2011: Final Grades

Here is how my sporting life averaged out to in 2011:

St. Louis Blues: Weight 30%

2010-11 season ended in complete frustration as the Blues failed to make the playoffs yet again. 2011-12 season begins with a bang.

Grade: C+ (23.7 weighted points)

St. Louis Cardinals: Weight 25%

Didn't win the Central, but grabbed the wild card on last day. Won World Series. Lost Pujols forever.

Grade: A-/A (The lowest possible grade after winning the WS. 23.25 weighted points)

DC United: Weight 20%

Didn't make the playoffs again. Played better after getting DeRo. Season undone by injuries. Team threatens to move to Baltimore.

Grade: D (13 weighted points)

St. Louis University Billikens: Weight 15%

Limp to finish in disspiriting 2010-11 season. Roar off to 12-1 start in 2011-12, and even crack Top 25.

Grade: B-/B (12.45 weighted points)

Missouri Tigers: Weight 5%

Uneven season finishes strong with four straight wins including a bowl victory. Moves to SEC against my wishes.

Grade: C (3.75 weighted points)

Notts County: Weight 5%

Stayed in Division 1 by skin of teeth in 2010-2011. Off to great start in 2011-12, but slowly falling apart.

Grade: C+ (3.95 weighted points)

GASL GRADE FOR 2011: B- (80.1%)

Comments

A Note of Optimism About the Note

If you have been trying to watch the St. Louis Blues attempt to play hockey of late it would be hard to believe the word optimism could ever be in play. The losses continue relentlessly, often in the "never in the game" style, but increasingly in a "lose from winning position" flair which is enough to make someone turn on the news for an upbeat change of pace. (Wow, plane crashes and LUNACY!) This team still can't score with the regularity needed to win consistently in this league. The coaching staff knows they have precious few natural goal scorers (one is precious few), so they attempt to make up for it by getting what I call "process" goals, i.e. goals scored by virtue of constant pressure, crazy bounces, accidental deflections, etc. Basically, any goal you can get from a player who doesn't have the knack for scoring them on their own. The Blues are something like zero for their last 12-15 breakaway chances, and zero for their last 25-30 2 on 1...

Matt Damon: "James Bond Should Be A Wuss, Like Me."

Alright, maybe Damon didn't say that exactly, but he might as well have : Hollywood star Matt Damon has dismissed James Bond as being stuck in the past. The actor, who appears in the Bourne thrillers, said: "The Bond character will always be anchored in the 1960s and in the values of the 1960s." The suave spy was "so anachronistic when you put it in the world we live in today", he said, but added that Bourne was no better or worse than Bond. Damon was speaking in London, where The Bourne Ultimatum, the third film in the franchise, is having its UK premiere. "Bond is an imperialist and a misogynist who kills people and laughs about it, and drinks Martinis and cracks jokes," he told reporters. "Bourne is a serial monogamist whose girlfriend is dead and he does nothing but think about her." Bourne mooning over his dead girlfriend is something we should be excited to see? Give me a break. At least Bond lives in a world where it is killed or be ki...

Early Thoughts on City 2025

There are few things harder to keep track of than an MLS side in their off-season, at least for me. Despite the fact it takes place roughly during the time the MLB Hot Stove season is in full swing, it is nowhere near as easy to follow along with as baseball. Part of it is how disconnected MLS is with the international soccer calendar. St. Louis City SC is still digesting the moves it made last summer even though those players have already played important games for the club. It is all weird and disjointed, and I always feel like I am playing catch-up. Happily, the moves made in the off-season this year were not numerous. German Timo Baumgartl comes over from Europe as an option at center back, which is good because that was a position that was a little rocky for City last season. Given his own troubles over the last few seasons (cancer and uneven play in the aftermath of that), a spell with City can give Baumgartl a chance to have a re-set. Given his pedigree and the fact City si...

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