Like Fingers on a Blackboard

Just a couple of things I hear repeatedly that make me want to kill the messenger. This may be petty, but I’m still right!

In the pre-lockout NHL it was easy to look at the standings and know how well you’re team was doing. There was a win column, a loss column and a third recording all the games that had been tied. After the lockout the league decided they no longer wanted any such thing as a tie so they eliminated them by adding a 5 minute overtime period and a shootout to determine the winner. Sounds great except that it made things too complicated, it seems, for most people following the sport. Most everyone still looks at the first two columns to see how the team is doing with .500 hockey being the standard for middling success. NHL sportswriters, fans and players alike almost always refer to their team’s record incorrectly. It seems no one understands that, while they might have gotten a point for the game, an overtime loss or a shootout loss is STILL A LOSS. If you have 10 wins 5 losses, 5 OTLs and 5 SOLs you are not 5 games over .500!! You are, in fact, 5 games under .500. You have won 10 games, some in OT or shootouts, and you have lost 15 games by various means. This is not difficult. Please learn this.

Gasbag NFL analysts constantly allude to the ‘vertical passing game’ when they are talking about throwing well down the field. This makes no sense. I’ve always thought vertical meant up and down. Horizontal would be left to right, or along field level. I realize the ball goes higher the longer the throw, but the main difference between a bomb and a screen is the distance down the field it’s thrown, not how high it goes. I have yet to see extra yards awarded because the QB threw a high arcing ball that went 20 yards down field. You do not look out into the distance along the verti, it’s the horizon. This is also very simple and very dumb.