Prince of Darkness doesn't allow small samples to keep him from being negative

[endaround]

In today's piece about the Red Sox Mr. Haudricort threw in this gem:

 

The Milwaukee Brewers, who made progress in 2007 with their first winning season in 15 years, nevertheless should be humbled by the knowledge that they were unable to hold off the Chicago Cubs, who were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were swept by the Rockies, who were swept by the Red Sox.

In other words, there's a gap the size of the Grand Canyon for the Brewers to close before they can compete with the likes of Boston. But that's true for most of the other major league clubs as well, which is why the Red Sox are the new Yankees. The new "Evil Empire."

Yep. Lets ignore that the Brewers being 5-2 versus the DBacks because that might mean this was all a crap shoot. Are the Red Sox better than Brewers? Sure, but not because they swept the Rockies.

[trwi7]

Ah good ole Tommy, always good for a chuckle.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif

 

 

[don1481]

And here I thought The Prince of Darkness was turning a corner after the Estrada article and blog... turns out that it was yet another false start.

[Thurston Fluff]

He plays to the audience that he writes for. I'm sure that's what he's paid to do. I think the target reader is more apt to understand that type of analogy than how the park adjusted OPS of the two clubs showed one was superior to the other, or the BAPIP showed that the two teams pitching staffs were similar, or how one defensive metrics were superior to the others, ect. It shouldn't be overlooked he's right about the gap even if his examples are not relevant. Honestly I think the JS would be better getting a little more indepth. I'm not sure how much leeway he has to do that. He does answer to an editor who answers to someone else who wants to sell papers. By the time you get to the guy who decides what type of coverage is desired you've got someone who's knowledge of baseball is equivelant to the average eskimo.

[don1481]

By the time you get to the guy who decides what type of coverage is desired you've got someone who's knowledge of baseball is equivelant to the average eskimo.

But if he's trying to sell to that level, the best way is to not come across as condescending and without much content.

 

But that said... if the Packers' beat writers can discuss at a level that's maybe a bit above the "average eskimo," then why can The Prince of Darkness and Rick Braun?

[rluzinski]

But that said... if the Packers' beat writers can discuss at a level that's maybe a bit above the "average eskimo," then why can The Prince of Darkness and Rick Braun?

 

That's what I don't get. Why does the Packer coverage never seem to devolve into childish/ignorant rants, even when the Packers were bad the last couple of years? The JS Brewer coverage is simply pathetic by comparison.

[valpocrewsader]

With the Brewers playing just a hair better than sucktitude this year, Tom can be as negative as he wants. Barely cracking .500 in a supremely awful division? Kindof a joke. We've got a loooooong way to go to be a world championship team, easy to argue that. The interesting playoff sweeps circumstance is just a half-serious way to frame it....

[BrewCrewRising]

I think this is great news. Since we took 2 out of 3 from the Tigers, and the Tigers took 4 out of 7 form the Red Sox, we would have therefore beat the Red Sox.

 

I jest, but surely someone who has followed sports professionally would have learned that victories in sports are not transitive?

[Invader3K]

I don't know...Haudricort appears on the D-List on WAUK quite a bit, and seems pretty knowledgable about the Brewers and where the team is heading. I think there's only so much he can write in his newspaper pieces, and the assumption seems to be that the average reader thumbing through the sports section isn't interested in detailed Brewers analysis, I guess.

[Brian the Automator]

Nice to see Tom "transitive property" Hardicourt is going to be providing this kind of insight this offseason.

[sbrylski]

He plays to the audience that he writes for. I'm sure that's what he's paid to do. I think the target reader is more apt to understand that type of analogy than how the park adjusted OPS of the two clubs showed one was superior to the other, or the BAPIP showed that the two teams pitching staffs were similar, or how one defensive metrics were superior to the others, ect.

He doesn't have to disregard those things though. Use simpler reasons to support a point that is also supported by more complicated reasons. That way, he can be correct and easy to read.

[Thurston Fluff]

He doesn't have to disregard those things though. Use simpler reasons to support a point that is also supported by more complicated reasons. That way, he can be correct and easy to read.

 

True enough. I think newspaper articles like that are about the same level as talk shows. I've heard some guys who really do know better say some outright stupid things because it appeals to a certain group of people.

 

But that said... if the Packers' beat writers can discuss at a level that's maybe a bit above the "average eskimo," then why can The Prince of Darkness and Rick Braun?

 

That's what I don't get. Why does the Packer coverage never seem to devolve into childish/ignorant rants, even when the Packers were bad the last couple of years? The JS Brewer coverage is simply pathetic by comparison.

 

I've heard and read some pretty stupid articles about the Packers as well. The Jsonline has a premium package for Packers. The Brewers don't. There's a reason for that. This is primarily a football area. Packer fans do have a better knowledge base than the equivleant Brewer fan (present company excluded). The Packer base is more like the St Louis Cardinal base. They simply are more knowledgable as a whole than Brewer fans. For my part I read the JS articles for quotes, player's, manager and management's thoughts, and general entertainment. For actual insite and relevant information I found this site. For the most part I don't really care for Hardricourt's articles but I'm not sure he's as stupid baseball wise as his articles sometimes suggest.

[And That]

He hasn't called Gabe Gross "Greg" for awhile - that's progress, right? Can we trade Haudricourt, Braun (the JS guy, tho he probably plays third about as well) and an intern to be named later for Bob McGinn?

[don1481]

I've heard and read some pretty stupid articles about the Packers as well.

 

The word to focus on there is "some." Notice how we pretty much pointed out the Estrada article and blog at time of publication as an exception to the norm? At least the free coverage of the Packers isn't usually completely worthless.

 

Even if Transitive Property publishes something well after we here at BF.Net know about it, he could still do it in a somewhat insightful manner.

[hawing]

Andy Baggot cited the same factoid in the Wisconsin State Journal this morning (link)

 

Some sobering perspective, Brewers fans, on how far you really were from the mountaintop this season: Milwaukee finished the National League Central race two games behind the Cubs, who were swept by Arizona, which was swept by Colorado, which was swept by Boston in the World Series. …

[crewcrazy]

Michigan lost to Appalachian State, who lost to Wofford, who lost to Elon. Therefore, Elon is the second best team in the Big Ten.

 

Disregarding the season's results against the teams in question is a pretty huge oversight. The Brewers didn't perform that badly against the Cubs, played extremely well against the Diamondbacks, and broke about even with Colorado, if I remember correctly. Looking at the way the playoffs shook out this year, I don't have a problem with saying that if the Brewers were able to hold on to win the NL Central, they would've been playing in the NLCS. Chicago, Arizona, and Colorado just got hot at the right time.

[SeriesFinale]

Interesting, John Shea here in San Francisco wrote almost the exact same blurb here in the Chronicle yesterday:

-- Does anyone remember the Brewers, one of baseball's best stories much of the summer? Well, they finished two games behind the Cubs, who were swept by the Diamondbacks, who were swept by the Rockies, who were swept by the Red Sox. Not exactly finishing on top.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/29/SPUOT2IT8.DTL&hw=brewers&sn=003&sc=556

 

[Thurston Fluff]

Andy Baggot cited the same factoid in the Wisconsin State Journal this morning (link)

 

 

Interesting, John Shea here in San Francisco wrote almost the exact same blurb here in the Chronicle yesterday:

 

Which goes back to my original point. I don't think all of these guys are that stupid. I think they are expected to write at that level. It's what their bosses want. Perhaps we should be critisizing the editors for accepting/expecting that type of writing.

[don1481]

Perhaps we should be critisizing the editors for accepting/expecting that type of writing.

Fair enough; though I think Transitive Property's more than done his fair share of stuff over the years to warrant the heavy criticism from here.

 

And don't you find it a tad... odd... that three reporters cite the same sort of transitive property within a day or so of each other?

[Thurston Fluff]

And don't you find it a tad... odd... that three reporters cite the same sort of transitive property within a day or so of each other?

 

I do. Which to me is more reason to go elswhere for real information. Most papers seem to be lazy in both writing and editing than in year's past. I'm not trying to give a free pass to the writers for sloppy thinking. I'm just not sure who's really responsible for it. Perhaps, like most things in life, it's some combination of things that create a perfect storm of mediocrity.

[endaround]

Nope its easier than having to actually do the work your self.

 

And believe me no one hates Gary Howard more than I do. And that was even before I found out he is responsible for Steven A Smith.

[Bring Back the Stein]

Gary Howard, who was publicly reprimanded for borrowing gambling money from one of his reporters, who is the laughingstock of whatever press box he inhabits, who must have compromising photos of the Sentinel editors to have kept his job, whose star (expletive) stories make Peter King columns look like Tolstoy?

[SeriesFinale]

The thing I thought was odd about Shea writing it is it seemed like an unnecessary dig, especially since the Brewers aren't exactly a big topic of conversation out here

[AdvantageSchneider]

If on a math exam you make a bad calculation but you get the right answer, do you still get credit for getting the answer right?

 

I'm just curious, why is he considered the prince of darkness? Given the Brewer's performance over the last 15 years and the sunshine that comes out of the brewer's front office every year, I think his knickname should be the prince of reality, not darkness.

 

Sometimes the truth hurts.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Nice to see Tom "transitive property" Hardicourt is going to be providing this kind of insight this offseason.

So if a=b and b=c then a=c. Correct? Baseball must work the same way as arithmetic. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif