tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post3713821783551611250..comments2023-10-31T06:31:41.395-04:00Comments on Bottom of the Barrel: Gregg Easterbrook Hates Specificity, Doesn't Realize It Is Because He Generally SucksBengoodfellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401971573776672570noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-2614702902690035852011-05-10T12:40:15.111-04:002011-05-10T12:40:15.111-04:00Dylan, I did know there was a charge circle in col...Dylan, I did know there was a charge circle in college basketball. The officials do a generally mediocre job of judging when a player is in that circle. They call charges when a defender is under the basket. It's ridiculous. It is a tough call, I will give them that, but still there needs to be a point where they quit calling charges under the basket.Bengoodfellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09401971573776672570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-75231447097671019922011-05-09T23:06:21.182-04:002011-05-09T23:06:21.182-04:00JR,
I've started to read your posts as well....JR, <br /><br />I've started to read your posts as well. I've also felt especially guilty because my posts here have gotten shorter and less frequent of late, similar to a one Bill Simmons.<br /><br />Also, speaking of arbitrary college basketball rules, did anyone know that there actually is a charge circle in college basketball? It's just not marked, but it's supposed to be 2 feet that the ref is supposed to judge. That might be the single hardest call in all of major sports (not that it's ever called anyway).Dylanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02521399272029891606noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-31608672014752223542011-05-09T22:24:55.413-04:002011-05-09T22:24:55.413-04:00Jr, no kidding huh? This is not one of Easterbrook...Jr, no kidding huh? This is not one of Easterbrook's worst outings either. It is almost embarrassing when he actually starts talking football. He brings up good points sometimes and then ruins them. <br /><br />Rich, I didn't even notice Gregg was complaining the Pats don't use their picks while he was also complaining the picks they have don't do anything. Can't believe I missed that. <br /><br />Gregg's ideal draft room is one guy who bases the picks on whether the player went to a football factory or not. <br /><br />He kills me with the numbers thing. There's no reason to overcriticize numbers like that. If you can be specific with a calculation to differentiate b/w two things then why not do it? Isn't that a lot of the reason for calculations to gather pertinent information? So why not gather pertinent information to where you can tell even the slightest difference in two things? He has never made a good point about numbers being hyperspecific. I am glad he isn't my relative, I would have constant battles with him over this. You know he talks about it all the time. I would use hyperspecific numbers in examples where they made a huge difference just to irritate him. <br /><br />When doing projections, being off by 200,000 is a lot of anything to be off by. It is off by nearly 1% on a projection that is in the millions and as you said it is a good amount of revenue. In his eagerness to be critical he overlooks this and will not respond to any rational person who points this out. <br /><br />Martin, good point. The player should be able to see when the five count is over or coming to an end. It's not a surprise b/c the official gives a visual signal. <br /><br />Easterbrook just likes to criticize Belichick. If he uses his picks then they aren't good enough, if he doesn't use his picks then he should have used them. He just wants it both ways all the time and it is irritating. He wants Belichick to use all of his picks and then have everyone of them be a Pro Bowl player. <br /><br />I figured you probably were talking about traditional sportswriting. It is easy to transition from one to the other when you open your mind and don't react to Eckstein playing well in a short series and can see Pujols has been better for them over the long haul. Traditional sportswriting favors overreacting to events and players in order to gain readers and sell papers. They write what they think everyone wants to read, so sometimes they make an issue black and white and forget any grey. <br /><br />I am reading the Simmons information too. It is interesting and I like how JR is shining light on some things I haven't been able to put into words quite yet about Bill Simmons. <br /><br />Jim, thank you. I don't gamble and I had no clue what he was talking about. I thought maybe the "S" got edited out at some point. I forgot about his Olympic timer rant a few years ago. Did he ever figure out there is a touchpad that determines the exact time?Bengoodfellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09401971573776672570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-23676662066093554102011-05-09T20:54:11.929-04:002011-05-09T20:54:11.929-04:00A tout is a guy who gives advice on betting horses...A tout is a guy who gives advice on betting horses for a fee. That's his dig at draft experts. <br /><br />Remember, this is a guy who thinks the timers at the Olympic swimming events cannot be as precise as they appear.JimAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15106385969638134118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-72563721641930834422011-05-09T17:57:47.252-04:002011-05-09T17:57:47.252-04:00Also, just starting to read your review of Simmon&...Also, just starting to read your review of Simmon's book, JR. Interesting so far!Martin F.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14565240074256943063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-46358145400733525002011-05-09T17:55:44.442-04:002011-05-09T17:55:44.442-04:00In college basketball it's a "5 count&quo...In college basketball it's a "5 count" not 5 seconds. That's why you see the ref motioning with his hand. it might not be 5 seconds, but he's giving a clear indication of the count.<br /><br />For a guy who constantly bashes 1st round picks as being uncoachable, he sure bitches about the Pats trading theirs away. Oh wait, he has that unreasoning hatred of Bill from the Spygate incident which he's never got over.<br /><br />Also, in the other comment I made about the death of sportswriting, I should have been more hyper specific :) I meant death of traditional sportswriting, via newspapers and magazines. I've been able to go from Bill Plaschke to Joe Posnanski, because one understands that Albert Pujols is the reason the Cards have been really good the last decade, and the other thinks it's all been about Eckstein.Martin F.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14565240074256943063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-47715071852086212522011-05-09T17:45:31.208-04:002011-05-09T17:45:31.208-04:00For three consecutive drafts, Belichick has traded...<b>For three consecutive drafts, Belichick has traded down and/or out of the first round to stockpile lower picks and choices in the next year's draft.</b><br /><br />Oh no! You mean Bill Belichick traded out from the mid to upper 20's and got additional picks to do so?<br /><br />Sorry, but if you're drafting in the mid to late 20's, is there really a substantial difference between your pick and say an early second round pick?<br /><br /><b> New England has exercised nine second-round selections in the past three years</b><br /><br /><b>Will Belichick ever actually use his extra choices?</b><br /><br />How else do you draft nine times in the second round? Does Gregg even read his own questions?<br /><br /><b>Does it really take 17 people to make a draft selection?</b><br /><br />No, but it takes 17 people to scout the several hundred players in the draft and each one needs to be there. What happens if a particular player comes up that you're not expecting? Wouldn't it be nice to have the scout there to debate whether the guy should be given a shitton of money?<br /><br /><b>Late in every NFL season, there's a team that won't make the playoffs but that nobody wants to play. Last season, it was the Bucs</b><br /><br />Weren't they eliminated in the week 16? So they were scary to play... b/c they had something to play for. This wasn't exactly a 5-11 team pissing away in mediocrity that found its step.<br /><br /><b>Jamaal Charles of Kansas City was close at 6.38 yards per attempt. The difference is less than an inch per carry.</b><br /><br />It's also almost 20 yards when you consider he had 230 carries. <br /><br />Gregg is a fucking idiot when it comes to numbers. They're not going out there measuring carries in tenths of yards, they're just saying that the average per carry can be carried out beyond tenths. If it a <i>calculation</i> can be accurately made to a certain point, why not give the full value? It's why you can buy something that costs $2.11 without the cashier saying "that's too specific, so it's $2.20"<br /><br />There's also a significant difference b/w 6.38 and 6.4 and Gregg clearly doesn't realize this. <br /><br />For example, what would happen if an electrical component in your phone was off by 0.02 units? Sometimes nothing would happen, sometimes it stops working altogether.<br /><br />Hell 6.4 is pretty close to 6.5, so why not?<br /><br /><b>All he needed was another tenth of a second! </b><br /><br />Absolutely. This is true no matter what though. At one point the ball is in a guy's hand, one tenth of a second later, it's not.<br /><br /><b>Projected sales aren't 21 million but exactly 21,233,839 hot dogs." </b><br /><br />Because a fucking equation was used to gain these results. It's not like some guy just sat up scratching his balls and said "21,233,839 and not a hot dog more!" No, it was an equation that spit out 21,233,839, why change it? In fact, changing it would would cause problems b/c you're now predicting something the model doesn't.<br /><br />Also, at 4 bucks a pop, that's over a million fucking dollars in revenue that you lose by leaving off that extra 233,000 hot dogs. I'm pretty sure that's a lot of money to the guy who asked from the estimation.Richnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-2851776990724094132011-05-09T17:06:20.129-04:002011-05-09T17:06:20.129-04:00Boy, you guys are right. Bleacher Report sucks.
.
...Boy, you guys are right. Bleacher Report sucks.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />ESPN, you say??...wow.JR Ewing Theoryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15625626214196012794noreply@blogger.com