Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with sports

Don't care for sports - so how do I talk about it?

abdulf — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:50:26 -0800

I don't have any interest in following sports, but the people I meet for interviews and networking do. How do I play the part? So I went to the University of Texas and Longhorn football, or just football in general, is big in Texas. To a lesser extent, so is basketball. So when I'm meeting alumni or find myself interviewing for a position, it comes up.

I don't hate sports and played basketball and football in high school. I don't have a TV so I don't watch games and I don't spend anytime on ESPN.com because sports news doesn't interest me.

Is there like a talking points memo for sports? The main ones I'm concerned with are NFL football, NBA Basketball, NCAA football and NCAA basketball.

You know, just enough to be familiar. For example, right now I have no idea which teams are in the running for the Superbowl or who the star player for Texas is.

Again, it's not the fundamentals of the sports that I need help understanding. It's the new players and team changes that occur each season that people obsess about and I don't care for.

What Is It About Soccer?

netbros — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:51:30 -0800

Please help me understand the immense popularity of soccer (football, futbol) worldwide. And ... ... why it still continues to languish in the United States. Like basketball, it seems like a constantly moving, fast-paced game that the American sports enthusiast should enjoy. The rest of the world has certainly figured that out. What is it about soccer that the world knows and Americans don't?

Where can I find a list of the sales rank of NFL jerseys?

ChasFile — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:05:17 -0800

How would you find a ranked list of professional sportsmens' jersey sales for a particular league during a particular season? For instance, where could you find a ranked list of the sales of NFL players' jerseys for 2007? I've Googled around and found various articles that list the top 20 or 25 in a particular year. That's a start, but really what I'd like is the source that those articles are based on, so I could get all the rankings, not just the top few. I'm as much interested in seeing the worst selling jerseys (spoiler: I know that the worst seller is New Orleans Saints nickelback Randall Gay) as I am in the best. Also, I'm most interested right now in the NFL — given its seasonal relevance — but I'd also be interested in seeing good data for any professional sports league.

They must be pulling that data from a list somewhere, and really what I'm interested in is seeing that list. Is it available anywhere online? Some of those articles list NFLShop.com as the source, but they don't get any more specific than that. I've looked around quite a bit on NFLShop.com but haven't found anything like this data.

I realize that it is proprietary sales data and therefore might not be available, but I feel like enough of those "This Year's Top Selling Jerseys" stories get published each year that the information must be out there, somewhere.

At worst, would it be possible to do this somehow based on, for instance, Amazon.com sales rankings? Is it possible to do a search on Amazon in such a way that it returns all the products in a category (like NFL jerseys, for instance) listed by sales rank?

Are there any other ways to get this kind of data or at least an approximation of it?

Bonus points if that list contains the actual sales figures, in addition to simply the rankings. Again, I realize that since this is proprietary sales data the chances are slim, but you never know. Again, since so many of those "This Year's Top Selling Jerseys" stories get published each year, I thought perhaps the data might be out there.

Can someone just tell me what time the men's Olympic basketball game is on?

caroljean63 — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:56:05 -0800

Can someone just tell me what time the men's Olympic basketball game is on? I'd like to watch the game between the USA and Lithuania live. I've searched several websites including NBC which says it's 08/22 at 22:15PM. Huh? Is that Beijing time or U.S. time? What's with the PM? USA Network has it sometime between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Why does this have to be so complicated???

Can someone just tell me what time I can watch LeBron and Co. play tonight (or this morning, or whatever!)

Pick your team (as long as its not the Yankees)

toaster — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:04:26 -0800

For those of you in areas that have multiple teams in the your area, like New York has the Giants and Jets, Chicago has the Cubs and White Sox, and Los Angeles has the Lakers and the Clippers, how did you choose which team to be a fan of?

Wii are the champions / Wii will, Wii will rock you!

kidsleepy — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:17:34 -0800

I need help planning a Wii Sports and Guitar Hero competition. I volunteered to organize the whole thing, and now am a little overwhelmed. This will be an on-site work competition for charity. The idea is that there are two competitions: one for Guitar Hero (Rock Stars) and one for Wii Sports (Jock Stars). Ideally we'd have two brackets each, one for amateurs and one for pros. There are approx. 700 employees, and getting 50 of them to sign-up would be a success.

Has anyone organized one of these before? Any tips/tricks/things to avoid? How do I entice people who've never played before? How many TVs/Wiis shoud I have? How should I set up the brackets? What should the prizes be? Help!

Gandhigh Jump

Christ, what an asshole — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:20:20 -0800

After looking at this map, I'm curious as to why South Asian and Middle Eastern countries are vastly underrepresented in the Olympic games. What exactly are the economic, political, religious, or cultural factors that play into this?

Pain above my right knee?

madcow20 — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:02:48 -0800

I started running 2 - 3 weeks ago and I run around 3 miles every second day. So for the past week, I've had this sort of "pain" or somekind of uncomfortable feeling above my knee. The "pain" is not in the knee itself, but maybe in muscle above it? When I'm laying in bed or sitting it feels the same way. It doesn't hurt, but its just a little bit uncomfortable. Its kinda like a feeling of someone is squeezing a muscle just above my knee. Should I be worried and go to a doctor or is this normal, when you havnt done any exercise for 8 years and just started? I'm 22 and male btw.

Beach Volleyball Bikinis

caroljean63 — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:00:00 -0800

Olympic beach volleyball uniforms: Why are the women wearing bikinis? I've been watching both men's and women's beach volleyball and can't for the life of me figure out the practicality of the women wearing the skimpy bikini outfits. As a woman who has worn a bikini or two at the beach, in the sand, I am looking at them and thinking it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. I'm just imagining them spending hours digging sand out of the nooks and crannies after the matches, thinking about 'sand burns' and other various hazards from being barely covered.

If this is the optimal performance uniform, why are the men not shirtless and in Speedos? I have to wonder if the women are just flaunting their perfect bodies and 6-packs of abs and whether it's merely part of the beach culture rather than a requirement for the sport.

Do I have a shot at the Olympics?

melodykramer — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 12:50:02 -0800

I'm 24. Let's say I wanted to have a shot at the Olympics, in any sport, at some point in the future. Are my chances over? Is there a sport I could start now, dedicate the next few years to, and become good enough to be a contender? What sport should that be? (I'm not picky.) I was thinking about this. I don't have a sports preference. I like to rollerblade and hula-hoop. I can train a decent amount. I'd put in a heck of a lot of time. But are my Olympic dreams dashed, because I'm too late?

If I had to pick a sport -- now -- with the hopes of making the team, what should it be? (My first thought was fencing because I'm left-handed.)

DC area basketball league that meets on the weekends?

mullacc — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:18:00 -0800

DC Area: I'm looking for a men's recreational basketball league that holds weekend games. The only league I've found is the Bethesda Sports & Health Club's Thursday-night league. I can't really predict when I'll leave work on weeknights, so this doesn't work.

Anyone know of leagues that schedule weekend games? Friday nights may work as well.

I live in Bethesda, but I'm willing to go anywhere in the DC area for the right league. I'm not 30+, but I'm prepared to lobby for inclusion in a 30+ league.

I'm happy to hear about popular pick-up game spots but I really prefer something with a bit of structure.

Bouncy wall, no problems?

muscat — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:47:41 -0800

I'm looking for a big, isolated concrete or asphalt lot in San Francisco that butts up against a tallish brick wall. I want to be able to bounce hard rubber lacrosse balls off of this wall for hours at a time and never be bothered by anyone. Anyone know of a place like this?

Take me out to the ball game?

kbanas — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 06:51:13 -0800

I find myself mysteriously drawn to, of all things, baseball. It's kind of awesome! Unfortunately, there are some things I still don't quite understand... So, with basketball, hockey and football all done and gone, I found myself sitting on the couch a couple weeks ago playing World of Warcraft and watching, of all things, Major League Baseball!

I've never really been a baseball fan before - I always lamented it as being somewhat boring and slow. I'm not sure if it's just because it feels like the only game in town lately, or if some sort of genetic marker has flipped.. but for whatever the reason, I'm kind of digging on watching the Detroit Tigers.

Except, there's a couple of things I don't really get. I mean, there are a lot of things I don't really get, but I figure a lot of that is nuanced stuff that will come down the line as I watch it more regularly.... so I will keep my questions to the basic stuff.

1. Baseball (not unlike every other sport, I guess) seems like a game where every single statistic that can be recorded is recorded. Now, obviously every player has a batting average. If I understand the batting average correctly, it's the percentage of time that a player gets a hit (a single, double, triple or home run) when he steps to the plate. Gotcha.

Now, is there a statistic in baseball that tracks the percentage of the time a player makes contact with the ball and sends it into the field of play and it results in an out versus a hit?

Does that make sense? I was watching a player bat the other day, and in like three consecutive trips through the rotation he sent a fly ball into the outfield and it was caught and it was an out. And I thought to myself, "Self, there has to be a statistic that's different than the batting average that tracks the percentage of time he hits the ball and it results in a hit versus an out." I suppose if I think about this too hard it gets a little hard to define, what with foul balls and so on and so forth, so I refined it to "hits the ball into the field of play and it results in a hit versus an out"..

2. If I'm playing defense - say, second base - are there any rules about getting out of the way of the runner if I don't have the ball, or can I obstruct his path to the bag?

3. When the hell can a player advance from one base to another?

I know, it seems like the most obvious of questions, but I have trouble with it. Obviously if a player gets a hit he advances to one of the bases. But once he's on base, under what conditions can he run? Under what conditions can he steal? I was under the impression that a player could only advance if another player made a hit - but then what's the deal with the sacrifice fly? Isn't that getting an out for the purposes of advancing a runner? I could have sworn I've seen players run the bases on a hit, and then turn around and slink back when the ball was caught....

Yes, I need some help.

Orthotics and Tennis

charlesv — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:41:11 -0800

Orthotics and tennis shoes? I am a novice tennis player. I have sesamoiditis due in part to high arches. To help with this, I wear orthotics .

My problem is that they do not want to stay put in my tennis shoe. They are stable laterally, so they do not slide side-to-side, but they slide forward. My orthotics are only partly rigid plastic, so the front part, which is a softer material, smushes against the front of the shoe and the orthotic slides forward. I had a pair of Asics that had this problem, so I switched to Reeboks. When I tried them on in the store, no problem. It was not until after I spent an hour or so running around on the court that I noticed they did not want to stay put.

I would especially appreciate recommendations from other folks out there that have foot problems and wear their orthotics while playing tennis.

How do I make them stay in place during play? Is there a way to make them stay put, like some kind of double-sided tape? Or are there shoes I can buy that will work better with orthotics? Or should I just give up wearing them during games and practice?

There are Olympics geeks, yes?

exceptinsects — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:08:24 -0800

I would like to read some blogs about the Olympics. Can you recommend any? I am interested in things like:

The uniforms of different countries.

Olympic Village accommodations.

Backstagey stuff about the opening/closing ceremonies. (And THEN five thousand goats, carrying third grade jump-rope champions in glow-in-the-dark ballerina dresses, come out from behind the proscenium...)

Discussions of arcane track and field scoring.

What sports should SO TOTALLY be official now, or are and SHOULD NOT BE OMG.

Why the commentators are wrong, wrong wrong.

and other nerdery.

I'm not so much interested in the political aspects.

I know how to find Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas. How do I find Wilt Chamberlain and Mick Jagger?

rileyray3000 — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:42:31 -0800

Is there anything like an IMDB for rock music? or for sports figures? I'm trying to do a search for famous men over 65 who haven't kicked the bucket yet. With IMDB it's pretty easy to do so for guys in entertainment (TV, Film, radio even). But when it comes to rock or sports, not so much. Any idea if such sites exist with similar functionality to IMDB?

Articles on athletes earning less than you think

wangarific — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:00:45 -0800

Every once in a while a mainstream newspaper or magazine does an article on how little the 100th ranked athlete (or lower ranked athletes) makes in a particular sport. I can distinctly remember reading about stories of nascar teams barely scraping by but can't seem to find these types of articles anymore, anyone know of any? Thanks.

Looking for a fully covered swim suit

tom123 — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:57:25 -0800

I am looking for a women's swimwear, which is fully covered. Can you pl. recommend some shopping store. The reason i am looking for fully covered is i have some marks on my upper arms and legs (on the thighs) due to skin surgery/transplantation and i want to cover them, so that they are not visible.

Sports summary: does it exist?

Towelie — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:36:47 -0800

Is there a sports summary website? Where I can get quickly and simply up to date on any team? I don't want to be an expert in sports (in general.) But when I go to an event (like my local baseball/football game with friends), I'd like to have some general 'home team' and 'competitor team' knowledge; who is playing really well, things to watch for....etc.

Is there anything like this on the net; Ideally, I'm looking to read 2-3 paragraphs of where a team is right now (and possible a separate 2-3 paragraph 'summary' of any current crises/problems.)

Is a Nokia phone with GPS good enough to track my runs?

cyanide — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:39:21 -0800

I've been thinking of buying a phone with GPS to track my runs. Help me be sure and confident about my choice, or suggest a better alternative... I've been running for over a couple of months now. About 3-4 times a week, I run anywhere between 8-12 kms and looking to improve that steadily. I've recently been interested in tracking my runs with a GPS device to help me analyse them. Most of the information I've found on runnersworld forums deals with watches which have GPS functionality like Garmin and Polar. Unfortunately, such fancy watches aren't available here AFAIK.

I was thinking of using phone with GPS for the tracking features. I currently have a Nokia e61i and will be switching to a Nokia n95/82 or e66, all of which have a built-in GPS module. Nokia has its own Tracking (Sports Tracker) website/software which I'll be using unless there's a better third-party alternative. Plus, my phone will double up as an mp3 player, so one less thing to carry on runs. And my birthday's coming up soon, so I have a reason to spend some money on myself.

I wanted to hear opinions from the mefites as to whether my choice is correct or not. Giving suggestions for phones with similar features would be great too!

Thanks for reading! :)

How did you play sports in your neighborhood?

Joey Michaels — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:48:02 -0800

What alternate rules did you follow when you played specific sports as a kid? So, my wedding anniversary is a month and my wife and I are going to treat our friends to a big outdoor party in a local park. We've been talking about activities that would be a little more unusual than the normal summer park activities.

Writing up this comment in the Blue got me to thinking about how much fun I used to have playing three person whiffle/tennis/baseball. I'm thinking it might be fun to abandon the adult rules of some traditional sports and play by playground rules at our cookout thing.

So, when you were a kid, did you have specific rules for playing sports that were, to the best of your knowledge, unique to your town or neighborhood?

Streaming Tennis Quality?

zackola — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:27:55 -0800

Has anyone used mediazone to view Wimbledon or other tennis events? If so, what is the quality like? If I hook my PC up to a 32" LCD, is it going to look like crap, or will it be OK? I can't find anything anywhere about what quality they are streaming in. Do they advertise during the matches? We're trying to ditch cable and if this was good quality, it would certainly help. Thanks!

Boston Celtics of Los Angeles

Unsomnambulist — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:15:00 -0800

Hey, sports fans: I'm trying to come up with a list of connections the Boston Celtics have to Los Angeles. Some of the current roster went to high school or college here... but I'd like to come up with more than the obvious. Here's what I have so far:

Celtics #50 Eddie House played 60 games with the Los Angeles Clippers in the '04/'05 season, and head coach Doc Rivers was also a Clipper man between '91 and '92.

#44, Brian Scalabrine earned his social science degree while playing with the USC Trojans.

And both #13 Gabe Pruitt and #34 Paul Pierce call Los Angeles their home town - Pruitt, played at Westchester High before going to USC where he still holds the record for the most three pointers, and Pierce grew up in Inglewood.

Any other suggestions? Does anyone know of retired players who ended up moving to Los Angeles? Any former Celtics who are possibly playing for the Clippers? etc.... (this is for a blog post, btw)

Referees vs. Umpires: INTO THE THUNDERDOME!

Overzealous — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 11:19:11 -0800

Why are the chief officials in some sports (Soccer, Hockey, Football) called "Referees" and in other sports (Baseball, Tennis) called "Umpires"? Thoughts/Theories I have gleaned or made up:

* Umpires stay mainly stationary, Refs move with the action.

* Referees officiate in games controlled by clocks (although Boxing screws that up).

* The umpire shall be judge of the men...The referee shall be judge of the ball (although in Baseball the umpire watches the strike zone which bungles that theory) (grabbed/researched from this thread and refers to The Origins of Basketball).

...and I know that there are all kinds of linesmen(persons), etc in a lot of sports, and also that there are Umpires working in some capacity in Football and Basketball, but I'm looking for some kind of basic rule to help me sleep at night.

You know, one rule that makes sense across all sports around the world. That can exist, right?

What do the players of pro sports teams do when on the road?

Chuck Cheeze — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:34:18 -0800

What do the players of pro sports teams do when on the road? I'm talking baseball, but any type of sports would do. I was thinking, as an A's fan, when the A's are in, say, Chicago, for 3-4 days, what can or can't the players do? I'm sure they have curfews, shuttles from the hotel to the field and back for those going early (and a team bus otherwise).

What if they have a day off while there? What do they do all day? Can they leave the hotel? Bars? Restaurants? I know a lot of guys have "women on the side", shall we say...does that stuff go down in the hotel?

I'd guess they all bring an Xbox and alot of them sit in their rooms playing that alot- probably surfing the web, the usual hotel stuff- but what kinds of freedoms and restrictions are there?