Fifth Avenue Forum

I love Puckett but he was not a good person I learned...

I love Puckett but he was not a good person I learned...

I have a vague recollection of this as well. Something that came out later?

Yup. Domestic violence and sexual assault. Looks like I was never a good judge of character.

Yup. Domestic violence and sexual assault. Looks like I was never a good judge of character.

eh, he did a good job of hiding it all. I named my cat after him in the late 90s. I think everyone liked him but once the curtain is pulled it becomes very complicated

I was a fan of Deshaun Watson too...

I bet if I work hard enough I can get weenie to admit he liked Ted Bundy.

Bundy was more important to the sport of baseball than Trout

Keep goin

Bundy played football, Polk High. Duh.

Sign me up for the Puckett/Gwynn fan club. Short chubby polite guy with a high batting average is the sweet spot for a 10 year old I guess.

Puckett's like Marvin Harrison in that you just assumed he was a nice guy all over the place because he seemed like such a gentleman. But no. Very much not the case.

Yup Gwynn and Puckett were top notch but I was even more a Boggs guy

Boss Hogg!

I had a weird obsession with Jim Abbott. To the point where I would do his glove thing while playing catch.

I thought the name Wade was dumb and he was already super old by the time I had a fully functioning brain. Jim
Abbott was another one though. I remember seeing him for the first time on his SI cover and was amazed. Hitting home runs out of the park with Big Daddy Cecil in RBI Baseball 3 also left a lasting impression.

Although I don't remember much about his play on the field, I always liked Jim Rice mostly because his wife had a baby in the same hospital at the same time one of my siblings was born. Like my dad - who doesn't follow sports - was hanging out with Jim Rice in the waiting room, watching their kids at the window of the nursery, etc. He had no idea who he was until my grandmother (a HUGE Red Sox fan) told him.

I thought the name Wade was dumb and he was already super old by the time I had a fully functioning brain.

So he was 62?

I thought the name Wade was dumb and he was already super old by the time I had a fully functioning brain. Jim
Abbott was another one though. I remember seeing him for the first time on his SI cover and was amazed. Hitting home runs out of the park with Big Daddy Cecil in RBI Baseball 3 also left a lasting impression.

I remember having a Jim Abbott 1992 (I think) Olympic team Topps card, and I always liked him. I mean, the dude threw an effing no-hitter with one hand.

Just checked his age--shocked he is only 53. Guess I didn't realize how young he was when I was a kid.

Loved Andre Dawson too.

I thought the name Wade was dumb and he was already super old by the time I had a fully functioning brain.

So he was 62?

Correct.

who gives a poo. you can't will yourself to improve at faceoffs or practice extra. they just happen, and they'll even out in the long run. you deal with them until they improve.

Pens-related bad takes are everywhere, but this one deserves cross-promotion

who gives a poo. you can't will yourself to improve at faceoffs or practice extra. they just happen, and they'll even out in the long run. you deal with them until they improve.

Pens-related bad takes are everywhere, but this one deserves cross-promotion

oh, this.

you can't control faceoffs. the best in the world still fail 40% of the time. malkin can beat bergeron on any given draw. it's a crap shoot. you try to get a good balance of RH and LH, and make sure the team has chili powder up their butts to go help after the puck's dropped, but it's not a skill you can have adults reliably develop. you also don't build a team around faceoff acumen.

...so who cares. it is what it is.

I was a centreman who had a career draw win % of around 40%. Just uniquely awful at faceoffs. I was very good at all the other stuff, though.

shmenguin with another bad take I see

That’s right. That’s why Zigomantis had such a prosperous career and why faceoff percentage is the hot topic in the free agent market.

You build your team with handedness in mind and then hope you get lucky and one of them is a 60% guy, but if not, it’s fine because you’re talking about one or two extra losses per game, on average.

Shmenguin has the right take on this one. What are you suppose to do? Should we have moustache boy competitions for losing faceoffs? Should there be a mid-season best of 7 faceoff tournament at center ice? I don't think he's saying faceoffs are unimportant, but there's no point on that being a focus. It is what it is or isn't.

So faceoffs are important, but players shouldn't bother working on them because it's roulette anyway?

It's a skill just like all the other little skills that go unnoticed during a game. Which is why Mike Zigomantis did not have a prosperous career just as Konstantiv Kolstov didn't have a prosperous career. They had one skill, and that's no bueno for an aspiring NHLer

there's no trend line with Sid's faceoff numbers over the years. i think that should tell you how much influence a player has over his fortunes there.