I was watching this on TV, really hoping that it was a mix of snowboarder cross, ice hockey, and roller derby. Unfortunately it's missing the roller derby aspect. Although people wiping out tended to cause enough injuries on their own.
Abby is actually doing something athletic this year. Unfortunately the video is from the first half of the game and Abby played in the second half. Abby's team won 42-0 against the Albany Bulldogs on Friday.
Oh yeah--Abby's team is the one in the red jerseys.
Geoff said 4 minutes later
I still don't know how the heck you play this game...you just beat people up right?
Marc said 29 minutes later
Someone in my public speaking class tried to explain the rules to rugby, starting with "They're actually very simple, people just exaggerate how difficult they are." Needless to say, she didn't do so hot on the speech because nobody had any idea what the rules were after. All I know is there is something called a Scrum, of which there is a software process loosely based on the idea.
I didn't see it, but isn't there some point in the game where people are up on each others' shoulders?
Geoff said about 1 hour later
Yeah I saw it a few times...they made makeshift field goals it looked like. This is like a mix of soccer, football, and cheer leading.
GJ said about 1 hour later
American rules football was based on rugby, and the two are very similar. Today's football is a very slow-paced game, with flashes of quick action here and there. Rugby plays more like soccer in terms of flow and speed. However, in terms of gameplay, it shares pretty much nothing with soccer.
GJ said about 2 hours later
Oh, it's also a lot like that game we played as kids, called Kill the Carrier (or in less politically correct times, Smear the Queer).
Geoff said about 2 hours later
I don't recall it ever being called, Smear the Queer.
GJ said about 2 hours later
You didn't burn crosses in the black kids yards, either, didja? Times were different when I was a kid. :)
Marc said about 2 hours later
You did? I know they still do occasionally down here below the Mason-Dixon Line.
GJ said about 4 hours later
OK, bad taste in jokes today. :) But seriously, we did call the game of Kill the Carrier "Smear the Queer" back in the days when "faggot" was tossed around as an insult rather casually.
Geoff said about 18 hours later
lol
Kristen said 1 day later
The best part of rugby (especially women's) is that there is one player who plays the position of "hooker". When the hooker throws the ball back into play, he/she screams an obscene insult at the opposing team, which typically references one of their mothers (men's rugby) or their extracurricular activities (women's rugby). Every game, practice, or chance meeting of two or more rugby players in one place, is religiously followed by a "social". During the season, one or two girls are at some point nominated Rugby Queen, although how that title is earned remains a mystery, to some. Newbies are sponsored by a Big Sister/Brother, who give their mentees a nickname in exchange for chauffeur services.
Sometimes they also throw a ball around while trying to maintain a group huddle. Black eyes and bruises are an added bonus. I think that sums up the rules.
GJ said 1 day later
You'll never guess what position Abby plays, then. :)
Marc said 1 day later
I hope all of those rules are followed in Abby's league. If so, my future kids just found their summer sport. Nothin' like some good 'ol insults during a refereed Kill the Carrier/Smear the Queer.
Has anyone ever asked Dad about his rugby years?
Geoff said 1 day later
At some point I believe "Dad" played Rugby and was subsequently hit really REALLY hard, and became the man he is today. Every now and then, the old Rugby Dad returns...usually when his kids are playing hockey. Generally he keeps the fights in the stands, but often outsources hits to his sons, who respectfully must oblige. We don't ask about those years or who that man was, we simply follow orders and hope his wrath is spent on others.
OK, so thoughts on ESPN Fantasy sports. I pretty much hate it.
A: It doesn't allow me to change players in Safari, at all.
B: I can't do my cool drag and drop player swatch when it does work
C: I have to first move my players, then, approve my changes. If I told them to move, they should move! Must be taking hints from Vista's User Account Control.
Dude, your point B is the same as point C. So, basically, you dislike the slick lineup setup that yahoo had. Tough noodles.
Espn's smack commenting, live scoring, player info dialogs, and score board all beat the crap out of yahoo. As painful as you make the lineup change tool out to be, it's not that bad.
Finally....ESPN makes score corrections, something Yahoo doesn't do. In a close game (we had two this week) that could mean the difference in a win versus a loss.
Still, I'd love to hear from everyone else on this subject. What do you think of ESPN so far?
Geoff said about 13 hours later
B is not the same as C......C is a criticism of the current ESPN system. The system wouldn't be so bad, if it didn't require an extra, unnecessary step.
Point A, being the most critical as I use Safari at home on my Mac. I don't use Firefox on my mac because it is grossly slow.
So yes, the lineup change tool does blow.
Lastly, I find it a bit more difficult to interpret some of the data vs yahoo on the scoreboard. I'm sure the more I see the system, I will get used to it, but I think their is some poor GUI going on in some areas (other areas are very good).
As for live scoring...I don't sit by my computer and watch my fantasy score as the games progress. Not as important to me personally.
I wasn't aware Yahoo didn't make score corrections. So you're saying if Yahoo screwed up a score, they just left it screwed up? Perhaps this is why I lost the finals to Marc. Obviously it wasn't a result of Brady...thats for sure. :)
GJ said about 14 hours later
Correct. Yahoo does not make much in the way of score corrections--while this hasn't bit us in football that I know of, it has bitten us in hockey several times, and actually made the difference in a playoff game a few years b
Point A: There are lots of web apps out there that don't like certain browers. Most are IE-specific, some are firefox-specific. Yeah, it sucks that it doesn't work on Safari. However, you're the first to make this complaint, so for now I'm not considering it a major suckage point.
Point C: Almost all websites today still use forms with submit buttons. Yahoo doesn't. ESPN, Fanball, and pretty much every other fantasy football site does. Strangely, Yahoo isn't the market leader in fantasy football. I'm guessing they don't get many complaints about their lineup tools. Yes, you like Yahoo's system. Guess what? I like ESPNs...because I CAN USE IT IN A SMALL WINDOW. Try dragging and dropping when the window can't show you the whole lineup...some of us like to click on the player to replace, then scroll down to the list of players and play around with who to sub in. It's a matter of personal preference, and again, so far, you're the only complainer. This isn't a bad design...it's a different design--one that likely suits their subscribes to a large degree. Yahoo caters to a more casual player, so their setup fits their site well. One isn't just naturally better than the other, in my opinion.
Point B: Please rephrase. I don't see how this isn't covered above, so elucidate me.
Point D: interpretation of data. Again, Yahoo caters to a more casual crowd. I think you'll learn to appreciate ESPN's info.
Point E: Live scoring is fun for some people, not for others. It's a lot more fun when it's free. Yahoo charges $10 for that privilege.
Geoff said about 23 hours later
I'm just pissed I lost to dad 98-90.
GJ said 1 day later
Yep, and that game cost me the win in my other league. :(
Any interest, folks? Use the comments to let me know if you want to play this year.
Edit 2007/08/15:
Player roster: Steve, Kristen, Abby, Geoff, Marc, Darcy, GJ. Dad is a definite no, Eric is unknown. We need an even number of players, so Darcy will drop out if needed.
Draft will be held next week--you should get email invites to the league tonight. I think I have all of your email addresses, so ping me if you don't see anything by noon tomorrow. I strongly urge you to take part in the live internet draft--if you don't, you have a good chance of getting a downright stinky team.
There is a wealth of FFL resources out there on the web, both free and not-so-free. Draft strategy--don't draft kickers and team defense in the first six rounds. Don't draft a quarterback in round 1. Beyond that, you're on your own!
We need to think about getting a trophy for this one, too. Steve and I ponied up for the hockey one--who wants to grab one for football?
Edit 2007/08/18: league id is 492960. Password corvette, and you can register at http://fantasy.yahoo.com. It's the free football league btw.
I'm game for playing another year. Speaking of Fantasy Sports, any chance you can bring that Hockey trophy to the wedding weekend? I'd love to see it.
Marc said about 2 hours later
I might as well give it a shot, give you guys another opponent in yet another fantasy sport to beat up on. :)
GJ said about 11 hours later
I do plan to bring it to the wedding and hand it over. It's been back in its box since the day you won, since I lost the right to display it in my office. ;) I'll see if I can finally get it engraved, too.
I need at least one more to join in to make this a go. More would be more fun, of course. Dad? Eric? Geoff? Kristen? Gina? Darcy?
Darcy said about 12 hours later
IF you need another person I am in
Abby said about 15 hours later
I'll join again. =)
Geoff said about 16 hours later
Im in!
GJ said about 16 hours later
Steve, Marc, GJ, and Abby so far, with Darcy waiting in the wings to make the number of teams even if need be. Awww, c'mon...six is way more fun than four!
GJ said about 16 hours later
Oops, and Geoff, so we're up to six with Darcy. Aww, cmon, eight is way more fun than six!
Kristen said 1 day later
Hey I'd play--the football one was less maintenance than the hockey! I need to get those dirty germans in shape again. They've been slacking.
GJ said 3 days later
Oh, and by noon tomorrow I meant Friday at noon, haha.
Steve said 4 days later
Slacker!!!!
GJ said 4 days later
:)
Steve said 4 days later
Oh boy, real slacker, it's 5:35 on Friday, still no email!! Of course, how can I complain, since GJ's been running these leagues out of the kindness of his heart for the past 7 or 8 years...
GJ said 4 days later
yeah, I'm trying to take vacation and of course we had a zillion emergencies at work this week. I wanna be a freaking garbage collector on days like this.
Steve said 5 days later
Any chance we could push the draft back to later in the evening, like, say 8:30 PM? Or put it on a weekday evening? I am the chairperson for an autocross that day, so there's no chance I could participate in a 3:30 PM draft.
GJ said 5 days later
Sure. What say the rest of you? The sooner you ping me, the better a date I can set.
It's ok, A-Rod is going to pass him if he keeps it up. He just crested 500 and he's like 10 years younger than Bonds.
Steve said about 13 hours later
It's baseball, who cares? That's like if someone eclipsed Michael Jordan's record. Who cares? That would just be the NBA. I think golf is a more popular spectator sport (TV) than baseball these days.
Kristen said about 14 hours later
I agree with Steve, who cares? I found the doping investigations revolving around the Tour de France much more interesting. They haven't even decided who won last year yet.
GJ said 1 day later
I think Iron Chef is more popular than baseball, but what do I know? Oh, that's right....EVERYTHING!!! :)
Congrats to Kristen, she manhandled Abby to move on to the second round and face Darcy. Good luck with that. ;)
Steve has opened a 5-2 lead on Geoff tonight, but most of the games are still late in the second period, and their match up is close. I still don't know who I'm beating next week.
11:22pm. Oh boy. Steve and Geoff are tied, 3-3. Tie break system goes into effect. Ties are broken by:
1. Goals. nope, still tied.
2. Assists. Poof. Steve wins. Thanks for playing, Geoff.
So, round 2 is set. Darcy vs Kristen, and GJ vs Steve this week.
Oh, and Geoff plays Abby this week for fifth place.
Next week begins the two week game: Winners of the semifinals play for #1, losers of the semifinals play for #3, and Marc and Eric play for #7.
Geoff said about 13 hours later
So close! It was a good bout to the end, an exciting start to the playoffs!
GJ said 3 days later
Good time for my goalies to take a week off. This is going to be an interesting game with Steve, to say the least.
GJ said 4 days later
If Malkin and Crosby don't get their heads out of their collective anuses, Steve is going to freaking bury me. And screw having my goalies play--especially if they're going to give up five goals a game.
So, who wants to set up the Yahoo Fantasy NCAA pool this year? I keep forgetting, and can't do it from work. :)
Set it up and post the linky here, in either a comment to this post or an entirely new post.
And in other fantasy news, the playoffs have begun for hockey. GJ and Abby get a bye as the #1 and #2 seeds respectively. Darcy (#3) plays Kristen (#6) and Steve (#4) plays Geoff (#5) this week. Marc (#7) and Eric (#8) play next week, methinks. Odds are pretty good the trophy will stay in Glenville, we're just not sure on whose desk it will reside. LOL!!!
Baumbach Basketball Bonanza 07 has been created! If I left off an email, let me know! I'm not good at posting links, so you'll have to check your inbox. Password is the same as it's always been.
GJ said 1 day later
Thank you Kristen!!!
Now the rest of you, get out there and set your picks!
