Billy Paultz Reconsidered

I have never seen what others seem to in Don Nelson, the longtime NBA coach regarded by many basketball people as an eccentric near-genius. When Nelson took over the Golden State Warriors last season  and oversaw a modest turnaround and then an impressive defeat of Dallas in the first round of the playoffs, I thought […]

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Since I first-guessed Charlie Manuel the other day about something no one else seemed to notice, I wanted to defend him from some particularly stupid grief he got recently.
This is from the Adam Eaton game with the Reds Saturday. Eaton enters the eighth inning with a 3-2 lead, his pitch count in the 70s. He […]

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The headline to this post refers to an amazing 1955 Sports Illustrated piece about the Kentucky Derby by some Faulkner dude who could write a little.
It also refers to the fact that unlike most of America, I have worked Saturdays for my entire adult life. This not only doesn’t bother me, it’s an enormous relief. […]

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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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I’m sitting on my bed with the computer in my lap. Son number one is web-surfing in his room. Son number two is doing the Jimi Hendrix thing in his. Mom is downstairs watching whatever on the HDTV with Tivo, and using her laptop….
It’s a full life, but a very electronic one.
It’s been a light […]

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One staple of this blog in its original conception was supposed to have been to sit down late in the evening weekdays, with the family in bed, and sort of purge. For a variety of reasons (i.e. my disorganization and sloth) that hasn’t happened much. Tonight the domestic planets are aligned….
I’m doing a column for the […]

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I know he thinks he’s being funny, but still: Terry Bradshaw just picked the Giants because Eli Manning has the same TD/INT ratio as Rex Grossman did a year ago.
And we’re, uh, off…
This morning it was 18 degrees and windy as I walked from a building to my car. Actually ran. It took maybe 20 […]

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Observations in the wake of a wild football Sunday…
Chargers-Colts: OK, I was spectacularly wrong about the Chargers, who have both the hot team thing going on and the gritty underdog thing and are, remember, the same bunch that went 14-2 last year.
But would anyone on earth have given them a shot without Philip Rivers and LT […]

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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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