More NBA!! (at least it's not hockey...travis)

1st: read JWest's comment on the last post. Priceless.

2nd: last Bill Simmons (BS) related post for a while. promise.

3rd: BS reminded me of this the other day. Remember in the golden days of our youth when the NBA was a big deal and NBC showed games every weekend? We're talking the Jordan years (i am slightly too young for the bird/magic years). All the NBC commercials for upcomming games were hyped the exact same way, for years. It went:

BULLS!! KNICKS!! IT'S THE NBA PLAYOFFS ON NBC!!

By now you're either humming the little promo song to yourself or you have no idea . Either way, it's really fun to announce lesser sporting events with this same formula. For example:

DUCKS!! SENS!! IT'S THE STANLEY CUP FINALS ON VERSUS!!
dada dada dum da da da...

I know, i'm still laughing. I actually had a really good chat with travis about the NHL last night. He knows his shit. The thing is, he is one of the 5000 people in North America who DOESN'T need to be sold on hockey. I am a huge sports fan, and i couldn't name ONE player on either team in the Stanley Cup finals. that's sad. and it's not my fault. the combation of over-expansion and the missing season left us with a bunch of nobodies playing an interesting game who's rules i don't understand and results i don't care about. might as well be ncaa lacrosse.

'CUSE!! BROWN!! IT'S THE NCAA LACROSS FINALS ON ESPNU!!

more simmons

i can't believe i forgot to tell JWest this, but bill really hates 90% of tv's color comentators. that's why he liked jeff van gundy so much during these playoffs. HE ACTUALLY KNOWS WHATS GOING ON BECAUSE HE'S IN BASKETBALL. bill said this made him realize that color men should have to retire after 10 years of not being in the sport; after that you just think your right all the time, but the game has passed you by. His first three mandatory cuts: tim mccarver (who i despise to no end), billy packer, and....joe morgan.

oh he gave amnesty to bill raftery pat summerall, and hubie brown, for obvious reasons (still spinnin'...)

Yahoo! Sports announcement

As I'm sure some of you have seen, there is a message at the top of the league page. It reads as follows:
Due to scheduled server maintenance, Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Games will be inaccessible on Wednesday, May 30, starting at 10pm PT and lasting approximately six hours. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

Yes, I realize that this won't go into effect until 1 a.m. right coast time, but I'm still mad about it. What if a west coast game goes into extras or has a rain delay. Do they really expect us to wait until the morning to see the outcome of a game, and how it affects our scores. That is just outrageous. I think I may suffer raker withdrawls.

Travis this post is of no concern to you since you always have to wait until the morning to see the outcome of games, unless you have purchased the raker since we last talked. If you still haven't, then maybe now is the time. It could turn your team around.

quote pt. 2

sorry, but bill is on fire today:

watching this Cavs-Pistons series is like pulling teeth. Have you ever seen a Final 4 team with worse coaching and a worse offense than the Cavs? It's like watching 5 complete strangers playing pickup with a drunk from the neighborhood yelling instructions at them.

simmons

today's quote

I will never get used to this: One of our most white-bread American cities roots for an NBA franchise named for a musical movement created by African-Americans. It's genuinely insane. You can brainstorm with your buddies all weekend to come up with a name for a sports franchise that makes less sense -- there's no way you're topping Utah Jazz. Not even with Dallas Indians.

Bill Simmons

Survey

it's early, and it pales in comparison to my love of fantasy baseball, by a lot, a lot, but is anyone in the league down for football in the fall? my best buddy here in the city is a skins fan and really wants in if we do. i justified it to the wife as being less intense from a time standpoint because they only play once a week and it's way down my sports depth chart (mlb, nba, golf and tennis majors, ncaabb, wsop, world cup, then nfl, tour de france, olympic swimming, mma, nascar, ncaafb, and hockey fights (the rest of hockey is down with horse racing and modern boxing as sports that should never be on tv again).)

let me know and rank your sports too if you're feeling it (stand up for hockey travis; i respect it, i just can't watch it)

for JWest

"Ken Griffey has put a strangle-hold on his spot in the 3-hole with power hitting like the mid-90s Griffey. As long as he stays healthy, there’s no reason to believe he can’t keep up this pace. He still has an inordinate amount of talent and he’s not decrepit yet…"

Mat Snyder TMR "Around the NL Central" 04/24

I love "inordinate amount of talent".

Too good to be true?

So i just got home and this is Adrian Gonzolez's line.

9/16
R/4
HR/4
RBI/9
SB/0
AVG/.563
OBP/.563
SLG/1.313
OPS/1.875

There is no way this is right. There was no double, or for that matter, quadruple header today. The score is only 1-5. How does he have 9 rbi when his team has 5 runs total. This sucks because at this point i have a 8-5 lead of Turd, and i know its all going to change when they fix this. Someone explain this to me...

only in NYC

also wanted everyone to know that i am going to a party to watch the ping pong balls drop for the NBA lottery today. it sucks memphis has a team; they are going to get an awsome player. i hope the celtics get one of them or there will be riots up north. Sleeper: watch phoenix a la atlanta get the 4th pic and add corey brewer. nasty.
phx suns next year: nash, marion, diaw, barbosa, kg, bell, and corey brewer. yes, nasty (oh this includes phx trading stoudamire and a pic for kg; it will happen)

griffey explanation

i touched on it in my response, but look at my of/utl spots:
vlad
beltran
soriano
manny
crawford
thome
the pronk

so even though i LOVE griff dog, he's still #8 on this list

but maybe the guy who starts corey patterson should give me a call, just sayin'

Updated Roto Scores

Justin 60

Brian 58

Josh 55

Aaron 53

Travis 47

Jeff 42

What does a guy gotta do to make Josh's team

So Griffey wins the NL player of the week, and that still isn't good enough to make the cut for Renaldo Balkman? So once again I will swoop in and pick up his trash then try to recycle it back to him. Don't forget Josh I still have M.Young.

lesson learned

if you're gonna light a fire under someone's ass for not bringing it in fantasy... make sure you're not playing them the following week.

Also, it's only a tie, but this was the first week aaron did not win his machup. And seeing as he only has mets and tigers on his team, his squad shall now be known as the Tits.

Aaron, you have great tits

Happy Birthday Aaron!

i only got this in on time because the clock on our bloog is on cali time. awsome.

Intervention?

Ok, we never see him on the bloog, he doesn't make any moves, he let ryan howard (dl) play all week even though he's been out for 10 days, and he won't drop carpenter (done for the year) or schmidt (worthless to our league now) to free up his bench. Is Jeff alive? More importantly, is he playing fantasy baseball? There's one in every league i guess. I was just hoping not ours this year. I mean, Travis isn't as cracked out as me for example, but we make deals and he is on top of his roster. That's enough for me. I still don't even know if Jeff has a computer.

Prove me wrong big boy

Oh I guess that Beckett deal last week is looking pretty good now huh? He ALWAYS hurts his fingers...

I still don't think your that far away from turning it around. get on it.

Ramirez singles to center

Sometimes i'll be on the Raker, and I'll see "Ramirez singles to center" or "Ramirez doubles to deep left". I love it, because I've had Manny for 4 weeks now. And every time I remember to look up the game status...it's Hanley Remirez standing on 2nd.

Karma

So I guess it is only fair that Houston Street is on the DL. I traded Justin for him a few weeks back in a deal involving Joel Zumaya, who promptly ruptured a tendon in his throwing hand and is out for 3 months.

What the f*&k was that

So i built my team around OBP, because as I've shown it is the most important stat. So how in the hell can my team have 45 plate appearances and not draw one single walk. In fact somehow my batting average is higher then my OBP, can anyone tell me how that is?

closer list

here u go lazy:

Hoffman
Putz
Reyes
Accardo
Meyers
Cordero

CLOSERS FOR SALE

i have 6 closers mowing guys down, racking up saves, and pitching clean innings. if your not jwest, give me a shout. (by the way, autodraft? gordon is done for the year bro, u should be calling me first)

Whats going on with the scoring...what if we were a roto league

Not so sure i like this whole head to head mach ups anymore, I ran the numbers to see what the standings would be if we had regular roto scoring

Roto Points/Games Back
Autodraft : 60 /5 games back
Team Lincecum: 60 /10 games back
Renaldo Balkman: 54 /10.5 games back
TheBobbyCoxExperienc: 53 /Leader
harry&thehendersons: 52 /18 games back
Turd F: 44 /7.5 games back


The Computer I'm on right now is not capable of doing a regression analysis, but if I had to guess, it wouldn't be good.

I don't know if i can live in a league where actual statistics don't translate to actual wins, maybe Joe Morgan was right when he said you can't compare things with statistics

The Bloog: Trading Block

I have a few guys im willing to talk about right now...let me know whos interested...

Chone Figgins
Mike Piazza
Jim Thome
David Weathers
Chin-Meng Wang

let me know what everybody thinks...

A Survey

So I'm on a kickball team this summer, composed mainly of girls and farries. Unfortunately, I am probably the most kickball-inclined person on the team. Which defensive position should i play to have the greatest impact on my team? Where will i be the most effective? thanks for your response

Team Lincecum

So its official I have to change my name to Team Lincecum in honor of my newest addition. And although he will undoubtedly be a 2009 all star team member, my man crush for him is so supreme it requires a name change... for a week at least. Don't share my man crush?


Lincecum allowed only one run in five AAA starts, going 4-0, 0.29 while holding opponents to a .119 batting average. He struck out 46 batters in 31 innings while walking 11.

He spent only 62 innings this year and last in the minors, where his final minor league statistics almost defy comprehension: 6-0 with a 0.99 ERA. He allowed 26 hits and 23 walks in 63 2/3 innings while striking out 104. THATS A 15.6 K/9

My video game self doesn't even have those kinds of numbers

Our league is worthless in the eyes of Joe Morgan

Sorry guys but according to Joe morgan our league is crap because we are basing our league on a little thing called statistics, and accroding to Joe Morgan on an ESPN chat:

"My point is you can't compare things with statistics."

Don't believe me here is the whole answer:

There are so many guys with long term contracts and guys who are into statistics. That's not their fault, because everyone hypes the statistics and talks about statistics. I'll give you an example, I saw a quote that Billy Hall had a monster year last year, but only drove in 70-something runs. He hit 30 HRs, but only drove in 70 runs. That's not a monster year, but that's how people compare statistics. My point is you can't compare things with statistics.

Sorry guys I don't know how else to compare out teams, maybe by the team who has the most players with cute uniforms....I'm open to suggestions.

Well I fucking love Manny

Seriously, name one guy who is more entertaining in the batter's box. I know, if he's not on your fantasy squad, or your not a Sox fan, or you're playing me this week, you have the right to say "fuck manny" or perhaps "fuck josh". But if you like baseball, you can't tell me it's not bad ass watching him hit a shoulder high pich about 400 feet to the opposite field and just throw his arms in the air, wathcing it go. Ken Griffey Jr may have had the prettiest homer swat of our generation, and we all love that Sheff bat speed, but for my money, I go with Manny. He makes baseball look fun. Kinda like those wonderful Bravos that are frequently discussed on this bloog. Sorry for the sappy shit, but between Manny and Soriano waking up and the Brett Myers as the Phila closer era beginning, I'm really into my squad. Too bad it won't matter b/c TBX is gonna put 5 points on the whole field b/c Jeff and his Radio Shack computer aren't quite ready to start "comming back on all our asses". Seriously, are asses are waiting. That's not a sexual thing, well, unless u need money for a new computer; then maybe we can work something out. I've said to much allready. (I'm such an enabler right now...)

by the way, thank's to everyone for the prompt denial of my trades. Quick bad news is way better than no news. Even jeff got back to me in under 24 hours, and he had to use carrier pigions. Autodraft, meanwhile, is on day four of no response. You would think a super computer could check it's own e-mail. Seriously brah, I'm always reading shitty poems in your away messages about how you hate your office job so i had an idea; PLAY WITH YOUR FUCKING SQUAD AT WORK LIKE THE REST OF AMERICAN DOES!!! you have no excuse. agian, jeff doesn't even have a computer that will stay on for more than 5 minutes, and yet...

Oh yeah, thanks again for Carl Crawford. You're a sweetheart. JWest offered me his entire pitching staff, an above ground pool, and a lifetime supply of tartar sauce for him, and i still won't budge. That's why i'll never give up on you, just hit "accept", and let's move on. be a buddy

The Bloog: I fucking love the Atlanta Braves

So there are so many reasons why i love the Braves. They have given me, aside from last year, 14 strait years of great regular season baseball. I have seen some of the best pitching ever all on one rotation. And lately, their team has been one of the more fun teams to watch. Whether its the Jones boys laughing at eachother, or Francoeur and McCann buying eachother late night T-Bell. And now, most recently the kid with the longest name in professional sports history, Jarrod Saltalamacchia. I have been waiting for today since i first saw him in spring training in '06, and finally today he got his first start, on his 22nd birthday. He was about 10 feet short of hitting a home run, got a walk, got hit by a pitch, got thrown out at home and won his first game to go up .5 games on the Mets. Watching this game on espn reminded me why i love this team, and this sport so much. Seeing Bobby Cox, and Andruw, and Chipper, and Terry Pendleton all hitting him on his helmet in the post game congrats, and Salty just having the biggest smile on his face made me think about how great this sport is over all the other big pros. These are all kids when they come in...and not like the only other sport you can start so young, the NBA, where the youngest ones are just the cockiest people on the court. Go Braves, Go Baseball.

First Nerdy/Sabermetric post of the year

Yes boys, this is the first post regarding regression analysis. For all of those of you who didn't pay attention in statistics class regression analysis looks and two seemingly independent variables and looks if one has to do with the other.

In this case we are looking at Winning Percentage, because that's what matters in our league.

The scale basically ranges from 0-1, the closer to 1 the better correlation there is, the better correlation, the more it matters.

R .79

HR .09

RBI .17

SB .32

AVG .70

OBP .80

SLG .32

OPS .65

So it looks like the most important stats so far are OBP and Runs, mainly because those

two categories are aggregates of other categories. You can't have a good OBP without average, and the more you get on base the more runs you will score and rbi's you drive in.

I guess I’m surprised about how little HR’s have to do with Winning Percentage. Every time you hit a home run you earn points in R, HR, RBI, AVG, OBP, SLG, and OPS. I guess its early and we are under a severe sample size warning, so funny things happen…like me being in second to last place.

The Bloog: Give me your struggling players.

I have decided to create a little bit of a side business within our wonderful league.

Do you have any players that just aren't reaching there full potential for you? Do you find yourself asking "Do I just stick with him? I know hes gonna heat up eventually." Well now there is something you can do about it, with a simple 1 week turn around.

Just sign your struggling players for The Bobby Cox Experience. This proven training program has turned around the fantasy careers of such former all stars as Garry Sheffield, and most recently David Wright. As said by Baseball Tonight's Fernando Vina, "I think Sheff is gonna have one of the best Mays in the league, (The Bobby Cox Experience*) has awakened a sleeping giant."

David Wright, who is batting .266 on the season with no homeruns since August of last year began this week benched, and thus begining The Bobby Cox Experience. Mr. Wright went 3/4 on Tuesday night with 2 runs and his first Homer; way to go David!

So give me your Drew's, your Wiggington's and your Carlos Delgado's. After going through my strict program of being benched...I will return your newly refurbished players to you in the best condition in this brief, but for some, excruciatingly long season thus far.


*Mr. Vina's comment was actually regarding Mr. Sheffield being hit by a pitch from Baltimore Orioles pitcher Daniel Cabrera. Mr. Vina has no association with The Bobby Cox Experience.

15-0

Thanks to an Alex Rios homer Aaron has acheived what I believe is the first 15-0 moment of the season.

Let the appropriate shit talking commence.

-B

P.S. Travis if you are reading this, these are the things you miss by not having the raker.