tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6300012139741038635.post7549686079794696314..comments2024-02-16T02:12:08.305-08:00Comments on Fire Jay Mariotti: Hat Guy, A Man of the People, Loves Steroid UsersLarry Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141943214237719821noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6300012139741038635.post-1097679964025954532009-07-20T05:47:56.370-07:002009-07-20T05:47:56.370-07:00Dear fjm-
It's not up on espn.com yet, but Spo...Dear fjm-<br />It's not up on espn.com yet, but Sports Guy's latest article in ESPN the Mag is shocking. As long as it's not some sort of publicity stunt. You must read it immediately.Angelohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13565602337634280524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6300012139741038635.post-88136780277516232882009-07-17T10:20:08.840-07:002009-07-17T10:20:08.840-07:00There are reasons not to be outraged about Manny (...There are reasons not to be outraged about Manny (i.e. people like me who are pretty well inured against outrage by this point because of the like 11 years during which steroids have been an obvious issue).<br /><br />Hat Guy missed them all. Good for you, shat guy.Chris Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12152452626681072765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6300012139741038635.post-13126365392160354162009-07-17T07:50:37.456-07:002009-07-17T07:50:37.456-07:00This is just weird. Hatguy's entire column re...This is just weird. Hatguy's entire column rests on the premise that the fans who are cheering Manny and the other roiders at the ballparks are somehow separate and distinct from bloggers and people on barstools(?). That premise seems untenable at best and, most likely, just plain old absurd. I really cant get my head around what he's trying to say here. Which is pretty much par for the course.<br /><br />Also, stop referring to yourselves as FJM. I know it's the same initials, but c'mon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6300012139741038635.post-74431325950932486112009-07-16T21:15:58.910-07:002009-07-16T21:15:58.910-07:00Hooray for the trip down memory lane! Excellent j...Hooray for the trip down memory lane! Excellent job with the linkage, dan-bob!<br /><br />(even if you are a creationist)<br /><br />I bet HatGuy had a great trip to baseballreference.com......he probably went there to look up who was leading the MLB in HR, but somehow became lost in seeing the percentage of bequeathed baserunners that Scott Baker has allowed to score.<br /><br />Who am I kidding, Scott Baker doesn't play for the Yankees.....Derpsaucehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08881690667013390019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6300012139741038635.post-58626989135213573922009-07-16T17:17:17.904-07:002009-07-16T17:17:17.904-07:00I think that if they sought an edge via means that...I think that if they sought an edge via means that were illegal, it's cheating. The spitball and corked bats are pretty obvious there. Other stuff, like stealing signs for instance, is a bit more of a gray area because it's not explicitly against the rules, it's just one of those things that you're "expected" not to do. When ARod shouted "mine" to cause a Blue Jays player to drop a pop-fly, was he cheating?<br /><br />Steroids and other PEDs are also a bit gray, except that since the early 90s they're illegal, so even if they're not explicitly outlawed by baseball you could say it's cheating. But before that, I don't know. Are cortisone shots illegal? High-tech rehab facilities? If your team has them and the other team doesn't, do you have an unfair advantage?<br /><br />In any case, this is not the important point to me. The important point to me, is that if this type of behavior has been going on for decades, and apparently was pretty widespread, how can we invalidate one guy's records? Gaylord Perry admitted to throwing the spitball, but not only did baseball not modify his records, the BBWAA voted him into the Hall of Fame. I am pretty sure that the same guys who call Barry Bonds a cheater and a disgrace would call Gaylord Perry "cagey" and "a competitor."<br /><br />But he cheated, too.Tonushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01082528970434639776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6300012139741038635.post-92160496947150528242009-07-16T15:21:17.864-07:002009-07-16T15:21:17.864-07:00But what leaps out at me in baseball’s immutable n...<b> But what leaps out at me in baseball’s immutable numbers is that they are always changing. You want unfair? How about 1930, when the National League hit better than .300 and the Giants as a team hit .319? You don’t think that skewed the numbers?</b><br /><br />Dan-bob, nice analysis on how baseball has taken steps to keep the numbers relatively comparable. <br /><br />However, even if baseball did nothing to try to normalize the numbers, they are subject to interpretation and context. Ya, the Giants hit .319 (but if the league average was .300, then this wouldn't be so extraordinary), but unless you give it context to today's numbers, then they're meaningless. HG seems to not like .319 because it seems too high for a team BA.<br /><br />I don't think some people realize what numbers are. They don't tell a story , they're just the plot pieces that allow you to follow the story more accurately.<br /><br />Think about all the numbers you see and how little they mean without the context. Amps in a vacuum cleaner, HP in a car, processor speeds, money, so on so forth. To point to a statistic and say the number isn't fair is pretty asinine.<br /><br />As for steroids in baseball. I honestly don't care about what happened in the 1990's and early 2000's because it wasn't against the rules and so it can't be defined really as cheating any differently than spit balls, pin tar or greenies were before they were banned. Does it really matter who has a certain record? Ya, Bonds has the most HRs probably thanks to some nifty PEDs, but you again have to put it into context. He had more help getting there (training staffs, medical technology, stadium sizes, worse pitching staffs and PEDs), just because the numbers indicate he has the most HRs doesn't make him a better player than Aaron or Ruth and most quasi-intelligent people understand that. HG doesn't.FormerPhDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12837594679660975599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6300012139741038635.post-50365487717913334782009-07-16T14:46:28.032-07:002009-07-16T14:46:28.032-07:00"We in the opinion business"
That's...<i>"We in the opinion business</i>"<br /><br />That's about the point where I started to hope that HatGuy would suffer a massive coronary and spend the rest of his life unable to do anything aside from lick a spoon and shit into a metal pan.<br /><br />How can such a pretentious dickwad spend so much of his column sneering at statheads and insinuating that they're ruining the ability for anyone else to enjoy the game?Tonushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01082528970434639776noreply@blogger.com