Capn Design: Sports

OchoCinco is a Smart, Entertaining Man

2009-11-16T11:14:59-05:00

For the last couple months, I've been following Chad Ochocinco's tweets (he's a wide receiver on the Cincinnati Bengals). Chad is known as a bit of a clown* but is a really hard worker and an excellent receiver. He's known for his inventive touchdown celebrations and desire to be loved by everybody. He's definitely succeeded in converting me as a fan. Unlike Terrell Owens, a fellow clown who is a phenomenal talent but toxic in the locker room, Chad is liked by his team and loved by fans. Since joining Twitter several months ago, he's started to give back to his fans. For each of the home games, he flies one of his Twitter followers out to watch from the stands. Originally the idea was that they would tweet in his stead, but that didn't seem to happen. He's also not afraid to announce his location (especially when he's at a mall, which is often). In fact, he'll often ask fans to give him a lift or meet him for dinner when he's out of town. When he's at home, he often offers to bring 100 fans to a movie (and they show up!). You could argue (accurately) that's excellent at marketing himself, but after following along for a bit, I just think he's a good guy. He seems to hang with fans and work hard on he enjoys it. To me, it's a typical case of a perosn putting in hard work at something they love and having the success follow. * See: his last name, which used to be Johnson, but is now officially his nickname, a poor Spanish translation of 85

The Cleveland Indians Alternate Home Jersey is Beautiful

2009-06-15T00:21:39-05:00

This is the second season they're wearing them, but I'm just noticing them now. Baseball uniforms are usually pretty classy, but these fauxbacks are really nice. In fact, I'm tempted to buy one of those hats, just because they look great. The only downside is the continued use of Chief Wahoo. Racism isn't cool. If you want to see some more views, you can see the official announcement. And while they didn't really cover this explicitly, Uni Watch should satisfy any uniform curiosity you've got.

Shut Up, Old People: In Defense of Jay Cutler

2009-04-22T18:23:28-05:00

I've talked before about my favorite sports blog, Da' Bears Blog, but I wanted to quote a slightly longer passage from his recent missive about middle-aged writers complaining about Jay Cutler's nights out: It's not just sports, of course. We live in a "you must have a wife and kids" culture. Happiness need not apply. And since I'm about to spend an entire year apologizing for every mistake Jay Cutler makes, I think this is the right time to point out that being young and having fun is not a mistake. Not at 26. Not in April. Like Jeff (the author of the blog), I've long disliked reading into a public figure's private life. If Cutler shows up on day 1 and throws 5 touchdowns and 400 yards, everyone will be sending him jello shots and Long Island Iced Teas.

Portraits of Divers in Motion

2008-08-26T11:28:23-05:00

My favorite coverage of the Olympics has been via Vincent Laforet's blog at Newsweek. He's caught some amazing photos and documented the process. The photos above are from a series of portraits of divers in motion, which I found incredibly striking and odd. It's very funny to see together. Laforet also spent time explaining how he got these bird's eye shots. Talking about the swimming competitions, he explains, "Once you are approved, you gear up an hour before the race and have to follow the following rules: one camera, one lens, one card. Nothing else." Since he has so many fantastic shots, I'll end with one more photo. This tilt-shift shot makes everything seem more like a video game or toy set. All photos are by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Two Baseball Rule Changes

2008-06-30T15:52:32-05:00

These popped in my head over the last 72 hours and seemed like good solutions to two problems in baseball. 1. Instead of using the All-Star game to determine home field advantage in the World Series, use the cumulative record for interleague play. Using one game where the players aren't used to playing together and probably won't be going full force isn't representative and home field is a big deal. This year, the American League would have won handily, having bested the NL with a 149-102 record. 2. It's time to get replays going in baseball. The angles aren't as tough as other sports so replays should be fast. To keep gameplay moving, they should adopt the NFL rules and allow two challenges per team, per game. Not that it would have kept the Cubs from getting swept by the White Sox, but it's frustrating when replays show a clear mistake by the umps. Time to fix it.

Spots Open in My Fantasy League

2007-08-28T18:47:37-05:00

I run a small fantasy football league among friends. We have a few open spots. Here are things you should know. We play for pride, not money. The live draft is at 10pm EDT on Thursday, but you can let it autopick for you. Team, not individual, defenses. The best you can do is second as I am going to win. I also have a pick'em league that I just set up for any all who'd like to join. No spread, just pick the winners. I'll buy the man or woman who wins a Shack Burger. Here is the info to join both leagues: Fantasy League Link to Join Group ID: 579408 Password: stanger Pick'em Link to Join Group ID: 47104 Password: gross Update: Whoops! Didn't mean for that to be a quick post. No more rushing!

You Picked the Wrong Day to Be Crappy

2007-02-05T14:13:47-05:00

Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images Yesterday was rough. It was rough for me, the Bears and all of Chicago. In the end, I think it'll be roughest on our pal Rex. Rex, you started strong but crumbled under the pressure. It was certainly not all your fault (the pass blocking was shoddy at best and our defense couldn't get off the field), but if you hadn't freaked out and turned the ball over three times, I'd probably be eating chocolate and swimming in a huge pool in Happytown right now. I've had enough. At the start of the year we thought we had a consistent QB, the one thing we'd need to win it all, and you didn't come through. This is why I suggest we continue our trend of dropping QBs with more than 10 wins to the bottom of the depth chart (see: Kyle Orton) and follow the advice of WBRS Sports — let's go after Jeff Garcia for next year. He may be aging, but what are our other options? Rex is losing games for us and I just don't have enough confidence is Griese to make him our number one. The only other option is going for one of the top QBs in the draft, but who are we going to trade to get there? Garcia still moves well and looked great this season, which is more than we can say for Rexy. I think you're a nice guy, but your playing style is not suited for the Bears. You've got an offseason to work on your mechanics and prove everybody wrong, but I'm hoping the Bears organization wises up and tells you to shape up or ship out.

Super Bowl Primer

2007-02-02T02:29:57-05:00

The Chicago Bears The Bears have been in Chicago since the team's inception in 1920. They've won championships in 1921, 1932, 1933, 1940 (73-0!), 1941, 1943, 1946, 1963 and 1986. They have historically been a team that focuses on running the football and brutal defenses. Walter Payton and Gale Sayers are their best-known running backs and are both in the Hall of Fame. On defense, there is a history of fantastic middle linebackers with Mike Singletary and Dick Butkus. Their luck with quarterbacks and the passing game has been less fortunate, as Sid Luckman is their best known and he stopped playing in 1950. You'll most certainly have heard of Mike Ditka, the coach who led the Bears to win Super Bowl XX, but don't leave out George Halas, who helped start the NFL and was the Chicago Bears coach off-and-on from 1922-1967. The 1986 Bears (Super Bowl XX winners) are universally considered one of the top five teams of all time. Their defense was unstoppable, giving up only 10 points in the whole post-season, and the team almost went undefeated. The team is responsible for the Super Bowl Shuffle and inspired Saturday Night Live to create Da Superfans. This year's team is led by Brian Urlacher as middle linebacker on defense and Rex Grossman as quarterback on offense. They finished with the best record in the NFC (National Football Conference) at 13-3 and won their first two playoff games against the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints. They were dominant in the first six games of the season, winning them all, but began having trouble when Grossman started playing poorly. He is wildly inconsistent and fans and pundits have been suggesting coach Lovie Smith bench him for backup QB Brian Griese. The defense has been consistently strong, while slowing down a bit at the end of the season with injuries from two of their stars, safety Mike Brown and defensive tackle Tommie Harris. Four players who have emerged this year are Bernard Berrian, Robbie Gould, Mark Anderson and Devin Hester. Berrian is a receiver and is known for his speed and ability to catch the long pass. Gould is the Bears' kicker and knocked in 26 straight field goals at one point this year. Mark Anderson is a rookie defensive end and has twelve(!) sacks this year in limited playing time. Devin Hester is a rookie and has blown people away by having six returns (punt, kickoff, etc.) for touchdowns. He's electric, people. The Bears will try to win the game with their defense. They're known to play a Cover 2 style of defense, which focuses on gap protection (each defensive player is assigned to cover an area of the field). On offense, they'll focus heavily on the run with Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson and will use the deep pass to keep Indy on their toes. Many expect Hester's return skills to play a significant role as the Colts are very poor in return coverage. The Indianapolis Colts I'll admit I don't know as much about the Colts, but I'll do my best. The team began as the Baltimore Colts in 1946 and moved to Indianapolis in 1984. They won championships in 1958, 1959, 1968 and 1970. The team is best known for their potent offensive attack and have had offensive stars throughout their history. Their single most famous player is Johnny Unitas, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. The team was also home to fantastic players like Jim Parker, Gino Marchetti, Raymond Berry and John Mackey. Don Shula probably the best coach of all time, started his career here before moving to the Miami Dolphins. The Colts are centered around quarterback Peyton Manning. He is the most gifted QB in the league and led the Colts to 13-0 and 9-0 starts over the last two seasons. He is complimented by two fantastic wide receivers, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne and a powerful running game. Their defense, especially run defense, was criticized all year as the team narrowly squeaked by in many games. In the playoffs, the defense has stepped up and played quite well thanks to defensive end Dwight Freeney, linebacker Cato June and safety Bob Sanders. They beat the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots to make it to the Super Bowl. Their game against the Patriots was critical as Manning has a history of cracking under pressure, especially against quarterback Tom Brady and the Patriots, so the victory was especially sweet. The one player who could be a future superstar is rookie running back Joseph Addai. He runs alongside five-year veteran Dominic Rhodes. The Colts use a hurry-up offense which is run by Manning (he's oftentimes calling the plays himself instead of the offensive coordinator). This style of play is very physically demanding on the defense and helps keep the offense on the attack. You can expect the Colts to test runs up the middle, as this has been a weakness for the Bears towards the end of the season, but it's safe to say their success rests on Manning's awe-inspiring passing skills. He hasn't played all that well in the post-season (six interceptions vs. Grossman's one), but he's likely to play incredibly tough. The teams previously soft defense has been playing well in the last month and will likely continue that trend. They also use the Cover 2 scheme (Lovie Smith, coach of the Bears, was a linebacker coach under Tony Dungy, coach of the Colts, which is why their style of play is so similar). Interesting Points This Super Bowl marks the first time a black coach has reached the big game and it so happens that the coaches of both teams are black. The media is also making a big deal about how nice Lovie Smith (Bears) and Tony Dungy (Colts) are. In a league where lots of coaches like to yell and make angry faces (e.g. Tom Coughlin of the Giants), these two guys play it cool. This is a battle of the powerful offense versus the staunch defense. Las Vegas is telling us the Colts will win by 7 and most of the critics think they'll win too. Still, it isn't expected to be a lopsided game. Very few people expect either team to win in a blowout but think the skill of Peyton Manning will help Indy rise to the top. Since Peyton is just a nice guy and has had a rough go in pressure situations, the public seems to be behind him. The key to the Bears' defensive success has been turnovers and pundits believe this will be the key to the teams' success. The Colts have given a lot of teams a tough time in the middle of the passing lane, where there are often holes in the Cover 2, but it's believed Brian Urlacher's physical prowess will make it difficult for Manning to find these spots. Links If you want to read more about the game, I suggest you check out ESPN for general news and opinions, Football Outsiders for in-depth, mathematical analysis and Deadspin for all the gossip and shenanigans surrounding the game. I also highly recommend you seek out the ESPN show Pardon the Interruption with Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser (they also have podcasts).

A Quick Defense of the Bears

2007-01-15T07:18:39-05:00

I am a Bears fan and I am happy (the Bears beat the Seahawks yesterday to move to the NFC championship). Despite my happiness, I'm getting annoyed with the sports press. I understand the Bears are far from rock solid, but they're not that bad. It's hip to think the Bears are crappy, but this seems to come after wins. The writer rarely talks about the apparently crappier team who walked away with a loss. The article usually goes something like, "if the Bears could just play well, they'll win." Um, yes. I admit the Bears can be wildly incosistent, but they've won fourteen games this year; you think that'd be enough to convince most people. I'm glad to get that off my chest. Can't wait for next weekend.

Sixteen Straight

2006-10-11T17:46:58-05:00

If you know me at all, you're aware that I am a huge Bears fan. Obviously I am freaking exciting that they are amazing this year and that they have a legitimate shot at running the table. Thanks to Coudal, I can know share my excitement in t-shirt form. The Sixteen Straight Tee lists the Bears' sixteen opponents and includes an orange sharpie for marking off the victories. I'm hoping to wear this shirt proudly once a week. Odds are you're getting ready to comment on my blind optimism, but I will give you two reasons for you non-Bears fans to get excited. First, they actually have a decent shot. An article on Cold Hard Football Facts points out that the Bears have the second best point differential (+120 or 156-36) in modern football histoy and that the only other undefeated team, the '72 Dolphins, had the easiest schedule in the Super Bowl era (opponents' winning pct. of .367). The three other teams with the highest differential all won the Super Bowl. The other reason to root along is much more entertaining. If the Bears win all sixteen, I shall sport the Kyle Orton Neckbeard as long as the Bears remain in the playoffs. This should be inspiration enough. You know you want me to look like this.

NFL Pick'em League, A Week Late

2006-09-14T14:52:00-05:00

In an effort to further entrench myself in the football season, I have decided to start a Pick'em league. Yes, it's a week late, but it's not that big of a deal since we're all starting at the same time. Basically, each week you'll pick the winners of each game and get a point for each correct guess. At the end of the season, the top point earner will get, ummm, nothing! Okay, maybe I'll come up with a good prize. We'll see how many people join the league. Below is the sign-up information. After signing up, you'll need to pick the winners at least 5 minutes before game time. Good luck this season, kids. Sign-up Link League ID: 62721 Password: seriously

True Hoop Explains William Wesley, the Man Behind the Men

2006-08-25T14:37:27-05:00

Since the beginning of the year, Henry Abbott of True Hoop has been trying to figure out who William Wesley is. People have seen him sitting at Cavs games watching Lebron, traveling around the world with NBAers and at exclusive parties but there was virtually no mention of him in the press. So, Henry has spent the last 8 months figuring out who this guy is. Today, he posted a succinct recap of everything he knows. It turns out Wesley provides business sense for players who haven't developed any yet. Players need someone who knows the ropes, a mentor, an advisor, an uncle. Enter William Wesley. How's this for a resume? He was right there in Michael Jordan's ear. The whole time. "Wes" helped pull off one of the great feats of modern legend-making. He held the hand of one of the NBA's less likable characters—an angry, cussing, yelling, gambling, adrenaline addict with some sort of over-competitive personality disorder—as he became the most successful pitchman in sports history, complete with his own animated children's movie. Great, but how does a guy like this make money? Henry covers that too. As many different things as you can possibly imagine. There is an entire informal economy available to those few with the power to boss celebrities around. All indications are that dozens of the best basketball players in the world, players like LeBron James, Allen Iverson, and Richard Hamilton, take Wesley's advice very seriously. Players like that are essentially corporations—with the potential to make those around them very wealthy. There's so much more to the story in his post and it's a great look at an unseen side of the NBA.

Sports, Money and Integrity

2006-04-11T09:35:57-05:00

Tomorrow, it will likely be announced that Derrek Lee has extended his contract to the tune of $13 million a year over 5 years. It's not a bad take, but he could easily have made more with the Yankees or Red Sox in the offseason. But, apparently, the extra cash isn't worth it to him. During Sunday's game, Peter Gammons said that Lee would rather stay a Cub than earn a few extra (million) dollars. Lee himself said: If it's a deal I feel is fair for me, I would sign it. It's still a business. I always look at it as if there is a deal that makes me happy now, why not sign it? I don't think $2-3 million a year more is going to change my life. I love hearing that. Sure, it's important to sign the guy who will best help your team, but having a five-tool player isn't always as valuable as a man of character. Well, a man of character with four tools. When NFL free agency began, the Bears (and I) had their eyes set on Antwaan Randle El. Thanks to the increased salary cap, virtually every team had a ton of found money and the Redskins decided to go nuts. They snagged Antwaan for $31m over 7 years with $11.5m in guaranteed money, which was far too high for a number two receiver, even if he might fill multiple needs for the Bears. As much as I wanted the Bears to sign him, I'm glad they didn't. If top dollar is all that matters, buzz off. I'm going to avoid a Moneyball rant, but this gets to the idea of spending your dollar wisely. You don't need to throw money at a team to build a winner. The Patriots and Steelers have proven that in football and Oakland's done it in baseball (at least in the regular season). As much as I want to see the Cubs break the Curse of the Billy Goat, I can understand and appreciate their choices. Also, it's no fun to root for a team that is always expected to win. I'd much rather be on the cusp and root for the scrappy underdog.

Online Game Tracking Options for the MLB

2006-04-05T09:07:54-05:00

The 2006 Major League Baseball season has begun (the Cubs won their first game 16-7; woo) and I'm psyched. Lots of potential drama with high-profile trades, signings and steroid allegations in the off-season. But now that the season has arrived, how are you going to keep abreast of games whilst toiling about at your job? You'll use your trusty game- channel/tracker/day/log from one of your favorite sports sites. Because I'm a sucker for good information design, I thought I'd walk you through the four major options you have for realtime game tracking. Three of them are brand new and ones an old standby. Also, the new ones have a few bugs but I won't poo-poo them as the software has only been in use for a couple days. I'm going to take you through the paces after the jump, but you should also consider trying mlb.tv, which lets you watch games online for $79.95 a year, or Gameday Audio, which only gives you audio but is an easier pill to swallow at $14.95 for the season.MLB.com Gameday Of the four options I'll be showing you, this is the only that existed before this season. I've also used it over the last two seasons, so I may be a bit biased. That being said, I think this may be the best of the bunch. Above all else, it offers the most information (without clicking) in the second smallest space. Yahoo! and ESPN have sexier options, but you've got to do more clicking to get the information you want. Pros: Rolling over player headshots gives their line for the day, over fielders gives fielding percentage and over runners gives stolen bases The data is updated incredibly quickly Very utilitarian design allows for maximum amount of information Cons: The utilitarian design ain't pretty, even if it works Switching between games is slow and only scores are provided for other games The small space devoted to the game log is an issue for innings with a lot of activity ESPN.com Gamecast Like any good piece of Web 2.0 software, this newcomer is still in beta. I think these people think it says betta. ESPN.com has a habit of making beautiful pages and this is no exception. Of course, you ought to have broadband and a big monitor if you want to use this puppy. Although I've only watch parts of a couple games with this, it's growing on me a lot and could rival MLB.com's offering. Their integration of Todd Dominey's Slideshow Pro is slick. Pros: The color palette makes it very easy to take stock of a game's status quickly The game log is large and easy to read. You can scroll through the whole game. The graphics are just fun. When a ball is hit the pitch and hit are animated in a very Baseball manner. Cons: It's incredibly hard to figure out how to only view scoring plays (you click on the score above the log) The window is 960 pixels wide. Way too big. I think the header is at least 100px tall. Infomation about current batter and pitcher is crammed in. Spacing and font choices make it hard to read. Yahoo! Gamechannel I've learned to prefer Yahoo! over ESPN for football, but I don't know if that's the case here. Yahoo! continues their focus on fantasy players, which makes sense based on the number of them, by devoting a lot of real estate to to other games around the league. Unfortunately, I think it forces you to do too much clicking to see all the information about the game you're supposed to be following. I don't see myself using this much during the season. Pros: Lack of annoying video. It's the only one that doesn't force you to watch dumb videos between innings. Information on other games shows baserunners, outs, score and last play Good scoring alerts Cons: The design is blah and feels a little cramped. The play-by-play is too wide and tough to read. There's no way to see who is on the bench. CBS Sportsline Glog Yes, they are calling it a glog. What is a glog? "It's an expert color commentary of the contest at hand - not just what happened but why and how it affects the rest of the game." Well, dumb name but an interesting concept. Looks obviously aren't a priority, so they've got to rely on writing. Thus far, the writing is really dry, but it does provide the subjectivity that's missing from our other options. Pros: Uh, an actual perspective on the game. Yeah, that's it. Cons: Not even a box score. I just want a little more personality. Lines like, "I could swear I felt a breeze sitting at my computer" aren't gonna cut it. Conclusion None of these newcomers really had what it takes to knock off MLB.com's Gameday. It's not the best looking, but it does what I need. ESPN's offering has potential, but it's size is a definite problem. Even if you have a 1024x768 monitor it'll take up the entire screen. That's far too big to watch at work. Still, I'm excited the newcomers are pushing the boundries as it'll hopefully lead to more innovation. As these applications get better, the experience may eventually be better than watching the game.

ESPN Super Bowl Poll Results

2006-02-06T00:06:16-05:00

To no one's surprise, ESPN held a poll on the result of the Super Bowl. The people predicted Pittsburgh would win (and they were right). It also seems, as you can see above, that they broke the poll results down by state. This isn't an earth-shattering development in poll results, but I'd never seen it for sports. I like seeing where each state's affinity lies. The hometown states picked their teams by large margins, as did the states that bordered them. Every other state picked Pittsburgh, which makes sense if you believe in the wisdom of crowds. Still, I liked seeing how far the ripple of support spread for each team. I imagine a team like the Cowboys would have much wider support than a nobody like the Steelers. If you're interested in seeing more of these, ESPN has archived their polls for you. In other news, the game was pretty much a bore aside from a few exciting plays. I shouldn't be shocked. I probably should have tivo'd the game and went to the un-superbowl party I was invited to by proxy. Next year I'll know better, unless the Bears are in it.