Random Sports Discussion

[Ginaz]

Well, Eugenie Bouchard lost in the Wimbledon final today and she wasn't really in it at all.  Still, she is only 20 and with lack of any real dominating female tennis players these days, I think its only a matter of time before she wins a Grand Slam.  As for Milos Raonic, I think he's peaked.  Roger Federer exposed him as the one dimensional player he is when he dismantled Raonic in the semis.  Raonic probably has the best serve in the history of tennis but the rest of his game is average at best, plus he's not exactly the most fleet of foot.  And unlike the women, the men's side still has a lot of stars that will stop him almost every time.  Raonic is a top 10 player, but he'll never go much higher than #5 with Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic in his way.

Edit: It looks like another Canadian, Vasek Pospisil, won Wimbledon's mens doubles championship today with his US partner.  So all and all, not a bad showing this year for Canadian tennis.

[WayAbvPar]

People named Bubba are retards?

That is the only explanation I can come up with. It is not like he is 11 years old, or lives somewhere in the Amazon without contact with society. How do people get through life being this self-involved and incurious? I just don't get it.

[Paelos]

Don't quiz athletes. It's just mean. 

[WayAbvPar]

The guy is 35 fucking years old. I thought he was at least in his twenties. Now he has even less of an excuse.

[Ginaz]

People named Bubba are retards?

That is the only explanation I can come up with. It is not like he is 11 years old, or lives somewhere in the Amazon without contact with society. How do people get through life being this self-involved and incurious? I just don't get it.

Maybe because the Beatles aren't relevant to people under 60?  I could probably name them all (maybe not George Harrison, everyone forgets about him) but I can't name more than 3 or 4 of their songs.  I've always thought the Beatles were way over rated and not nearly as good as they're made out to be.  The Rolling Stones, and even Elvis, were much better than the Beatles imo.

[Cyrrex]

No, he is right.  I agree that the Beatles are hugely overrated, and I personally could care less about any of their music.  But the point is more one of how it is possible to live on the planet without somehow not being exposed to the information.  It indicates a shocking lack of either exposure or awareness.  Or perhaps someone who is just ridiculously self-involved, which an elite athlete might tend to be.

[Nebu]

People that think the Beatles are overrated tend to lack an understanding of their role in music history and, for that matter, have never heard of George Martin.  Let me guess, you think the Beach Boys are overrated too.  

You don't have to like their music to appreciate their role in Rock and the music industry.  Their importance can't be overstated.

[Merusk]

You can know who the Beatles are without knowing the group members names.

I have no idea who the other members of Van Halen are beyond Eddie, "His brother" and Dave/ Sammy or the individual names of the Four Topps or The Supremes.  Doesn't mean I'm not aware of them or their tunes, just that I never cared to look them up. 

Saying "OMG YOU DON"T KNOW THE BEATLES NAMES, YOU'RE A MORON" is exceptionally dumb. You don't know his life, why assume it's universal knowledge? I went to college with a guy whose parents didn't let him listen to anything but Classical music until he went to college. I imagine he couldn't name a single Beatle either, as he found only Rush to be to his liking.

Quick, what are the names of Miles' Davis' Quinet?  Why are you so racist as to not know?

Why swallow such a bullshit non-story?

[Ginaz]

People that think the Beatles are overrated tend to lack an understanding of their role in music history and, for that matter, have never heard of George Martin.  Let me guess, you think the Beach Boys are overrated too.  

You don't have to like their music to appreciate their role in Rock and the music industry.  Their importance can't be overstated.

I know they're "historically important", I just don't understand why.  The 1972 Summit Series is "historically important" here in Canada and for almost the same reasons (because a lot of old people wax nostalgic for it and can't let go of their youth but it was a glorified exhibition series with a bunch of washed up, out of shape, unmotivated NHL players).  I can listen to a number of Rolling Stones songs on the radio today and enjoy them (I always crank up Satisfaction and Paint it Black) while the Beatles...if there's nothing else playing, ok, I'll listen to them but I usually end up changing the channel.  For many people, the Beatles WERE the 60's, and as we've all been told a million times already, the 60's was the most awesome decade of all time and nothing ever will compare so if the Beatles were the best band of the 60's then that means they were the best band of all time ever.

[HaemishM]

The Beatles were the boy band of the '60's. They got better when they got on drugs, but their music before then is mostly pop. It just so happens they came at the right time when American rock/pop music had gotten fucking stale as week old bread. Elvis wasn't putting out a lot of music, most of the early rockers were dealing with a lot of self-inflicted bullshit and Pat Boone was the main man on radio. The Beatles came in with a very fresh sounding form of blues-y rock but again, it wasn't anything that would have been special five years earlier in America. Right place, right time. It wasn't until they started experimenting with different recording techniques and imagery that they really made anything worth remembering. McCartney may be one of the world's best writers of pop songs but the songs are mostly that - just kind of empty pop tunes with fantastic hooks and singable chorus.

A 35-year old man not being able to name them at least one of them though? Come out of your cave.

[Nebu]

A few Beatle innovations/influences

1. The music video
2. Concept albums
3. Stadium concerts
4. Escaping the record industry (Apple records)
5. The Beatles (and their recording engineers) either pioneered or popularized Artificial Double Tracking (ADT), back masking, tuned feedback, spliced audio loops, distortion, equalization, stereo effects, multi-tracking (overdubbing), compression, phase shifting, and innovative “microphoning".
6. Lyrics on the album cover/sleeve
7. The popularity of FM radio

[Ginaz]

A few Beatle innovations/influences

1. The music video
2. Concept albums
3. Stadium concerts
4. Escaping the record industry (Apple records)
5. The Beatles (and their recording engineers) either pioneered or popularized Artificial Double Tracking (ADT), back masking, tuned feedback, spliced audio loops, distortion, equalization, stereo effects, multi-tracking (overdubbing), compression, phase shifting, and innovative “microphoning".
6. Lyrics on the album cover/sleeve
7. The popularity of FM radio

And all that wouldn't have mattered if Elvis had still been making music instead of shitty movies or Jerry Lee Lewis hadn't married his 13 year old cousin.  The Beatles were good.  No doubt about it.  However, they're not the be all and end all of rock and roll like many claim they are.  The Rolling Stones music is much more inter-generational than Beatles ever were.  Hell, even though they didn't form until 1969, Black Sabbath is a better band with arguably just as much influence in music as the Beatles.

[Nebu]

And all that wouldn't have mattered if Elvis had still been making music instead of shitty movies or Jerry Lee Lewis hadn't married his 13 year old cousin.  The Beatles were good.  No doubt about it.  However, they're not the be all and end all of rock and roll like many claim they are.  The Rolling Stones music is much more inter-generational than Beatles ever were.  Hell, even though they didn't form until 1969, Black Sabbath is a better band with arguably just as much influence in music as the Beatles.

The Beatles (and their recording engineers) either pioneered or popularized Artificial Double Tracking (ADT), back masking, tuned feedback, spliced audio loops, distortion, equalization, stereo effects, multi-tracking (overdubbing), compression, phase shifting, and innovative “microphoning".

That point... right there... changed recording forever.  No more Phil Specter "Wall of Sound".  No more "Two mics live". Do you have any idea how important this change alone was?  It doesn't matter if you like their music.  It's about how they changed the music industry.  Elvis didn't do that... nor did Sabbath.    

[Sir T]

After watching this video you will understand what the Beatles could have been if they had been world class musicians instead of world class entertainers with a massive hype machine. Especially after 3:20 or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y

[Ingmar]

There is some amazingly dumb stuff being written in this threa suddenly. Listen to Nebu, I don't have time to write a dissertation this weekend.

[Cyrrex]

The amount of butt-hurt going on there is...well, not surprising.  It is possible to both recognize the fact that the Beatles were a huge commercial success with a major impact on the industry, AND ALSO have the opinion that most of the music they created was utter shite.  The two things are not mutually exclusive.  It is not surprising that there are many people in this day and age that dislike the Beatles.  It seems like this should be something rational people could agree on.

That said, I still don't see how a person who hasn't lived in a cave for the last 30 to 40 years doesn't know at least two names from the group.  I submit that there must be something abnormal about such a person.  Sheltered.  Enormously self-absorbed.  Low intelligence.  Hugely incurious.  Bubba Watson could easily be all of those things.

[Merusk]

After watching this video you will understand what the Beatles could have been if they had been world class musicians instead of world class entertainers with a massive hype machine. Especially after 3:20 or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y

Some days I forget just how goddamn awesome Prince is at playing. Thanks for the reminder.

[Paelos]

Interesting turn in random sports.

I hate the Eagles. So there.

[Phildo]

Geoff Emerick, the Beatles' recording engineer, has a book about his time with the band.  I highly recommend it.

Also, the quote "I hate the fucking Eagles, man" is what convinced the Rolling Stones' former manager to let the Coen Brothers have the rights to one of their songs for The Big Lebowski.  See?  It's all connected.

[Ceryse]

I don't get why not knowing the names of some guys in an old band is somehow a negative or indicative of stupidity or being self centered. I don't have a clue as to the names of the Beatles. If you showed me a picture of bands, even just of them on the street walking around, I could maybe correctly pick out the Beatles. Outside of one or two songs I couldn't even name their songs. But I could generally pick out a song I overheard as being by the Beatles. I'm also aware of their historically importance.

I just don't give a shit about the Beatles. They are irrelevant to my life. Why should I know their names? I've got more important shit to remember/care about.

Bubba Watson may be everything he's been called for all I know, but his not being able to name a Beatle is not even remotely evidence of such.

[Paelos]

It's not important, and Bubba doesn't have to know who they are to be a successful person. So yes, it's a totally irrelevant story used by people to pick on a guy because he's successful.

[Ingmar]

So yes, it's a totally irrelevant story used by people to pick on a guy because he's successful.

Eh, that's a stretch. It's the same argument Simond used when he said you were criticizing Metzen out of jealousy.

[Paelos]

The whole thing was made so the guys would look dumb. That was the point of the video. ESPN doing it's thing to see if they can catch the multi-millionaires looking stupid for not knowing some trivia. If they all answer correctly, ESPN never even releases the thing, it gets scrapped as a bad idea, and they move on.

I just think the point of the thing was a setup.

[Goumindong]

After watching this video you will understand what the Beatles could have been if they had been world class musicians instead of world class entertainers with a massive hype machine. Especially after 3:20 or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y

I don't understand what in that video is supposed to convince me that the Beatles were not world class musicians. Because they wrote some songs that didn't have a wailing guitar solo in them?

[Paelos]

Twitter is basically saying that Tony Stewart intentionally struck someone in a smaller race tonight after the driver got out of his car, and that the driver may be dead.

I have no way of confirming anything other than a driver was hit and he is hurt, but if even half of that is true it's going to be a total disaster.

[Abagadro]

Yep. The driver, Ward, is dead. 20 year old stupidly got out of hit car to gesticulate at Smoke for running him into the wall. Stewart, who is generally a cock and why the fuck is he still running sprint cars after last year's crash, gunned it to show the "punk" what for and fishtailed into him.  Complete debacle and a tragic result.  Guy should probably be prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter but much money will probably be exchanged and it will be swept under.

[Samprimary]

man, watching the video of that accident shows that the dead guy was playing chicken with racecars and had jumped out of his car and well into the middle of the racetrack to confront Stewart, probably because he was fucking furious

Stewart may have gunned the engine to spook the kid or spray dirt on him but the guy he hit had literally jumped into the middle of the racetrack and I guess Stewart drifted too hard and caught the guy with a tire.

which is all it took. from the video I saw this tumbled him so hard that i would be extremely surprised if he wasn't pretty much immediately dead

[01101010]

No reason for any of that. Tony at that point was under caution which means slow the fuck down and let the maintenance crews get on the track and NOT be run over while doing their job. Granted, this Ward guy should have no been a asshat and been walking around the track; but no way in hell should Tony have even been close to him or been maintaining speed with a guy on the track. The two cars that passed up Ward had no trouble avoiding him... Sad sad sad.

[Paelos]

After reviewing things, I'm with Ab, Stewart should absolutely be prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter. Whether or not the kid was in the track isn't really relevant in my mind considering that the other drivers had zero problem avoiding him, it was under caution, and Stewart accelerated the vehicle.

I'm not sure what way it goes legally, but I think there's a component of negligence involved here.

[croaker69]

From what I've read running onto the track and gesticulating at the driver who wrecked you is a common occurrence and Stewart has done the same many times.

[HaemishM]

It's utterly fuckstupid to do, of course, and now we have one dead idiot. 

After seeing the video, I agree with both Ab and the Monkey. Stewart should probably be prosecuted for that. Other drivers had no problems avoiding the raging idiot in the track.

[Paelos]

The cops are already saying they aren't pressing criminal charges. Color me shocked that the podunk county cops aren't willing to prosecute one of the biggest racers in the country.

[Cyrrex]

I saw the video.  Or a video.

On the one hand, while the other drivers are able to pass by, the dude continues to move to the center of the track so in theory it might have been more difficult for Stewart to get by without hitting him.  I also don't see or hear anything that indicates that Stewart gunned it and made the backend jump out....I mean, the video doesn't even show Stewart's car until pretty much the moment of impact.  I can't guess what is happening in the second or two before that, and I also can't tell if he is driving faster than anyone else.  The car isn't in the frame long enough to tell.

Do I find it plausible that Stewart gunned his engine and deliberately tried to spray him with dirt or just scare him in general?  Absolutely.  It is exactly the kind of dick move you come to expect from these guys.  Do I think that, if there is better video or eyewitness evidence that it even happened, that his back end might have totally innocently jumped out and struck the guy?  Not remotely.  This is a decorated professional racer on a dirt track in a sprint car, the whole idea of which requires exquisitely controlled skidding around the track at high speed.  Back-end skidding, drifting, whatever, is exactly what these guys are good at.  No way did it just slip out.  That is, if it even happened at all.

I am not convinced based on what I saw, and I was sort of expecting to be.  Is there more than one video?  From the very short time I see Stewart's care in the shot, it looks more to me that his engine noises might change and his back end might jump is because of the impact, not necessarily happening prior to.

Curious as to what you guys are seeing, because it isn't evident to me.  Pretty creepy to watch.

[Abagadro]

The cops are already saying they aren't pressing criminal charges. Color me shocked that the podunk county cops aren't willing to prosecute one of the biggest racers in the country.

Cops don't make that decision, prosecutors do.  They are likely gathering evidence and are going to look at it when they get into the office tomorrow. I don't expect any criminal charges, but you never know. There may be some damning video out there that hasn't made it out yet.  As of now you have an ambiguous video and Stewart's statement (which is likely self-exculpatory). I have my own opinion based upon not much more than the guy's personality but that's about it.

[Cyrrex]

Another point being made is the darkness of the track in general, and the dark firesuit and helmet Ward was wearing.  I think proving criminal charges is going to be really hard, unless clearer evidence shows up.