Oscar Gamble Society

Economics blog Marginal Revolution (which I strongly recommend) has an interesting post on how to save the NBA. I think most people here would agree that it does need saving. Some of the ideas seem too minor to really care about, and others, like relegation of the weakest teams, are unfortunately implausible. The one I found most intriguing is the idea of shortening the regular season, something that might also benefit the NHL where the season functions as an overly long warmup for playoffs involving every team with any claim to mediocrity. Other ideas that occur to me are developing a broadcast technology that masks tattoos, or league-sponsored stem cell research aimed at cloning Jordan, Magic and Bird.

In unrelated news, the Yankees defeated the Red Sox this evening.

It’s been so long since it didn’t suck, I have trouble remembering. I feel compelled to watch this last season in hopes that something interesting will happen (or if nothing else, maybe we find out what happened to the Russian). Yet with only two episodes left, the thing I find most exciting is that David Chase can only steal two more hours of my life. I like the show’s premise, juxtaposing the life of a mafia “family” with that of an upper-middle class suburban family, but good grief, does that really require us to sit through dim-witted AJ’s adolescent angst in real time? I did enjoy watching Tony deliver a much-deserved beat down to the creep who accosted his daughter, but not enough to justify watching AJs repeated, ill-informed complaints about American society. It’s like he was channeling Sheryl Crow. All I want are a few grisly hits on deserving scumbags by our anti-heroes. Is that really too much to ask?

Discuss.

“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”

-Samuel Johnson

And if these reports are true, Michael Vick has indeed made a beast of himself. This is just way, way beyond the pale. I can understand why an athlete would decide to use steroids. I can forgive a young athlete the odd bar brawl. But torturing animals for fun is the mark of a sociopath, not youthful hijinks.

The same holds for Clinton Portis. I don’t mind that he wasn’t aware that dog fighting is a felony. He’s an athlete, not a lawyer, and there’s no reason for him to know that. But dismissing dog fighting as “no big deal” shows that Portis is also unable to make a very fundamental distinction between right and wrong. At least the possibility exists that Vick is innocent. With these comments Portis has made it clear that he has no place in civilized society.

I have watched baseball for some 30 years.  Played Little League through High School ball for 12 more years.  Even coached 9-10 year olds for 4 years, and umpired for 3 more years.  And without question, I saw a player make the stupidest play.  Ever.  Ok, it’s arguable, but I’ll back this horse in any debate on the subject.  In case y’all missed it:

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People in New York seem to have completely lost their shit with respect to the Yankees’ weak start. I have seen two of what I am sure is many more articles this morning discussing the wisdom of replacing Joe Torre.

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Am I the only one is SOOOOOO done with Interleague play?  Wait, that’s not actually right - in order to be “done” with something doesn’t that mean you have to be “in” to it in the first place?  But, I digress…

My reason for not liking interlegue is two fold. 

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This guy goes back and forth more often than a tennis ball during a Chris Evert-Hana Mandlikova match.  Let’s see… (1) I’m retiring - nah, I’m not retiring, (2) I want a trade cuz we didn’t get Moss - nah, I want to retire a Packer, (3) I’m not coming to minicamp cuz my daughter’s graduating high school - nah, I’m coming cuz we can work around it.

Is this how he’s gonna be in the huddle?  “Let’s go with the coach’s play call - nah, let’s go with my call - nah, let’s go with something you guys wanna run - nah… [tweet!] ‘Delay of game, Green Bay’”.  What is the deal?

First, Danny posed the following question: “In today’s NL, you have a SS in JJ Hardy who is the first SS since _____ in 1986 to be leading the NL in HRs this late in the season (feel free to fill in the blank).”  I would’ve said Dale Sveum, but the Brewers weren’t in the NL then so I’ll go with… Hubie Brooks.  I seem to recall he got hot there in the mid-80s for the Mets, though I can’t recall if it was 1986 or not.

Next, Danny gave us his top-SS list:

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