Sunday Morning Random Thoughts
Posted: September 20th, 2009 | Filed under: Baseball, Other Sports, Pop Culture | 102 Comments »
Some thoughts from a Cincinnati hotel room on a Sunday morning. Question: Should I get some Skyline for lunch today AGAIN? Answer: Don’t pretend like that’s even a real question.
– Funny, the Detroit Tigers are in absolute freefall. And that might be the very thing that gives Joe Mauer the MVP award he deserves to win anyway. Awards are fun!
– Speaking of weird award talk … I’ve read a couple of things the last few days about how Felix Hernandez might (or should) win the Cy Young Award over Zack Greinke. Now, I don’t even want to comment on this because I’m a big King Felix fan, and I absolutely think he should finish second in the voting. He has pitched great, and he has had hard luck like Greinke. And things could change the last two weeks of the season.
That said: Huh?
So, Greinke has a better ERA, more complete games, more shutouts, has allowed fewer home runs, has 28 more strikeouts, has 20 fewer walks, has a better WHIP, leads in ERA+ 204-176, and leads all of baseball with an 8.6 WAR (to Hernandez’s impressive but not equally impressive 6.3 WAR).
So why would Felix Hernandez get the Cy Young over Greinke? Because he has two more wins for a better team (and with one more start — Greinke goes Tuesday)? Really? Hernadez’s case is excellent, and I’m really glad that he is getting well-deserved respect. But his case is PRECISELY Grienke’s case (pitching great for a low-scoring team) only Greinke’s case is better in more or less every way (Greinke pitches for a low-scoring team AND a terrible fielding team). Sometimes I don’t understand people.
– The Vikings play the Lions today. Seriously, how many times do these two teams play in a year? Six? Eight? There’s something bizarre about the NFC North scheduling.
– I have always thought the NFL should name their divisions after the person who best represents the teams in the divisions. To me this would work in the NFL in a way that it would not work in any other sport. Plus is would cover up some of the geographic mess of the NFL — Indianapolis is not in the South, Cincinnati is not in the North, St. Louis is not in the West and so on.
Here are just a few suggestions off the top of my head …
AFC East = Shula Division. You could go the No-Name Division, I suppose. Or the Namath Division …
AFC North = Lambert Division. Really, the division should be named after Paul Brown or Jim Brown, but you can’t really call it the “Browns Division.” Especially not with Eric Mangini as coach. You could go with the Graham division after Otto … that would be nice. But when you consider that the Browns have never been in a Super Bowl … yeah, it should probably be Pittsburgh. You could go with Lambert, Jack Ham, Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Chuck Noll, Franco Harris, you could name it after any of the Steel Curtain guys. But Lambert just seems to represent what the Division is about. You could also call it the Immaculate Division.
AFC South = Unitas Division. You know, the AFC South is a sad division by the standards of NFL history. The Colts moved out of Baltimore, the Titans moved out of Houston, the Texans moved into Houston to fill the void, and the Jaguars weren’t around fifteen years ago. Really the division could be called the “Moving Van In The Middle Of The Night” Division. Unitas is the NFL icon, even if he probably never even visited Indianapolis.
AFC West = Elway Division. Lamar Hunt already has the AFC Trophy named for him. You could name it after Al Davis but the NFL won’t.
NFC East = Staubach Division. Yeah, it’s another quarterback — you could call it the Landry Division, the Tuna Division, the Taylor Division, the Emmitt Division.
NFC North = The Payton Division. Lombardi already has the Super Bowl trophy. You could go with Butkus, Barry Sanders or Alan Page. Walter seems to represent.
NFC South = NFC South. With these four teams, you might want to just keep the name. Not a lot of a great history here … maybe the Tom Dempsey Division? The McKay Division?
NFC West = The Walsh Division. Seems pretty clear cut. You could go with Joe Montana or one of the great old Los Angeles Rams like Deacon Jones, I guess, or Crazylegs Hirsch. Crazylegs has a nice ring to it.
– I am doing a book signing for The Machine here in Cincinnati today at 1 p.m. at the wonderful Joseph Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati. I have received quite a few book signing requests already from various people around the country … I’m going to try and work out something where I can either (A) Send off signed bookplates to people who want one or (B) See what the chances are of doing a book signing when I am traveling to various towns. For instance, I think I’ll be in Detroit at the beginning of October* so I’ll see if I can get something set up for when I’m there.
*No … not for Tigers baseball. I think the Tigers are in big trouble. I’ve actually been having a little argument about that with my good friend and editor Chris. He thinks the Tigers will win because the Twins are just not good enough to catch them (and then he thinks that with Verlander and Porcello, they could scare the Yankees). I would agree that the Twins are not very good — especially without Morneau. But they’ve got some mojo going now, and Mauer has been crushing the ball again the last three weeks or so … and the Tigers look absolutely lost.
But for now, if you haven’t yet bought the book (or are dying for a few extra copies) the good people at Rainy Day Books have offered to ship out signed books … and I’ll try to get into the store and personalize them if you would like.
I also will be doing a Rainy Day Books in Kansas City on Sept. 29th too — more details as that date approaches. It looks like we might make that signing into a discussion about Kansas City sports, the future of newspapers, the reasons Zack Greinke will win the Cy Young, Snuggies and whatever other sports people want to talk about. It will be like a live blog. If you don’t like around KC, you might want to fly in for that one.
– The event at the Reds Hall of Fame Saturday went very well — my favorite moment was when a Brilliant Reader brought in a Harlequin Romance for me to sign for his wife. I have yet to sign a Snuggie … but I know it’s coming. Maybe I’ll start signing some various Pixifoods like a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken or a can of Spaghetti O’s.*
*I had never known — until a Brilliant Reader pointed it out — that Pixifood made it into the Urban Dictionary. I’m blushing. I also noticed that when you Google Pixifoods — and yes, I do appreciate that the whole idea of counting Google posts is stupid and cliche — you get back 4,640 hits.
– The Beatles poll is utterly fascinating to me. I love the fact that more people think NONE of the Beatles are geniuses than those who think only ONE of the Beatles are geniuses. I suppose this makes sense — it’s hard to imagine someone believing that John or Paul were geniuses but not both.
I’m definitely jumping to some math conclusions, but all in all it appears about half the people who took the poll think George Harrison is a genius.
– Here’s how little I know about college football out West: I was on a radio show in California, and before I went on I heard the radio guy — I can’t remember who it was or even what city — predict that Washington would beat USC. And I remember thinking: “This guy has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about.” Then I did another radio show out there and I heard ANOTHER GUY predict that Washington would beat USC. And then I went to SI.com and saw that our own Stewart Mandel (way to go Stew!) picked Washington to beat USC.
And I thought: Wow, is this even a possibility? Didn’t Washington just have like a 50-million game losing streak? Didn’t USC just beat Ohio State in front of 50-million people in Columbus?
But apparently — there’s a rhythm to PAC-10 football that I really don’t get. Washington sure as heck did beat USC.
– Atlanta, Minnesota, Green Bay, Jacksonville, Kansas City, New England, Philadelphia, Tennessee, Washington, Buffalo, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Baltimore, New York and Miami.
– Georgia 52, Arkansas 41. Somewhere, Erk Russell’s head is bleeding.
By the way, you can find some fun SEC reading here.
– I have heard that Peter Gammons was saying that Zack Greinke has to be marked down because he has not yet faced the Red Sox or Yankees (he probably gets both in the next two weeks — which could either secure or lose him the Cy Young).
But it should be pointed out again: He hasn’t faced the Royals either.
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Gammons is so transparent. He can’t look past wins, so he’s looking for other reasons to deny Grienke the Cy he deserves. Be honest, Peter…you just want to vote for someone with more than 13 wins because you’re set in your ways.
AFC South – Mayflower Division (after the fleet of moving trucks used to move the Colts out of Baltimore)
I was one of the guys who selected 1 genius for the Beatles. I was only considering songwriting, which may be unfair because McCartney is a bass-playing genius and Harrison is probably close to being a guitar genius and Ringo is a very good, underappreciated drummer and is likely a genius at having a nose.
However, as songwriters, Lennon is the only genius to me. McCartney has a few wonderful exceptions, but most of his stuff is sing-songy and trite. If I ever met him, I might have to punch him in the face just for O-bla-di, O-bla-da. Yeah, Lennon got weird with his experimentation at times but that I would attribute to the restlessness that often comes with genius.
Anyway, I know they were always listed as “Lennon/McCartney” in the songwriting credits, but it’s not usually very hard to figure out who wrote what, especially by the time “Help” came out, and I say Lennon is a genius songwriter. McCartney is not.
They were all geniuses. As many sources have indicated, they were better together than they ever were apart. They fed each other. Watch Ringo’s drumming from any old concert on YouTube and tell me he wasn’t brilliant.
Love Gammons, but have to disagree with him on Cy Young.
The hardcore Lennonistas have taken it on the nose as, surely, every last one of the current 167 “one genius Beatle” votes–16 votes fewer than the churlish NONE OF THEM ARE*–are from guys who just can’t face up to Macca’s cuteness.
(*I would posit that many of these votes are from guys who just can’t face up to the fact that John married Yoko)
I’m with rutbag, though I voted for 2 Beatles (Lennon and Harrison). McCartney is a good fundamental musician, but not a genius.
The NHL went away from the named divisions because it was too confusing to new fans, not that they have all that many new fans. Of course their divisions were named for people is the more distant past than your names.
I actually voted two, referring to john and george, yeah im that guy. also, gammons is and idiot.
Joe — I don’t think I’ve ever been more disappointed in you, ever. You’re a Browns and a Chiefs fan. How could you of all people even think such a thing, let alone publish it on the Nets?
As a Chiefs’ fan, I think I would throw up a little every Sunday if the good ol’ Chefs had to play in the Elway Division. Man, that would suck.
The thing with awards that bugs me is this.
People think Cy Young = best pitcher, MVP = best hitter. However, and this is something nobody points out,
Cy Young = best pitcher
Hank Aaron = best hitter
MVP = most valuable PLAYER
Of course, nobody campaigns for a Hank Aaron award, and in recent years it’s just a consolation prize, a ‘nice season’ award. (Aramis Ramirez last year? Really? As the best hitter? He had a nice year, but no way does he go over Pujols)
But when you think about it, the Cy is named after the game’s best pitcher (by wins, which yeah, are flawed, but whatever), and the Hank Aaron award is named after the game’s best hitter. I just wish people would get that.
Thoughts?
Joe, I hope you’re wrong about the Tigers. You appear right, but I hope you’re wrong. One of the things that I see is that this team has been up and down all year — They aren’t very good either, but they’ve been better than Minnesota — And they’ve had stretches where they’ve looked this bad before. The stretches just haven’t gone on for this long before. Just two weeks ago they swept Tampa at Tampa, which was really the beginning of the end for the Rays during a time when they still had somewhat of a shot at the wild card. This was shortly after taking two out of three from the Angels in L.A. They’re still up two games in the standings (though they will probably lose today, based on the starting pitching matchup) and have seven home dates remaining including four against the very Twins team that they’re competing with head-to-head. I’m not counting them out yet.
The Lions play the Vikings twice a year, but the game in Minnesota is always a loss. The only reason the fact that the Lions haven’t won at Minnesota in something like ten years doesn’t get more publicity is because they haven’t won at Green Bay since 1992 or ‘93. Of course, today’s game is in Detroit, but the Lions will still probably lose, because they’re horrible.
Gammons is just honoring his long-time policy of only voting for, talking about, or even thinking about players who played for–or have been linked in trades to–the Boston Red Sox. Which, as we all know, is the only actual professional sports team in America.
And you’re right Joe, you really don’t have a choice about Skyline. Have a four-way for me, and an oyster cracker with tabasco. And say hey to Joseph Beth. Great, great place.
I like Berman’s solution to the NFC Central – going back to the days of the NHL, call it the Norris division.
Joe-here’s a quote from some genius on a FoxSports article about Greinke.
“14 wins is weak – The guy needs more wins – besides that Royals stadium is pitcher friendlly – Greinke’s ERA would increase quite a bit if he pitched for the Yankees at Yankee Stadium or the Red Sox at Fenway Park (the Rangers also).”
I voted for 1 in the Beatles poll. Lennon was obviously a genius. Paul and the others were not. Anybody that does Wings cannot be a musical genius. Yes, Paul does have some great songs, but overall, not a genius.
The Twins certainly don’t have that 2006 flair….BUT Detroit seems to be just sort of puttering along.
The key?
Detroit is done with KC for the year. The Twins have to deal with the weirdest-case-scenario last series versus the Royals that took down the Tigers in ‘06. And since Detroit can’t seem to beat KC, this should work against Minny.
However, may I request that once Greinke beats the Sox and Yanks, he just skip out traveling to Minneapolis? Thanks.
“besides that Royals stadium is pitcher friendlly” – If the guy can’t even get the name of the stadium right, he has no right bashing Greinke….
“Greinke’s ERA would increase quite a bit if he pitched for the Yankees at Yankee Stadium” – And his win total would be a lot higher if he played for a team that could hit or had a bullpen…
Let me defend the honor of Johnny Unitas, who basically refused to participate in any official capacity within the NFL after the Colts left town, and embraced the Ravens as his team when they came to town.
He wouldn’t allow the league to name the division with the Colts in it after him. He might allow the North (since he was from Pittsburgh and adapted Baltimore as his town, and played against both the Steelers and Browns), but more likely he’d stay out of it completely.
[...] the original post: Joe Posnanski » Blog Archive » Sunday Morning Random Thoughts Posted in Moving Trucks | Tags: afc, after-the-fleet, baltimore, beatles, colts, guys, [...]
why the yankees and red sox??? is it just because they’re the two teams espn perfers to cover?
the red sox don’t have the second highest scoring offense in the league, that would be the angels. zack has pitched against the angels twice this year, going 8 innings in each start. he gave up 1 earned run in those 16 innings. i’d say he handled their offense okay.
…the royals also went 0-2 in those games, because they scored a total of 1 run. classic.
I like that the person defending the honor of Unitas was post 19.
The Oilers also were looking to move to Jacksonville in the ’80s, so the Mayflower Division sounds like a winner. The division champ should get a traveling trophy, of course.
The NFC East could be named for the Mara family. NFC South … that’s a tough one. All expansion teams. Pete Rozelle maybe?
Paul McCartney wrote “Hey Jude,” “Here, There, and Everywhere,” “I’m Down,” “Blackbird,” “Oh! Darling,” “Magical Mystery Tour,” “Helter Skelter,” “Jet,” “Let Me Roll It,” and about a hundred other songs that were good-to-great. I strongly disagree with those who feel he’s no genius. Those people display the level of expertise that won a Cy Young for Bartolo Colon.
If you ask pretty much ANY musician who has played rock and roll for the love of it, they will tell you that Ringo is a genius of drum playing. His sense of when and what NOT to play is mind-blowing in its perfection, his pocket is sweeter than honeyed sugarcane. Declining to vote for his geniosity is, again, indicative of a lack of study of the subject, reflecting on the voter more than is does Ringo. “Ringo is no genius” = “Sabathia is this year’s Cy Young.”
‘Genius’ is one of those words I save for only the cream of the crop in any given profession. Lennon and McCartney, yes. Harrison and Starr, no. Harrison was a fantastic guitarist and songwriter (his posthumous album ‘Brainwashed’ is outstanding, plus of course All Things Must Pass) and Ringo is probably the most underrated musician of all time*, but I hesitate to call them outright geniuses. George and Ringo are 9/10 guys, Paul and John are 10/10
* = Any list of great drummers in rock history needs to include Ringo Starr. Maybe not ahead of the likes of Moon or Bonham, but he certainly deserves to be in the conversation.
Ringo Starr. Maybe not ahead of the likes of Moon or Bonham, but he certainly deserves to be in the conversation.
Don’t you have to deduct points from Moon and Bonham for a short peak? Technically speaking, they didn’t get 10 years in, so – unlike Ringo – they aren’t HOF eligible…
Well, that’s a different argument, how elite is the field of “genius.” You are taking the “Babe Ruth belongs in the Hall of Fame, Reggie Jackson doesn’t” position. I’m more inclusive, I suppose.
Nonetheless, I think people don’t understand how HARD it is to do what Ringo did. Listen to “A Day In The Life,” and focus on the drumming. It’s so perfect for the song, one doesn’t even notice it, if you know what I mean.
George wrote Something, Here Comes the Sun, and My Sweet Lord. How else do you define genius?
Keith Moon joined the Who in 1964 and died in 1978. Led Zeppelin formed in 1968 and Bonham died in 1980. So both ‘got in’ 10 years. Ringo joined the Beatles in 1962, and the Beatles broke up in 1970, so he actually had a shorter stretch in his band than the other two.
George Harrison wrote 4 or 5 great songs, which is something so few of us in this world will ever do. He is not a musical genius.
Paul McCartney will likely have to die before people give him his due. Him and John are musical geniuses. John was quite open with his emotions, and his life, this being more in keeping with our concept of “artist”. Paul McCartney, as a musician, as a song writer, is a genius.
George Harrison produced The Life of Brian.
That is genius.
I voted three geniuses, but if I had to pick my two favorite Beatles, it’d be John and George. A tremendous guitar player, as well as a highly underrated song writer. Yes, Lennon/McCartney churned out the hits, but if I had to name my favorite Beatles songs, George would occupy a highly disproportionate chunk of that list (If I Needed Someone, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Something, Here Comes the Sun). All Things Must Pass is also the best post-Beatles album by any member.
Keep in mind, also, that All Things Must Pass was composed in a large part of rejected Beatles material, dating as far back as 1966. And yet, it’s fantastic.
George also wrote “Taxman,” Piggies,” “I Want To Tell You,” “Within You and Without You,” “All Things Must Pass,” “Isn’t It A Pity,” “When We Was Fab,” and many more. He gets into my Hall Of Genius too, but then I think Darrell Evans and Tim Raines belong in the Hall. George is the Darrell Evans of Rock. Paul is Mike Schmidt, John is Ty Cobb, Ringo is Tony Gwynn. Yeah, I could do this all day. I’m the Babe Ruth of Baseball – to -Rock Music Analogies.
Wait, I’m gonna say that playing your instrument is defense, writing songs is hitting (vocal melodies is slugging, the rest of the song is OBP), hits on the charts are RBI. Keith Moon is Ozzie Smith, Ringo is Barry Larkin. Paul stays Mike Schmidt, but Lennon is now Ted Williams. George might be Lou Whitaker.
Just got your book Joe, and at a real bookstore too.
I voted all 4 Beatles. Ringo was a genius because he just shut up, didn’t make trouble and counted his money.
Go Zach! I think the key is his ERA. He needs to finish in the real low 2’s and they won’t ignore that.
I was one of the “none of them are geniuses” votes. It’s not that I don’t think the Beatles were any good but they’re like the Derek Jeter of bands. Undeniably pretty good but also undeniably over-hyped and over-marketed and probably over-rated as well.
If they were really geniuses they would have also had better solo careers.
They were good as a group but I think Lennon was the only one close to “genius”. Now their manager might qualify as a genius.
I like Peter Gammons. I’d like to think Peter Gammons watches a ton of baseball. But I honestly don’t think that anyone who has watched enough baseball to see a whole bunch of the AL’s elite could possibly vote for anyone but Zack right now. Felix has been FANTASTIC, but when you watch Greinke…you have brilliance to the point where it’s painful sometimes to see what he’s dealing with out there.
I can’t wait to watch him pitch against the Sox and Yankees, but I’m worried that if he has a couple rough starts Gammons and others will line up and say, “See? Told you.” And that would be a real shame.
When Pedro won the Cy with the Expos in 1997, Maddux has a ridiculously great year as well in terms of mainstream stats. More wins, less losses, ERA in the same ballpark, etc.
By pitcher outcome:
Cy Pedro ……17-8, 1.90 ERA, 1.05 ERA in wins, 3.19 ERA in no decisions, 3.05 ERA in losses. (to be fair to Pedro, his ERA in losses is actually skewed by a couple bad outings…he gave up 2 ER or less in SIX of eight losses)
Runner up Maddux…..19-4, 2.20 ERA, 1.99 ERA in wins, 1.45 ERA in no-decisions, 5.33 ERA in losses.
Zack ……..14-8, 2.14 ERA, 1.04 ERA in wins, 1.95 ERA in no-decisions, 4.62 ERA in losses
Hernandez…..16-5, 2.45 ERA, 1.10 ERA in wins, 2.15 ERA in no-decisions, 8.89 ERA in losses
This is obviously a limited analysis, but Pedro dominated Maddux in the Cy voting. There seemed to be the attitude, yeah he was “only” 17-8, but what more could this guy have done? I just wonder if that attitude would have held if Maddux would have won 22 or 23 games, because he easily could have.
This year it’s even more of a case for “what more could this guy have done” for Greinke. I just hope he shuts OUT the Yankees and my beloved Sox and shuts UP Gammons and co. But it’s definitely not a no-brainer that he beats Felix even if the season trends continue, especially if Felix finishes 4-5 wins ahead.
Uhg. Just read your article about the agony of no pass rush. This is just so… brutal. Is this what it’s like to be a Royals fan? Because, just shoot me now.
Shouldn’t the NFC North be named The Favre Division? I mean, obviously…
Anyone that dismisses Richard Starkey has clearly not fully examined his full contributions to the Beatles. His vocals on “yellow submarine” and “with a little help” are fantastic especially from a drummer (he may be the second best vocalist/percussionist behind Levon Helm, anyone that mentions a drummer/vocalist/former member of genesis should be shunned permanently.) He also was a successful songwriter as a beatle and as a solo artist, as well as having several number one hits on both sides of the Atlantic in his post Beatles career. If you’re offering any pop musician the title of “genius” Ringo certainly qualifies.
Well, I really won’t argue with the 4 geniuses argument when we include what they did on their instruments. McCartney on the bass, Ringo on the drums, and Harrison on guitar could all blow you away with what they did over an extended period of time and that should be the measure of genius. One could argue for transcendence in what they all did.
I want to try and say something about why I think Lennon was the only songwriting genius. I think genius should be groundbreaking. No one’s talking about Ringo and I just think George got pretty good at emulating John and Paul. Some good songs. Groundbreaking? Maybe Savoy Truffle…
But I think why McCartney falls short is worth discussing.
The difference between John and Paul to me is that, when it comes to songwriting, Paul was a sometimes master of the formula and John was doing new math. I feel like someone with a strong enough sense of what works can come up with a “Yesterday” or a “Hey Jude” but where the hell does “I Am the Walrus” come from?
I have lots of reasons why Paul McCartney drives me crazy and the negatives should also be counted against him but ignoring that, he’s just not a groundbreaker (except on the bass, where he sits atop the mountain with maybe Entwistle, Mike Watt and Tina Weymouth). As a songwriter, his songs that approach genius get there with a George Martin orchestration (Eleanor Rigby) or the band coming up with something brilliant after so many takes that Ringo started screaming and throwing his sticks around (Helter Skelter).
Lennon’s on another level. He might be the only one of the four who isn’t an instrumental genius but he was one of a few people in the ’60’s who really changed what a pop or rock song could be.
Sorry to go off topic and bring up baseball, but I want to ask something:
Why are people saying Zack will face the Yankees? He is scheduled to pitch against the Red Sox on 9/22. Five days/games later would be 9/27 against Minnesota. Five more games would be 10/3 vs. Minnesota (or five days would be 10/2 vs. Minnesota).
Did they switch to a 6 man rotation without me realizing it? Serious question, I’m not trying to be a jackass. Because if he IS playing the Yankees, I need to buy tickets.
The stupidest division-naming scheme in the history of American professional sport (adapted from Wikipedia):
“During the 1960s, the NFL labeled all of its divisions with the first letter ‘C’; each division’s name also contained seven letters. (The names of) three divisions were all based upon their geographic locations: the Capitol division centered around Washington, D.C., the Central in the upper Midwest, and the Coastal had two teams on each coast. The Century’s name, however, appears not to have (had) any association to geography.”
Was there ever a dumber division name than “Century Division”?
My suggestion: the John, Paul, George and Ringo divisions, augmented by the Pete (Best) and Stu (Sutcliffe) divisions. The John Division gets the angry, in-your-face teams; the Paul Division gets the teams that if they were in the NHL would compete for the Lady Byng Trophy; the George Division is for underappreciated teams, and so on.
If only talking heads would do research before they open up their traps… Baseball Prospectus lists quality of batters faced, and Sabathia’s opponent quality OPS is .749 while Zack’s is .752. I hope Zack wins these next two not just for the Cy race, but so he can pick up career win #50 at home to close the K for 2009. It would be a nice moment for him and the fans.
Regarding Beatle genius:
John used to constantly complain to Yoko that whenever they were out at, say, a restaurant, the band or piano player, in a tribute to Lennon’s presence, would always play a Beatle song, but IT WAS ALWAYS A PAUL SONG.
Obviously, these lounge lizards didn’t realize who wrote what, but it certainly makes an important point: Paul’s songs are the “standards,” Paul’s songs are the most well-known and well-liked ones, Paul’s songs are the songs they will be playing 100 years from now.
McCartney was the genius.
Ringo is Yogi Berra…
“If they were really geniuses they would have also had better solo careers. ”
In art, it isnt always about success.
“McCartney was the genius.”
The world loves it some silly love songs. Paul always knew this.
what game do you think greinke is going to pitch against the Yankees. I want to buy tickets
Re: Division names. What about Marcus Allen for the AFC West? He’s not as great a player as Elway, but for me, he defines what the division has always been about (above all else, the AFC West is a division of breathtaking running backs), plus Allen is one of the most beloved players for fans of two of the four teams in the division. He’s the only thing Raiders and Chiefs fans can agree about.
I voted 3 for the Beatles poll, but it’s closer to 4 than 2.
“The difference between John and Paul to me is that, when it comes to songwriting, Paul was a sometimes master of the formula and John was doing new math. I feel like someone with a strong enough sense of what works can come up with a “Yesterday” or a “Hey Jude” but where the hell does “I Am the Walrus” come from?”
While Rutbag speaks quite thoughtfully of the difference between Paul an John, the nature of what a Rock n’ Roll song was grandly expanded by Paul songs. Paul’s music is all over the map in an exceedingly playful manner, not in a manner of one who was simply “doing the math”.
Additionally, every single John Lennon song was made much better by Paul’s involvement.
The Elway division? If this wasn’t your own blog, I’d accuse you of trolling.
If Lennon was a genius, what does that make guys like Ray Davies, Pete Townshend, and Roger Waters? Ultra-super geniuses?
Also if/when Grienke does face the Yankees, he’ll likely be facing a lineup with Hinske, Pena, Cervelli, Gardner, Hairston, and Duncan. Which means anything less than a perfect game will be “proof” that he’s not good enough for the Cy.
McCartney is Ted Williams, Lennon is DiMaggio. Duh.
The division naming thing- wow were you half asleep when you wrote that?
By the Way I know it is before your time, but Otto Graham was Mr. Championship, and if they had the Super Bowl then he would probably be considered the greatest ever.
The Beatles all need to be considered geniuses because they changed music forever, first with a new style, then a few years later they did it again by redefining the nature of the album.
Then when they stopped getting along, they just quit. They didn’t bring in a new guy to replace someone they forced out. They didn’t come out of retirement or get back together or have a reunion tour, They went out on top. They all went on to do their own thing musically. They ALL made a mark by themselves.
Is there any other band that has so many songs that so many people know all the words to?
Musically they could write any words they wanted or no words at all- and their songs would still be catchy, they would still stick in your head.
They did that together. Paul writing his love songs, and his nonsense songs that you don’t care that they are nonsense, because they are catchy or zippy. (which he continued to do in Wings) and playing a mean bass. John stretching the boundaries and asking us to change the way we think about music and the world. (Which he continued to do). George, playing a fabulous guitar and, though not as prolific, writing some amazing songs and always tinkering and trying to change the way the music sounded, and how it was played, and sharing with all of us his search for meaning (which he would continue to do) Yes Ringo was in the background, playing EXACTLY the right amount of drums, and writing the occasional song. (which he would continue to do)
Although many choose only John and Paul, because they were they were the main songwriters, ask any real guitarist or drummer with an interest in music history whether George and Ringo were geniuses, and they will tell you yes.
Actually, you probably don’t have to ask-many of your favorites have already said it.
I just felt like looking, and having NOT played the Royals, Justin Verlander is 14-8 with a 3.58 ERA…
Greinke is also 14-8 but with a 2.14 ERA against basically the exact same pitching schedule. If he got to strike out TPJ, Yuni, and everyone but Bilbo, he’d be 16-8 with a 1.90 ERA easily.
I hate when people create fake logic to pick a winner of an award.
*Prime example- AL MVP 1941. Williams hits .406, leads AL in HR, R, BA, BB, OBP, SLG, OPS, OPS+ (235!), but his team finished 17 games behind Dimaggio’s Yanks.
JoeD batted 50 points lower, and led the AL only in RBI, and his OPS+ was 185 comparitively.
Williams was by in large the winner, and didn’t get it because of a stupid streak. Yea, streaks are stupid.
I think the Royals owe it to the Tigers to pitch Zack on his regular rest and pitch him Tuesday against the Red Sox and then Sunday against the Twins and Friday against the Twins.
However, for Zack’s Cy Young chances, it would probably be better for him to pitch Tuesday against the Red Sox, then Monday against the Yankees and then Saturday against the Twins.
Even though it is totally ridiculous, it would help Zack more to start against the Yankees in a meaningless game than to help knock the Twins out of the playoffs.
But East Coast media bias doesn’t exist (I am looking for the Blue font here)
And Gammons “proves” again that ESPN has a bias (or at least that some of its prominent names do (I think this bias thing is stupid, but every once in a while ESPN does their best to make people think it is true)). I have no idea how any serious baseball mind could say that, other than he’s old, biased, and can’t move into the 21st century (and I’m not young….).
As for the names of the divisions, sorry, worst idea you’ve posted here yet.
As for The Machine, I love your writing, and I’d love to read a book by you, but I hate the Reds and have no interest in the book….
The Beatles and genius? Hard to say. They were certainly influential, and they certainly wrote, recorded and performed some real lasting music, but I’m not sure genius is the right word.
I disagree with a large chunk of what Peter Gammons says, but I have to rush to his defense here.
The Peter Gammons of the 1980s and 1990s was the consummate baseball insider, anti-stats, “baseball is just opinion” guy. He was so bad that Baseball Prospectus’ Gary Huckabay wrote a column called “VirtualGammons” in the early years that presaged (and likely inspired) Fire Joe Morgan. Part of that mockery came from the fact that Gammons was (and still is) respected as one of the best baseball writers in America.
You know how Gammons responded to that mockery? He went out and *educated himself* — to the point where he’s now a believer that OBP is Life. He met with the Baseball Prospectus folks. I think he even understands what EqA is.
Save the vitrol for Murray Chass, for Joe Morgan, for the people of Gammons’ generation (he’s 64) who reacted to the stathead revolution by deriding everyone as “fat nerds living in momma’s basement writing on the internet,” who delight every time Oakland loses because it “proves” that Moneyball is stupid, etc.
Gammons is a class act.
The arguments tht Paul doesn’t qualify as a genius somewhat remind me of the small criticisms that would on ocassion be levied on Joe Montana during his playing days. The criticism basically went that he was a “system” quarterback and that he didn”t have the same physical tools of other great quarterbacks of the day. I always thought this was a presumptuous and petty criticism as it attempted to minimize the tremendous accomplishment he had within the “system”. That being said, I think the genius question on the Beatles begins with do you believe the Beatles as a collective were”genius”. If they clear that bar, then which of the Beatles are dispensable without compomising their “genius”? Pretty hard to argue that Paul was dispensable. I would listen to (but disagree with) discussions that the group had something less than 3 geniuses in the group, but anything less than 2 seems wrong.
Couldn’t agree more on Greinke.
To me the Cy Young race is a no brainer. #1 is Greinke, #2 is Felix. Then #3 would probably be Sabathia (you can make a case for Halladay, although with 10 losses I don’t see him getting voted that high). Verlander’s likely in the top 5 (ignoring relievers) although he’s not better than Sabathia in any way but strikeouts, so he shouldn’t be top 3. Scott Feldman could have an outside chance of a top 5 finish due to his record.
As for which team Greinke faces helping him, well, yeah. It would “help him” more to face the Yankees and Red Sox and pitch well (assuming those teams aren’t already clinched and starting all backups) because they have much better offenses than the Twins (who have been better than I expected actually even not counting Mauer, but still don’t have the offense of the other two teams). I don’t think it should make a difference because Greinke has been fantastic, but there ya go. The only reason I wouldn’t give him Cy Young at this point is if he gets destroyed the next 2-3 starts he makes, while Felix Hernandez throws 2-3 shutouts and ends up with a better ERA and stuff. But I don’t expect that to happen.
#11: I agree completely. Cy Young = best pitcher, Hank Aaron = best hitter, MVP is something else entirely. That’s why it bugs me a bit when people act like MVP is the best hitter award. It’s not. It often GOES to the best hitter, but that’s not what the award is.
That said I believe it should go to Mauer.
Hockey used to be way ahead of you on division names Joe, but then they got stupid.
(Jack) Adams
(Conn) Smythe
(James) Norris
(Les) Patrick
and the conferences were
(Clarence) Campbell
Wales
Though I admit the latter is stupid as it was named after HRH Prince of Wales, like he ever watched hockey.
Just something else Bettman screwed up.
I’m wondering what the home/road splits for DiMaggio & Williams were in 1941. Fenway’s basically unchanged, but DiMaggio was hitting into a cavernous left field at that time.
@pugs #40. Why not mention Phil Collins as a singer/drummer. Don Henley is the other obvious such selection. I’m no musical expert but Phil Collins is a fine drummer and he has a fine voice. Certainly popular any way. You can fault him for selling out or becoming schmaltzy I guess with the likes of Sussudio or One More Night. But really the drumming back when he was backing Peter Gabriel or on I Don’t Care Anymore or In the Air Tonight is very good. As for the quality of his voice I always thought Against All Odds was probably the best display of his voice and really McCartney and Lennon were not Freddy Mercury/classically talented vocalists. Just very good, distinct and well loved. That’s Phil Collins.
I’m already shunned so I’m not scared of any additional shunning, I won’t even be able to tell if/why you are shunning me.
Greinke will get to pitch, probably, in the final two weeks against the Yanks and Red Sox. It’s pretty simple: if he does well, he’ll probably win the Cy Young. If he doesn’t, then he probably won’t. It’s not that complicated.
Neither is the Beatles thread that is going on here. No group broke more musical ground than these guys. There is no better pop songwriter than McCartney. He overshadowed Lennon, who is a songwriter of towering talent.
My favorite Beatles story: at the end of shooting their first movie, someone overheard the line “whew, last night was a hard day’s night.” The producer approached Lennon– who had gotten an average of maybe 4 hours’ sleep per night for 6 weeks, and told him to write a song with that phrase in the title. Lennon asked him how long he had to write the song. The answer was “tomorrow.” Lennon sat down and wrote the song in a few hours.
Beatles. Best band. Case closed.
Paul
If Zack Greinke gets knocked down a notch in Cy Young voting because he hasn’t faced the Yankees or Red Sox, then Roy Halladay should be bumped up several notches because he’s faced the Yankees 5 times and the Red Sox 3 times.
@45: I reject the premise that popular = genius on its face. Unless we want to argue that McCartney’s genius was understanding what sells, it doesn’t really apply. There are too many popular things that are actually incredibly stupid. (McCartney is not one of those things.)
@51: To me, with a handful of exceptions, McCartney’s playfulness all sounds very much the same. Maybe math was a bad metaphor. Mainly, I never felt like Paul’s attempts to push the boundaries were very good. I will agree that McCartney made Lennon a better songwriter (except for A Day in the Life, which I think he ruined).
@53: Ray Davies is one of my geniuses of the ’60’s. It’s a bit harder to appreciate because a) it didn’t get a huge audience and b) it’s often subtle as hell.
I LOOOOVE Pete Townshend but I’ve always felt a little guilty about it. I’m on the fence on him.
I’m not really into most of what Roger Waters did but he probably has to be considered one of the geniuses of ’70’s rock.
@55: I am totally with you that all the Beatles can be considered geniuses if we talk about more than songwriting.
@60: Only narrowing the scope to songwriting allows me to vote for 1. I’d have voted for 4 if I’d thought about it differently. I agree that none of them are dispensable and that much of their genius is probably collective. I am not intending my criticisms or praise of McCartney to be small. He is a revolutionary bass player and I don’t like his songs.
@66: It would be more fun to argue about whether the Beatles are the best band than close the case. Breaking up before they turned to garbage helps their case immensely. In that mid ’60’s to early ’70’s timeframe, there are other bands that can give them a run for their money but what probably matters the most is that without the sort of competitive envelope pushing that all of these bands were caught up in, none of them, Beatles included, would have been as good.
What about Huey Lewis?? Talk about GENIUS!!
Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in ‘83, I think they really came into their own, commercial and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He’s been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humour.
In ‘87, Huey released this, Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is “Hip to be Square”, a song so catchy, most people probably don’t listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it’s not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it’s also a personal statement about the band itself.
@ Paul #66:
Hadn’t heard the Hard Day’s Night story, but I did know that the original title for HELP! was Eight Arms to Hold You, a reference to the the octopus logo used by the cult in the movie who are chasing Ringo to sacrifice him, due to the fact that he’s wearing their ceremonial “Human Sacrifice Ring” (what an awful, awful movie).
Anyways, around the end of shooting, they still didn’t have a title track, so John and Paul retired to a room, came out 30 minutes later and said, “We’re calling the movie HELP! now, and here’s your title track.”
Awesome.
Of course 90’s indie rockers Veruca Salt immortalized the original title of the movie by naming their second album “Eight Arms to Hold You,” and gave further homage to the Beatles in the lead single “Volcano Girls” with the lyric “The Seether’s Louise” (a reference to their earlier hit single). This, obviously was a play on John’s lyric from Glass Onion: “The Walrus was Paul.”
Aren’t you glad you have me here to point out such things??
PS – Thank you 3PP…Thank you.
I am thinking the fact that McCartney released ‘Silly Little Love Song’ would have automatically disqualified him from any genius contest.
Joe,
Love the blog but you’re as quick to give Greinke the Cy Young as others are to deny him. You’ve basically plucked the easy stats that support his case without considering the quality of his opponents.
In 31 starts this season, Felix has faced a .500 or better team 21 times. His season OPS against is .607. He just threw a CG against the Yankees giving up only 1 ER and leads all MLB with 26 quality starts (see, anyone can cherry pick stats). In 30 starts, Greinke has faced a .500 or better team only 11 times, with his 12th coming tonight against the Red Sox. In fact, this is the first time all season Greinke has faced either the Red Sox or the Yankees. His season OPS against is .612.
I’m not making an argument for either guy. In fact, I would probably go with Greinke if I had a vote. But the fact of the matter is, Greinke simply hasn’t faced the same level of c0mpetition as the other Cy Young candidates. One could even make a legitimate argument for Halladay who has faced the BOS/NYY duet a combined 8 times while still pitching more innings than any other SP, maintaining a very respectable ERA, and also overcoming injury problems earlier in the year.
Again, my point is not that Greinke doesn’t deserve the Cy Young. It’s that individual stats taken at face value should not be the foundation of your argument. Quality of opponent and team defense (as you alluded to) should also be considered. By the way, Greinke boasts the best FIP in the majors at 2.30.
P.S. – I’ll be the first to admit that W-L record is not the best way to measure the quality of opponent but it does allow me to make my point quickly (w/o having to research the offensive numbers of each team).
#75
Whenever you want to defend a position you have to choose what stats to use that best represent your side. Grienke supporters, including me, do pick and choose stats. However the stats we are picking and choosing happen to me the most effective stats to determine who is most deserving of the Cy Young award. Citing the fact that Grienke’s era is substantially lower than any other AL starter is hardly cherry picking.
I am a huge fan, Joe. But you forward one of the great canards of American local cuisine…….your judgement on all things gastric shall forever be in question.
I have, in my considerable years, traveled to Cincy at least 20 times on business and spent at least 50 nights in the town…..all of which is a lead up to a simple statement: Skyline Chile is the single most overhyped bowl of crap ever foisted on a populous as being “uniquely good” in any way.
Many cities have unique foods that become self defining of their cities (crab cakes/baltimore…..cheese steaks/philly….deep dish/chicago…. barbecue/KC……etc)
Of all of them only Skyline is of absolutely no value. You can pour chili out of a can from the dollar store that is better than that swill they rave about in Cincinatti…..and yes I tried it over ten times in a variety of ways…..it all sucks……and I love Chili!!!!
Top Ten Beatles/George songs:
1.) Something
2.) Here Comes the Sun
3.) Savoy Truffle
4.) It’s All Too Much
5.) While My Guitar Gently Weeps
6.) If I Needed Someone
7.) Taxman
8.) Blue Jay Way
9.) Only a Northern Song
10.) I Me Mine
Five George sang but didn’t write:
1.) Eight Days a Week
2.) Do You Want to Know a Secret
3.) You Really Got a Hold on Me
4.) Because
5.) I’m Happy Just to Dance With You
Chuck #77: I too traveled frequently to Cincinnati and I too revile the five-way chili the natives seem to love. I’ll never be able to fathom its appeal to Mr. Posnanski or anyone else. A matter of taste, of course, but I gotta shake my head and wonder.
The Beatles were a boy band. 10 million screaming girls can’t be wrong. Number of geniuses=0
“The Beatles were a boy band. 10 million screaming girls can’t be wrong. Number of geniuses=0″
Hahaha, yeah.
Its rather embarrassing that someone would even say something like that though. Makes you seriously question the mental capacity of the world these days. Was Mike Judge really just predicting our future with Idiocracy?
@Kurt 75 – I’ve seen this stat posted before as I’m sure that many readers of this blog have as well, but the combined OPS of the batters faced by Greinke this year is .754. The combined OPS of the batters faced by Hernandez this year is .759. Seems like a pretty negligible difference. This isn’t a swipe at you as you made pretty clear caveats within your post, but it does seem awfully silly for a writer of Gammons’ quality to imply that facing the Red Sox/Yankees should be a legitimate criterion for the Cy Young given all of the supporting data for Greinke’s comparative excellence vs. the rest of the top contenders, as well as the rather obvious rebuttal that Zack didn’t get to face the Royals either and he had to pitch with the Royals defense/run support all year. Felix has had an excellent year, but I think on most objective measures, Zack has been better.
@3PP 70-71. That comment made me laugh. Great book.
@3PP 70-71…yeah, way too funny…that was great.
It’s pouring here in GA, and if DirecTV fritzes out during the david&goliath-esque Zack v. Sox matchup I’m going to go psycho myself…
And per Beatles, I think all 4 are geniuses, in different ways and different levels. Baseball analogies:
John = Pedro, retina-scorching brilliance.
Paul = Nolan, even more obvious brilliance outweigh some glaring flaws
George = Eckerseley…hints of genius in his first iteration, clear manifestation in his second.
Ringo = Quisenberry. Both were among the best ever seen at role but both are easy to dismiss for whatever reason–neither should be…have you looked at Quiz’s stats lately?!?
Case closed. Just kidding, I hate that expression. I think very few things qualify for a “case closed” after them. But Skyline Chili being one of the ten most disgusting things I’ll ever eat–yeah, case closed.
aaaaargh, Lenny Dinardo? I apparently don’t understand the five-man rotation.
@ 70/71 – Great job. Awesome.
@ 77 – Thank you for ushering in the Skyline backlash. By far the most overrated local legend food I’ve ever tried. Completely bland and ordinary.
I think someone like Halladay should get a bit of extra credit for facing the Yanks and Red Sox so much. I don’t think it’s bias to say that those two lineups are better than the Tigers and Twins.
To say it should be considered though doesn’t mean it should mean that someone in the AL central shouldn’t win the Cy young. I think Zack deserves it this year. His stats are really much better than any other pitcher. Even if he pitched for Baltimore or Toronto he’d probably still have the best stats in the league.
And the Beatles started out as pretty much a boy band, although they did evolve from that to their credit.
Joe,
Ryan just called you out on the broadcast. And Frank White had his back. Before Frank White took over Split’s everyday job on the telecast, I used to think he would make a nice major league manager. Now I cringe at the thought.
Re: #87 et al., the Beatles didn’t start out as “a boy band.” They honed their art playing clubs around the notoriously thuggish Reeperbahn in Hamburg, multiple shows a day, with few if any support staff and no “handlers.” Sure, Brian Epstein had a game plan, but with three of them writing original material, they had no need of songwriters writing tailored tunes for their repertoire, and they chose their covers themselves. Boy band? Perish the thought. Life wasn’t always the paint-by-numbers crap-wallow it is today, and they were called the Fabs because they were fabulous, not because they were fabricated. Their appeal from the beginning was to male and female alike, not merely to an army of pubescent girls, to whom today “boy bands” strictly appeal.
I would go either with 3 or 4. It’s silly to think only Lennon or McCartney were geniuses. That said, McCartney was better than Lennon as a Beatle. Lennon was cooler, more outspoken, more political, but Paul wrote more and better songs (Paul had more misses than John mainly because he had more songs on their later albums) and was the driving force behind Sgt. Pepper and the last half of Abbey Road. Lennon could get jealous of McCartney (who could do stuff so effortlessly, whereas John had to put his heart and soul into it), which is partly why the band broke up. Lennon’s presence is largely absent in a lot of the Beatles’ later albums (which are also their best).
Lennon got shot, and that’s why people think he’s the greatest. All Paul’s done lately is turn into Angela Lansbury. Still, as Beatles, Paul was more of a genius. Also, how could Lennon be considered more of a genius if he thought Yoko was so awesome?
Dan, I came here to post that same thing. I guess that makes two of us still watching Royals baseball.
Another gem. Here is how the 6th inning unfolds:
Anderson double.
Bloomquist with the groundball to the right side of the infield, advances Anderson.
Maier strikes out.
Butler doubles.
Jacobs walks.
Callaspo doubles.
3 runs scored, and as they go to break with a new pitcher coming to the mound, Frank White credits Bloomquist for the unselfish play that jump-started the big inning. Um, yeah. Bloomquist could have struck out, and it would have made no difference. The Royals scored 3 because of the 3 doubles and the walk, not the freakin groundball the right side of the infield that Ryan and Frank always babble about. Just clueless.
@88 & 91
In what way was Joe called out?
/don’t live in KC area or have dish
latch-key,
It was in reference to this post by Joe:
http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2009/09/05/ryans-hope/
Ryan asked Frank which stat was more important for a #3 hitter – RBI’s or OBP. Frank said RBI’s, and that you really only look at OBP for a #8, #9, #1, or #2 hitter.
Later, they were waxing on and on about great RBI guys, like Edgar Martinez, who always, always got in the guy in from third with less than 2 outs.
@65
The Phil always seems to be the example of the drummer vocalist and while he was successful at both he is certainly not in the same class as some others. There are definitely worse but most casual music fans seem to think he invented multitasking. If drumming is defense, singing and songwriting are offense, the Phil’s comp is Edgar Renteria; occasionally awesome, usually disappointing. There actually aren’t many musicians that deserve to be shunned, and maybe he shouldn’t be one but Susudio undoes a lot of the good…a Buckner moment for sure.
Incidentally I’ve heard that Genesis is the only other band that has had all of its members have a number one with another band or as a solo artist, not counting supergroups like the Travelling Wilburys. As for Don Henley, he certainly counts but I have to say I hate the fucking Eagles
“Incidentally I’ve heard that Genesis is the only other band that has had all of its members have a number one with another band or as a solo artis…”
This is not true. Genesis’ keyboard player Tony Banks has never had a solo hit of any stripe, plus Genesis has had many replacement members that never achieved solo success. Hell, Phil “Onionhead” Collins was their second drummer. The first guy didn’t get a #1 hit anything.
To all those calling the Beatles a “boy band,” you couldn’t be more wrong if you tried to be.
Yes they made silly teenaged girls scream and faint.
Yes actual boy bands no doubt deliberately tried to emulate the attraction felt for the Beatles.
and
Yes the comparison of fan reaction to the Beatles and to later boy bands is accurate but all that means is that their FANS were similar.
The Beatles were not emulating anyone; they changed the course of music in general and pop music in particular.
The fact that so many idiotic girls were shrieking at everything the Beatles did is what kept me from seeing them in person; it simply isn’t fun to attend a musical event and get shrieks instead. It didn’t, however, stop me from buying ALL their albums.
And I never bought a single album/CD by any boy bad group that followed.
As for how many musical geniuses are involved with the Beatles, I say 2 or 3 depending on definition.
The entire group was genius IMO and within it, John and Paul likewise. Ringo was seriously underrated all his career and George became a talented songwriter (despite plagiarizing M Sweet Lord), but they are not on the same level at all. Except when you consider the group as a whole as genius. After all it was not John, Paul and friends but the Beatles.
Oh and if you want another rock drummer to proclaim, try Mick – perfect strokes.
“– Atlanta, Minnesota, Green Bay, Jacksonville, Kansas City, New England, Philadelphia, Tennessee, Washington, Buffalo, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Baltimore, New York and Miami.”
I’m sure I’m missing something, but what is this list? I suppose the title of the post is “Sunday morning random thoughts”, so a little randomness shouldn’t be a surprise.
And I was just feeling sorry for the Twins that they have to face Greinke twice in the final stretch, but then I saw that they haven’t faced him in any of their four series so far this year, so I guess that’s only fair.
-News Alert-
Dan Gladden, announcing for the Twins, was looking at some of Greinke’s numbers. His wins and losses aren’t too impressive, but he has a good ERA. Along with Sabathia, he’ll get some consideration for the Cy Young.
The genius that is Wah-Wah.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn2UH2eiuQo
Ii is hard to believe that about 1987 I actually thought Gammons was pretty good.
Maybe because it was pretty cool that he opened the World Series broadcast by playing a Springsteen song and saying that the Cardinals were “Tougher than the Rest.” But the Cardinals lost.
Now, I know that Gammons is just a pompous, arrogant, overhyped old fool. It is really painful to read the crap he puts out there these days.
I think things are named after people enough already. “NFC South”, despite being geographically iffy, is perfectly fine.
This fed-up-ness comes from driving the highways, where every dang intersection is named after some senator that bought the pork home. Highway 6 does the job just fine.
If Greinke doesn’t get it, a lot of people deserve to get fired. It would be nuts. Seriously, unbelievably nuts.