Virginia Tech 64, #1 Duke 60
I miss school.
I finished up reading Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won
When Moneyball came out, it didn’t take long for the importance of on-base percentage to become part of mainstream conventional wisdom. It would be great if some of the findings in the book did the same—the debunking of the ‘hot hand,’ for instance, or ‘icing the kicker.’ However, I’d hate for ‘home field advantage is caused by biased referees’ to do the same—because that’s a huge claim, and I don’t think it’s true. Ideally, the authors would have consulted some of the practicing sabermetricians in the various sports—the Prospectus writers, Tom Tango, Brian Burke, Gabriel Desjardins, and so forth—who would undoubtedly have pointed out some issues and advised the authors to temper some of their conclusions.
It’s possible that having to qualify some of the results would make for a less popular book. In any case, Moskowitz and Wertheim are outstanding at getting their ideas across effortlessly. With a little more collaboration from others who study this stuff, this could have easily been the best popular sabermetrics book since Bill James. As it stands, it’s still recommended reading, but I wish it came with a warning to take some of its conclusions with a grain of salt.”
(Via Baseball Prospectus.)
Scorecasting is a great read. And, if you’re reading it with a somewhat open mind, you’ll learn a lot, but also pause a lot and say “wow, I feel like I’m missing a whole side of this argument.” Which is pretty much exactly how I felt reading Freakonomics.
(Note: If you buy the book from the Amazon link above, I get like 12 cents.)
Nov 232008
Aside from working 60+ hours a week, I’ve been lucky enough to go to some pretty cool stuff over the past couple of months.
It started with seeing Ben Folds at The Orpheum.
Actually not one of my favorite Ben Folds’ shows, but it even a bad Ben show is pretty fun. He played his whole new album as his set (followed by an encore of solo and Ben Folds Five stuff), which would normally be ok, except the album hadn’t come out yet.
Next up was the first Dear Leader show in a good while at TT the Bears.
I love me some Dear Leader. It’d been awhile since they’d played together, but it was just like old times.
I also was lucky enough to see Fleet Foxes play in Somerville. Such a great great sound.
Then, I got to go take advantage of my season tickets and see opening night of the Celtics, watching them raise the 17th NBA Championship banner. It was a moment that solidified to me that I’ve always been a bigger Cs fan than a Sox fan (though it’s close). I loved being at opening day in 2005 when the Red Sox raised that first banner in 86 years. Being at the Garden and watching the Celtics raise the first banner in 22 years had a much more significant impact on me. Just the byproduct of growing up with the original Big Three, I guess.
Later, another one my favorite unknownish bands played *their* first show in a while. Stellastarr* rocked out at Great Scott and the gf and I got to watch from about 5 feet away.
Being 5 feet away left me with some temporary hearing issues, which thankfully went away the next night, where we went and saw The Decemberists at The Orpheum, and what might be my favorite show of the year.
A week or so later, we headed over to The Paradise to see an entirely different type of band, as Bang Camaro came and rocked our faces off.
Changing styles yet again, the gf surprised me and took me to see someone I consider quite possibly the greatest pop musician/performer of all time: Brian Wilson. While it’s a bit depressing to see him perform these days, it’s just such a monumental thing to be *seeing Brian Wilson.*
Finally, thanks again to my wonderful gf, we got some upgraded Celtics seats and rather than sitting in section 305 row 11, we sat in section 6 row 3.
And now I’m on vacation. So, expect to read some more from me.
I was playing my first Sunday basketball in a few months (we usually stop playing over the summer). I shocked myself a bit, as I wasn’t playing awful (not great, but not nearly as bad as I expected).
About 30 minutes into the game, went up for a rebound and then felt my head jerk to the side and smelled the incredibly distinctive smell of blood. Instinctively, I pulled my hands up to my nose and they were immediately covered in blood. I made it down to the bathroom to clean up, where my nose continued to gush for about 20 minutes.
Even through the swelling, I could tell my nose was broken.
I made it to the hospital where they took care of me and told me “You are right. It’s fractured. We really don’t do much for broken noses any more. If you’d like me to put it back in place, I can try.”
Of course, I said “yes”, and they shoved my nose back into place. The swelling has steadily been going down, but it’s still sore and it’s still a little out of place.
I tried to find a picture to show the before and after. It’s not drastic, but I think it’s noticeable.
BEFORE
AFTER (reversed for some reason)
Note the light down the bridge of my nose. It’s decidedly curved. If you could see my nostrils, you’d note that they’re now angled and aren’t symmetrical.
There you go–want a new nose? Get elbowed in the face.
Jun 202008
I captured a few grainy videos on my digital (picture taking) camera while I was at Game 6. I’ve thrown them up on YouTube as all the kids are doing these days.
Check them out for a little glimpse of what it was like that night …
GINO Time! Complete with Paul Pierce dancing on the table:
The last few seconds before the Celtics were officially NBA Champs:
I’ll post a couple of more when I have time. For now, enjoy (much like 750 other people have enjoyed my Gino video!)
What’s That You Say?