how cheat it is
sabernomics still hacked off at la russa for tlr’s suggestion that the braves get all the calls. it’s to the point that a ball-strike study using questec data may be in the offing — idea being (i think) to gauge the differential in ball-strike ratios betw questec and non-questec ballparks . . . . . chrissakes, the man was only venting after a f’ustating loss — stupid and ill-advised remarks not worthy of such an elaborately appointed response. please, sabernomics, don’t waste your talent; don’t be dumping those kinds of data sets and matrices on an innocent world.
of greater interest to me is the confluence betw la russa’s pout and jeff van gundy’s similar lament vis-vis whistles blown in the nba playoffs. like la russa, he implies that game officials have ceded authority to the opposing team’s management — and gundy took it even further by suggesting complicity on the part of the league office. am i imagining it, or do coaches and players these days (in all sports) more brazenly accuse umps/refs of lacking basic integrity? can’t help but think this is somehow related to wider societal perceptions that everything’s biased or flat-out rigged — the presidential election, the stock market, the media, the tax code, the courts . . . . . anyone have their suspicions about whether competition in those arenas takes place on the up and up? and if you do (as you should), mightn’t you start to view ev’ything through jaundiced eyes?
we’ve long heard these types of black musings from fans and columnists — "it’s all a big set-up to maximize the tv ratings; the league favors the big-name players and teams; bow wow wow . . . . ." but i can’t recall having heard coaches embrace — with such defiance, such impunity — the suggestion that the fix might be in. and there’s a good reason coaches usually won’t go there: when he questions the officials’ integrity, a coach discredits the very thing he does for a living; he casts himself and all of us as dupes. rants like those are simultaneously self-serving ("it’s not my fault we lost; the game was rigged") and self-destructive.
so sabernomics was right — cram it, tony. now if s’nomics will just cram the questec ball-strike goose chase . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
i’m gonna be moving in the near soon to one of those big shiny baseball blogglomerates. pretty geeked about it, as the new site will look better, be more interactive, and provide a more visible platform for the daily upchucking of trenchant insights — mine and whoever else’s. gonna have a new name too — "viva el birdos," a nod to cha-cha n hoot’s ’67 world champs.
they’re still grading the e-lot and raising the cyberbeams; when all’s ready i’ll post the forwarding address. until such time, will be on duty here doing bidness per usu’l.
of greater interest to me is the confluence betw la russa’s pout and jeff van gundy’s similar lament vis-vis whistles blown in the nba playoffs. like la russa, he implies that game officials have ceded authority to the opposing team’s management — and gundy took it even further by suggesting complicity on the part of the league office. am i imagining it, or do coaches and players these days (in all sports) more brazenly accuse umps/refs of lacking basic integrity? can’t help but think this is somehow related to wider societal perceptions that everything’s biased or flat-out rigged — the presidential election, the stock market, the media, the tax code, the courts . . . . . anyone have their suspicions about whether competition in those arenas takes place on the up and up? and if you do (as you should), mightn’t you start to view ev’ything through jaundiced eyes?
we’ve long heard these types of black musings from fans and columnists — "it’s all a big set-up to maximize the tv ratings; the league favors the big-name players and teams; bow wow wow . . . . ." but i can’t recall having heard coaches embrace — with such defiance, such impunity — the suggestion that the fix might be in. and there’s a good reason coaches usually won’t go there: when he questions the officials’ integrity, a coach discredits the very thing he does for a living; he casts himself and all of us as dupes. rants like those are simultaneously self-serving ("it’s not my fault we lost; the game was rigged") and self-destructive.
so sabernomics was right — cram it, tony. now if s’nomics will just cram the questec ball-strike goose chase . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
i’m gonna be moving in the near soon to one of those big shiny baseball blogglomerates. pretty geeked about it, as the new site will look better, be more interactive, and provide a more visible platform for the daily upchucking of trenchant insights — mine and whoever else’s. gonna have a new name too — "viva el birdos," a nod to cha-cha n hoot’s ’67 world champs.
they’re still grading the e-lot and raising the cyberbeams; when all’s ready i’ll post the forwarding address. until such time, will be on duty here doing bidness per usu’l.
posted by L Boros at 12:21 AM
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