You might think that after 40 years of watching baseball I would be used to the average fan’s (or sportswriter’s) complete inability to understand basic statistics. But watching the meltdown around this year’s underachieving Red Sox is yet another reminder that not all baseball fans can do long division. The consensus is that the Sox’ … Continue reading
This just in from Greg Wyshynski, aka PuckDaddy on Yahoo! Sports, about the clock not starting after a faceoff late in last night’s Caps-Bruins game: ‘Patrice Bergeron and Brooks Laich came set for a faceoff with the clock reading 9.5 seconds left in the third period. The puck was dropped, the Capitals won the draw, … Continue reading
I spent a good many hours this winter in the 796.357 section of the Rutland Free Library. That’s baseball’s number in the Dewey decimal system. I have to say I came away largely unimpressed, not with the library so much as the overall quality of writing. But there’s a special on-deck circle of hell saved … Continue reading
Well, we know who’s winning the parental influence tug-of-war, at least when it comes to music. On the way to the boys’ first professional hockey game (Adirondack Phantoms 4, Albany Devils 3), I was searching unsuccessfully on the FM for something more appropriate than Cat Country (gack) and generic office-muzak “rock” stations. Katya asked if … Continue reading
Specifically, it’s time to rethink the role the Recreation and Parks Dept. plays in Rutland City. Briefly, the genesis of this idea was running through a few disconnects in my head … wait, that doesn’t sound right … in my head, I ran through a few disconnects. Yeah, that’s better: As many of you know, … Continue reading
“There’s no way I’m making the last f___ing out.” Gary “Kid” Carter died today at just 57, apparently after a long bout with cancer. Carter had the hard luck of coming up just behind possibly the greatest catcher ever, Johnny Bench, and another top-10 catcher, Carlton Fisk. Had Carter had a generation to his own, his stature in the … Continue reading
For a sport that is legendarily popular among writers, why there are so few good books among the dross? One of the few good ones is Moneyball, which has aged gracefully and added a few unintentional laughs along the way. Michael Lewis provides actual insight to the workings of the game (the conclusion of the … Continue reading
Verticals, for those of you not into news jargon, are web sites “reporting” on their own content. They’re common in the world of what passes for sports journalism this side of the Atlantic: mlb.com; nhl.com, etc., etc. This morning’s headlines are all about Ryan Braun, the Milwaukee Brewer’s shiny new MVP, testing positive for performance-enhancing … Continue reading
Just for Gordon …
To my Caps fans friends … Alex Ovechkin is Alexei Yashin: Spoiled, selfish players with oodles of talent and no desire or commitment to the team. Coach killers. Prima donnas. Come to grips with it now and you won’t be so disappointed in 18 months when he forces a trade to the Rangers or Los Angeles.
