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[Sigh]
Shut up, baseball. Just shut your stupid mouth.
The Case for Confronting Sabermetric Skeptics
We are all Enlightened Baseball Fans, so when we see a prominent sportswriter using pitcher wins or batting average to evaluate a player, we do the mature thing and call him a stupid troglodyte who has a stupid face and smells stupid and wears stupid pants. But does that actually help? Or does it just make us feel better about ourselves and our sports knowledge while alienating those casual fans who want to talk about baseball without being made to feel like idiots?
If you still think that's okay, maybe this will convince you. You know who the "JOHN SHEA CITED WINS HE'S THE WORST EVER" crowd sounds like? Internet atheists. Don't be an Internet atheist. Don't ever.
The impact of MLB's soaring payrolls
I like Jayson Stark, but is this even reporting? This entire article is just "EVERYONE SAYS EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL" repeated about a series of baseball-related topics. These include him saying that player revenue as a percentage of total revenue is steady (it's dropped significantly in the last 15 years), baseball players make as much as a percentage of revenue as players of other sports (they make less), and big salary dump deals have practically disappeared (remind me again how the Dodgers got Adrian Gonzalez). This is just not journalism; it's a puff piece. I expect that from ESPN on football, but baseball too? Ugh, come on, man. Do better.
D-Backs, Dodgers fans tell side of jersey controversy
It's always a shame when the truth about a Diamondbacks controversy comes out and we can't really laugh at them. Remember how, last week, a Dodger fan sitting behind the dugout at Chase Field changed his jersey, and we were all "Oh, those wacky Diamondbacks. There you go again!" Well, we were wrong. A security guard came over and said that the Diamondbacks would prefer the jersey to be changed, but it wasn't a rule anymore and he wasn't going to enforce it, and then as a joke, the Dodger fan switched jerseys with his friend, a Diamondbacks fan, so he was wearing a Diamondbacks shirt.
Did I just defend the Diamondbacks organization because of something a Dodger fan did? Dang, man. I've sold out. I don't even know who I am anymore.
Jack Glasscock writes to The Sporting News
Old people have been writing to say "Back in my day, the baseball was better" since baseball started. One of these old people, way back in 1936, was Jack Glasscock, a longtime shortstop in the late 19th century.
I wish there was a joke I could make about a man named Jack Glasscock, but my mind's shooting blanks here. Gonna have to really concentrate, get in the mood, and work this out. I'm sorry I'm not leaving you satisfied.