The coronavirus is destroying everything

[ixnay]

FC Seoul went with the sex dolls in the stands route.

https://twitter.com/ESPNFC/status/1262337686649614336

Accidentally?  How do you accidentally put a bunch of objects of any kind in seats?

I'm going to guess that, whoever installed the dolls, was a bit confused why they were so realistic They were trying to do the right thing by putting some fans in the stadium, of course.

They got an Uncanny Valley thing going for sex dolls.  Then again they do have masks covering the mouthes which doesn't help.  Someone would have to had sat there and put those masks on...kind of curious what the thought process was there with the puckered doll lips.

At least one mask wasn't put on quite right (upper right corner).

[Max Rockatansky]

FC Seoul went with the sex dolls in the stands route.

https://twitter.com/ESPNFC/status/1262337686649614336

Accidentally?  How do you accidentally put a bunch of objects of any kind in seats?

I'm going to guess that, whoever installed the dolls, was a bit confused why they were so realistic They were trying to do the right thing by putting some fans in the stadium, of course.

They got an Uncanny Valley thing going for sex dolls.  Then again they do have masks covering the mouthes which doesn't help.  Someone would have to had sat there and put those masks on...kind of curious what the thought process was there with the puckered doll lips.

At least one mask wasn't put on quite right (upper right corner).

Might expel something far worse than respiratory droplets. 

[Bruce]

MLS has now cancelled three of its summer events, all of which would have involved Liga MX (the Mexican league): https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/05/19/mls-all-star-game-leagues-cup-and-campeones-cup-canceled-2020

The All-Star Game in LA was supposed to have the MLS all-star team face off against an all-star squad from Liga MX for the first time ever.

The Leagues Cup was going to be expanded to 16 teams (8 from each league) and broadcast nationally. It's been designed as a way of bypassing CONCACAF's awful handling of the Champions League.

The Campeones Cup would have been hosted by MLS Cup champions Seattle against the winner of Mexico's supercup.

It's almost as if COVID-19 was made to prevent the two leagues from getting too close. There have been talks of a mega-league sometime in the far future, which a lot of fans don't want to see happen.

[SEWIGuy]

I think the MLS / Liga MX "megaleague" would actually be two leagues and introduce promotion and relegation.  Liga MX has frozen promotion and relegation because so many of the second division sides have money issues (and so do some of the first division).  Merging with MLS gives everyone access to American television money which would assuredly increase with the addition of Mexican teams.

[hbelkins]

Wrecky Stenhouse Jr.

[rickmastfan67]

NHL is coming back soon!
https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1265380106870063107

[hbelkins]

NHL is coming back soon!
https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1265380106870063107

Apparently, I can no longer see embedded tweets in posts. This happened in a post in the Virginia thread (about the US 17/360 sign at Tappahannock) and it happened here.

[formulanone]

Real Formula E driver errs by substituting a "E-ringer" in online Racing event...Both get banned.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/26/daniel-abt-fired-from-audis-formula-e-team-for-using-pro-sim-driver-in-virtual-race/

For those unsure, Formula E is actual electric-car-racing, not the same as online racing / eSports or whatever they want to call it.

Audi fired Daniel Abt from its Formula E racing team after learning he had a professional sim driver race for him during a virtual competition called the “Race at Home Challenge” held over the weekend. The automaker said in a statement via Formula E that Abt had been suspended from Audi Sport “with immediate effect.” However, it appears the consequences are more serious and final. Abt said in a video message published Tuesday on YouTube that Audi had dropped him from the team.

Abt tapped 18-year-old pro sim driver Lorenz Hoerzing to take his spot in the fifth round of Formula E’s online sim racing series. Unlike the real Formula E race series, this was meant to entertain fans and raise funds for UNICEF. Hoerzing came in third in the race. Questions were raised almost immediately following the virtual event when Abt didn’t appear on the post-race interview.

Apparently, you're not supposed to sublet your work as a professionally-paid driver.

[NWI_Irish96]

I'm hoping that the relative success of the mid-week races leads NASCAR to a serious overhaul of the schedule in the future. Races after Labor Day weekend have terrible TV ratings due to being up against the NFL. Golf has moved their "playoffs" to August to avoid going up against the NFL and I think NASCAR should follow suit. Start the season the same week and the AFC/NFC Championship games with a Saturday race, then race every week except Easter through Labor Day weekend. Hold mid-week races and/or Saturday/Sunday doubleheaders to get their 36 races in.

[roadman65]

Well of course it has not begun to take its toll yet.  If we think we have seen a lot already it is going to get worse.  Of course old news but during an election year old news is always going to be played out to the fullest.

I hope to see myself it all come back to us our past time of sports, but the way things are these days are not looking too good for that to happen.  Football might but the rest will be in 2021 unfortunately.

[SP Cook]

I'm hoping that the relative success of the mid-week races leads NASCAR to a serious overhaul of the schedule in the future. Races after Labor Day weekend have terrible TV ratings due to being up against the NFL. Golf has moved their "playoffs" to August to avoid going up against the NFL and I think NASCAR should follow suit. Start the season the same week and the AFC/NFC Championship games with a Saturday race, then race every week except Easter through Labor Day weekend. Hold mid-week races and/or Saturday/Sunday doubleheaders to get their 36 races in.

Even in this unique time, the mid-week race got far lower ratings than a regular event, and certainly would, in normal times, not only do far poorer, but have to depend on locals, which ordinary races draw regionally or ever nationally in a few cases.

What NASCAR should do is clear.  Abolish the idiotic playoffs, and return to the proper system of every event being worth an equal amount of points towards a season championship which was ONE measure of who had a great year, but not the be all and end all of it.  And run almost every weekend from Feb-Nov, accepting that ratings in the fall will be lower than other seasons, but still profitable.

[NWI_Irish96]

I'm hoping that the relative success of the mid-week races leads NASCAR to a serious overhaul of the schedule in the future. Races after Labor Day weekend have terrible TV ratings due to being up against the NFL. Golf has moved their "playoffs" to August to avoid going up against the NFL and I think NASCAR should follow suit. Start the season the same week and the AFC/NFC Championship games with a Saturday race, then race every week except Easter through Labor Day weekend. Hold mid-week races and/or Saturday/Sunday doubleheaders to get their 36 races in.

Even in this unique time, the mid-week race got far lower ratings than a regular event, and certainly would, in normal times, not only do far poorer, but have to depend on locals, which ordinary races draw regionally or ever nationally in a few cases.

What NASCAR should do is clear.  Abolish the idiotic playoffs, and return to the proper system of every event being worth an equal amount of points towards a season championship which was ONE measure of who had a great year, but not the be all and end all of it.  And run almost every weekend from Feb-Nov, accepting that ratings in the fall will be lower than other seasons, but still profitable.

If mid-week races don't work, than have Saturday-Sunday doubleheaders. Six of them allow you to start the season the first weekend in February and end it Labor Day weekend. Silly to have your season end while up against the NFL.

As for the playoffs, I wouldn't mind them if they weren't a single winner-take-all race at the end. They race on short ovals, intermediate ovals, long ovals and road courses, only to have the championship decided on a single track. Make the championship round a 3 race series on 3 different types of tracks.

[SP Cook]

NASCAR had its races "against" the NFL during the complete time it was five times more popular (in TV terms, probably many more times than that overall) than today.  It simply mostly ran its fall events in the parts of the country where it was most popular, and accepted the ratings would be lower than other times, but still popular.  It also had a fair and honest season championship system, with said championship being one measure of the season, with the key each week being winning the race for the race's sake, with no discussion of the season points until the end.

Then some genius came up with the idiotic playoffs.

[SEWIGuy]

NASCAR had its races "against" the NFL during the complete time it was five times more popular (in TV terms, probably many more times than that overall) than today.  It simply mostly ran its fall events in the parts of the country where it was most popular, and accepted the ratings would be lower than other times, but still popular.  It also had a fair and honest season championship system, with said championship being one measure of the season, with the key each week being winning the race for the race's sake, with no discussion of the season points until the end.

Then some genius came up with the idiotic playoffs.

When was NASCAR "five times more popular" than the NFL?  Maybe back in the 60s and 70s down in the south, but that's about it.  Even at its peak in the late 90s, the NFL drew more viewers. 

But I agree with you that the playoffs have been largely disasterous.  If NASCAR is trying to develop a national audience, they aren't going to take viewers away from the NFL no matter what they do.  And they may have ended up losing a generation of "core" fans in the process.

[1995hoo]

NASCAR had its races "against" the NFL during the complete time it was five times more popular (in TV terms, probably many more times than that overall) than today.  It simply mostly ran its fall events in the parts of the country where it was most popular, and accepted the ratings would be lower than other times, but still popular.  It also had a fair and honest season championship system, with said championship being one measure of the season, with the key each week being winning the race for the race's sake, with no discussion of the season points until the end.

Then some genius came up with the idiotic playoffs.

When was NASCAR "five times more popular" than the NFL?  Maybe back in the 60s and 70s down in the south, but that's about it.  Even at its peak in the late 90s, the NFL drew more viewers. 

....

That's not what SP Cook said. He said NASCAR was "five times more popular ... than today." He's comparing NASCAR's past self to its present self.

I remember attending a Carolina Panthers game in Charlotte in 1996 and seeing the Winston Cup running order on the out-of-town scoreboard. Don't know whether they still do that.

[SEWIGuy]

NASCAR had its races "against" the NFL during the complete time it was five times more popular (in TV terms, probably many more times than that overall) than today.  It simply mostly ran its fall events in the parts of the country where it was most popular, and accepted the ratings would be lower than other times, but still popular.  It also had a fair and honest season championship system, with said championship being one measure of the season, with the key each week being winning the race for the race's sake, with no discussion of the season points until the end.

Then some genius came up with the idiotic playoffs.

When was NASCAR "five times more popular" than the NFL?  Maybe back in the 60s and 70s down in the south, but that's about it.  Even at its peak in the late 90s, the NFL drew more viewers. 

....

That's not what SP Cook said. He said NASCAR was "five times more popular ... than today." He's comparing NASCAR's past self to its present self.

I remember attending a Carolina Panthers game in Charlotte in 1996 and seeing the Winston Cup running order on the out-of-town scoreboard. Don't know whether they still do that.

Oh thanks.  Obviously now that I am reading that, it makes sense.  My bad.

I think the reasons for the loss in popularity are due to generic drivers, generic cars and generic tracks.  The attempt to appeal to a broader audience has made things boring.  But I'm not saying anything that people don't already know.

[hbelkins]

Don't compete against the NFL. Run Saturday night races. I know the prevailing thoughts about not running a lot of Saturday night races is not to compete against the local bullrings, but the night races at Bristol and Richmond have traditionally been among the sport's most popular events.

[1995hoo]

The Boston Marathon was just cancelled. They had previously postponed it until September.

[hbelkins]

And, it just ruined the National League. They're going to use the DH for whatever season they play this year and also for next year.

[NWI_Irish96]

And, it just ruined the National League. They're going to use the DH for whatever season they play this year and also for next year.

The plan is for 2 years, until everybody realizes that it's better and they adopt it permanently.

[SEWIGuy]

And, it just ruined the National League. They're going to use the DH for whatever season they play this year and also for next year.

The plan is for 2 years, until everybody realizes that it's better and they adopt it permanently.

Yep.  They are using this to backdoor its way in.  And its great!

[1995hoo]

And, it just ruined the National League. They're going to use the DH for whatever season they play this year and also for next year.

The plan is for 2 years, until everybody realizes that it's better and they adopt it permanently.

No real baseball fan thinks it's better. What'll happen is that the MLBPA will make it impossible to get rid of it because it would mean fewer jobs for aging players who can't play in the field. (And I say this recognizing that it may well extend Ryan Zimmerman's career.)

[SEWIGuy]

And, it just ruined the National League. They're going to use the DH for whatever season they play this year and also for next year.

The plan is for 2 years, until everybody realizes that it's better and they adopt it permanently.

No real baseball fan thinks it's better.

I think its better and I root for a National League team.  I also like the three point line in basketball and players playing both ways in football.

Nothing more annoying than people who decide who is, or is not, a real fan.

[oscar]

And, it just ruined the National League. They're going to use the DH for whatever season they play this year and also for next year.

The plan is for 2 years, until everybody realizes that it's better and they adopt it permanently.

Yep.  They are using this to backdoor its way in.  And its great!

I disagree. I don't mind having just the AL with the DH, as a refuge for pitchers who can't hit and hitters who can't field. But leave the NL alone, with its premium on managerial strategy. Even two years with the DH in the NL will be unfair to the NL teams, who are locked into personnel and management decisions optimized for no DH (except some World Series and other interleague games).

[Alps]

And, it just ruined the National League. They're going to use the DH for whatever season they play this year and also for next year.

The plan is for 2 years, until everybody realizes that it's better and they adopt it permanently.

Yep.  They are using this to backdoor its way in.  And its great!

I disagree. I don't mind having just the AL with the DH, as a refuge for pitchers who can't hit and hitters who can't field. But leave the NL alone, with its premium on managerial strategy. Even two years with the DH in the NL will be unfair to the NL teams, who are locked into personnel and management decisions optimized for no DH (except some World Series and other interleague games).

I like the difference between the two leagues. I felt like Torre gave the Yankees an advantage with a more NL managerial style in the AL and some substitution quirks other managers wouldn't have been open to. Weird things make the game fun.