November 22, 2004

Notes From the Weekend

  • I wrote a paper/article for my Magazine Writing class about Bill James and turned it in last Friday. Writing it was an interesting experience, because it is for an audience -- both hypothetical (for a magazine) and real (for my teacher) -- that generally has no idea who James is. The class includes a few sports fans and a guy who writes for the Minnesota Daily sports section, so the fact that they are interested in baseball and still don't know of James is also something to contend with.

    It is strange trying to explain why someone like James is important when you associate yourself with a community of people who just sort of take for granted that everyone knows how great he is. Imagine trying to explain to people why Al Pacino is so great, except they've never seen him act in anything and they keep referring to him as "Andy" or "Alex" just to remind you that they don't have a clue about him.

  • I ordered myself some copies of The Hardball Times 2004 Baseball Annual, but stupidly had them sent to my mom's house, rather than here at the dorm. For some reason, I still find myself listing my mom's house as my address constantly, despite the fact that I haven't really lived there for several years. Anyway, the books arrived on Thursday, and since I didn't have the patience to wait until I went home for Thanksgiving to see them, my mom took me out to dinner last night and brought a book along for me to look at.

    We went to my favorite Chinese buffet, in my old neighborhood, and as we were walking in I saw my dad inside. I told my mom he was in there and she asked, "Are you sure it's not someone who just looks like your dad?" To which I responded, "Who looks like dad?" and then, "That would be one poor son of a bitch." (I kid because I care, really.)

    Turns out my dad has become such a big fan of the restaurant as a result of being forced to take me there all the time that he and my stepmom went on their own. The place isn't exactly fine dining, so that's noteworthy. They said they had just gotten there, so we sat down to eat with them. The only thing I'll say about the experience is that you haven't lived until you've eaten dinner at a Chinese buffet with your father, mother, and stepmother.

  • Incidentally, the book looks awesome. I was proud of it before I saw the finished copy and now that I see what we produced, I'm incredibly happy to have been a part of it. If you haven't ordered your copy yet, please do. We've moved up to the #6 all-time bestseller in Lulu.com history and the people I've talked to so far who have gotten their copy all have very nice things to say about it.

    My mom showed it to my grandmother, whose one major comment was that my bio in the back of the book wasn't very good. It is the one I have on THT's website, which basically just says I'm a journalism student and lists some of the places I've written for. Some of the other guys thanked friends and family members in their in bio, which my grandma obviously would have preferred. I'm just surprised she got all the way to the back of the book, considering she's not real big on strikeout rates and on-base percentages.

  • Ron Artest and the ridiculous fans in Detroit have pretty much ruined my fantasy basketball team. My second-round pick, Baron Davis, is on the injured list with a bad back. My third-rounder, Donyell Marshall, is on the injured list with a bum hamstring. Now Artest, who was my fourth-rounder and was averaging 24.6 points per game, is out for the year with a detached brain (and coinciding suspension).

    That leaves my first-round pick, Ray Allen, to defend my hard-earned league title with the likes of Grant Hill (who will no doubt join Davis and Marshall on the injured list soon), Rafer Alston, Theo "What's a rebound?" Ratliff, and my two sets of teammates -- Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler from the Bulls and Zydrunas Illgauskas, Jeff McInnis and Drew Gooden from the Cavs. You know things are not great when you've got three different Cleveland players on your team and none of them are named LeBron.

    Curry and Chandler have proven to be complete wastes of time for fantasy teams over the past couple years, but they are also incredible teases, which is why I'm wasting two roster spots on them. Chandler was so upset about being benched by Scott Skiles during the second half of Chicago's game against Denver on Friday night that he committed five fouls in nine minutes last night against the Lakers. All together, of the 13 guys currently on my roster, two are on the injured list and four were picked up off the waiver wire. In other words, there are houses of cards built in the middle of monsoons that don't come crashing down as fast as my fantasy basketball team.

  • For those of you who need a neverending supply of Gleeman and don't get your fill of me from this blog and THT, I did an interview with Paul Katcher (of ESPN.com Page 3 fame) that he posted on his blog last week. It includes such gems as, "I do wonder if Tim McCarver gets jealous when he reads about Jeter's off-field exploits; that is if he can take his face away from Jeter's ass long enough to read a newspaper." Go check it out.

    • Today at The Hardball Times:

    - The Benson and Rusch Gambles, Er, Contracts (by Studes)

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