somehow support the posting of links for users from Sweden so they don’t have to copy and past entire books
I promised I’d post this link (via Fark) in the chat room last night. So here it is:
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2007/10/26/298106.html?title=Cooter+crisis+in+Citrus+County
Yes, that headline is indeed “Cooter crisis in Citrus County.”
TFJ, I think you ment copy & paste, and its only a very small book, practically only a brochure in fact………….
Hi guys,
Well back home and straight to work – please check out our just put up web site and tell me what you think (good and bad) and please feel free to point out any spelling, grammer or other mistakes – http://www.placepeople.co.uk – My next visit to Vegas depends on it!
The company should officially launch next month, spent close on $4000 on Apple computers and stuff today ;-( it’s horrible at the moment all the money is flowing in one direction only.
Sporting highlights of the holiday were mostly watching American baseball which seems to be the big game in most of Asia (although in the Phillipines it’s basketball which is funny as most of them struggle to reach 5’6″).
Highlight was watching a Japanese Baseball game (on TV) – the crowd were simply the best I have seen at any sporting event – they sang and sang and sang, and they seemed to have massive selection on songs, it was totally hypnotic.
Worst was of course England’s disaster weekend losing the Rugby and F1 championships – quite simply FUCK!
But I came home to Bristol City 2nd in the Championship and Torquay top of the Non League – Good times for the west countries real teams (fuck you Rovers and Exeter!)
Oh and I got two Royal Flushes on Videopoker.com my first ever and I proudly sit in third place for the month (name is Chi Pleade)
Trainfan you’re dead to me.
*LOL* C’mon 406 – you know your my favorite person around here with a “patch” AND numbers in their name. Besides, I’m still waiting for you to chime in again on the Hawaiian themed California and as a gesture of good will I will sharpen your cleats for you.
Ace – welcome back. We’ve been keeping the place warm for you.
I took a brief look at the site and the only obvious thing I noticed was the background on the “Upload CV” seems to be out of line – at least in my browser…… Best of luck getting up and running
Cheers TJ
Asterion – great link – of which I thought the highlight was:
“So that leads to the logical question: How can you find a fast cooter?
“I picked the meanest cooter actually out of the entire pool,” said Shivella Rogers, who won the first Cooter Cup. “So the first cooter that looked like it was going to bite me was the cooter I picked.”
Sounds like how Tommy and Fobes first met Fyregirl.
Jesus Christ.
You think I’d leave because I got “made” fun of at whiffleball. Get serious. I got called in off the bench to perform some childcare.
Now onto Whiffleball….I’m nearly 100% with Tommy in respect to playing terms. We used to play in which you have to run the bases and field the bases correctly. You only use ghostrunners when you run out of actual runners ie in our game if we have guys on 1st and 2nd and a guy hits a soft single that loads the bases….the guy on third (who would now be up) goes to bat the other guys advance and there’s a “ghostrunner” on first. Also, you don’t get an out by just picking up a grounder like you do in Brian’s fantasy world.
Hitting. We used to set up some line for dingers….ie the STREET on the fly. If you can find a fence…it’s the best so you can play D against it. Now yesterday, I did some research with a knock off version of the whiffleball and bat (untaped) of course and you can basically hammer it about 30 yards on the fly. We should set up the homerun line around there.
Asking friends. I was in Minneapolis this weekend. I flew out to meet with my two teammates just to practice and strategize and get ready for the game. Obviously, I’m kidding. However, I asked SEVERAL people about taping. These are Midwest guys and ALL of them played just like real baseball with actual fielding and running and NONE of them TAPED. The one guy who’s coming to Vegas thought it was getting a little serious and he came up with the “Jesus, do I need to bring cleats?”…that was in jest of course. Relax. One guy did say…if you tape that ball you gotta tape the bat to even it out.
I think you need basically a field about the size of a little league infield. It’s the perfect size to run and try to defend. You can easily find holes. You can wing the ball at the runner heading for home trying to the desperation out.
FINALLY, I am a little HURT that my game is the pussyass “warm up” game belittled and degraded overall. You guys play some NOVELTY game against a bunch of foreigners who don’t know the first thing about whiffleball on a SACRED holiday and that’s the REAL game instead of a true battle against others who have grown up loving and living whiffleball. You know what this is BULLSHIT. I’m outta here.
I think Patch is onto something – I can see starting an annual 3-Man Whiffle Ball tournament sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. Get on it Brian – you might have the next Nevada Day type event on your hands.
Ace, if you’re using IE the flash control in the top right needs to be clicked to activate it before the rollovers will work. You’ll find plenty of workarounds for this on the web.
No one should be taking the first TAI whiffle ball game lightly – remember both teams are UNDEFEATED going into this one!
Bob – that’s my web designers job, I am paying him enough! I will discuss it with him, maybe nothing is meant to happen ho hum
Ace, just make sure he checks it in IE as well as Firefox. IE is still the market leader for browsers, especially in any corporate.
Hey guys — I missed the show last night and I wanted to drop by and give a free pick. Take South Carolina +4.5 at Arkansas.
JR – you are correct bud … I had Miss State +24 when it opened and they did lose by 25 … The line closed at +25.5 or +26 but that is not what I released it at on the show. Actually on my podcast I mentioned Miss State plus 24 as well. So, I consider that a loss.
Brian and Tommy — another good job as I am finishing listening to the show right now … sorry, i missed it and I will be back next week … Mollica — you are a funny son of a bitch
I am not sure if I can post my survivor pick here … if i can, i’ll take Pittsburgh for next week … if not — no big deal …
Best of luck to all this week!
Mike
Dutch, late response but I’m definitely in for a little whiffle ball practice this weekend. I called Paul Osburn to see if he’d be available to play but he’s too busy tackling stop signs. Don’t you laugh at me!
Mohica, when you wear a tie to work do you wear a short sleeved shirt? Because that would be sweet. Isn’t a short sleeve shirt with a tie standard government issue? Oh yeah, you don’t work for the Man. On a side note, can I used both sleeved and sleeve? I have no idea. Also, if you type sleeve enough you start to think you’re not spelling it correctly.
I digress.
To end my post, I think Dutch’s quote “It’s not exactly Aristotle and Socrates sitting around here talking” should be the next T-shirt slogan.
I swear one day soon I’ll catch the show live.
I didn’t place any bets this last week….I think it get easier to place bets as the season goes on because you know what to expect from most of the teams.
As for changing the “forums” to just that…message boards…I think its a great idea and keep us posted when those shake out.
I saw the kicker for texas miss the fumble, and it proves a kicker is just that.
Look forward to more this week, bball starts this week, hope you all can squeeze some lines and picks on that during the year too.
Dont Worry Patch, i’m sure the Seattle vs Vegas game will be a more serious championship battle. Us Aussies dont know the game or care which rules are used but we will be in it for the fun and more importantly the drinks!
fuck that JR we want 2 humiliate them!
There’s some clown on the Green Bay’s defense whose first name is “ATARI”. Come on. Actually that’s pretty solid if his middle name is 2600.
Thanks for checking in Mike. Considering you have made me money over the past few weeks, I think I’ll bend the rules and accept your survival pick a day late.
Patch, the only reason I’m so adamant about calling your match a “tune up game” is because preseason records don’t carry over.
That would be a pretty involved shirt Matt, although I take dibs on Aristotle (I hear Socrates was into dudes). Also, I know Dutch may be working Saturday afternoon, but I’m thinking about doing some wiffle BP with Fobes and Bohunk for all interested.
First match should be the serious SUPERBOWL…second Aussie joke match should be the Pro Bowl…hanging out wearing Aloha Shirts…Mai Taing one on.
that would be right patch, always the way when you americans play sport. No one else matters.
http://www.notiowa.com/forum please feel free to join and beta test the new forum, just can’t promise it will work right at the moment.
Admin – like I said over in the forum, it all looks good. Great job. You sure Bmo & Tommy had nothing to do with this?
Tony – Forums look great man – nice work….
Just wondering where we post the NFL pickems… assuming its still here on the Monday show comments
Want to make a ton of money this weekend? Follow my NFL picks. The last 4 weeks on the TAI contest, I’m 3-0, 0-3, 3-0, and 0-3…anyone see a pattern here?
Conference ratings:
SEC
Big East
Big 12
Pac 10
Big 10
ACC
Res Ipsa Loquitur…but perhaps you disagree?
Week 9 picks
New England
Pittsburgh
Washington
NBA plays for Tuesday
Blazers +13.5
Rockets -5.5
Jazz +3
Record 0-0-0
great job on the forums tony. i think it will be a great addition to show.
Hey BMO- I always played it your way. A hit in the infield is a single, over the head of the defense is a double, bounce or roll to the wall a triple and over the fence is a homer. All runners are ghost runners.
I remember we went as far as yelling “TAG” on a fly ball and the ghost runners would tag up. The defense had to catch the ball and throw it into the strike zone in the air (nearly impossible) to get the tagging runner out.
The game Dutch is describing sounds like modified stickball or monkeyball.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that……….
But, I still think Tommy was playing ‘baseball’ with a whiffle bat and ball (which is fine- you can play with a whiffle ball or a tennis ball or a racquetball ball or whatever you have laying around)…. but that is NOT playing whiffle ball…
which is based on where you hit the ball in the field and uses ghost runners…….. and beer. (and apparently strippers…though I never knew that growing up).
Collectively TAI’s best week of the season. (Points 1=Win, .5=Push)
aquaman 15-8-1 (15.5)
roosterman 14-9-1 (14.5)
yo time 13-9-2 (14)
Kevin Calgary 13-10-1 (13.5)
trainfan 13-10-1 (13.5)
B-Mo 13-10-1 (13.5)
Tony 13-10-1 (13.5)
Ace Rock 13-10-1 (13.5)
JimmyMac 12-9-3 (13.5)
Mr Spott 12-9-3 (13.5)
Rick Reston 13-11 (13)
slashdog 12-10-2 (13)
two 4 juan 11-10-3 (12.5)
hellfyre 12-11-1 (12.5)
Jazzy Jay 11-11-2 (12)
Fobes 11-11-2 (12)
dutch 11-11-2 (12)
KGB 11-12-1 (11.5)
paigow 11-12-1 (11.5)
JR 11-12-1 (11.5)
P-Mac 10-11-3 (11.5)
Patch 10-11-3 (11.5)
Steve W. Palm 9-11-4 (11)
Whit 10-12-2 (11)
Hawkeye Brad 10-13-1 (10.5)
Letsgohawks 10-13-1 (10.5)
English Bob 10=13=1 (10.5)
Patchdog 10-14 (10)
Floyd Barber 10-14 (10)
Scott J 9-13-2 (10)
dipper 9-14-1 (9.5)
Table Max 8-13-3 (9.5)
M MCfly 8-15-1 (8.5)
Richie 8-15-1 (8.5)
Raisin Bran 6-15-3 (7.5)
Yzerman, back-to-back no posts = tap out, 36th ain’t bad. Hope all is well.
Ace Rock’s original posts from September would have been 3-0, but he reposted a 1-1 with “Kansas” Now, K.C. had a bye last week so I didn’t know what the fuck to do with a “Kansas” selection. I guess I split the difference by giving him a 2-1 for the week.
someone tell Ace KC is in Missouri, not Kansas
I’d like to announce my last post ;-(
In the comments that is – I’ll be switching over to the excellent new TAI forum. Top work Tony.
Indiana -6.5
Cinci +5
Kansas -18.5
Rutgers +3
USC -15
NCAAF: 29-16
NFL: pretty bad
Checking the results out. Two4Juan in ahead of our boy Dutch! I hate to say the reason why since I’m a Denver fan (Go Broncos!) but Tommy you gotta stay away from Denver when they’re a favorite. Denver’s D is ugly and Cutler, while definately a future quality QB, is still learning the NFL ropes and can’t carry the offense that is very banged up.
Thanks Jimmy the Greek,
i didn’t submit denver but very informative
Well if Aquaman is Jimmy the Greek, I guess that makes me the Godfather in this contest….