The Inevitable Te'o Post

I know what you're thinking. This is going to be about Manti Te'o and the strange, strange saga of Lennay Kekua, catfishing, black boxes and OH MY GOD MAKE IT STOP.

Seriously, at this point, I really don't care about Manti anymore. I don't care if he made up his girlfriend. I don't care if he made up his girlfriend to hide the fact that he's gay (which is an absolutely ridiculous notion - but while I'm on the subject, I was thinking. If that does somehow turn out to be true, I heard people saying that he would be a hero to homosexuals everywhere for being the first active athlete to come out. Call me crazy - and also straight, because I'm coming at this with an outside point of view - but I'd think that if that were the case, he'd be a pariah among the gay community for going to such ludicrous lengths to keep his sexuality a secret. But I digress). I don't care if Ronaiah Tuiasosopo was the mastermind behind the whole thing and Manti was just an incredibly naive dude who was willing to have a yearlong relationship with a girl he'd never even seen over a video chat, let along met in person. About the only reason I care about Manti at the moment is because this was hilarious (at the 2:10 mark). Also this. And the Weekend Update joke that when Lance Armstrong finally admitted to doping, he disappointed the only person who had believed otherwise...Manti Te'o. So let's just leave all that behind, and agree on the following point - no matter what actually happened, Manti doesn't come out of this untainted by a long shot. Because everyone thinks he's either the most naive, gullible person ever, or he's a lying scumbag.

The Harder They Fall

I woke up this morning intending to finally put some thoughts down about Te'o (not the ones you might expect, however), and I still intend to in the near future. But the conference championships today caused me to think about a couple things, and I wanted to address them before I forgot some of the nuances rolling around in my head. Strike while the iron's hot, right?

Rediscovery

"The reason I haven't written much of worth for many years is because I want to write it all, and write it perfectly, when I do."

The above quote, from the blog of a former co-worker, really sums up - more or less - why I've had such a hard time keeping this blog continuous through the years. I want so badly for everything I write to be of the highest caliber that I feel obligated to spend as much time as possible on each post, crafting it to be as good on the screen as it was in my mind. That, or I want to make sure that the idea itself is fully formed in my mind, so that I don't go back in days to come and think "I really should've tackled X, Y and Z in that post." Not coincidentally, these two things lead to a fair bit of stasis on here save for when the muse moves me to write without any further hesitation or perusal on a topic.  This is one of those times.

Fun With Statistics: MVP Edition

I really didn't want to weigh in on this whole Cabrera vs. Trout thing (my two cents, for the record: Trout should've won, but Cabrera had a fantastic year and I in no way take the MVP away from him. It's also silly this has devolved into new school/old school when you don't need sabermetrics to know that Trout positively impacted the game in far more ways than did Cabrera) - but reading some of the reactions from the pro-Cabrera writers forced my hand. Specifically, one Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated. This is to take nothing away from Verducci. He's a great baseball writer. Unfortunately, in the service of writing a good story, sometimes important facts/numbers/statistics get kicked to the curb. Case in point: the following passage from that article. Italics are my own contribution, had I been allowed to edit it.

Fun With Statistics

Numbers are a funny thing. They never lie, provided the ones you're using are accurate and calculated correctly. But they can definitely not tell the whole truth, when not put in the proper context. Here are two examples.

Incontrovertible Fact #1: Albert Pujols had by far the worst season of his career this year. In fact, the past two years have been undoubtedly the two statistically worst of his career.

Incontrovertible Fact #2: Albert Pujols had a season this year - and an average season over the past two years - that, by using fairly common stats, was matched by very few hitters.

The Ebb and Flow of Life

I really don't know what to write, other than this picture may be the saddest thing I've ever seen. 

 

An Apology for Irrational Rooting

Quick bit of housekeeping before I get on to the actual post. Here is the link to the last opinion I wrote for NESN a little more than a month ago - a glowing piece about the historic season of Mike Trout, in which I suggested he had a good shot to win the MVP. And while I agree with Joe Posnanski in thinking that if Miguel Cabrera wins the Triple Crown, he'll win the MVP, I also agree with him in thinking that Trout has been the better all-around player this year. Cabrera's season to-date (Triple Crown stats of .332/42/131) has been done or bettered 26 other times in MLB history. Trout's of .323/28/122 runs/46 stolen bases? Once. I'd tell you who it was, but I don't have a subscription to Baseball-Reference - so all I can tell you is the guy had 29 homers. And that's not even mentioning Trout's defense. I rest my case. Did I mention he turned 21 in August? Anyways, the real reason I'm writing...