To be able to say "Noggle," you first must be able to say "Nah."
This video appeared on the Ace of Spades HQ Overnight Thread last night (embedded in a tweet, but it’s also on YouTube):
I don’t remember that song, but I remember “Brew Crew All The Way”:
Although I don’t remember it quite that bluegrass.
As a reminder, I was in Milwaukee and then had just moved to the St. Louis area during their 80s peak.
Though the St. Louis Cardinals, who beat the Brewers in the World Series in 1982, bought me off with free tickets for good grades every year.
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Or even contemporary football.
The Green Bay Packers have a player who’s both a cornerback and a receiver (Is he a WR or CB? Packers’ Bo Melton could answer yes to both), although he’s mostly a cornerback now since the Packers are stuffed with receivers this year.
I mean, the Packers have had two way players in recent memory (Spencer Havner was both a linebacker and a fullback).
In the old days, they did not have special teams. Jerry Kramer played both right guard and place kicker and returned a kickoff. Paul Hornung was both halfback and place kicker (and held the Packers points scored record for a long time).
I mean, I guess these are all Packers, but Packers history is NFL history.
But, whatever, sportsbook marketing intern. You do you.
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The “ancients” in this case being me in 2006.
I denigrated the team’s plan to cut over-the-air games and I predicted scaling back free tickets to lesser games for good students would be eating the seed corn–diminishing their fan base for quick profit.
And, lo, twenty years later, the prophecies have proven true, and the Cardinals might be turning that ship around, but probably too late:
So far, so (largely) good with the Cardinals’ efforts to increase their television and streaming viewership levels.
The club has been experimenting this year with placing a handful of its locally produced games on over-the-air television after an absence of a decade and a half, and also is making all its local telecasts available for direct purchase via streaming for the first time.
The developments have led to significantly increased viewership and although the rise is not at blockbuster levels, an extreme bump seemed unlikely at a time of fan discontent with the team as evidenced by a significant downturn in home attendance even before the club’s recent slide.
To bad they sacrificed what might have been salvaged from that whole missing generation.
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Ex-Yankee Joey Gallo shows off video of first bullpen as he attempts to make comeback as pitcher
As a reminder, St. Louis Cardinal Rick Ankiel was a promising young pitcher who got wild but then went to the minor leagues and emerged an outfielder with some success in the majors. The linked Wikipedia entry compares him to Babe Ruth who was also a pitcher turned hitter, although the “records” they share are pretty precise in what they measured.
I don’t really know who this Joey Gallo is because he’s never played for the Cardinals, Packers, or Blues.
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From an article about Deion Sanders: The Next Generation dropping in the draft, we get:
And now for the reason America turns to National Review: sports commentary. Yes, I’ll admit I’m a rank amateur when it comes to the world of college football or the NFL Draft and only casually familiar with the professional product itself — I’m a baseball guy at heart.
* * * * For those unaware: Shedeur Sanders is the son of ex-football star Deion Sanders, former NFL Hall of Fame great. “Neon Deion” looms largest in my childhood Washington, D.C.-area memory as the guy who signed a seven-year deal with the Redskins back in 2000 and retired completely after year one rather than play a day more for the Redskins.
A baseball guy who one would presume is under thirty (he’s not) for not remembering that Deion Sanders also played major league baseball for a number of teams and is the only player to appear both in the World Series and Superbowl.
Not really germane to the article, but I wanted you to remember, gentle reader, that I read Deion Sanders * Brett Favre thirteen years ago.
(Link via Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
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US women break world record in final swimming event of the Paris Olympics:
Minutes after an unprecedented loss in the men’s medley relay, the U.S. women’s team dominated in the final swimming event in Paris.
I would have expected the U.S. women’s team to have been tired after losing the men’s medley relay minutes before.
But as we all know, I swim like a stone.
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Pardon me for Paul-Harveying this, but Stuff Nobody Cares About posted a picture of 1937 St. Louis Cardinals catchers at spring training.
Including Mickey Owen:
Of the three catchers Mickey Owen had the most successful career. In 1937 the 21-year-old rookie played in 80 games for the Cardinals. Owen would become the Cardinals starting catcher in 1938 playing with the team until 1940.
Mickey Owen would eventually play five seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers making the All-Star team four times. Owen played in the major leagues until 1954 and had a career .255 batting average. Owen died at age 89 in 2005.
As we here at MfBJN have mentioned, Owens moved to Greene County, Missouri, after his playing days. He opened a baseball school a little west of here that we passed taking my boy to a basketball game out in Avila (it’s still open), and he later ran for Greene County sheriff and served several terms. I know all this because I bought one of his re-election giveaways for a dime at a church garage sale a decade ago.
It’s just a little notepad. No telling what it’s worth, but given that he played almost a century ago, probably as much as a modern giveaway notepad. So less than the dime I paid for it likely.
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From the story Five things you may learn from those who have actually seen the first Super Bowl broadcast:
Fred Williamson went on to a lengthy post-playing career in movies
Williamson, who was interviewed for the podcast, is still alive at age 85, and though he’s not a Hall of Famer like teammates Len Dawson, Bobby Bell, Johnny Robinson or Emmitt Thomas, he might have had the most notable career of any player on that Chiefs team.
The Hammer went on to a career in “blaxploitation” action cinema, following in some of the same footsteps as NFL legend Jim Brown. His numerous list of film credits include movies as recently the 2020s.
Ackshually, you wouldn’t have learned that by watching the first NFL/AFL championship game. But you would have learned it if you watched all fifteen movies in the Urban Action Cinema Collection, a full 1/3 of which are Fred Williamson movies.
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In an article entitled Aaron Rodgers has strong stance on coaching after retirement, the journalist says:
He is right, though, there haven’t been many coaches — at least in the NFL — who come from playing backgrounds.
Of the 32 current NFL coaches, Tennessee’s Mike Vrabel and Houston’s DeMeco Ryans are the only two who had extensive playing careers in the league.
The highest-profile coaches to fit into the category are probably Mike Ditka, Jim Harbaugh and Mike Singletary, though Singletary was not particularly successful as a head coach.
Too bad he is not a Packers fan, because otherwise he would have come up with another set of examples, including:
And so on.
C’mon, man.
Packers fans: It’s not just that we’re nicer than other football fans, but also that we’re much more knowledgeable about the history of the game (at least in how it is related to the Packers) than other fans. And some veteran sports journalists.
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Major League Baseball has commanded teams to pitch to Ohtani just to keep the Babe Ruth comparisons coming and to excite people and perhaps the Japanese market about Major League Baseball.
I’m not sure if it’s the world we live in or me in it that is getting even more suspicious and cynical. I would have thought it impossible, but here we are.
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Wimbledon’s most controversial tennis outfits ever – from spandex bodysuit to Spurs shirt
No, of course not. Most of the controversies come from the last twenty or so years, or not deep in the archives so an intern didn’t have to work too hard. Or perhaps the archives were only, erm, scantily digitized so the AI didn’t know about life before the Internet.
It does, however, include Karol Fageros, who in 1950 caused controversy wearing gold shorts under her skirt.
It’s the only black-and-white representation.
Or perhaps the world lacks photos of Gussie Moran and her visible lacy panties from 1949. Although I did include a photo of Moran and panties when I told her story in 2019.
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For some reason, Facebook thinks I’m a real hockey fan. I assume I clicked on hockey-related news somewhere along the line. I probably cross-posted the Jordan Binnington print. And my cousin’s husband is a big hockey fan, and Facebook thinks we’re great friends.
So I get a lot of posts about hockey and hockey memes. Like this one.
Brent Gretzky did play in the NHL. For the Tampa Bay Lightning. This picture depicts Brett Hull (#16) and Wayne Gretzky during his very brief time (one spring) with the St. Louis Blues between his stints with the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers.
Hall of Famer Brett Hull, it should be noted, had more than 4 points.
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Randall Cobb to reunite with Aaron Rodgers on one-year Jets deal
So the Jets now have the two receivers that Aaron Rodgers locked into too often last year to the detriment of the Packers passing game.
Prediction: He will lock in on them this year as well, with similar results.
The Jets are going to discover something unpleasant about Aaron Rodgers: Appeasing him does not lead to team success.
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Mike Shannon, Cardinals broadcaster and World Series champ, dead at 83
I listened to him broadcasting with Jack Buck when I first moved to St. Louis in the 1980s, and my kids heard him on the radio after we moved to the Springfield area thirty years later.
You’re not going to get that sort of longevity and connection to your youth out of today’s mercenary broadcasters.
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Unbeaten Rays one win away from tying MLB record for best start ever
I remember my freshman year of high school when the Milwaukee Brewers started 13-0. That was back when they were in the American League. They were pretty good in the 1980s and then fell into the doldrums for a while. They’re doing all right this year so far, in first and a game ahead of the…. Pittsburgh Pirates?
Clearly, I do not follow baseball that closely these days.
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MINOR LEAGUE TEAM SCORES 7 RUNS, WINS DESPITE BEING ON THE RECEIVING END OF A NO-HITTER
The Trash Pandas, unfortunately, were the team that threw the no-hitter.
(Remember, gentle reader, the Rocket City Trash Pandas have been my favorite minor league baseball team for five years, which means mostly I wear that sweatshirt in heavy rotation in the winter and I post about them when I see them in the news–not that I follow them closely.)
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME AT BASEBALL STADIUM TO BE PLAYED IN ONLY ONE DIRECTION ON SATURDAY:
Saturday’s college football game between North Alabama and Jacksonville State will be played in only one direction. Both schools, when on offense, will be trying to score on the same end zone.
The game will be held in Madison, Alabama, just west of Huntsville at a minor league baseball stadium. Toyota Field, which is home to Los Angeles Angels Double-A affiliate, the Rocket City Trash Pandas, will host the FCS matchup on Saturday.
Yes, I still have and wear on occasion my sweatshirt. Funny, though, it’s a sweatshirt, which means I wear it the opposite of baseball season, like now.
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In this column about the Bears doing what the Bears do, we get this simile:
A 27-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers landed like a cement pillar to the gut.
I am not entirely sure in what circumstances one takes a cement pillar to the gut. While skateboarding, and you hit one of those “don’t drive here” pillars?
Because nobody, not even in Chicago, is going to pick up a freaking pillar and hit you with it. And if you’re on foot, other parts of you are likely to impact any pillar you run into.
Metaphors: Leave them to the professionals, children. Not that many remain who are qualified to handle them, and probably none in the papers.
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Amongst the music-themed sponsored posts I see on Facebook, I have learned that David Gilmour, of Pink Floyd and solo projects, is apparently a Dallas Cowboys fan:
Well, he’s British, so maybe he thinks Dallas is really America’s Team.
Here’s the last song on his 1984 album About Face–my favorite of his solo albums. I got it on cassette, about wore it out, and now have it on CD. The song is entitled “Near the End”:
I quote it a lot. Well, relative to other songs.
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ALBERT PUJOLS MADE HIS PITCHING DEBUT ON SUNDAY:
Albert Pujols did something Sunday that he hadn’t done in his previous 2,987 regular season career games – he took the mound.
With the Cardinals safely ahead of San Francisco 15-2 and looking to save the arms of the pitching staff, Pujols was called on to toe the rubber in the top of the ninth. It marked the first time in his 22-year MLB career that he’d pitched in a game.
His stats were memed as follows:
As I like to point out, and did on Facebook, he’s worse than José Oquendo, whose ERA was 12.00 with six innings pitched in three games.
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