Sports with the #lads

Coping
#1

Movies with Mitch has been such a pleasant addition to the forum discourse so I thought I’d extend the concept a bit and open up a platform for any sports fans to discuss whatever it is they might follow.

I don’t know if we even have any sports fans in here but I find sports are such a great distraction from PFS and are probably my greatest escape. I know @Sugarhouse follows every sport under the sun and I follow the vast majority of them so that’s a decent base for anyone who feels like engaging.

I know it’s the Super Bowl tomorrow; I’ve made a half-hearted attempt to follow American football lately but am still largely a novice, it’s more Mitch’s forte. Anyone gonna be watching?

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#2

Great idea! I’ll definitely be watching tomorrow with a couple of my friends.

Any NBA fans here? There was a blockbuster trade a couple of days ago with James harden going to the sixers and Ben Simmons/Seth Curry to the Nets.

I feel it was a good trade for both sides. Ben should help the Nets defensively. Seth Curry is also a very underrated player. It’s a great addition with Joe Harris being hurt.

On the sixers side Harden makes them a legit contender for the finals. However, I fear that Doc Rivers’ terrible playoff coaching and Harden’s inability to show up in big playoff games will kill them in the end.

Hopefully we get a sixers/nets playoff series!

#3

I love the NBA man. Would definitely agree it’s a win-win for both sides. Nets couldn’t risk losing Harden for nothing given what they gave up for him and all three players are great fits on paper.

I’m very interested to see how Harden does in Philly, because while he’s still undeniably class his performances this season have made him look like he’s started to decline athletically so I’m intrigued to see if that’s actually the case or if he’s just looked that way through lack of effort.

This is very true. Having two notorious post-season chokers could end terribly for the Sixers.

Either way like you say, a Nets-Sixers playoff series is a must. I’d pay to see the reception Simmons gets from the Philly crowd lmao.

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#4

I’m all about the Olympics these days. Perhaps that’s a separate thread :joy: ?

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#5

Anyone watch the UFC fight tonight and give me some insight about Whittaker and adesanya? It’s the first fight I’ll watch.

#6

Any sport qualifies mate. You into the winter Olympics or mainly summer?

#7

An elite fight, one of the best you can make between two guys from the same weight class in the sport.

It’s a rematch from a fight which Adesanya won emphatically a couple of years back. Whittaker, down to emotion by his own admission, underperformed in that fight as it was in front of 60k fans at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne and was dubbed as an Australia vs. New Zealand grudge match (the first of its kind in MMA); he also really didn’t like Adesanya so he came out very overly aggressive. It’s safe to expect a much better version of him this time around and at the very least for him to make the fight competitive.

Having said that despite them being a pretty similar level of fighter Adesanya is tricky as hell and it seems like he could just be a bad stylistic matchup for Whittaker so it’s a massive uphill battle for Rob to get one back on him.

Either way it’s a great fight between probably the two most skilled middleweights I’ve ever seen. They’re both very technical and slick strikers so their styles are really fan-friendly and well worth watching. Whittaker is my fav fighter so I’m firmly rooting for him.

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#8

Thank you. I have the impression that it’s like the arrogant against down to earth guy kind of like Ronaldo vs Messi^^

#9

That’s pretty bang on mate haha

#10

Great idea @SkinDiesel.

Clears throat.

SuperBowl tomorrow is the best matchup in years. Everyone got fucking sick of seeing the Pats/Brady in the big game, despite how good he was, and it’s by far the best storylines in there for years.

Joe Burrow has taken the game by storm and is not only an insanely good QB but has a great personality to match. Jamar Chase was the best rookie wide receiver ever and is already top 5 in the game based on his rookie stats. And everyone forgets Tee Higgins is also probably a top 15-20 WR, insanely good route runner for a big guy and very physical. Joe Mixon is a woman-beating scumbag but is a damn good RB. Their offensive scheme is perfect for their personnel. And they have a very underrated defense with Hendrickson and Hubbard off the edge. The Bengals are the ultimate hope for garbage franchises like my NY Jets that you can turn it around quickly in the league - they won 2 games only 2 years ago, and 4 last year.

On the other side, McVay is a top 3 coach in the league, only behind Belichik in my view, and of course you have former number 1 pick/tortured soul Matt Stafford finally getting a chance on a loaded roster. He’s always been a top 10 QB but was on terrible Lions teams for years. If you don’t love him after seeing this then you don’t love sports. The Rams have been loading up for years for deep playoff runs, and this is the most stacked they’ve been. Helps when you lose your no.2 wideout in Robert Woods…then just go trade for fallen star OBJ. Kupp replaced Davante as the best wideout in the game this year imo - amazing route runner, doesn’t drop anything, sneaky speed and best in the league after the catch. Their OL is stout. Van Jefferson is a rising star. Higbee is an underrated TE and great scheme fit. And while Akers hasn’t lit it up since returning, they could basically plug in 37-year-old Adrian Peterson at RB and find a solid running game. Their defense is far, far better than the Bengals, led by Aaron Donald, Von Miller and Leonard Floyd up front, then number 1 corner in the game Jalen Ramsey on the backend. Ramsey vs Chase will be a matchup for the ages but I think Ramsey will take away the deep routes, frustrate the Bengals into throwing short and trying to run the ball against their front.

I’d say the edge goes to:

Running game: Rams
Passing game: Bengals
Defense: Rams
Coaching: Rams

Personally, I want to see the Rams win for Stafford’s sake. He seems like a genuinely good guy which is rare in the NFL. Also I love McVay and he’d be the youngest SB winning HC of all time. But I’m happy with either team winning, much like KC vs SF a few years back.

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#11

I haven’t followed the NBA as closely the last few years because the Rockets suck, but I am a qualified Harden expert given he tortured me for almost a decade in Houston.

The guy is just not championship material. Despite the fact we are constantly tanking now, I was actually happy when we traded him away, because I always said we could never win a championship while he was the key piece. His style just doesn’t lend itself to beating big teams in 7 game series in big moments. There were countless times he’d run that iso bullshit, wind the clock down to 4 seconds, then jack up some hopeless step back 3. And in big moments he just doesn’t have it.

Maybe as a compliment to Embiid he’ll be better, but I just don’t see it.

And Simmons is now an embarrassment to Australia so that guy can eat a dick :joy: Too busy dating Kardashians to come play for the Boomers at the Olympics. Probably a good thing he didn’t anyway as we won Bronze without him.

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#12

Ah yes, a true Norwegian! I’ve been watching a little because it’s on a similar timezone. Australia has our most medals at a Winter Olympics ever. We won silver in Skeleton yesterday which tripped me out.

My favourite events that don’t involve Aussies are the ski jumping, or the downhill. Ski jumpers are fucking nuts, flying 130-140m in the air must be a strange, strange feeling. And the downhill guys go like 140km/h on skis! It was cool to see that Swiss farmer win it, he was carrying some pudge while the rest of the field were all super slim, you love to see it. Like the Tyson Fury of skiing.

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#13

If you like contact sports, Aussie Rugby League starts back up again soon. It’s NOT Rugby just to be clear - Rugby League and Rugby Union are two different sports. Rugby League is absolutely brutal though. They’re all massive athletes and there’s no pads, and the collisions can be just as big as in the NFL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKnf4xbV4Ak (sorry about the shitty music). It’s on Thursday - Sunday every weekend here in Australia, and the Thursday, Friday and Saturday night games are on at a reasonable time for the UK (early morning) and US (late evening). It’s worth a watch.

I’m not really into MMA anymore as I find there’s just too many watered down fights, but hoping Whittaker wins today. I’m more into boxing if there are any boxing fans here.

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#14

@Sugarhouse What an awesome Super Bowl preview. I’ve seen a lot about Joe Burrow on my social media feed these last few weeks, seems to be very much a fan favourite. Had a bad knee injury not too long ago did he not?

Would love the Bengals to win purely from a stance of rooting for the underdog but given the Rams haven’t won it since 99’ them winning can’t be a bad thing either.

This is what draws me to American Football. Being a lifelong football (soccer) fan it sucks to see how much the sport has regressed over the years. It’s so painfully uncompetitive that only a handful of super clubs have a chance of winning the big prizes every year and every other club simply exists to make up the numbers. It’s now so deep rooted in the structure it’s almost impossible to change without a radical overhaul.

Yeah, hard to disagree with this. The guy threw his toys out of the pram in Houston and blamed everyone but himself for the Rockets coming up short in the post season, it’s almost like he knows he’s the problem and tries to deflect attention away from himself. He seems pretty married to Harden ball at times and doesn’t half slow the game down.

Always thought Aussie rules looks fun as hell but never known where/when to watch. Will give it a whirl.

The UFC schedule is definitely too packed nowadays but P4P its product is still the best in combat sport imo. You consistently get P4P level talent matching up with one another and every card has at least 3 good fights. I love boxing but heaven and earth has to be moved to make a unification bout. It’s usually just weak cards and mandatory defences where the champ is a 1/8 favourite BUT when it’s good it’s the most exhilarating sport going.

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#15

Yeah, that’s probably the main reason it’s so popular. You have to be a terribly-run franchise (see, NY Jets) to miss the playoffs for long. The longest drought is currently the Jets (2010), then the Broncos (2016). On the other hand, you’d be hard pressed to find the last time a club like Aston Villa finished in the top 4 in the Prem.

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#16

I like how they promote small market franchises too. I hate the way ESPN cover the NBA; they’re only interested in talking about drama surrounding LeBron/Steph and California/New York franchises whereas franchises will be promoted regardless of where they’re from in the NFL as long as they’re doing well.

Yep, it’s the same in the Champions League too; only a small handful of clubs can realistically win that. Even historically gigantic clubs like AC Milan and Juventus are being strangled by the Premier League’s financial monopoly and PSG’s oil money.

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#17

Yeah I mean the Packers are based in Green Bay which has like 100,000 residents and they’re a storied franchise. The NBA used to be more of an even competition (teams like the Spurs were a dynasty for over a decade for example) but I’ve really lost interest since the superteam era. It was great seeing Toronto and Milwaukee buck the trend (no pun intended) but I feel like it’s just going to become super rich franchises controlling the league much like the Premier League.

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#18

How does the NFL manage to maintain a competitive balance where the NBA can’t?

#19

A lot of it is just that in basketball one superstar is far more important than in football (besides QB). Like in the NBA there are usually only like 5 guys who can realistically lead a championship team. That alone makes parity difficult.

In the NFL it’s a lot more about the overall team. NFL players can’t play both sides of the ball and be on the field for 90% of the game unlike in Basketball.

Other factors:

  • playoff formats (one game elimination vs 7 games)
  • franchise tags in NFL
  • hard salary cap in NFL vs. Soft cap in NBA ( this allows for the super teams in the NBA)
  • superstar referee bias in NBA (more than other sports NBA stars get the benefit of the whistle)
  • roster size

Also, in the last decade super teams have really taken over as Mitch mentioned earlier. It was all downhill after the Miami Heat big 3 in 2010. This caused a major ripple effect and led to other super team formations like the warriors with Durant.

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#20

That’s a very accurate summary.