Unpopular Opinions (sports edition)

[1995hoo]

A no-hitter is not necessarily a shutout. The other team can get a runner on base via a means other than a hit and then advance him around to score in other ways (stolen base, ball, error, sacrifice fly/bunt, etc.).

It's not even necessarily a win. There are a few games where a team has given up zero hits and lost, though only two are nine-inning no-hitters (since the home team doesn't bat in the ninth if they're winning) and only one was a single-pitcher nine-inning no-hitter.

Absolutely correct. I didn't mention that because the comment to which I was responding referred to a shutout.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

A no-hitter is not necessarily a shutout. The other team can get a runner on base via a means other than a hit and then advance him around to score in other ways (stolen base, ball, error, sacrifice fly/bunt, etc.).

It's not even necessarily a win. There are a few games where a team has given up zero hits and lost, though only two are nine-inning no-hitters (since the home team doesn't bat in the ninth if they're winning) and only one was a single-pitcher nine-inning no-hitter.

Then in that case it's just a magnificently pitched game where the pitchers happened to give up 0 hits, it is not a no-hitter unless 1 pitcher does it, I do make exceptions for injuries and ejections, or if it happens during the All-Star Game. Why take a pitcher out if they are throwing a no-hitter?

[kphoger]

magnificently pitched game where the pitchers happened to give up 0 hits

That really rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

magnificently pitched game where the pitchers happened to give up 0 hits

That really rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

Yes!

[formulanone]

magnificently pitched game where the pitchers happened to give up 0 hits

That really rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

Yes!

I thought it in Vin Scully's voice.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

magnificently pitched game where the pitchers happened to give up 0 hits

That really rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

Yes!

I thought it in Vin Scully's voice.

I can picture it too

[1995hoo]

You can't convince me that the Babe Ruth/Ernie Shore game was not a no-hitter. (For those unfamiliar: Ruth was the starting pitcher. He walked the leadoff batter and was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Shore came in, caught the runner stealing, and retired the next 26 batters.)

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

@1995hoo That Ruth/Shore no-hitter is the reason why I make exceptions for injuries and ejections such as the Oswalt/Munro/Saarloos/Lidge/Dotel/Wagner no-hitter is also an actual no-hitter in my opinion due to Oswalt getting injured in the 2nd Inning

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

MLB is the only real All-Star Game

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

The Superbowl should be more about football instead of a holiday

[LilianaUwU]

The Superbowl should be more about football instead of a holiday

I don't think it's that unpopular of an opinion to have.

[SP Cook]

Uniforms - I would be OK with the idea, except in baseball, it would be OK for both teams to wear colors and only use white when both are too similar.  That used to be the practice in college football until TV came in, which made one team in white necessary since most any color shows up as grey on a B&W TV. 

Baseball should be green grass, blue skies, and white uniforms.  Home team wears white.  E V E R Y day.  No "city connect" no black out alternates, no throw backs, no colored tops, and certainly no blues.  About a third of the league wore light blue, called "victory blue" back in the 70s and 80s, as an alternate AWAY uniform rather than grey, until it died out.  Now some teams, like the Phillies, Blue Jays and Cardinals are wearing these as HOME "throw backs" uniforms.  Learn history.

All-Stars - I agree.  The baseball all star game is 10000 times better than any other, because baseball can play a straight game with no modifications needed.  The NFL was right to just quit trying.  The NBA should copy the NHL and just go with USA vs. not USA.  The NHL is fine, but USA-Canada-Sweden-Everybody Else would be better, no one should miss the all star game because of his nationality. 

Soccer - The affectatious use of British English terms like "pitch" (field), "in to touch" (out of bounds) etc. is part of the reason soccer will always be viewed as foreign to the USA.  I have been working on my Spanish and watching on Peacock. 

Super Bowl - I said long ago in this thread that the NFL would eventually go to the $$ well once too often.  I still believe that. 

The "hydration breaks" are TV time outs.  Nothing more.

The mismatches we are seeing is because they have too many teams in the finals.  48, which is about one third of the counties in the world leaving out microstates and such, is just too many.   About 12 of 16 should have been eliminated in more rounds of qualification.

Golf - The "LIV" golf failure is just so satisfying to me.  Seeing these greedy ba****s humiliated is just so great.  Golf was a wonderful system is no real owners and all of the profits going to charity, all the while making the players quite wealthy.  But no, these losers had to make yet more millions, pulling the ladder the next generation would have used up behind them.  And it failed.  Totally.  So wonderful.  Especially seeing Mickelson's collapse is so great.  He could have, he had the skills and popularity, been the color commentary guy for the next 20 years.  When it ends, BAN THEM ALL FOR LIFE. 

Hockey - I am tired of the easy drive by commentary about "warm weather" cities and the NHL.  OK, there are no iced over ponds in Florida or North Carolina or Nevada.  OK.  And?  You play football  and baseball, and most other outdoor sports on grass.  No one ever comments that there are places like Las Vegas, Phoenix, and for that matter if you way back before the Bureau of Reclamation, LA and San Diego, where there is no native grass.  You play basketball on hard maple. Which is grown only in the northeast and midwest (and eastern Canada).  No where south of Tennessee or west of Minnesota.  No one ever says "how can you have a basketball team in Texas or California, there are no maple trees there".

[SSOWorld]

Türkiye pronounced "Turkey, eh"?

Play on.

11 officials in tennis (2 players) - and they don't move!!!
3 officials in Futbol. (22 players on field)
7/8 officials in American Football (22 players on field)

[kphoger]

Türkiye pronounced "Turkey, eh"?

Play on.

11 officials in tennis (2 players) - and they don't move!!!
3 officials in Futbol. (22 players on field)
7/8 officials in American Football (22 players on field)

So... what's your upopoular opinion?

[SSOWorld]

Tennis can't get by with 2 officials.

[Beltway]

Split no-hitters never have been and never will be no-hitters

If it's a game where nobody on one team got a hit, I don't know what else you'd call that.

I call it scoreless hitless shutout

Harvey Haddix -- 12 Perfect Innings (May 26, 1959)
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Milwaukee Braves
Milwaukee County Stadium

Haddix threw 12 perfect innings — 36 up, 36 down — before losing the perfect game, the no‑hitter, and the game itself in the 13th.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

If a driver isn't eligible for points in a NASCAR series other than his regular one, then he should be banned from taking a win as well. In the last Cup Series race Corey Heim finished 1st, but since he isn't eligible for points in that series then IMO Bubba Wallace (who finished 2nd) should have been declared the winner of that race instead.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

If a driver isn't eligible for points in a NASCAR series other than his regular one, then he should be banned from taking a win as well. In the last Cup Series race Corey Heim finished 1st, but since he isn't eligible for points in that series then IMO Bubba Wallace (who finished 2nd) should have been declared the winner of that race instead.

I don't follow NASCAR, but:

If they can't win, why should they even race at all? Why should the eliminated drivers be there at all then?

f they can't win, why would they even race at all? Is it better if they just sit out voluntarily?

EDIT: I didn't realize this was about regular season races, not postseason races. But same thought applies. 2nd place is 2nd place.

[Max Rockatansky]

If a driver isn't eligible for points in a NASCAR series other than his regular one, then he should be banned from taking a win as well. In the last Cup Series race Corey Heim finished 1st, but since he isn't eligible for points in that series then IMO Bubba Wallace (who finished 2nd) should have been declared the winner of that race instead.

I don't follow NASCAR, but:

If they can't win, why should they even race at all? Why should the eliminated drivers be there at all then?

f they can't win, why would they even race at all? Is it better if they just sit out voluntarily?

Probably is also worth mentioning that Corey Heim isn't running a full schedule in any NASCAR series this year.  He's won three of Truck Series races in addition to Cup Series win he just got at NAS North Island.

I rather not discourage teams (especially competitive or non-charter teams) from attempting Cup Series races, even if they aren't full time.  It isn't as though a win by a part time team ever got them an entry into The Chase.

[gonealookin]

If a driver isn't eligible for points in a NASCAR series other than his regular one, then he should be banned from taking a win as well. In the last Cup Series race Corey Heim finished 1st, but since he isn't eligible for points in that series then IMO Bubba Wallace (who finished 2nd) should have been declared the winner of that race instead.

I don't follow NASCAR, but:

If they can't win, why should they even race at all? Why should the eliminated drivers be there at all then?

f they can't win, why would they even race at all? Is it better if they just sit out voluntarily?

EDIT: I didn't realize this was about regular season races, not postseason races. But same thought applies. 2nd place is 2nd place.

If you're allowed to enter and compete, you're certainly allowed to win.

PGA Tour has this, where non-members are invited to play in some tournaments.  Usually it's a college or even high school player who has not turned pro.

In 2024, Nick Dunlap, playing as an amateur at the University of Alabama, was invited to "The American Express" tournament in La Quinta, CA.  He won it, the first amateur in decades to win a PGA Tour tournament.

It counts as a career win on his resume.  As a result of the win, he received an offer of immediate full membership on the PGA Tour, which he quickly accepted.

However, he did not receive any retroactive points in the PGA Tour season standings.  The first-place points (500 points) for that tournament weren't awarded to anyone.

The second-place finisher, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, received the usual second-place points (300 points).  As far as the prize money, though, because the amateur Dunlap didn't get any, Bezuidenhout got the first-place money (about $1.5 million; sorry, Nick), the third-place finisher got the second-place money and on down the list.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

Split no-hitters never have been and never will be no-hitters

If it's a game where nobody on one team got a hit, I don't know what else you'd call that.

I call it scoreless hitless shutout

Harvey Haddix -- 12 Perfect Innings (May 26, 1959)
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Milwaukee Braves
Milwaukee County Stadium

Haddix threw 12 perfect innings — 36 up, 36 down — before losing the perfect game, the no‑hitter, and the game itself in the 13th.

Not a no-hitter though

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

iRacing is the only legitimate eSport

[Max Rockatansky]

iRacing is the only legitimate eSport

Those early NASCAR simulators from the 1990s are more difficult than driving an actual car.  NASCAR Racing 1994 had some savage competition online back in the dial up era.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

There are only 10 schools in the Big 10

[Scott5114]

There are only 10 schools in the Big 10

According to Wikipedia, the members of the Big 10 are:

• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Indiana University Bloomington
• University of Iowa
• University of Maryland, College Park
• University of Michigan
• Michigan State University
• University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• University of Nebraska–Lincoln
• Northwestern University
• Ohio State University
• University of Oregon
• Pennsylvania State University
• Purdue University
• Rutgers University
• University of California, Los Angeles
• University of Southern California
• University of Washington
• University of Wisconsin-Madison

...so, uh, in your unpopular opinion, which eight are not in the Big 10?