[I wrote this post months ago but never got around to posting it. Anderson Silva's fight is next week, and I'm so nervous about the fight I don't even know if I'll be able to watch it...]
Anderson Silva,
You've always been my favorite fighter, and you're the reason I'm into MMA. You could actually say that we got into the UFC together, as I started watching MMA around the time that you had your first UFC fight against Chris Leben. The streak of knockouts under 2 minutes allowed me to witness ingenious striking as I've never seen it before. You were as close to invincible as I've ever seen anyone until you fought Chael Sonnen, but as a true champion, you still eked out the victory.
I've never taken any sports loss as hard as I took your loss against Chris Weidman. Not even the Eagles losing the Super Bowl or Michigan losing the NCAA Basketball Championship game. I watched the fight at Bdubs in Ann Arbor, after Jenny and Steven's wedding, dragging along a couple of friends with me, only to have my night ruined. And not just my night, my love for MMA came to a screeching halt. I haven't been able to watch anything about the UFC, as every reminder of your loss triggers the mental picture of you lying on the ground knocked out, and it makes me want to cry. I didn't even watch the post-fight press conference, and it wasn't until my friends told me that there's going to be a rematch did I even find out about that.
And so, Anderson, here's my plea - hang up those gloves. You're 38. You have nothing left to prove. You're the Greatest of All Time. Please don't end your career being knocked out like Liddell or Wandy. Sure, you'll probably earn thousands from these fights, but for young and new MMA fans, all they'll know about Anderson 'the Spider' Silva is that he's this guy that used to be good but is knocked out a lot. They won't know about your underrated chin, your uncuttable face, and your unhittable head.
A lot of people have criticized you for playing with Weidman and for not taking him seriously, but I've watched all of your UFC fights multiple times, and I know that just isn't the case. Just as certain as your "feeling out" first minute of the first round is the mental games that you play with your opponents. Your mental game has been a hugely underrated aspect of your fighting, and your head movement has always been good enough to allow you to counterattack and knock guys out, even with your hands down. Where were all of the critics when you knocked out Forrest and Okami after dropping your hands and playing with them? It's been known within the MMA community that "When Anderson's hands drop, you drop." But the critics will be critics. They don't know the hard work you put into preparation, evidence that you take no one lightly, just that you approach them differently in the Octagon.
So I know that you weren't playing with Chris. You were doing what you normally do, trying to cause a mistake and to counter it. But you got caught. By a powerful guy. You got caught. I don't think you got caught because you were playing around too much. You got caught because you're 38 and just don't have those kind of reflexes anymore. There's no shame in getting old, and Father Time always catches even the best of athletes. But please, Anderson, I beg of you to retire and preserve your legacy. Quit while you're on top. I know you've tried before, and Dana White wants to continue using you to earn money. But quit. Anderson, you've given the sport all there is to give. It's time to hang'em up.
I'll continue mourning your loss until you beat Chris in your rematch. But after that, please retire. I don't think I can take any more of this. And when you retire, I'll mourn your retirement. I've always loved you and will keep on loving you, but please don't make me go through this again. My heart can't take any more of it.
Sincerely,
Your Biggest Fan
Showing posts with label Sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sports. Show all posts
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
Signs You Might Love Football More Than Jesus
Football, like anything else in life, can be idolized. We, dear reader, are tempted more than ever in this NFL-mobile-app, sports radio culture to elevate football over Jesus. But sometimes gauging our hearts can be hard to do, so for the sake of the kingdom, I've put together a small list of signs that you might love football more than Jesus. If you find that any or all of the statements below are true, I strongly urge you to promptly burn all of your football-related possessions, throw your TV away, and if necessary, gouge out your eyeballs (Matthew 5:29 - it's biblical). I thought about attaching images for each of these points to spice up the post, but I decided that I didn't want to stoop to the depths of Buzzfeed, so here is the pure, unadulterated list:
1) You have more sports apparel than you do Jesus apparel.
I'm sure you've all heard the Biblical truth: "You might be the only Bible someone reads". If you don't wear Christian T-shirts, how will people hear the gospel?!?! Bonus points for wearing T-Shirts with Bible Verses on them! Or if you want to be a Christian hipster, get a Scripture tattoo!
2) Your idea of "righteous anger" is hating your bitter rival.
Let's be honest. Urban Meyer and Nick Saban are easy to hate. Eli is easy to tease too (though I suppose that teasing the disabled is bad taste).
4) Church is just your Christian pre-game.
Church for you is just the necessary tradition before a game where you get together with friends and talk about the upcoming football for the day, updating your fantasy team while some guy talks about something on stage. Crackers and grape juice ain't no burgers and beer, but hey - it's holy!
5) You do your quiet times in hopes that God will bless your fantasy team.
Beware of the up-and-coming version of the prosperity gospel - if you live a "good" life and do the right things, God will bless you and your first round pick won't get injured and your waiver wire pickups will exceed expectations. "Bad fantasy week? There must be some sin in your life - check your heart, bro."
6) You hate Ohio State so much that you can't bring yourself to worship God at a Asian-American InterVarsity Conference because of the Ohio State-comprised worship team.
...This is all hypothetical of course...and hypothetically if this is something someone experienced, that someone probably had a lot of heart issues to deal with and repenting to do.
1) You have more sports apparel than you do Jesus apparel.
I'm sure you've all heard the Biblical truth: "You might be the only Bible someone reads". If you don't wear Christian T-shirts, how will people hear the gospel?!?! Bonus points for wearing T-Shirts with Bible Verses on them! Or if you want to be a Christian hipster, get a Scripture tattoo!
2) Your idea of "righteous anger" is hating your bitter rival.
Let's be honest. Urban Meyer and Nick Saban are easy to hate. Eli is easy to tease too (though I suppose that teasing the disabled is bad taste).
3) You pray more during football games than during the week.
This is especially true if you are a Michigan fan and have been forced to watch Devin Gardner this year. Living on a Prayer, anyone?
This is especially true if you are a Michigan fan and have been forced to watch Devin Gardner this year. Living on a Prayer, anyone?
4) Church is just your Christian pre-game.
Church for you is just the necessary tradition before a game where you get together with friends and talk about the upcoming football for the day, updating your fantasy team while some guy talks about something on stage. Crackers and grape juice ain't no burgers and beer, but hey - it's holy!
5) You do your quiet times in hopes that God will bless your fantasy team.
Beware of the up-and-coming version of the prosperity gospel - if you live a "good" life and do the right things, God will bless you and your first round pick won't get injured and your waiver wire pickups will exceed expectations. "Bad fantasy week? There must be some sin in your life - check your heart, bro."
6) You hate Ohio State so much that you can't bring yourself to worship God at a Asian-American InterVarsity Conference because of the Ohio State-comprised worship team.
...This is all hypothetical of course...and hypothetically if this is something someone experienced, that someone probably had a lot of heart issues to deal with and repenting to do.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Individual QB Rating Distribution - NFC
Links
NFC East
Tony Romo - Rank #8 (5.57 Avg)
Eli Manning - Rank #4 (5.92 Avg)
Michael Vick - Rank #17 (4.86 Avg)
Robert Griffin III - Rank #30 (3.72Avg)
NFC West
Carson Palmer - Rank #18 (4.74 Avg)
Colin Kaepernick - Rank #12 (5.29 Avg)
Russell Wilson - Rank #7 (5.58 Avg)
Sam Bradford - Rank #24 (4.37 Avg)
NFC North
Jay Cutler - Rank #11 (5.29 Avg)
Matthew Stafford - Rank #25 (4.03 Avg)
Aaron Rodgers - Rank #5 (5.88 Avg)
Christian Ponder - Rank #6 (5.86 Avg)
NFC South
Matt Ryan - Rank #9 (5.38 Avg)
Cam Newton - Rank #14(5.12 Avg)
Drew Brees - Rank #16 (4.88 Avg)
Josh Freeman - Rank #22 (4.45 Avg)
Links
Individual QB Rating Distribution - AFC
Links
AFC East
EJ Manuel - Rank #10 (5.32 Avg)
Ryan Tannehill - Rank #3 (6.02 Avg)
Tom Brady - Rank #1 (7.42 Avg)
Geno Smith - Rank #21 (4.46 Avg)
AFC West
Peyton Manning - Rank #19 (4.54 Avg)
Alex Smith - Rank #2 (6.12 Avg)
Terrell Pryor - Rank #29 (3.77 Avg)
Philip Rivers - Rank #15 (5.03 Avg)
AFC North
Joe Flacco - Rank #20 (4.52 Avg)
Andy Dalton - Rank #28 (3.86 Avg)
Brandon Weeden - Rank #23 (4.37 Avg)
Ben Roethlisberger - Rank #32 (3.11 Avg)
AFC South
Matt Schaub - Rank #31 (3.45 Avg)
Andrew Luck - Rank #13 (5.22 Avg)
Chad Henne - Rank #26 (4.02 Avg)
Jake Locker - Rank #27 (3.88 Avg)
Links
Friday, September 20, 2013
NFL Quarterback Attractiveness Survey Results
I would just like to thank all of you who filled out the NFL Quarterback Attractiveness Survey I posted this last week! Special thanks go out to Diana, D Walt, and Sam Wong for helping me set up and publicize the survey. I ended up with a great amount of people who took the time to fill it out (see below).
The following are some different graphs and basic analyses of the data I collected, all created using Google Charts, which I painstakingly learned for this project. Creating these pretty interactive graphs take forever, so I haven't gotten around to posting more football-related metrics (like plotting attractiveness vs. NFL performance or attractivenss vs. draft position), but I hope to get that done soon! Enjoy.
Here's the first chart with all of the values. Enjoy the interactive chart that I spent the last hour and a half working on:
Below is a table of average rating of each quarterback, from highest to lowest.
| Gender | Respondents |
| Male | 10 |
| Female | 56 |
| Total | 66 |
The following are some different graphs and basic analyses of the data I collected, all created using Google Charts, which I painstakingly learned for this project. Creating these pretty interactive graphs take forever, so I haven't gotten around to posting more football-related metrics (like plotting attractiveness vs. NFL performance or attractivenss vs. draft position), but I hope to get that done soon! Enjoy.
Links
Here's the first chart with all of the values. Enjoy the interactive chart that I spent the last hour and a half working on:
Below is a table of average rating of each quarterback, from highest to lowest.
| Rank | Quarterback | Average Rating |
| 1 | Tom Brady | 7.42 |
| 2 | Alex Smith | 6.12 |
| 3 | Ryan Tannehill | 6.02 |
| 4 | Eli Manning | 5.92 |
| 5 | Aaron Rodgers | 5.88 |
| 6 | Christian Ponder | 5.86 |
| 7 | Russell Wilson | 5.58 |
| 8 | Tony Romo | 5.57 |
| 9 | Matt Ryan | 5.38 |
| 10 | EJ Manuel | 5.32 |
| 11 | Jay Cutler | 5.29 |
| 12 | Colin Kaepernick | 5.29 |
| 13 | Andrew Luck | 5.22 |
| 14 | Cam Newton | 5.12 |
| 15 | Philip Rivers | 5.03 |
| 16 | Drew Brees | 4.88 |
| 17 | Michael Vick | 4.86 |
| 18 | Carson Palmer | 4.74 |
| 19 | Peyton Manning | 4.54 |
| 20 | Joe Flacco | 4.52 |
| 21 | Geno Smith | 4.46 |
| 22 | Josh Freeman | 4.45 |
| 23 | Brandon Weeden | 4.37 |
| 24 | Sam Bradford | 4.22 |
| 25 | Matthew Stafford | 4.03 |
| 26 | Chad Henne | 4.02 |
| 27 | Jake Locker | 3.88 |
| 28 | Andy Dalton | 3.86 |
| 29 | Terrelle Pryor | 3.77 |
| 30 | Robert Griffin III | 3.72 |
| 31 | Matt Schaub | 3.45 |
| 32 | Ben Roethlisberger | 3.11 |
NFL Attractiveness Survey Results - Guys vs Girl Responses
Links
There were significantly more female responses than there were male responses. Even though the male sample size is really too small, I thought it would still be fun to compare the results.
Overall, men rated the quarterbacks significantly lower than the women. Perhaps they were just jealous of the success, wealth, and overall handsomeness of the quarterbacks.
| Gender | Respondents | Average Rating |
| Male | 10 | 4.35 |
| Female | 56 | 4.97 |
| Overall | 66 | 4.87 |
Below is a chart of the average ratings for each quarterback against the average. As previously mentioned, the guys had a considerable lower average rating than the girls, but as you can see in the chart, there are a few spikes where males rated the quarterbacks significantly differently than the females. As you will notice, it seems like the males tended to rate well-performing quarterbacks much higher and poor-performing quarterbacks lower.
Quarterbacks That Males Rated Much Higher | ||
| Quarterback | Female Rating | Male Rating |
| Matthew Stafford | 3.91 | 4.7 |
| Peyton Manning | 4.24 | 6.2 |
| Colin Kaepernick | 5.16 | 6 |
Quarterbacks That Males Rated Much Lower | ||
| Quarterback | Female Rating | Male Rating |
| Terrelle Pryor | 3.96 | 2.7 |
| Jake Locker | 4.02 | 3.1 |
| Sam Bradford | 4.42 | 3.1 |
| Brandon Weeden | 4.58 | 3.2 |
| Geno Smith | 4.71 | 3.1 |
| Carson Palmer | 5.02 | 3.2 |
| EJ Manuel | 5.62 | 3.7 |
| Christian Ponder | 6.18 | 4.1 |
| Eli Manning | 6.24 | 4.2 |
And here's the chart you all came to see:
Links
NFL Attractiveness - Overall Rating Distribution
Links
In this page, I charted the overall voting distribution of all the respondents. As shown in the Men vs. Women post, the overall average rating was 4.87. However, as results came in, I noticed that some surveys were overwhelmingly positive while others were overwhelmingly negative. Below is a collection of charts that attempt to give a sense of how you all rated.
Overall Rating Distribution
Below is a histogram and a pie chart representing the overall frequency of each rating. As you can see, the graph is slightly skewed left, as there were 4 times as many "1" votes (144) as there are "10" votes (35). Not shown in the graph, however, is that over a third (51 out of 144) of the "1" votes were from two surveys that basically voted everyone as a "1" except for the few quarterbacks that they voted "10" for. I probably should remove these two surveys from the pool to make the data a bit more representative, but I've already posted all this stuff, so I wont.
Average Rating Per Respondent
Because I noticed that some responses were overwhelmingly positive and some where overwhelmingly negative, I thought it would be interesting to chart the average ratings per respondent. As you can see, there are four outlier surveys which probably pulled all the averages down significantly.
The following is a pie chart representation of the above histogram, where each red slice indicates an overall unattractive rating (<5) and each blue slice indicates an overall attractive rating (>5). As you can see, it came pretty close, with 47.7% of respondents thinking that NFL quarterbacks are attractive overall, and 52.3% thinking otherwise.
Links
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)