Yep! Thursday is fast approaching and we’ve got a Champions League final to talk about in our Rapid Fire edition, entirely scripted by your good self. Send us your questions on anything football related either by leaving a comment here, or sending an electronic mail letter to counterattack@thescore.com, or Tweeting using the hashtag #counterattackquestion.
Chairs!
One of the biggest announcements at yesterday’s Microsoft reveal of the Xbox One was their new partnership with the NFL. The technology for this collaboration is brand new, so it has potential to be great, or a disaster.
Here’s how it works: You’ll be able to sync your fantasy account and watch live NFL programming through your XBOX (obviously not free). When somebody scores, updates will be “snapped” to the right side of your screen (see image below). Of course, this is only for U.S. markets right now, but Microsoft has a global rollout plan that they haven’t released info on yet.
But the fantasy football aspect is just the beginning. The deal itself is worth $400 million over 5 years, and Microsoft will also be bringing their technology to the sidelines via Microsoft Surface tablets. The shots of wide receivers huddling around a binder, reviewing their previous drives will be no longer. Most of the paper will be substituted for tablets as early as 2014.
Last season during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, I put out a morning “noteworthy” column in the style of Trey Kerby’s “Things Of Note” posts on The Basketball Jones. This year I’ll be doing something similar (I think with some upgrades on my own previous attempts) using the NHL’s morning press release (“Stanley Cup of Joe,” they’re calling it), my own opinions, and some videos, .GIFs and appropriate pictures. Quoted passages are from the NHL press release.
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One series got close
The Sharks beat the Kings by a score of 2-1 to tie the series at two games apiece.
One didn’t
The Bruins snuck by the Rangers 2-1 to push their series lead against the Rangers to 3-0. Read the rest of this entry »
Sure, the Spurs actually won because of Tim Duncan’s innate Tim Duncanness, but they definitely couldn’t have done it without this guy, I guess. Way to go, this guy.
(via CJ Fogler)
Giants splash game is tight tho
Baseball is the weirdest game. The season is so long that early season games seem almost meaningless. By the time September rolls around, even the most dramatic May walkoff victory is long forgotten. Just one of one-sixty-two, another victory of 90 if you’re a playoff team.
But in May, late-inning heroics fuel the game. It is the value of the unexpected that keeps so many of us coming back. You never really know what you’ll see – every at bat presents a fresh opportunity for amazement.
Last night, just a random Tuesday night in May, supplied more than its share of amazement. No baseball fan could ask for much more from a Tuesday night in late May. We saw walkoffs a plenty, dramatic home runs as precursor to those walkoff shots, great pitching performances and another historic night from a young player who already has a fair bit of history to his name.
It was baseball and it was awesome.
With the bevy of rumours, reports and general speculation over Bryan Colangelo’s job status running rampant over the last few weeks, we’ve already had plenty of time to assess Colangelo’s actions and words recently. On that note, I’m not going to spend any time on Colangelo’s conference call with the media from earlier today after it was announced that he was being relieved of his General Manager duties.
Having said that, new Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO Tim Leiweke held a much more candid media call on Tuesday morning that is worth talking about, so here are some talking points from that call..
Matthew Stafford is an odd guy. No, not because of his innovative offseason workout habits. You party on, Matty.
He’s intriguing because with OTAs beginning for most teams now and with the NFL offseason clock quickly clicking towards training camps (oh gawd move faster please thanks), projecting what Stafford we’ll see in 2013 is difficult. He’s not unique in that sense, especially among his quarterback peers. Often unless your last name is Rodgers or Brady or Brees or Manning (arguably both Mannings, but definitely Peyton), there’s little need for concern. The rest, though, usually have at least one lingering question mark.
For Stafford, his best efforts to create apprehension could actually be beneficial and result in fine fantasy value.
Oh, and money. That too.
Spending all day – every day – immersed in sports is a bit like working at Pizza Hut and eating nothing but pizza. If one is unburdened by such matters as personal health and waistline size, pizza is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, too much of a wonderful thing is likely to leave one no longer believing the wonderful thing to be all that wonderful.
Sports are really, really great. However, the more time you spend reading and writing about a topic, the greater the chance its ugly little cracks and cobwebs will begin to emerge. This is why, over time, the focus of writers and fans alike becomes embittered by the more negative aspects of sports. The cheating. The discrimination. The exploitation. The inequality. It all becomes overwhelming. We forget why sports are so great, and why they fascinated us long before we grew caustic to what they could offer. And so, that’s where The Week In Sports Happiness comes into play.
Every week, I’ll present the ten things that are making me happy from the world of sports. It might be a particular article, it could be a winning streak, it may even be an animated GIF. No matter what, it’s from sports, it made me feel good inside, and I hope it does the same for you.
Without further ado, sports the good:
