Infield Chatter

[Kram]

Is there some sort of sporting event going on?

I was once a sports fan (peaked at eleven). I just reclaimed autographed pix of Lew Alcindor, Cary Yazstremski (sp.?!), Wilt, Bart Starr, Vince Lombardi, etc. They were going to fund my son Opie's* college but I ran away and now he's living on the streets.



* Opie is an opossum.

[The Doc]

 so here's the basic rundown of how baseball standings work.

....etc etc - and I thought that cricket was complicated... etc etc

Thanks for that - makes a lot more sense now, just a couple of observations (and forgive my ignorance) but with about 30 teams (according to my reading of the MLB official site) 162 games seems a lot - everybody else home and away would only be 58.  In fact 162 seems a hell of a lot anyway - thats playing every other day nearly all year.

And according to this http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp Cubs are still top - or am I being incredibly stupid?

[Sebastian Knight]

1) The page you're looking at is the "regular season standings", which is to say it stopped being updated once all 162 games had been played.  You'll notice the cubs finished at 85 wins, 77 losses, enough to win their division. 

2) 162 games is a hell of a lot.  You want to think of it as being a game nearly every day for about 6 months (roughly April through September).  There are occasional travel days where the team flies from the east coast to the west coast (for example - remember the US is a big-ass country), and also days when they play two games in one day, but it's pretty steady.  By contrast, in American football (or as you probably know it, "rugby for pussies") they only play 16 games in the regular season (about one a week for 17 weeks).  In the baseball schedule, teams typically play series of 3 games in a row against the same opponents.  The number was originally decided when there were ten teams in each league (you'd play everybody 18 times, 9 home and 9 away), and 18*(9 other teams) = 162.  Now it's some complicated uneven thing where you play the teams in your own division more often, play other teams in your league (but not your division) less, and occasionally play teams in the other league.  That play between leagues is a more recent change, and there's a slight issue because there is one major rules difference between the leagues (the "designated hitter".  it's sort of a religious issue.  The american league are a bunch of heathen dogs. best not to go into it). 

[Scott]

 so here's the basic rundown of how baseball standings work.

....etc etc - and I thought that cricket was complicated... etc etc

Thanks for that - makes a lot more sense now, just a couple of observations (and forgive my ignorance) but with about 30 teams (according to my reading of the MLB official site) 162 games seems a lot - everybody else home and away would only be 58.  In fact 162 seems a hell of a lot anyway - thats playing every other day nearly all year.

And according to this http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp Cubs are still top - or am I being incredibly stupid?

I've never been much of a baseball fan, so my opinion isn't worth much.  Since that's never stopped me from sharing my opinion in the past why should this be any different. :-)

With so many games, it makes it really hard to give a shit about much that goes on until it gets close to the end of the season.  So what if your team loses 4 in a row in the middle of June, you've got plenty of time to make it up.  I don't even bother to pay attention at all until August.

You can say close to the same thing about the MLS (The US Soccer League).  With so few teams in the league, almost everyone makes the playoffs.  As long as you have a decent record going into the final weeks, you've got a real good chance of getting in.  So basically you can have a mediocre season, still make the playoffs then get on a hot streak and win the whole thing.

To me, the best part about the NFL (American Football) is that there are only 16 games in a season and unless you are in a weak division, they all matter.

[The Doc]

Understand now

The 'Cubs Win'  and 'Cubs lose' above preumably refer to the play offs, I was still assuming the issue was making the play offs (or not)

I have to say I'm with Scott on the numbers thing - if City played United 3 days onthe trot (and up to 18! times in the season)  it would certainly devalue the excitement of the big derby game.  I bet there are commercial imperatives that prevent anyone reducing the numbers though.

[Michael]

I have to say I'm with Scott on the numbers thing - if City played United 3 days onthe trot (and up to 18! times in the season)  it would certainly devalue the excitement of the big derby game.  I bet there are commercial imperatives that prevent anyone reducing the numbers though.

I think you're right on both counts. 

Beyond keeping half a sleepy eye on the Chi Sox's record, I really don't tune in to baseball until the season is closing.

Actually, I'm that way with sports in general, as I don't watch much, I mostly stick to playoffs.

[scorched earth]

(As close to posting about sports as I'll ever get) On a morning news show here in Denver they made rattlesnake cakes just so they could talk about eating diamondbacks, lol. Also loved the comment from the weatherman last night describing yesterday's first taste of winter (overcast and wet all day long, in the 30s, felt like 20s): "It's enough to make a guy from Phoenix want to go back to Arizona." Yes indeed. (During the game last night I mainly watched "Little Miss Sunshine" on a free Cinemax preview.)

[Kcowboy Kcurtis]

RED SOX WIN!!!!!!

RED SOX WIN!!!!!!

Now, the bad news is that the Colorado Rockies are have won like 22 of their last 23 games or something. But the good news is, I think they're a hockey team.

So, I like our chances...

[tgraham]

The Rockies have been sitting on their posteriors watching sports on the TV, while the Sox have been fighting for their lives and came out of it with the momentum.

Go SAWX!!!!

[Sebastian Knight]

Wow.  You don't usually see somebody walk in three straight runs in a world series game.   "Sox win" seems like an understatement.  Meanwhile, my favorite comment about the baseball game was actually a musical one.  Here's King Kaufman in today's Salon:

So I was thinking to myself, "What's the deal with all this schlocky movie music Fox has been using on its postseason broadcasts?" Wednesday when the Fenway Park public address announcer introduced John Williams, the guy who writes all that schlocky movie music. He was there to conduct a subset of the Boston Pops for the national anthem.

The announcer called Williams "the epitome of our culture."

And that's when I decided to go live among the howler monkeys.

[tgraham]

John Williams actually only wrote one song in his life.
After that he picks 3 notes from that song and moves them to create a new theme.
THe other evening at a high school football game (its Texas, what else are you going to do on a friday night?) one of the bands started playing a john williams theme. I had to think about it for a minute since the film wasnt rolling. Was that Starwars or Raiders?
It was Raiders. And no, the opponents weren't raiders, they were panthers as I recall.

[Kcowboy Kcurtis]

If I were able to go back in time, one of my top ten or twenty tasks would be to stop the formation of the Boston Pops. Somewhere in the top fifty would be to somehow to prevent the conception (or barring that, the musical education, not that there is much evidence of it) of John Williams. "John, there's room to MOVE as a fry cook!"

I get a little nervous when the Sox go big in the first game of a series, but for now, I can live with it.

[Chip]

Quote from the Sports Guy's column today that reminded me of 81-84 Crim:

In his book "Showtime," Pat Riley unveiled "the disease of more" and argued that "success is often the first step toward disaster." According to Riley, after the 1980 Lakers won, everyone shifted into a more selfish mode. They had sublimated their respective games to win as a group; now they wanted to reap the rewards as individuals, even if those rewards meant having to spend way too much time at Jack Nicholson's house. Everyone wanted more money, playing time and recognition. Eventually they lost perspective and stopped doing the little things that make teams win and keep winning, eventually imploding in the first round of the postseason. So much for defending the title.

Now, if you'll excuse me a minute, I'm off to remove 3 of a Perfect Pair from the changer and put in Absent Lovers, just to remind myself that, as always, I'm an idiot and my analogies suck.

[Kcowboy Kcurtis]

I feel good, good about Hood!!!!!!!!!

Off to Denver with two games in the pocket. Hope it doesn't snow...

[Sebastian Knight]

Now that the Red Sox have finished their trouncing of the Rockies, we can move on to
The most f-ed up football play you'll ever see.