That One Sports Show

All sorts of sporting news to get to along with a new would you rather, this week’s toss up and a recap of everything else you may have missed. WYR: Get into a game for 3 6.5-minute increments or 2 10-minute increments. So hockey or basketball. Toss Up: Who gets final two wildcard spots in each AL and NL. John – Detroit and Toronto, Giants Cards Geoff – Mets NFL Pickem: anh1608 winning 28-20 (only person with a record above .500), with RatedJKD in last place at 13-19 Arnold Palmer 5th all-time PGA tour wins (62 over 19 years) Jose Fernandez, Marlins pitcher died in a boating accident this past week. Marlins all wore #16 in honor of the late Jose Fernandez, Dee Gordon hit a homerun as the first batter in the bottom of the first inning. “I told them boys if you don’t believe in God y’all might as well start. I ain’t never hit a ball that far even in BP.” – Dee Gordon The Marlins had 16 batters reach safely Monday Night vs the Mets. Cubs win 100 games for the first time in 80 years. Indians clinch, first division title since 2007 Tim Tebow homers in first at bat in instructional league again, 57 of 58 players playing there were born in the 90s, but it’s the instructional league, so who cares. http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/1453451/22522676/1366727900300/The+Fall+Instructional+League.pdf?token=FqMzphu1jHJ8uhU18BTh1NujIt4%3D Battlebots finalized. Tombstone was the winner. Beat out Bombshell to win the Golden Nut. Toss Up from last week: Gary Sanchez hit fewer homeruns than the Yankees had wins in the past week. John wins.

We take a look around the Big 10 and all other leagues to see who has what it takes to stay ranked this week. Also a major firing after a crazy ending to a game. We discuss some rules and whether verbally committing as a high school Freshman should be allowed and if it should actually mean anything. Games To Watch This Week: #7 Stanford at #10 Washington – 9p FRIDAY. ESPN J- stanford G – Washington #11 Tennessee at #25 Georgia – 3:30. CBS J – Tennessee G – Tennessee #8 Wisconsin at #4 Michigan – 3:30. ABC J – Mich G – Wisconsin #3 Louisville at #5 Clemson – 8:00. ABC J – Louisville G – Clemson Oklahoma at #21 TCU – 5:00. Fox J – TCU G – Oklahoma G – Georgia State J – App state How’d we do last week: #12 Georgia 14 at #23 Ole Miss 45 G – Georgia J – Ole Miss #11 Wisconsin 30 at #8 Michigan State 6 G – MSU J – Wisconsin #19 Florida 28 at #14 Tennessee 38 G – Florida J – Tennessee #17 Arkansas 24 at #10 Texas A&M 45 G – A&M J – Arkansas USC 27 at #24 Utah 31 G – USC J – Utes J- 2-3, 2-3, 4-1, 4-1= 12-8 G- 3-2, 5-0, 3-2 1-4, = 12-8 ==================== Les Miles got fired What’s your take on this: Danny Clark decommitting from OSU https://twitter.com/DClarkQB/status/780751709610049536/photo/1

We cover the latest in the NFL with injury updates, games to watch and some stats from around the league. Geoff also accidentally gives a ridiculous nickname to one quarterback. Up-to-date list of Most Pass Attempts in player’s 1st 3 games without INT: Warren Moon 103 Carson Wentz 102 Case Keenum 102 Dak Prescott 99 Terelle Pryor – 1st player to have 3+ completions, 20+ rush yds, 100+ rec yds & 1 rush TD in a game. Drew Brees has the most 300+ yard passing games that have been losses than any other quarterback ever. 5 teams undefeated, 4 teams totally defeated, who wins this week? G – New England wins, Denver wins, Vikings wins J – Bills win, Vikings win G – Jax wins in London, New Orleans wins, Browns win (reluctantly) J – New Orleans wins, Browns win

Tobacco in baseball has an intriguing history and one that is like that of a scorned lover. At the end of 2016, the labor agreements are up for renewal, leading to a “will they or won’t they” situation. Will the MLB totally obliterate smokeless tobacco from baseball? Or will they stay out of it for the most part as long as players go dipless during interviews and autograph signings. The beginning of smokeless tobacco in baseball Baseball and tobacco grew up together in America. Both made their mark on our history in the mid 1800s and while tobacco was proven to be dangerous several different times, baseball players continue to turn their noses up at science and turn their lips and cheeks out for that sweet, sweet tabacky. In the late 1800s, the average American (including ballplayers) was going through roughly 3 pounds of tobacco per day. That was before a German microbiologist by the name of Robert Koch suggested that spitting contributed to the spread of tuberculosis. No bueno. Chewing died down for a bit, but it was bound to rear its head again. Oops, Tobacco is bad! While most Americans gave up smokeless tobacco for cigarettes, baseball players continued with it as rumors swirled that cigarettes could cause fatigue and lead to hitting slumps. Slumps and fatigue are both quite possibly true, but that could be said of any profession where one was a smoker. We know today that smoking affects the lungs which could most definitely lead to poor hitting performances. Surprisingly (or maybe not), this superstition came from a sport where players actively smoked during the game. Can you imagine Bryce Harper smoking a stogie? Lou Gehrig enjoys a drink and a smoke after a hard fought game. Before ballplayers were totally banned from sponsoring cigarettes this was not uncommon. Aside from superstition, players felt smokeless tobacco had its benefits. Some accounts say that due to the dusty infields of the day, infielders would chew to keep their mouths from getting dry. So what, your mouth gets dry, no biggie. Actually, fairly big biggie. Gloves were and still are made out of leather and can get stiff over time. Think about what you do with a mitt as soon as you buy it. You oil it up, bake it, anything to keep it loose. Due to the glove tightness, players would spit their mouth juices into the mitts to keep them flexible during the game. They could also spit into their gloves to add a little extra gunk to their pitches. One last little blip about cigarettes and baseball, the two were closely related for consumers of the sport and the hobby. Cards of players could be found in cigarette packs and one such player was the legendary Honus Wagner. In 1909 the American Tobacco Company added his card into their cigarettes without his permission. Threatening to sue, Wagner put a stop to the card’s production, leading to its rarity. Only 57 are known to exist. Just kidding, tobacco is fine! The use of dip or smokeless tobacco really took off in the 60s, but from the beginning of the 1900s to the 40s any big baseball player was associated with different brands of cigarettes or cigars. It was hard to find a player that didn’t seem to be endorsing a smoking product. Willie Hays, Lou Gehrig were a few and Babe Ruth (who later died of throat cancer) can be seen in an ad saying “Now medical science! Proof Positive! No other leading cigarette is safer to smoke.” When the 60s rolled around, people finally re

Would you rather, updates on how we did last week and the weekly toss up. Full notes to come.

More notes on the way: This Week: #12 Georgia at #23 Ole Miss – Noon. ESPN G – Georgia J – Ole Miss #11 Wisconsin at #8 Michigan State – Noon. BTN G – MSU J – Wisconsin #19 Florida at #14 Tennessee – 3:30 CBS G – Florida J – Tennessee #17 Arkansas at #10 Texas A&M – 9:00. ESPN G – A&M J – Arkansas USC at #24 Utah – 9:00 Friday. FS1 G – USC J – Utes Last Week: How’d we do #2 Florida State 20 at #10 Louisville 63 G – FSU J – Louisville #1 Alabama 48 at #19 Ole Miss 43 G – Bama J – Bama #12 Michigan State 36 at #18 Notre Dame 28 G – ND J – MSU #3 Ohio State 45 at #14 Oklahoma 24 G – OSU J – OSU #25 Miami(FL) 45 at Appalachian State 10 G – Miami J – App St.

Last week we mentioned the idea of having robotic umpires calling balls and strikes and after eventually understanding what we were talking about, Geoff was on board. I was still on the fence, but one of our listeners had some good thoughts on technology in baseball. “What’s wrong with using lasers to to define a strike box? (similar to tennis or volleyball CG replays) Perhaps design a base that responds to pressure or electrical contact with metal cleats (swimming/fencing tech) to ensure his foot his the bag? Hell, what if players had ‘fitbit’ type devices that plugged into their gloves? A pitcher gets accolades for his 106mph fast ball, and a ‘robot’ told us that. I think you have to appreciate perfection in a century old game, and robots provide that opportunity of achievement, whereas umps can only ruin it, like calling a runner safe, when he isn’t.” Definitely some fair points there, so I decided to look into it to see if more information would change my mind. My journey started with two days from July last year in the Pacific Association and the San Rafael Pacifics (so clever, right?). The Pacific Association is an independent professional baseball league, so no affiliation with the MLB. On July 31 of last year the Pacifics introduced a new way to call balls and strikes. The Future of Balls and Strikes Using a series of cameras, one in centerfield, and two at the corners of the backstop, Eric Byrne (former major leaguer) and his Pitchf/x called all of the balls and strikes for two games. Byrne touts the technology as being accurate within an inch of the strike zone, whereas current umpires are generally only accurate up to one foot. Former major league outfielder Eric Byrnes uses a computerized video system to call balls and strikes (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) The use of this technology marked the first game where balls and strikes were called by looking at a computer screen, an idea that has some folks a little nervous. Younger players seemed to appreciate the technology, noting that anything to keep calls consistent was going to be beneficial. More old-school players and managers fear that some of the pageantry of the game might be lost if umpires are completely replaced by this technology. That being said, umpires will most likely never be phased out as someone needs to call runners safe and out. I see a future where the PITCHf/x call is relayed directly to an umpire, whether via an earpiece or some indicator that way the call is still made by the umpire, but he is more of a conduit for the machine. Technology in Baseball: Older Than You Think While this way of calling balls and strikes is new, the idea and process behind it is not. In the 1950s, Branch Rickey of the Dodgers worked with some engineers to create a home plate that was wired up with mirrors and photoelectric cells. When the ball would cross the plate in the appropriate strike area, a signal would be sent to a box that contained a majority of the machinery and a little red light would trigger. Due to the photoelectric cells the tech could not be used at night, which meant it was going to be a hard sell. No games were ever called using this machine, but Rickey used it as a training tool.

It’s a video you’ve probably seen before. A man wildly sprints out of the dugout and has to be restrained by 4 referees and coaches, wanting to strangle head umpire Tim McClelland. We go in depth onto what happened that day and what would happen in the future. At the end of July 1983, the Royals were in a hard fought battle with the New York Yankees leading 4-3. Royals 3rd baseman George Brett comes up (now a Hall-of-Famer), and smacks a 2-run homer. Royals lead. At the time, the Yankees were coached by known trickster and strategist Billy Martin. Martin came trotting out of the dugout and appealed the homerun, claiming Brett’s pine tar was too high on the bat, an act that had been deemed uncool by the MLB. You may think meh, no biggie, but a rule had just been put into place to prevent pine tar from being further up the bat than 18 inches from the handle. The rule prevented balls from getting gunked up and if the balls were gunked up it was a disadvantage for the batter, so overall the rule kept the game fair. Going back to the bat, the 18 inches of pine tar are about half the bat. The average bat size is around 34 inches, so 16 inches of untarnished bat are required on a bat to make it legit. Of the 160 pages of MLB rules, pine tar is mentioned twice, so in general it’s not a huge deal. While we’re on the subject of sizes, home plate is 17 inches across, something we noted in part 1, when discussing umpires getting swapped out with robots. This allowed Tim McClelland to lay the bat over home plate and note that it well-surpassed the 18 inches of pine tar allowed. He walked over to the dugout, pointed at Brett, and signaled him out. Why was Brett Called Out At the time, under the rules in 1983, any batter using a bat that had over 18 inches of pine tar coverage was said to be illegally batting the ball. In general, an illegally batted ball was an immediate call of “out” for the batter and McClelland made that call. He was a rookie ump at the time and everyone makes mistakes, but he was using his understanding of the rule and made a decision. Signalling Brett “out” meant that the homerun was rescinded, the runs were washed away and the third out of the game had been made, therefore game over, Royals lose 4-3. Brett exploded. He couldn’t contain his rage and frustration. He charge the field, ready to kill McClelland. It took three or four coaches and other umpires to keep him away as he rampaged across the field. It’s a classic sports moment and one that still gives me chills. No doubt Billy Martin chuckled to himself as the chaos on the field cooled and the Yankees walked away with the win. The Appeal Royals manager Rocky Colavito felt the ruling was made unjustly, with the rule being misconstrued and Martin being an overall tool by not saying anything about the bat (in use all game) until Brett had undermined the possible Yankees victory. The Royals appealed the ruling and it went to the league president, Lee MacPhail. It’s important to note that baseball is one of the few sports that allows for protests. Overall the protests don’t affect the outcome of the game, but in rare cases when they are overturned the game must be continued. MacPhail determined that this was one of those cas

The NFL began and concussions immediately went to the number one topic. Forget anthem protests, helmet to helmet hits are back in full swing. We take a look at some possible ways to fix it. More notes coming. Why is an intentional helmet to helmet hit not a personal foul? – unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct are all that fall under the 2 foul ejection rule. #60.1 – Robot Umpires, Toss Up and The Tale of Two Quarterbacks #60.2 – Overturning Games, Blown Calls and NCAA Money Decisions #60.3 – What Concussion? Quarterback Problems and New NFL Rules #60.4 – The Story of George Brett and the Pine Tar Incident

Around the NCAA there are crazy games happening and we’ve got the deets on some of the craziest from this past week, a discussion about whether games should be overturned if the clock reads 0:00 and if NCAA book money rules are stupid. Here’s all the notes! How’d we do last week review: Nevada 10 at (18) Notre Dame 39 | G – ND, J – Nevada Arkansas 41 at (15) TCU 38 | G – Ark, J – TCU +30 Iowa State 3 at (16) Iowa 42 | G – Iowa, J – Iowa Virginia Tech 24 vs. (17) Tennessee 45 (@Bristol Motor Speedway) | G – Tenn, J – VT Virginia 26 at (24) Oregon 44 | G – Ore, J – Ore J- 2-3, 2-3 = 4-6 G- 3-2, 5-0 = 8-2 Rule of the Week: A period shall be extended for an untimed down if one or more of the following occurs during a down in which time expires (A.R. 3-2-3:I-VIII): A penalty is accepted for a live-ball foul(s). (Exception: Rule 10-2-5-a ). The period is not extended if the foul is by the team in possession and the statement of the penalty includes loss of down (A.R. 3-2-3:VIII). Should referee mistakes at the end of a game be overturned (Central Michigan vs. Ok SU) http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/11/overturn-miami-duke-game-kickoff-youtube-touchdown-eight-lateral-suspension-vacate-victory http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/14086557/big-ten-says-officials-correctly-handled-nebraska-game-winning-td-vs-michigan-state “The crew missed an opportunity to advise the MAC officiating crew of the misapplication of the penalty giving CMU an untimed down that resulted in its game-winning touchdown. NCAA rules permit instant replay to correct egregious errors and it is unacceptable that it did not occur in this situation.  Additionally, this replay crew will not be eligible for assignment to an end-of-season bowl game.” Charleston Southern suspends huge amount of players for buying pencils.  Coming up this week: #2 Florida State at #10 Louisville – Noon ABC G – FSU J – Louisville #1 Alabama at #19 Ole Miss – 3:30 CBS G – Bama J – Bama #12 Michigan State at #18 Notre Dame – 7:30 NBC G – ND J – MSU #3 Ohio State at #14 Oklahoma – 7:30 FOX G – OSU J –

We discuss the ever important question of should robots take over the umping duties in baseball? Or is human error a necessary part of the game. More notes to come… (01:39) Would you rather: keep humans as umpires in baseball or replace them with robits (05:11) Toss Up: Over under for Cam Erving snaps over Browns QB heads? Submitted by pdroll (06:50) NFL Pickem: anh1608 winning 10-6, with pushECX in last place at 4-12 The Columbus Crew have had a rough season, and we take a look at whether the trading away of Kei Kamara has truly had an effect on the players, but is it better to have one really good player that doesn’t mesh? Or a host of decent players that mesh really well. (09:52) Standing atop the NL Central, the Chicago Cubs have now clinched the title and are headed to the playoffs. Will the Indians be able to do the same? They stand at 6 games ahead of Detroit with several games left to play. It’s anyone’s to take at the moment. (11:54) Athlete of the week – John discusses RGIII’s demise and Geoff covers a young up-and-comer that could potentially win the Heisman this year. #60.1 – Robot Umpires, Toss Up and The Tale of Two Quarterbacks #60.2 – Overturning Games, Blown Calls and NCAA Money Decisions #60.3 – What Concussion? Quarterback Problems and New NFL Rules #60.4 – The Story of George Brett and the Pine Tar Incident

If it weren’t for World War II, the history of women’s baseball may have never been written. When the United States entered into the war, over 3,000 minor league MLB players went off to war to fight for our country. Roughly 500 players from the big show went as well, but the absence of the minor league teams that disbanded during the war left an opportunity for women to get on the field. Philip K. Wrigley, owner of the Cubs, Wrigley field and the chewing gum king, saw the empty stadiums and had an idea. Some say he was inspired by Rosie the Riveter posters and got a plan set in motion to form a women’s baseball league. Initially not too many other owners were keen on the idea and no MLB team would host the womens teams, so Wrigley looked to the minor league stadiums that were vacant. At the start of what would become the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, there were four teams, the Racine Belles and Kenosha Comets in Wisconsin, the Rockford Peaches of Illinois and the South Bend Blue Sox of Indiana. The Peaches would experience the most success in the 12 years of the league, but I’m getting ahead of myself. To say that the league wasn’t created in the spirit of making money would be a lie, but it wasn’t the only reason the league was formed. With the increase in manufacturing of wartime goods, people needed some form of recreation. Something normal to keep their minds off of the war and a place to go and just relax. The AAGPBL (All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, yes “Girls”, don’t write me hate mail) offered that chance at normality and relaxation, after all it was just baseball, the national past time. Of course, it helped that the president was urging Kenesaw Mountain Landis (the commissioner of baseball) to continue the game. “Baseball provides a recreation which does not last over two hours or two hours and a half, and which can be got for very little cost. And, incidentally, I hope that night games can be extended because it gives an opportunity to the day shift to see a game occasionally.” – President Franklin Delano Roosevelt In the initial tryouts, over 250 women showed up from all over the US and Canada and got whittled down to 64. These 64 would make up the first four teams in what would become a twelve-team league. Players were paid $40 – $85 a week plus expenses, a paycheck that was overall higher than what players would have made working in factories at the time. With the decent wages, this sport not only became a game for women that were thrilled to be given the chance to play on a big stage, it became a way of life. The first season saw decent success and teams played 108 games, starting in May and ending in September. This meant teams were playing a lot of games per week and sometimes two on Sundays. The league would last 12 years and officially closed its doors in 1954. All in all, over 550 women played in the league and many of their names can be found hanging in the women’s baseball section of Cooperstown. Femininity was a large part of promoting the league for Wrigley and a strict set of rules were put in place to keep th

We break down our NFC preview and how each division inside the conference breaks down. Who will be the champion? THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE. Below are the finishes for each division: NFC North In the NFC North we have a toss up for the top spot, can Adrian Peterson and the Vikings really outdo Aaron Rodgers and his Packer gang? Mebbe. 1. John – Minnesota Vikings; Geoff – Green Bay Packers 2. John – Green Bay Packers; Geoff – Minnesota Vikings 3. Detroit Lions 4. Chicago Bears NFC East The bottom of the barrel similarities continue as neither of us have much faith in Carson Wentz. From one rookie to two, the Cowboys are poised to take this division and will do so, according to John. 1. John – Dallas Cowboys; Geoff – New York Giants; 2. John – New York Giants; Geoff – Dallas Cowboys 3. Washington Redskins 4. Philadelphia Eagles NFC South – Saints, Falcons, Bucs, Panthers Total agreement across the board here. 1. Carolina Panthers 2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3. Atlanta Falcons 4. New Orleans Saints NFC West When teams are going to be this bad, it’s hard to decide which one will be worse. A Tomsula-less 49ers could prove to be a reallllly bad team. 1. Arizona Cardinals 2. Seattle Seahawks 3. John – San Francisco 49ers; Geoff – Los Angeles Rams; 4. John – Los Angeles Rams; Geoff – San Francisco 49ers NFC Championship and Super Bowl Predictions Geoff: Arizona stays strong throughout the season and beats the Seahawks to move on and play the Steelers in the Super Bowl. The Cardinals will prove victorious and win 31-27. John: This is the year for the Cowboys. If they can keep Tony Romo off the field they’ll roll over the Vikings in the NFC Championship, but then take a hard loss to the Patriots in the Super Bowl 35-21. Tom Brady will retire afterward. What do you think, how wrong are we? Tell us below.

Here in our NFL 2016 AFC preview, we break down the AFC and how each division inside the conference breaks down. Who will be the champion? THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE. Below are the finishes for each division. Full writeup on its way. AFC North Same across the board, it’s just hard to catch up with Antonio Brown and a non-suspended Le’Veon Bell (after Week 3). 1. Pittsburgh Steelers 2. Cincinnati Bengals 3. Baltimore Ravens 4. Cleveland Browns (not winless though) AFC East Gronkless in Week 1 and Brady-less until Week 5 the Patriots will slump a bit, but not enough to finish outside of number 1. The Bills could surprise some people, while the Dolphins are in shambles. 1. New England Patriots 2. Buffalo Bills 3. New York Jets 4. Miami Dolphins AFC South A bit split here as Geoff is super confident with J.J. Watt and gunslinger Brock ‘The Sock’ Osweiler although he did concede that General Neckbeard is the better quarterback. 1. John – Indianapolis Colts; Geoff – Houston Texans 2. Jacksonville Jaguars 3. John – Houston Texans; Geoff – Indianapolis Colts 4. Tennessee Titans AFC West No two picks are the same here. Does that mean it’s any teams division to win? 1. John – Oakland Raiders; Geoff – Kansas City Chiefs 2. John – San Diego Chargers; Geoff – Oakland Raiders 3. John – Kansas City Chiefs; Geoff – Denver Broncos 4. John – Denver Broncos; Geoff – San Diego Chargers AFC Wild Card John: Bills and Jaguars Geoff: Raiders and Jaguars AFC Championship and Super Bowl Predictions Geoff: Pittsburgh and Kansas City will square off in the AFC Championship game with Pittsburgh coming away victorious moving on to play the Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl. The Cardinals will be a bit too much for the Steelers this year and will win 31-27. John: It’s going to be a weird year for the Patriots, but they’ll head into the AFC Championship and put the Colts out to pasture. Meeting up with the Cowboys in the Super Bowl the Patriots will take another Lombardi trophy, winning 35-21. Tom Brady will retire afterward.

Was the LSU suspension of Josh Boutte justified and was the hit he made malicious? Full writeup still on its way.