Category Archives: Sports

Show Your Work

Go Zags!


I have no idea if my entry (shown above) to the NCAA Bracket Contest at West Hills Auto Plex in Bremerton is valid. I picked the Gonzaga Bulldogs to win it all in a relatively low-scoring final game. Like those tiresome math teachers in high school who grade you not just on getting the right answer but also on the steps you took to get it, perhaps the contest organizers will want me to “show my work.”
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Baseball Playoffs: Betting and Pizza

You can’t really win this much.


Betting on the 2012 MLB playoffs and pizza aren’t usually linked unless your wager involves a pizza. Mine doesn’t. In fact I can’t even make a bet via my computer because online gambling is illegal in my state. But notice how it appears to be easy to clean up on a World Series bet if you interpret the sample SuperBook betting card too literally (see graphic). I will explain and also try to resolve the pizza dilemma.
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Sports Illustrated Wild-Card Standings

How good are Atlanta’s chances?


MLB’s new expanded wild-card format ushers in complexities in roster decisions, scheduling, and tiebreaker rules. If your team is the current wild-card leader in its league, there’s also the issue of figuring out how far ahead you are in the playoffs race. The wild-card standings on the Sport Illustrated web site (see screen capture above for the National League) don’t always make it simple.
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A Long Game

Win or lose, a dedicated baseball fan always stays at the stadium until the final out is recorded. However, if you live in Bremerton and depend on a ferry ride to get home, it isn’t always easy to be dedicated. During last night’s Mariners game against the Orioles (a 4-2 Baltimore win in 18 innings), I took the easy way out.
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Golfing in Manette

Concentrating like a pro


There’s no place to play golf in Manette. But depending on your range of thinking, there’s a place to practice. At least there is for the man in the photo.
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Delayed But Perfect

Seattle’s Felix Hernandez retired all 27 batters in yesterday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, won by the Mariners 1-0. A perfect game! Although I caught the last few innings of the contest on the radio, I’m not sure whether to count it as my first perfect game.
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Mr. 40

A standard deviation of 1


Adam Dunn is a slugger. The big first baseman/designated hitter for the Chicago White Sox has hit more than 370 home runs in his 12-year career. Remarkably, a few years ago he put together what has to be the most consistent totals ever for home runs over a 6-year period by any MLB player who was among the league leaders.
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March Madness: Intrastate Rivalries

New Mexico vs. New Mexico State for the national championship? That’s a long shot given the rest of the field in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament. However, the intriguing possibility made me wonder whether any intrastate college rivalry, like the Lobos and the Aggies, will be settled during “March Madness.”
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Super Bowl Luck

Luck had nothing to do with New York’s 21-17 victory over New England in yesterday’s Super Bowl unless you count the Mud Bay Blog’s coin flip, which correctly predicted the game’s winner. Instead, this post is about the off-the-charts results in the Super Bowl numbers pool a friend of mine runs every year.
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Patriots or Giants?

This year’s Super Bowl quiz consists of one question:

Which team will win Super Bowl XLVI?
A. New England Patriots
B. New York Giants
C. I don’t know
D. It doesn’t matter

Let’s try to find the answer.
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