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Post by commond on Jul 11, 2023 19:41:23 GMT -5
Several days behind, as usual, but I just finished watching the Super Rugby Pacific semi-final between the Crusaders and the Blues, which turned out to be a disappointingly one-sided blow-out. I don't know if the Crusaders just have their number or what, but it was far worse than last year's Final between the same two teams and I thought that was a disappointment, with the Crusaders winning handily after the Blues had been the best team in the competition all year (2022, that is). This year it's been the Chiefs. I wasn't able to see their semi-final against the Brumbies but from the highlights it was a tight, low-scoring affair, a complete contrast to this one. So it's the Crusaders (again) and the Chiefs in the Final. I don't have a preference, my team, the Hurricanes, having been knocked out in the quarter-finals. I was gonna ask if you've been keeping up to date with the rugby. Big game this weekend between the Springboks and the All Blacks. Neither team will be looking to give much away in a World Cup year, but both teams will be dying to win.
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Post by berkley on Jul 11, 2023 23:01:34 GMT -5
Several days behind, as usual, but I just finished watching the Super Rugby Pacific semi-final between the Crusaders and the Blues, which turned out to be a disappointingly one-sided blow-out. I don't know if the Crusaders just have their number or what, but it was far worse than last year's Final between the same two teams and I thought that was a disappointment, with the Crusaders winning handily after the Blues had been the best team in the competition all year (2022, that is). This year it's been the Chiefs. I wasn't able to see their semi-final against the Brumbies but from the highlights it was a tight, low-scoring affair, a complete contrast to this one. So it's the Crusaders (again) and the Chiefs in the Final. I don't have a preference, my team, the Hurricanes, having been knocked out in the quarter-finals. I was gonna ask if you've been keeping up to date with the rugby. Big game this weekend between the Springboks and the All Blacks. Neither team will be looking to give much away in a World Cup year, but both teams will be dying to win.
I just watched the SA vs Aus. match from this past weekend earlier this evening and the Springboks looked impressive. They had several players that I haven't seen much of before - I don't think they were new caps but definitely the team as a whole is different from what I remember of last year's "Rugby Championship" (another badly-chosen name, IMO). So to me they're a bit of an unknown quantity, but that might be just because I haven't been seeing much of the SA club sides in the European competition in which they now play. And I'm sure some of the guys I was surprised not to see today will be back (e.g. Etzebeth, etc).
Australia were a bit disappointing, because I had thought they were slowly turning things around the last few months, but they seemed outclassed today.
I'm trying to download the NZ-Argentina game but it's slow coming. But I should be able to watch it in a couple days. I know the score already but I still want to see it. Highlights aren't enough for me!
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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 30, 2023 16:24:39 GMT -5
I'm a Met fan and I'm getting PTSD from them trading their closer and winningest pitcher in the last 3 days. I know they weren't going to make the playoffs this year after spending 350 million , but I don't want them to end up losing 90 games this year after those moves.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 31, 2023 7:47:03 GMT -5
I'm a Met fan and I'm getting PTSD from them trading their closer and winningest pitcher in the last 3 days. I know they weren't going to make the playoffs this year after spending 350 million , but I don't want them to end up losing 90 games this year after those moves. yeah, this year has been a real case study in the 'Can money buy a championship?' argument. Maybe it can, but it certainly hasn't worked so well for the Mets and Padres.
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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 31, 2023 9:23:26 GMT -5
I'm a Met fan and I'm getting PTSD from them trading their closer and winningest pitcher in the last 3 days. I know they weren't going to make the playoffs this year after spending 350 million , but I don't want them to end up losing 90 games this year after those moves. yeah, this year has been a real case study in the 'Can money buy a championship?' argument. Maybe it can, but it certainly hasn't worked so well for the Mets and Padres. The money spent by the Mets is misleading. Most of it went to retain the players they already had. Still a mess.
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 3, 2023 8:50:20 GMT -5
I thought I’d share this:
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Post by Calidore on Aug 4, 2023 14:07:50 GMT -5
Those who are so inclined might want to send thoughts and prayers Steve McMichaels' way. He was admitted to the ICU last night with sepsis, and while his vitals are improving with treatment, he also has pneumonia. Further, his ALS has progressed to where he is unable to move or speak.
He's getting closer to making the cut for this year's NFL Hall of Fame inductions; I hope he makes it while he's still with us.
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Post by berkley on Aug 4, 2023 15:37:39 GMT -5
Two big boxing matches last week, Inoue vs Fulton and Crawford vs Spence. Both ended up being one-sided affairs but very much worth watching for fans of the sport because the two winners are probably the best two boxers pound-for-pound right now and they each turned in a career-best performance, arguably, especially considering their opponents (undefeated, multi-belt champs themselves). Hugely impressed by both guys.
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 4, 2023 17:48:07 GMT -5
Two big boxing matches last week, Inoue vs Fulton and Crawford vs Spence. Both ended up being one-sided affairs but very much worth watching for fans of the sport because the two winners are probably the best two boxers pound-for-pound right now and they each turned in a career-best performance, arguably, especially considering their opponents (undefeated, multi-belt champs themselves). Hugely impressed by both guys. I couldn’t agree more. Sadly, it does seem the UK media ignored these bouts. But I agree with every word. Thankfully, publications like Boxing News were there with analysis and reporting. There appears to be a near-consensus, among boxing journalists and fans, that the heavyweight division is experiencing a malaise, due to various factors: a lack of a competitive division, weak matches, champions ducking potential opponents, broken promises, promoter/alphabet group bureaucracy, gimmicks, etc, etc. It’s hard to disagree with any of that. But as I often say, the heavyweight division needn’t be the be-all and end-all. Sure, it’ll get a lot of airtime and media coverage, but we’ve had 2 great bouts recently, at super-bantamweight and welterweight. With the heavyweight division being so boring now (IMO), I remind myself that other divisions, such as super-bantamweight and welterweight, are succeeding where the heavyweight division is failing.
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Post by berkley on Aug 4, 2023 20:20:53 GMT -5
Two big boxing matches last week, Inoue vs Fulton and Crawford vs Spence. Both ended up being one-sided affairs but very much worth watching for fans of the sport because the two winners are probably the best two boxers pound-for-pound right now and they each turned in a career-best performance, arguably, especially considering their opponents (undefeated, multi-belt champs themselves). Hugely impressed by both guys. I couldn’t agree more. Sadly, it does seem the UK media ignored these bouts. But I agree with every word. Thankfully, publications like Boxing News were there with analysis and reporting. There appears to be a near-consensus, among boxing journalists and fans, that the heavyweight division is experiencing a malaise, due to various factors: a lack of a competitive division, weak matches, champions ducking potential opponents, broken promises, promoter/alphabet group bureaucracy, gimmicks, etc, etc. It’s hard to disagree with any of that. But as I often say, the heavyweight division needn’t be the be-all and end-all. Sure, it’ll get a lot of airtime and media coverage, but we’ve had 2 great bouts recently, at super-bantamweight and welterweight. With the heavyweight division being so boring now (IMO), I remind myself that other divisions, such as super-bantamweight and welterweight, are succeeding where the heavyweight division is failing.
Yes, it's unfortunate but even for fans you have to make a special effort to keep on top of things and look for the most interesting and important fights online or what have you. At least Crawford vs Spence got a mention on one of the general sports news channels we have here in Canada, can't recall if it was TSN or Sportsnet, which doesn't always happen even for the biggest fights. Inoue's win over Fulton didn't make the sports news, for example, at least not that I saw.
As far as the heavyweights go right now, I'd kind of like to see Tyson Fury retire while he's on top as I don't think he has anything more to achieve - he's beaten his biggest threat, Wilder, twice in a row, and a win or loss against the much smaller Usyk wouldn't do anything for his legacy. And much as I admire Usyk, I'm still not convinced he can stand in with these much bigger heavyweights indefinitely, though he seems to have Joshua's number. Even with Holyfield, to compare him to another relatively small HW champion who moved up from light-heavy and cruiserweight, I think fighting these huge guys like Bowe and Lewis started to wear him down as the years went on and I think he was a bigger guy than Usyk and had more one-punch KO power.
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 5, 2023 9:22:36 GMT -5
At least four boxing personalities (three of whom are fighters) are claiming Crawford is currently the best fighter in the world.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 5, 2023 9:45:16 GMT -5
I thought I’d share this: Wow, russo is clueless about baseball too This season being great has everything to do with the pitch clock... its more in spite of the balance schedules that have made it so there are 2 division winners that have a worse record than the entire AL EAST
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 5, 2023 9:54:41 GMT -5
Yep, that’s why I shared it. It’s his view, but I disagree with 99% of what he says.
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Post by berkley on Aug 5, 2023 12:26:05 GMT -5
At least four boxing personalities (three of whom are fighters) are claiming Crawford is currently the best fighter in the world.
The only reason I'd say it's hard to judge is that he's never been pushed. Spence was expected to give him a strong challenge but he was completely dominated by Crawford - it wasn't close at all, and pretty much right from the beginning, or the 2nd round at the latest.
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 5, 2023 13:13:33 GMT -5
At least four boxing personalities (three of whom are fighters) are claiming Crawford is currently the best fighter in the world.
The only reason I'd say it's hard to judge is that he's never been pushed. Spence was expected to give him a strong challenge but he was completely dominated by Crawford - it wasn't close at all, and pretty much right from the beginning, or the 2nd round at the latest.
Almost word for word, Boxing News compared Crawford-Spence and Inoue-Fulton as bouts that some thought might be competitive, but ended up being one-sided affairs. Any thoughts/predictions pertaining to Jake Paul vs Nate Diaz?
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