FIRE JOE MORGAN: Justice?

FIRE JOE MORGAN

Where Bad Sports Journalism Came To Die

FJM has gone dark for the foreseeable future. Sorry folks. We may post once in a while, but it's pretty much over. You can still e-mail dak, Ken Tremendous, Junior, Matthew Murbles, or Coach.

Main / Archives / Merch / Glossary / Goodbye

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

 

Justice?

“You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law.”

A nice epitaph for this article by Houston Chronicle scribe and sometime PTI-goer-oner Richard Justice, who apparently is angry at everyone.

I shouldn't mention the conversation I had with Brad Ausmus Monday morning because it will only prompt more of you knuckleheads to write in. You seem to have forgotten that the idea of this particular blog is less responses, not more. I actually don't care what most of you think.

First of all, you mean fewer responses. Second: quick backstory: Justice has recently written several blog entries about Ausmus and Everett and their value to the 'Stros as defensive wizards and all-around good people. (Go here and look specifically at Jan. 26 and 27.) Apparently, several like-minded (to me, not to him) individuals wrote in and yelled at him, blog-comment-style. I'm guessing more than one cited Ausmus's .216 EqA. Or perhaps Everett's .225. Or maybe they just yelled about batting average. In any case, it all has Justice's panties in a bunch.

Here's a litmus test: if you get the majority of your information from Fox News or if you have a picture of a college football player or coach framed and hanging in your house, you're too dumb to get this blog.

Well, Richie, that's a solid negatory from ol' KT on each of those points. So why so upset at me?

(This is no anti-Republican rant. The Democrats haven't had a good idea since LBJ left office.)

I thought Bill Clinton's idea to use the 90's boom's budget surplus to save social security was a very good idea, indeed. Neither here nor there.

In other words, you're not my type. Me being slow to learn, I'm going to push ahead. I'll hate myself in the morning.

Anyway, Ausmus was mentioning that he'd looked at my blog at time or two over the winter and was surprised by the level of vitriol aimed at himself and Adam Everett. I had to explain to him that the vast majority of the people who read this blog are smart. They get it. They understand how having two premier defensive players is actually a good thing for a baseball team.

Always a good thing. Of course, it's better if those two premiere defensive players do not have EqA's in the Mendoza neighborhood.

If you've ever watched Adam Everett play SS, you know how truly gifted a fielder he is. His range is fantastic, he has great hands, and his throws are strong and true. BP agrees -- they have him at 23 FRAA last year, which accounts for a good chunk of his 5.5 WARP3 (and makes up for his -21 BRAA. Yikes.) But the thing is, when you can hit, like, for example, this guy and his .317 EqA, you get an 8.2 WARP3, which helps your team even more. Pretty simple, really. Adam Everett and Brad Ausmus are very good fielders, which helps their team. They are also among the very worst hitters in all of baseball, which hurts their team.

Now, some of your readers may love Sean Hannity and they may tap the visor on their framed poster of Steve Spurrier for good luck every time they leave their homes, but if they understand this very simple point, they aren't dumb.


As for those who write in, many of them clearly have never seen a baseball game.


I really don't think that's the problem. And I thoroughly object to this shitty, dismissive, and arrogant assumption. Isn't that right, framed poster of Lloyd Carr? Yeah. He knows.

These people fall into two categories. Either they're numbers geeks who love the math but stopped watching games about five years ago. Or they're know-it-alls who watch about two games a year and think batting average is the only statistic that counts.

The second category, I will agree, is hopeless. But as for us numbers geeks, anytime you want to compare who watches more baseball, give me a call. I have a very time consuming job adjusting insurance claims out here in Partridge, KS, and if my bosses at Fremulon Re knew how much of my time I spend watching and analyzing baseball, ol' Kenny would be on unemployment faster than you can say "Commissioned Marble Statue of Les Miles."

I told him the same thing I've told many of you. One opinion counts on this blog. That would be mine. No one else matters.

Okay. We at FJM prefer to let our readers disagree with us via e-mail, thus contributing to the healthy and open discussion of varying opinions. But you can write in a vacuum. That's a very open-minded and communal attitude.

By the way: First person to identify the author and work whence is taken the justice quote above gets an e-mail from me that says "Congratulations!" No googling. And thanks to readers Keith and Gilbert for the tip.

Labels: , ,


posted by Anonymous  # 11:25 AM
Comments: Post a Comment

<< Home

Archives

04.05   05.05   06.05   07.05   08.05   09.05   10.05   11.05   12.05   01.06   02.06   03.06   04.06   05.06   06.06   07.06   08.06   09.06   10.06   11.06   12.06   01.07   02.07   03.07   04.07   05.07   06.07   07.07   08.07   09.07   10.07   11.07   12.07   01.08   02.08   03.08   04.08   05.08   06.08   07.08   08.08   09.08   10.08   11.08  

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?