Author Archive

Tarp Problems : Baseball :: Crashes : NASCAR

Shared with minimal comment, courtesy of Jonathan Gantt:

Terrifying, yet irresistible.

My favorite part? Watching what appears to be the broadcaster dashing across the field (2:53) moments after telling us he would do just that. A man of his word.


Dear Mark Cuban, Please Come Own My Baseball Team

I know little about basketball. You throw a ball — much like every American sport — and there is jumping and falling and whistling. And they have steals too, but you actually get something for the steal (a ball). Keeping the stolen ball after the game, I am told, is bad form, though.

Anyway, it turns out there was a recent championship contest, and since the Bulls of Chicago were not involved, I had already cast the sport into a waste bin titled “No Derrick Rose makes me sad” — but my decision may have been premature. Tom Tango passes along this viral video, in which we see an advanced analysis owner — Mark Cuban — clobber most cruelly an old-school television sensationalist — Skip Bayless — during the post-championship live analysis.


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A Poem for Mark Prior

Mark Prior is making a comeback. Here is a poem in commemoration.

Mark again,
  a rising and daring,
  a burning without exhaustion,
  a heat with dangerous form,
  not like the fire without an end,
    but the coals, under the ashes and warm.

A mark from before,
  a promise unkept,
  a hero unkempt.
  A man seen only in white and red and blue —
  the same still, but now in red and blue and white,
    all shades different, but not askew.

Our prior notation,
  a classic tale,
  a useful trope.
  Kerry Wood ended with a K.
  Bartolo Colon just kept going.
    And now what will remain?


GIF: Austin Kearns is a Kitty Cat

Today, I would like to thank Austin Kearns for deflecting a ground ball in the bottom of the second inning last Saturday. Thank you, Austin Kearns; thank you for not standing and jogging, but instead crawling like a mewing kitten to the dribbling-yonder ball.

Here’s a poem to commemorate the occasion:

A spreading expanse of clay
separates you and I.
The easy bred error,
and for the thinnest of moments,

the sport and I have fallen into disrepute
as I mime a kitten in my scrambling commute.

        I pounce.

Hat tip to my buddy, the most Jason of Collettes.


I Am Not Brian Wilson

On Sunday afternoon, scheduling peculiarities resulted in me missing my fast-pitch baseball game on the south side of Chicago and instead helping out in a slow-pitch softball game for a friend on the slightly-less-south side of Chicago. During the second game of the doubleheader, a slew of little league kids appeared, waiting to take the field from us.

Upon seeing me, many of the tykes began chanting: “Brian. Wilson.” Clapclap, clapclapclap.

This is why:

But I am not, in fact, Brian Wilson, though my face proteins may resemble his. Let us examine the differences:
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Brett Lawrie: Anticipate Retaliation


“Prepare your body for the Asunder Dome.”
— Secret Umpire’s Guild in a letter addressed to Lawrie

Several days ago, NotGraphs informer syh sent us the preceding imagine. At the time, we found it curious but decided to sit on the unusual footage until we could better understand the matter. On Sunday night, we received the following letter, leaked to the NotGraphs Bilibino headquarters in the Bilibinsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia:
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OOTP 13 Review: Best Baseball Video Game Ever?


Vitals:

Game: Out of the Park Baseball 13
Platform: PC
Developer: OOTP Developments
Modes: Franchise
Cool Features: Incredible contracts system, massive player and coaches database, complete customizability, and plenty of add-ons.


Here’s my video analysis of the game. It’s long and full of jumpy cuts. You’ll hate it.
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Yet Another Compelling Argument in the Rays’ Favor

On May 20th, the Tampa Bay Rays broadcast team is going to invite a former STATS Inc. intern, a Stanford economics graduate, a former All-American athlete, a College World Series record holder, a diabetic, a man with a Wikipedia page containing over 6,300 words in it, a man who eats bullets washed in the tears of his enemies and a few of his friends, and an active major league baseball player in the booth.

Figured it out yet?

THEY’RE ALL ONE PERSON.

That’s right, Mr. Super Sam Fuld will be joining the Tampa Bay Rays broadcast team in the booth to talk about sabermetrics. What?! That’s right. Those fancy acronumbers and oozer ratings.
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Sabermetrics Is Winning

This is a run expectancy matrix from the Cubs broadcast on Sunday. Cubs broadcaster Len Kasper has started a series featuring new advanced stats each Sunday, having already introduced the triple slash and BABIP.

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Not Enough Balls at Your Fingertips?

For the low, low price or $8.99, you TOO can have a keyboard covered in balls — just like the pros!

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