Billy Paultz Reconsidered

I know what you’re wondering, Avid Reader: Tell us, wise and benevolent one, what you think of Dick Vitale being voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame?
Glad you asked, AR. I’m torn, actually. For me, Dick Vitale’s career has always seemed like a Saturday Night Live sketch about a deliberately annoying sports broadcaster. That anyone […]

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Exactly what I expected- a pleasant feature that didn’t do James’ work justice. I liked Theo Epstein’s comment that James’ value to the Red Sox is more often the questions he asks than the answers, because it suggests the important truth that Sabermetrics isn’t about slide rules and formulas but simply about thinking.
I didn’t like Terry Francona’s, […]

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The “controversy” over Brett Myers and not Cole Hamels starting opening day for the Phillies is a good example of why spring training is too long. People have to reach hard for things to write and talk about. No, it doesn’t matter who starts opening day. What’s the over/under on how many regular season days will it take […]

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When Payton Manning played brilliantly but couldn’t get his team over the top in big games, the rap was that individual stuff means nothing, wins are the only thing that matters.
When Eli Manning’s team wins three straight road playoff games to get to the Super Bowl, now the wins don’t validate, and everybody wants to […]

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The Sixers just got their first win of 2008, and yeah it was against dysfunctional, T-Mac-less Houston, but still. And now - what are the odds? - I’m watching the transcendent, “I’m into Nuggets y’all, I’m into Nuggets y’all..”
Now if they’d won at Denver, that would have been perfect. Think about it.
In other news…
*The question […]

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Right after I shut down the computer last night, MSNBC went to a panel including Joe Scarborough, who said people shouldn’t be critical of the punditocracy getting the Hillary thing so wrong because it was like sportswriters predicting the Yankees would beat the Red Sox (in the 2004 ALCS) after having a 3-0 lead.
Ugh. This […]

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The Eagles had fewest takeaways in the NFL (which is at least partly luck), the fifth-toughest schedule in the NFL, the worst special teams in the NFL (easily addressable), their quarterback wasn’t remotely healthy until about week 12, their coach was dealing with a family disaster, and they went 8-8. They’re not as far off […]

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In defending Jimmy Rollins’ MVP election Tuesday, Bill Conlin of the Philly Daily News took on “Baseball Abstract” guru Bill James re Rollins’ fielding on Comcast SportsNet’s “Daily News Live,” Tuesday, then expanded his argument in today’s paper.
Background: James is arguably the most important sportswriter ever (granted that’s not saying much, but who else has actually […]

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This will be seen, nationally, as more a Mets’ collapse than a Phillies’ triumph. That’s natural. Is 1964 remembered more for the Phillies losing or the Cardinals winning?
OK, but a couple of points:
1. If the Phillies’ had been reasonably healthy - not injury-free, just around the big-league average - they were clearly at least a […]

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Minneapolis is the second-coolest city in the Big Ten (to Chicago, which might be the coolest city in America), so I was disappointed when the Golden Gophers dropped off Penn State’s schedule this year and next.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been. I’ve driven over the bridge that collapsed horrifically there a few weeks back, and I’ve […]

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