Super Bowl (not chess related)

[Gary Ruben]

In past years my dog, Beware, fed me the winners but this year I'm on my own.

I'm taking the Seahawks and the points.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

This is the third year in a row I've posted the Super Bowl winner before the game. Better than tossing a dart.

This year was the easiest to handicap by my system.

Of course, I only do this for fun and in no case should anyone place a wager on any of my picks. Sporting events can be decided by many factors and are not completely predictable.

[Steve Douglas]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

This is the third year in a row I've posted the Super Bowl winner before the game. Better than tossing a dart.

I'm not so sure Gary. I think there are likely many Chesstalk members who would love to get together and toss you, and then toss a dart and make a proper comparison.

Steve

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

I take it you took the Broncos.

[Steve Douglas]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

:)

I take it you took the Broncos.

Hi Gary:

Nope. Didn't bet. If I had I would have taken the Seahawks. "Offense sells tickets. Defense wins championships." The previous round I would have taken New England against Denver (and I would have lost). Denver was a one-dimensional team in many ways and it showed on Sunday.

Steve

P.S. Hope I didn't offend with my post. There was supposed to be a smiley there.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

Any opinion on the NFL not paying taxes for decades, despite making billions of dollars in profits?

[Steve Douglas]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

Any opinion on the NFL not paying taxes for decades, despite making billions of dollars in profits?

Perhaps you could explain. What/whose billions? What/whose profits? Each of the teams in the NFL pays taxes. "The NFL" (i.e. the member organization) has posted losses for the past couple of years (they still have to file statements). I believe the USCF benefits from the same tax-exempt status as the NFL (although we are obviously not talking about billions).

Steve

[Bob Gillanders]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

Perhaps you could explain. What/whose billions? What/whose profits? Each of the teams in the NFL pays taxes. "The NFL" (i.e. the member organization) has posted losses for the past couple of years (they still have to file statements). I believe the USCF benefits from the same tax-exempt status as the NFL (although we are obviously not talking about billions).

Steve

Steve, perhaps Nigel read this article:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...payers/309448/

Any comments?

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

I took the defense into my calculations but I didn't expect that kind of domination by the Seahawks. In the first quarter they had possession for over 11 minutes out of the 15 but it evened out a bit over the game.

I remember watching Superbowl 1 which the Packers won. If memory serves they called it Superbowl 1. Being the first time I'd have expected them to simply call it "The Superbowl". Back then I used to cheer for the Vikings. I have great memories of Bud Grant, who coached the Vikings, from his playing and coaching days in Winnipeg.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

I have no opinions at all on the NFL and their taxes. In case you hadn't noticed, the USA has their own tax laws and doesn't request input from Canada.

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

Apparently the Bronco's Manning's hand signals were 'cracked' by the Seahawks, which might partly explain why the score was so one-sided:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...dict-play.html

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

Could be that. The Broncos got down early and never established a ground game. You can argue the passing game wasn't much either but when you're playing catch up you have to go to the pass. The Broncos third down conversion percentage was too high to indicate knowing the hand signals made that much difference. Manning tends to throw a lot of lame duck passes and was intercepted twice. Also a couple of fumbles. Manning threw for something like 280 yards which isn't that bad.

Also, the Seahawks offense wasn't that bad. They were better balanced between the pass and the run. Something you can easily do when you have a big lead and simply want to run down the clock.

Had the Seahawks lost do you think that player would have said they cracked Mannings hand code and still lost? When you win you get to brag however you want.

[Steve Douglas]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

I remember watching Superbowl 1 which the Packers won. If memory serves they called it Superbowl 1. Being the first time I'd have expected them to simply call it "The Superbowl". Back then I used to cheer for the Vikings. I have great memories of Bud Grant, who coached the Vikings, from his playing and coaching days in Winnipeg.

I don't think they called it the Superbowl until a year or so later. I think it was just the "AFL/NFL Championship" or something like that.

BTW, did you know that Bud Grant is only one of two people in both the Pro-Football (i.e. NFL) Hall of Fame and the CFL Hall of Fame. The other is Warren Moon (the only player; Grant is in as coach).

Steve

[Steve Douglas]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

Steve, perhaps Nigel read this article:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...payers/309448/

Any comments?

Hi Bob:

I've read most of the article after skimming it a couple of days ago (will eventually read it all).

While I generally agree with the author that the NFL is gleefully taking money out of taxpayers pockets, there are a few significant distinctions from what I originally asked about.

There is a distinction between the "The NFL", the corporate entity, which is tax exempt, and "The NFL", the member clubs and their private/corporate owners/entities, which are not tax exempt.

I don't think there are billions involved in the former other than as a means of funneling revenue (broadcast rights, merchandise sales) to its member clubs.

Its own expenses are a bit ridiculous in terms of salaries. But the author doesn't really make a strong case that Goodell is overpaid at $30M. I'm not saying he's worth it, but if you're going to argue that the figure is out of line, you should provide comparables. In any event we're not talking about billions.

The stadium subsidy nonsense is another matter. But that's the individual owners holding their host cities hostage, by saying "build us a new stadium or we'll move". Politicians and tax-payers are seemingly more than happy to pony-up the money. The article shows this very well. There has been a lot of noise in recent years in places like Buffalo where the argument is that if public funds are being funneled to the team in any way, the games should *never* be blacked out on TV. That is a policy of "The NFL" league office when they negotiate the broadcast deal.

Steve

P.S. I think he's wrong on the issue of copyright of the telecast, although that *might* be a useful lever to get member clubs to pay a proper rent for the publicly-subsidized facilities.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Super Bowl (not chess related)

I don't think they called it the Superbowl until a year or so later. I think it was just the "AFL/NFL Championship" or something like that.

BTW, did you know that Bud Grant is only one of two people in both the Pro-Football (i.e. NFL) Hall of Fame and the CFL Hall of Fame. The other is Warren Moon (the only player; Grant is in as coach).

Steve

You could well be right about what they called the first Super Bowl. I'm likely not remembering it correctly as it was a long time ago.

I didn't know that about Grant and Moon.

I always liked Jakie Parker who was a great all around player. With Bright and Kwong at fullback I guess it was easy to look good.

I remember the season Grant only won 1 game as Winnipeg coach. Lost 14 or 15. Seems to me they won their first home game of the season and that was all she wrote. Grant was also a decent basketball player. In the off season he would play basketball in the Industrial league, as I recall it. Some of us used to go and watch. I think he could have played in the NBA.