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How I Learned to Stop Analyzing and Love the Game
2007-09-05 23:49
by Ken Arneson
"Baseball analysis is dead."
-- Gary Huckabay
"Well, he was an ugly guy. With an ugly face.
An also-ran in the human race.
And even God got sad just looking at him. And at his funeral
all his friends stood around looking sad. But they were really
thinking of all the ham and cheese sandwiches in the next room."

--Laurie Anderson

I went to the A's-Tigers game on Sunday, the one where the A's came back from a 7-0 deficit to win, 8-7. I got home and couldn't think of a single intelligent thing to write about it. It was only when I read the obituary after the weekend that I realized why.

"The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry, and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases.

"For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question How can we eat? the second by the question Why do we eat? and the third by the question Where shall we have lunch?"
--Douglas Adams

So I turned off my analytical mind, stopped thinking about why the game turned out the way it did, and just let whatever seemed interesting lead me wherever it would go. I ended up with this, a montage of a bunch of batted balls that fielders failed to catch:

Don't try to understand what this means, you unsophisticated ape-descendant. Just relax and enjoy your Catfish Stew.

 

Comments
2007-09-06 13:03:04
1.   Bob Timmermann
Is that baby life-sized?
2007-09-06 13:35:02
2.   Aaron in RF
I succeeded in turning off my analytical mind at the game last Wednesday- it helped that we skated out of work early for baseball under the late summer sun- and managed to remain in that state through the weekend. As a direct result the A's won all three games I attended.

Analytics are shut down for the remainder of the schedule.

2007-09-06 15:45:44
3.   Ken Arneson
1 I don't know. What size is life?
2007-09-09 19:51:11
4.   fordprefect
I may be ape-descended but at least I'm wearing a digital watch!
2007-09-11 15:41:17
5.   Ravenscar
Is this where I can admit to having 42 tattooed on the inside of my left wrist?
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MLB Heavyweight Champion

If MLB champs were decided like boxing: beat the champ, and you're the champ.

The 2008 season started with the Red Sox as champs. They were beaten by the A's, who were beaten back by Boston, who were then swept by Toronto, who lost to Oakland, who lost to Cleveland, and so on, until we reached our current champion.

The Heavyweight of the Year is the team that wins the most title bouts at the end of the season.

Current Champion (as of 5/17):
Cincinnati Reds

2008 Title Bout Records:

teamwl
Athletics1313
Red Sox117
Angels64
Indians46
Rangers46
Blue Jays33
Reds20
Yankees11
Tigers12
Orioles03

2007 Heavyweight of the Year:
Seattle Mariners

2006 Heavyweight of the Year:
Oakland Athletics

2005 Heavyweight of the Year:
Oakland Athletics

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