Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The Gift and the Curse of DVR

The invention of DVR was an awesome gift to sports fans everywhere. It allows sports fans to record their favorite teams games without having to keep a clunky old VHS player around. Being able to record games means you no longer have to schedule your day around sports. If a league decides to schedule a game mid-day on a Tuesday, you can always record it during the day and watch it that night. While you are watching the game you can rewind and make your own replays. Maybe most important to some people, you dont have to watch commercials.

The invention of DVR was a curse (although it was a small one) to sports fans everywhere. DVR means that when you record a late night game because you have to get up early for work the next day you have to shelter yourself from news and co-workers the whole next day for fear they might ruin the game. Trying to censor yourself from the sports world is a major pain. When that ESPN addicted co-worker innocently asks, "Did you see the Mariners lose again last night?" you suddenly wish you had just stayed up til ten. Watching a game that you already know the outcome of is nowhere near as fun as watching it when the outcome is unknown.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

The World Cup Sucks Now

Well, I tried my best to really care about the World Cup this year. I watched games, I learned players and formations, I didn't laugh every time I heard the name "Kaka." But now, the U.S. has gone and lost. Sadly, it seemed the U.S. was never able to play consistently and played down to its competition. Ghana capitalized on this, as I was afraid they would.

And so, it ends. Yes, the U.S. won its group and had set itself up for a fairly easy round of eight game, but they looked ahead, as us American sports fans often do. Shame on us. Now, we must wait four years until we have another chance at such a prestigious and interesting sporting event, stewing in the filth of our loss.

Wait, what's that? We have our OWN soccer league? AND ones for baseball, hockey, and basketball?

Dear the World Cup, you are no longer needed. You're trivial thrills and hilarious uniforms no longer interest us. If you'll excuse us, we have a baseball season to follow. Enjoy your world championship, Uruguay.

Sincerely,
The United States of America

Sunday, June 20, 2010

North Korea Super Fans

As expected, the World Cup has created many stories in the sports world. Both the defending champ Italy and the runner-up France have yet to win a game. The terrible calls by the referee in the USA vs Slovenia (see previous post for more on this.) Powerhouse Germany’s stunning defeat by Serbia. However, one of the most humorous stories this world cup has is the fake North Korean fans.

According to the CIA World Factbook North Korea is a country of 22,912,177 people. The country is full of starvation and hardship. It is one of the most sanctioned countries on the planet. Out of those nearly 23 million suffering people Dear Leader Kim Jong Il manage to turn at least 11 of them into passable soccer players. The North Korean national team or the Winged Horses as their fans know them, played so passably in the world cup qualifying that they made the 2010 world cup. This is only their second appearance in the tournament.

The North Korean’s first opponent was the mighty Brazilian team. Brazil has won a total of 5 world cups, more then any other country, and is led by star midfielder Kaka (funny name I know, but I will leave those joke for those of you less mature in the audience.) During the game the camera’s found a section of North Korean supports dressed in all red. This was especially weird because North Korean citizens are not allowed to leave their country. It was discovered later that these fans were actually Chinese. The North Korean “supporters” were given the tickets so that the North Korean team would have fans. It was the ticket holders jobs to cheer when expected for the mighty North Koreans.

This is just a weird stroy. It is like if the Seattle Mariners had.... It is like if the University of Colorado couldn’t… Well really it is like nothing I have ever heard of in the sports world.

Sources: AP, CIA World Factbook

Friday, June 18, 2010

The Shoe is on the Other Foot

I'm slowly learning soccer. As much as I disagree with the entire idea of the offsides call and hate how much some of these players flop, I understand it. What I do not understand is the call against Maurice Edu.

I'm sure by now you've seen the disallowed goal from the U.S.A-Slovenia game. If you know even the basic rules of soccer, you can tell that in no way was their any foul or violation against the U.S.A. What makes it even worse is that the ref still has not even stated WHAT the foul was.

Go ahead and read that again. The U.S.A. had to settle for a tie rather than a comeback for the ages (no team had ever come back from a 2-0 deficit at the half in the World Cup) because one ref decided it. There was absolutely no reason why, and no reason has been given.

Now, I like to think of myself as fairly rational. I understand bad calls happen, and they always will. But this is unlike anything I've seen since the Seahawks Super Bowl victory. This is unconsciable. These referees are supposed to be the greatest in the world, yet how can one claim to be among the best when they don't even know what foul they called?

Luckily, this shouldn't hurt the U.S.A. too much. With a win against Algeria (and an expected loss to England by Slovenia), the U.S.A. should still advance. However, if this costs the U.S.A. a spot in the knockout round well... that ref should be happy we aren't the Brazilians, or he'd already be dead.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Carlos Silva All-Stars

In honor of Carlos Silva's oddly effective season, I've decided it is time to honor other players of his caliber. So here they are, the Carlos Silva All-Stars, honoring players who fit the profile of Carlos Silva circa 2008-2009: that is, the worst players in all of baseball at each position. Keep in mind, not all of these guys will be starters for long or may have even been replaced recently, but their terribility stays constant. Battin ability is favored over defense, though I've tried to factor in everything.

C: Rob Johnson. Sure, I see him play every day so maybe I'm biased, but few can bat so poorly while also playing defense reminiscent of Russ Davis. I know Davis played third, but imagine if he played catcher and that's Johnson's defense.

1B: Lyle Overbay. While Casey Kotchman may be a worse hitter, at least he can play great defense. Overbay is not only terrible, he has a good lineup around him too.

2B: Aaron Hill. Last year's breakout star still has the power (9 HRs), but he still hits well under the Mendoza Line, which is awfully embarassing.

3B: Pedro Feliz. Boy he has aged quickly. Coming from a good team with protection last year, Feliz has fallen apart in Houston and can't drive in runs, score runs, or really do anything beyond look very old.

SS: Cliff Pennington. At least he's still young, but my the future doesn't look bright. With an OBP under .300 and no stat above average besides stolen bases, Oakland needs an upgrade, though Billy Beane is too busy watching soccer to care.

OF: Nate McLouth. Another victim of Pittsburgh's wonderful one year curse, McLouth had a good season or two before falling apart this year, becoming a man of many strikeouts (45) and nothing else (.176 avg, 14 RBIs).

OF: Carlos Quentin. Remember when he almost won MVP? How did that happen? Quentin can't hit a lick anymore, but at least what he hits goes far (8 HRs).

OF: Nyger Morgan. As fun as this former hockey player is, maybe he should have stuck to that sport. A below average hitter with no power, his only selling point was speed. 14 stolen bases is great, but 10 caught stealing is rather horrible. Seems he hasn't even been base enough to try to run that much, but still.

DH: Seattle DH Combo. Griffey may be gone now, but he was unbelievably terrible, hitting worse than literally every DH in the history of baseball. Sweeney had a little hot streak, but he is predictably hurt and groundball-prone.

SP: Charlie Morton. Only ten starts, yet he's given up over 50 runs already. A 1-9 record looks even worse. Sure he plays for the Pirates, but i think the 9.35 ERA has more to do with that record than his teammates.

SP: Kevin Millwood. 19 home runs given up already. 19. That's more than Chone Figgins has hit in his entire lifetime. Guess that explains an 0-8 record and 5.2 ERA.

RP: Juan Gutierrez. Really, he's here to represent all of Arizona's amazingly bad pitchin staff, and what better way to do so than with an 8.87 ERA, .305 BAA, and 10 HRs allowed in 20 games?

CP: Trevor Hoffman. It pains me to put him on any list of terrible players, but honestly, how do you have a 9.90 ERA as a closer? The man has blown as many saves as he has saved (5) and managed to let guys bat .330 against him.

Honorable Mention: Glenallen Hill. I know he's retired, but he was godawful. I'd love/be terrified to see him and Carlos Silva in an eating contest.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

U.S.A: Tying its Way to Victory

Oh yes, that's right, it's happened. In the amazing clash between the United States and England in the World Cup, no one could wait to see who would win. Yes, the winner would have bragging rights for years and years.

That, or they could tie. Even with this 1-1 tie, the U.S. is the clear winner. England is a strong enough team to contend for the World Cup title this year, and the U.S. played them to a draw, something that could even lead to the U.S. winning the group with strong play the rest of the way. The importance of this cannot be downplayed; this would give the U.S. a much easier second round opponent rather than having to play another group winner.

Yes, the U.S. goal was a ridiculous fluke caused by perhaps the most hilarious goaltending I've ever seen in the hundreds of thousands (read: four) soccer games I have watched. But a win is a win, and a tie is a win, which makes no sense but it's still awesome. The U.S. national team (which needs a cool nickname like all the other countries have; might I suggest the Screamin' Eagles?) is certainly riding the high that comes with tying a world power right now, and deservedly so. Now let's go beat Algeria and Slovenia by at least thirty goals and win this group on goal differential.

And yes, being excited about a tie and the importance of goal differential is stupid. But hey, if the U.S. is gonna win, I can live with having to put up with ties.

The First FIFA World Cup Post on this Blog!

June 11th marked the first day of play in the 2010 FIFA world cup in South Africa. The first game was a 1-1 tie between Mexico and South Africa. The second game was a 0-0 tie between France and Uraguay. Two ties in two games. After seeing the results from those two games it struck me, "what if nobody wins any games in the pool play? What if all the games are ties? Does the whole world win?"

Thankfully, on the second day of play somebody actually won a game, blowing away these thoughts of world equality from my mind. Korea beat Greece 2-0. I would like to be the first to wish Korea congratulations on their victory. I didn't see the game but I assume the Greek team didn't actually play in solidarity with their countrymen in protest of their government expecting them to actually work.

Also on the second day, the USA will play England. Everyone should watch this game. The USA is led by skilled mid-fielder's Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey. England features some of the world's best players like Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard. The clash should be epic. I personally will be rooting for Hercules Gomez to score like 11 goals because his name is awesome. U-S-A, U-S-A...

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The NHL Awards: See, hockey does exist!

And so comes to close another long, wonderful hockey season that only I cared about. Sadly, it ended with the only NHL team I have any problem with winning it all, which is always a bit of a downer on anybody's day. Now I'll admit, I really only dislike the Blackhawks because they're too cocky and I know one guy who knows nothing about hockey but insists he loves the Blackhawks (bandwagon, thy name is Evan).

As such, I'd like to congratulate the Blackhawks and take this opportunity to overlook their acheivement and instead look to the future. The NHL awards are soon to be announced and I'd like to take this time to give my picks for them. Feel free to give your own picks below, or simply yell at me for writing about a sport you don't care about.

Hart Trophy- The MVP of the league, this one has come down to Henrik Sedin's amazing statistical outburst versus Sidney Crosby's normally overrated game and Alexander Ovechkin's ridiculousness. Personally, I've got to give it to Sedin, who outscored both and looked really impressive doing in (and, I might add, lasted a legitimate amount of time in the playoffs).

Vezina Trophy- Best goaltender technically has 3 finalists but come on now, Martin Brodeur? That man may stop the puck only because he thinks it's a ho-ho. Ryan Miller was very impressive, but unfortunately the Olympics don't count into this award, so give it to Ilya Bryzgalov for succeeding in a system designed specifically for him to succeed.
Norris Trophy- Best defensemen. As I've said before to nobody, Duncan Keith may very well be the best at defense, but strangely that's not all that's needed. Drew Doughty was the rock of the Los Angeles Kings, made all the more impressive by him being the same age as me. Finally, Mike Green scores goals and deserved it last year, so courtesy nod as a finalist, but give it to Doughty.

Calder Trophy- Jimmy Howard put in a year in net for Detroit that I had long predicted after he stoned me in NHL 08 over and over again. Matt Duchene led the offense of the surprising Colorado Avalanche. But honestly, Tyler Myers was one of the better D-men in the league as a rookie and was far and above the others.

Selke Trophy- Best defensive forward, and it's tough to argue against Pavel Datsyuk, who plays in ever situation and is just ridiculous. As amazing as Ryan Kesler was at shutting down everybody, Datsyuk is just unstoppable defensively. Oh ya, Jordan Staal is in there too, but who cares, give it to Datsyuk.

Lady Byng Trophy- Or The "I don't take any penalties ever" Award. Datsyuk's here again, but he's a lot rougher around the edges than the others. Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis kind of define sportsmanship and class on the ice. Honestly though, St. Louis may be the nicest person ever; I'm pretty sure he gives out lollipops to goalies after he scores on them.

So there you have it, the NHL awards as presented by a man who watches hockey on tv, has never played it, and rarely gets to see any Eastern Conference team. Comment away, my reader(s).

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Jack vs Josh

Those of you that are Mariners fans have probably come to the realization that the J Wilson who has been playing shortstop for the last month or so isn’t Jack but actually Josh. Ja and Jo Wilson have a lot of similarities. The two Wilson Shortstops are so a like that Yahoo Sports often confuses them. However, they are in fact two different people and as such only one of them can start at Shortstop each game.

So, when a coworker sparked my curiosity by suggesting that the M’s should keep playing Josh instead of Jack, I decided to take a look at the two of them more closely. I wanted to see who deserves to get the most playing time, whenever Jack makes it back to the big leagues.

Let’s start by breaking down each player’s bio a little bit. First the veteran, Jack Wilson, is 32 years old and loves the city of Pittsburgh. His undying love for the city is grounded in the fact that he played his first 9 major league seasons for the Pirates. He has accumulated 4487 major league at-bats and is a career 0.268 hitter with a 0.374 slugging percentage good for a wRC+ of 80 (See Sabermetrics Library for definition, but know 100 is average) or roughly 20% below average. Jack is probably best known for his great defensive play at shortstop. According to Fangraphs, he has a UZR/150 (an advance statistic that tells the number of runs a player saves adjusted for a 150 game season) of 5.1 for his career. For comparison Omar Vizquel has a UZR/150 of 8.7 for his career and Yuniesky Betancourt has a UZR/150 of -8.3.

Josh Wilson is the younger of the two at only 29 years old. Josh has never been able to secure a regular spot in the big leagues. Not in this order, but, he has played for Tampa Bay, Seattle, San Diego, Arizona, Florida, and Washington. Josh has racked up 591 career major league at-bats. In those at-bats he has a career 0.240 batting average and a 0.345 slugging percentage. This all adds up to a wRC+ of 73 or 27% below average offense. Jo Wil’s defense is measured at a UZR/150 of -7.9 for his career.

So, now you are probably saying, “Great I know all about there career but what does that tell me about this year?” Well you antsy pants I was just about to get to that. This year Jack Wilson (the old Pirate) has compiled a 0.253 AVG, a 0.347 SLG, a wRC+ of 62 and a UZR/150 of -10.6. He did all that in the 25 games before he got injured. Really, this is not a very good line. The defense is especially bad; it is far below the high caliber that had come to be expected of Jack.

Meanwhile, Josh Wilson has put up a 0.299 AVG, a 0.411 SLG, a wRC+ of 117 and a UZR/150 of 7.7 in a total of 31 games. These are much better numbers. The question is can Josh keep up this kind of rate over the full season? The defense is gold glove level. If he can maintain this pace he would become a breakout player. However, based on career numbers I would say we can expect him to regress.

When Jack Wilson is fully recovered from his injury the Mariners will have to decide who will get the majority of the playing time at short. The debate is should it be the proven veteran or the guy who is performing right now. I would say the Mariners should keep riding the hot streak of Josh Wilson. They should get as much out of him as they can. The key will be to successfully determine if and when he is regressing back to his career norms and reducing his at-bats at that point.

Sources: Fangraphs, Sabermetrics Library

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The End of an Era

First off, let's be honest, the era of Griffey's Mariners ended as soon as he was traded to the Reds. These last two years haven't added a thing to his legacy, but instead have reminded us just what kind of a man The Kid is.

Now that that's out of the way, Griffey is gone. His retirement was announced today, and the statements from everyone involved were as peaceful and wonderful as possible considering the circumstances lately.

Sure, Griffey is no longer a worthwhile MLB player, even if he's been trying to prove he is for the last couple years. But that isn't the way to remember him; this is a man that almost single-handedly made Seattle a baseball town. Think about the history of the Mariners before him. Alvin Davis. That's all, there had been almost nothing else.

I barely remember any Seattle sports from before about 1998. Almost all of Gary Payton's career is a distant memory created from what others have told me. The Seahawks didn't exist to me until about 2003. The one thing I have always remembered vividly is Griffey and the Mariners. My childhood consisted of watching Griffey crash into walls and hit skyrocketing homeruns and reacting the way my dad did.

Griffey is the most memorable sports figure I've ever witnessed. I didn't want this post to mention anything about stats or how the Mariners will move forward, I wanted it merely as a rememberance of Griffey. He is, and always will be, the greatest Mariner of alltime. Feel free to post your own memories of him below.