The Sports Thread

[Lightnin' Rod]

I'm probably the only NHL fan lost in the sea of March madness. Sharks rocked tonight. JR is my hero.  Another fantastic game. Clinched a playoff spot, winning the shootout. AMAZING. Nerve wracking night. I'm having dreams of the Stanley Cup.

March Madness is so over-hyped these days -- can't even watch Sportscenter right now.  It was nice that the Warriors were on ESPN last night so that the neither game was sent off into the nether regions of Comcast, where I can never find them.  Go Sharks, go Ws.

[Alicat]

I'm probably the only NHL fan lost in the sea of March madness. Sharks rocked tonight. JR is my hero.  Another fantastic game. Clinched a playoff spot, winning the shootout. AMAZING. Nerve wracking night. I'm having dreams of the Stanley Cup.

it's amazing that Minnesota tied it in the last seconds -- the 2nd time they did that to the Sharks in less than 2 weeks --- and yet the Sharks pulled off a win (also 2nd time in 2 weeks).  Playoffs will be awesome this year.

Join me at a playoff game?

[RGMike]

I'm probably the only NHL fan lost in the sea of March madness. Sharks rocked tonight. JR is my hero.  Another fantastic game. Clinched a playoff spot, winning the shootout. AMAZING. Nerve wracking night. I'm having dreams of the Stanley Cup.

it's amazing that Minnesota tied it in the last seconds -- the 2nd time they did that to the Sharks in less than 2 weeks --- and yet the Sharks pulled off a win (also 2nd time in 2 weeks).  Playoffs will be awesome this year.

Join me at a playoff game?

only if it's on a weekend -- I can't do the schlep-to-SJ thang on a "school night"

[urth]

No big upsets so far in the NCAA, but that could change as Kansas State is leading USC, and #15 seed Belmont is giving #2 Duke a scare.

[Gazoo]

No big upsets so far in the NCAA, but that could change as Kansas State is leading USC, and #15 seed Belmont is giving #2 Duke a scare.

Dammit.  I took a gamble and had USC going to the finals.  My fault for buying into the Mayo hype.

[urth]

No big upsets so far in the NCAA, but that could change as Kansas State is leading USC, and #15 seed Belmont is giving #2 Duke a scare.

Dammit.  I took a gamble and had USC going to the finals.  My fault for buying into the Mayo hype.

I had Belmont as my #15 seed pick, and was really hoping they'd pull off an upset for me, kinda like George Mason a couple of years ago. (I'm in a completely unique type of pool--no way would I expect Belmont to go all the way.)

[RGMike]

I can't say I mind the prospect of things going wrong for the Beijing Olympics.

I don't think that's a well-thought out reaction.  When things go wrong in China on any kind of scale there are global repurcussions.  We should all hope that things go very well in China for the foreseeable future.  The alternative is not one to wish for.

If things go very well, we get increased pollution and speeded-up global warming. What happens if we get the alternative?  

Come on now, stop with the knee-jerk reactions.  Do you think pollution, etc. is what I or anyone else could possibly mean by "going well"?

Obviously I was trying to be humorous.  But that *is* what a lot of people see when they look at a growing, economically successful China: a billion people suddenly driving cars that didn't exist a few years ago (just for starters). If that finally gets the world to use alternative energy, then hooray. But in the short term, things could get real ugly.

I'm revisiting the above because I saw an interesting blog post about the upcoming Olympics:

The humiliation of China via the Olympics is already beginning. Athletes are refusing to train there because the air quality is so atrocious (many are skipping the opening ceremonies and just arriving for their events to avoid the air) and at least the USOC plans to bring its own food to the games for fear Chinese food laced with steroids would cause athletes to test positive for the drugs. The USOC may not be alone on this. These games will be a disaster and the IOC was incredibly foolish to award the games to China.

[Alicat]

SHARKS!!!!!!!!!
Another damn fine game! JR!!! Still my hero!  mmmm mmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmm mm.

Pronger should have been tossed for the rest of the season.

[SFGuy]

SHARKS!!!!!!!!!
Another damn fine game! JR!!! Still my hero!  mmmm mmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmm mm.

Pronger should have been tossed for the rest of the season.

I don't get hockey. I can't watch it on TV. It seems boring. Only time I stuck it out was a game several years ago during the playoffs between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and it was almost midnight and they were still playing back east. It was OK the couple games I've seen in person (long time ago when they paid at the Cow Palace). Maybe it's because I didn't grow up with it. There was no hockey when I was a kid in the late 70's to early 80's.

[Lightnin' Rod]

SHARKS!!!!!!!!!
Another damn fine game! JR!!! Still my hero!  mmmm mmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmm mm.

Pronger should have been tossed for the rest of the season.

I don't get hockey. I can't watch it on TV. It seems boring. Only time I stuck it out was a game several years ago during the playoffs between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and it was almost midnight and they were still playing back east. It was OK the couple games I've seen in person (long time ago when they paid at the Cow Palace). Maybe it's because I didn't grow up with it. There was no hockey when I was a kid in the late 70's to early 80's.

For me, it's hard to get into a sport I never played.  Hockey isn't boring, per se, but I can't relate, can't put myself in the position of the players on the ice.  Baseball IS boring, but I know the thrill of getting the clutch hit, or making the circus catch in the field.  I couldn't watch golf if it wasn't my passion, much as I don't watch tennis anymore as I no longer play.  But if you really make an effort with hockey, it is pretty amazing.  Something I'd never say about Nascar.

[RGMike]

Kevin Frandsen is my dark-horse pick for my upcoming fantasy baseball draft.

not any more he ain't:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/25/SPOEVPLDO.DTL

[Gazoo]

Kevin Frandsen is my dark-horse pick for my upcoming fantasy baseball draft.

not any more he ain't:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/25/SPOEVPLDO.DTL

Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT.

[Gazoo]

I can't say I mind the prospect of things going wrong for the Beijing Olympics.

I don't think that's a well-thought out reaction.  When things go wrong in China on any kind of scale there are global repurcussions.  We should all hope that things go very well in China for the foreseeable future.  The alternative is not one to wish for.

If things go very well, we get increased pollution and speeded-up global warming. What happens if we get the alternative?  

Come on now, stop with the knee-jerk reactions.  Do you think pollution, etc. is what I or anyone else could possibly mean by "going well"?

Obviously I was trying to be humorous.  But that *is* what a lot of people see when they look at a growing, economically successful China: a billion people suddenly driving cars that didn't exist a few years ago (just for starters). If that finally gets the world to use alternative energy, then hooray. But in the short term, things could get real ugly.

I'm revisiting the above because I saw an interesting blog post about the upcoming Olympics:

The humiliation of China via the Olympics is already beginning. Athletes are refusing to train there because the air quality is so atrocious (many are skipping the opening ceremonies and just arriving for their events to avoid the air) and at least the USOC plans to bring its own food to the games for fear Chinese food laced with steroids would cause athletes to test positive for the drugs. The USOC may not be alone on this. These games will be a disaster and the IOC was incredibly foolish to award the games to China.

Revisiting further above, my fear is that things going well for the Beijing Olympics amounts to legitimization of how the Chinese government does business, which I can't condone for a moment.  I'm far less worried about the Chinese people driving more cars than the Chinese government cracking more skulls, Tibetan and otherwise.

[RGMike]

Revisiting further above, my fear is that things going well for the Beijing Olympics amounts to legitimization of how the Chinese government does business, which I can't condone for a moment.  I'm far less worried about the Chinese people driving more cars than the Chinese government cracking more skulls, Tibetan and otherwise.

[mshray]

Revisiting further above, my fear is that things going well for the Beijing Olympics amounts to legitimization of how the Chinese government does business, which I can't condone for a moment.  I'm far less worried about the Chinese people driving more cars than the Chinese government cracking more skulls, Tibetan and otherwise.

Just got done reading the recent Economist about Tibet.  By sheer coincidence their Beijing correspondent had finally gotten an approved visit to join a tightly controlled itinerary (both things the gov't never used to give Journalists at all) and was in Lhasa from March 13-19.  After the rioting began on the 14th he/she was surprisingly *not* forced to leave.  So he/she had a unique street-level vantage point to what was going on and why.

Not condoning anything violent that anyone did to anybody, not taking away from the very real inequities the Tibetans face, but the death toll was almost all from Tibetans who killed Han Chinese by burning down their businesses with them inside (typically a 3-4 story building with living quarters upstairs).  And by all accounts the gov't very purposefully *didn't* go in with guns blazing a la Tian An Men, for the precise reason that the Olympics are only 4 months away. 

I hate totalitarian 1-party governments, & their tools of oppression.  My only point (both above & here again) is that engaging such governments is better than ostracizing them (vis. Cuba, Myanmar or No. Korea...how much progress has decades of isolation encouraged in those states?).  And as long as such governments are simultaneously pressured to open up (not the unconditional love everybody up through Reagan - except Carter - gave dictatorships in Latin America and the Middle East or the apartheid regime in South Africa).  Things like Olympics or membership in the WTO are precisely the kinds of tools make such regimes voluntarily opt into international scrutiny, and thus, eventually, lead to progress.  The more the rest of the world can make it irresistable for China to stay engaged, the sooner and wider will be the reforms at all levels of Chinese society.  To the extent that the rest of the world engenders their mistrust, the more quickly & completely they will crack down and derail such progress.