Bill James and Freakonomics

by rolub on Apr 2, 2008 1:37 PM EDT

The authors of Freakonomics requested questions from their readers to submit to Bill James. Surprisingly (or maybe not so), he has a lot of time on his hands and answered a bunch of them.

Full blog entry can be seen here.

But I'll just point out the most important piece here:

Q: Will the Indians ever win the world series?

A: Absolutely. In my lifetime. They will win because they are worthy of victory.

0 recs | Comment 17 comments

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That's weird, my magic 8 ball said nearly the same thing.

"It's hard to win when you don't score." Cliff Lee, 9/28/05.

by Harry Doyle on Apr 2, 2008 1:44 PM EDT 0 recs

and these guys are clearly not going to make the team

"It's hard to win when you don't score." Cliff Lee, 9/28/05.

by Harry Doyle on Apr 2, 2008 2:08 PM EDT up 0 recs

rolub - looks like we posted this simultaneously, mine on fanshots.

By a remarkable coincidence, we selected the same excerpt. And I've stolen it as my sig.

They will win because they are worthy of victory. - Bill James

by SuddenSam on Apr 2, 2008 1:46 PM EDT 0 recs

Ah yes, I see. The fact that the Fan Shots are far down the page, I really don't notice them.

But to be fair, posting in Fan Shots as you did is probably the more appropriate place.

You know Selig? Ombudsman.

by rolub on Apr 2, 2008 2:03 PM EDT up 0 recs

I'm actually in the process of reading Freakonomics. Great book.

by Joe. on Apr 2, 2008 2:20 PM EDT 0 recs

Chuck, here's the money quote for you.

We haven’t figured out anything yet. A hundred years from now, we won’t have begun to have the game figured out.

by NickFantana on Apr 2, 2008 2:22 PM EDT 0 recs

I thought Chuck's money quote was, "You durn kids git offa my lawn!"

Formerly known as "tribefan stuck in boston"

by BostonWahoo on Apr 2, 2008 2:27 PM EDT up 0 recs

Bill James could write more interesting things on whatever than almost anyone else at the NYT ... or any other major newspaper for that matter.

Bunch of Templetons.

Sizemore-Shapiro 2008. The Official Red Bull of Let's Go Tribe Game Threads.

by Gradyforpresident on Apr 2, 2008 2:58 PM EDT 0 recs

Kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, doncha think?

by Jay on Apr 2, 2008 8:22 PM EDT up 0 recs

yes and no. i don't think you're going to argue with me that American journalism has had a very depressing decline.

Sizemore-Shapiro 2008. The Official Red Bull of Let's Go Tribe Game Threads.

by Gradyforpresident on Apr 3, 2008 12:23 AM EDT up 0 recs

Well, you know, everything is always declining anyway. More people are getting their news online. Most of the best journalism is also now happening online. So a lot of this boils down to crying over paper.

Like most fields, journalism has always been filled to the gills with hacks, but a few legendary names ring out, making the old days seem that much more grand.

by Jay on Apr 3, 2008 12:00 PM EDT up 0 recs

FWIW, I'm pretty sure David Simon disagrees with you about the quality of online journalism. Not that he's the final word, but I find it germane to the conversation to refer you to his thoughts on the matter.

by NickFantana on Apr 3, 2008 1:21 PM EDT up 0 recs