Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part One) - Return of the "Champions of December"??
Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part One) - Return of the "Champions of December"??
You've got soccer ahead of football!? Nothing like those 0-0 ties! Gotta love it! Not!
Not to get too far afield here ... but modern-day football (the North American version) just bores me to tears these days. Honestly, it's just an endless series of 5 yard passes, penalty flags galore if the hit is even marginally off-target or off-time, and endless replays and reviews. You would think the teams are playing to determine the status of the free world, ferchrissakes. It's a freaking game, I can live with a few minor officiating errors, the game was OK without the serial stoppages for decades before it became so GD important to sweat over where the ball is marked, was this possession or not, did we miss a few seconds, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum. Throw in the endless commercials breaking up the pace of the game, rules being changed each and every season - and sometimes in midseason

- to try to help the offense (when was the last time the NFL changed a rule in favor of defense - is setting receiver "picks" fair?), and now the omnipresent idiocy of fantasy football crapola, which (not coincidentally) has gone hand-in-hand with the emphasis on offense/scoring.
I played (and used to love) football, but the game they're playing nowadays bears no resemblance to the football I played and loved. So I've moved on. Soccer is not without its own issues (it's probably a close 3rd in concussion issues behind football and rugby, and diving and FIFA corruption do not help things either) but at least I know I'm going to be watching a game that flows, is not over-scripted and/or overregulated, and I won't be subjected to inane advanced analytics/fantasy *discussions* in the pre-game intros.
Bringing this back to hockey for a bit ... I saw an NHL game this weekend on TV where a goal was "challenged" by the opposition for an allegedly missed offsides call. They ran the replay at least a half-dozen times (it was THAT close), and the game stopped for about 5 minutes. The goal stood ... but if this is the direction hockey is going to be taking in the future, I hope they decide against it, really I do.
Offsides - in both hockey and soccer - at its roots is an anti-goal-hanging rule, although it is different in both sports. I think your games are 100% fine f you can trust your officials to get the obvious calls right, and live with a few minor (razor thin) misses, since the close calls are usually so close, they don't violate the spirit of the game.
And as a final Monday morning ****** point ... the fact that what Tom Brady's father thinks about the Colts has been a media issue this past week tells you all you need to know about what is wrong with social media's incursion into the sports world. Can't TB12 have a word with his dad (like he presumably did with the since-blessedly-silent Gisele a few years ago) and ask him to keep his thoughts to himself? Is Dad pimping for an appearance on the Kardashians, or whatever???
