From Pine View Farm

The Sporting Life category archive

The Lies of the Land, True Believers Dept. 0

Psychology professor Cortney Warren parses Aaron Rodgers the Dodger’s vaccination doublespeak (as you will recall, he said he was “immunized,” but avoided the word “vaccinated”) and probes the question of whether or not he believed his verbal dance would be seen as the lie that many others see it as. Here’s a bit (emphasis added):

Although you can lie with or without intending to deceive your listener, your relationship’s psychological experience and consequences are very different. If you actually believe a lie and spread it, you’re not aware that you’re doing anything wrong! You don’t see yourself harming others or ethically crossing any boundaries that would damage people who hear your lies.

Aside:

Methinks the sentence I emphasized sheds a spotlight on lots of what goes on in “social” media.

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Stray Thought 0

Athletic skill and intelligence are independent variables.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Fan friction.

Thus passeth another life in the NRA’s Garden of Bleedin’.

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Vaccine Nation 0

Sportswriter extraordinaire Bob Molinaro (emphasis in the original):

Mixed message: As a result of municipal mandates, members of the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets cannot play home games unless they are vaccinated against COVID-19 … and yet, unvaccinated NBA players on teams visiting those cities will be allowed to play. This sort of pretzel logic demonstrates once again that common sense isn’t common enough.

We are a society of stupid.

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Vaccine Nation 0

The coach of the Washington Football Team is fed up with vaccine disinformation and the anti-vaxx crowd. Here’s a bit from the report:

“Gen Z is relying on [phones]. And you got some, quite frankly, f—— a——-, that are putting a bunch of misinformation out there, leading people to die,” Rivera, 59, told SI’s Albert Breer in a column published Monday. “That’s frustrating to me, that these people are allowed to have a platform.

“And then one specific news agency, every time they have someone on, ‘I’m not a doctor, but vaccines don’t work,’ Or ‘I’m not an epidemiologist, but vaccines are going to give you a third nipple and make you sterile,’” Rivera continued. “Come on. That, to me? That should not be allowed.”

Hmmmmm. One wonders what “specific news agency” he has in mind. No, one doesn’t.

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The Olympic Wrestler 0

Janet Jones, who holds a doctorate and works with horses and riders, explains why the statue of the sumo wrestler at the Olympic steeplechase competition spooked some of the horses. A nugget:

The sumo statue sat next to the tenth jump on course, with horses approaching it from behind. They rounded a corner to see a very unusual crouching predator with arms outstretched. Worse, the predator was hunkering below the height of the jump, as if ready to bite the horse’s belly as he soared over the rails. Riders claim the statue was visually realistic, and when horses are galloping toward a big jump, their excellent senses of smell are impaired by wind. They wouldn’t have accurate information as to whether this odd being smelled like a person, but it sure looked like one. All the horses could detect was an enormous crouching human predator, set to spring forward or upward at any moment.

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Idiots on Instagram 0

Racist idiots.

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Not Been There, Not Done That 0

Overweight man watching the Olympics in his underwear while sprawled in his recliner with a beer balanced on his belly:  Simone Biles needs to toughen up.

Click for the original image.

At AL.com, Frances Coleman has commentary.

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Twits on Twitter 0

Bob Molinaro, sportswriter extraordinaire:

It’s shocking to hear of the harsh things being said on Twitter about Simone Biles. Because as we know, Twitter usually overflows with such positive, life-affirming messages.

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Women Athletes Eye Candy, Reprise 0

Title:  In a Perfect World.  Image:  Two old white men wearing suit jackets and bikini bottoms and carrying brief cases bearing the Olympics logo.  Passerby says to his companiong,

Via Juanita Jean.

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Women Athletes Eye Candy. 0

At the Inky, Lisa Scottoline takes a scathing look at the European Handball Federation’s punishing the Norwegian women’s handball team for wanting to wear, God help me, shorts instead of bikini bottoms. Her conclusion:

So if you want to play abroad, you have to look like one.

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Vaccine Nation 0

Bob Molinaro, sportswriter extraordinaire:

Though the percentage of Alabama residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 is among the very lowest in the nation, the University of Alabama, as well as Auburn, will be allowing capacity football crowds. This convergence of recalcitrance and fanaticism is dumbfounding.

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Vaccine Nation 0

Bob Molinaro, sportswriter extraordinaire:

Hoop du jour: It’s commendable, but not surprising, that only one or two out of all the WNBA players have not been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Women are just smarter. Also more considerate of others. This is only the most recent time the socially conscious WNBA has raised its game.

In contrast: Speaking for the dumbest sex, Buffalo Bills anti-vaxxer, anti-masker Cole Beasley tweeted, “I may die of COVID, but I’d rather die actually living.” What a drama queen. One who sings in the key of me. The comic irony of NFL players avoiding vaccine needles is that in their line of work, they get shot up more often than race horses.

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Words Fail Me 0

Mean for the sake of mean.

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Twits on Twitter 0

No self-awareness twit.

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Unsportsmanlike Conduct 0

This was truly foul.

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Indentured Servitude 0

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Yes, It Gets My Goat Too 0

Bob Molinaro, sportswriter extraordinaire:

When their fever breaks, perhaps the cognoscenti who crowned Tom Brady the “greatest team-sport athlete of all time” will take time to reconsider. That is, if the name Bill Russell still means anything. The ghost of Babe Ruth also might have something to say about this.

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Money Ball 0

Bob Molinaro, sportswriter extraordinaire:

New University of Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian hired a special teams coach for $1 million a year. But remember, there’s never enough money for the athletes.

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Stray Thought 0

I used to look forward to watching college football on New Year’s Day. but the venality and corruption of the NCAA has cured me of that.

Now I spend my New Year’s reading (gasp) books.

But, if you want to wallow in the fascination of large men running into each other, check out AL.com.

It’s an excellent website, but it does indeed reflect Alabama’s fascination with corpulent collisions.

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