discuss.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Hmm, has to be NFL or NBA. I'd say NFL because of the rule changes and move towards so much passing.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

NHL.

Goaltending technique was literally act like a flopping fish.

Agree with dennis.

Both have outlawed what we remember as traditional defense.

I can't speak as confidently about the NHL but I think there was some change about 2 line passes or something.

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The Gretzky Rule for a while. Penalized the greatest sports team I ever saw.

EDIT: I saw very little of them because of NHL on tv and the lack of cable. But man....all they did was score.

Golf.

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Probably the fact that the AL and NL used to be significantly different in terms of players, aggressiveness, and style of play.

Hand checking and allowing zone defense altered the NBA. Allowed guys like James Harden to flourish. He'd be executed by Patt Riley if he played in the mid 90s.

Whatever happened in the NFL made it a more pass friendly league. Displaced the RB from being a position of high importance.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Different umpires too.

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Nba. It was dominated by shooting guards in the 80s and 90s.

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MLB-nobody having 60-70 HR seasons anymore.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I'd say NBA narrowly edges NFL for this. With how many three point shots are taken nowadays, along with the rule changes vegan mentioned, it looks like an entirely different sport now than 1980.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

In terms of rule changes, the NFL, but the talent level of the NHL -- also with its share of rule changes -- has exploded since 1980.

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Baseball. Strikeouts have more than doubled.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

The NFL of today is drastically more different than the game of 1980. Offenses were far less diverse and the defenses were less athletic.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Keep in mind that in 1980, Ken Anderson and the Bengals were the chief practitioners of the yet to be lauded "West coast offense"

And most teams only had about a dozen pass plays run out of 3 formations

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Lucky for you JORR hates football so he might let this one slide.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Nope. He's absolutely right. The '85 Bears defense would be lucky to hold today's U16 Pop Warner teams under 40 points in a game.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

According to Joe Sheehan at FanGraphs, he amount of TWTW has decreased by a staggering 32% since the second half of the 1981 strike-shortened season.


The NFL arguments here (passing league, defensive restrictions) sound pretty convincing.

I thought Don Coryell was the chief practitioner of the West Coast offense with his "Air Coryell"?

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MTV
NFL
NHL
NBA
MLB

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

There were still floppers in the 90's and 2000's. Hasek and DiPietro to name a couple. But yeah, the position has definitely changed with a focus on positioning.

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Air Coryell was primarily a vertical offense, but it was also from Sid Gillman during the AFL.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Have you guys seen what Marc Andre has been doing in the playoffs this year?

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I think it has to be baseball by far. Remember how important stolen bases used to be with Rickey Henderson and others. No one really even cares anymore who the leader is for stolen bases. Then you've had significant changes to the size of players that have resulted in more home runs and 100+ MPH pitches. How about defensive shifts? I mean, can you imagine pulling some of the stuff they do now back in the 80's with infield shifts? Finally, you have the change in how pitchers are used. Pitch counts, as ridiculous as they are, have completely changed the dynamic of starting pitching. Again, stat lines are becoming irrelevant as the focus is away from wins and on WAR, WHIP, etc.

The NFL has gotten bigger, meaner and much more complex with schemes. But for the most part, the game is still fairly similar to what I remember from the 80's. The most significant changes that come to mind are how the running back is used, how the tight end is incorporated and the gimmicky offenses like the wildcat.

The NBA has gone away from the big center in the middle and a lot has changed, but nothing as significant as the changes in baseball.

The NHL still has a lot of drugs and booze, players beating the shit out of each other and occasionally a goal is scored.

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Honestly, I've avoided hockey the last two years. I'm just burned out from the six years of the Blackhawks run and I'm focusing on other stuff.

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Oh for fucks sake man.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Most sports had less athletic players when you compared the 80's to now. Shit, half the damned players probably smoked 3 packs a day.

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Why so angry? Do you not agree that athletes from 40 years ago were unathletic compared to today's players?

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

I dunno I sure as fuck don't want to get hit by Doug Plank or pass against Gary Fencik or have to go thru Dan Hampton or get nailed by Wilbur Marshall or Otis Wilson.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014