Sports

The Retrosheet folks are more obsessive about a larger quantity of data (not to mention more productive) than you. I can almost guarantee this. They are engaged in the slow process of compiling as much data as possible about every Major League Baseball game ever played. They have the day by day standings for every season since 1900. Here’s April 11th, 1912. They have play by plays for most games between 1967 and 1990. They find it disappointing that they don’t know which umpires were assigned to all their games. I am in total awe. ...

Both Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce were chosen as reserves for the Eastern Conference All-Star team (original), which is as it should be. Paul Pierce clearly belongs. Despite his shooting slump, which is largely due to the lack of a break during the summer, he’s one of the best players in the NBA. Antoine Walker is a more interesting case. I suspect that in fifteen years Walker is going to be remembered as one of the most frustrating players in the NBA. There’ve been plenty of players who’ve sacrificed their talent completely, and there have been a handful of players who’ve realized their potential. But Walker is one of a very few players who are clearly capable of playing the game at an exceedingly high level, yet are content to merely be very good. Few come so close to greatness for such a long time without reaching out and taking the brass ring. ...

Eric McErlain thinks Tampa Bay’s gonna win the Super Bowl. Might as well get my pick up to be mocked: it’s gonna be the Raiders. I even think they’ll beat the line. Why? Because they have the team of destiny patina. They’re pissed off about the playoffs last year, the veterans know they need to get it done now or perhaps never, and the team is tight. Contrast this to the distraction Keyshawn is capable of causing. Check out his ESPN diary and tell me that isn’t someone who thinks he’s bigger than the team. Note that he didn’t mention his quarterback once. I hear Brad Johnson isn’t that bad a player. ...

The America’s Cup challenger has been selected (original). It’s the Swiss team, Alinghi (original). In the most important yacht race in the world. You have no oceans! The Soci

Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston looks like a fascinating book, judging from this interview. I’d never heard the Jackie Robinson story, but being a serious Celtics fan, the issues surrounding race and Boston sports have interested me for a while. He seems to have at least a little to say about basketball, although his surprise at the color barriers broken by the Celtics makes me wonder about his general research. Tagged for later consideration. ...

So while thinking about the NBA expansion into Charlotte, I found myself contemplating NBA contraction, since I firmly believe there are too many NBA teams. The talent pool is too diluted, and while an influx of Euros may counteract this, that influx would be even cooler if there were fewer teams. So who would I cut? Well, I’ve never been happy about the Canadian teams, but then the Grizz moved to Memphis and got Jerry West and you can’t cut a team out from under Jerry. Toronto can go any day, though. ...

I’m a big fan of Bill Walton, for a few reasons. First, he was a great basketball player who’s never been bitter about the health problems that kept him from dominating the league. Second, he got the Celtics a title. Third, he’s a free spirit and he says what he thinks. He wrote a piece about Michael Jordan yesterday, focusing on the sixth man role. It’s exceptional. Walton’s erratic as a commentator, because he gets impatient and his passion can lead him to overcriticize. But this is exceptional, because it’s Walton telling Jordan how he felt in 1985 when he accepted the sixth man role with the Celtics. He never says it, but he’s not talking about Michael Jordan. He’s a proud man talking about what it took to go from Portland’s savoir to Boston’s sixth man. (We’ll skip the unfortunate steps inbetween.) ...

I have been [appropriately punished](http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/315/sports/Beane_says_no_to_Red_Sox_offer .shtml “Boston Globe Online / Sports / Beane says no to Red Sox offer”) for my hubris.

I’m thinking perhaps it was just a matter of getting the Boston Sports Guy out of town. He has nobly sacrificed himself to break all the jinxes. The aforementioned Billy Beane move is close to done. And how about that Patriots game? Football is the cruellest sport. Each game has such mythic weight. It’s easy to watch the successes, like the Patriots of last year, and forget how brutal losing games can be. This afternoon’s game was a must-win; the Patriots could not expect to make the playoffs if they’d lost. Chicago’s playing for nothing but pride. It would hurt to see the Patriots kicked out of the playoffs by Oakland next week, but it would be so much worse if it’d come at the hands of the feeble Bears. ...

As I mentioned earlier, Billy Beane (Oakland’s GM) really made the case for using sabermetrics to better manage a baseball team. Oakland’s been very reluctant to let anyone else talk to him; as a low budget team, Beane’s their single best asset. Obviously, he’s exactly the kind of manager you’d want running a team that had Bill James as a consultant. Oakland’s letting Boston talk to Beane. The news just gets better and better. (Thanks to off-wing opinion (original) for the link.)