Editor's Note

If you've been playing close attention, you'll notice that two posts just disappeared into thin air. If you were none the wiser about that, well then, now you are.

Anyway, the two posts in question were Parts 1 and 2 of my new attempt at figuring out why fantasy baseball head-to-head standings are the way they are. I was in the middle of finishing off Part 3 when I discovered a rather glaring error - I had been unwittingly been using the wrong standard deviation formula.

Happy Valley Doesn't Need the Death Penalty

Never in the NCAA's wildest dreams could they have imagined a scenario as horrifying the one that unfolded at Penn State. 

It's for precisely that reason that, despite Jerry Sandusky's 45 counts of child sex abuse convictions and a preponderance of evidence that Joe Paterno and high-ranking university officials withheld information on his crimes, the NCAA cannot and should not punish the Nittany Lions football program -- much less hand down the death penalty for which many are calling.

Tim Lincecum and the Mystery of the Disappearing Velocity

Another Friday night/Saturday morning winding down from a late night at the office, and another day - well, week really - with nothing original. I apologize for the lack of posts this week, but I've been working my way through some data for an idea I've had for a while and it's taking some time. Hopefully the results are interesting enough to warrant the time I've spent on it.

That being said, here are the fruits of my labor from tonight.

While I'm at it, I should probably also link to my opinion on the Madden Curse and whether Megatron will fall victim to it. I did some research for that one ahead of time at home, which had the unfortunate byproduct of holding up my research for my current blog-specific project a bit.

Finally, I'll leave you with this wildly entertaining Seattle Mariners commercial, which I had linked to in my Lincecum article initially (I was comparing him to King Felix, who has also experienced a drop in velocity but not a massive decrease in performance), but eventually cut when I tossed out the Hernandez section.



By the way, that tan building visible between Eric Wedge and Larry, er, Felix beyond the right field fence? That's the Padres spring training offices/clubhouse/etc, aka where I spent my spring training class. The ad was shot at the stadium in the Peoria Sports Complex, which San Diego and Seattle share. Makes me a little nostalgic.

In the Name of Self-Promotion

It's a little late as I sit here unwinding after a late shift, so I've got nothing original for the day. What I think I'll do instead is link to my labor of love from today - an argument against the continued existence of the Home Run Derby.

That said, below are two quick things that I wanted to address in the article, but cut either because of length or flow considerations.