Thursday, October 13, 2011

10/13 (Very) Quickie

My younger son Jonah turns 3 tomorrow. That's a little crazy for me to think through right now. Damn, it goes fast...

*Theo to Chicago: There isn't anyone (except for trolling contrarians) who doesn't think this is a coup for the Cubs. As for the Red Sox...

*Freak-out at Fenway: That Boston Globe story yesterday was deeply flawed for two reasons -- (1) Opaque use of anonymous sourcing to trash Terry Francona and the players; (2) conflating correlation with causation. The players eating fried chicken didn't cause them to miss the playoffs. If the team had won one more game over 162, the story is "Gotta love the Idiots!" Just like the story in 2004 if the team loses the ALCS is "These misfits are too unstable to win anything."

*ALCS: Jim Leyland screwed up the ending but good.

*NLCS: I'm no Tony LaRussa fan -- and not much of a Cardinals fan, period (if anything, I'm way more sympathetic to the Brewers -- but damn, this Cards team is getting easy to like. They hustle their way into the playoffs, dispatch the presumptive NL champ then ride Albert Pujols and sick relief pitching to a series lead, halfway to a pennant.

*NCAA clears Cam Newton, Auburn: As expected (but not so expected last fall).

*Tim Tebow in the next "Die Hard?" Look at the head of Fox movies, trolling all of you.

*Funny: OccupyHerbstreit, a Tumblr of a guy holding up college football-themed signs down at the "Occupy Wall Street" protests.

-- D.S.

1 comment:

Wtilburg said...

Missed in your critique of the Boston Globe expose on the Red Sox is that the Globe (through parent company NYT) is a minority owner of the Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Red Sox. Not coincidentally, ownership/upper management of the Red Sox is left virtually unscathed by the story. A fish rots from the head down and ownership enabled the player mutiny that consumed the team.

Also, I disagree with your statement that the take would have been different if the team had simply won one additional game and made the playoffs (and not just because one additional win would only have guaranteed a 163rd regular season game against the Rays). The 2011 Red Sox were expected to win 100 games for the first time since 1946, win the AL East for only the second time in 16 years and make it to the world series. It was one of those championship or bust seasons you often refer to (see 2007 Celtics, 2010 Heat). As such, a record of 9-18 in Sept. and a first round sweep would have been almost as bad as 7-20 and missing the playoffs.