Sports « Whipped Cream Difficulties

Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

Words have meanings.

Thursday, December 26th, 2013

This is how Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary on Project Gutenberg defines the word “infamous”:

INFAMOUS
In”fa*mous, a. Etym: [Pref. in- not + famous: cf. L. infamis. See
Infamy.]

1. Of very bad report; having a reputation of the worst kind; held in abhorrence; guilty of something that exposes to infamy; base; notoriously vile; detestable; as, an infamous traitor; an infamous perjurer. False errant knight, infamous, and forsworn. Spenser.

2. Causing or producing infamy; deserving detestation; scandalous to the last degree; as, an infamous act; infamous vices; infamous corruption. Macaulay.

3. (Law)

Defn: Branded with infamy by conviction of a crime; as, at common law, an infamous person can not be a witness.

4. Having a bad name as being the place where an odious crime was committed, or as being associated with something detestable; hence, unlucky; perilous; dangerous. “Infamous woods.” P. Fletcher. Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds. Milton. The piny shade More infamous by cursed Lycaon made. Dryden.

Syn. — Detestable; odious; scandalous; disgraceful; base; vile; shameful; ignominious.

I quote this here because it is in the public domain. More modern sources, such as the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, agree with the definition, especially the “having a reputation of the worst kind”.

So what?

That’s part of the front page of today’s HouChron. The 1993 Houston Oilers had “a reputation of the worst kind”? They were “held in abhorrence”? They were “base; notoriously vile; detestable”? That’s really not how I remember things.

After a 28-3 halftime lead against the Buffalo Bills, the Oilers eventually lost 41-38 in one of the most infamous comebacks in NFL history.

Same thing here. Guys, “inflammable” and “flammable” mean the same thing, yes. But “infamous” and “famous” do not.

They may have been “dysfunctional”. But they went 12-4. I’d be more inclined to refer to the 2013 Houston Texans as “infamous” instead of the 1993 Oilers.

That is, if I was going to use the word to refer to a football team. Which I’m not, because I feel like I have a grasp of what the word means, unlike the HouChron headline writers. (Brian T. Smith, the author of the linked article, avoids using “infamous”. Kudos to him; I’d like to read the piece that’s coming on Sunday, but it looks like it will be behind the paywall.)

Posted in Clippings, NFL, Sports, Wordplay | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: December 17, 2013.

Thursday, December 19th, 2013

You know that comment we made yesterday, about “Start writing or stop talking about it” being pretty good writing advice?

This week’s TMQ after the jump…

(more…)

Posted in Apple, Cars, Clippings, Cycling, Geek, Guns, Mixology, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch, TV | Comments Closed

Tickling my fancy.

Wednesday, December 18th, 2013

By the same token, Mr. Osin said, the flame had set people on fire only on three occasions, and never in a hazardous way. “It’s not dangerous,” Mr. Osin said. “It didn’t even damage the garments of the torchbearers.”

I don’t know why I find “the Olympic torch has only set people on fire three times” so funny, but I do. It reminds me of the line from the Spinal Tap commentary track about the pods working…maybe 70% of the time, but Marty DiBergi had to pick one night they didn’t work and make a big deal out of it…

Also tickling my funny bone:

The Olympic flame is not eternal, but is relit a few months before each Olympics, said Bill Mallon, a former president of the International Society of Olympic Historians. It originates in the temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece, where it is ceremonially lit by “supposedly Greek virgin priestesses,” Mr. Mallon said, using the sun’s rays via a parabolic mirror.

“supposedly Greek virgin priestesses”? I’m not sure I want to think about that.

Posted in Clippings, Sports | Comments Closed

Reason #1,384 why I hate the Olympics…

Saturday, December 14th, 2013

…and the International Olympic Committee:

Vivian and Ronald Joseph finished in fourth place in the pairs skating competition at the 1964 Winter Olympics.

However, after the Olympics, it came out that the second place West German team of Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler had signed a contract with Holiday on Ice before the Olympics. This violated IOC rules, and, in 1966, the West Germans gave their medals back. The Canadian team of Debbi Wilkes and Guy Revell were moved up to second, and the Josephs were moved up to third. There was even a small subdued ceremony in Chicago for the Josephs, and the Wilkes/Revall team were awarded their medals at the 1967 national championships in Canada.

Prodded by two German members, the I.O.C. quietly re-awarded the West Germans their silver medals in 1987, 23 years after the Innsbruck Games, at an executive board meeting in Istanbul. The couple was deemed “rehabilitated.”

But the IOC never asked the Josephs or the Wilkes/Revell team for their medals back. (Guy Revell died in 1981 and was buried with his medal, so that might have been interesting.) Nor did the IOC tell anyone in the Canadian or US figure skating associations.

Confusing matters further, various skating record books reported different information. Skate Canada’s media guide lists the Canadians as silver medalists with no mention of sharing. The U.S. Figure Skating media guide lists the original finishing order but with an asterisk explaining the disqualification and reversal. But editions before 2002-3 did not mention the reversal.

As of now, 26 years later, the IOC is officially stating that the Wilkes/Revell Canadian team shares the silver medal with the West Germans, and the Josephs are the bronze medal winners. “Despite the information on its website over the years, the I.O.C. said in an email that since 1987 this was always intended to be the official result.”

Uh-huh. Pull the other one, guys; it has silver bells on it, just in time for the Christmas season.

Posted in Clippings, Sports | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: December 10, 2013.

Tuesday, December 10th, 2013

As noted last week, this is TMQ’s bye week.

Meanwhile, we have obtained a copy of The King of Sports: Football’s Impact on America. According to our Kindle, we got about 65% of the way through it while waiting for new tires to be put on WCD’s official vehicle. (“Daddy Drank Our Xmas Money”? Yeah, bullshit. Daddy put all our Xmas money into car tires. Daddy doesn’t even have enough money for cheap vodka. Not that Daddy’s bitter or anything.)

It probably will not happen today, but we do plan to have a review of King of Sports up between now and the next TMQ.

Posted in Books, Christmas, Kindleing, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

Boomaly boomaly boomaly boom!

Friday, December 6th, 2013

Earlier today, I was thinking to myself:

Things are slow. There’s not really much worth writing about.
“Gee, I wonder if any NFL coaches are going to be fired before the season ends. They haven’t canned Schiano yet, Jacksonville is kind of on an upswing, and I don’t think the Texans are going to fire Kubiak before the season ends…”

Well, I was wrong wrong wrongity wrong!

Gary Kubiak, who led the Houston Texans to back-to-back AFC South division titles and the franchise’s only two playoff victories but stumbled to 11 straight losses and a 2-11 record this year, was fired on Friday.

Wade Philips will be the interim coach. And Case Keenum will be the starting quarterback for the remainder of the season.

Analysis of Kubiak’s years here must include yin and yang, as his run with the Texans will be remembered for successes and failures. Triumphs and defeats. Ups and downs.
Mathematically, in fact, there is almost an equal number of each.
Unfortunately for him, mediocrity was the standard.

Kubiak’s overall record with the Texans was 61-64.

Edited to add: The team also fired Joe Marciano, special teams coordinator “who had been with the organization since its inception in 2002”.

Posted in Clippings, Firings, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: December 3, 2013.

Wednesday, December 4th, 2013

Instead of a musical interlude, or random snark, we’ve decided this week to bring you something we hope you’ll really like: an interview with Gregg Easterbrook about The King of Sports: Football’s Impact on America from Reason magazine. Why? Well, we self-identify as libertarians, we like Reason, and we’d like to give them some more exposure. Also, we think this is a rare opportunity to see and hear the man himself, just in case you were wondering what TMQ looks and sounds like.

After the jump, this week’s TMQ…

(more…)

Posted in Art, Books, Christmas, Clippings, NFL, Sports, Theatre, TMQ watch | 1 Comment »

TMQ Watch: November 26, 2013.

Wednesday, November 27th, 2013

Over the past few years, we have come to the conclusion that the word “professional” is becoming the most abused word in the English language. “Professional grade” pickup trucks; as a dedicated amateur, can I save a few bucks by purchasing a non-professional grade one? “That’s not professional” has become a commonly used phrase in business; what that really means, as we see it, is “I don’t like it, but if I invoke the word ‘professional’, you can’t argue with me.”

What does this have to do with TMQ? Well, in this week’s edition, after the jump…

(more…)

Posted in Books, Clippings, Geek, Movies, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch, TV | Comments Closed

Random notes: November 22, 2013.

Friday, November 22nd, 2013

What a way to start the morning:

Jim Crane’s Astros ownership group filed a state court lawsuit Thursday against former Astros owner Drayton McLane, Comcast and NBC Universal, accusing them of fraud and civil conspiracy and accusing McLane’s corporation that owned the Astros of breach of contract in conjunction with Crane’s 2011 purchase of a 46 percent interest in the parent company of Comcast SportsNet Houston.

(Previously.)

Hunting rats. With dogs. In Manhattan.

The hunts are conducted something like a country fox hunt, but in an urban setting. Members say it allows their dogs — mostly breeds known for chasing small game and vermin — to indulge in basic instinctual drives by killing a dozen or two dozen rats each time they are let loose.

This is legal in Bloomberg’s New York?

The group sometimes gets tips from homeless people or police officers, Mr. Reynolds said. In fact, he said, some officers have gone from initially being suspicious of what they were doing to suggesting rat locations and wishing them luck.

…

A spokeswoman for the New York City Police Department said there was no information available on the legality of using dogs to hunt rats in the city.

Save horce racing! Put USADA in charge!

The United States Anti-Doping Agency is the last and best hope to return safety and integrity to the troubled sport of thoroughbred racing, members of the industry told Congress at a hearing Thursday.

The state of Alabama has granted posthumous pardons to Haywood Patterson, Charles Weems and Andy Wright. You know them better as three of the nine Scottsboro Boys.

Posted in Clippings, Cops, Horses, Law, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: November 20, 2013.

Wednesday, November 20th, 2013

There are no undefeated teams left in the NFL this season. The Kansas City Chiefs lost on Sunday.

We all know what that means, right?

Or do we?

After the jump, this week’s TMQ…

(more…)

Posted in Clippings, Law, NFL, TMQ watch, TV | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: November 12, 2013.

Wednesday, November 13th, 2013

When we were growing up in Houston in the 1970s and early 1980s, these were the rules:

Root for the Houston Oilers over everyone.
Root for the Dallas Cowboys over everyone except the Houston Oilers.
After that, it was pretty much personal preference. At the time, we were fond of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, because we are suckers for underdogs, lost causes, and beautiful women. (Tampa Bay falls into two out of those three.)

Of course, that was a long time ago, in another country, and besides Tom Landry is dead. Jerry Jones runs the Cowboys. And, in this week’s TMQ, after the jump…

(more…)

Posted in Guns, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed