New Batsu Game Rule: Timing is Everything

In regards to Ryland's adjusted picks for the recently completed NFL season, Tim filed a protest over the timing of the picks.

Mike and Tim both made their adjustments during a podcasting session in early November - specifically, the one held at Chappell's Restaurant and Sports Museum.  Ryland was unable to make that session due to other commitments - but he did have the opportunity to turn in adjustments.

He did so shortly after the season had officially ended - and after the results were initially published.

After discussion, we have decided that in the future:

- Pick adjustments must be completed within three weeks of the podcast recording session, and be published either on the Blogspot page and/or verbally on the podcast.  Anything submitted after three weeks will not be accepted.

- This only applies to NFL and MLB picks, as they are the only two sports where midseason pick adjustments are made.

Episode 126 - 2014 Batsu Game Review

Today's a review of all of the batsu games issued during 2014, including any that were issued in 2013 (which weren't completed until 2014 for a number of reasons).

A friendly reminder: "Batsu game" (or "punishment game") is a common feature in Japanese comedy.  When someone loses a bet, he/she is entitled to one of these.

How the batsu game became a feature on this podcast: Mike is a fan of Japanese comedy, specifically Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende, which is famous for its batsu games.

The podcast does have some rules governing batsu games:

1. Nothing that will cause permanent physical harm (the Japanese versions are notorious for causing physical harm).
2. "Sloppy seconds" - once a theme has been used two consecutive times, that theme can no longer be used; if a "banned" theme re-surfaces, the batsu game issuer is instead issued a "sloppy seconds" batsu game.
3. Free pass - everyone gets one free pass each calendar year, and can use it at any time during said year.

In 2013 and 2014, fourteen batsu games have been issued:
- 10 issued to Mike
- 4 issued to Tim

So, sit back and enjoy this trip down batsu memory lane.



Click here to download.

NFL Prediction Check

So, those NFL picks Mike, Tim and Ryland made? Here's how they did:

Division	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks	Ryland's Picks	Mike's Adjustments	Tim's Adjustments	Ryland's Adjustments	Actual Results
NFC North	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay
NFC South	New Orleans	New Orleans	New Orleans	New Orleans	New Orleans	Carolina	Carolina
NFC East	Philadelphia	Philadelphia	Washington	Philadelphia	Philadelphia	Philadelphia	Dallas
NFC West	Seattle	Seattle	Seattle	Arizona	Seattle	Seattle	Seattle
NFC Wild Cards	Chicago St. Louis	Chicago San Francisco	Philadelphia San Francisco	Dallas Detroit	Detroit Arizona	Dallas Arizona	Detroit Arizona
AFC North	Cincinnati	Baltimore	Baltimore	Cincinnati	Baltimore	Baltimore	Pittsburgh
AFC South	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
AFC East	New England	New England	New England	New England	New England	New England	New England
AFC West	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver
AFC Wild Cards	Baltimore San Diego	NY Jets San Diego	Houston San Diego	Pittsburgh Miami	San Diego Cincinnati	Houston Pittsburgh	Cincinnati Baltimore

Mike's Picks: 7/12
Tim's Picks: 6/12
Ryland's Picks: 6/12
Mike's Adjustments: 9/12
Tim's Adjustments: 9/12
Ryland's Adjustments: 10/12

Batsu Teams (Winning the Super Bowl)
Mike (both sets): New England
Tim (original): Seattle
Tim (adjusted): New England
Ryland (original): San Francisco
Ryland (adjusted): New England

The playoffs await Mike and Tim...

UPDATE: Ryland just turned in his adjusted picks, and the results were updated.

As a result, Ryland's sets of picks now cancel out, so he's safe in that regard.  However, he is still due a batsu game because of his initial San Francisco pick.  Tim will wind up getting the batsu game for his original picks.

Episode 125 - Christmas Wish Lists

Happy Holidays from the Winning Side Coaches!

Mike and Tim discuss what their Christmas wish lists are, in terms of sports.

Click here to download.

Episode 124 - Know Your Football Clubs: Germany

Today is Know Your Football Clubs, German edition.

Interesting facts about German football clubs: (a) they usually are part of much larger all-encompassing sports clubs that will field teams in all sorts of different sports, and (b) with two very notable exceptions, all German clubs are required to be 50%+1 fan owned.

Also, neither Mike nor Tim speak German, so please do not crucify us if we get the club names' pronounciation wrong.

Clubs we focused on in today's discussion:

Bayer 04 Leverkusen	FC Bayern Munich	Borussia Dortmund	Borussia Monchengladbach
Dresdner SC	Eintracht Frankfurt	Hamburger SV	1. FC Kaiserslautern
1. FC Koln	1. FC Nurnberg	FC Schalke 04	VBF Stuttgart
SV Werder Bremen	VFL Wolfsburg

Clubs we mentioned in passing:

TSV 1860 Munich	Fortuna Dusseldorf	SpVgg Greuther Furth	Hannover 96
Hertha BSC	Karlsruher FV	1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig	Rot-Weiss Essen
BFC Viktoria 1889	FSV Frankfurt	FC St. Pauli	Waldhof Mannheim
Stuttgarter Kickers

Next time: we finish Europe's Big 4 with Italy.



Click here to download.

Episode 123 - Where Are They Now? 9

Tim has yet another Where Are They Now? segment, one that invokes a certain image for Mike.

Today's athletes of discussion are:

• Leon Lett (product of Emporia State and subject of NFL blooper reels)
• Bernard King
• John Daly (the image mentioned above involved this pro golfer)
• Gaylord Perry (Baseball HOF'er and notorious spitballer who played briefly for the KC Royals)

The "ghost" of Jay Mariotti has been invoked.  Listen for more details.

Click here to download.

1st 2014-15 NFL Batsu Game is Decided

At the beginning of the 2014-15 NFL season, Ryland picked San Francisco to win the Super Bowl.

As of December 14 - with two weeks to go in the regular season - the team Mike refers to as simply "THAT team" are officially eliminated from playoff contention.

Ryland, BATSU GAME!

Ryland's punishment will be announced at a later time.

Episode 122 - 2014-15 Bowl Picks

It's Bowl Season again.  Mike and Tim make their bowl picks.

This year's bowl season is complicated somewhat by the newly instituted College Football Playoff.

If you would like to challenge the WSC on their picks, feel free to join our Yahoo Sports pool.  Click here to sign up.

Now, for our picks:

Bowl Game	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks	Diff
New Orleans	Louisiana-Lafayette	Nevada	X
New Mexico	UTEP	Utah State	X
Las Vegas	Utah	Colorado State	X
Idaho Potato	Western Michigan	Western Michigan
Camellia	South Alabama	Bowling Green	X
Miami Beach	BYU	BYU
Boca Raton	Marshall	Marshall
Poinsettia	Navy	San Diego State	X
Popeyes Bahamas	Western Kentucky	Central Michigan	X
Hawaii	Fresno State	Rice	X
Heart of Dallas	Illinois	Louisiana Tech	X
Quick Lane	Rutgers	Rutgers
St. Petersburg	North Carolina State	Central Florida	X
Military	Cincinnati	Cincinnati
Sun	Duke	Arizona State	X
Independence	South Carolina	South Carolina
Pinstripe	Boston College	Boston College
Holiday	USC	USC
Liberty	Texas A&M	West Virginia	X
Russell Athletic	Clemson	Clemson
Advocare V100 Texas	Arkansas	Arkansas
Music City	Notre Dame	LSU	X
Belk	Georgia	Georgia
Foster Farms	Stanford	Stanford
Outback	Auburn	Wisconsin	X
Citrus	Missouri	Minnesota	X
Armed Forces	Pittsburgh	Houston	X
TaxSlayer	Tennessee	Iowa	X
Alamo	UCLA	UCLA
Cactus	Washington	Washington
Birmingham	Florida	Florida
GoDaddy	Toledo	Toledo
Big Bowls
Chick-fil-A Peach	Ole Miss	TCU	X
Fiesta	Arizona	Arizona
Orange	Mississippi State	Mississippi State
Cotton	Baylor	Baylor
Rose Bowl*	Florida State	Oregon	X
Sugar*	Alabama	Ohio State	X
College Football Championship** based on the picks made on this podcast	Florida State	Oregon	X

This will be determined by overall picks.  Loser gets batsu.



Click here to download.

Episode 121 - UEFA Champions League Review and Tim's Batsu Game

Today, we review the group stage of the UEFA Champions League and announce Tim's batsu game (for losing in both overall picks and losing his champion, Liverpool).

Tim's batsu (remember, it was going to be Boston-themed): go to a karaoke bar and perform a song by Boston's own New Kids on the Block.

After the recording session, Tim did go through with his punishment.  Click here to hear which song he chose to sing.

Fair use: We open with Gerry and the Pacemakers' rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" in honor of Tim's pick.



Click here to download.

UEFA Champions League 2014-15 Prediction Check

How did the guys do with their UEFA Champions League group stage picks?

Group	Mike's Order	Tim's Order	Actual Finish
Group A	Atletico Madrid Juventus Olympiacos Malmo	Atletico Madrid Juventus Olympiacos Malmo	Atletico Madrid Juventus Olympiacos Malmo
Group B	Real Madrid Liverpool Basel Ludogorets Razgrad	Real Madrid Liverpool Basel Ludogorets Razgrad	Real Madrid Basel Liverpool Ludogorets Razgrad
Group C	Bayer Leverkusen Benfica Zenit St. Petersburg Monaco	Bayer Leverkusen Benfica Monaco Zenit St. Petersburg	Monaco Bayer Leverkusen Zenit St. Petersburg Benfica
Group D	Arsenal Borussia Dortmund Galatasaray Anderlecht	Arsenal Borussia Dortmund Galatasaray Anderlecht	Borussia Dortmund Arsenal Anderlecht Galatasaray
Group E	Bayern Munich Manchester City Roma CSKA Moscow	Manchester City Bayern Munich Roma CSKA Moscow	Bayern Munich Manchester City Roma CSKA Moscow
Group F	Barcelona Ajax APOEL Paris St. Germain	Barcelona Ajax Paris St. Germain APOEL	Barcelona Paris St. Germain Ajax APOEL
Group G	Schalke 04 Sporting Portugal Chelsea Maribor	Chelsea Sporting Portugal Schalke 04 Maribor	Chelsea Schalke 04 Sporting Portugal Maribor
Group H	Porto Shakhtar Donetsk Athletic Bilbao BATE Borisov	Athletic Bilbao Porto Shakhtar Donetsk BATE Borisov	Porto Shakhtar Donetsk Athletic Bilbao BATE Borisov

Mike's Champion: Barcelona
Tim's Champion: Liverpool

Advancing to Knockout Phase (1st and 2nd place finish):
Mike: 12/16
Tim: 11/16

Tim gets the batsu game for his picks.  He also has the already announced batsu game for losing his champions (Liverpool).  We will discuss before tonight's podcast recording how this will be assessed.

UEFA Champions League: Liverpool out

We will publish the full results of our picks for the UEFA Champions League group stage tomorrow.

Today, however, one of us lost their champions.

Final standings in Group B:

1. Real Madrid 18 points (6W, 0D, 0L)
2. Basel 7 points (2W, 1D, 3L)
3. Liverpool 5 points (1W, 2D, 3L)
4. Ludogorets Razgrad 4 points (1W, 1D, 4L)

The top two teams in each group advance to the knockout phase.  The third place finisher gets dropped to UEFA Europa League knockout phase.

Tim's pick to win the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League: Liverpool.

Tim, BATSU GAME!

Group stage play ends tomorrow with Mike and Tim tied.  Mike can still win in picks depending on what happens in Group G: Schalke 04 have to beat Maribor, while (irony alert) Chelsea have to beat Sporting Portugal.

Mike's champions (Barcelona) are through to the knockout phase.

Episode 120 - Why the Big 12 Got Hosed in the College Football Playoff

Regular listeners of the WSC podcast know that Mike is a huge non-fan of the Big 12 Conference.

Apparently, he's not alone.

The College Football Playoff has set the field for the first ever college football playoff.  With only 4 teams able to participate in this playoff and 5 "power" conferences participating, you know one conference will be on the inside looking in.

Here are the first ever playoff matchups:

1 Alabama (SEC) vs. 4 Ohio State (Big Ten)
2 Oregon (Pac-12) vs. 3 Florida State (ACC)

The first two teams out: 5 Baylor and 6 Texas Christian, both of the Big 12.

The committee responsible for setting the playoff field came back with two very compelling reasons to exclude the Big 12:

1. lack of a conference championship game due to the conference being 2 schools shy of the NCAA rule requiring 12 schools to stage such a game
2. weak nonconference scheduling

Mike shares his thoughts on the subject while attempting to abide by Wheaton's Law.



Click here to download.

Episode 119: The List - Current Athletes Who Just Need to Go Away

On today's edition of The List, we discuss the many current athletes who we feel need to STFU and go away already.

Without getting into spoilers, we set up a final showdown between PSG's Swedish resident douche Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Baltimore Ravens resident punk Steve Smith.  Listen to find out who wins the (dis)honor of most needing to STFU.

This is a douche.

This is a punk.

Click here to download.

Episode 118 - Fake Classes at UNC

We start today's blog component with a story from Mike's brief time in the Navy:

There was a fellow dropout waiting to go to North Carolina - but wasn't sure where in the state he wanted to be dropped off, resulting in the following exchange:

"North Carolina!"
"WHERE?!"
"North Carolina!"
"WHERE?!"

You get the picture.

Now, the public university that bears the state's name is in trouble.  The crime: offering fake classes to its student-athletes.

How fake?  In some cases, the classes never actually met and the homework consisted of one paper.  Here's an example of one of these papers:

At almost every university, in almost every class, this paper will get you an "F" or get you kicked out of school.  At UNC, this apparently gets you a passing grade.  Huh?

This situation in Tar Heel Nation makes you wonder if any other major schools are doing this.  Mike (full disclosure: a semi-closeted Duke fan), Tim and Ray discuss.

Fair use: Due to the heavy nature of this story, Ned Beatty's "Network" quote returns.



Click here to download.

Episode 117 - Know Your Football Clubs: Spain

Today's edition of KYFC: España.  The country of El Clasico (Barcelona-Real Madrid) and La Liga.

Clubs we focused on in today's discussion:

Athletic Bilbao	Atletico Madrid	Barcelona	Deportivo de la Coruña
Real Madrid	Real Zaragoza	Sevilla	Valencia

Clubs we mentioned in passing:

Celta de Vigo	Espanyol	Real Betis	Real Sociedad
Real Union	Recreativo de Huelva

Next time: Deutschland (aka Germany).



Click here to download.

Episode 116 - NFL Midseason

Mike and Tim make their midseason adjustments to their NFL picks. Further, a certain AFC West team has now been dubbed "THAT Other Team" by Mike. You'll have to guess who.

Division	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks	Ryland's Picks	Mike's Adjustments	Tim's Adjustments	Actual Results (as of Week 9)
NFC North	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Detroit
NFC South	New Orleans	New Orleans	New Orleans	New Orleans	New Orleans	New Orleans
NFC East	Philadelphia	Philadelphia	Washington	Philadelphia	Philadelphia	Philadelphia
NFC West	Seattle	Seattle	Seattle	Arizona	Seattle	Arizona
NFC Wild Cards	Chicago St. Louis	Chicago San Francisco	Philadelphia San Francisco	Dallas Detroit	Detroit Arizona	Dallas Green Bay/Seattle
AFC North	Cincinnati	Baltimore	Baltimore	Cincinnati	Baltimore	Cincinnati
AFC South	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
AFC East	New England	New England	New England	New England	New England	New England
AFC West	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver
AFC Wild Cards	Baltimore San Diego	NY Jets San Diego	Houston San Diego	Pittsburgh Miami	San Diego Cincinnati	Pittsburgh BUF/MIA/CLE/KC

They also made adjustments to their Super Bowl picks:

Mike: sticking with New England over New Orleans
Tim: New England over Green Bay



Click here to download.

Episode 115 - World Series Review

Mike, Tim and Ray review this past World Series between the Giants and Royals.

Mike and Tim also introduce the new batsu game rules as previously outlined in the blog:

• "Sloppy Seconds" rules
• Free Pass

Fair use: Since we're still talking about the Kansas City Royals, we once again end with Lorde's "Royals."



Click here to download.

Episode 114 - Interview with Jim Chappell

For our most recent podcast recording session, we went to Chappell's Restaurant and Sports Museum in North Kansas City.  It is a casual dining restaurant and sports museum with the walls and ceilings covered in sports memorabilia covering decades of sports history and all different sports.

Mike and Tim got a chance to sit down with Jim Chappell, the restaurant's owner, and learn more about the history of this restaurant/museum that was so impressive that Cooperstown came to him for advice.

from left to right: Ray, Tim, Jim Chappell, Mike

By the way, the food was excellent.  Mike had the fish and chips (chips being curly fries); Tim had a burger; and Ray (who arrived right at the tail end of the interview) had a fish sandwich.



Click here to download.

New Batsu Game Rule: Free Pass

As we will discuss in an upcoming episode of the podcast, we added another rule to our batsu game rules:

1. Nothing that will cause permanent physical harm.
2. The "Sloppy Seconds" rules.

3. Each co-host of the podcast will receive one "free pass" per calendar year.  This can be used to nullify a batsu game, should any co-host receive one for making bad picks.  This will start on January 1, 2015.

New Batsu Game Rules: "Sloppy Seconds"; Use of the Word "Market" Now Banned

Since the podcast first started, we had only one rule:

Nothing that will cause permanent physical harm.

The time has come to add a few more rules:

New Rule 1: No using the same theme for back-to-back batsu games.
New Rule 2: If the same theme is used in back-to-back batsu games, that theme is subsequently banned - permanently.
New Rule 3: Attempts to use banned batsu game themes will result in a revenge batsu game.

This set of New Rules will collectively be known as "Sloppy Seconds."

As a result of these new rules, batsu games themed around the Kansas City Royals are now banned, as the Royals have been the basis of the last two straight batsu games.  Any further attempt to use a Royals theme in a batsu game will result in the batsu game issuer being "sloppy seconded-ed-ed."

Credit for the term "sloppy seconds" goes to local KC comedian Teague Hayes.

---

Another non-batsu game-related change to the podcast: use of the term "market" to refer to a team, city or region is now banned.

Why?  We'll let this banner say it all:

The term "market" implicitly treats sports fans as though they are nothing more than customers.  The relationship between fan and team is - and always has been - much more than that.  Fans deserve more respect than to be treated as statistics, and that starts with the media (i.e. us, a media outlet done by fans for the fans).

That is all.  Continue enjoying the podcast.

2014 World Series won by Giants - Tim is SAFE

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants on winning the 2014 World Series.

How did Tim do with his World Series pick?

Game 1: Giants win 7-1
Game 2: Royals win 7-2
Game 3: Royals win 3-2
Game 4: Giants win 11-4
Game 5: Giants win 5-0
Game 6: Royals win 10-0
Game 7: Giants win 3-2

Tim is SAFE!  The Boston-themed batsu game threatened by Mike will have to wait another day.

Episode 113: Sayerville

Mike and Tim discuss the decision by a high school in Sayerville, New Jersey to cancel an entire football season.  Why did they do it?  Was bullying involved?  Listen to find out.



Click here to download.

Episode 112 (Where the Playas Dwell): Klinsmann v. Garber

It's Episode 112, "where the playas dwell."  As such, we open with a little bit from the 112 song "Only You (Bad Boy Remix)."

Today, we discuss the recent public spat between US men's national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann and MLS commissioner Don Garber.

Simply put, Klinsmann is spot on in his criticism of the way the US does "the beautiful game."  And he has the credentials to back it up:  While Garber is a career suit who's trying to fit soccer in the US into the NFL mold (which isn't working), Klinsmann is a former player for the West German/German national team; won the 1990 World Cup with the West German team; played his club football with Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham, and Bayern Munich; and has a winning record as a manager for Germany, Bayern Munich, and the US.

 
By the way, we briefly discuss the three players specifically called out in the Klinsmann-Garber back and forth.  Here are their respective club careers:

Landon Donovan: '99-'00 Bayer Leverkusen II; '00-'05 Bayer Leverkusen (loaned to San Jose Earthquakes '01-'04),  '05-'14 LA Galaxy (loan spells to Bayern Munich in '09, Everton in '10 and '12)

Clint Dempsey: '04-'06 New England Revolution; '07-'12 Fulham; '12-'13 Tottenham; '13-present Seattle Sounders (loaned to Fulham '14)

Michael Bradley: '04-'05 MetroStars (now NY Red Bulls); '06-'08 Heerenveen (a Dutch team); '08-'11 Borussia Monchengladbach (loaned to Aston Villa '11); '11-'12 Chievo (an Italian side); '12-'14 Roma; '14-present Toronto FC

Donovan spent most of his career in MLS, while Dempsey is mostly a product of the English game and Bradley has been truly nomadic as a pro.



Click here to download.

Episode 111: 2014-15 NBA Preview

Mike and Tim preview the upcoming NBA season and make their picks for division winners (practically meaningless except that we're also breaking down the teams in each division) and our NBA Finals champs.

Division	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks
Atlantic	Brooklyn	Brooklyn
Central	Cleveland	Cleveland
Southeast	Miami	Washington
Northwest	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma City
Pacific	LA Clippers	LA Clippers
Southwest	San Antonio	San Antonio

The only division of disagreement: the Southeast Division, with Mike picking the Miami Heat (until further notice) and Tim picking the Washington Wizards ("les Boulez").

Mike's Finals: Cleveland over LA Clippers
Tim's Finals: San Antonio over Cleveland

Picks are subject to batsu game.



Click here to download.

A Tour of Kansas City

Not sports related, but as a public service to all the baseball fans who will be enjoying the 2014 World Series, we present this very funny tour video. Our tour guide is KC actor and comedian Emerson Rapp (who is a friend of Mike's from the film community). Enjoy, and remember: This is where we podcast.

Episode 110 - WTF Is Wrong With The Blue And Gold?

Regular listeners to the podcast know that Mike is a diehard St. Louis Rams fan.

Having just about had it with all the losing the Blue and Gold have been doing this past decade, Mike felt it necessary to take a step back and discuss the problems that plague his team.  There are many, from the death of an owner to bad drafting, and from terrible head coaches to dumb stuff on the field and even undying relocation rumors (for the record, Mike is very much of the opinion that the Rams will not move back to LA).

Fair use: While Mike seems calm and collected during this discussion, make no mistake that he is not happy.  Today's episode opens with the infamous Bobby Knight halftime speech, which perfectly sums up how Mike is feeling.

Update: This episode was recorded prior to the Rams' 28-26 win over Seattle, but the issue is still valid and discussion worthy.



Click here to download.

Episode 109 - World Series Preview and Mike's Batsu Game

Mike and Tim preview the Royals-Giants World Series.  Tim has some choice words for Royals ownership, and Mike piles on.  Tim revels in the idea of his hometown Royals playing against his batsu pick Giants.  And Mike gets his batsu game for picking Washington to win the World Series: wearing a Royals necktie.  Mike also agrees to hold the next recording session (which will be sometime after the World Series is over) at Chappell's Restaurant and Sports Museum in North Kansas City (despite the bad parking situation).

Fair use: since this is a baseball related batsu game, we open with Keith Olbermann chastising baseball fans for violating the whole "expressed written consent" deal slapped on all MLB games.

Fair use: since we're once again talking about the Kansas City Royals, we close by revisiting Lorde's song "Royals."  Again, the song was inspired by a photo of Royals HOF'er George Brett.



Click here to download.

2014 World Series is Set

If these two cities met in the Super Bowl, Mike would have to leave the country.  But, this is baseball we're talking about, so...

The 2014 World Series has been set: Royals-Giants.

That's right: the hometown Kansas City Royals - who bookend 29 years of futility with World Series appearances - are playing Tim's pick to win it all, the San Francisco Giants - who just won their third NL pennant in 5 years.

For KC, this is their third World Series appearance: the Royals famously won in 1985 over the St. Louis Cardinals (a Series that St. Louisans are still upset about, in particular Game 6) and lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980.

For the Giants, it's Series appearance number 20 (6th since moving from New York to San Francisco in 1958).

Series wins (7) came in:

• 1905 (Philadelphia A's)
• 1921 (New York Yankees)
• 1922 (Yankees)
• 1933 (Washington Senators)
• 1954 (Cleveland Indians)
• 2010 (Texas Rangers)
• 2012 (Detroit Tigers)

Series losses (12) for the Giants came in:

• 1911 (Philadelphia A's)
• 1912 (Boston Red Sox)
• 1913 (A's)
• 1917 (Chicago White Sox)
• 1923 (New York Yankees)
• 1924 (Washington Senators)
• 1936 (Yankees)
• 1937 (Yankees)
• 1951 (Yankees)
• 1962 (Yankees)
• 1989 (Oakland A's - a Bay Area Series interrupted by an earthquake)
• 2002 (Anaheim Angels)

We're looking for a good Series.

Episode 108 - The List: Hockey Players and Bad Movies

Today, Mike, Tim and Ray do a couple of more editions of "The List."  We start with a short list of hockey players, followed by a longer list of bad movies.  Mike takes a chance on the latter list to call himself out on making an admittedly bad movie (his first attempt at feature filmmaking).



Click here to download.

MLS vs. International Football [Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga…]

We haven't shared a whole lot of video here on the WSC Blogspot, but this one is a must-see. It goes hand-in-hand with a topic that has been brought up often on our podcast: instituting promotion and relegation in North American soccer (MLS, NASL, etc.). It's especially relevant today with news that US men's national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann outright stated that the North American system needs to adopt pro/rel.

Episode 107 - Where Are They Now? 8

Today's episode is another edition of Where Are They Now?

Today's athletes of discussion:

• John Rocker
• Ickey Woods
• Yao Ming
• Eric Lindros

In honor of Yao being one of our athletes, we end with a bit from the famous "Yo.  Yao." Visa commercial.



Click here to download.

Batsu Series Goes to...

In the "Batsu Series" - Washington (Mike's adjusted World Series pick) vs. San Francisco (Tim's consistent World Series pick) - the Giants beat the Nationals 3 games to 1.  Tim's team is still alive; however...

MIKE, BATSU GAME!!!

The batsu game will be announced during our next recording session.

Episode 106 - Derek Jeter Tribute

Tim does a tribute episode to retiring New York Yankees shortstop and future HOF'er Derek Jeter.

Jeter's career stats: .310 batting average; 3,465 hits; 260 HR; 1,311 RBI; 14 time All-Star; 5-time World Series champion; 2000 World Series MVP; 5 Gold Gloves; 5 Silver Sluggers - and a one-team player (entirely with the Yankees).  Not to mention he was the perfect example of a consummate professional.

In five years, we will see him in Cooperstown.

RE2PECT!

Click here to download.

Episode 105 - NFL Abuse Controversy and South Park

The NFL has opened itself to criticism in recent weeks due to the joint controversies involving the Ray Rice domestic abuse situation (caught on tape!) and the Adrian Peterson child abuse situation.

How bad has it got for the NFL?  The Washington team's nickname controversy - which has been talked about ad nauseum on this podcast - got the South Park treatment.

As Cartman may say, sit back and listen to our authoritah.

Click here to download.

Episode 104 - NHL Preview, Hockey News, and More Thoughts on Baseball

Hockey season is upon us.

Ray gives us a preview of the 2014-15 NHL season.  He tells us that at least one expert is picking the Chicago Blackhawks to win the Stanley Cup, while noted LA Kings fan Mike is hoping for a repeat performance.

We also learn what's going on elsewhere in the hockey world, including with Independence's minor league Missouri Mavericks.

Ray closes with some thoughts on baseball.

This is all a prelude to the guys going to a NHL exhibition game at the Sprint Center: Dallas Stars vs. St. Louis Blues.  Dallas won the game 4-2.

Click here to download.

Episode 103 - MLB Review and Batsu Game

Mike, Tim and Ray discuss the just completed MLB season and their picks.

Since Mike's original picks turned out to be a total dud, he gets the batsu game.

As punishment, for showing non-love to the hometown Kansas City Royals, Mike had to wear Royals temporary tattoos, starting right after the podcast and throughout the evening, including the hockey game the group attended.

Fair use: to close today's episode, we included "Royals" by Lorde, a song inspired by an old photo of Royals HOF'er George Brett, who was on the team when they made their last playoff appearance in 1985 (when KC won the World Series 4 games to 3 over St. Louis).



Click here to download.

MLB Prediction Check

So, those MLB picks Mike and Tim made?  Here's how they did:

Division	Mike's Original	Mike's Adjusted	Tim's Original	Tim's Adjusted	Actual
NL East	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington
NL Central	St. Louis	St. Louis	St. Louis	Milwaukee	St. Louis
NL West	San Francisco	San Francisco	LA Dodgers	LA Dodgers	LA Dodgers
NL Wild Cards	Atlanta Cincinnati	Atlanta Cincinnati	Colorado San Francisco	Atlanta San Francisco	Pittsburgh San Francisco
AL East	Boston	Toronto	Tampa Bay	Baltimore	Baltimore
AL Central	Detroit	Detroit	Kansas City	Detroit	Detroit
AL West	Oakland	Oakland	Texas	Oakland	LA Angels
AL Wild Cards	Cleveland Tampa Bay	Cleveland LA Angels	Boston Detroit	LA Angels Kansas City	Oakland Kansas City

Mike's Original Picks: 5/10
Mike's Adjusted Picks: 6/10
Tim's Original Picks: 6/10
Tim's Adjusted Picks: 8/10

MIKE, BATSU GAME!!!

Mike's batsu game will be formally announced and executed in our next episode of the podcast.

Episode 102 - Know Your Football Clubs: Scotland

Know Your Football Clubs today turns to the part of the UK that's trying to declare independence, yet is already independent in terms of its football: Scotland.

When most people think Scottish football, they normally think the Old Firm: Glasgow's often sectarian local derby between Celtic (Catholics) and Rangers (Protestants).  There's more than these two historic clubs, of course, but Scotland lacks the plethora of notable clubs that their neighbors to the south boast.

Primary discussion involved the following clubs (listed alphabetically):

Aberdeen	Celtic	Heart of Midlothian	Hibernian
Queen's Park	Rangers

We also mention the following clubs in our discussion (also alphabetically):

Alloa Athletic	Cowdenbeath	Clyde	Dumbarton
Dundee	Dundee United	Dunfermline Athletic	East Fife
Falkirk	Hamilton Academical	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Kilmarnock
Livingston	Motherwell	Partick Thistle	Queen of the South
Raith Rovers	Ross County	St. Johnstone	St. Mirren

Learn more about Scottish football and its clubs at the BBC website.

One fun fact: just how close are the two Dundee clubs?  This close:

Fair use: The fact that there is a football club called Clyde in the Scottish football system has Mike thinking of the South Park: The Stick of Truth video game, which features Cartman giving the order: "Ready!  And... Let's beat up Clyde."

Next time: Spain



Click here to download.

Episode 101 - NFL GM's Treatment of Michael Sam

Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team (St. Louis Rams, in the 7th round of the 2014 Draft), had a very solid preseason with the Rams before being cut (a function of the Rams being loaded at his position of defensive end).  A couple of days later, Sam was signed to the practice squad of the Dallas Cowboys.

Why was Sam not picked up earlier?  One NFL GM claimed it was because Sam would be a distraction.  He wasn't a distraction at all during Rams' training camp.  In fact, the only controversy during camp came with a week to go in preseason - and was brought upon entirely by ESPN.

Are NFL GM's right about Sam being a distraction?  Or are they, for the most part, being a bit homophobic?

Mike and Tim discuss.



Click here to download.

EPISODE 100!!!

Happy 100th episode to us at the Winning Side Coaches!!

Today's discussion: Is fantasy football illegal in Kansas?  If so, under what circumstances?



Click here to download.

Episode 99 - NHL Expanding by 4?

Is the National Hockey League expanding by 4 teams?  Where are these teams (assuming they're for real) going to play?  Does Toronto need a second team?  Will KC get a team?  Will we see the return of the Quebec Nordiques?  Mike and Tim discuss.

Click here to download.

Episode 98 - USSF/MLS Rant/Discussion

The recent World Cup performance of the US national team coupled with the overt hostility toward real reform in North American soccer by the powers-that-be have Mike upset enough to warrant a rant on the subject.

Fair use: Since this is a rant, we revisit the famous Ned Beatty quote from the 1976 film Network.

Mike also gives props to two of his fellow soccer reform advocates on Twitter.  You can follow them at:

• Deacon Joseph Suaiden: @TheSoccerDcn
• Ted Westervelt: @soccerreform 

Click here to download.

Episode 97 - 2014-15 UEFA Champions League Group Stage Preview

Mike and Tim preview the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League group stage. Here are their orders of finish:

Group	Mike's Order of Finish	Tim's Order of Finish
Group A	Atletico Madrid Juventus Olympiacos Malmo	Atletico Madrid Juventus Olympiacos Malmo
Group B	Real Madrid Liverpool Basel Ludogorets Razgrad	Real Madrid Liverpool Basel Ludogorets Razgrad
Group C	Bayer Leverkusen Benfica Zenit St. Petersburg Monaco	Bayer Leverkusen Benfica Monaco Zenit St. Petersburg
Group D	Arsenal Borussia Dortmund Galatasaray Anderlecht	Arsenal Borussia Dortmund Galatasaray Anderlecht
Group E	Bayern Munich Manchester City Roma CSKA Moscow	Manchester City Bayern Munich Roma CSKA Moscow
Group F	Barcelona Ajax APOEL Paris St. Germain	Barcelona Ajax Paris St. Germain APOEL
Group G	Schalke 04 Sporting Portugal Chelsea Maribor	Chelsea Sporting Portugal Schalke 04 Maribor
Group H	Porto Shakhtar Donetsk Athletic Bilbao BATE Borisov	Athletic Bilbao Porto Shakhtar Donetsk BATE Borisov

In our knockout stage (top 2 per group), there is disagreement with only two teams:

Group	Mike's Pick	Tim's Pick
Group G	Schalke 04	Chelsea
Group H	Shakhtar Donetsk	Athletic Bilbao

As for our UEFA Champions League winners:

Mike's Pick	Tim's Pick
Barcelona	Liverpool

These picks are subject to batsu game.

Fair use: Because we mention "Bulgarian hate mail" (thanks to Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad being in the group stage), this episode includes parts of the Young Turks receiving "Bulgarian hate mail."



Click here to download.

Episode 96 - Batsu Game 11

Mike's batsu game for picking the Boston Red Sox to win a second-straight World Series has been decided:

He had to pose for a photo holding a signed photo of Jerry Rice while Rice was playing for a certain team that will not be mentioned.

Here's the photo:

Click here to download.

Episode 95 - The List: Pitchers and Robin Williams

In today's edition of "The List," Mike, Tim and Ryland list the all-time great pitchers in Major League Baseball - and, in a tribute to the late Robin Williams, we list our favorite Williams films.

There is a clip from a Williams movie, "The Survivors," that closes out our podcast today.  Used under fair use.



Click here to download.

Episode 94 - Know Your Football Clubs: England

Today we start our Know Your Football Clubs segment.

We start with the country that gave us the "Beautiful Game" - England.

Since there are hundreds of clubs in England that we could potentially talk about, we decided to limit discussion to historically relevant clubs.  Primary discussion involved the following clubs (listed alphabetically):

Arsenal	Aston Villa	Birmingham City	Blackburn Rovers
Bolton Wanderers	Burnley	Chelsea	Derby County
Everton	Leeds United	Liverpool	Manchester City
Manchester United	Middlesbrough	Newcastle United	Nottingham Forest
Notts County	Preston North End	Sheffield United	Sheffield Wednesday
Stoke City	Sunderland	Tottenham Hotspur	West Bromwich Albion
West Ham United	Wolverhampton Wanderers

We also mention the following clubs in our discussion (also alphabetically):

Blackpool	AFC Bournemouth	Bradford City	Brentford
Brighton & Hove Albion	Bury	Cardiff City	Charlton Athletic
Crystal Palace	Dagenham & Redbridge	Fulham	Huddersfield Town
Hull City	Ipswich Town	Leicester City	Leyton Orient
Millwall	Milton Keynes Dons	Newport County	Norwich City
Port Vale	Portsmouth	Queens Park Rangers	Reading
Rotherham United	Sheffield FC	Southampton	Swansea City
Watford	Wigan Athletic	AFC Wimbledon	Wrexham

There are many, many more clubs not listed above.  We encourage you to look them up.

Next time on KYFC: Scotland.



Click here to download.

Episode 93 - O'Bannon v. NCAA Decision

Mike, Tim and Ryland discuss the recent O'Bannon v. NCAA court decision and its impact on big-time college athletics.

Tim also ties the decision to a recent NCAA decision (not a court decision) to give more autonomy to the "Power 5" conferences and its further impact on college sports.



Click here to download.

I think it's safe to call this one...

The Boston Red Sox will likely not make the playoffs, let alone the World Series for the second year in a row.

At the beginning of the 2014 MLB season, someone on this podcast picked the Sawks to win their second straight World Series.

As of this posting, Boston is in last place in the AL East, 18 back of division leading Baltimore and 15 1/2 out of wild card contention.

Mike, BATSU GAME!!!

Episode 92 - 2014 NFL Preview: AFC and Super Bowl Picks

Part 2 of our 2014 NFL Preview is the AFC half of the picks:


Our predictions are as follows:

Division	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks	Ryland's Picks
AFC North	Cincinnati	Baltimore	Baltimore
AFC South	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
AFC East	New England	New England	New England
AFC West	Denver	Denver	Denver
AFC Wild Cards	Baltimore San Diego	NY Jets San Diego	Houston San Diego
AFC Champs	New England	New England	New England

Super Bowl Picks:
Mike: New England over New Orleans
Tim: Seattle over New England
Ryland: San Francisco over New England

As usual, these picks are subject to batsu game at the end of the season and/or upon elimination of their Super Bowl champion picks from playoff or Super Bowl contention.



Click here to download.

Episode 91 - 2014 NFL Preview: NFC

First off, we welcome Ryland Lundy to the podcast.

Today's episode is Part 1 of our discussion and predictions for the 2014 NFL season.

Our predictions are as follows:

Division	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks	Ryland's Picks
NFC North	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay
NFC South	New Orleans	New Orleans	New Orleans
NFC East	Philadelphia	Philadelphia	Washington
NFC West	Seattle	Seattle	Seattle
NFC Wild Cards	Chicago St. Louis	Chicago San Francisco	Philadelphia San Francisco
NFC Champs	New Orleans	Seattle	San Francisco

As usual, these picks are subject to batsu game at the end of the season.

Next time: the AFC half of our predictions, and our Super Bowl picks.



Click here to download.

Episode 90 - The List: NFL Quarterbacks

Tim introduces a new game for the podcast:

The List!

How this works: Mike and Tim will take turns filling a list of names appropriate for the topic at hand.  Then, bracket-style, we start eliminating names until we reach the top name in the list.

For our first attempt at this game: NFL quarterbacks.



Click here to download.

Episode 89 - Know Your Football Clubs Intro

Now that we're done with Know Your Mid-Majors, we at the WSC will be starting something similar:

Know Your Football Clubs

Since we're just coming off the most recent World Cup and club football season is about to start up, why not learn a few things about the football clubs that dot the globe?

Unlike KYMM, this segment will only focus on countries and FC's of consequence.



Click here to download.

Episode 88 - NFL on Free TV Petition

Tim talks about a petition to keep the NFL regular season games on national free television.  Spearheaded by Pittsburgh Steelers HOF receiver Lynn Swann, you can find the petition at:

protectfootballonfreetv.com



Click here to download.

Due to File Storage Issues

Due to file storage issues, we will no longer have the archives available online.

If there is an episode of the Winning Side Coaches that is no longer active and you would like to have a copy sent to you, please email Mike and he'll take care to your needs.

Please put "Winning Side Coaches Archive Request" in the subject line and specify which episode in the archives you wish to have sent to you.

Thank you for your consideration and understanding, and keep listening to the Winning Side Coaches.

Episode 87 - Where Are They Now? 7

Today's Where Are They Now? segment could just as well be entitled "WHO Are They Now?"

Tim's segment includes the likes of Brooks Robinson and Andre Agassi.

Tim also included a couple of really obscure guys on his list.  How obscure?  Mike had never heard of them.



Click here to download.

Episode 86 - 1994 NFL Draft

The 1994 NFL Draft was indeed a major draft in terms of the recent history of the NFL Draft.

Mike and Tim talk about the historic draft that gave the NFL the likes of Marshall Faulk, Larry Allen, and many more.

Click here to download.

Episode 85 - World Cup Review

Congratulations to Germany on winning the FIFA World Cup.

Before Deutschland knocked off Argentina in the World Cup Final, Mike and Tim decided to review and critique the World Cup.



Click here to download.