[Wrathblood]

Sobe, were you coaching the Vdara on maximizing its dps when you were out there?

http://www.dailymail...vere-burns.html

Bah, there must be a zillion actually good jokes for this, but that's the best I can manage right now.

[Sobeyet]

Shh, phase one is complete. Just wait until my pigeon air force is up and running.

Shit'll be unstoppable yo.

[Wrathblood]

Being able to fly would rock.

[Hecatus]

It did a barrel roll O:

[Unlucky]

imagine if one of them did black out from the geforce hahaha

[Sobeyet]

Unlucky, on 30 September 2010 - 04:22 PM, said:

imagine if one of them did black out from the geforce hahaha

That's what happened here.

[Wrathblood]

Sorry to hear about your proto-types getting shot down, Sobe.

Baseball is an awesome game, not just because, as far as games go, its awesome. And not just because its the best sport ever for statistical analysis. Its also because SO many games have been played for SO long that all sorts of bizarre things have happened during games over the years. Games getting called on account of bugs, disco demolition night, the entire Tigers team going on strike for a game to protest Ty Cobb getting suspended, Curtis Pride running through that wall to catch a ball, etc. Its just a carnival of weirdness.

[Guinthel]

Wrathblood, on 30 September 2010 - 09:41 PM, said:

Baseball is an awesome game.

fat people parading as athletes.

pro-starcraft is more of a sport than baseball is.

[Hecatus]

LOL

[Sobeyet]

Guinthel, on 30 September 2010 - 10:07 PM, said:

fat people parading as athletes.

*cough*

[Wrathblood]

The catch and run up the wall move was one of the greatest feats of athleticism I've ever seen. He simply didn't play long enough to be a hall of famer in either sport. Sure, he got hurt, but you could say that for plenty of other players who had fast starts but also aren't in the hall of fame. Its really a tragedy he was hurt, though. Damn, was he good.

If there's a hall of fame for the greatest athletes ever, Bo would be in the inner circle.

That having been said, as a rebuttal, I must present:


As Darren Daulton once said, "Why would he lose weight? Kruk hits good fat".

[Sobeyet]

I'll see your Kruk and raise you a Wells. He gets bonus points for being a fat bastard AND a drunk imo.



Though pitchers don't really count, it's just a freakish combination of biomechanics and how long the ligaments in your arm and shoulder can go without exploding.

I always laugh when gamers compare themselves to athletes. Great, you have decent reflexes. Just because you can react and push X in <0.18 secs doesn't mean anything. There's a lot more involved in hitting a 95 mph fastball, driving a Formula 1 car, or flying an F-22. Also, Starcraft? At least mention a FPS or something with a heavy hand-eye coordination and twitch-reflex base.

[Wrathblood]

Hmm, was going to disagree with you on the pilot and driver examples, but after thinking for a bit, I'd say you're probably right. They're certainly not in the same class as an NBA (or even necessarily serious college) point guard or running back, but I'd say that the combination of reflexes and judgement under serious physical stress is good enough. I generally draw the line at bowling (it straddles the line, imo and can be argued either way) and I'd say those are above bowling.

As for pitchers, how about Tim Wakefield? Throwing a 90+ mph fastball is an interesting mix of variable athletic ability and serious genetic freakery (more so than hitting a fastball or curveball, imo. During my b-school internship I was working with a guy who had been a fairly good pitcher in high school, but hurt his shoulder at some point and never serious got back into it, but the material was apparently there. One friday, the company had a carnival out in front of the office (1997, times were good) including a radar gun to see how fast you could throw a baseball. I'm 5'9" and not particularly strong of arm, I hit maybe 60. This other guy, who was within an inch or so of my height and similar build, after some badgering, took a throw. It was interesting. I couldn't put my finger on it, but he was clearly doing something different than I was. He was up in the high 80s (in a suit and wingtips, no less). We were all "holy crap, that was FAST".), but a knuckleballer might be in another league. IMO, the first woman to play serious professional baseball will be a knuckleball pitcher.

[Unlucky]

[Voodie]

This man however, does not "hit good fat."

[Wrathblood]

Prince? What? It was an off-season for him, but the man can hit and he's NEVER not been fat. I remember reading scouting reports about him in high school and he was over 300 pounds even then. I like the donut shot.

Edit - some statistics for the Prince: 1st in the NL in walks drawn, 2nd in the NL in hit by pitch, which worked out to him being 3rd in the NL in on-base %. Add to that being 9th in the NL in HR/AB and he ends up 7th in offensive winning %, which is pretty darn good. Naturally, he brings negative defensive or baserunning value, so I guess its arguable whether he earned his $11m but he certainly wasn't bad (arguably one of the top 20 or so players in the NL), and, of course, that's what he did in a BAD year.

[Guinthel]

Wrathblood, on 01 October 2010 - 09:48 AM, said:

The catch and run up the wall move was one of the greatest feats of athleticism I've ever seen.

I think I can fix that.

Balls.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Fox
More Balls.

(too many media links!)
MOARRRRRRR

he has some serious scenes in all his old films, that's what i call athleticism.


Greatest athlete alive on this planet in my opinion.

(too many media links!)
....baseball? really?

(too many media links!)
MJ still the best.



Although im sure we could go back an fourth posting videos of various great athletes in many different sports, I just can't see how baseball can even be considered a sport... its just not on the same level as tennis, basketball, hockey, rugby etc....

[Voodie]

Wrathblood, on 01 October 2010 - 08:42 PM, said:

Prince? What? It was an off-season for him, but the man can hit and he's NEVER not been fat. I remember reading scouting reports about him in high school and he was over 300 pounds even then. I like the donut shot.

Edit - some statistics for the Prince: 1st in the NL in walks drawn, 2nd in the NL in hit by pitch, which worked out to him being 3rd in the NL in on-base %. Add to that being 9th in the NL in HR/AB and he ends up 7th in offensive winning %, which is pretty darn good. Naturally, he brings negative defensive or baserunning value, so I guess its arguable whether he earned his $11m but he certainly wasn't bad (arguably one of the top 20 or so players in the NL), and, of course, that's what he did in a BAD year.

IMO he didn't earn his paycheck this year, especially when you put his performance up against some of his teammates. Granted, this season was a bad one for the Brewers, but having just become a Brewer fan this year from being a semi-fan (casual interest / home town pride) of the much slimmer Braves, so I'm not in love with his "home grown appeal" like a lot of the Brewers fans. Frankly, I consider it a bit of a slap in the face when you put his season's performance against some of this fellow teammates and then consider he's expecting a $20,000,000 contract. If he weren't pushing for that sort of payout after he performed so poorly this year, maybe I'd reconsider thinking of him as a fat bastard. If he didn't need a flatbed with "Wide Load" plastered across it on a banner to carry his ass around the bases, he might have gotten hit with pitches less often. Just sayin'....

[Sobeyet]

Wrathblood, on 01 October 2010 - 02:48 PM, said:

Hmm, was going to disagree with you on the pilot and driver examples, but after thinking for a bit, I'd say you're probably right. They're certainly not in the same class as an NBA (or even necessarily serious college) point guard or running back, but I'd say that the combination of reflexes and judgement under serious physical stress is good enough. I generally draw the line at bowling (it straddles the line, imo and can be argued either way) and I'd say those are above bowling.

A lot of people underestimate the physical toll professional drivers and fighter pilots take. It's very possible that a professional gamer may have reflexes in the same range, but the driver/pilot have much more complicated motions to go through. I've taken reflex tests where you click a button as soon as you see a light turn on - most people fall between .2 and .3 - and I averaged about .17 secs. But now if you ask me to do something like get the sweet spot of the bat on Mo Rivera's cutter, there's just no way I could read the pitch, pick up the location and movement, and get a decent swing on the ball (a ~95 mph fastball takes about .5 secs to reach home plate from the release of the pitcher's hand).

Most people would have trouble driving a Formula 1 car in a straight line due to the throttle control it requires, and you can forget about a sequence of chicanes at +120 mph. Here's some footage from my favorite F1 driver, Ayrton Senna:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_rJH9XVIQA"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=F_rJH9XVIQA[/url]

Fast-forward to 3:18 for some insanity. It takes superhuman reflexes to do anything at that speed, but to read the course, feel the grip of the car, keep track of other cars, and make absolutely precise adjustments with both your hands and feet (a few millimeters off and you can crash into a wall) is madness. Senna also drove back in the old days with no driver assists (traction/stability control, automatic shifters, etc.) so sometimes he'd be driving one handed to downshift into a turn going +100 mph while employing a heel-toe movement with his feet.

Beyond all that, in terms of physical toll the hardest part is the G forces imparted on the body at that body for that length of time. F1 drivers can get hit by +5Gs during certain sections of the course - astronauts pull 3gs on the space shuttle to escape orbit. It's hard to even breathe under those conditions. Most drivers retire in their 30s and 40s due to the physical toll and degradation of skill/reflex (like the majority of professional athletes). Funny story, my friend went karting in a 250 cc engine and was pulling about 4gs while breaking, after a couple of hours he noticed his ribs hurt... turns out one fractured from the g load.

Some more fun facts - F1 is actually the most viewed sport in the world (yes, even more than soccer) and teams can spend up to $500 million a year to compete. Makes the $200 million the Yankees spend every year look like a pittance. Before Michael Schumacher retired he was the highest paid athlete in the world, banking about $60 million a year before endorsements.

I don't know as much about fighter pilots, but there's the obvious stuff - faster, more gs, altitude changes, missions can last longer, and people are frickin' shooting at you. Most people would black out and vomit with any kind combat maneuver, like the guy from Mythbusters!

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9-ju5ZRO_w"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=_9-ju5ZRO_w[/url]

Wrathblood, on 01 October 2010 - 02:48 PM, said:

As for pitchers, how about Tim Wakefield? Throwing a 90+ mph fastball is an interesting mix of variable athletic ability and serious genetic freakery (more so than hitting a fastball or curveball, imo. During my b-school internship I was working with a guy who had been a fairly good pitcher in high school, but hurt his shoulder at some point and never serious got back into it, but the material was apparently there. One friday, the company had a carnival out in front of the office (1997, times were good) including a radar gun to see how fast you could throw a baseball. I'm 5'9" and not particularly strong of arm, I hit maybe 60. This other guy, who was within an inch or so of my height and similar build, after some badgering, took a throw. It was interesting. I couldn't put my finger on it, but he was clearly doing something different than I was. He was up in the high 80s (in a suit and wingtips, no less). We were all "holy crap, that was FAST".), but a knuckleballer might be in another league. IMO, the first woman to play serious professional baseball will be a knuckleball pitcher.

I really enjoy Rob Neyer's work on ESPN (been reading him since high school and he's the one who got me hooked on sabermetrics) and I remember him writing once that most people can throw 70 off a mound with some instruction, good athletes can throw 80 with the same, <1% can throw +95 with a lifetime of training, and it takes a true freak of nature to hit +100. He was talking about Joel Zumaya on the Tigers, who had hit 104 or so. The human body isn't really designed for that kind of strain and the overhand pitching motion in general is so destructive to the arm. Kind of curious to see how Aroldis Chapman on the Reds turns out. Though in my opinion it's actually more "difficult" to be able to consistently locate pitches within several inches of your target, like vintage Maddux.

Cuddlebutt, on 01 October 2010 - 07:44 PM, said:

This man however, does not "hit good fat."

Let's see you do this Red.

http://mlb.mlb.com/v...ent_id=12534627

[Voodie]

Never said I could Sobe, but one or two undigested nuts in a poo doesn't mean that poo holds nutritional value.

His season had highlights, I don't deny it. I'd happily keep Braun, Weeks and Hart over Fielder.