Sports Journal October 27, 2017

10-27-27

World Series Game 3 with the Astros and the Dodgers tied at one apiece.  I’m doing a bad job of following the playoffs.  It’s conflicting with work during the week.  I need to get my priorities in order; baseball, then work.  This recap will be brief.  Though Yu Darvish had pitched plenty of times in Houston, he didn’t have it tonight and got an early hook after just 1 2/3 innings and four earned runs.  I’m rooting for the Astros, but I did want Darvish to have a good showing.  On the other side, Brad Peacock took over for Lance McCullers in the sixth and finished out the game.  He allowed two inherited runs to score, but was otherwise tremendous in the Astros’ 5-3 win.  In an interview after, Brad seemed like a really good guy and was happy and grateful for the team’s win.  Also after the game, Alex Rodriguez got some ribbing from the other guys, as his girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez, was sitting off to the side of the set.

I had a bit of an epiphany to add to my discussion on Moneyball (8-23-17).  Billy Beane felt that his strategy for play was vindicated over the course of a long season, but in a short series (the playoffs), it wasn’t a large enough sample size to play out to his team’s advantage.  There’s a small flaw in that reasoning.  Over the course of a season (a large sample), you’re playing a bunch of bad and mediocre teams, who tend to get worse as the season goes on.  In the playoffs, you’re just playing the good teams, who you likely played .500 ball against during the season.  In a sense, he’s right that his style of play will beat lesser teams consistently, but against teams with more quality players playing a more fundamental style, they’re not any better than a coin flip.

I do have some in depth sports coverage today.  We’re covering Women’s college soccer again!  And it is the Aggies, albeit the Utah State Aggies (USA!  USA!) versus the Boise State Broncos.  It was a Friday afternoon and I didn’t have anything else to do and didn’t want to start a book.  Flipping around before the match, F1 practice in Mexico City was being broadcast.  The stadium at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was mostly filled with enthusiastic fans just to watch the practice session.  Really, they showed plenty of shots of the happy crowd.  Having seen it a few years ago, I’m still amazed by the job that was done cleaning up the track.  It’s a showplace.

Speaking of scenic views, the soccer pitch in Logan, Utah, looks like it’s just a couple of miles from the mountains that form a backdrop for the field.  The surrounding trees were in full autumn colors.  It was a beautiful, sunny 60 degree day there.  The announcers were however worried about tomorrow night’s football game (real football, not futbol, and no kneeling SOB’s), where the temperature was going to be in the 30’s.  There was also a big, gray pyramid next door.  I wonder what that houses? 

The TV coverage was better than the other matches I’ve seen in the Mountain West coverage, as they had a couple of field-level cameras for close-ups.  There wasn’t a shot of the grandstand to see the crowd, but the announcers said it was good.  Boise State even had a contingent present that were in town for the football game.  Students were lounging on a grassy knoll at one end by the video board.  It looked very pleasant.    

Like the NMSU Aggie Volleyball team does sometimes, the US Aggies (I’m kind of loving this abbreviation) threw little balls into the crowd after introductions.  They had held their Senior Day ceremonies before the match.  The two, probably student, announcers were very knowledgeable, though one showed up late and then left suddenly.  Another student stepped in for him.  He did a good job, but he apparently mainly called their volleyball team games, so the players there were confusing him a bit.  I appreciated his honesty while commenting when he said, “I lost my train of thought watching that play develop.”  The other guy had met one of the girls off the field, and she had asked him to just call her on field by her first name. 

The US Aggies were potentially playing their final game of the season unless they could win or tie, but were playing the high-powered offense of the Broncos, who have been averaging two goals a match.  (High-powered offense = two goals in soccer.  I’m having too much fun writing this.)  In the 14’, the US Aggies took a 1-0 lead on left-footed roller into the goal.  The Bronco goalie really laid out to stop it and ended up coming out with an injury.  One minute later, the Broncos responded with a solo attack that caught the Aggies in a one-on-one, which resulted in a tying goal.

The US Aggies kept up on the offensive.  The new Bronco goalie was tested, having to make a jump tip save at 27’ and another good save on a free kick at 37’.  The Aggies had the ball in the Boise State end for most of the half, but the Broncos made the most of their chances.  In the 40’, they got a goal with a pass to a header that made the score 2-1 Broncos, which they took into halftime.  There were some pre-recorded interviews with the US Aggies, who were asked about the school.  The word that came up for all of them was “family.”        

Unfortunately, I had to finally go to work by this point.  The Utah State Soccer Twitter feed later reported the final as 2-1 Boise State, so I didn’t probably miss much.  They thanked their fans for their support during the season.  I’m going to say from my uneducated viewing, that these teams were probably playing a bit of a higher level than the NMSU Aggies and most of the WAC (though the Aggies did beat the Lobos, who I think are a pretty good team in the Mountain West).  Frankly, our girls are prettier, so I’d rather watch them.