Questions to be answered by the next person to post in the thread

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Keith Hernandez on Seinfeld.

[King Kamala 0]

"Homer At The Bat" is the obvious number one. But I also liked Joe Frazier's guest appearence on the Simpsons.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Keith Hernandez on Seinfeld.

 

Which thankfully spawned "I'm Keith Hernandez."

[Gert T 0]

Alright, I will throw out the next question. 2 or 3 years down the road, you are an AD at a lower level D-I school, would you consider hiring Kelvin Sampson?

 

 

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Not in a million years, for multiple reasons.

 

1. He'll have a GIGANTIC bullseye on his back as far as the NCAA is concerned.

2. What kids/parents are going to commit to a twice-proven cheater?

2a. Will Sampson be there at the end of the season?

2b. Will another fuckup cost me the playoffs?

2c. Moral reservations.

2d. If I'm good enough to pick and choose, why would I pick this guy?

3. He'd cost a lot. Guy got $750,000 severence. Someone in-house would be cheaper and easier to work with, probably more trustworthy.

4. Is he really that good of a coach? As in a kind of coach that will take a..say..Central Michigan to the level of a Drake or Butler or other good mid-major?

 

What is the best fight song?

 

[Guest Michael Myers Resplendent]

In college, only the beginning of USC's (before Fight On) and the Seminole war chant aren't fucking terrible. USC's sounds like something you'd hear in some old epic movie, which means it actually fits a team called "the Trojans" playing in Hollywood. I think what sets these apart is that they're not in a major key. The rest are indistinguishable bluff and bluster of no relevance to anyone. Notre Dame's fight song sucks, naturally, because it's associated with Notre Dame.

 

In the pros? On the contrary, "Bear Down" is cool, because few teams use a typical old fight song as frequently as the Bears do, and everyone sings along (I enjoy the lyrics), so it ends up being unique at the NFL level. Old-timey baseball songs are great. "Meet The Mets," "Hey Hey, Holy Mackerel," and "Let's Go, Go-Go White Sox" are a lot of fun. I need to find more of these, because surely they're out there for teams like the Phillies, Pirates, or Reds. If you don't have a cool theme song, your baseball team might as well not even exist, if you ask me. Everyone loves "Brass Bonanza," of course. Let's not forget "Here Come The Hawks" either, and maybe this will get more exposure next year when the Blackhawks return to national television coverage on WGN:

 

Staying on music in sports, what's your take on the organ? Do we need more of it? Less of it? None at all? Exclusively organ? What is your preference for music delivery at sports venues? I think my stance on this issue is well known, but I'll let some people answer it first before I rant.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

I like it, but it has to be in a certain atmosphere to be effective. Something minor league, like Ft. Wayne's IHL club, The Komets. If I'm going to see a team that plays professional sports at the highest level, I expect the sound and lighting to reflect that. Enormous soundsystems blasting obnoxious rock music loud enough to shake the foam out of my overpriced beer.

 

Without looking, can you name ten hispanic NFL players? Do your best.

[Guest Michael Myers Resplendent]

I agree that it's relative to the venue, but my problem is when places that SHOULD be very organ-intensive, like a Hawks game, start blasting AC/DC like any old hockey team anywhere. Naturally, the only songs that should be heard over the Wrigley Field public address would be the team songs or "Jump." Everything else has to be done on the Lowery organ. I guess I missed out on the days of the old Barton organ at the Chicago Stadium, which could reputedly shake the foam out of your beer just as well as "Thunderstruck." Bottom line, more organ at baseball and hockey is a good thing to me, unless you're the Los Angeles Angels, where I expect the entire live baseball experience to be meticulously coordinated and artificial.

 

Ten Hispanic NFLers:

Tony Gonzalez

Roberto Garza

Tony Romo (halfsies)

 

I give up. If only the NFL's marketing department would.

[Guest Vitamin X]

All-time or current? Let's just say current to make things harder.

 

Tony Gonzalez (Chiefs)

Roberto Garza (Bears)

Tony Romo (Cowboys)

Jeff Garcia (Bucs)

Marco Rivera (Cowboys)

Justin Fargas (Raiders)

Luis Castillo (Chargers)

 

Okay, I give up at 7. I'm going to try googling the rest.

Rolando Cantu (Cardinals)

Donnie Edwards (didn't know that, but I could see it) (Chiefs)

Anthony Gonzalez (Colts)

 

That was pretty hard, but interestingly enough, there's probably a reason for that.. after searching around a bit more, there was an article on Luis Castillo that mentioned that there are only 24 Hispanic players on NFL rosters today. Apparently the NFL blames it on futbol, but I'm betting baseball has an effect there as well, since Hispanics probably make up the majority in that sport by now.

 

At least most of those Hispanic players are all pretty good players. If you're going to have a small representation, make it count, I guess. Also, fun fact: Justin Fargas' father played Huggy Bear on Starsky & Hutch. That's kinda funny.

[King Kamala 0]

RE: Music in sports. For baseball and hockey, I love the organ. It should be used way more often for both. Pro baseball and hockey games should have almost exclusively organ music. But for the other sports, it just sort of feels out of place.

 

It can be grating to go to NBA and minor league baseball games with all of the shitty music they play. I love almost everything about going to Sea Dogs games (even the silly in-game contests) but man is the music they play terrible. A combination of terrible mainstream country and terrible classic rock with the occasional terrible oldie thrown in. There's just too much music at NBA games.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Which sport is more likely to attain(reattain) significant mainstream success in America, and why: Boxing or Hockey?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Which sport is more likely to attain(reattain) significant mainstream success in America, and why: Boxing or Hockey?

Boxing. It's been popular at various points in this country for nearly 130 years. It just takes one compelling personality to get the public interested again.

[King Kamala 0]

Would it be incorrect to say that when the heavyweight division is down than boxing's popularity is down? It seems that way here in the U.S. at least. I'm sure if there was one dominant heavyweight, boxing's popularity would go back up.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Would it be incorrect to say that when the heavyweight division is down than boxing's popularity is down? It seems that way here in the U.S. at least. I'm sure if there was one dominant heavyweight, boxing's popularity would go back up.

Hard to say. Boxing lacked a truly good heavyweight champion in the early '80s (save Larry Holmes). Sugar Ray Leonard was unusually popular though. The period between Louis and Marciano had Jake LaMotta and Carmen Basilio. The '30s had the depression, so hard to measure that with any accuracy.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

n the pros? On the contrary, "Bear Down" is cool, because few teams use a typical old fight song as frequently as the Bears do, and everyone sings along (I enjoy the lyrics), so it ends up being unique at the NFL level. Old-timey baseball songs are great. "Meet The Mets," "Hey Hey, Holy Mackerel," and "Let's Go, Go-Go White Sox" are a lot of fun. I need to find more of these, because surely they're out there for teams like the Phillies, Pirates, or Reds. If you don't have a cool theme song, your baseball team might as well not even exist, if you ask me. Everyone loves "Brass Bonanza," of course. Let's not forget "Here Come The Hawks" either, and maybe this will get more exposure next year when the Blackhawks return to national television coverage on WGN:

 

Bumping this quote since I'm watching a Phillies highlight video. There is indeed a Phillies song in existence from the 1950s.

[Guest Michael Myers Resplendent]

WANT. YOU HAVE TO POST IT. Here, I'll share mine.

Go_Cubs_Go.mp3

Hey_Hey__Holy_Mackerel.mp3

Let_s_Go_Go_Go_White_Sox.mp3

MeetTheMets62Version.mp3

[MFer 0]

Should the NFL relax its uniform number rules (so that say, a Darren McFadden can wear his #5 in the pros)?

[Mike wanna be 0]

No. I'm not exactly sure why, I'm not a purist or anything, I just don't like the idea of anyone other than QB/K/P wearing single digits. I don't even like receivers with 10-19 as their number.

 

Question: Should the NCAA cut short their regular season/move its start forward a few weeks so their "March Madness" championship tournament can take the entirety of March instead of having to start halfway through and end in early April?

[Red Baron 0]

No. I like it they way it is.

 

 

What would have happened if Bobby Hull never signed with the WHA?

[Vern Gagne 0]

Just curious was Hull the player that gave the league credibility?

[Guest Michael Myers Resplendent]

Obviously. Where's the post that gave you yours?

 

If Bobby Hull never went to the WHA, salaries wouldn't have gone up so high and the Black Hawks would have won a Stanley Cup. I don't see too much of a butterfly effect from the Hull signing alone. Same eventual failure. They'd have just signed someone else.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Imagine if it was Esposito instead of Hull. As Czech said, the end result would have been folding/immersion into the NHL anyway, but no Espo in the 72 Summit Series? Yikes.

 

 

Who's your favourite no-name athlete of all time? Guys who aren't stars that you just really like.

 

 

[Perfxion 0]

Its would be debatable to guess the level of star Ray Allen of the Celtics is but he would be my pick. Since I met him when him and my brother were in the same English class in college and got an autograph of him back in 1995 after his winning shot against GTown in the Big East Championship finals.

 

Could any sport get to or pass the level of popularity that the NFL has? Can any other sport make an all day event of the draft and a damn near month event of the combine seem like must see TV? I already know the only sport close enough to get about 100 million viewers or more watching at once is the World Cup finals but any chance for anything else?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Its would be debatable to guess the level of star Ray Allen of the Celtics is but he would be my pick. Since I met him when him and my brother were in the same English class in college and got an autograph of him back in 1995 after his winning shot against GTown in the Big East Championship finals.

 

Future Hall of Famer Ray Allen isn't a star? In what universe?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Could any sport get to or pass the level of popularity that the NFL has? Can any other sport make an all day event of the draft and a damn near month event of the combine seem like must see TV? I already know the only sport close enough to get about 100 million viewers or more watching at once is the World Cup finals but any chance for anything else?

 

Of course. It's not like the NFL has been the end-all be-all of sports throughout its entire existence.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

I disagree. Sure another sport could, but how likely is it, at least in our lifetime? Not very. The NFL, besides being exceptionally well-run, has a variety of factors in its favour:

 

First, for some reason, scandals don't hit the mainstream as hard, or don't seem to. There's still a bad vibe to a Dany Heatley or a Kobe Bryant for their out-of-game incidents, yet I can't name a single player on the Party Boat two years ago.

 

Second, marketability. Sixteen games means every game is important, and TV knows that. That's a tough fact to impress when there's 80 or 160 games still to play. Not only that, the fact that they're all held on the same day; That's an easy sell, something else incredibly unlikely to be duplicated in other sports. Add to that the eight-home-game factor: If I wanna see, say, my Raiders on television or in person nearby in Buffalo or Detroit, how many chances do I get? Maybe, maybe, once a year? I better get on that. If I wanna see the Yankees play, or watch A-Rod in person, and miss my chance in April due to work; oh well, I can see them next month.

 

Finally, gambling. Until gambling can play a part in the other big sports the way it does in football, nothing's taking over. (See the first page and why soccer hasn't caught on).

 

Let it ride, I'm sure there's people on both sides of this. Again, I'm not saying that something can't or won't take over, I just don't see it happening in my life.

[Jorge Gorgeous 0]

Its would be debatable to guess the level of star Ray Allen of the Celtics is but he would be my pick. Since I met him when him and my brother were in the same English class in college and got an autograph of him back in 1995 after his winning shot against GTown in the Big East Championship finals.

 

Could any sport get to or pass the level of popularity that the NFL has? Can any other sport make an all day event of the draft and a damn near month event of the combine seem like must see TV? I already know the only sport close enough to get about 100 million viewers or more watching at once is the World Cup finals but any chance for anything else?

 

Any time there's a question with an open end like this, the safe bet is to say "of course." There was a time when hundreds of thousands of people would turn out to watch a boxing match... in person, I'm sure at the time, no one was thinking football would become the formidable entity that it has become, so who's to say that wont happen again.

 

That being said, as there are more options for the viewer, the more the market share will be split. We may never see the near complete domination that football now enjoys. Chuck Klosterman wrote about Johnny Carson, saying we will never see another phenomenon like the Johnny Carson Show, because now there are too many options for late night television. The same thing could happen with sports. Maybe not.

 

The question: Will Tracy McGrady ever make it past the first round of the playoffs as the number one or two guy on a team?

[Vern Gagne 0]

Obviously. Where's the post that gave you yours?

 

If Bobby Hull never went to the WHA, salaries wouldn't have gone up so high and the Black Hawks would have won a Stanley Cup. I don't see too much of a butterfly effect from the Hull signing alone. Same eventual failure. They'd have just signed someone else.

 

Credibility on a messageboard? Please just answer the question, or don't respond.

 

 

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Who are the five all-time greatest athletes named Carl? (Karl, Carlton, and Carlos are also acceptable)

 

("Athlete" in this context refers to anyone who plays sports on a professional level, not a descriptor of pure physical prowess. For example, Babe Ruth is a greater athlete than Michael Vick.)

[CanadianChris 0]

Carl Lewis

Carlton Fisk

Carl Yastrzemski

Roberto Carlos

Carlos Delgado

 

Who are the top 5 greatest sports announcers (TV or radio) that you have ever heard?