The Nation's Tears: Pink Stripes

[simplyeric]

I don't feel badly for any of them, even the kids.

I mean, I feel badly for them in the way I feel badly when a kid gets all upset while learning a life lesson about, say, patience, or not getting an ice cream cone.

I remember the Sox in '86, and just being 'confused'. Like, totally hurt and just baffled, like 'wait how did this happen?' And deeply sad. Of course it was something that made me love the Sox that much more in the long run, and boy did it make 2004 sweet!

So, those kids are learning the highs and lows of sports. If I really felt THAT badly for them, it would mean that I probably shouldn't get my kids into sports. And that's NOT an option.

I'm all for some ataraxia, but if you really want everything to be easy and good then get yourself to Everybody Gets a Trophy Day, not actual competitions and, you know: life.

That all being said, I don't love watching kids suffer.

 

[dcmissle]

Life deals you blows if you take your fandom seriously. I didn't sleep for 2 days in "86. Sunday night only a remarkable play saved us from 3 SB losses resulting from ridiculous catches.

This will be for Seattle the game that shall not be mentioned. Stuff evens out. Can view the Tyree catch in a new light.

 

[SamK]

Analysis is starting to even out. It may have started swinging back to reality when Collingsworth needed a nap yesterday.
 
Some sense at Slate.  A little about the timeout/personnel package chess match at the end. Best was the last two sentences.
"Seattle’s decision ...was defensible and supported by some reasonable considerations. Ultimately, it was a great defensive play that truly decided the game."
Thank you Malcolm Butler and Browner and coaches.
 
In other news, my voice returned today, but my dog and my girlfriend are tiptoeing around the house wondering who it really is that they share a house with.

 

[Leather]

For kids who don't really know how to process a loss like that? Sure. For adults? Not a chance.

 
Everything is a learning experience for kids, especially kids that just last year got to experience their team winning.
 
When I was out on Sunday morning with my 2-year old twins (in Pats jerseys, natch), we got a lot of positive comments.  The only negative reaction came from a kid, probably 9 or 10, who was wearing a Russel Wilson jersey.  We walked by innocuously, he went "Oh, Oh!" and grabbed his father's arm, then said "OH NO! PATRIOTS!" we all glanced at him, and he tugged his jersey at my kids.
 
Now, he was 9.  It was sort of adorable, if anything.  I smiled and shrugged, my kids had no idea what any of it meant.  All part of the game!  My kids' first sports razzing.
 
We passed them again a few minutes later and the kid ran up to his father and buried his face in his father's shirt, staring at my kids as we walked by.  It dawned on me that he was terrified that the Seahawks might lose; my kids Patriots garb reminded him that, hey, there was another team trying to win, and that Seattle wasn't the only fan base that cared about the game.   
 
So, I thought of that kid after the 'Hawks lost.  I kind of feel bad for him, he probably cried.  But, you know what?  Maybe the next time the 'Hawks are in the Superbowl, or the Mariners in the World Series, or whatever, he'll remember that time he puffed his chest at strangers (at kids 1/3 his age, no less) and what happened afterwards, and he'll be a little wiser for it, and a better fan to boot.

 

[JimD]

The video of the Seattle fans is just the best-pure elation followed by pure devastation.

Has there ever been a championship moment where total victory was so close only to be ripped away that quickly? Maybe the Indians in 97?

 
Probably Scott Norwood's 'wide left' was closest - 67 percent swing.

 

[mt8thsw9th]

 
Probably Scott Norwood's 'wide left' was closest - 67 percent swing.

 
Norwood only hit 55% of the kicks over 40 yards in his career. How could there ever have been a 60%-70% chance that Buffalo would win that game? I'm actually curious about this, not disagreeing.

 

[crystalline]

This will be for Seattle the game that shall not be mentioned.

Not sure about that. 2007 was so unmentionable because the Pats lost to a team with a far worse record while heavily favored, would have likely won if not for a rabbit's foot play from a receiver who was out of the league afterward, and got beat by a long drive from a decent but not HOF-level by a longshot QB.

In this game it was Seattle who got the plays from a nobody receiver, and were on the side of the lucky circus catch. And the comeback was led by the greatest quarterback of all time completing passes to one very good and one possible HOF receiver.

Plus the last play call was eminently reasonable for all the reasons discussed above.

The Pats were flattened in 07 in a way that seemed like their karma had run out forever. Seattle lost a tight but ultimately reasonable game against a very good team. They should feel free to mention this game in the future.

 

[jayhoz]

Read his post again. They had the championship won and minutes later they didnt.

True, but we didn't go from "we won" to "fuck, it's over" in those minutes.  We still had hope.

 

[DJnVa]

I'm not sure there's any way to quantify it in golf, but what about Azinger's chip shot? Of course, Stewart then missed a makeable 8 footer, so the odds may not have swung completely around on one play.

 

[Joe D Reid]

Norwood only hit 55% of the kicks over 40 yards in his career. How could there ever have been a 60%-70% chance that Buffalo would win that game? I'm actually curious about this, not disagreeing.

Not positive, but my guess is that the WPA charts are based on the league average over time. So Norwood's personal chances aren't included in the calculation.

Of course, given the short-yardage match ups between NE and SEA, WPA is probably also understating the chances that SEA would have won if they had run it a couple of times. So it sort of washes out.

 

[TSC]

 
This guy posts on a another website I frequent (it's a military version of LinkedIn). He's so, so salty.
 
And why is he so salty?
 

 
Oh, wait.
 

 
NOW it all makes sense.

 

[Leather]

Well, I'm glad he's managed to maintain proper perspective over these intervening 30 years since those Boston fans "threatened to knife him". 
 
I bet this guy was talking all sorts of shit after Game 6.

 

[brandonchristensen]

Any highlights of the goal line stand after the pick? Where they forced the encroachment?

 

[trotsplits]

Any highlights of the goal line stand after the pick? Where they forced the encroachment?

 
The Seahawks beat themselves.  The Patriots did not win the game.  Stay on message.

 

[DJnVa]

Any highlights of the goal line stand after the pick? Where they forced the encroachment?

 
 
This shows them: http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/malcolm-butlers-interception-as-called-by-patriots-se-1683268098
 
Along with the Pats and Seahawks radio calls of the pick.
 

 

[deanx0]

 
This guy posts on a another website I frequent (it's a military version of LinkedIn). He's so, so salty.
 
And why is he so salty?
 

 
Oh, wait.
 

 
NOW it all makes sense.

 
Shouldn't the military know that an ISIS sympathizer is among their midst and dishonorably discharge him?

 

[johnmd20]

Changing topics, I can't watch that Sherman GIF enough. It's just perfect, the perfect finish to an unbelievably imperfect season.

 

[mt8thsw9th]

 
 

 
Unfortunately this isn't really that dissimilar to people here saying (back in 2003/2004) that they'd root for Al Qaeda over the Yankees. 

 

[TSC]

 
Unfortunately this isn't really that dissimilar to people here saying (back in 2003/2004) that they'd root for Al Qaeda over the Yankees. 

 
People here were joking.
 
This is the same guy who is convinced Obama is going to declare Martial Law and refuse to vacate the Presidency when his time is up.
 
The dude is unhinged. 

 

[Leather]

Proof that we need to take better care of our veterans' mental health issues.

 

[Fred not Lynn]

Where's wibi? Did his city burn down?

I just left Utah this morning, and all seemed fine. In fact, spirits were rather high at the West Jordan chapter of the Sons of Sealver Siliga...

 

[dynomite]

 
I was limiting it to championship games (World Series, Super Bowl, etc.), but Thompson is a good call. 71% is pretty big, and I don't think you're going to get much higher than that for a single play in a baseball game. I think Butler's INT was almost the equivalent of completing a Hail Mary (I just checked Super Bowl 46, and if Gronk had come down with that catch at the end, that would have been a 97% swing).

Something that I haven't seen mentioned:

I just found a site I've never heard of that published a post on biggest win expectancy shifts sometime last week. If I'm reading it right, the final 2 minutes of this Super Bowl actually contained the TWO biggest win expectancy shifts in Super Bowl history (since 2001, at least). Don't sleep on the Kearse catch.

After the incomplete pass to Matthews from the NE 49 after the 2 minute warning, the Patriots win probably was at 79%.

On the Kearse catch it then fell to 25%, then down to 12% on the Lynch run, and then spiked back up to 99% on the INT. So a shift of 54% followed by a shift of 87%, BOTH of which exceeds every other play in the past 15 years.

View attachment 793

http://www.tableau.com/public/gallery/10-pivotal-super-bowl-plays

Edit: Oddly, that SB 42 play is NOT Tyree -- it's the Burress TD. The Tyree catch only added 19% (and the Pats were up 4, so no FG in play). And for the first time in 8 years, I can talk about that play. I love this week unconditionally.

Edit2: Also, man, look at the Steelers/Cards SB. Four plays in the Top 10? Ridiculous.

 

[Leather]

All that chart tells me is that I wish they didn't abandon the individual logos for each game.

 

[Norm Siebern]

I always assumed that "the 12" stood for the year most Seattle supporters became fans. As in 2012.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

I always assumed that "the 12" stood for the year most Seattle supporters became fans. As in 2012.

 
It also stands for your post, the 12th time that this joke has been made in this thread.

 

[brewdawg819]

If I could figure out a way to make a gif a desktop background that would be it.

 

[Jimbodandy]

I do grasp the difference in nature between Butler's INT effectively ending the game for Seattle and the Sox having a seventh game to turn the tide in 1986.  But nobody I knew expected the latter to happen.  Game six was the Alamo.  And having experienced a colonoscopy and the tenth inning of game six, I'd choose the colonoscopy every time.  I imagine that feeling is exactly what Seattle fans experienced on Sunday, except that the worm-turning didn't last a half hour and wasn't preceded by decades of failure.

 

[singaporesoxfan]

Something that I haven't seen mentioned:

I just found a site I've never heard of that published a post on biggest win expectancy shifts sometime last week.
http://www.tableau.com/public/gallery/10-pivotal-super-bowl-plays

FYI, Tableau is a business intelligence / data visualization software package. (I use it fairly regularly.) Guess they were doing this to promote the visualizations you can do with the product.

 

[54thMA]

 
Oh come on, no way you forgot!

 
Got me on that one.............
 
2004 lessened the blow, 2007 even further, 2013 almost made it go away completely.
 
Almost.
 
At this point, I feel badly for Evans, Rice and other Red Sox players from that 1986 team who never won a World Series.

 

[Obscure Name]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgvTnPnWqmE

 

[Buster Olney the Lonely]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgvTnPnWqmE

That has to be a record for bermuda shorts and tank tops at a super bowl party. Loved it, especially the lame reaction to the Kearse catch.

 

[JimBoSox9]

That has to be a record for bermuda shorts and tank tops at a super bowl party. Loved it, especially the lame reaction to the Kearse catch.

 
Fortunately, they can get back to filming their Old Navy commercial.

 

[DJnVa]

The girl in the #18 jersey is motionless for like 45 seconds after the interception.

 

[Leather]

I love how the girl on the far left claps and laughs at the Seahawks fans, like "Ah, ha, ha, it's about time you Beautiful People had something bad happen to you.  Fuck off."

 

[pappymojo]

I love how the girl on the far left claps and laughs at the Seahawks fans, like "Ah, ha, ha, it's about time you Beautiful People had something bad happen to you.  Fuck off."

 
I think she has a crush on Boston Rob.

 

[Devizier]

It's awesome that they filmed a reaction video in Gigolo House.

 

[DJnVa]

I also like #18 saying "What does he mean 'They're not in yet'?"

 

[Mugsy's Walk-Off Bunt]

Giggling ladies: "Never give UP! Never give UP!"

Ha ha! Okay, we won't. EVER.

 

[DJnVa]

Baldwin fined $11,000 for "defecating" on ball

 

[loshjott]

Baldwin fined $11,000 for "defecating" on ball

 
$22,000 would have been better.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

Any chance Patriots guy had with blue tank top is probably over.

 

[CaptainLaddie]

That seemed staged.

 

[mostman]

Apologies if this has been posted. Im not caught up. Also - it could be fake.

http://elitedaily.com/sports/girl-takes-post-sex-selfie-julian-edelman-posts-tinder/925452/

 

[Salva135]

Before I even read the byline of that video I said to myself, "where the hell is this Super Bowl party happening, Hawaii?"    No visible booze or food, only one game shirt, and lots of really fit and gorgeous people... definitely shot in a place where people have a lot more to be happy about than football.

 

[8slim]

That seemed staged.

 
Most of these things seem staged.
 
I hate everyone in that video.

 

[drbretto]

Apologies if this has been posted. Im not caught up. Also - it could be fake.

http://elitedaily.com/sports/girl-takes-post-sex-selfie-julian-edelman-posts-tinder/925452/

I don't know if I'm more jealous of Edelman for being able to pick off whoever he wants, or the girl. Edelman is a very pretty dude.

 

[Bleedred]

How in God's name coul da patriot fan watch the game with all Seahawks fans.  I'm not nearly well-adjusted enough to let that happen.....ever.

 

[JimD]

How in God's name coul da patriot fan watch the game with all Seahawks fans.  I'm not nearly well-adjusted enough to let that happen.....ever.

 
No shit.  I watch these games with other diehard Pats fans only. 

 

[Bleedred]

 
No shit.  I watch these games with other diehard Pats fans only. 

I can barely do that, unless they are absolutely hard core; irrational fans who wanted to punch their kin in the balls after the Kearse catch.  

 

[Carlos Cowart]

1 person in 13 drinking a beer. What kind of a Super Bowl party is that?