The Jets will take on Matt Ryan and Michael Turner (both active) and the rest of the Atlanta Falcons in the snowy Meadowlands this afternoon, though you Giants fans will have to wait until tomorrow to watch your team. Talk about any and all of the games here.
Open Thread: Giants vs. Eagles
This one tonight has some pretty serious playoff implications. If the Giants win, they remain right in the thick of the wildcard chase with three games to go. But if they lose, well that’s going to be rather difficult to overcome. The Cowboys already lost, so the NFC East isn’t out of reach either. Kickoff is set for 8:20pm ET on NBC.
Go ahead and chat about the game here, or anything else you want for that matter. Dr. House is making a cameo on Family Guy, so that should be fun.
Football open thread
The Kellen Clemens led Jets are in Tampa at 1pm ET, but the Giants don’t play until a little later tonight. Use this thread for all your gridiron talk.
Football Open Thread
The Giants don’t kick off against the Cowboys until 4:15pm ET, but there’s still plenty of early games to keep you occupied. Talk all you want about the football games here.
The best and the worst play-by-play guys
When ranking the best play-by-play guys in the business, the top spot approaches unanimity. Vin Scully is as good as they get. His simple but descriptive style is welcome in any age where it seems everyone wants to be defined by certain calls. (See ya! Hegone! It is high…, etc.) I listened to some of the Dodgers-Phillies series on my BlackBerry and it was nothing but a pleasure. Had Matt Snyder of FanHouse not listed Scully atop his best and worst TV broadcasters list, people likely wouldn’t have read any further.
Of the remaining nine, only three are national guys: Bob Costas is second, Dan Schulman eighth, and Gary Thorne ninth. The Mets’ Gary Cohen ranks fourth; he’s the one good thing the Mets have going for them. Even after having MLB.tv for the past three years, I don’t have any strong opinions of any of these other guys. I guess that years of listening to Michael Kay causes me to tune out baseball commentators.
(Kay was also considered: “bad voice, good at drawing analysis from his partners.”)
The worst, of course, is Hawk Harrelson. He’s bad for sure, but he’s a parody of himself. It’s funny when heard occasionally, especially the Hegone! thing. Chip Caray and his fists rank second. It seems TBS realizes this, too. Both MLB playoff announcers made the list, with Joe Buck coming in at fifth.
Football Open Thread
The Giants played on Turkey Day, but the Jets are taking on the Panthers at home at 1pm. Talk about any and all of the games here.
Sabathia beloved in his former hometown
Even though he was a 28-year-old ace on the free agent market, a rarity for sure, only the Yankees and the Brewers bid for CC Sabathia’s services last winter. Perhaps teams were scared by the Yankees’ imposing six-year, $140 million opening offer, and figured they couldn’t afford Sabathia. There was still hope, though, that he’d take a discount to play for another team. The Brewers took a shot with their five-year, $100 million offer, but there was a greater fear that the hometown team would swoop in with an offer.
Despite pitching across the country in Cleveland for most of his career, Sabathia has remained active in his hometown of Vallejo, California, about 30 miles northwest of San Francisco. Because of his family and community ties, the connection to the Giants was inevitable. Who wouldn’t want to pitch in front of their hometown crowd? But the Giants never made a serious offer, and the Yankees increased theirs. Sabathia opted to play on the opposite coast.
The residents of Vallejo aren’t spiteful, though. Sure, they’d love to see Sabathia pitching in black and orange, but they’re happy for his success no matter where he pitches. Carolyn Jones of the San Francisco Chronicle captures the town’s love for Sabathia.
“Everybody here loves CC,” said Tony Hodges, president of North Vallejo Little League, where Sabathia learned to play baseball. “His smile, his leadership – it’s infectious. He can ride around here and he’ll never get hassled.”
The article describes CC’s involvement over Thanksgiving weekend. Vallejo, like many towns in California, is bankrupt. Sabathia is doing his part to help raise money for programs that, out of necessity, the town had to cut. The town will honor him tonight at the Mayor’s Image dinner.
Now (as Ben noted to me earlier), if only the residents of Vallejo can convince Sabathia to not opt out of his contract…
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