Patrick Kane is easily one of the league’s most interesting player. Last night the NHL slapped a mic on him for the game, and they picked a good one to do it. He scored (“That’s how we play the game!”), and was on the ice when Seabrook ended it with a bomb (“Seabsy-baby!”). The NHL does a nice job splicing the video together, showing him calling for the puck as “Seabsy” bombs one home.

As the memory fades from last night’s Confederations Cup matches and the gears of the news cycle turn again (Messi and his father now summoned to court to answer tax evasion charges in a Barcelona court), I’m going to take one last look at the marquee match last night.

Japan enjoyed 58% possession in their group stage game against Italy. They maintained as pass accuracy rate of 86% compared to Italy’s 80%. They out-shot Italy 23 to 14, with 9 shots on target to Italy’s 5. Japan had 17 key passes (Opta’s sometimes controversial metric) to Italy’s 7. And yet, as ever, the scoreline read 3-4 for Italy at the end of the match. Japan is eliminated; Italy move on to the semifinals.

Why? The woodwork? The weight and momentum of the ball as it flew from Okazaki’s foot to Buffon’s left, just enough to bounce off the post? The bobble of the ball as it bounced off the floor from Giaccherini’s shot toward Hasebe’s hand, leading to an incredibly dubious penalty for the Azzuri?

These things and more. Less “luck” in the conventional sense, more random variation in the statistical sense. Japan’s process was right, perfect in fact. And yet things happen in a ninety minute match than cannot be controlled. Despite the intuitive sense this somehow constitutes an “injustice,” this is what makes the sport what it is. This is the bargain everyone on all sides agrees to before walking out. Preparation, practice, training, technique, skill, previous meetings can all be wrecked by a bad bounce, a slight miscalculation, a sympathetic referee.

But this should also prevent us from re-engineering a plot line which grants an aura of inevitability to the tournament winners. That’s not on football; that’s on the rest of us watching, obsessed with telling stories. They’re good stories though, and fun to engage in. No reason to stop telling them, but maybe time to recognize them for what they are.

The 2012 American League MVP debate was fought on contentious ground. It became a case of discredit one guy and build an argument on misinformation. Miguel Cabrera was the best hitter coming off a record-setting performance while Mike Trout was the thinking man’s choice: he did more to help his team win than just hit. Trout’s base running and defense was praised and held up as support for his offensive numbers which, while stellar, don’t match up to those of Miggy Triple Crown.

Somehow, in the whole messy exchange, it feels like Mike Trout’s offense was somehow shoved to the side. Held up as a pillar of holistic baseball, it is easy to overlook one increasingly obvious detail: Mike Trout is one of five best hitters in baseball. He’s quite clearly the best player, but his offense is such that it should take a backseat to no man.

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When the Vikings spent a fifth-round pick on punter Jeff Locke two months ago, the end was near for Chris Kluwe in Minnesota, mostly because carrying two punters on your roster is sort of like having a surplus of JaMarcus Russell rookie cards. One feels like too many, though every team needs at least one professional surrenderer.

As Blair Walsh demonstrated during his filmmaker debut below, Locke is a man of many talents. As a punter, he’s often asked to also be a placeholder, a task he can execute anywhere.

He’s the dark ninja of placeholding.

Thanks, KSK

After 3 weeks of negative press, rumors are circulating that Microsoft will announce the removal of DRM restrictions as well as the Xbox One always having to be online.

The rumor is that Microsoft will announce the changes later today or early tomorrow, with game developers being informed first. Sad that it took this long for Microsoft to realize how bad of a shit show this whole “always online” concept has been. The PlayStation 4 has already blown Microsoft out of the water in pre-sale pre-orders, so maybe that was the sign that things needed to be changed.

So this is what this means:

• No more always online requirement
• The console no longer has to check in every 24 hours
• All game discs will work on Xbox One as they do on Xbox 360
• An Internet connection is only required when initially setting up the console
• All downloaded games will function the same when online or offline
• No additional restrictions on trading games or loaning discs
• Region locks have been dropped

Stay tuned for more details

Update: It’s official. Here’s the full presser:

Last week at E3, the excitement, creativity and future of our industry was on display for a global audience.

For us, the future comes in the form of Xbox One, a system designed to be the best place to play games this year and for many years to come. As is our heritage with Xbox, we designed a system that could take full advantage of advances in technology in order to deliver a breakthrough in game play and entertainment. We imagined a new set of benefits such as easier roaming, family sharing, and new ways to try and buy games. We believe in the benefits of a connected, digital future.

Since unveiling our plans for Xbox One, my team and I have heard directly from many of you, read your comments and listened to your feedback. I would like to take the opportunity today to thank you for your assistance in helping us to reshape the future of Xbox One.

You told us how much you loved the flexibility you have today with games delivered on disc. The ability to lend, share, and resell these games at your discretion is of incredible importance to you. Also important to you is the freedom to play offline, for any length of time, anywhere in the world.

So, today I am announcing the following changes to Xbox One and how you can play, share, lend, and resell your games exactly as you do today on Xbox 360. Here is what that means:

An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.

Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.

In addition to buying a disc from a retailer, you can also download games from Xbox Live on day of release. If you choose to download your games, you will be able to play them offline just like you do today. Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console — there will be no regional restrictions.

These changes will impact some of the scenarios we previously announced for Xbox One. The sharing of games will work as it does today, you will simply share the disc. Downloaded titles cannot be shared or resold. Also, similar to today, playing disc based games will require that the disc be in the tray.

We appreciate your passion, support and willingness to challenge the assumptions of digital licensing and connectivity. While we believe that the majority of people will play games online and access the cloud for both games and entertainment, we will give consumers the choice of both physical and digital content. We have listened and we have heard loud and clear from your feedback that you want the best of both worlds.

Thank you again for your candid feedback. Our team remains committed to listening, taking feedback and delivering a great product for you later this year.

“The juice is great.” What does that even mean? Probably that Gregg Popovich likes the Spurs’ energy or pace or something like that. But really, what does it mean?

What. Does. It. Mean?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Rosebud.

(via Oskar Jamtander)

Earlier today we quickly discussed how Masai Ujiri’s front office staff is beginning to take shape, and now it looks like his coaching staff will soon follow suit, as Ujiri officially announced on Wednesday that Dwane Casey will be back as head coach next season.

“I’m excited about moving forward and growing this team with Coach Casey,” Ujiri said via press release.

The release also states that “an announcement will be made in the future regarding the club’s assistant coaching staff.”

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In the future we won’t watch live sports on television, we’ll watch real-time GIFs paired with a live audio feed. In the future we won’t watch shows on television or Netflix, we’ll watch episode length GIFs synced with a soundtrack. In the future kids won’t trade sports or magic cards, they will trade GIF cards. In the future SBNation will publish a “longform” piece on the history of action cards from the 1980s and how they influenced GIF creation. It will be fantastic and exhausting.

In the future we won’t debate the pronunciation of the ‘g’ in gif, but we’ll debate whether the ‘I’ is pronounced /ai/ or /I/.

GIFs, man. They’ve taken over and these are the people making them…

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