We will get the brunt of the Weekend Wrap-Up in after the exciting Titans-Texans game tonight. Before the rest of the weekend action, I want to talk about two sports journalist/personalities that made me really scratch my head this week.
The first being ESPN's newly crowned Stat-Nerd Keith Law, who was one of two people (the other being Will Carroll) to keep Cardinals Ace Chris Carpenter off his NL Cy Young ballot. The latter being NFL Network's Jamie Dukes.
Law, who is a really smart guy (*cough* Egghead *cough*), decided to vote for Braves pitcher Javier Vazquez on his ballot instead of Carpenter. Now, I understand someone offering a different opinion than others, but it is the way he expressed his decision is what really bothers me.
Law explained that there are certain sabermetric numbers, team defense, run support, luck (Yes, Law actually used the term luck),etc. that went into his decision. I agree with him in the most part about this. Those stats should be looked at. There is only one problem.
Law comes off as if these are the only things he looked at. Mr. Law? Did you even watch a baseball game this season? The numbers in baseball mean alot, but when pitcher's have similar stats, what you see with your own eyes factor in as well.
Carpenter and Wainwright, carried their teams into the playoffs with tremendous Post All-Star Break performances. Vazquez did do all he could to get the Braves into the postseason, but the eventual winner, Tim Lincecum, went 1-3 with a 3.60 ERA in September when his Giants still were alive for a playoff berth.
I read Keith Law's ESPN Chat that week, and he was barraged with questions over this. He came off arrogant about how he knows the numbers to base his opinion. That is fine, but if you are a voter for a specific baseball award, at least act like you watched these pitchers throw, instead of coming off like you just read a computer or a piece of paper with their numbers on it.
Yes, that is how you come off Mr. Law. The way you argued your stance, you come off in two ways. One, that you are just trying to be different, just to be different. Second, that you made this vote just to prove that the sabermetric (WAR, etc.)numbers mean more than what a person sees.
That is not the case. It is a combination of everything put together. Next time you make a vote like that and you need to argue your stance, use all the angles, because this time, you just sound like a Fantasy Baseball nerd that wanted to make a point.
And I will spare Rob Neyer from ESPN, that tried to defend Law's voting. I will eventually get to that stiff one day, but I have another beef.
That beef is with NFL Network's Jamie Dukes.
Before I make my point, how did this guy get that cushy job? Does he have incriminating photos of the Network President and Rich Eisen doing the nasty? It really is baffling.
Yesterday, around 4pm, I am flipping between the games and the NFL Network. The announcing crew, Dukes, along with Tom Waddell and Fran Charles, were in the midst of talking about the Redskins-Cowboys game when Dukes made this outrageous statement. (Do not remember it literal, but I will try my best.)
That even if the Cowboys win the Super Bowl, they made the wrong move with Terrell Owens....
Um, what?
This is not the first time Dukes has mentioned this situation with the Cowboys and TO. When Fran Charles decided to take the stance that the Cowboys are better off without TO, Dukes, as unprofessional as they get could not even look into the camera and argued his point like he was about to get into a barfight with someone and did not want to look them in the eye.
This is the best the NFL Network can do? Jamie Dukes is, at best, below average as an analyst. Even Tom Waddell is a stiff, but at least he a professional stiff. This leads me to believe that Dukes has some serious dirt on someone in the higher up to actually have that job. My 14 year old cousin that does not follow football can do a better, more professional job than that crying stiff.
Hey, Mr. Dukes? You should read this blog and not get angry over the truth I mentioned about you, but you should listen to what I have to say and perhaps fix what you do wrong on television.
It is obvious that you will not be fired anytime soon, might as well do your gift job correctly.
Now, onto tonight's game....
The first time the Titans and Texans played this year, it was a complete shootout. The Texans could not stop Chris Johnson, and the Titans could not stop anything about the Texans offense.
I expect some more of the same, but the Titans defense has stiffened up a bit. Steve Slaton will have a hard time running the ball, so it will be up to Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson to provide an aerial attack that Afganistan would be freightened over.
The Texans will not be able to stop Chris Johnson. He will get his 125 yards and 2 Touchdowns. They have to makes sure that Johnson does not break those 60 yard runs. Big test for the Texans defense, who has played very well the past month.
Houston needs this game, and somehow pulls it out....
Houston Texans 34, Tennessee Titans 27
(Fun Fact. I actually am in a Fantasy Football league that I am down 49 points going into tonight, with Chris Johnson and Andre Johnson left for me. I am not worried one bit that I will lose. That is sick!)
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Hey there,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. It's really unbelievable how if you try to criticize Keith Law- or Neyer, or Bill James, let alone the sainted Billy Beane- their fans will accuse you of being the type of person who likes a baseball player because he is a "gamer"- the biggest insult imaginable to them.
But so I don't do what I'm accusing these guys of (hope it's not too late after that last sentence), I think stats are great as well, even some sabermetric ones- TO A POINT. But it seems like these guys are MAKING it a point to flaunt these alternative stats that most of us don't comprehend, and look down at those of us who don't "get" what they're trying to say with FIP and UZR and BAPIP and all the rest of it. Law took it so far as to criticize Hank Aaron for having the nerve to say that "The List" should be released, and that Hank shouldn't even COMMENT on such a subject, since he doesn't understand law. (I kid you not- go to http://search.espn.go.com/keith-law-hank-aaron/ and search for the "Mike and Mike" link) Yeah, really- besides, what interest could THE HOME RUN KING have in the list?
But it's not just his...shall we say...STRONG opinions of what he thinks makes a good baseball player. Here's an example of how he judges baseball FANS: "Serious baseball fans don’t care. The fans who are most up in arms over PED usage are bandwagon fans - they didn’t care much about baseball, but they jumped on the train to complain about it, and when it’s over, they’ll disappear again. Baseball revenues continue to increase despite all the hand-wringing in the media."
I wonder which sabermetric statistic taught Keith how to interpret how serious a fan is based on his PED interest? It's weird, because I care about the PED thing, and I've been going to baseball games my entire life! I didn't realize all this time I was just on a bandwagon. I just wonder if I can calculate my FIP, VORP, WAR, and BAPIP with this information.
Anyway, keep up the good work. I'll look forward to your writing on Neyer, as well.
Just looked over my post, and when I say, "since he doesn't understand law"- I SWEAR there was no pun intended there! :))
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