So thanks to the magic of having having two teams “open” the baseball season in Japan like three months before anyone else, we can take a breath and spend a moment appreciating the largeness of Emil. There have been two baseball games played so far, and both of them were turned on the brilliance of Emil Brown.
You already know the story. In the first game, Oakland trailed 6-4 going into the bottom of the 10th, Daric Barton walked, and with one out, Emil ripped a double off of Boston’s Lord of the Dance, Barton scored, a hero’s hit if there ever was one, and then Emil, being Emil, sort of tried to get to third, flopped around, get caught in a rundown, and blew the game.
Next day, two on, one out, third inning, Oakland up 1-0 … Emil Brown homers off of Jon Lester to give Oakland a commanding lead. Emil Brown has four RBIs now. And how many does his Kansas CIty replacement Jose Guillen have? How many? Oh yeah, zero. And I’ll bet he doesn’t get one for another, oh, three weeks at least.
There are so many thoughts I have about Emil Brown — about the time he tried to kick the ball back to the infield, about the way he catches pop ups by settling under them and then, an instant before the ball lands, having to run like three steps to catch the ball, about how he DID lead the Royals in RBIs three straight years, about how he “unintentionally“ shot a local TV reporter near the eye with a pellet gun, about how he once claimed quite seriously that he was faster than Carl Crawford, about how he called himself a “playmaker” and was absolutely right about that — but now I think of the line they used to put on the Kansas CIty scoreboard when Brown would get a big hit.
It would read: “He’s not just a snack. He’s Emil.”
Seriously.
* * *
I’ve long thought that what Joey Gathright needs to do to become successful in baseball is start calling himself Albert. I actually considered the Albert move myself back in my younger newspaper days when, as mentioned, I tended to screw up a lot. Of course, if Joey does become Albert, we can longer call him Ichiroey … and I like calling him Ichiroey.
So never mind.
The other day, Joey Gathright leaped over a pitcher in a single bound as the following YouTube clip shows (this is assuming I’ve actually mastered the technology to embed a YouTube clip on here … we’ll see). This goes well with the time Ichroey jumped the car in the parking lot. Some people just have amazing skills* that really don’t seem to serve any real purpose in everyday life, but it’s good to have them anyway. I don’t know WHY I would want to jump over a pitcher. But it sure would be cool to be able to do it anyway.
*I remember once watching a show called Real People — remember that show? With Fran Tarkenton?** — and they found some guy who, if I’m not mistaken, worked at a grocery story, and if you paid him a quarter, he would do a backflip for you right there in the parking lot. For some reason, I’ve never forgotten that guy. I don’t know why I’ve never forgotten him … even as an 11-year-old kid or whatever I was, I was haunted by this guy in some small town doing backflips for quarters.
**I stand corrected, Tarkenton was indeed as a Brilliant Reader pointed out on That’s Incredible, which was the same show on a different network. Real People had Byron Allen, Fred Willard and the elegant Sarah Purcell.
* * *
I wouldn’t normally link my own work, but this political post probably belonged on this blog.
* * *
I don’t want to make this overly Royal-centric, but I do think it’s worth pointing out how far, in at least one way, the team has come. Almost seven years ago, the Royals traded Jermaine Dye for Neifi Perez. At the time, I was only beginning to come out of the darkness of average, homers, RBI baseball analysis — not that I’m out of the darkness now, but man, I had even a lighter tan then. I HATED that trade. It may have been the first time that I actually looked at a couple of non-mainstream stats (not that road numbers and OBP are especially advanced) and it helped me realized that Neifi Perez absolutely sucked.
I wrote that — and believe it or not, I got ripped pretty good by some people. I could be remembering wrong, but I believe I even went on a radio show back when I did that sort of thing and had the host more or less tell me I was an idiot. I believe he said that Dye was a gold glover, Neifi was a gold glover, Dye was struggling with the bat, Neifi was hitting .298 and was on 15 homer pace. And so on.
Of course, as everyone here already knows, Neifi Perez at Coors Field had some of the most ungodly splits in baseball history.
2001 (this includes some games in KC, but you’ll get the point)
Home: .317/.339/.483
Away: .238/.278/.302 (how about a .302 SLUGGING percentage?)
2000
Home: .323/.333/.507 (that would be 9 walks, in case you’re wondering).
Road: .248/.293/.339
1999
Home: .306/.326/.447
Road: .251/.287/.356
You get the point. The guys’ numbers were unplayable outside of Coors, and his Gold Glove was mostly earned because Rey Ordonez only played 45 games. It was pretty easy, certainly in retrospect, to says that Neifi would suck. As it turned out he came to Kansas CIty and sucked even more than expected — he once refused to go into a game — which was impressive.
So why was the trade made? Lots of reasons, some which I only have on a he-said, she-said basis and, as such, would not report here. But one of the key details, no doubt, is that the Royals in 2001 simply did not trust home/road splits as a viable evaluator. They did not see a guy who would come to Kansas City and in one amazing year hit .236/.260/.303. Instead, they saw what that radio guy saw — a guy hitting almost .300 who had won a Gold Glove.
Fast forward seven years, and we’re all a lot smarter aren’t we? We all know a lot more about this great game. Wednesday, the Royals acquired reliever Ramon Ramirez from Colorado. He pitched 17 1/3 innings in the big leagues last year and had an abysmal 8.31 ERA.
But, in the Royals press release — in the actual release itself — they point out that in his career, away from Coors Field, Ramirez has a 4-0 record with a 1.08 ERA in 33 1/3 innings. I think it’s a promising move. And you want to talk about a team coming a long way. Of course, the Royals might need to brush up on sample size, but hey, one step at a time.
* * *
I’m in Detroit now for some hoops, to be followed by some baseball, and I’m very interested to see if Kansas gets to the Final Four. Eric J. in the comment section taught me a little math and allowed me (using Bill James seeding system) to give you much more precise percentages on individual team’s chances to go to the Final Four. Here’s the list (and this DOES add up to 400%):
Kansas, 68.1%
UCLA, 67.2%
Memphis, 49.2%
North Carolina, 47.8%
Texas, 28.1%
Tennessee, 28.1%
Wisconsin, 24%
Xavier, 20.7%
Stanford, 13.5%
Louisville, 13.5%
Washington State, 10.7%
West Virginia, 9.6%
Michigan State 9.2%
Davidson, 5.2%
Villanova, 2.7%
Western Kentucky, 2.5%
So, as you can see, the road is open for Kansas. And I think the Jayhawks will get there. I do. But I also do see two potential land mines. One … I think No. 3 Wisconsin is better than a lot of other people do. They’re unconventional, they play really good defense, they have a lot of experience, they have a good coach … I think that’s a tough game for Kansas, if it happens. Of course, the way things have been going for Kansas this year, Davidson will upset the Badgers.
The second land mine is the “Bill Self hasn’t been to the FInal Four” theme which will be hit very, very hard should the Jayhawks beat Villanova. It would be Self’s fifth appearance in an Elite Eight, and his teams lost the previous four. I think Bill is a very good coach, and I don’t think this will or should be a factor … but it will be a story. And you never know about stuff like this. These curses and trends tend to mushroom in today’s new media world, it feeds upon itself, and it affects people in odd ways. I have written often about that day in the day in Kansas CIty after Marty Schottenheimer lost another playoff heartbreaker to Denver — when we were sitting in a room with him and Marty was asking US, the media, “What am I doing wrong?”
I like Bill Self a lot, and I don’t think the previous four Elite Eight losses reflect badly on him. I think he’s at times been hurt by the Gene Mauch Factor* and other times by bad match-ups, and anyway I think his team this year is really, really good. But, you know, I don’t get to make these choices.
*The Gene Mauch Factor involves getting ripped for choking when, in actuality, it is amazing that your team was ever in contention in the first place. This goes back to 1964, when Mauch’s Phillies blew the big lead at the end, and Mauch developed a lifelong reputation as a choker. Thing is, if you look at his Phillies team in 1964, you realize that there was absolutely NO WAY that team should have even been in position to win the pennant. That team had Jim Bunning and Chris Short on the mound (Bunning and Short and then life support), Dick Allen was a rookie monster, Johnny Callison had a nice year and … you know, that’s pretty much it. The Cardinals had stars — Boyer, Groat, Flood, White, Brock, Gibson, Sadecki won 20, Simmons won 18. The Reds were loaded too. The Phillies DID choke. But it was amazing that they were even in position to choke.
I think Bill Self has had that too … especially his first year at Illinois. He willed that team to a Big 10 title and No. 1 seed, but honestly, I think they played above their heads all year.
* * *
– I see that Juan Gone has been placed on the temporarily inactive list. Seriously, do they just invent new lists for this guy? I’m pretty sure the Royals at one point put him on the “Afraid to Get Plunked List” and the “Cashing Checks Without Apparent Guilt” list.
* * *
So here’s my question: Do all wives not answer their cell phones? Or is it really just my wife? I’ve done an informal survey of friends on this, and right now I’m leaning toward all wives, but I realize that the margin of error of any poll of friends is roughly 98.7%.
Best I can tell, when I call Margo on her cell there are only three possibilities:
1. Her cell phone is completely out of juice. This happens roughly 84.8% f the time.
2. Her cell phone has power, but she left it at home by mistake. This happens 12.7% of the time.
3. Her cell phone is with her, and she can hear it, but it’s in her purse which is like some sort of Harry Potter chamber of secrets. Things go in, but they never get back out. And even as she ransacks her purse for the phone like Louie’s men looking for the letters of transit in Casablanca, she still NEVER gets to it in time. This happens 3.5% of the time.
Of course, there’s also the chance that she simply sees that I’m the one calling, and she doesn’t answer. I suspect that after she reads this post, the percentage of that happening will go way up.
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48 Comments, Comment or Ping
jeff
Add another vote to the wife’s never answer column. Great post. It’s funny, you picked up the “advanced” stats around the same time I did, and I also hated that trade.
Mar 27th, 2008
Chuck
For my wife, there’s a fourth category:
“Oh, I must have turned it off when I was meeting with a patient…last monday.’
And my favorite Juan Gone list would be the “MLB Players who obviously needed something stronger than the Cream or the Clear” list, headlined by another former Royal, Benito Santiago.
Mar 27th, 2008
Andy
Ha, great stuff Joe. Here’s a vote for fiance’s almost always answer. However, I’m sure all of that will slowly (or maybe not so slowly) change once we’ve tied the knot.
Mar 27th, 2008
rpa
my wife doesn’t answer her cell for a reason not on the list, yet related to #3.
4. she has a cute ringtone. unfortunately, it’s not loud enough for her to hear the phone when it is in her purse, which is where it is unless (#2) she left it at home.
i’d say the breakdown is
1) 15-20%
2) 5-10%
4) 70-80%
of course, i don’t have to worry about calling her. she will wait until i am in the middle of something to call me for no discernible reason. so if i have something i need to tell her, i just get really involved in a project, get up to my elbows in water, get in the shower, etc. kind of like an invisible psychic bat-signal.
Mar 27th, 2008
Daniel
Maybe I’m alone in this, but my wife almost always answers the phone when I call. Weird.
Mar 27th, 2008
will
My wife has her cell phone with her at all times, it is always on and yet she answers my calls maybe once out of every 8 times I try to reach her. Keep in mind that I only call when I absolutely have to, such as emergencies or when the easter candy is 50% off at the store. You’d think that she’d reach for the phone just in case I was in trouble.
Mar 27th, 2008
AJ (aspiring Pozcar voter)
As perhaps the only living (or ever) Villanova grad & KC Royals fan, I am obviously a perpetual optimist, and I insist to you that overlooking ‘Nova in your post will be something you regret come late Friday night. ‘Nova will have the best player on the floor in Scottie Reynolds and is playing with house money, thus NO PRESSURE! Please blog about what you think was going through Bill Self’s head at the end of this close contest… I suspect it will be only slightly less troubling than what went through Warden Norton’s head just before the bullet!
Mar 27th, 2008
Dan Holden
I can’t comment on the phone thing. I am still in the dog house because I didn’t answer immediately when her car wouldn’t start.
A good name for Joey Gathright would be “roo” as in the baby kangaroo (joey) that lives with Winnie the Pooh.
Too bad Joey doesn’t play 3rd or 1st base, then we could refer to his position as “Pooh Corner.”
Mar 27th, 2008
Bucco Dude
Fran Tarkenton was on That’s Incredible. Which in and of itself was rather incredible.
Mar 27th, 2008
Mikey
I’m with your wife (not literally). I never answer my cell phone. Half the time I look to see who it is and decide not to pick up, the other half I don’t even have it turned on.
As far as I’m concerned that thing is for making calls, not taking them.
Mar 27th, 2008
Johnny
Two things…Bill Self is not a good coach. He is an average coach, but a good recruiter, which he will you is 85% of the college game. That is why Illinois is at home, even though Bruce Weber can coach circles around Self, and Kansas is probably going to the Final Four. Damn you for leaving Bill.
Secondly, I think your percentages are right on. My wife refuses to charge her phone. So I bought her the phone she really wanted, car chargers for both vehicles and an extra wall charger for work. Still, one ring and straight to voicemail. Should have took the $500 bucks to the craps table instead.
Mar 27th, 2008
Bill
I can’t give a hard number but can confirm the phone left at home as a high percentage, in that I usually hear my wife’s cell phone ringing when she’s out and I try calling her from home.
Mar 27th, 2008
Dan Holden
Joe,
I think one of my comments might have been blocked because I mentioned a certain honey-loving bear.
Mar 27th, 2008
Mike Williams
Hate to nit-pick, Joe…
but your notoriously poor math skills have let you down once again.
Your cell phone scenarios add up to 101%.
Mar 27th, 2008
Gard
Add me to your list of husbands whose wives do not answer their cell phone. Typically I am told that she left it in the car, but oddly whenever I am with her she has it ready and waiting for any call. I believe she is merely avoiding my calls. But in a loving way.
Mar 27th, 2008
Dan England
My wife NEVER answers the phone. For just the reasons you described, only more it’s she can’t hear her Winnie the Pooh ringtone.
Mar 27th, 2008
smperk
My girlfriend of 4 years has the same problem. Never answers, usually out of juice, or this one:
Has the phone on “ringer” (not vibrate), and is listening to music/ipod, etc.
Mar 27th, 2008
Ryan
I completely agree with the non-phone-answering thing. My fiance never EVER answers her cell, except on the rare occassions when it happens to be sitting right next to her. Also, the chance of her answering a call is inversely correlated to the importance of the call. Examples: calling for directions to the bar she is at in baltimore-0%. calling to see what you are supposed to bring to the family gathering she is already at-5%. calling for a ride home from work because your car is in the shop-12%. calling because you dialed her number by accident-83%. it never fails.
Mar 27th, 2008
Chris
I’ve been saying this about Self for years. I was raised in an Illinois household (one of my earliest memories is The Flyin’ getting jobbed against Michigan in the Final Four), and was thrilled when the Jayhawks landed Self. I’ve always been a proponent of his, even when some of my more die-hard KU friends were complaining about Christian Moody’s playing time.
Somebody, however, asked me a question the other day that has stuck in my head since:
How many Final Fours would Coach K have made with the talent that has been on the team these last few years?
This has made me question how many excuses I have give Self in the past. I have blamed the player’s immaturity, their dedication, absence of hustle…everything but a lack of talent or a lack of coaching.
Which one of those two things would be the more likely culprit if they don’t make the Final Four this year??
Mar 27th, 2008
eugene
I’m with you. My girlfriend also rarely answers the cellphone. Once her excuse was that she had left it in her freezer(!).
Mar 27th, 2008
Oddibe Kerfeld
Mrs. Kerfeld almost always answers the cell phone when I call her. Not sure what you guys are doing wrong.
I like the story about the back flipping grocery store employee. It’s probably on YouTube somewhere. If that was today though he would be called an “associate”, “partner”, or “team member.” No one is an employee anymore. It’s like its somehow a dirty word, just like how all liberals are now “progressives.”
Mar 27th, 2008
Mike Williams
“Cashing checks without apparent guilt” list.
Classic. Absolutely classic.
Mar 27th, 2008
antoniomo
My ex-wife very rarely answers her cell phone when I call. But I guess that’s a different survey, and one in which the causes aren’t all that perplexing.
Mar 27th, 2008
Mikey
You guys are crazy if you think your wives and girlfriends are failing to answer the phone for any reason other than that they don’t want to take your call.
Find your wife’s best female friend and ask her if she ever has difficulty getting your wife on the phone.
Mar 27th, 2008
Brian
One time I was in my car at a stop light and I saw a good friend of mine a few cars ahead of me. I called him on his cell and saw him look at the display, then put the phone back down.
Oops.
So the light turns green and I pass him up, then I look over at him and he looks back at me with a surprised wave and an “oh crap he just saw me screen his call” look on his face.
Not a wife story, but I think it’s still pretty good.
Mar 27th, 2008
Paul White
So far we have a Nova fan who thinks Scottie Reynolds is the best player in the Nova-KU game, and an Illini fan who thinks Weber is a better coach than Self, so we might as well add a Jayhawk fan who has a little thing called “evidence”.
On Reynolds, here’s his numbers this year:
16.0 Pts, 3.1 Reb, 3.3 Ast, 1.4 Stl
And now here’s Mario Chalmers with Reynolds’ minutes:
13.7 Pts on , 3.4 Reb, 4.9 Ast, 2.6 Stl
So Chalmers rebounds better, distributes better, steals more, is the superior overall shooter (52.5% to 41.6%) and 3-point shooter (47.1% to 38.1%), and only scores 2.3 points less because he takes 3 fewer shots than Reynolds per game. And on top of that he’s the best defender in the Big 12. But you go right on believing that Reynolds is the best player on the floor tomorrow night.
Regarding Weber and Self, I think I’ll take the guy with the 345-137 record (.716 win pct) and four Elite Eights at three different schools, over the guy with 231-101 record (.696 win pct) and just one tournament team that went past the Sweet 16, and that with talent that Self recruited.
Count me firmly in the group of men whose wives don’t answer their phones. In her case, I have concrete proof that she suffers from Phone Buried in Purse Syndrome. I’ve seen it happen countless times. We were out at dinner last week when her phone rang and roughly three dozen items exited her purse before her phone did. I was expecting an oboe to appear before her phone. Thankfully, she found it just after the brass section.
Mar 27th, 2008
deathsinger
Joe,
I can add an excuse for the wife not answering the phone; I dropped it in my coffee. You might think this would be a one time event, but you would be wrong…
Mar 27th, 2008
Creston
“Fast forward seven years, and we’re all a lot smarter aren’t we? ”
Are we? Are we really? Because if I remember correctly, Neifi Perez was still gainfully employed last year, until he became so incomprehensibly stupid as to get caught using emphetamines THREE STRAIGHT TIMES.
I mean, the guy can’t play baseball worth a lick, AND he’s beyond stupid. And he still made like 3 million bucks.
I’m going to go outside and kick a puppy. This sucks.
Mar 27th, 2008
Creston
That should have been spelled Amphetamines. I think.
Mar 27th, 2008
Creston
And yes, all wives never answer their cellphone. Which is funny, because I bought her a cellphone so that *** I *** could get a hold of her.
Does she ever answer when I call? No.
When I come home after work, and she is already home, is she ever NOT on her cellphone with one of her friends? No.
We’ll be watching something on TV, volume on fairly loudly because I am getting old and thus, by default, deaf, she’ll jump up and RACE to the other room because she heard her cellphone. Which was on vibrate.
Now, I know you can actually HEAR vibrate, because it makes the little BBBBZZZZ noise if it’s laying on like a table or something. But if it’s in another room? Over the noise of the TV?
Her most often used excuse when I call is that she didn’t hear it.
I should cancel that bleeping cellphone.
Mar 27th, 2008
AJ (aspiring Pozcar voter)
Paul White, it is a little more difficult to shoot for a high % when everyone on the other team is focused primarily on stopping you. Come back to this posting some time after the game and tell me how right I was. If it was just based on the stats, they wouldn’t even play this game.
Mar 27th, 2008
Noel
For any “Lost” fans out there, you may recall an emotional ending to an episode this year with Desmond. Basically, Desmond has an emotional phone call with his star-crossed love Penelope, music plays, tears flow, etc. Alas, all I could think was “If that were me on the boat calling my wife, she wouldn’t answer because she left her phone at work”
So I’d break it down thusly:
40% - Left phone at work
40% - left phone at home
10% - Battery ran out
5% - Didn’t hear ring
2% - On vibrate but left in purse so what’s the point?
2% - Her asking me “Are you sure you called me?”
1% - I can’t leave a voicemail because her inbox is full
Mar 27th, 2008
Paul White
Paul White, it is a little more difficult to shoot for a high % when everyone on the other team is focused primarily on stopping you. Come back to this posting some time after the game and tell me how right I was. If it was just based on the stats, they wouldn’t even play this game.
If KU loses to Nova, I’ll be glad to come back and eat crow. Hope you do the same when the tables are turned.
Mar 27th, 2008
Josh Cookson
I’m rooting for Villanova only because I can see no possible way Davidson could beat Kansas. I recognize that this is overlooking a rather major obstacle in the Big 1o regular season and conference tournament champion Wisconsin Badgers. I overlooked Gonzaga and focused on Georgetown, though, and look at what that got me. Maybe the Danny Manning Jayhawks could be a good role model for Davidson… a transcendent star surrounded by tough and gritty role players, pulling off the upset of one highly-ranked team after another. Eh… Kansas was highly ranked too… this comparison really doesn’t hold water. Go Davidson Wildcats
Mar 27th, 2008
Owen
I look at it as a cost/benefit thing (I’m talking wives and phones here). Very little can be gained, and much can be lost when the phone is answered. Why? I could speculate, but I really can’t say with any certainty, because I am not a wife.
Mar 28th, 2008
amaar
Don’t mean to be a dick but your percentages add up to 101
Mar 28th, 2008
Paul O.
I’m almost jealous. My wife and I have yet to acquire a cellphone habit. The only reason I could imagine wanting one is to be able to tell stories about my wife not answering it.
Mar 28th, 2008
AJ (aspiring Pozcar voter)
Paul, I did not say it would necessarily lead to a Nova win. I simply said I think you will agree that Reynolds is the best player on the floor (and don’t assume a win just yet). I guess I am saying, I will be glad to come back, but I wouldn’t call what I will have to do if Nova loses: “eating crow”. Good luck nonetheless.
Mar 28th, 2008
Paul White
AJ - Sorry to jump to conclusions, but your analogy of Self wanting to pull a Warden Norton led me to believe you thought Nova would win, since I think it’s pretty unlikely that Self would feel that was after winning a Sweet 16 game, close or not.
Regardless, I’ll gladly eat crow here if Reynolds proves to be the best player on the floor tonight. Since the guy I compared him to earlier will be guarding him (and, by the way, may not even be KU’s best player), it should be an interesting test.
Mar 28th, 2008
Melody
It’s actually my husband who never answers his cellphone… he tends to forget to bring it with him often, and when he does have it, he usually forgets to turn it on. This isn’t exactly out of character for him– he’s a bit spacey.
Mar 28th, 2008
Kent
My wife never answers when I call either…but it is because she is already on it talking to someone else! I can hear her now, “Oh, it’s Kent…I’ll call him back”. And she does this knowing that my phone calls will never take more than 10 seconds for me to tell her what I need. So, even though I had a few minutes at work that I could call her, she doesn’t answer, and then calls me 5 minutes later when the window of opportunity has closed. Oh, and she never listens to the succinct voice mail I just left her that would have explained everything.
Thank you for letting me vent.
Mar 28th, 2008
Mikey
Joe, if you’re reading these comments, how about a few words on the new seating configuration for basketball at Ford Field? It sounds cool and in photographs it looks like a big improvement over old dome basketball configurations.
Mar 28th, 2008
Brian
That’s funny Kent ~ I can relate to that one. No man has ever made a phone call that lasted longer than 10 seconds that didn’t involve him having to talk about things he didn’t plan to when he made the call.
Me: “Hi it’s Brian. Do you need me to pick up anything from the store on my way home?”
Wife: “No that’s okay.”
Me: “Okay I’ll see you in 10 minutes or so.”
Wife: “Wait, I have to tell you what happened to me today.”
My inner thoughts: “Son of a………”
Mar 28th, 2008
Jason
Like many of the replies here, I have a cell phone comment to make. My wife answers her phone about maybe 1/2 the time when I call. But what is funny is that her mother is exactly like your wife joe and her father might as well have his blue tooth headset surgically implanted into his ear. So my theory is that cell phone habbits are herritable, probably in a co-dominate fashion. Though back to my wife, she often will pick my call up right away, but when she doesn’t its for most of the reasons above. She can’t hear it on vibrate in her purse, she’s on the phone with her friends, or she left it in the car. My personal favorite is when I call her about something of moderate importance, usually as I’m leaving work, and 1/2 hour later when we’re both home from work she’s talking on the phone with a friend and when she’s finally done talking she’ll ask, “what did you call me about?” And its usually, “well I was at the store and I wasn’t sure if we were out of dog food.” Now I know, I know, these things aren’t worth getting worked up about, but isn’t this what cell phones are for? Like the guy above said, it takes 10 seconds to answer a question like this, and besides the chance that it might REALLY be important, it saves time down the road. And we all have that thing called call waiting on our cell phones now….
And mikey: “As far as I’m concerned that thing is for making calls, not taking them.”
Basically you’re saying you’re more important than anything someone might be calling you about. That’s a really good personality trait to have.
And then you say this: “You guys are crazy if you think your wives and girlfriends are failing to answer the phone for any reason other than that they don’t want to take your call.”
See the problem is you can’t speak for anyone else. Its pretty obvious when the phone is off or dead versus being ignored or not noticed, for instance, but you fail to take that into account in your, “failing to answer the phone for any reason other than that they don’t want to take your call” statement. So all you’re doing is generalizing what YOU do to what everyone else’s wife does. So you aren’t speaking for them, you’re just speaking for yourself. You obviously have a terrific relationship with your husband…..
Mar 28th, 2008
Johnny
Paul White, Please go back and read my entire post before jumping to your “everyone is bashing KU” conclusions. Or don’t, I will give you the abridged version right here. I said Weber is a better coach than Self. I also said that college B-ball is 85% recruiting, which was just regurgitating what Self had said in an interview about his first year in the tournement with Tulsa. You then said that you would take the guy with the better record and the three elite 8 teams. How did Self get to those Elite 8 teams? Because college BBall is 85% talent and he is a better recruiter. Did Self do better with the talent he recruited to Illinois than Weber? The answer is no, he didn’t. Why? Because Weber is a better coach. Would Illinois fans take Self over Weber? Every one of us would because College sports are about talent. That is why we have Ron Zook. 85% recruiting, 15% coaching.
Mar 28th, 2008
Paul White
Paul White, Please go back and read my entire post before jumping to your “everyone is bashing KU” conclusions.
I will. As soon as you show me where I said everyone is bashing KU.
…I said Weber is a better coach than Self. I also said that college B-ball is 85% recruiting, which was just regurgitating what Self had said in an interview about his first year in the tournement with Tulsa. You then said that you would take the guy with the better record and the three elite 8 teams.
Actually, I said I’d take the guy who’s coached more games, won a better percentage of them, and enjoyed success at more schools. (And took 4 teams to the Elite Eight, not 3. But who’s counting?)
How did Self get to those Elite 8 teams? Because college BBall is 85% talent and he is a better recruiter.
Yup. I’m sure that’s how Self’s ‘99-’00 Tulsa team beat the 2nd-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats of Bob Huggins to reach the Sweet 16. Better talent.
Not quite sure how that explains they guy who followed Self at Tulsa going to just the NIT the very next year with the same players. Or how it explains why Self managed to go 27-8, win the Big 10 and go to the Elite Eight in his first year at Illinois with the same players Lon Kruger left behind after a 22-10 record the year before. But I’m sure you’ll tell me.
Did Self do better with the talent he recruited to Illinois than Weber? The answer is no, he didn’t.
Actually, the answer is that their two most comparable teams - Self’s final team at Illinois, and Weber’s first team at Illinois - posted nearly identical results. Self went 25-7, won the conference post-season title and got a #4 seed while playing largely freshmen and sophomores. Weber went 26-7, won the conference regular-season title and got a #5 seed while playing largely sophomores and juniors. It wasn’t until those same players were juniors and seniors the next season that Weber enjoyed appreciably more success. Which, frankly, I’d certainly hope would be the case with such an experienced team.
Why? Because Weber is a better coach.
Or, like I said, it could be solely because Self’s freshmen and sophomores were finally juniors and seniors, and all Weber did was ride them to a great record in ‘04-’05. Seems equally plausible.
Would Illinois fans take Self over Weber? Every one of us would because College sports are about talent. That is why we have Ron Zook. 85% recruiting, 15% coaching.
And I just happen to think that all signs point to Self’s 15% coaching being at least as good as Bruce Weber’s 15%.
Mar 28th, 2008
Mikey
Jason -
Interesting comments. Of course, my post was exaggerated and I’m a guy. But your remarks were compelling nonetheless.
After reading ten comments from guys assuming that their wives were either deaf or just spacey I thought it would be worth it to at least consider the possibility that they may just not want to take the call.
I’m no expert on women, but I think it’s possible that some of them, having received enough phone calls inquiring about the current stock of dog food in the house, might just not want to be bothered.
Mar 28th, 2008
wally
Mikey, whether you’re a man or woman really makes no difference, exchange husband for wife or spouse it makes you feel better.
I do believe nearly all of the posts above were implying that they did not believe many of their wifes’ excuses (I mean you left it in the freezer, dropped it in your coffee more than once?). And sure some people probably ignore calls from the spouse because they just call too much with no reason. I doubt however that makes up a huge portion of the people above. I can only speak for myself, but I can tell you I only call my wife about twice a week leaving work (maybe this is way I’m not completely ignored as others above, maybe its just because she’s just better at using a cell phone who knows?). But trying to trivialize the questions asked or other reasons for a phone call, as you did, doesn’t justify a non-answer. If we’re out of milk or dog food or what ever, and I didn’t get any at the store while there means someone needs to go get some later. And if this happens because the spouse is too busy talking to friends or never charges her battery or just plain ignores you it can get annoying. As you said mikey, cell phones are for making calls, but what’s the point if the other person believes this too and never picks up?
I’ll end by saying I’m no expert on women or relationships either, but my feeling is that if your spouse ignores you constantly (purposely here, not the “never has it charged” people), what ever the reason, there are bigger problems than, “oh he calls me too much.”
Mar 28th, 2008
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