A Few Tidbits from Around the Web

Wow, I haven't posted one of these in a while. It isn't that I haven't been reading, listening to, and watching sports media because I have. I still read ESPN the Mag and the Seattle Times Sports section. I listen to Slate's Hang Up and Listen and Dave "Softy" Mauler on 950 KJR regularly. I just seem to have forgotten to save any of these articles to share with you guys. Sorry about that.

Anyways, here are some links to sports media I have found interesting lately.

• I wrote a whole post about the Rise of Strikeouts. Looks like I wasn't the only one noticing the increased whiffing. Joe Sheehan wrote this piece about how baseball has become boring because their are so many strikeouts and so few non homeruns.
• Every year the NFL sees a rash of high profile injuries. This year Aaron Rodgers, David Johnson, and Odell Beckham Jr. have all suffered major injuries. Losing star players to injury hurts the game. One proposal to reduce injuries is to change the way the league schedule works by removing a pre-season game and adding another bye week.
• The Seahawks success during the Pete Carroll ear is largely because of the Legion of Boom. There are debates about who exactly is in the LOB, but one thing is clear: Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, and Early Thomas are the commanders. Sadly times unending march appears to be catching up with the LOB.
• NCAA Division 1 athletes is ripe with controversy and unethical behavior. Few programs remain untouched from a coach or players crossing a line to try and help their team win. The example of the University of Louisville, as detailed in ESPN the Mag, is especially galling. The whole department was focused on enriching the shoe giant Adidas.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web

Wow, it has been a while since I provide a bunch of links to some of my favorite sports related stuff around the web. Rather than keep you all waiting for all these hyper links here they are.

• The new Mariners commercials are here. My personal favorite is the Nellie's autoglass one.
• My favorite sports podcast is Hang Up and Listen from Slate. I love to listen while I am walking the dog. The guys do a great job proving smart people who aren't stats nerds can love sports.
• I have often wondered why NBA players get so much rest between games. I was ignorant about the physical toll on the body that basketball can have. This ESPN The Magazine article shed light on the grueling toll it takes on the body.
• On May 4th Nelson Cruz hit a monster of a home run against the Oakland Athletics. According to ESPN it only went 446 feet, but that number clearly doesn't do this home run justice.
• The Economist is not known for their sports writing. Their take on Leicester City's unimaginable EPL victory is probably one of the strangest you will read.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web: Punting

Football season is in full swing. High School, NCAA, and NFL games are happening all over the place.  There have been lots of exciting plays and even more exciting finishes (especially if your team is playing the Seahawks). For some reason the recent weeks have have had a disproportionately large number of weird punt plays. So, for that reason this edition of Tidbits will be focusing strictly on punts.

• On Sunday October 18th, The Indianapolis Colts were in a tight contest with the New England Patriots. During the third quarter on a fourth and three the Colts decided to run a fake punt. The play they ran to try and convert the fourth down was possibly the worst designed play ever. The head coach has since said they weren't supposed to actually hike the ball, but that doesn't matter because they did hike the ball. Fail.
• Michigan vs Michigan State is a fierce rivalry. Traditionally Michigan has dominated, but for as of late "little brother" Michigan State has had the upper hand. Coming into this years game Michigan State had won 6 of the last 7 competitions. This year it looked like Michigan was finally going to top the highly ranked Michigan State, until disaster struck during a punt on the last play of the game.
• This video is old,but it is good. Seahawk's punter Jon Ryan used to play for the Packers and he was really good.
• Somehow with five games played in 2015 the San Diego Chargers have only 3 punt return yards (click the link and scroll down to the bottom to see).

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web

Time for some links to sports related articles and a video clip that I find interesting. I think you should click them and digest the content. Then, if you happen to see, we can talk about your favorite bits.

• Floyd Mayweather recently won his 48th professional boxing match against Manny Pacquiao. Despite his win in the biggest fight in recent history, Mayweather is still a terrible person. We should all remember that he is a serial women beater and never pay money to watch his fights.
• This New England Patriots fan makes a case for why the Tom Brady suspension is ridiculous. Although I shutter while I type this, I have to say he does make a few good points. 
• In case you think I have gone soft on Patriots fans, here is another piece pointing out how delusional many of them are.
• In game seven against the Memphis Grizzlies the Warriors punched their ticket to the Western Conference championship. The game was a good one and highlighted exactly why the Warriors are so great. It also had an amazing bit of ridiculousness when Steph Curry drained a 3/4 court shot with time expiring in the half.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web: Cardinals Lose, Cardinals Lose

On 12/21/14 the Seattle Seahawks destroyed the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, Arizona. The game stayed close until the second half when the Seahawks turned on the jets and flew away from the Cardinals. This win deserves recognition. It is huge and it puts the Seahawks in control of their own destiny. As such I think this win deserve attention on this blog so I am providing you a few links to some great commentary or related content. Her are a few tidbits from around the web.

• With their win over the Cardinals the Seahawks took control of the NFC West with an 11-4 record. This was the fifth straight win and an impressive feat for a team that many were questioning after they lost to the Rams and fell to 3-3. This win adds power to Bob Condotta's argument that Pete Carroll should be in the running for Coach of the year.
• Field Gulls pointed out that Marshawn Lynch is not only an amazing running back but also ambidextrous.
• The game featured yet another classic Marshawn Lynch run. After missing the first quarter with stomach issues Marshawn ripped off this 79-yard run for a touchdown.
• Prior to the Eagles, Hugh Millen cemented himself as a true twelfth man when he defended Marshawn Lynch on KJR.
• If you are like me you were down on Luke Willson prior to this game. His continued drops were annoying.Then, BAM, against Arizona he grabbed 2 TD and 139 yards on 3 catches. Most impressive to me was his acceleration away from the defense.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web

Here are a few interesting links from around the world wide web (and one from a magazine that is reprinted on the web). Click on them and be enlightened.

• The Sounders season opener was a wet one and for the first 90+ minutes it looked like the weather was going to be the only victor. Then during injury time (and definitely near the end of that) the Sounders struck with this goal. Definitely worth watching the whole thing.
• JR Smith quite possibly has the most tattoos per skin area of anyone in the NBA. He can shoot 3 pointers with the best of them. He once played in China. He was also fined $50,000 for repeatedly untying opponents shoes. Yahoo Sports took a closer look at this very interesting player.
• The No Fun League (NFL) has struck again. This time they are outlawing post touchdown goalpost dunks. Apparently because they hate seeing players and fans happy.
• ESPN the Magazine took a look at while the NBA is the most conspiracy laden league. Pablo Torre does a great job and it is definitely worth a read. However if you don't have EPSN insider or you don't want to spend the time here is the short version, David Stern was the NBA's commissioner for 30 years.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web: Key and Peele are Funny Edition

In my opinion the funniest show on TV now days is Key and Peele. Their skits almost never miss. There best range from President Obama's anger translator Luther to some substitute teachers. These four are my favorite that have something to do with sports.

• The rookie McCringleberry goes a little too far after scoring his touchdowns. 
• Two sports fans duel over who has the better hat. 
• The classic East vs West college matchup.
• You know how everyone hates all the flops in soccer. Key and Peele show you just how extreme some players take it.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web: Thursday Night Football

Thursday night football is annoying. It is an obvious money making gimmick from the NFL. It only exists to prop up the basically pointless NFL network. It doesnt hold the prestige of Monday Night Football, the other non-Sunday game. Anyways, you probably noticed, I am not a fan of Thursday Night Football. So, here is a link (I guess it should be A Tidbit From the Web, since there is only one, but whatever) related to abomination of a event.

• Larry Stone recently switched over from a baseball centric columnist to an all things sports columnist.  As was expected, because of his excellent baseball work, Stone hasn't missed a beat. In a column, prior to last weeks game, he wrote about the bad football presented on Thursday Night Football and completely nailed it.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web

Remember March Madness when FGCU went on a crazy unexpected run? Remember all the cool dunks?No, well watch them again.

Jason Collins tells the world he is gay. In case you don't know who Jason Collins is (I didn't) click here for his NBA career stats.

Yankees fans and Red Sox fans invade Safeco field every summer. Home town fans are overcome by the mass of band wagon supporters. It is awful. Now we can add one more team to that list of super annoying away team fans, the Toronto Blue Jays.

Often times in sports it is important to make lists. Lists of the greatest QB ever, lists of the best teams, lists of the funniest names. ESPN decided it was time to make a list of the best uniforms.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web

As a reminder that I still love my readers (hopefully plural) here are a bunch of links to interesting sports things around the web. Click away.

• They're back! The always fun Seattle Mariners TV commercials have been released for 2013.
• A great read about one of the best pitchers of the last ten years, Roy Halladay.
• John McGrath's take on Percy Harvin, the Seahawks newest WR.
• Alex, from Seattle Sportsnet, does a great job of outlining everything wrong with ROOT (except he forgot to highlight Dave Sims)

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web

Note: this post was originally written in September but I forgot to click post, oops.

I don't want you to think we here at USTN are just sitting around doing nothing, idlely letting your days pass without our opinions to read. It is just that between, school, work and Battlefield 3, we have been really busy. So, to give you something to do while we write up opinions about the world of sports here are a bunch of links to sports related content on the web.

• A few months ago the Toronto Blue Jay's tattooed wonder kid exploded on an umpire for a series of bad calls. In reaction to this Lookout Landing imagined what each of the Mariner's regulars would do in a similar situation.
• One of my new favorite blogs, Seattle Sports Net, makes a humorous analogy for the Mariners Chone Figgins situation.
• The Seattle Arena saga is still on going and the cities largest newspaper, The Seattle Times, has decided to jump into the fight by officially joining the anti-arena side.
• Jerry Brewer talks about Seahawks defensive coordinator Gus Bradley.
  

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web: Olympics!

The summer Olympics are officially under way in London. As such this last week has been an awesome one in the world of sports. With all the events going on there has certainly been no shortage of compelling story lines. In Gymnastics we saw the American women win the team all-around in impressive fashion and the men fall flat. In the pool we saw Michael Phelps prove he could lose to only then remind us that he is the greatest Olympic champion of all time. So, to highlight this first week here are links to some of my favorite story lines.

• In gymnastics, the UK team won a medal in the Men's Team All-Around for the first time in 100 years. However, this win wasnt without controversy as Japan appealed a score to the judges which changed the final standings.
• Also in gymnastics Aly Raisman on the United States missed out on a bronze medal because of a stupid tie breaker rule.
• One of the strangest things at the Olympics was 8 female badminton players being expelled from the tournament and sent home. Watching these guys made me think I could win a medal, then I found out they were losing on purpose.
• If you are like me losing on purpose doesnt make a lot of sense, but Slate's explaination really helps clear it all up.
• In women's basketball Australia and France played a game that will always be remember for just one shot, this one.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web

Time for another blog post. Here are a bunch of links to interesting things that have happened in the sports world recently. The links are pretty baseball heavy, but I like baseball a lot. So, get over it.

• Sure it didn't ruin a perfect game, but this play in a Rockies-Dodgers game might go down as the most wrong call ever.
• Tacoma News Tribune columnist John McGrath muses about Jesus Montero's less than blazing speed.
• This goal against the Sounders won Goal of the Week.
• Orioles DH Chris Davis picked up his first major league win recently.
• Josh Hamilton just hit four homeruns in one game and will soon be a free agent. Jeff Passan takes a look at what might lie in the future for Hamilton.
  

A Few Tidbits From Aorund the Web: Baseball is Back!

MLB baseball has officially returned to its oh so important spot in our lives. This means it is time to obsess over small sample sizes, Ichiro's unorthodox approach and the pointless nature of pitcher wins. It also means it is time for me to share a bunch of links to interesting things happening in the baseball world.

• It turns out pitcher wins and loses arent the only stat that doesnt accurately represent a pithers success. Dave Cameron of Fangraphs makes the case for eliminating saves.
• A highlight of early season baseball are the Mariners commercials.
• One of my favorite columnists, Jerry Brewer, writes about the long rebuilding process in Seattle.
• Even in this young season history is being made. Jonathan Broxton had one of the most unique blown saves in Major League history when he plunked back to back batters to force in a run and lose the game.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web Related to WWU NCAA Div II Men's Basketball National Championship

On Saturday my Alma Mater, Western Washington University, defeat Montevallo 72-65 to win the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship. This is a big deal for WWU and the state of Washington Basketball. Unfortunately, because the school is all the way in Bellingham and they play Division II, they probably wont get the attention they deserve. So, here are a bunch of links from around the web about the WWU Viking's Championship.

• Didn't get to see the game Saturday morning on CBS? Watch this video highlight to see what you missed.
• You can read the recap of the game here.
• If you thought team basketball was dead, the WWU championship game proved otherwise.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web

I dont want my current streak of blog content quantity to come to an end. So, it is time for me to take credit for another successful blog post while putting in minimal effort. Here are a few tidbits from around the web.

• You might have heard about the massive trade the Mariners and Yankees pulled off this MLB off-season. It was the kind of trade that fans love to talk about because there is no clear cut winner. Both teams took a gamble. Anyways, here is John McGrath's take on Jesus Monetro, the guy the Mariners got
• The Seattle Sounders season opener is fast approaching and fan favorite Mauro Rosales looks lead the team to another strong season
• Ever wondered why the Mariners have sucked for so long? It's definitely got something to do with our draft results over the last decade

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web: Marshawn Lynch, The Seahawk Good at Offense

You might have noticed over the last several weeks that Seahawks runningback Marshawn Lynch has been tearing up the league. Over the last four weeks Beast Mode has run for 591 yds and 5 td and received another 87 with one td. In my fantasy league he has been the top scoring running over that four week stretch. He beat out Ray Rice and Arian Foster. That is really good. In fact it is the best performance by a Seahawk runningback since Shaun Alexander wore the a Seattle jersey. Now if only the rest of our offense could do something. Anyways, to honor the only good offensive player on the Seahawks I have decided to dedicate this entire Tidbits to him. So here are my favorite Marshawn Lynch links.

• Possibly the greatest run in Seahawks history, Beast Mode causes a Beast Quake.
• Seattle Native Kenny Mayne talks to Marshawn back when he was a Buffalo Bill Rookie.
• Seattle Times sports columnist Jerry Brewer talks about Marshawn's upcoming payday.
• A recent great run against the Eagles, definitely reminiscent of the Saints game.
• A quick throwback to Marshawn's college days at Cal.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web

Writing original and thought provoking posts can be so taxing on the mind. So I will work on them later. Time for me to post more content without doing any creative brain work. Here are some links to interesting sports related web content, enjoy!

• It is no secret that the Seahawks offense has been terrible. The Onion got this exclusive as to why.
• The Mariner's ownership group is one of the most mysterious in professional sports. The Seattle Times wrote this interesting piece about them.
• After stumbling aroudn the internet, I ran into this semi-serious post about closer walkup songs.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web: Larry Bernandez Takes Over the Baseball World

The Seattle Mariners have had a runaway success with their Larry Bernandez commercial. The supposedly fake star of the commercial has become one of the fan favorites. Jerseys have popped up all over Seattle and people have even taken to dressing like the "star". It makes you wonder if the Mariner's marketing guys had any idea what they were creating. As such, I see it as fitting to dedicate this edition of Tidbits to Larry Bernandez.

• The commercial that started it all.
• The newest commercial from the Mariners adds to the legend of Larry.
• Nike has even got in on the action releasing a Hair-itage shirt.
• He has even taken over the King's Court.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web is Back!

I bet you thought this feature was dead and gone. Never again would you have to see a post full of links to other website, without any original content from this blog. Regardless of whether you were rejoicing or mourning the death of Tidbits, you were wrong. It is back, raising from the ashes like the mighty Phoenix Diamondbacks; ok maybe they aren't that mighty. Anyways, here are today's links:

• Probably the most best thing about Mariners baseball, not named Hernandez, Smoak or Ichiro, the Mariner's new commercials.
• Charles Barkley defends the Sonics existance on TNT.
• Fangraph's Dave Cameron makes an interesting point about the Mariners and their in division rivals the Athletics.