Category > The Polite Power Rankings
Baseball season is coming into the home stretch, as many teams are contending for playoff spots while others are just looking forward to seeing their September callups perform. In Illinois, the three teams of local interest (Cubs, White Sox, and Cardinals) are all in the hunt, which should make for an interesting September. The Cardinals and Sox both made quite a bit of noise at the July 31 trading deadline, adding Matt Holliday and Jake Peavy (right), respectively, while the …
| Well, it's the Wednesday after the All-Star Game, perhaps the worst day of the year for a baseball fan. There are no games to distract you from the pundits acting like they know what's going to happen in the second half. Yeah, those guys suck. Oh, and here's what's going to happen in the second half.
It's been a little more than a month since our first baseball power rankings of the 2009 season. In that time, we've seen several teams nosedive (Royals, Mariners, Cardinals, Marlins) and plenty of teams climb the ranks (Yankees, Giants, Brewers). Number one is still reserved for the Dodgers, who have gone 19-13 since losing Manny Ramirez to suspension. Kevin Youkilis is no longer hitting .400, but .350 isn't too shabby. Someone finally caught Carl Crawford on the base paths — …
Welcome to Smile Politely's Power Rankings for baseball, where our resident baseball fans-slash-editors mull over the majors and report back. In February, the three of us — Joel, Seth, and Doug — were talking before one of our weekly editorial meetings about the possibility of authoring this very column you're now reading. We weren't convinced that had the brains to back up our opinions, so we decided to partake in a round of Hot Stove League speculation concerning the upcoming …
Heading into the home stretch, the guys from Pittsburgh are making clear that they’re ready to make a post-season run. Illinois grad Carey Davis, the Steelers’ first team fullback, could see increased action in the weeks ahead as the team tries to keep its backfield healthy by spreading the ball around. Former Illini standout Rashard Mendenhall, whose season ended with a shoulder injury in Week 4, will have to wait till next season to help out Pittsburgh’s …
A few years ago, there wasn’t a football fan in the land who wasn’t intimately familiar with the word “parity.” Everyone from John Madden and Chris Berman to the guy who worked at the sports paraphernalia store out at the mall was marveling at the sudden presence of parity everywhere they turned. The Titans beat the champion- to-be Colts? Parity! The Super Bowl-bound Bears get thumped by the Dolphins? Parity! Then, last year, the dominant Pats (and a few others) …
Tennessee vs. Detroit. Dallas vs. Seattle. These were the two daytime games on Thanksgiving this year, and both games were built to stink. Dallas vs. Seattle might be forgivable — when the schedule was being penned, nobody could’ve known Seattle would be this bad — but there’s simply no excuse for giving the perennially awful Lions such a marquee game. And the night game, Arizona vs. Philadelphia, which was the day’s only game with competitive promise, was on the NFL …
The good poet Robert Browning gave us these prescient words: “Jove strikes the Titans down not when they set about their mountain-piling, but when another rock would crown the work.” Ok, maybe that’s a little harsh. And maybe the Jets had a little more to do with the recent Titans-toppling event than Jove did. Blame whomever you’d like, but the fact of the matter is that the NFL’s last remaining undefeated team finally has one in the “L” column. And …
Déjà vu, huh? This time last year football fans were placing bets on whether the New England Patriots would go undefeated and whether the Miami Dolphins would go completely defeated. This year, the saga is replaying itself in the forms of the surprisingly dominant Tennessee Titans and the not-so-surprisingly atrocious Detroit Lions. But drama isn’t reserved for these extremes. In the middle of the pack we’re seeing perennial heavyweights like the Colts and Patriots ebb and flow, which keeps everybody …
“Football players, like prostitutes, are in the business of ruining their bodies for the pleasure of strangers,” says writer Merle Kessler. Well, consider me one of those strangers. We’ve hit that time of year — in real and fantasy football — when diehard fans feel compelled to devote, approximately, 14 straight hours every Sunday (including pre-, between- and post-game coverage) to watching the game. But it seems that every week, there are new teams worth keeping an eye on. Are …
Most Recent Sports Comments
Jamie, you gave me goosebumps talking about the race with Rachel Alexandra and Life at Ten, wish I could be there!! Go Rachel!!!!!
Hope for the best, expect the worst. 81-126-2 FIRE RON GUENTHER
Beat Missouri and there is validity here, but until this team wins a game it should not, it is all speculation.
Gret pix, Jamie!
I think any conversation about the limits of the human body are innately limiting. As a non-yoga guy, seeing a skilled yoga person twist his or her body in unthinkable ways challenges my ideas of what the body can and cannot do. Heck, seeing George Clooney double over and…
But couldn’t you receive the same benefits (balance, muscle strength, etc.) from doing yoga barfeoot? From everything I’ve read, the Vibram Five Fingers seem to limit the distance you are able to run, and I am not convinced that is such a good tradeoff. Heck, Pheidippides…
The thing people don’t realize about barefoot running/ five fingers before they try it is that they have been completely isolated from their environment by their shoes. For example saying that hard surfaces like concrete are a recent invention., In the summer trails with a lot of…
Rob, Zola asks you to read further: “I no longer run barefoot,“ she said. “As I got older I had injuries to my hamstring. I found that wearing shoes gives me more support and protection from injuries.“ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/aug/10/southafrica.past1
Many people, including myself, run barefoot on concrete, asphalt, grass, and dirt. No problems. You actually end up with LESS impact than if you were shod in crazy cushioned/supportive shoes. Your body adapts and you land with less force. Think short, quick strides with bent knees. I…
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Illinois has simply had no luck at all in these Mizzou games. None. I think maybe we’re do for a couple of bounces to go our way. If we get one or two (or sever or eight) breaks, I think it’s a win.
Jason, Savoy could easily join the CPL tax district, which is probably closer to most Savoy residents than the Tolono library is. But my impression is that Savoy residents as a whole don’t want to pay the cost of the CPL (Tolono’s library taxes are cheaper), even…
Sorry, but I am lagging behind on updates to the map. Also, some construction projects were delayed from their original start date. On a more positive note, I am putting together a map of haunted houses in Central Illinois. I have a few plotted already, and I…
I’ve never gotten the privilege of all the services CPL cardholders get. I just want to be able to go out of my way to drive to the CPL to check out books, pay fines, maybe buy some coffee, and enjoy the library. None of those activities…
These days, there is more to using a library than checking out books. At one time, paying into the Lincoln Trails system probably would cover the expenses incurred by other libraries in the system. Now, with Internet, videos, coffee shops, wireless Internet hubs, etc., I suspect the…
(speaking as a Savoy resident) By paying taxes to support a member of the LTLS, we are paying our “fair share” to use any LTLS library—Tolono, Champaign, Urbana, etc. This is how library systems work. The 6% of CPL’s circulation represented by Tolono users is NOT significant…
I read Timbo’s argument. I think the key word is “speculating.“
I would be interested to hear more about the “word on the street”—how are individual hauling companies fulfilling their promise to recycle?
Timbo makes a smart, sound argument. Reread it.
I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…
And, I might add, no one is being prevented from using the Champaign library. They are just being asked to pay their fair share if they are going to use it as their primary library.
The equation is pretty simple here. If you want social services, then pay the taxes required to run those social services. These things only work if everyone puts in their fair share. As a heavy user of the Champaign Library, I say bravo to this new policy.
Curtis Orchard is always good for an hour or three, especially if you have rugrats.
What is the increased marginal cost of serving a resident of Savoy or Mahomet? I suspect negligible. What is the increased revenue to be realized by this new policy? I suspect very little. Aside from these financial aspects, what are the most probable results from this new…
Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.
Thanks for the article, Ben. I was not familiar with this band until now and even though I won’t be able to attend the show on Friday they are now on my radar. A *good* jam band is hard to find, and these folks appear to fill…
Nice article, love the Dead quote in the beginning. If they can get down here to Central FL I’ll definitely be heading out to the show. Some of my friends have finally stopped wincing when I say “jam band.“ I’ve now tried my best at more descriptive…
@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.
Katie, have the residents of Savoy and Tolono thought about having their taxes raised a little to help their public library expand? That’s a possibility for them. And then everybody wins.
good call on that Herring recording, Josh. Love that version of Exit Music….here’s a clip of the Cinco de Mayo show (from about six months prior). As I recall, this Shakedown went on for roughly a half hour, while getting into the Trampled Underfoot jam in the…
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Illinois has simply had no luck at all in these Mizzou games. None. I think maybe we’re do for a couple of bounces to go our way. If we get one or two (or sever or eight) breaks, I think it’s a win.