* As Steve Martin used to say…

“But the most amazing thing of all: I get paid for doing this” (the closing lines for one of the comedian’s songs during his heyday in the late 1970s).

I bring it up because, once again, it goes to the folly of using sports pundits as a source of reliable information. At least when it comes to betting on games.

One of these days, I’m going to host a website that annotates Pardon the Interruption, to fill in the missing gaps and explain the references that might escape the casual viewer. Don’t get me wrong, I love the show, but people like Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon come across as so adamant in their pronouncements that it’s almost funny to deconstruct. Of course this comes after the fact, but even so. (Fill-in host Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe will frequently end a prediction by calling it the “lock di tuti locks,” which is kind of funny since I presume he’s Irish.)

So I’m listening to the podcast of yesterday’s PTI in which the lead story is about Game Six of the World Series (Congrats to the Yankees, by the way).

Here’s the transcript, with my footnotes for ease of reading:

TK: Game Six starts in just a little bit from Yankee Stadium. Andy Pettitte is pitching on three days’ rest, the great Pedro Martinez,¹ pitching on five days’ rest. Wilbon, you don’t like pitchers on short rest, so I assume you’re going to take my boy, Pedro.

MW: Yes, Tony, yes I am. Pettitte’s 37 years old, right? Thirty-seven?

TK: Well, Pedro’s got to be 37¹ also…

MW: Okay, fine, but Pedro’s not pitching on three days’ rest. My point is, if you’re 37 years old and you’re going through whatever Pettitte’s career — I mean a distinguished career of 15, 16 years…

TK: Fabulous post-season record… ²

MW: …you don’t do this thing, okay? You are not a hulking left tackle of a man like CC Sabathia, who seems to be able to, initially, pitch on three days’ rest. Why are you doing this?

TK: Pedro is much smaller than Pettitte. ³

MW: Pedro once again: not pitching on three days’ rest, pitching on five days’ rest.

TK: I think the critical factor is not so much the amount of rest, although that’s part of it. The weather is going to be in the 40s and these guys are almost in their 40s. I don’t think either pitcher will go five full [innings].

MW: Wow.

TK: I think this is going to be one of those 9-8 sorts of games⁴ and I think the bullpens will be in early and the bullpens on both sides aren’t very good until you get to Mariano Rivera⁵, and I don’t know that the Yankees will be able to get to [him].⁶

MW: That scenario makes sense, given the weather. But, Tony, if Pedro Martinez, having talked all the smack he’s talked and … to have been as great a pitcher as he’s been, I expect Pedro to go out there and get a quality start of seven innings, two or three earned runs… ⁷

TK: Seven innings!

MW: Yes.

TK: He’s like 90!

MW: Five days’ rest, Tony.

TK: I’m telling you, I don’t think either guy gets out of the fifth.⁸

MW: Pedro has been selling woof tickets {editor’s note: ?] for a week.

TK: I like him, but I don’t think he gets out of the fifth.

MW: Let’s see him pitch.

Later in the show, Kornheiser and Wilbon repeat their predictions to guests Tim McCarver and Joe Buck, the announcers for the broadcast on FOX, who have their own opinions, which I won’t go into here (you can listen to the podcast on iTunes).

So can we take away from this? Basically, in the majority of instances, these guys can’t forecast the outcome any better than you or I. Except they get on the air and are often paid handsomely for getting it wrong.

---

¹ 38, actually.

 

² 18-9 with a 3.90 ERA in 40 games. Pettitte appeared in one National League Divisional series, 11 ALDS, seven AL Championship Series, 1 NLCS, and eight World Series. Not too shabby.

³ Pettitte: 6′5″, 235. Martinez: 5′11″, 170.

⁴ The Yankees broke out to leads of 2-0, 4-1, and 7-1 before winning 7-3.

⁵ After Martinez and Durbin allowed the seven runs, four Phillies relievers combine for no runs (which, although statistically correct, is misleading since Happ was not penalized for the two inherited runners he allowed to score). Meanwhile, the two relievers preceding Rivera allowed just one hit.

⁶ Yes, they did, even bringing him in in the eighth inning, to record the final five outs. While the four run lead, however, he did not earn a save.

⁷ Martinez did not have a quality start, which is six innings or more allowing three earned runs or less. He was gone, as Kornheiser predicted, by the fifth.

⁸ Pettitte didn’t get a quality start either, but he did pitch into the sixth inning.

* The Happy Recap — and everything else

One of the things I like about this time of year is that the media comes out with its lest: the top ten, the best, the worst, etc.

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com provided this list of the wildy and wacky world of baseball in 2008, including:

• A batter hitting a homer but not scoring the run
• A pitcher leading his team in stolen bases (only for one month, but even so)
• A runner stealing five bases in one game but not scoring at all
• A fielder who made more errors in one inning than Omar Vizquel had all season.

Let’s see, that’s a batter, a pitcher, a runner, and a fielder…that’s enough. Read the rest here.

* ESPN overhaul

Technically, this doesn’t belong here (although you can keep a laptop on a bookshelf), but it’s an important resource so, from The New York Times, this announcement about the reorganization of ESPN.com.

The problem with several major news outlets, including the Times and Sports Illustrated, is that the designers try to cram too much info onto the screen, including advertisements. The articles notes that ESPN visitors are greet with tabs for more than two dozen sports. Add to that the number of columnists and things get cluttered and frustrating, as visitors — especially first timers — struggle to find what they need, sometimes going through several layers before they finally arrive at their destination.

"How do you like me now?"

* Bull Durham 20 years later

Has it really been 20 years? ESPNthemag.com has a five-part retrospective, featuring interviews with director Ron Shelton and actors Tim Robbins and Kevin Costner.

 

 

* Announcement: ESPN Books to partner with Ballantine

The publishing company, not the beer manufacturer. Wait, do they even make Ballantine anymore? I’m showing my age.

Anyway, according to an item in the Publisher’s Weekly Web site, this will result in “10 to 12 titles annually, ranging from celebrity sports books to nonfiction and reference.”

“ESPN Books has gone through a number of expansions, and publishing partners, over the years. The book division of the goliath sports brand launched in 1997 at Hyperion….”

“The move to Ballantine, [Sandy] Deshong [senior director of publishing at ESPN Books], said, speaks to the fact that the division ‘wanted a relationship where we could centralize everything under one umbrella.’ That Ballantine is ‘very good at what they do not just in general publishing but also in sports publishing’ sweeted the deal, Deshong said. And, although all titles ESPN and Ballantine co-publish will be jointly agreed upon, Deshong said ESPN still has the ability to do their own books with Random House acting as the distributor. In addition, some titles previously published by ESPN will be distributed by Random.

* The “return” of Bobby V.

To the consciousness of New York fans, that is. Former Mets’ manager Bobby Valentine was the subject of the May 4 “Questions for…” section of the New York Times‘ Sunday Magazine.

Q; One American tradition you’ve imported to Japan is patting the players on the tush, as the film demonstrates.
A: That has really been one of the things that had to be discussed often in Japan, because they don’t get it at all.

What a great cultural exchange.

The film to which Valentine refers is ESPN’s The Zen of Bobby V.

For some reason, I was under the impression Valentine spoke Japanese. It’s amazing how the interpretor can wait so long before going about his business. Good memory.

Anyway,

May 13 – The Zen of Bobby V

Produced by ESPN, in conjunction with Andrew Jenks (Throwback Pictures)

This two-hour film focuses on former Major League player and manager, Bobby Valentine, and his current job managing one of Japan’s premiere baseball teams – the Chiba Lotte Marines. Fresh off its world premiere at the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival, The Zen of Bobby V will give baseball fans and viewers unprecedented access to Valentine and his team, while exploring the impact globalization has on the game’s present and future.  Additionally, original online webisodes and written blogs detailing the production of the film and baseball life in Japan will be produced exclusively for ESPN.com’s Page 2.

* ESPN and SI baseball previews: A head-to-head comparison

Bearing in mind that SI is a weekly, and ESPN a bi-weekly…

	Sports Illustrated	ESPN The Magazine
Cover boy(s)	“New generation of Stars,” featuring Ryan Braun, Justin Upton, Troy Tulowitzki, Jacob Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, and Ryan Zimmerman	C.C. Sabathia
Lead Story	Tulowitzki profile	Sabathia profile
Sidebars(s)	Five future stars (Cameron Maybin, Ryan Braun, Jay Bruce, Justin Upton, Ryan Zimemrman; “Restocking a Rivalry (Red Sox vs. Yankees)	“Mamarama” (mothers of sports stars); Milkov Report, a take-off on the Mitchell Report on the demise of the National League; “Poison Ivy” (the Cubs’ 100-year slump)
Other features	Team scouting reports with projected lineups; “The Numbers Lie/Don’t Lie” on representative or misleading statistics for each team; “consider thiis,” and excerpts from previous SI issues as a way of promoting their new Vault archives	Buster Olney on the AL, Tim Kurkjian on the NL; Team reports with facts, projected lineups, and comments by each team’s local U.S. congressperson

It must be difficult to keep coming up with new ideas year after year. You would have thought, in the wake of the Mitchell Report and the Clemens-McNamee affair, the ideas would be falling off the trees, but that’s not the case here (except for the ESPN spoof).

Call me a traditionalist (or old fogey, depending on your POV). Usually I find ESPN is trying to be all things to all sports fans and covers too many sports I’m not interested in. There are too many mini-features, as if the reader doesn’t have a long-enough attention span for anything more. On the other hand, they often do a better job with their illustrations.

I’m a fan of SI’s editorial content. I find their stories more in-depth and investigative reporting, their graphics simple but elegant (they have a long tradition of using top notch photographers like Leifer, Iooss, and Sweet, among other iconic shutterbugs).

So, as if it matters to anyone else, I’m giving the nod this year to Sports Illustrated .

Latest on Brijit.com: Dave Niehaus in ESPN

Seattle’s Soothing Baseball Voice Headed to Cooperstown –

If you’re lucky, your team’s baseball games are broadcast by an announcer like Dave Niehaus, voice of the Seattle Mariners since they first took the field 31 years ago. Neihuas was recently named recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame. Caple capably and movingly describes him as a member of the family, never obnoxious or a “homer,” but a solid citizen in the broadcast booth.

In ESPN by Jim Caple, 20 February 2008
This abstract was edited by Brijit. Read more here…

New from Brijit.com

Page 2’s Preseason MLB Power Rankings –

Three little words — pitchers and catchers — indicate that the pre-season predictions are on the way for Major League Baseball. ESPN provides their first in a long line of “Power Rankings,” but they seem to be shaking off the winter funk, too. To wit: The Kansas City Royals ranking higher than the Boston Red Sox? The Chicago Cubs in the bottom 5? The Phillies in first? Interesting, but best not to take these too seriously — unless, of course, they confirm that your team will do well.
in ESPN by Eric Neel, 19 February 2008

This abstract was edited by Brijit. Read more here…

ESPN’s Bill Simmons speaks for many of us

when he asks in his column of Jan. 28 issue, “How do you put an asterisk on the best moment of your life? For him, and many Red Sox/Clemens fans, it was the second time he struck out 20. It came in a mediocre season against the Detroit Tiers and he movingly recreates the emotions he shared with his dad as well as a bunch of friends and strangers in a Boston bar.

“If Clemens cheated in ‘98,” he wonders, referring to the first accusation of PED usage,”how do we know if he was clean in Detroit?”

How do we reconcile oour own memories with everything we know now, after all the revelations?